Wordless Wednesday

The title is a lie. But this picture demands words:

All of LittleMiss' diapers come from the Honest Company. They are amazing! Very absorbent, chemical free AND when you order diapers the donate diapers to a Family in need. 

Well for her new diapers, not only did Flavio hand pick them for me, but I managed to order her some lumber jack ones!! 

Yeah. I'm awesome. 

{Please take a look at The Honest Company through the link on the left hand side if the screen. They have amazing products :) not JUST for babies )

'I work out!'

Hopefully that song is stuck in your head ;)

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I had a fantastic hippy time Sunday hiking with LittleMiss and Miss Barr, which inspired me to really get going with getting back in the gym. :)

Our hike was four miles of ups and down, twist and turns. Thank God no wild animals wanted to join us :) I honestly was worried we would meet a mountain loin or a bear or snake. The only wild life we ran into: an armadillo {aka living road kill ;) 

I'm hoping to go every Sunday, because I'm a little bit too chicken to go alone, I really really hope I can convince someone to come with me when Miss Barr is unavailable. :( 

The hike really reawakened my love of working out :) the soreness of my muscles, the deep breaths of air that expanded my lungs and the sense of joy was superb. Not to mention the scenery was beautiful. :) 

So Monday I very happily went to the gym to do cardio. I love cardio :)

This a picture after my hour of treadmill(running intervals) and stearmaster. I was much sweatier than I look! 

As you can tell from today's apparel, I don't care what I look like AT the gym because I am there to feel better about myself.

 Last year I actually worked for a gym, so it became even more of a pet peeve to see all the girls come in looking for a husband (cutesy work out clothes, make-up, nails and hair done). I have yet to know what my weight is, and I'm not really worried about it. Life isn't about that number on the scale, it's about how you feel. 

Do you feel healthy?

Do you feel confident?

Do you feel happy?

I care more about how my clothes feel than what the scale says. Besides, muscle ways more than fat. True story, remember it. I'm very thankful that working out is also bringing my appetite (for healthy foods) back. 

A Quick Weekend {Recap}

My weekend was actually pretty entertaining. Well I don't really remember Saturday, I think I had a five hour nap and watched Harry Potter. But don't quote me ;)

Remember that promising romance? Canceled. 

Hard core canceled. 

Sunday was pretty great! Went on a four mile hike

That's right LittleMiss went to. Definitely got a good work out in from carrying her. It was so much fun to walk, talk and just see nature. Also dual burning calories was great(hiking AND breast feeding, talk about hippy moment) 

Then the three of us went to another friends house for a birthday party for her youngest! It was fun! And there was the best carrot cake I had ever had in my life.  It was home made, moist, sweet and not overly excessive carrot. It was very difficult for me to only have one piece :(

A fun work meeting took place, after LittleMiss had a screaming bloody murder break down. :/

Out of no where while returning to the CR she started crying like someone had pinched her hard enough to bleed. Miss Barr pulled over so I could soothe the little one, but we drove less than a quarter mile before she was screaming again. We couldn't figure out what was wrong so I stayed in the backseat trying to entertain her, only that didn't last for long. Thankfully she wasn't too bad while Miss Barr was watching her for my work meeting :)

Oh and my parents got a new awesome fridge :)

How was your weekend lovelies?

More MommyMilk!!

Woo hoo! Day two and there is already a slight increase! Thank you God! While it's not a lot, it still makes me happy! This jar is full to the rim with a little extra going into another jar :)

Saturday smiles

As you can see her BooBoo is gone. :)

Thank God :)

It actually healed really quickly and really well, probably two or three days ago. Now she just has a little red mark where there will be a 'scar' for a few months. 

Gettin Serious about Health

Since I'm looking at working full time and returning to school, I have to get very seriously into the habit of cleaning right after doing whatever and eating healthy. I don't want to turn into a balloon. :(

Not just for my health reasons are those things important to me (food, not cleaning I'm not that messy :/ ), but also for LittleMiss. I may have mentioned this in prior post, but when I brace very stressed my breast milk supply dropped tremendously. Then I was blessed with a job that allowed me to have LittleMiss with me. My stocked supply has become nonexistent, very stressful. But I'm working on controlling that stress so it doesn't affect my building up a supply. 

