Let’s catch up

So Noah got to experience his first snow! He was at school when the snow first started coming down and his teacher sent me this picture. I was a little sad that I wasn’t with him when he first saw it, but school got cancelled later on in the day so we were able to experience it together! He didn’t really want to play in it. He just liked looking at the snow and asking “What’s that snow doing on the ______?” (insert grass, house, road, car…)

This was BIG TIME snow in Alabama! :)

Here is my little helper at work!

The hubs got a new job (yay!) and started this week. He loves it!

We took Noah to the mall to get Brad some new work clothes. He was fascinated with the Crock-Pots and toaster ovens. He kept ‘cooking muffins’ while we were there!

My middle nephew celebrated his 9th birthday at Super Skate. Noah had a BLAST and by the end of the party, he didn’t even need us to hold his hand as he was ‘skating’.

Unfortunately for Noah, the only skates they had in his size were PINK. But since he had on a pink shirt, he just rocked it! He actually likes the color pink pretty well so he didn’t mind at all.

We finally got Noah’s twin sized bed put together and he’s sleeping in it now. His comforter has dump trucks, police cars, helicopters, fire trucks, etc. on it and he LOVES it. It wasn’t my first choice but hey, it’s not my room!

Hubs and I had a date recently. We went geocaching as usual!

As far as the potty training situation goes, I now have an official plan. My sister referred me to this website so next Friday, I’m taking off work and we are throwing out the pull-ups and having potty training boot camp at our house! Woo hoo!!

We also have a little boy that is turning THREE this Saturday! I will not cry, I will not cry, I will not cry.

Potty Training

We introduced the potty a while back. We talked about the potty, read books about going, sat Noah on the potty, etc. It took a long while, but one day (several months ago) he finally pooped and peed in the potty! We gave candy as a reward for every time he went. He would go when we sat him on the potty most times because he knew he would get candy afterwards. So in order to NOT rot his teeth out, we switched from candy to a potty chart. Every time Noah went, he got a sticker to put on the chart and when he filled up a row, we went and bought a special toy. A few weeks into the potty chart and Noah lost interest in that. We tried putting him in underwear and letting him feel when he got wet. The boy could care less! We waited a few months and tried again to press the potty issue and Noah pressed back.

A few weeks ago, I told him that we were only going to wear undies now and that he would have to go in the potty. 30 minutes into it, he had had 3 accidents and he had been on the potty 3 times!

We have even tried threatening and spanking him when he poops in his pull-up. And when I say spanking…he makes faces and strains/grunts when he is pooping so it’s very obvious what he’s doing. When we see him do this, we ask him to sit on the potty. He says no. We say, “If you poop in your pull-up, you will get a spanking!” He says, “I not have to poop.” and then poops anyway. And if we try to place him on the potty, he freaks his freak and won’t go.

So I’m really at a loss with what to do now. He will sometimes pee if we ask him to sit on the potty, but nothing consistent. I am feeling the pressure because he has to be potty trained in order to promote to the 3 year old room at preschool in August. So give me some feedback Mommy’s!

Gluten Free Recipes

Here are a few recipes that I’ve found online that are gluten free and that I’ve tried myself!

Crockpot BBCola Chicken

This recipe is SUPER EASY! My kind of cooking! I used 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, Jack Daniel’s Original #7 BBQ Sauce, an onion and a can of Coke. I just threw it all in the crockpot on the way to church, turned it on high and when we got home four hours later, it was done! The chicken just fell apart and we didn’t even use knives! Brad LOVED it and wanted me to make it the next day! :) This recipe is definitely going on our rotation.

Mini Frittatas

These were also easy to make and would be perfect for breakfast! A word of warning though…CAREFULLY chop your ham…and not your finger! I speak from experience! :)

Roasted Pork and Potatoes with Creamy Applesauce

As I was browning the pork on the stove, I seriously started doubting my cooking abilities! But this dish came out better than I thought! It needs some tweaking, but I plan on cooking it again soon! Also, I wasn’t too sure about the applesauce dip, but it really did enhance the flavor of the pork!

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Casserole

I completely forgot to take a picture of this dish. It was tasty! I couldn’t find Progresso’s Chicken Enchilada soup like the recipe calls for, so I used Progresso’s Chicken Tortilla soup instead. Yum!

