More then a lot of time.

It has been a while and a half since I have posted any new blogs. I was talking with my brother Jake last night about how much I love reading about what is going on with my family and he pointed out how I was guilty of not updating for everyone else.
Well, Penelope is about 7 months old now. She is rolling over like crazy and teases us with trying to crawl. She is honing her spoon skills and loving mushed up solid foods once a day.
Kelton just finished his season of teeball (I am not sure if he liked it.) He is doing summer camp with his daycare and loving it. I am trying to help him find something he really likes to do as a hobby (other then video games) and it is up in the air. Maybe swimming lessons next? Sometimes I wish I didn't work so the scheduling stuff during the day wasn't so challenging.
John is host/ushering friends in and out of town. He is going to turn one of the rooms in the basement into a sound room soon and I know he is excited about the project. His goal for this summer is to fish and camp, a lot. I support this fully :)
I am on a kickball league. My team is in the championship, final four. We play tonight and I am excited to see if we can beat the odds and come out on top. I have rejoined for next season. It is a ball making new adult friends. That sums up our family currently.
I am personally still working on losing my baby weight, aligning priorities in my life and TEACHING MY SELF CONTENT COMMUNICATION. I think that last one is the most challenging right now. It is like re-wiring my brain. Well wish me luck!

Oh, John, my brother Pete and I went long boarding the other day and I am super rusty. Yet, I can't stop thinking about going again, that must meant I REALLY enjoyed it.

Waiting to long board again,
Mimi

Sugarless but still sweet.

Sugar encounters since I decided not to eat any:
I was pretty sad yesterday when I could not order french toast for brunch. On the other hand my Eggs Florentine rocked my socks.
I spent and extra hour at the grocery store while shopping reading nutrition labels... There are a mess of ingredient in the oddest stuff. Who knew that Balsamic vinegar sometimes has caramel in it? I think I spent the most time on the DRESSING isle. Holy smokes I ended up not making any selections at all there and this week I am going to buy some cute bottles I can store homemade dressing in. Truly, I put condiments on everything so it will be nice to know, I made it myself and my body can break it down. My new best friends are hot sauce an vinegar. I have made my own BBQ sauce before and I am excited to have it on hand now because I am a BBQ sauce addict. I am Kind sad that it will all go bad sooner, but I guess that it won't be in my body as long because of that. (Any tips or preserving things longer?)
One disappointment I found at the store was Crystal light does not use Splenda anymore. They had a campaign for a while of having no Aspartame but I guess they switched back :P
I have found pretty much all store bought bread has some form of sugar in it.
Is honey better then sugar if I have to choose?
I did find out, while sampling the multitude of chips (at the BBQ we had with friends this weekend) that I should read the package before I take a taste. There is nothing worse then thinking, "Oh the is super delicious!" then reading the ingredients and wanting to punch myself in the face for loving the HFCS so much. One great find while tasting was This great Olive spread! ( think it had bit of feta in it too.) My friend who brought it explained how simple it was. Intructions: 1.go to olive bar in whole foods (or any store) 2.Pick out the stuff I like 3.Put in blender or food processor... so simple, soooo yum!
I am sad about Girl scout cookies.. They have sugar... really good tasting sugar. Someone brought Red Vines to the BBQ and I was delighted to find they are on my approved list! Score one for Mimi's sweet tooth.

I am Happy to announce I have lost another pound since my no sugar start! I am now at 153lbs... 13 more to go till my initial post baby weight goal.
I decided that I want to work my upper body so I don't strain my self hauling all of the stuff for the kids plus one car seat around. We have a pull up bar in our house and I don't know why I have never utilized it. I guess it is kind of intimidating for me because I have never been able to do more then 2 pull ups, and that was in high school... I know weak sauce :P Anyway I am not sure what kind of goal to make but If anyone has tips on doing pull ups, stretching for them, or what a reasonable goal is for a white, skinny armed, 26 year old girl, let me know.

love, Mimi

No sugar here I come.

I have been doing the whole learning how to do life with a newborn thing. Needless to say things are working out slowly but surely.
One thing that is rough for me is loosing the baby weight. I gained 50 lbs while prego. So two days before Penelope was born I was 190 lbs. I have lost a lot so far, I am at 154lbs as of this morning. Breast feeding is probably helping but the weight loss is getting stagnate. I know that I don't have to loose the weight right away but I sure do miss fitting in a Medium size.
Exercising is not going as planned. I am on a volleyball team to be active which is cool. When I went running my body did not agree with it. Maybe I should start yoga and stop talking about it. Vigorous exercise seems to mess with my milk production. I am used to dieting to deal with my weight but that doesn't help my milk production either. I decided I am going to cut out sugar and see how that goes. My cousin Jansen Price lost about 20 pounds since he stopped eating sugar on November 18th, 2009. Here are the rules he follows:
"No soda, no fruit juices, no candy, chocolate, cakes, ice cream, etc. Whole fruit is okay (it contains fiber which is the antidote to fructose). I read food labels and if it has HFCS, sugar, molasses, honey, agave nectar, I stay away from it. It is okay to have glucose, dextrose or corn syrup. Of course, sugar slips in because it is in a lot of things. Also, eat more fiber: oatmeal and vegetables."
I figure this is a good place to start loosing weight, having a healthier food intake.
So, goodbye High Fructose Corn Syrup and blessed soda, we had a good run.

Love, Mimi