It Begins

Today we started our new way of eating.  The girls usually have sausage every morning, but I always buy the pre-cooked, just heat in the microwave stuff.  No more.  I bought some ground pork and spices and mixed up my own sausage.  I found a recipe online and decided to give it a go.  Mixing it was the easy part.

My bowl of mixed up pork and spices.

I made some fat little patties and cooked them on the stove top.  However, after the first batch, I realized that I shouldn't have made them so fat because it was burning the outside and leaving the inside pink.

Cooking up my sausage patties

I tried making them a little thinner and went at it again.  Same result, burnt outside and pink inside.  Vince told me I need to cook them at a really low temperature and let them cook for awhile.  I don't have time for that what with homework and three little kids running around.  So instead, I made some really flat strips of sausage and cooked them that way.  They got down much faster and weren't burnt.  Horray!!

The burnt sausage

 The strips of sausage that turned out

And this whole process took me all of about 2 1/2 hours.  I didn't think it would take so long and I had test today that I should have studied for last night.  Never got to it, so I studied some this morning.

Aimee had an appointment at the ENT this morning, so I got her up early and made her a lovely breakfast, or that's what I thought.  This is a typical breakfast for the girls.  Scrambled eggs, fruit, sausage and almond milk.  We use almond milk because it has more calcium than regular milk and the girls love the vanilla flavor.  Logan drinks the dark chocolate almond milk or his Pediasure.  

Aimee didn't eat much and I just figured it was because it was early in the morning and she just didn't feel like eating.  When I got home after the appointment, I asked Vince if he had fed Anna and he did.  She threw the sausage on the floor.  This is what she does when she doesn't like something.  Apparently it's too chewy.  So I guess I will be eating the sausage.  All that work for nothing.  Live and learn.  For lunch the kids and I had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with natural peanut butter and some fruit.  Logan, Anna and Aimee also had a cheese stick.  I put dinner in the crock pot and then it was off to school for me.  Test completed, and it was terrible but it's over.   Dinner was Pepper Steak with brown rice.  I didn't cook the rice long enough and it ended up being somewhat chewy.  And we all know what the girls think of chewy food.  They played around with it for awhile and ate some of it.  It actually tasted pretty good.  You can find the recipe here:  Pepper Steak

I'm working on some blueberry muffins for breakfast right now and I'll have to see how those turn out.  Hopefully better than the sausage.

 While I was busy making the sausage, the girls were keeping me company just lounging around on the kitchen floor.  Don't mind the drinks everywhere, sometimes it can take me a few days to put all the groceries away.

Healthy is Expensive

All the kids took a late nap today so we went grocery shopping late tonight.  I got my list all made up for a weeks worth of dinners, some lunches and breakfasts.  I realize now that I did forget a couple of things.  Don't you hate it when you do that?  It took at least an hour to get everything off my list and I still didn't manage to find it all.  Have you ever heard of coconut flour?  I couldn't find it anywhere.  I think I'll have to make a trip to an actual health food store.  Vince of course had to get some of his own food because he won't eat what I make.  After it was all said and done our bill was just over $240, and that's just for a week!  Thank goodness for our EBT, otherwise we couldn't afford to eat like this.  It's easy to see why a majority of the people who live in poverty are overweight.  The food that isn't good for you is cheap and the healthy food is expensive.  If you're trying to feed a family of 5 and you don't have much money of course you are going to go for the cheaper stuff.  Something has got to change.

While we were our shopping I put a Stouffer's Mac N' Cheese with broccoli in the oven and the girls and I ate that when we got home.  Logan wanted nothing to do with it so Vince gave him some of his pulled pork sandwich.  However he didn't want to eat that either since it was messing and got on his hands.  He reminds me so much of my little brother when it comes to food, picky!  Maybe it will change.....  I decided to give the girls some spoons and work on them some more with utensils.  It is very difficult trying to teach two toddlers to eat with a spoon at the same time.  I usually feed them finger food for this reason.  I guess they'll have to learn how to eat with a spoon sometime.  Of course as soon as I let them eat on their own then they hold the spoon in one hand and grab the food with the other.

