Wisdom wednesdays - week 8

This is the only way to really carry a toddler. I mean is there any other way?

Pregnancy update - 36 weeks

We are now considered full term. And as of last week I was ready for him to come early. But today I am sick sick sick! And I definitely want this crap to be out of my house before baby arrives. I think we have chest colds. Joslyn got it first and now me. It started out like allergies but continues like a cold. Im absolutely the worst friend though. I thought we were dealing with allergies and made the mistake of attending a friends birthday party, now we have gotten who knows how many people sick. But I do know we got the birthday girl and her daddy sick. I feel so awful!

Anyways, I have been looking forward to my baby shower which is next weekend. But now I am just hoping to be well enough to attend. I have been having some contractions. Some of them are painful some I only know I am having during the non stress tests I have to do twice a week. I have been checking my blood sugars when I should and most of the time my numbers are good. Only when I really cheat do my numbers come up high, oh and right now since I am sick.

Hate to be a Debbie Downer, but this is real life right now! Love you all!

Wisdom Wednesdays- week 7

True wisdom for me is taking the truth and applying it to your life. People have always called me wise throughout my life. But I don't feel wise. I feel dumb most of the time. And simple things that should be easily understood, needs to be explained to me. Not putting myself down, just that is as honest as I can get.

So when I begrudgedly walked into my diabetes class, I was pleasantly surprised. There were 3 other pregnant women in this class. And from us chatting, none of us had been gestational before. Most of us walked into the class dreading what we couldn't have. But what surprised me was what she said we could have. According to my food plan I don't have to cut out many things. If I want a cupcake at my shower I can have one, if I sacrifice my other carbs for it. Portion control is more important than the type of carbs and the time I eat my carbs is important too. The nutritionist came up with individual food plans for each of us, telling us how many carbs, proteins and every other food group we can have when. She also breaks down for us the best types of carbs to have. Then we got lists of what foods fall where and how many carbs the portions are. So I really feel like a weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I left the class feeling prepared and feeling empowered. I can do this! And to think it took till I was 33 to get it!!!

 Here is a copy of my nutritional food plan!

Pregnancy update - 35 weeks!

Wow! 5 weeks till my little man arrives. Or 4, or 3 or whenever he wants to make his debut. We are having a c-section so hopefully he will wait till the dr. schedules it. But since he is fully grown, if he comes early I won't be too worried. Jaxon is now the size of a honeydew and about 5 1/4 lbs. I feel him so much more, every little movement is major to me, especially if I am trying to sleep. I feel like the biggest blimp. It is so hard to roll over or get outta bed. LOL! I am actually in pretty positive spirits now, despite the diabetes diagnosis. So far I have been eating more proteins and less carbs. My sweet hubby bought me sugar free fudge pops and sugar free chocolate syrup to help with the sweet tooth. I am trying to add more fruits and veggies. Basically it has been lots of salads.

I am really looking forward to these next few weeks. My baby shower has got me stoked! We are doing a Dr. Suess theme since the kids room will be transformed into Dr. Suess. I have the sweetest friends throwing my shower. They really wont let me do much. Which messes with my control issues. Luckily they know all about CR and control issues and just laugh at me! :) I also have so many more appointments now that I have diabetes. I have 2 stress tests this week alone! Plus a diabetes class. Then on October 5th I have my last ultrasound to see baby boy before he arrives!!! What a hectic and crazy time we have ahead, but we are so blessed! Especially for all the prayers I know you guys have been sending my way! Thank you friends!

Sleep walking!

Since I have been pregnant, the one thing I really would love to do is sleep walk to the bathroom. It would add a considerable amount of time to my nightly sleep. But I remember a story from a friend who slept walked to the bathroom at a boyfriends house and ended up peeing in his laundry basket. OOPS!! I would love to hear any funny stories you have for sleep walking! Please make my day!!!