That is just over an ounce. Pumped from only one side, while LittleMiss was nursing the other side. slightly disheartening. When my supply first came in it was ridiculously excessive. 

Before giving birth to LittleMiss I did tons of research on breast milk so that I wouldn't have to be so in the dark later on, and I'm glad I did. Yesterday I asked a few moms for their tips and tricks so I would hear real stories from local ladies. It's common sense that I need to eat, but because I battle anorexia, it's also something that I easily forget. 

Nursing mothers need 500more calories in their diet. 

Healthy calories tend to be best. 

Nursing mothers need to drink water like it's going out of style. 

When you are dehydrated, your baby is dehydrated. 

Coconut oil can help fatten your Breastmilk up. 

So while at work this morning I had one of our 'everything' bagels (has poppy seeds and other seeds on top) with a bit of coconut oil instead of butter and just a few dashes of cinnamon. It was tasty :)

Upon returning home I made a cup of nursing tea, with a tablespoon of Brewers Yeast. Then I made this deliciousness. 

Grapefruit and oatmeal :)

Oatmeal helps nursing mother produce milk. 

((So get ready for a whole lotta oatmeal recipes.))

I cut the grapefruit in half, broiling one side with just a bit of brown sugar on top. 

The other half I went ahead and put the raw meat in to my oatmeal with about a fourth of a teaspoon of agave syrup. 

 

Because I need the calories I used 2% milk. Coconut milk is my favorite, or goats milk, or raw cows milk. You can use what ever you want. :)

I would have rather had stevia or raw sugar but oh well!

Once the broiled side of the grapefruit was finished being cooked I scraped the warm meat into the bowl as well. 

It was tasty!! But then again I love grapefruit anyways :)

Even LittleMiss was eyeing my breakfast. 

Do you have any favorite oatmeal recipes?

Come Little Children, Let Me introduce you to Aldis

Hopefully you have an Aldis in your area, or maybe you can find the fantastic equivalent of one. 

Sadly I have been relatively unable to buy groceries for a little while. Little time and even littler money. Now that I am receiving child support I was able to go to the grocer, and starting tomorrow I'll be working out again. Id like to think that most if the New Years resolution folks will be gone. Here's to hoping I'm right ;)

Anyways, I had been hearing rumors that Aldis had started carrying a few organic items, so I was truly hoping that they would still have a few when I went today. While there wasn't a lot, there was quite a lot more than I expected!! Not only are they carrying organic fruits and veggies, they also have organic snacks and sauces. 

(I didn't think to take any pictures at the store, I was attempting to keep LittleMiss entertained.)

Avocados.                   Asparagus

Green beans.              Edemame

Grapefruit (.29¢).        Hummus

Lime.                            Broccoli

Celery                          Mango

Baby Potobellos.        Sweet peppers

Lettuse.                       Lunch turkey

Zucchini.                         Carrots

Squash.              Organic baby carrots

Organic honey.            Radishes 

Organic agave.          Green peppers

Kamalative olives.       Roma Tomatoes

Kiwi.                            Strawberries 

Red pepper humus

Organic bananas (.69¢ I think)

(Huge) red potatoes (.99¢)

Navel Oranges

Gala apples ($2.99)

Pears

Organic spinach ($2.49)

For all if that I paid just over $80, tax included. So many beautiful colors, so fresh and crunchy and tasty. To be honest almost all of this will become food for LittleMiss, a good portion will be blended to be her solids and the rest of it I will eat and turn into milk ;)

Aldis doesn't price match or accept coupons; yes sometimes you can find almost the same product at another store for a bit cheaper but that's rare. 

(Oh, please pay no mind to the mess in the back of the pictures)

I didn't see any gluten free products, aside from the hummus and veggies, but maybe if there is a big enough request they will start carrying that as well. 

Any good deals that you've found and loved?

