He's a good boy, I think...

Was it punishment for having him do this?
Or was he really just trying to help. 

Blessed Holden Strikes Again!

This time it wasn't the kitchen. No today I emerged from the master bedroom and nursing Zoë to sleep to find the sweet scent of almond permeating the hallway.

"I just cleaned up your floor..." He tells me, shuffling back and forth from foot to foot in anxiousness.
"What?" Panic overtook me. But I was trying so hard not to lose it. "What did you use?" As I looked down to see our hardwoods glistening as if sopping wet children had been transported from the bathtub to the side of our family room. "Oh no, it will ruin the floor... What did you use?"

Holden started running around through the living room and into the kitchen. It was obvious he could tell I was approaching -freak out at any moment status.

"I am just so sorry 'bout that." He said, and it kind of became like a mantra to him for the next five minutes. I don;t ever force Holden to say sorry for something he's done. I don;t believe in forced apologies for my children (call me crazy). I'll often ask Holden if there's something he'd like to say, and usually he'll apologize when he's done something wrong... but sometimes it takes him a while (I am certain this drives some parents crazy on the play-ground, but I see more value in a true apology down the road then a forced one for convention's sake.

Anyway, it was obvious he knew he'd done something wrong. "Just show me what you used," I said, and kind of curled my fingers up not quite to clenched fists but something akin to Medusa. (Heavy sigh... and trying to relax the space between my eyebrows.)

He lead me to the broom closet and opened the door where an empty bottle of Method's "Good for Wood" lay.

At least he used he right stuff, I thought to myself. "Well at least it won't hurt the floor" I said, reaching for the mop I use on the hardwoods. But it was heavy, and kind of dripping.

Yes, he had used it to literally 'clean the floor' and the contents of an entire bottle of Good For Wood was serving as evidence. But to his credit, he put the supplies back where they normally belong. At that moment I was so thankful I had invested in in a super absorbent mop. I rung it out a few times and then used it to finish up what Holden had started. He was right, our floors had needed a little extra attention.

"I am so sorry 'bout that." He said again.

"I'm sorry too," I said exhaling and thankful I hadn't had "crazy eyes," plopping down on the puffy cream chair in front of us.

"You have nothing to be sorry about Mom. It was all my fault. I am just so sorry about that." I had to give the kid credit. He wasn't afraid to take responsibility -- not a bad trait for an (almost) four year old.

I asked him to come over to me; and we hugged, and I held him and told him I thought he was wonderful and creative and could he please not touch my stuff anymore...

"I am never going to touch your stuff again tomorrow," he promised me. I'm not sure if that is good news or bad news.

The Food Blog Entry... boring

Chubbie Club Food Blog for Monday and Tuesday.
Just 2 more days of food journaling and then I take a month off.

Monday - Funday

• Breakfast 8:45: 1/2 toasted whole grain bagel with cream cheese, tomato slices, avocado and salt and pepper washed down w/ small glass OJ (eaten standing, but in the kitchen)
• 11:28 - snack time: 1/2 plain bagel with strawberry cream cheese that was sitting on the counter top from breakfast that I felt to guilty just to throw in the trash (Since I went to at 12pm yoga class, that bagel would serve as lunch). 
• 1:45 one bite of chobiani greek yogurt bluebrry flavored from a Coscto sample vendor
• 3pmish - 3 Tbs of peanuts (I actually measure them to see what a single serving really looked like) 
• Dinner 5:45 - 2 servings spicy Thai peanut noddles. sauteed Bok choy w garlic; roasted Brussel sprouts with Asian marinade Dessert: two servings Texas sheet cake and peppermint ice cream
• Done eating by 6:30, made my 7pm rule.