                                                                              Anna

  

Aimee

The New Bed

Logan's new bed has arrived!!  Vince and his friend Jonathon got home yesterday around 11:10pm.  The girls were in bed, but Logan and I waited up for them.  They left at 3:30pm, so it was a long evening for them, but it was so worth it.  Even after the gas money we ended up paying $200 less than we would have had we bought a new bed.  Plus, the one we were planning on buying was no where near this nice!

Logan was really excited about the bed, he was hoping it was stairs though and not a ladder, but I think he'll be ok.  We even went and picked out a Spongebob bed set and put it on the top bed.  He climbed up pretty good, but then he tried bouncing on the top and hit his head on the ceiling.  After that he wanted nothing more to do with the top bed.  He opted to sleep on the bottom trundle bed instead.  I checked on him later that night and he seemed to be ok.  The next morning the girls were all about his new bed.  They were climbing all over the bottom bed and just sitting there playing with toys and Logan's blankets.

                                                          The girls and Logan's new bed.

Vince, the girls and I went to my SIL baby shower today.  She is looking so cute and she is due on my birthday! :)  She got some great gifts and had some fun trivia questions mixed in.  For example: at what age should you remove a mobile from the crib?...... 5 months old.  Yeah, my girls are 15 months and they still have theirs, haha!  They do like to pull on the little animals though and sometimes it falls into the crib so maybe it's time to take them down.  Plus the batteries in both mobiles are dead and that gives me an excuse not to buy anymore.  The girls were pretty good at the shower for the most part and they really enjoyed the food.

Tomorrow our EBT gets refilled.  I don't like being on government assistance, but we have been living off of chicken nuggets, hot dogs and other junk for the past couple weeks.  I'm going to get my shopping list ready and we are going to start eating healthy.  I'm excited to start this new chapter in my life.  For me, this is a big deal.  I don't want the kids growing up eating junk.  We also are not going to allow soda in the house.  We haven't had soda in the house for the last three months at least and so far so good.  I miss it sometimes, but if we ever go out I do sometimes get a soda.  So let the good eating begin!!

A Change

I have neglected this blog for too long and I apologize.  I really don't have an excuse other than I had other things to do and this was just put to the way side.  Things are going to change.  Logan eats so unhealthy and it's because I got lazy when he was younger and just didn't feel like cooking meals after school and work.  So far, the girls are getting a balanced meal for most every meal.  They still like their fruit and some veggies.

I have decided that we are going to be healthy this year.  I am going to start making healthy meals for everyone.  Vince has already told me he won't eat anything with vegetables and that just means that he will have to make something for himself.  I hope to post every day as to how we are doing.  These are not recipes I have come up with myself.  I have been scouring the web and pinterest to find some good healthy food.  I don't think it will be easy, but this is something I feel I need to do and I'm hoping this blog will hold me accountable.  So here we go!!

The kids are all doing great!  Logan will be 4 yrs old this month.  I can't believe how fast the time flies.  We are doing a Spongebob themed birthday and we already have his presents picked out.  We just need to buy them now.  The girls are walking and getting all over the place.  At least once I day I find them in the bathroom playing in the toilet.  Logan is doing better putting the lid down, but Vince still can't seem to remember to do it.  Probably has something to do with the fact he has been leaving it up all his life and it's a hard habit to break.  They still haven't said any real words.  They may have their own chatter though.  When I get them out of bed after a nap or in the morning, if one of them is still asleep, the other will lean into her crib and start chattering to get her up.  It's very cute. 

