The crazy Vegan diet

I don't have any pictures for this post at he moment... I just wanted to chat about my vegan experience this month. I started this "thing" a little over three weeks ago, and let me just say, I feel amazing.
I have "cheated" here and there, but I did not stray very far or very often. (although, I did not give up chocolate this whole time!) The course that I signed up through has provided some fantastic recipes and information that I really find quite appealing and the results are pretty nice too.

I have lost about 5 lbs in these 3 weeks, which really isn't surprising to me at all. I have upped my running and changed my diet, which is a no brainier for weight loss. But it is the way I feel too. I feel like I have more energy, and feel all around, MORE healthy from the inside, out.

I have been surprised with how delicious a lot of the recipes are, and KNOW that I will continue to use them (and try to convince Tyler that meat is not necessary at every meal!) I just got finished watching the documentary Forks Over Knives. So much of the information, I already agreed with, but some great added knowledge on my part too. It really emphasizes a plant based diet, and I'm starting to agree wholeheartedly. But I am ready to compromise too.

Tyler and I had a conversation about our meal planning just today and how to budget a bit better for it. We came up with the idea of eating the same basics Monday through Friday, and a change up on the weekends. So I think my compromise will be eating vegan-ish on the weekdays, and get our meat fix on the weekends with good cuts of meat. If you take a general approach, saying Monday will be spaghetti, Tuesday will be tacos, Wednesday will be oatmeal, Thursday will be beans and rice and Friday will be pizza, and then just get creative weekly with diffent variations, I think this could work very well. And make it easier on me for menu planning! Then on the weekends have some wild Alaskan salmon on Saturday and a BBQ chicken salad on Sunday... Everyone should be happy, right?

You know who I really wish would give this "diet" a try? My parents. Mom and Dad, come stay with. Us for a m onto, and see how/if this changes anything for you.... If it does, GREAT! If it doesn't, well, you could cross it off your list! I worry about your guys' health on a daily basis. And I truly believe you would benefit from a diet change. Love you guys!

So there is my ramblings... Hope I haven't scared any of you. Are you going to look at your current diet a bit harder now? Do you feel good every day? Do you want a change? I have a few recipes I could pass on to get you started! Like blueberry breakfast muffins... And an avocado and white bean wrap. An amazing peanut sauce.
Oh, and I ran 5 miles yesterday, with a smile on my face, and felt FANTASTIC! That book i read, Born to Run, made such an impact on me. Today I took my first Texas yoga class, and really enjoyed it.

My baby is 6 months old!

I cannot believe that Soren in already 6 months old! He is just getting so big. Already he is trying to crawl, it is amazing... but he has almost no interest in sitting up. Well, to each there own, right? He LOVES to eat baby food. So far, I think his favorite might be either carrots or banana yogurt... he finishes jars of food, which none of the previous three EVER did, even when they were older! Kellen had such a gag reflex, that he barely touched baby food until he was much older. But I am making a bit here and there with veggies and fruits we have around the house... so the freezer is getting stocked.

On some other notes:: 

Our garden is growing like crazy! I will add some pictures soon of that. 

Tyler and I are going for our first date night tonight in a long while... maybe since before Soren was born?! Wow that is a long time! 

I have decided to take a break from the social media (really, Facebook) because of a plethora of reasons; it is a time waster, do I really need to know what so and so was doing every day?, and it is making me crazy, and I mean seriously crazy. So I will share my blogposts on there so that my family knows when I blog, but other than that, I really plan on NOT being on there for a good long while. If you have comments about the blog, make sure to leave them here, as I will not be checking facebook for comments either. 

I have also decided to train for a Tough Mudder! It will be in Austin in October, and I am so excited!!! A couple of my military friends are going to join me, and Tyler will be too! Although I am sure he is going to leave me in the dust!

Here is pictures in Dallas when Tyler ran it last weekend. He is in a picture about halfway through the bunch at the finish line (there is a big black blow up thing in the background saying TOUGH) He said he had a great time, and it looked like a lot of fun!