Tuesday

• 8:45 organic banana in the car
• 9:45 small glass OJ standing in the kitchen
• 10:30 1/3 cup carrot and ginger soup I was making for dinner
• 11ish a serving of last night's thai noodles with brussle sprouts and bok choy (all mixed together. It was even better as leftovers)
• And there was a slice of texas sheetcake in there during the day too, standing in the kitchen. Me, not the sheetcake... the sheet cake was sitting. Actually, it was kind of more of a "come hither lean-lounge, but I don't want to get too technical."
• I know I ate something between 11 and 5:30 but I can't remember what it was. Stole some slices of cheese and bites of bread while I was preparing dinner... surprise surprise "standing in the kitchen." 5:30 Had Cassandra and the kids over for carrot soup and some grilled cheese (sharp cheddar w/ home made plum preserves on Great Harvest white, that I thought was a light rye) Ate at the table but kept eating the grilled cheese. We cut them in fourths and I lost track at my 3rd fourth... 

How We Celebrated MLK

So even though I have obviously been slacking in my journaling, I am excited to share that I went to my sister's Circuit Training Class this morning (Suite Buns Boot Camp); and then attended an awesome yoga class at Shiva Centre this afternoon. Danny "technically" had the day off.

7:00 - 8:00 Suites Buns Boot Camp (Danny has kids)

8:45 Get home from working out and grocery store, Danny heads into the office
I actually watched a bunch of the Inauguration with Zoë while I was trying to clean up the house, etc. She cheered and raised her arms in the air for the (Brooklyn?) Tabernacle Choir Singing "Glory Glory Hallelujah!"

11:30 - Danny returns from office to swap me places

12:00-1:00 MARVELOUS Yoga class

1:15 - 2:30 Hit up COSTCO because everyone knows errand running is easier without two kids. (Not familiar with how much longer it takes with kids?

Here's an easy experiment to try. Borrow someone's puppy that is NOT potty trained. Bring it to the store without a leash. Grab a 30 pound bag of flour and carry it on one arm while you are pushing the cart and trying to keep the puppy in check. Think about putting the bag of flour in the cart.... do so. Now put it back in your arm because it really didn't want to be in the cart in the first place. 45 minutes later leave store with the gallon of milk you went in to buy. See it's easy! 

2:45 Danny heads back to work for a break. :)

5:30 Dinner




**********************


Have not does as well with Food Journaling through our trip to Logan and Return... but here's what I remember and some of what I kept track of. I know it's missing 'bites' and plenty of 'sneaks and cheats.'

Saturday (we overnighted in Logan, so I was basically living out of a hotel room until 4pm)

I'm not calling today a monumental fail - but I was NOT setting myself up to succeed. Every time I ate something I'd say to myself 'remember to write that down' but I didn't.

7:45 am at the hotel's breakfast buffet
White bagel with low-fat cream cheese
Taste of awful 'hotel breakfast-bar' OJ
Bit of banana
Oatmeal w brown sugar, raisins, cranberries and slivered toasted almonds

11:15 - hotel restuarant with the kids
Mindless bread eating (sourdough, 3 slices w butter; weird garlic cheese onion rolls)
Cup of clam chowder
2 of Holden's chicken strips
1 bite of BBQ Chicken Pizza I sent back for reasons that best not be mentioned

3:30
Danny took us to a Creperie: Nutella crepe with strawberries and whipped cream, mint tea

Finished off leftovers in the fridge: some chicken, some rice. Possibly a few bits if curry.

Made Texas sheet cake for a treat. It came out of the oven at 7:02.i knew I had missed the cut off...ended up eating it at 8pm that night; and then another piece. Trouble.

Sunday
Breakfast (9ish I think?): Stack of whole wheat dollar pancakes with real maple syrup and a few orange slices

Lunch: I thawed out the second 1/2 of the rolls I made last week; and took the leftover chicken and somehow threw together a chicken and wild rice soup. Danny really liked it. I downed two bowls and two rolls just before 2 pm with the boys when they returned from church.

Dinner: I had more Texas Sheet cake for dinner, cause that's what I really wanted. (At least Sunday night I kept the 7pm rule). 

Seriously, again?!?!

Yesterday Holden again got out the cocoa powder  to "make crumpets." When I came into the kitchen to AGAIN see that devilish powder strewn about my again, cleaned working station... well, this time I did not laugh, or cry... I just got mad mom-eyes and raised my voice.