Vince is heading to Chicago tonight to get Logan a new bed.  He was getting too big for his toddler bed so we made the decision to buy a new one.  We ventured out yesterday and looked at a few furniture stores and found some we really liked and then I decided to do a search on craigslist.  We found a bed in our price range in Chicago.  Since Logan's room is so small, we are getting him a loft bed.  He'll have to climb a ladder to get up to the top bed and underneath the bed is a dresser and spot for a tv and shelving.  There is also a trundle bed on the very bottom.  It's perfect for his little room.  I haven't seen it in person yet, but Vince should be home in the next few hours and we'll get it all set up.  Better get the girls to bed.

Adventures in Parenting

Today we were outside cleaning off crates and I saw a moth that blended in perfectly with the wooden crate.  I brought Logan over and he had to touch it of course and it flew away.  A couple of seconds later, we saw it get eaten by a bird.  We also saw a stink bug and I told Logan not to step on it because it would be very stinky.  He says, "It's an ucky diaper bug!"  Yes, anything that is stinky is an 'ucky diaper'  If he ever hears anyone fart he says, 'ucky diaper'.  Or if something is stinky, it's an 'ucky diaper'  which is how it becomes an ucky diaper bug.  I wish I could get some of things he does on video and send it in to America's Funniest Videos.

We are still working on the potty training with Logan.  Today he had a couple of accidents, one being a poopy accident.  Or according to Logan, a butt.  For some reason, he calls poop, butt.  It's kinda cute.  Yesterday, he went outside and had taken his off shorts and pullup and was walking around with these around his ankles.  I found him like this and told him he needed to get inside now and he says, "I have a big butt in my pants!"  This means he has a big poopy, which he did.  I think that's why he took them off.  I don't know why he did it outside though.

Sometimes Logan will go to the potty by himself.  Not very often though.  I found him like this a couple of days ago.  I have told Vince so many times to put the lid down!!  Poor Logan was trying to hover.  No, he does not know how to pee standing up yet.






Last night, Logan decided he wanted to wear his bear feet slippers to bed and this is him showing off.  Notice the blue bear in the right corner.  That is a baby toy that I brought up for the girls which used to be his.  He has reclaimed it.  Along with lots of other toys that are way too young for him.

At three years old, Logan is afraid of the dark, ghosts and monsters.  I never wanted my kids to be scared of these because I used to have these kinds of fears when I was a kid.  We never let Logan watch anything scary or violent.  Unfortunately, an older child put these thoughts into his little mind and now he won't sleep with the lights off.  He has a night light and I leave the light on the hallway.  So when he has the lights on, he doesn't go to sleep.  He just plays.  This is greatly messing with his sleep and I don't know what to do.

This is him playing with his Etch a Sketch when he should be sleeping.










The girls are loving their toys now.  It's so fun to watch them.  This is one of their favorites at the moment.  Busy Gears.  You press the button and it lights up, plays music and the gears spin.  They are always pulling it back and forth between them.  Like a tug of war.

They're doing their superman pose.  Kind of.  Oh, and I guess I was wrong about what muscle they're strengthening.  It's more the scapular retractors.  I really need to start studying this summer.  School will be back in session before I know it.

I love this picture.  The Winnie the Pooh is a toy that Vince had when he was a baby.  Logan was playing with Anna and she is loving it. 

  

Even though I never planned for having kids this close together, I'm kind of glad it happened.  Logan loves his little sisters and I don't know if he'll remember his life when they weren't around.




And last, but not least, Anna is either kicking Aimee in the face or Aimee is sucking on Anna's foot.  I'm pretty sure it's the latter.

Oh and we did decide to girl ear splints for the girls as well, which is what you see attached to Aimee's ear.

Mover and the Shaker

Since the girls started moving in my belly, I thought that Aimee was going to be the mover and the shaker.  She flipped and flopped every week.  Sideways, head down, then breach and did it all over again.  I was sure that she would be the one who did most of the moving or at the least the first one.  Anna is moving all over the place.  She isn't crawling and she isn't scooting, but somehow she makes it to other side of the room to play with Logan's toys.  I saw her today going for the package of baby wipes under the ottoman and became very frustrated when she couldn't reach it.  Aimee just rolls back and forth, but that's about it.

