Trying Quinoa and Buying a Scale

February has been a month of thinking and trying new things.  There were several catalysts for this:
1. Losing weight???? what??? these words have pretty much always been a foreign language for me. So get ready for some personal weight history.  I grew up in a home where we weren't starving, but there weren't bounteous amounts of food.  We never had store-bought (high calorie) snacks- our snacks were things like frozen grapes and "cucumber donuts" and apples; things from our own backyard.  That plus running 25-30 miles a week in high school made me pretty skinny. I graduated weighing 115 pounds- very thin for my 5-foot 6-and-a-half inches.  My freshman year at BYU I gained 15 pounds, thanks to Little Debbie, Jamba Juice, and BYU Mint Brownies. The beginning of my sophomore year I did a semester in Nauvoo, living off of (very delicious) cafeteria food cooked by the awesome senior missionaries, and as I hit 135 lbs and was still climbing, I took action for the first time.  My roommate and I made a pact to eat no candy or treats of any kind from Halloween to Thanksgiving, and we did it!  At that point I was only running about twice a week (running in Nauvoo was SO AWESOME.  My favorite place I've ever run!) but my weight stabilized thanks to our no-sugar rule.
The next year and a half I was so busy with school and working that I ate a little healthier, and ran a little more thanks to coaching track for a season in Springville and deciding to train for a marathon.  Then I entered my 3 years of coaching and running marathons, and I ate plenty of sweets, but my weight stayed fairly constant at 132. (I've discovered that this is the weight I maintain with my exercise/eating habits when I"m being fairly healthy.)
And then I started having kids. :)  With Katelyn and Whitney I lost the pregnancy weight easily with the combination of breastfeeding for at least a year/running and training for a half marathon around the time of their first birthdays.
When Whitney was 2.5, I did this cool fruits and vegetables diet for a month with Katrina, Allison and my mom, and I got down to 128 lbs, unintentionally.  I was just trying to eat healthier, not lose weight, and I did learn a lot about how good I feel when I eat healthily, and how to do it.  Then I was back to 132 by the time I got pregnant with Owen 6 months later.
Fast forward to Owen's one-year-old checkup.  I weighed myself on the doctor's scale, (I didn't own one and so had not weighed myself in several months) and was dismayed to find that I was still 10 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight!  The combo of not training for a race (because it's winter) and some alarming new eating habits (we have the money to buy high-calorie snacks, candy and ice cream all the time!) and probably my age (the big 3-0) have led me to a place I am not comfortable with!  I know it's just 10 pounds, but that's where it starts!  And so... my goal is to lose 10 pounds.  Crazy but true.
2. Quinoa???? what??? So I've been really trying to eat more whole grain.  It started when I started feeding Owen real food and realized I want him to be a whole grain kid.  He only ate homemade baby food, and I didn't want to start feeding him empty-calorie foods just because he had enough teeth to handle them.  I hated feeling like he was going from breastmilk (perfect food) to white bread and white rice (welcome to my picky daughters' food world!).  And so, the last couple of months I have been cooking separate whole wheat pasta and brown rice for Owen and I, and white stuff for the girls and Eric.  Because I'm not about to risk nightly tantrums at dinner time, and Eric flat-out dislikes whole-grain stuff, therefore he refuses to be healthy. :)  One thing I'd heard a lot about was Quinoa, and so I finally tracked some down (by going to a store other than walmart!) and get brave enough to look up recipes.  Surprisingly, Eric was okay with trying it, so that encouraged me.  And.... it has been a huge success!!  Meaning: the girls ate it just as well as they eat anything (lots of complaining and "ew, gross!" followed by eventual "thanks, mom, you're the best ever!") Owen liked it just fine mixed with cheese, and Eric was the biggest shock, he said he's happy to have it in the place of rice all the time! (!!!) So, we're all about Quinoa over here.
3. The Omnivore's Dilemma.  (the what???) I picked up a book at the library a few weeks ago that our good friends Kristi and Taylor Harvey read a few years ago, called The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.  I've been making my way through it (it's very readable, I've just been reading several other books at the same time so it hasn't gotten all my attention) and it has changed me.  Totally changed the way I think about food.  I'm not sure how many of the truths I've gleaned will affect me enough to change my behavior, but I am at least stopping to look at labels and think about where my food has come from and what's really in it.  So in the book, the author says that as omnivores, and particularly as humans in today's America, we have so many choices of what to eat, so much is available, that we have a dilemma unknown to most humans and animals in history--what should we eat?  Also, in the absence of a strong national food culture (ours is such a blend of everything), our country is susceptible to diet fads and fast food marketing.  SO, he goes through and investigates 4 meals- one industrial agriculture (corn farms and giant feedlots of animals, which leads to McDonald's), one organic (from ingredients grown on organic farms and bought at Whole Foods), one from local, sustainable farms with grass-fed animals, and one that he hunted and gathered himself. it was such an interesting book, and one of the big things I've taken away from it is that I want to eat animals that have eaten grass, on a pasture- not corn and animal by-products in a feedlot.  I'm still investigating ways to do this!  We'll see if we can handle the cost.  I believe it's much healthier to eat that way, since meat from a grass-fed cow is leaner and contains 5 times the healthy amino acids  and Omega-3 of a feedlot cow.  But to Eric taste is more of a deciding factor than health.  We had vegetarian-fed, cage-free chicken last night for the first time, and maybe it was partly in our heads, but it was SO good, WAY better than the bag of huge frozen chicken breasts from Costco that we usually buy! (and only $1 per pound more!) Also I tried to go to a butcher yesterday to buy some grass-fed beef to try, but it was closed.  So we'll see how that goes.  I'm very interested in buying a quarter of a cow or something, and I'm going to start buying local cage-free eggs as soon as hens around here start laying again.  I'm excited about cooking again, since I realize how much healthier it is for my family to eat meals, and even treats, that I cook myself than buying some package of cookies at the store or picking up a pizza at the end of a crazy afternoon.  I'm definitely not opposed to doing this occasionally, but at least now I know what I will be putting into my body!  Or at least I know more than I used to. :)
4. Flabby stomach.  Yes, the curse of post pregnancy has also been a catalyst for change for me.  I did abdominal exercises for 2 weeks straight back in January, and I swear it made my stomach look bigger!  So now I'm trying a different tactic(losing weight), but I'm afraid that even when I lose 10 pounds it will make no difference to my stomach and I will still have a little pooch that sticks out. :(  Anyway, I bought my first scale ever, and weight myself about every day, and it is exciting to see results already, however small!
5. And last but not least, I blame this ridiculously frigid winter for part of my unhealthy habits!  So as part of my weight loss plan I am up-ing my exercise to six days a week, and increasing my mileage from a sad 10-12 miles a week to at least 15.
And so, that's what I've been thinking about this month!  We'll see how it goes, but I am pretty happy to have a plan and be living it!