Needless to say I was disappointed in myself. If I'm honest about the day's events, I would've realized at the time that it happened after he had asked me to come look at the hotel he built; and I brushed him off because I was trying to get Z to sleep. He obviously was doing something for attention because he knew the baking stuff was 'off limits' without an adult.

At one point, while I was on hands and knees scrubbing the floor (again), he was hugging Zoë on the opposite side of the kitchen and kept saying: "I love you Zoë. We must stay away from Mom 'cause she looks scary." I kind of chuckled under my huffy breath (he couldn't see.) I told my mother in law: "At least he knows to protect his sister from crazy people!"

Shortly after -- when we talked about it, I explained that just like he gets frustrated with Zoë or other kids when they knock down the tower he built, or mess up something he's created that it makes him mad and frustrated. Well, when he messes up my kitchen and makes a giant mess, I feel like he's knocked down my tower. It hurst my feelings and I feel like he doesn't care or respect my things. That seemed to resonate a little more with him.

I guess he forgave me, since less than 20 minutes following said event he was telling me he loved me and I was "his favorite mom." (Not sure where they are in Primary on the family unit, but I thought he knew as Mormons we don;t practice polygamy anymore.)



******************
This week's Chubbie Club challenge is to have breakfast within 30 minutes of when you wake up.

I am usually pretty good about eating something in the mornings, but I'm often noshing on bites of things for an hour... And not sitting down civilly at a table. Usually I'm eating off of Zoë's high chair or scraps from Holden's breakfast plate.

This will be a good challenge for me. I'm just going add to have breakfast started within 30 min of waking up and once I tart eating, just eat... At a table.

Breakfast 8am
-1/2 ginormous cinnamon roll from Great harvest
Some orange slices
Big glass of OJ

Lunch 11:30
Second 1/2 of my chicken tikka masala from last night with rice. One of the thins I love about Indian food is that the leftovers are every bit as good as the original.

Snacktime
In the car on our way to Logan at 2:25 I opened up the blueberry scones from great harvest and finished off one by myself, and then broke three corners off another one before I decided it was time to be done.

Dinner 4:45 #12 turkey sandwich from jimmy johns - no mayo a few chips, just over 1/2 oatmeal raisin cookie shared w/ Holden (we had a picnic lunch in the Marriott hotel room). Orange slices, 1/2 giant deli pickle.

(At some point I finished off the rest of the blubbery scone. I know it was before 7, but can't remember when...)

Was surprised I made the 7pm rule!

Holden's Culinary Casualty

So today is third Thursday, and I've got a piece over at Make and Takes. Please check it out and let me know about your greener actions for the upcoming year. I love hearing about how everyone's making a difference.

The food blog is below, but I've got more interesting things to talk about.

 When I left Holden this afternoon in the kitchen, he had watercolors, some paper, was crafting and I had chicken in a crock-pot and some pizza dough proofing next to it.

I wasn't going far. Just the bedroom to put Z down for a nap. As many of you know,  Zoë has never been in a crib. She's slept in our room, or in our bed since birth. I nurse her to sleep 99% of the time.

Holden had been really quiet. In fact I was thinking to myself as I was laying with Z that I was so thankful he could entertain himself...45 minutes or so later he opened the door to the bedroom covered in brown powder. 

"I'm making crumpets." He told me, as I followed him to the kitchen trying to figure out why he was covered in chocolate-talc. I walked into the the kitchen to find two inches of cocoa powder on my kitchen counter. He had taken the pizza dough and made individual little 'cakes' covered in organic cane sugar and cocoa. It covered the floor and the bench.  "Sorry I made a mess mom," he said, sincere I could tell. But was still proud of his creation.

 I looked at the mess... overwhelmed by the sheer MESS. And I started to cry-and laugh... So I was laugh crying, but Holden seemed so proud of himself. Then he showed me his table where my Organic Olive Oil was now a pool of waste. "The oil was the tricky part." He kept repeating. 

I Put Zoë in her high chair and took Holden to the shower so I could start working on the damage. 

A close up of the counter

The irony of the situation is that while I was laying down with Z I was catching up on a friend's blog, reading about her youngest son who has become quite the trouble maker as of late. 

