Sunday, January 27, 2013

I am reclaiming me.

       On any given day if you show up at my house unannounced I will have on my sweatpants that are getting a little too big, my husband’s shirt which is about 5 sizes too big, my hair pulled back mostly from the night before maybe washed maybe not, and most certainly no makeup. When I went out I would put on my one good pair of jeans and an old tee-shirt that I grabbed out of my dresser. I was stuck in the mommy rut.

      I want my children, especially Baby Girl, to know that just because you have children you shouldn’t disappear. I love my children more than anything, but I can’t let myself become only their mom. It’s taken four months for me to realize that I was slowly disappearing into being only Mommi to Lime and Baby Girl. I wasn’t my husband’s wife or the women who likes to do crafts and sew. All I felt like was Mommi; my days were consumed with potty training, feeding, and nap times and with the fun things (for the kiddos) in-between.

     With reclaiming me I am not saying that I am not a Mommi, I am saying that I love my children, they will ALWAYS come first, but I am still going to make time for myself. I am going “escape” to more places than just the grocery store, I will venture out with a good book, or most likely a gossip magazine and drink a coffee; if I’m lucky I will be with a friend instead and we can catch up. Now instead of changing out of my “home uniform” into my “going out” clothes I am going to take the time to not only make sure my children look their best, I am too. I will wear makeup, my hair will be styled, (I made sure of that by cutting off over 7 inches), my clothes will nice and spit of free, and once Baby Girl is out of her “I’m going to pull on everything, because I can” stage I will wear earrings and a necklace. I will have times that I will allow myself to wear my sweats; it will not be an all-day event.

      I will finally take the time to make time for myself.  

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Homemade


     As I just put my homemade lasagna with my homemade pasta sauce in the oven, I started thinking that this isn't normal in every home.

       I choose to make 90% of my meals myself. I don’t like not knowing what exactly is in my food. Yes, it takes more time to make a meal from scratch. However knowing what exactly I am eating and putting into the bodies of my children and husband is a wonderful feeling. Besides it tastes so much better. I am not saying that I made the noodles and processed the cheese. I would like to learn how to make my own noodles maybe when the kiddos are older.  
      Before I got pregnant my husband and I ate six things, Tacos with a bag mix of seasoning, pizza which was frozen, stir fry from a bag, some type of pasta, chicken and broccoli casserole, some type of baked chicken and mac and cheese.  Things got very bland and we were gaining weight faster than I would have liked. I changed things up and instead of going to the freezer selections I did a little research and learned that I can make my own “freezer meals”, pizza crust, even  taco seasonings. This changed my life and waist line. I have always enjoyed cooking and why not make things fresh; I was confused as to why I NEVER thought of doing this before I got pregnant. Maybe it was because I was “baking” a new life or that I could barely eat anything, either way I’m glad I did.
      So I started cooking homemade meals and the hubs and I both started to feel better and enjoyed eating our meals, they weren’t loaded with salt, or sugar, or foods that we would pick around. They were tailored to what we liked to eat, not the masses. It’s nice to know that NO food is gone to waste, unless our eyes are bigger than our stomachs.  I also found that with a little practice that foods don’t have to take longer than what “convenient boxed/bags” foods do, at least not much longer. I make an amazing, (yes I feel confident to say amazing) bacon mac and cheese. Made with fresh cheeses, (three) bacon, green onions, and some noodles. Guess what it takes 30 minutes and ONE pot. No draining needed.
      When it was time to think about food for Lime, okay I will be real. When I was pregnant with Lime and thought about his first foods, it only made sense that I would make his food too. One of the simplest things I have EVER made. Steam, puree, done, I could make him meals for an entire month in less than two hours including clean up. I did eventually get a nifty baby food cooker from my Mother-in-law who witnessed the process of cooking for him. This baby does EVERYTHING! I was able to make food fresh a few times a week in less than 30 minutes and spend less than jarred baby food. I did get lazy one day and thought I’ll just go get him some food. When I tried to feed him he wanted nothing to do with it. He ended up eating rice cereal because of the nastiness. He is also (or was) a great eater. He is getting back on track with eating everything; the poor guy had a rough time and only wanted foods he knew. My son will eat sushi, any type of veggie, and the “fancy” cheeses. Try to give him a hot dog or a chicken nugget he wants nothing to do with it. I credit that to introducing him to “non-kid” foods early. He was about a year old eating sushi and loved it. (Think more of a veggie roll, or chicken teriyaki)
      Now that we are thinking of Baby Girl eating “real” foods in the coming months I am getting a jump start,  so when she is ready so are we. I already have some sweet potatoes in the freezer, and I am thinking of what seasonings she will like once she has had her taste of different foods. That’s another thing with homemade baby foods. You won’t find any with seasoning in store bought jarred baby foods, they are plain and bland. Even with the benefits of different seasonings, such as Ginger, GREAT for digestion.  And who doesn’t love cinnamon with apples? Or who wants to eat something out of a jar that could be made simply at home?  
      I love that I am able to make healthy flavorful meals for my family and know that I am not loading them up on sodium or things I can’t pronounce even sound out in my head. Yes, I am one of “those” people, the ones that cook mostly healthy fresh meals. In the past three years, I have completely changed my way of cooking. I now make our " six meals" homemade not from a bag or box, and other than veggies and fruits for smoothies, okay Ice cream too ( we all have our weaknesses) I can skip over the frozen section at the grocery store. 
      I am proud to say that the last time I cooked a frozen meal was when I first moved into my house and didn’t have pots or pans.  As I smell my lasagna cooking (smelling amazing) I am so glad that I take the time to do this and I am able to do this.  As the hubs says I take the time to keep him winterized and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Friday, January 4, 2013

