Guys, I'm being completely serious when I say that the Whole 30 Diet was awesome. Jesse and I had tossed around various, "let's cut out so much meat," or "let's eat less bread," or "we need to not as much processed junk," sporadically for years. And while cutting back works for some people, cutting out works way better for me. In most situations, I do better to just completely remove the temptation, of whatever it is, than to just try and cut it back.
As I said previously, I do think Jesse and I had a slight advantage to our 30 days than others because I could spend all day planning and prepping what we'd have for dinner or the next day. Not like I really spent all day getting ready for dinner- hello, I have 3 kids- but if I needed to spend a few hours prepping, I had that luxury. For instance, one evening we had wings and I made 3 different marinades. And then of course we needed Ranch for dipping, so I had to make mayo first and then the Ranch. That took some time, and I am pretty sure that all the people who work outside the home aren't going to want to do that upon arriving home from work in the evening.
We both feel that our month on this "diet" was a smashing success: we have a better outlook on food, we feel great, we both lost overall inches, I lost my allergies- yes, they're gone!- and we both lost weight. I generally feel I have more energy, also.
And now?
Moving forward, we are just continuing on with our new eating habits. We did have a potluck that we went to on Monday and I finally got my pizza last night. But really, while we had just whatever potluck food we wanted, we both decided that while the desserts all looked good, and shared a few bites to try, none of it really tasted good enough to us to want to eat much of it. This is huge for me again. I love desserts. I have a huge sweet tooth. Yes, some of the desserts were good, but I didn't want to sit down and gorge myself. That was exciting for me. I still highly recommend reading the book, It Starts with Food, and learning about what you're putting in your mouth, but Jesse and I have both come to understand our food better and which ones we really need to watch out for. Because while I do love chips, they have zero nutritional value, they're terrible for you, and you (I) could eat an entire bag without batting an eye or feeling stuffed and that is a horrible pattern to fall into. Yes, it was tasty to splurge, but I didn't really care or enjoy it enough to fall back into that eating style just yet. And last night, I had a dream about doughnuts...which was odd since I rarely remember dreams. But I had a dream that Jesse and I found a place that had a Dunkin Donuts, Tim Horton's and Krispy Kreme all next to each other and he bought me the same doughnut from each place so I could compare. ...yes, I realize that's ridiculous.
I really don't want to bore you all, so if you have questions or want to hear more about the Whole 30, please feel free to message me.
Thanks for bearing with me, I have more thoughts here, but don't want to bore you. And I know you're really here to hear about my girls.
Last weekend, Jesse, Kaylee and I went up to Pittsburgh IKEA while Lily and Emma hung out with friends. I miss IKEA. But we went to buy Lily and Emma "big girl" dressers, hopefully ones that will last a really long time..
They had been sharing one dresser, but now they each have their own and I still don't know what to do with all the space. Little girl clothes don't take up as much space in a drawer as adult clothes, and while my children are very blessed in the clothes department, they don't have enough to fill the dressers, which I'm thankful for.
Lily is doing great. I don't know too many almost-4-year-olds, but I think she's brilliant. She is absorbing knowledge all over the place and starting to grasp some concepts pretty well. She is showing signs that she's ready for stuff, and I know I am what's holding her back because I just don't have the time or energy to sit down and teach her things all day in an organized manner. We still enjoy doing flash cards and working on writing letters, but part of homeschooling- and just being a mom in general- is that you use everyday mundane things as teachable moments. But yesterday in the van, she was playing with her shoelaces, trying to tie them, and I couldn't just pull over and show her how to do it correctly right then and there. I wish I could have, but it isn't always feasible to jump on teaching moments when kids are excited about them.
Emma is great, also. She has always had an obvious personality, but her little quirks and mannerisms are really coming through even more now. I enjoy watching her repeat some of the same little hand gestures and head tilts Lily did at that age, and it's kind of weird because Lily doesn't do them as much anymore and they aren't ones that Jesse and I do. But she seems to be very excitable and she is thrilled with little things. Lily has started to enjoy trying to work through the numbers with Emma, and I like listening to them in the backseat as Lily counts slowly to 10 and encourages Emma to repeat the numbers in order. Unfortunately, Emma has also hit a shy stage and isn't as outgoing as she normally is. That's ok, it isn't as bad as the one Lily went through, but it still can be obnoxious to see some of these stages.
Kaylee is a baby ready to go. She's been growing like a weed, pushing ahead of where I'd like her to be mobility wise, which is resulting in less sound sleep through the night. My biggest gripe with babies that are starting to move is that you can't just put them in their cribs anymore and expect a content baby. No, no. Everything must be touched, sucked on, flailed about and eventually thrown out of the crib before frustrated cries because everything is gone. Babies are funny. She is sitting up pretty well, though I wouldn't leave her in the middle of the room by herself without padding around her yet.
I'm sure I had more stories, but I forget them. That's what comes with starting a blog one day and finishing it another. Or, truth be told, several days. So I'm just going to be done for now and hopefully back soon. With pictures to keep you entertained since I don't have any great ones to share this time...sorry. But here is one of the girls' new dressers! Jesse will be building shelves into their rooms, so we eventually will be able to clear the organized clutter off the top of their dressers, but this is how life goes for now.
I may be an abnormal amount of excited about this.
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