When Logan was little it was easy to keep the floor clean because it was just me, Vince and Logan.  I didn't worry too much about him getting little objects into his mouth.  Except for the pieces of carpet he used to pull out and choke on after he tried to eat it.  With the girls though, they have a lot more options of fun things to put in their mouths.  Logan's hotwheels for example.  He probably has 100 hotwheel cars and they always manage to get into the living room where the girls are.  Logan also likes to walk around the living room while he's snacking and drops crumbs everywhere.  It's like a treasure trove to the girls.  Well, Anna anyway.  Unless it's within arms reach, Aimee could care less at this point.  But Anna lifts her little butt in the air and tries to move forward and then lifts her legs and arms off the floor, like superman.  She's strengthening those erector spinae muscles(that's the PTA talking)  I don't quite see how the superman is going to get her across the room, but she always does it.  Aimee sometimes does this too.  I'll have to get a picture and show you, especially when they're doing it at the same time.  It's super cute.  Super cute because it's superman.  I think being awake this late is messing with my mind.

I finished my Eat to Live book and as soon as I can go grocery shopping, I'll be starting.  Vince may have to put up with a long shopping trip because I'm not used to shopping in the healthy area of the grocery store so it could take awhile to find everything.  I really should be getting to sleep.  The girls have been getting up at 5:30 lately which isn't very fun.  Makes for an exhausting day.  Until next time.

Sweet Words

What are the sweetest words your child has said to you?  My favorite is, "I love you."  I've waited three years for Logan to say this to me.  I don't know why it took him so long because I tell him everyday that I love him.  Last night he woke up crying, I went in to check on him and he said,
"I need a drink."  I got him a drink from the kitchen, brought it back to his room and he says, "I love you ,mommy."  I have heard this before, but usually when I say it first.  It was so beautiful and wonderful all at the same time.  This is kind of a sappy post, but this means a lot to me.  Especially since he has not been the easiest child lately.  He constantly wants attention and sometimes I'm not able to give it to him.  I might be dealing with the twins are trying to clean that house, that has been put off for weeks because of life.  When he doesn't get the attention he craves, he acts out.

This summer, Vince and I are hoping to take Logan on a small vacation, no twins allowed.  My parents have agreed to watch the girls a couple nights so we can take Logan, just Logan.  He deserves the time with us and I can't wait to go.  Vince's work is shutting down for two weeks in July.  This happens every year, so we are just going to take the vacation during that shut down.  I've been scouring the internet trying to find a place that a three year old and two parents would enjoy, which doesn't involve St. Louis or Chicago.  We've been to those two places so much, I wanted to see something different.  I think we've settled on Kansas City, MO.  This city recently opened a large aquarium and a Legoland.  It is has amusement parks and a zoo.  This sounds perfect!!  Now, I just need to find a cheap, nice hotel.

The girls are doing wonderful.  They're eating baby food now and it getting it everywhere.  I'd forgotten how messing feeding a baby can be, let alone two babies.  They're constantly sticking their hands in their mouths right after I fed them a spoonful of food.  They blow bubbles and food goes all over.  The bibs don't seem to protect their clothes very well and I'm changing them after almost every feeding.  I'm so thankful we have a washer and dryer in our house.

Anna

Aimee

I myself have already attempted two diets this summer and have failed.  I'm on my third and I'm hoping this is the one.  I haven't actually started, I just got the book, "Eat to Live" by Dr. Fuhrman.  Once I finish reading it, I hope to start soon after.  This is about cutting out lots of animal protein.  Your diet should consist of 90% fruits and vegetables and 10% animal protein.  I'm a little nervous to start, but not only is good for weight loss, it's wonderful for you health in general.  If you have a chance, read this book.  It really makes you look at all the crap you're putting into your body.  What makes it worse is, I'm giving Logan this crap too.  So if this works for me, I'll be trying to change Logan's diet as well.  Little by little of course.