Fun way to start off a Saturday

Being a baker I wake up anywhere from 330AM to 4AM. I haven't had a day off in a little while so I asked Kunkle if he could work my shift this morning so that I could catch some sleep and do some organizing. Well I arrived at my mothers just before seven and passed out on the couch with in 20minutes. 

As in I was gone. Sitting up.  When henny started crying because she was hungry I woke up with a little crick in my neck. 

For those of you with-out children you will  learn that when a wee one falls asleep in the car seat, you leave them asleep in the car seat. Well I mean you bring the car seat inside but still. 

The thought of going down stairs and getting in to an actual bed fluttered through my mind, so did the fact that it's much colder down there. LittleMiss and I fell back asleep on the couch until five o'clock when my hip started to hurt. Not to mentions body was all "why we sleepin' yo?! Why aren't we bakeing?!" Trying to convince my body that I could sleep an extra two hours, I had the brilliant idea that maybe my bed coud seal the deal and I would find myself in snooze-ville in no time. 

Until the unthinkable happened:

I fell down the stairs. 

While holding LittleMiss. 

She's okay though! Thank GOD!! I don't know how I fell but all I could think about was making sure she was okay and safe. Pretty sure I cried harder and longer than she did. Not from pain (although I have realized  I will have a nice bruise on my rear) but from feeling so terrible. 

My big girl if fine though, she has a nice shiner but she's just fine. 

I have not gone back to sleep or attempted to walk down stairs with her again. 

{Photo Friday}

My sleeping beauty. 

Who sometimes snores. 

I still need to upload her four and five month posts. :/ terrible mommy slacker 

By the way feel free to follow me on Instagram! 

A Bloggyful Dare

And a major fail.

So I have joined a fun site, that is hosting a fun dare, the Bloggy Moms Blog Dare. Now the goal is to write a post at least once a day every day. Obviously I have failed. It stinks I am sorry, but I can explain. I am still attempting to find a set place to live. While I do have my mothers house, the distance and what I am spending in gas are becoming huge counterweights to what  I am (not) saving.  I do have an option that I am going to be looking into on Sunday. Its actually a previous roommate of mine; I use to watch her little ones long before I became pregnant. It would be a bit of a win win situation for the both of us.

Again I'm not very excited, but in a sense I am. I will be saving quite a bit, but again I will have a roommate or three (kids included).

Woops back to the main subject! My mum doesn't have internet and my hours tend to be a little bit off right now. While I do try to finish and publish posts from my phone, that is also a bit hard when I am constantly holding LittleMiss, especially since she loves holding hands lately. I have several posts to catch up on and no worries I absolutely will!!

So todays prompt starts off as...

'I' Saw that coming!!
Wow I there are so many things I could write about using that prompt!!!

I suppose I will go with something a bit easy. A bit light.

Actually let's go with something a little bit different. What I didn't see coming. 

Remember Peacock? LittleMiss' biological father? We met last week. I didn't expect him to agree to meeting with me, I didn't expect him to agree to everything I was asking. Neither did I expect him to ask questions about LittleMiss. Nor did I expect it to seem like there actually is a little part of him that actually cares. I also didn't see how civil we would be able to act. 

But I am thankful. 

It's not easy for me to ask for his help, but I want to be able to spend time with and enjoy LittleMiss. Not have to work three jobs, barely ever see her, just to support her. It is going to be a while before either of us are ready for him to meet LittleMiss, but he is there as far on to the sidelines as you can possibly get. 

(This was suppose to post last night :[ )

Saturday Smiles

She loves when I swipe my hair in her face, tickling her with. 

What will my 2014 hold?

I really can't say for sure, but I am so excited!

Of the things that I can (mostly) control, I will be doin much much more home cooking, in attempts to remove unhealthy foods from my diet. The plan is to make 90% of foods are made at home. 

I'm going to be doing lots of fantastic artsy nonsense; painting, sewing, knitting, crocheting, and might even attempt some clay work or screen printing. Maybe I'll actually make a dollar or two on etsy! 