Crying in the car

I had a crying in the car moment this week. Fresh off the heels of my "I can handle these changes post", I get the news that I have gestational diabetes. I drive home in shock, tears streaming down my face. Unabashedly, red, splotchy faced crying. Joslyn in the back wondering what happened to mommy. And I drive, and they keep coming. At home I fall into my hubby's arms and cry some more.

It's moments like these I treasure in Celebrate Recovery. The moment someone shares in small group, with tears streaming down their face, "I can't do this." And we cry with them. Women sharing in each other's pain. But the great thing is that by the end of the group, most of them realize that is it. WE can't do this. We can't handle these pressures. We can't handle the grief. BUT GOD CAN! I think He on purposely gives us these moments to remind us who can handle these moments. It takes problem after problem piling up for me to finally get it and fall to my knees. Everything in this world says YOU CAN DO THIS. You need to handle this to be right. To look good to those around you. To be accepted and loved. You have to be strong. NO! I can't. I can't be strong. I shouldn't be strong. I should be weak. Because in my weakness He is strong. He shines through. He is waiting for me to hand over the problem. To include Him in the equation. So I do not have any shame for crying in the car. I do not have shame saying I can't handle it. Because thankfully I have a father that will take care of it for me. He will make me strong. He will remind me what to do. He will hold me in those moments and plan the way. Thank you Lord for crying in the car moments.

Dealing with changes

Obviously life has been full of changes since Joslyn has entered our lives. And we anticipate many new changes with baby Jax coming into the household. But the changes I am having trouble getting used to is the unexpected changes. Like a shift change for my hubby. And a necessary nutrition change for our daughter and us.

When I was on the job, changes came frequently and usually I was on board and probably the least likely to complain. Now I'm not saying that I didn't complain, but I tend to take changes at work or church as an exciting adventure. But, at home? Heck no. I whine and complain and wonder why this has happened to me. I know drama queen right? So when my hubby came home a few weeks ago and said "I am now working nights." You know I took it in stride. Right? Right!!!

Nope. I said "WHAT???"
"NO, NO this won't do!!!"
After all, I have planned a schedule for my daughter and me according to daddy's schedule. We have things to do during the day that help us stay busy and then we try to be home as much as possible during the evening. Of course we have CR two nights a week but otherwise we are home. A truthfully when I get home I would pretty much crash. I loved how I had daddy to help me with Joslyn at the end of the day when I was so exhausted from the day. Now everything has changed and I have to admit I have not been a good sport about it. I don't like being at home at night alone. I don't like being the only one that can get up with Joslyn and I know this will get worse when baby two arrives. I also have awful memories of growing up in a household were we had to be quiet all the time. I don't want Joslyn to have to stifle who she is so daddy can sleep.  I also hate that I have to choose to skip a nap so I get some Joslyn free time with him. And I really hate having to walk the dogs at night with Joslyn. So now I am done whining, I will start looking at the positives. John swears that he gets more time with us. He is very happy with his route. We are making new memories on our time together and now that the weather is nice we get to spend outdoor time with daddy. Joslyn despite my complaints is doing pretty good with the changes. I know could add another church night to my repertoire if I wanted without feeling guilty. I also know that God has a reason for this change in our lives and if I choose to see the good side of it, He might reveal His plan to me.

We also went to our WIC appointment and Joslyn weighed over their desired amount. This was not surprising  since she has always been heavy. She is not overweight though. Joslyn has big bones like me and will always weigh more than she should. But they suggest a diet change and I must go along with it. WE have wanted to change our food habits around the house. More veggies, less hotdogs. More fruit, less cookies. But we have on purposely waited to make too many changes because of potty training. All the smart books suggest not making too many changes to a child's routine at once. In otherwords pick your battles. Potty training was such a battle I couldn't fathom handling another one at that time. So for the most part Joslyn got to pick what she wanted to eat. Now if she chose cookies, we denied it. But most of the time she ate hotdogs or chicken nuggets for lunch or dinner. Now it's time to crack down and start making her eat what we eat. Today for example we are going to have oven baked chicken and rice pilaf for lunch. If she doesn't eat it, then she won't get anything else. This is a battle I do not want to go through, but need to. Joslyn wont try anything new. And for her to try new things she needs to kind of be hungry. The nutritionist suggests that we don't entice her to eat, but just plainly tell her that this is what is for lunch and if she doesn't eat it then she gets nothing else. Simple and to the point. Before we would try and bribe her with dessert, but this is wrong. It makes her covet dessert and I don't want her to have the sugar craving. With a sugar-a-holic daddy and a food addict momma, we are going to do all we can to keep from giving her our food baggage.