Thanks, and I hope everyone has a GREAT holiday weekend.

A container garden

We decided to make a garden this year, right after we found out we were staying part of the summer here. with inspiration from both Pinterest and the Austin getaway, this is what we came up with:: a pallet planter for some greenery and a livestock water tub for our veggies!

Here in military housing, you can not just plant a garden, so we decided to buy the container so it can move with us, hopefully :)

The kids had great fun helping fill the tubs, as you can imagine. The pallet was a little tougher than imagined because the dirt kept falling out. A friend suggested using chicken wire to help with this.... but you first reposition the boards in front to how you want them, then staple landscaping fabric to the back and bottom... I LOVE it!

Sleep interrupted

Sleep.
Something everyone needs.
Something that tends to elude me at every corner.
First off, having four kids means you get less sleep. I know that. There is always one with... something; sickness, nightmares, thirst, hunger, you name it. But for the last six months I have been woken every 2 hours by a sweet little babe who INSISTS he's starving! Every two hours, which means after feeding him and getting myself back to sleep, I might get an hour or hour and a half. Might.
Well, we moved him to his crib recently because we were waking him up with every move (I'm talking just lifting the blankets). But he hates his crib and hasn't learned that he can fall asleep on his own without my boob in his mouth! And he still wakes up every two hours on average. The other night I went to bed at 10pm, got up at 7am. Between those NINE precious hours, I got roughly 4.5 hrs of sleep that was interrupted exactly 7 times (unless I was dreaming!!). This seems like a nightly occurrence for us. Sadly.
You would think we had experience. Turns out; no. But I do have a lot of excuses and books on the subject. Ha! Oh, sleep. I dream about you constantly. My eyes ache I'm so tired.

UPDATE::
After reading two different parenting/sleep books, I made up my mind and decided to teach Soren a very valuable lesson: How to sleep on his own.
First book, Bringing Home BeBe. This is my new favorite parenting book. Not that I don't already know a little something about parenting, but one thing I have always had is a bit of guilt. Guilt over not being good enough as a mama to my four crazy kids. For some reason this book helped with that. It has some great advice, no matter what country you live in :)
Second book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child. At first, this book just confused me, which I think was because my lack of sleep altered state. I couldn't figure out WHAT the plan of action was. Then I read just the section I needed to, and voila, I got it! We have used this method the last two nights, and there is a DRASTIC change in the way the night goes... he goes to bed between 7 and 8pm, (cries minimally) wakes up between 12=1am to nurse, back to sleep until 4 or 5am, nurses and sleeps until 7 or 8am. FANTASTIC!!
Anyways, I am on the mend... our whole house is. Sleep is an amazing thing.

A couple glimpses into our living space

So in the move, we changed up a couple things. The biggest one is that we chose not to have the TV downstairs in the living room/family room area. This has been a huge positive change for us. No longer do I get stuck watching a stupid show or have the kids begging to watch something... which leads me to another change... we decided no cable for us. We did however order Netflix and get movies from the library on a weekly basis. The kids get to watch a movie after lunch, while I nap with Kellen or get a project done. This is also a huge improvement. I cannot say enough good things about it. I am such a fan.

The kids have their little corner of the area downstairs, behind the couches. We decided to put up the teepee as a reading corner and that has also worked out fabulous. Plus, it looks adorable. With their books, which was an ongoing battle with me, we decided to pack up most of them, and do a rotating library for them. Each week they pick out a couple books for upstairs and a couple for downstairs, we put them in their baskets and it makes cleanup so much easier! Plus, they really get to appreciate certain books for the whole week, and they seem to really dig it. I was so skeptical of putting the books away, but it has created a lovely amount of peace for the family.

Our downstairs really has become a favorite place to be (maybe because it is cooler?) and I really enjoy the decor we have chosen. We didn't really mean to go with the red and white and blue, but it seems to work! Plus, I guess we are pretty patriotic.