Her life is a musical.

The other night we noticed Whitney was doing an awesome solo number upstairs, so we stopped to listen.  About 5 minutes in, as she was singing all about the pros and cons of having a little brother and a big sister, I realized I should be recording this!  So for your viewing pleasure, here are the angry verses (she wasn't in a bad mood or anything, she's just a very good actress!)  and part of a verse that sounds a lot like Tangled. 

Sometimes I just think Whitney's never going to turn out okay (during a tantrum day!), but for every fit she throws, she gives us at least one awesome moment like this performance.  We love her so much.  So as long as I can keep having the patience to channel her energy into good things, she may just surprise me and come out of childhood even better than I thought.  :)

the kids talk

Owen has been saying "yes" (yush/hoos) for a couple of weeks now, and it's so crazy to have a child that can answer questions!  ( he also shakes his head for no.)  The craziest part is at night when you ask him if he's ready "to go to bed" or "sleep" and he nods and says yes and then happily dives into his crib and snuggles his blanket and stuffed animals and goes to sleep!  What a sweet little boy!  Now if only he would do that at nap time....

The girls have come up with some pretty creative insults lately. They make me laugh/drive me nuts!  Whitney's current favorite mean thing to call someone is "poo-poo pants" or "doo-doo-dants" or "poo-poo-do-doo-doo".  No idea why she started that!  And Katelyn's insult is "cuh-coo head".  She had a friend over last week and I overheard her friend asking what Cuhcoo meant after Katelyn used it on Whitney and my ears perked up- I had wondered that myself!  Katelyn replied that it means "annoying".  Okay, good to know. :)

Owen's first walk

I should say Owen's first REAL walk, as in HE was walking down the street!  

Eric took these great pictures with his phone as he took the kids to the park on a rare 30 degree day!

 Doesn't it look like he's running?? So cute!

 He was totally in heaven, even as he struggled walking on uneven ground for the first time ever!  

 And he kept stopping to play in (and sample) the snow!  

He's like a real kid now!

Owen is one!

Owen's birthday was awesome... oh wait that's not him!  This is Eric's first birthday.

 Here's the boy!  with some of his presents.  He had a fun day, even though his sisters kept trying to force him to open more presents when all he wanted to do was play with the ones he already opened!

 And here's my first birthday!  

 Eric eating his cake

 Owen loved it when we sang to him!

 Big One-year-old Boy!  

 And his daddy at 16 months!

 Opening presents

 Taking a power nap between dinner and cake

His mama at 13 months

 and the boy enjoying birthday treats--he just licked frosting off his fingers for a few minutes, then finally dug into the cake and ice cream!  He loved having birthday guests Grandma Mary, Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle KJ, and Uncle Derek there!

 Our little winter baby, a couple weeks before his birthday.  He LOVES to be outside, although he doesn't get the chance often in this colder-than-ever winter!

 The day before his birthday we all went swimming up in Lehi- Owen LOVES the water, the girls love the waterslide, and Whitney made great progress at swimming!

 And the morning before his birthday we heard Whitney yelling "Owen's climbing the latter!!" and ran up to find him like this:

He loves Katelyn's bed (currently the bottom bunk) , so he just wanted to see Whitney's too!  

So, the boy is one.  Not a baby any more.  He's adorable and smart and so much fun.  He kind of says mom and dad, and definitely says "ah-dn" for all done and kind of nods and grunts for "yes".  He makes cute little cooing noises when he holds, hugs and pats dolls and stuffed animals.  He loves to push cars around and try to color with crayons.  He got tons of fun toys for his birthday that all have at least 15 pieces to scatter around. :)  he loves music and dances to every kind.  He LOVES to be outside and we can't wait for spring so he can be!  he delights to see his sisters every morning and every time they've been out of his sight for a few minutes.  He gets SO excited when Eric comes home.  He's finally getting good at drinking from a sippy cup and wants to feed himself with a spoon.  He loves the toilet and will make a beeline for it if we leave the bathroom door open.  He loves the fridge.  He's starting to walk with his arms down a little lower and his legs bent a little more so he doesn't look so much like a zombie. :)  He doesn't suck his thumb much anymore.  And that's our Owen!  We love him so much.