But back to Holden. He's such a good kid - he knows after he eats or plays with something messy he needs to wash and dry his hands... so he did.

His chocolate footprints were all the way from the kitchen down our hall right into the bathroom. Where he crawled on top of the toilet to wash his hands, and then 'dry' them on a new white washcloth. He also remembered how important it is to me that he put things away after he uses them. See how nice of Holden to put the cocoa back in the cupboard:

 

I failed to mention that two days ago I had had cleaning ladies come, and they had focused on a deeper clean of my kitchen... so this whole thing was a charming new development. Anywho - I took Holden's 'crumpets' on a cookie sheet and saved them for after dinner. 

Here they are in the oven. The chocolate smelled heavenly while they were baking. After we took them out, we painted them with butter and rolled them in cinnamon-sugar. Wouldn't you know, they were a hit. 

The Food Log

Speaking of Pizza Dough...

Yesterday was a day of pizza... I had dough we made on Monday in the fridge; and proceeded to make two personal pizzas. (Our canned marinara with tomatoes from the farmer's market and some good mozzarella--not the weird kind that is ivory colored; the white milky kind). I shared a minuscule piece with Zoë but pretty much downed them both myself. This was at noon. I think it was probably the equivalent of 4 pieces of Papa John's (minus hiding behind Obamacare to treat their employees like crap.)

Failed to mention to Danny I had pizza for lunch - he and Holden picked some up at Big Apple on the way home from gymnastics. Around 6 we were eating. I had a slice of tomato and two pieces - I think. (I was holding Z who was still struggling and Holden had 'wind and the willows' on tv that I was kind of mindlessly watching/eating. Not a good combination.)

Today:
Scarfed down two oranges, a couple of small glasses of Oj and shared a banana with Z for breakfast. And at our Chubbie Club weigh-in this morning I was down three pounds, I think the 7pm rule is working for me.

12:00 Lunch was a couple of bowls of udon noodles with Spicy Thai peanut sauce.
5;45 Picked up bread at Great Harvest and my free sample was a oatmeal turtle cookie
6:15 Dinner was Bombay house rice with chicken tikka masala with some naan bread a few bites of Holden's cinnamon roll and of course... the crumpets. 

Tuesday turned out to be a little nuts...

Taken ar roughly 1 am... Go Utes! 

Sorry friends, 

Yesterday I did not do a good job with my food journaling - at all. In fact, I didn't get to it until I was in the car on my way home from Primary Children's hospital at 3 in the morning.

Yeah, rough day, rough night. My kids are apparently predisposed to croup when they get a cold. Usually we can keep it under wraps at home -- alternating between hot-humidity (shower, vaporizers, etc) and the cold (our freezing cold sun room, walking outside, or letting Z play in the freezer like we did when it happened over the summer). We did that routine from 4 pm until about midnight, when even with 45 minutes of cold air (and trying the hot humidity again) we could not get her breathing under control... she actually couldn't get a deep breath, which freaked her out. So when she started crying it made it harder to breath. At midnight Danny and I made the call together - woke Holden up and loaded everyone in the car to get to the hospital for some professional help. (Even the Majoram Essential oil was cutting it - so you know it was serious!) 

Big Kudos to Holden for just going with the flow as we puled him out of his slumber. And I don't know what we would've done without Danny's parents. They came and picked up Cito from the hospital, let him spend the night at their place; and then Stevie (my blessed mother-in-love) watched both kids while I taught yoga this morning. Saintly does not do justice to my in-laws. 

All that said, here's what I recorded from yesterday's eats (and if you're wondering about the food journal, you can check out this post):

• Maybe 9am: part of a banana, small glass of oj and Airborne, because we are ALL under the weather
• 11:00: Banana in car running errands and picking up Holden from pre-school
• 12:20 Rest of the cheesy potato soup, eaten while standing noting that in 5 minutes people were supposed to be showing up for a Yoga Playdate in my home - I think i had part of a roll too
• After the kids yoga session, probably around 1:15 we had a 'tea party' with hot chocolate (I actually just drank hot water)
• While cooking and chopping for dinner (3pm-ish) I thought about another glass of OJ for my cold, and then opted instead for some orange slices. I think I ate 1 1/2 oranges. (Not so good for the environment, but man are they tasty in the winter months)
• Dinner 5:45 I think - I tried a new recipe from Food and Wine Magazine "Chinese Noodles with Pork" and added Bok Choy, and cooked some carrots too. It was a hit with Danny -- not so much with Holden. 