Well, I am off to nap. Maybe.

Little crafters

This is what the kids do when I sew or work on a project. They take my scraps and their little kid scissors and cut away and then recently, they added in the pretend sewing on my old machine. It is so cute to see what they make! I like that I can influence them on their future(?) hobbies. Even Colton says he want to learn how to sew when he gets bigger.

The Green Smoothie Challenge is going very well. I have had at least one big glass of a green concoction every day, starting last Monday. I feel like I might have more energy, but it is hard to tell with the ups and downs of 7 week old (can you believe he is 7 weeks old?!) and sleep! I usually have the smoothies for breakfast, lunch, or a pre-bedtime snack... yummy! usually. I made one with collard greens, not sure why, but it tasted HORRIBLE! I choked it down but YUCK! Not recommended!

Happy Happy Earth Day!

Imagine Childhood, one of my favorite shops is having a giveaway on their blog today! Some amazing stuff... go check it out! they are also offering 10% off until April 26th, and they have some great items.

Happy Earth day everyone! I am continuing the Green Smoothie Challenge, and today's was actually DELICIOUS! Yesterdays was NOT very delicious, so I was a little disheartened (TIP:: do not use too much cilantro, no matter how much you think you like it!). But today, we started anew::

1/2 bunch leafy green lettuce
handful of baby spinach
1/2 pineapple
1 banana
1/2 small bag of frozen peaches

This was yummy!

Green Smoothie Challenge

Here is something I started today. The Green Smoothie Challenge #3 hosted by the Enchanted Chameleon! I thought "what a great way to eat my greens!" And you know what? Even the kids joined me on this one! It is a two week challenge to drink a green smoothie every day. There are many different recipes, and I am excited to try some more.

Our smoothie today was more brown than green; and was pretty darn good!:

2-3 cups spinach
2 cups water
1 cup mixed frozen berries
1 banana

yumm! My hope is that it will help me lose some weight... right now I weigh... gasp... 192. I have lost about 20-25 since Kellen has arrived; not too bad for 6 weeks postpartum. My goal is 145 by October (Mexico trip) we will see!

Giving up in February

Well, not giving up, but giving SOMETHING up! It was my intention to give up chocolate, but then Tyler made a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake and that all changed! So I have decided to give up excuses to get outside everyday... I know that might sound kind of lame, but here in Montana at about this time, you get pretty stir crazy, but sometimes the weather does not cooperate, so you find yourself inside ALL day. Not fun. So far, so good. Even with a headache all weekend, we managed to get outside and get some sunshine. Saturday we went around and looked at some land for sale... no, we are not buying any, but we really wish we could! Yesterday we made it out just for a bit before dinner, and then today the kids and I went for a really nice walk and even jogged a bit. I am still trying to get in the mindset that I need to rest my back for about a month for it to heal, but let me tell you... it feels SO much better after acupuncture! It is amazing the difference!
Anyways, I am going to come up with a list of things to "give up" so that I find myself maybe appreciating things a little bit more. Chocolate will be one very soon! I am SOOOO addicted to chocolate. TV is one (not that I want to appreciate it, but I want to prove to myself that I can be without it!) I am really not sure what else, but maybe someone has some suggestions? Oh, Facebook will be one too! I find myself checking that a couple times a day, needlessly!
Hope everyone had a great day, and I am off to make a couple dresses!

New bikes courtesy of Craigslist

I was perusing Craigslist, as I do almost everyday, and I came across and ad for a Skuut bike (Colton's). It is a bike that has no pedals or training wheels, but instead lets the child learn to balance first and then eventually they should be able to ride a bike without training wheels. So far, it is kind of big for Colton, but I figured a way to make it a little shorter, and he tries to ride it a couple times a day (and hates when Ayla tries!) When we went to pick it up, the seller also had this little bike (for Ayla) and said we could have it. So they each got a new bike, which makes it easier! Tomorrow: 10 things I love right now!