So these are just some of the changes I am dealing with right now and my biggest goal is to handle these changes with grace and understanding. I covet your prayers.

Quick update on my adventure list

I know my adventure list has been put to the wayside with this unexpected pregnancy, but I wanted you to know that it is still very important to me. I hope to have a new adventure post in two weeks to celebrate the fact that I have made it to 50 followers!!!! Yea! So I will be accomplishing adventure 50 as soon as I can receive the materials. Also, I don't know how having two children will alter my timeline, but as always this adventure list isn't about a timeline. It is about letting God guide my adventures in a way that is pleasing to Him and letting Him slowly bring me out of my comfort box I like to hide in. For a lady who lived in a shell for sooooo long, each adventure is designed to challenge my fear of rejection, fear of being made fun of, fear of ______ (you name it). If know of any adventure that I need to add to my list, then please let me know. I have several spots left open. I would love your input. Also, something that helps me with these adventures is having a friend go with me. So if you see an adventure that you would like to participate in with me, also let me know. I love you guys! Have a blessed weekend.

Wisdom Wednesdays- week 6

They say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach. But it much easier to win a heart of a food addict with food.

This is my famous guacamole. The reason I have so many friends, rely a lot on this substance. So why not get more friends and share the recipe.

My guacamole's success relies on the health of the veggies you put in it. The most important is the avocados. Finding a perfect avocado is like rocket science, except they have schools for that and not for avocado picking. What I do to ensure this is to plan ahead. Pick out 4 to 5 avocados that are not ripe yet. It is much easier to get good avacados and make it when they are ready then find a good ripe one. A tool I have been taught is to pick avocados that seem heavy for their size. The heavier they are, the more oils they have and the more flavorful they will be. So for the batch I make I usually use 4 or more avacados. Pick one big tomato or 2 roma tomatoes. This is very important, pick not ripe tomatoes. You want them hard. The ripe tomatoes have lots of juice and this can ruin the texture of the guacamole.

Here is what you need.

4 to 5 avocados
2 roma tomatoes or 1 big tomato (not Ripe)
1 bunch cilantro
1 small green pepper
1 medium onion (any color)
1 lime
1 jalapeño
season salt to taste


Okay so I believe that my guacamole is so likable because it is more like salsa. I use a hand cranking food processor, that is portable. I like how much easier I can control the size of the veggies. We like our veggies to be chopped not minced. I like them to be on the bigger size but you can control the size with your food processor. Chop the tomatoes, half the cilantro, green pepper, onion and jalapeño. I deseed the jalapeño, because we don't like it hot, but if you like it spicy then keep them in. Put all the chopped veggies into a bowl. Roll the lime on the counter before cutting it in half and squeeze half of the lime over the veggies. Mix in the juice. I usually save the other half of the lime and the empty rind for the disposal. In another bowl put the insides of the avocados. If you don't know how to cut an avocado or remove the pit, please watch this video! Once all the avocados are in the bowl, I use a potato masher to mash up the avocado really well. Add 1 to 2 tsps of season salt to the avocados and mix in. You should start with less and taste. Remember your chips will be salty so use caution. Add the chopped veggies and mix well. There you have it! This has fed from 2 to 6 people with big portions. But the greatest part is that if you don't like a veggie or like a lot of one veggie, you can improvise easily. Add or subtract veggies and add more avocados if you add too many veggies. It really is easy. I hope you enjoy this recipe and please let me know if you make it.