Holden didn't try any. Had a few carrots and a leftover roll from earlier in the week. He said: "Mom, you didn't do a very good dinner tonight." 

Me: "Why would you say that? It was delicious." 


HDM: Something about how the food looked terrible, or gross or some kind of slam. I can't remember. But what I do remember is his finishing up with: "You ought to be ashamed of yourself." 

At which point I tried so hard to keep from laughing (I know he's got that phrase from some movie we've watched)... Danny on the other hand looked outranged, and took him back to his room to have a serious discussion about gratitude and appreciation for "mom." (Did I marry an awesome guy or what.)

Was proud to make the 7pm rule (no eating after); even though I was pretty hungry by the time we drove home. 

A Case of the Mondays

Today, I posted this to Facebook:

Anyway, a food collage for you, and a timeline:

10:10 am a glass of Airborne, because our kids have been sick and EVERYTHING seems to cycle around in this house. And (I kid you not) one cherrio. It was off Zoë's high chair and in my mouth before I could think about it.

Orange you glad I added some cheese?

12:25 1/2 roll split with Holden from the oven and the last of the Vegan tomato soup

1:47 one bite of the (coming in to it's own) soup

2:15A roll and a few bites of potato soup to 'test it's progress'

Dinner 5:45 maybe(?):
Two rolls, a few servings of the cheesy potato and carrot soup. Some orange slices and a very small serving of apple crisp w/ a dollop of vanilla ice cream. Add some butter and some strawberry jam I made last summer.

-WINS for today- Potatoes were from our garden: carrots and chicken stock both organic. Apples from our bulk buy at the Farmer's market last fall.

Oh and unless we're eating pizza in front of the TV for a special occasion football game or something, I  really try to always make the presentation of the dinner table look nice. (Chargers are not unique for a Monday or mid-week meal... but as Emily Post would dictate, they are removed before we eat.

Also, I'm posting this at 10:50pm, so I guess I made my "no eating after 7pm goal" too.

So I'm doing this thing...

Can You Imagine THIS BOD with Nursing Boobs?!?!?
Um, that is what I call HOT!

Hi friends -

So I am involved in my sister's "Chubbie Club" for the next 7 1/2 weeks. It's this amazing online community/competition for weight loss. I'm not "DIEting", but I am using it as an opportunity for accountability and to reconnect in a positive way to food.

As part of my 'plan' (*would like to drop 10 pounds or so) I am food journaling for the first two weeks of the competition. (And following a 'challenge' from my sister: this week it's not eating after 7, which I've been successful with). Maybe I'll get a little cray-cray and cut out desserts or bread the last two weeks of the competition.

But guess where I'm now going to be food-journaling? Yep, here! I was doing on the Chubbie Club website, but I feel like my posts are too long, and it would be easier to just link to this page if any of the participants (there's just under 40 of us),

Besides, I know from the google-stats that this thing isn't getting a lot of page-views; so I'm not to worried about it.


YESTERDAY's LOG:

9:30 One cup mint tea (recovering from Saturday evening's madness - date night with Holden)

12:30 "green" smoothie -- which actually turned out to be more of a magenta because in addition to spinach it had 2 carrots, a dollop of greek yogurt, an orange and some frozen organic berries (blackberries and raspberries) Not my favorite but figured I better stick to whole foods for a bit.

Contemplating the vegan tomato soup for later...