My little lime came.

It all started with a trip to Orlando. When my husband had a chance to take a class there we jumped on it. After a rough year we needed to get away, to escape our lives and small town if you will. While my husband was in class I spent my days at the pool or sleeping in. When my husband was finished for the day, we took in the “sights” went shopping, and ate at some amazing places.  It was a great trip and was just what we needed. We almost fully forgot everything going on back home. I say almost because while we were enjoying the sun, we got the call saying that we had 45 days to move out of our rental because the house had sold.
Once we got back to real life, I was stressed with trying to find a house, in a small town it’s really hard to find a year round rental, everyone does summer rentals and wouldn’t even think about it. I wrote off the extreme tiredness and nauseous feelings as being overly stressed and getting back to the grind. You can imagine my excitement as that “time” came and went, still I didn’t take a test. That wasn’t until two weeks later.
When I took the test I was “super” pregnant, the positive line showed up before the control line did. I knew Lime was a keeper and was satisfied with just one test, my husband made me take another and I didn’t have “enough” in me and barely got any on the stick. Still “super’ positive.
With less than three weeks left to move out, things started falling into place, I was pregnant and we found a place to move to. The next three weeks are a blur, packing, sleeping, working, moving, unpacking, more sleeping, and making myself eat. It all went by really fast and I am grateful it did.
At thirty-four weeks Lime wanted to come and party, I had a nice little talk with him and he stayed in. everything was great for the next two weeks, then on my way to my thirty six week appointment I got into a car accident, I was for sure Lime would come and  be here for Christmas. NOPE! He really listened to our talk and held strong and stayed in for another three weeks! I believe he only came at thirty nine weeks because there were talks of an “eviction” of some sorts. Being a gestational diabetic and knowing I was going to have a big baby the doctors were scared to let me go past forty weeks.
It might also have something to do with the plans we had to get everything perfect, my husband being at work for the night, fat kid hot dogs (smothered in cheese and Jalapenos) but I really think it’s because I changed the sheets to my favorite set. Either way he wanted to party and that’s just what he did.
My sweet boy is going to be TWO this month and I can’t fathom it. I feel like the time has flown by with a blink he has grown from the sweet newborn that I would hold for hours just staring at into the hilarious, sweet, loving, pirate of little boy, sorry correction, big boy. I can’t imagine my life without him and I remember my life before him,  but in reality my life really started the second I heard his cry.