Mr. John’s Meat-Stuffed Bell Peppers

I opted to use 1 lb of VERY lean ground beef instead of half beef, half pork. I was just sure that the hubs would turn his nose up at the sight of stuffed bell peppers. Still I slaved over the cutting board and stove (this is probably the hardest recipe I’ve tried so far). And when I served him a pepper, he fell in love! He said that it was my best recipe to date! Score! I’m sure they would be awesome with some melted cheese on top, too. And next time, I’m thinking about adding in some lime juice for extra zing.

Happy eating!

Christmas Happenings

We had a lot of fun things to do during December!

Our gym had a float in the town’s Christmas parade. The sister and I and all of our kids rode on the float with Frosty, the iron pumping snowman! :) Noah liked waving to the crowd and saying “Mewwy Cwissmas!”

My niece had a little play at her school where she was Mary! She is not a fan of people staring at her, but she will belt it out at home!

We took Noah to Tokyo for a date night. Luckily we were the only people in there so we were in and out pretty fast. He loves when they make a train out of the onions and when they make a big fire! He loves rice and beans at Mexican restaurants, so I thought he would like fried rice but he wouldn’t even try it! He’s going to turn into a chicken nugget one day.

We went to the mall to see Santa and Noah rode on the train in the middle of the mall. He LOVES trains. He sat so still the entire train ride….didn’t even crack a smile! But as soon as it was over, he was so excited that he got to ride!

And here’s our picture with Santa (and Noah’s cousins). He wasn’t too sure about Santa, but at least he didn’t cry! He told Santa that he wanted a Chuggington for Christmas. Santa told him to be sure to leave him some milk and cookies on Christmas Eve and ever since then, Noah has thought that Santa was leaving HIM milk and cookies! Haha!

My niece also had her 5th birthday party at All Fired Up! Noah had never been there and I just knew he would love it!

And he did! Anytime there is cake and ice cream, Noah has a good time! :)

We also tried out a new hair cut place for kids. Noah got to ride Thomas the Train and watch a Diego movie all while getting his hair cut!

He also had a PJ (Praise Jesus) Party at church! Notice the Lightning McQueen shoes. He would wear them everywhere if I would let him.

And then there’s Christmas morning! Noah was so excited with what Santa Claus brought him that we literally had to FORCE him to open his presents from us!

One of his favorite toys is his new guitar!

Another favorite is his new bicycle! Luckily we don’t have much carpet in the new house so he can just ride around inside!

A few more favorites are his Home Depot tools/work bench (he loves doing anything Brad does), his Batcave and his Chuggington train set!

Christmas was so fun this year! Noah is an expert at unwrapping presents now!

We spent Christmas morning at our house with my family and that afternoon with Brad’s family. And Noah said that since it was Jesus’s birthday, we had to have some cake!

I hope yall had a Merry Christmas, too!

Our Christmas card!

 

For all my bloggy friends!

Going Gluten Free

The day before 12-12-12

While Pinteresting this morning, I stumbled onto a blog of a girl that decided to eat gluten-free. Just out of curiosity, I read the story of why she decided to make the change. She has rheumatoid arthritis and takes Plaquenil and Prednisone. (Umm…HELLO! That’s me!) And after talking to some friends, she thought that going gluten-free would help with her joint pain and inflammation. And as it turns out, after a year of being on the diet, she is pain free!

So I’ve decided that maybe there really is something to this whole ‘gluten-free’ craze. So I figure, what can it hurt? Let’s do this!

First things first. After MUCH research, I find that my beloved Diet Mountain Dew is gluten free! Oh happy day!

The problem with trying to eat gluten-free is that it’s hard to figure out if something has gluten in it or not. It’s not like counting calories where you can just look at the label. It doesn’t list ‘gluten’ in the ingredients list on a food. Frustrating. Time consuming. Not to mention everyone recommends cooking most of your food. From scratch. I don’t cook people. I can microwave like nobody’s business, but when it comes to actually putting ingredients in something and stirring it or whatever, I’m out. So this new journey is going to be VERY difficult for me.

I plan on spending the rest of my day researching and then tomorrow, I will start the GF diet!

Day One 12-13-12

I woke up this morning with great confidence that I can tackle this beast! While also making sure everything I eat is gluten free, I am also trying to stay under 1500 calories a day. I’m not going to be too strict on myself with the calorie counting until January though, just so I have some time to figure out the whole gluten situation!

Also, I am going to keep track of my pain levels so that I have a reference to look back on and see if I can tell a difference.

Pain: I woke up with moderate-severe pain in my right shoulder and right thumb. Hands and feet were swollen. Slight pain in my feet and hands. No pain meds taken. By 9am, pain level is only slight.