By 1:30 I had only had a cup (literally 1 C) of the awful smoothie (some green smoothies are good, some are awful... this was not good). And with the boys now home from church I started into the left-overes in the fridge for an official meal:

noshing on bites of yesterday's mashed potatoes and a spoon full of guacamole as I heated up a bowl of tomato soup and shredded a little cheese on it and my potatoes. The entire meal took me about an hour to eat because Z needed attention and I kept trying to nurse her and get her to sleep sporadically.

Danny had got the chips out of the cupboard to make nachos and I was proud of myself for not stealing one bite -- or sneaking a taste of Holden's Mac-N-Cheese. (I believe that was the last box, so we won't be having it for a while.)

Dinner about 5:30 - at my in-laws

Loads and loads of roasted root veggies. FOUR cinnamon rolls that tastes like spun cotton candy...a regular roll. About 3 ounces of pork with a little 57 sauce and some gravy. Oh and for dessert she had made (from scratch) brownies. I asked for a very small one, about 3 bites (which was really about 5) with a little ice cream.

No eating after 7 pm. I did it!

*I've technically got 3 or 4 pounds of my baby-weight to lose, but I'd like to be back at prime "post-marathon" weight. I've kind of come to the realization I will never be skinny - but I can be fit. And love it!

Bread Pudding for Breakfast, et cetera et cetera...

***For an explanation of why I am cataloging my eating-escapades, 

check out Monday's post here. But since the Chubbie Club blog 

is password protected, I thought I would just add Sunday's food journal***

It's true. I had bread pudding for breakfast today (Saturday morning). But it was made from scratch...

For me, my focus this week is journaling (aka "recasting" for the first two weeks), and Cicely's 7 pm rule. 

Breakfast - between 8:30 - 9:30

More frosting for Holden's (carrot-apple-spice) muffins and in the act I licked the cream-cheese and buttery decadence from my hands. Sure I could've washed them, but I didn't. Turned the 'muffin cake balls' that stuck to the pans and were ugly, into "Muffin Bread Pudding." Added a little free-trade evaporated cane sugar to some (happy organic free-range chicken) eggs, winder milk, costco vanilla and a pinch of salt; with another apple sliced thinly and came up with a not-too-shappy "Carrot Apple Spice Bread Pudding" for breakfast... which I indulged in with a couple of glasses of milk.

While I was working on this invention, I had orange slices on the counter top that I ate... standing up.

Lunch 1:30

By quarter-to-twelve it was still snowing and I still was craving comfort food. So for lunch I made turkey-veggie "meat" loaf (more carrots and onions in the 'loaf' than ground turkey), with parmesan mashed potatoes and steamed corn. I also finished off the green bean-fet-and pine nut salad. It was awesome. My husband, Danny, said it was like eating Sunday Dinner in the middle of the afternoon.  (Also I remember having a bit of mashed potatoes from the bowl as I was putting them away thinking, "good hell, I'm going to have to log THAT bite. Ugh!")By the time we were done eating the sun had poked through and I knew it was a signal that I was supposed to be weaning myself from this carb-comfort-food addiction I seem to be involved in.

(Snack Time: 3:30ish) 

Instead, I took my son to see Wreck It Ralph, ordered him a medium popcorn (sans butter) and consumed half of it....

After the movie it was 5 pm, and time for dinner.

We hit up Cafe Rio and I ordered a chicken tostada salad, no beans with cheese, add guac both dressings, snatched a couple of bites of Holden's quesadilla and had a taste of his sickening sweet Raspberry Lemonade. Also, the water in West Valley City tastes like tin. Not that I'm a water snob...actually, not that I'm not.

The crowning achievement of my failures today was our "treat." I call it the LEATHERBY's MONSTROSITY. Drum roll please....

Wait for it:

Of course I didn't eat all of it - maybe 10 bites (about 7 too many, but still). 

I ordered it for the raspberries and brownie - I didn't know it was made to feed a small village...

Oddly enough, It would take a village to finish that sucker. You may wonder why I didn't just "share"Holden's treat. Well, I have this thing where I don't eat food the same color as the smurfs. Anyway, I had a few stumbles from my made-from-scratch do-it-yourself food day. But I'm with Melissa. I'm focusing on the positive. The 7 pm rule and my commitment to journaling!