Max & Kaylee

L, sitting at the table: Mama!  I farted!
Mama: Oh, well, what do you say?
L: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!  Hooray!!
Mama: Uh...
A few minutes later, L: Excuse me...

We were driving around looking at Christmas lights, and I thought I would use it as a time to talk about what Christmas is all about...
Mama: Why do we celebrate Christmas? Whose birthday is it?
L: Jesus! It's Jesus' birthday!
Mama: Yep!
L: And Jesus will eat ice cream for his birthday!
Mama: Oh...um...ok.  Well, yeah, it's Jesus' birthday and that's why we celebrate Christmas.  We give each other presents to honor him and to celebrate Jesus being born!  That's why Santa brings presents, in honor of Jesus.
L: Yeah, and Santa brings presents to all the animals!
Mama: Uh..
L: Yeah, he brings them to the chinchillas!  Hooray!

Sitting at dinner one day...
Ezzy: Chickens in desk!
Mama: Um, what?
Ezzy: There are chickens in desk!
L: Yeah, there are chickens in the desk!  And Daddy fights them!
Mama: Uh...

Apparently, we live in a house where Daddy is a chicken-fighter, we say Happy Birthday a lot, and our Santa is very much an animal lover?!

Oh, and those would be my children, this morning, in their jammies, with their winter hats and mittens on, being goons.  And yes, Ezzy has a girl hat on.  Oh my life, how crazy it is, and how much I love it.

Check out the beginning and middle of my Whole30 Adventure - week 1 and week 2-3.

Whew!  I did it! Two days ago marked 30 days since I began my Whole30 adventure.  And I am proud to say that I finished it, with only a few, minor deviations.  When I first started, I was slightly unsure how I would do the entire 30 days of eating only meats, fruit and veggies, nuts, some oils and olives.  But, I somehow managed to stick with it, and here I am, 30 days later, trying to figure out what to do next!

A few weeks ago, I would have said I could have never done a paleo-type diet for any length of time.  But now, I'm not sure!  My body feels good.  I've lost weight.  I seem to have energy, in spite of running around after 2 toddlers and nursing an infant.  I enjoy the foods I've been eating (although sometimes the amount of meat I need to consume gets to me...this coming from the girl who could probably do without meat completely!).  I sleep soundly.  I don't have those middle-of-the-day energy crashes.  I don't need coffee to wake up.  Basically, my body feels good after doing a Whole30.

What next?  Short-term is easy.  These next few days are mostly reintroduction days, where I'll spend a few days adding in dairy, then grains, then legumes, to see exactly how my body responds to those food groups.  This will give me a good idea of how each food group affects me personally, so I can judge whether I want to fully incorporate them back into my diet, or whether I'll want to be more careful and watch my intake of specific foods.

I am also curious to see how the foods I reintroduce back in affect Evie, since I fully breastfeed.  It'll be interesting to see if she is fussier/gassier due to any food groups.  Maybe she won't be at all!  Or maybe she will be.  It'll be nice to know what foods affect her more.

As far a long-term goes, I'm not exactly sure.  I guess once I know how each food group affects me, I'll be able to better determine what I'll do.  I know it's not realistic for me to follow a strict paleo diet forever.  I enjoy cheese and dessert and tortillas way too much.  But maybe it'll mean I loosely follow a paleo-type diet.  The other factor has to do with budget.  It seems to me that eating more meat and buying coconut oil/ almond flour/etc will end up being more expensive in time, but maybe I am wrong, and there are ways to keep grocery costs down.  

Although I know I won't jump too fast into my old eating habits (mostly because my body might freak out and feel awful!), and I'm not exactly sure what my new eating habits will look like, I am proud to have completed my Whole30.  I am proud that I stuck with it, in spite of having moments that were hard, were I wanted to give in and give up.

A shout-out to my mom - seriously, couldn't have done this thing without her!  I would often text her and tell her I wanted a donut or a latte or a hot, buttered roll - and she encouraged me to keep at it for a few more days!  And look, here I am!  On the other side, woot!