Breakfast: Sugarfree Red Bull (15 calories), a Promax Fit ‘n Crisp protein bar (140 calories), water

Lunch: Chipotle Burrito Bowl with chicken, white rice, tomato salsa, cheese, lettuce, sour cream (605 calories, water

Afternoon snack: Diet Mt Dew (0 calories), small banana (89 calories)

*After my banana, I wanted something crunchy, like pretzels or something-which have gluten in them. So I went to Manna Grocery (local hippie, specialty grocery store) and loaded up in the gluten-free aisle. Score!

2^nd afternoon snack: Glutino Gluten Free Pretzel Twists (70 calories) (They smelled a little funny, but tasted almost like the real deal!)

Dinner: Chick-fil-A Chargrilled and Fruit Salad with Light Italian dressing (245 calories), Annie’s Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks (70 calories)(yummy!), Glutino Gluten Free Breakfast Bar (140 calories)(These are freakin delicious!!)

Total Caloric Intake: 1374

Day Two – 12-14-12

Pain: Better than yesterday. I woke up with moderate pain in my right shoulder and moderate pain in my feet and legs. As of 7:30am, all pain is now slight except in my feet.

Breakfast: Glutino Gluten Free Breakfast Bar (140 calories), coffee with 1 tbsp Coffeemate liquid hazelnut creamer (25 calories), Sugar free Red Bull (15 calories)

Lunch: Logan’s Roadhouse Mesquite Wood-Grilled Shrimp Skewers (with no rice)(193 calories), Side salad with Italian dressing and no bacon bits or croutons (120 calories), water

I looked up online before we went that they will give you an updated gluten-free menu in the restaurant if you ask. The server was very friendly about it! The dish was served with cocktail sauce. I tried doing a quick google search on my phone to see if it was GF. I couldn’t find anything, but I ate it anyway. :/ The server brought the salad to me with croutons on it. Picking croutons off a salad is a big no-no for people with gluten sensitivity, but I felt like I was already asking for a lot of special treatment, so instead of sending it back, I just picked the croutons off. It’s only my 2^nd day…I’m taking baby steps! J But I am learning that it’s hard to eat out GF and not feel like a needy customer.

Afternoon snack: Tree of Life GF chocolate chip cookie (100 calories)(Not super tasty, but satisfied my craving.) water

Dinner: Longhorn Flo’s Filet 7 oz (430 calories), mashed potatoes (340 calories), water

Total Caloric Intake: 1363

I didn’t write down anything for Saturday and Sunday, but I still kept to the diet. I even turned down birthday cake and sopapilla cheesecake this weekend! I cooked some bbq chicken in the crockpot this weekend that was divine! The hubs was begging me to cook it again sometime this week! I will post that recipe later!

So far, it seems the only time I have trouble is when I’m not prepared. We had some parties to go to this past weekend and I did fabulously because I took some snacks with me that I knew were GF. But for dinner Saturday night, I was already hungry before I knew what I was going to eat. I tried looking up some foods that I had, but I couldn’t find definite information on. I was pretty sure they were GF, so I just ate them anyway. That’s something I have to work on. So in trying to be better prepared, last night I searched the internet and came up with a menu plan for the week. That way, I already know what we’ll be having and I’ll already know that it’s safe to eat!

Today, Day 5, it’s rainy and yuck outside. Normally, those are the kind of days that make me hurt the most. My hands are swollen today, but I don’t really have any pain! I don’t know if it’s just coincidence or not, but seems like pretty good evidence to me that this is working. Time will tell!

We moved!

The Friday night before the big move, Brad and I wanted to take some clothes and pictures over to the new house so we got to enjoy our very first dinner in the new house that night!

Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early. Our fabulous friends came over and it only took us three trips to get everything!

Our cat, Sipsey, had only ridden in a car once before so she freaked her freak!

I was trying to get a picture of Sipsey riding on my shoulder. Look at Noah cheesing in the background!

I took Sipsey and Bella to the new house during the first trip. When we got back to the house after the second trip, Sipsey was no where to be found and we haven’t seen her since! :( I guess she decided she would go all Homeward Bound and headed south to the old house? We miss her!

So we are all moved in and mostly unpacked. The only Christmas decorations we have up are the tree and a door hanger on the front door! I just felt so overwhelmed with the boxes everywhere that I decided I wouldn’t add more clutter to the mix this year. And hopefully we can get our living room tv mounted to the wall tonight so we can hang our stockings on the mantel!

We absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE our new home!