Hopefully I will even be able to finish one of my books by April. By that I mean reading a book and hopefully finishing one of the ones I have been writing. Oh how I miss reading. :( I have several books on my 'kindle app' for my phone, as well as the 'goodreads app', only it is not the same as a real paper book. The book smell isn't there, the joy of turning a page and the crinkle of that page in between your fingers. Hopefully I'll be able to coax myself into liking them until LittleMiss is older and I can again read the paper books!

I may have mentioned this before but I will be starting college again next semester. Right now I'm doing what I can to find scholarships and assistants for single parents(I'll keep you up to date with that as well). I'm also having to figure which of the two major colleges in my area will be best for what I am wanting to do; High School English Education.

I hope your ready for lots and lots of posts on Mommyhood, (a possible relationship), healthy recipes, work outs and work out updates, pictures! So many pictures are going to be posted. 

I can only imagine

What it's like to have your baby daddy around. 

Too gangster? 

Sorry how about, I can only imagine what it's like to be a part of a two parent household. 

Honestly though this is something I thought about yesterday while carrying LittleMiss up the stairs of my short terrm home. Something beautiful, perhaps? With small sprinkles of stress? Imaging such a scenario isn't hard to do, it's in all the movies, and tv shows. But what is it like in real life?

I know some fantastic married couples with children, and most are role models of what I would like my marriage to look like. But that's not something I grew up with. 

Sadly my parents seperated and divorced while I was young, before two is what I gather from the pictures. My dad's girlfriends never really liked me for long. My mom didn't have a lot of good or long term boyfriends until my step dad came along, but at first that was even rocky. 

I've been told many a time that 'at least I didn't have to fight over a name, or what the nursery would be like.' True all very true, but should I be lucky enough to find a man who  (first) loves God, my daughter and my self I will love every minute of fighting over our child's name(should we have any). But I won't tell him that ;)

I'm not wanting pitty, or words of encouragement. I just wanted to share my thoughts. I know perfectly well one day God will send someone for LittleMiss and I. 

A quick New Years Recap

I love glitter.

I love sparkles.

& I really wish that my New Years had had more of it. Well any of it really! Hopefully next year will have some shine {and a few holidays in between}. Either way I really did have fun New Years Eve!

Okay, I didn't look that good at the end of night but that is how I looked at midnight.

This beautiful gal was able to land us tickets to the Crystal Bridges night of fun. Besides some tasty food, a {great} pear cocktail, and what could have been lots of free drinks, there were not many people. More older than younger actually. And it was very awkward when grannies started grinding. Not to mention my feet were killing me from my high heels. We went down to get our coats, ran across some fun items for the Crystal Bridge attendees.

See that? It's not part of a car, a UFO or a flash light. It is a fun lighted barrette Miss Barr and I made.

Look close you can barely see the outline of her smiling face. We ran home just before eleven, I threw on jeans and favorite sweater {pictured above}and some tenni-shoes. Let me tell you, the shoes were a beautiful choice!! Then we quickly headed to Dickson, where I saw so many fantastic people I hadn't seen for a year.

The two guys on the right were my favorite strangers that night, I never said a word and only gazed upon them for a meager 10minutes. Why were they my favorite? Because of the beards, the hair, and the casual confidence.

The night was really fun, tons of laughter.

 

Ohmygosh did I miss this kid New Years Night!

I ended up staying awake 24hours. Once Miss Barr and I got home at 4AM, I crashed into bed only to wake up at 10AM, missing LittleMiss like crazy. I laid in bed a few moments trying to decide if I wanted to actually get dressed or throw on a pair of shorts. The shorts won out. It was fantastic to see her smile as I walked in the door.

Oh the New Year

Oh the New Year and the promises it brings. Oh things to come, things to leave behind, and the goals to reach. 

I am actually very excited about what 2014 has in store! I'm not a big fan of writing resolutions but I can definitely give it a shot ;)

My plans are:

*Gain a better knowledge of theology/Bible

*Cut out processed foods

*for the most part cut out sugar, with my job I can't cut it out entirely

*Gym time, at least four times a week

*re-set up savings accounts

*finish a book {writing and reading}

Really that's about it. Not exciting at all haha but I will be attending college again this summer. I am excited about that!

What are your resolutions??