And wow, all of a sudden, a huge slice of raspberry white chocolate cheesecake sounds SOOOO good!

A few of the recipes we tried the past week, that I enjoyed - Turkey Chili, Butternut Squash Soup, Spaghetti Squash Egg Nests

Currently, I am on day 21 of my Whole30 food adventure.  I am proud that I have stuck with it this long, to be honest.  There have been moments where I really wanted to cave, and have that hot, buttered roll, or make a huge heaping plate of cheesy nachos, or a giant piece of cheesecake.  But I have held on.  There have been a few moments where I've had to make the most of the situation - like at the Ball the other night.  I was so hungry by the time we ate (I totally should have eaten beforehand), so I did the best I could at not eating the gravy on the meat, but I am sure I consumed something that was not Whole30 approved.  Oh well.  I'm not all bent out of shape about it, I did the best I could given the circumstances.

People keep asking me how I feel and if I have noticed a difference in how I feel.  I do.  I have more energy, and don't get those middle-of-the-day crashes that I used to get.  I sleep easily and well (although some of that might be the fact that we do have a little baby who keeps me tired, ha!).  My milk supply is still not an issue, which I am thankful for.

I did encounter a period of days in which I started breaking out and was very irritable.  At first, I wondered if it was food related, but I now know it was more hormonal related.  My face is starting to clear up again, and I have not been irritable like those few days.

I've learned I really like cauliflower "rice" (although the rest of my family, not so much...), almond butter, sweet potato hash browns, and snacking on cashews or olives.  I've learned that I have the tendency to want to snack all afternoon long, so have had to work on just having one filling snack to get me through (I feel hungry a lot between meals - I think this has more to do with the fact that I am breastfeeding, because I do fill up on meat/veggies at my meals).  I've known that I am a bored eater and a stress eater.  Not being able to just grab SOMEthing to eat has been good for me - it puts me in check and makes me question why I am wanting to eat between meals.  Is my body really hungry or do I just want to be putting something in my mouth?

Some new recipes we've tried in the past few weeks: Spaghetti Squash Carbonara, Stuffed Green Peppers, Roast Chicken, Kale Chips, Mashed Cauliflower

I have just over a week to go to finish my Whole30 adventure.  I've been asked if I will keep eating this way once my month is complete.  The answer is no.  There is no way I can realistically keep dairy and grains and some sugar out of my diet forever.  I DO feel great, but I love food way too much, to be honest.  I would much rather work on portion control and moderation.  I know I will take some of what I've learned and use it.  I also think that it will be interesting as I re-introduce foods, to see how my body responds.  I think we will eat more veggies and fruits, and I will probably eat less grains and dairy and sugar, but I know I can't wait to indulge in a few Christmas cookies or a butterhorn roll over the holidays!

To hear about the beginning of my Whole30 adventure, check out week 1.

Listening to...Christmas music!  Yeah, we're the crazy ones that started listening to Christmas music back in October.  What can I say...we love us some Christmas around here!

Reading...this, this, and this.

Watching...Hart of Dixie, season 1, on Netflix.  What can I say...it's cute!

Feeling...tired and way ready to get in bed.

Eating...banana "ice cream" with a scoop of pumpkin added.  Slightly reminiscent of a pumpkin spice latte...slightly...

Daydreaming of...snowflakes and Minnesota and Christmas decorations and sleeping more than 4-5 hours at a time and chocolatey cheesecake goodness.

Thinking about...all the things I need to get done in the next few days.  We have some guests staying over the next few days, our Marine Corps Ball is this weekend, and we are also doing Thanksgiving dinner early, so that we can celebrate with a good friend before he leaves.  Those three things mean I have lots of little things to work on/get done in the next few days.  It'll be busy, but I am looking forward to the weekend!

Hoping to...find some time to get some blogging done soon.  I have a lot I want to share, from being halfway done with my Whole30 adventure, to a lovely walk we had in the woods, to my November 12 in 2012.  All in due time, right?!