Caramel Apple Pork Chops

I made the caramel apple pork chops last night.  J's comment when he walked in to door?  "You'll find a way to add sugar to anything!"  It was so good, though!  Definitely worth a try!   HERE is the link if you want to give it a try.  Don't forget to read some of the comments to see what other people recommend doing.  For example, a lot of people recommend doubling the sauce.  The boys even loved this meal! 

Stacy and I tried Zumba today.  It was fun!  Tomorrow will be the second time I step on the scale at the gym.  I don't think I've lost weight yet, but hopefully I haven't gained any!  I walk past the scale every time I leave the locker room and it's been very hard not to step on it and take a peek at my progress.  I don't think it would be good to weigh myself all the time, though.  I will allow it once a week, but not more than that.  And I am making myself promise not to be upset if it doesn't show any change for the first month or so.  It took more than a week to put it on, it will take more than a week to get it off. 

Personal nightmare, I mean trainer :)

My gym gave me one free session with a personal trainer.  I was really nervous about going, but excited too.  I can now understand why people spend so much money on meeting with them every week!  I learned how to use a lot of the equipment and it was motivating because I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of him.  I felt like I HAD to work hard instead of giving it a half effort.  I don't normal give it a half effort, but I tried harder than normal.  I learned that some of the things I was doing were not correct.  For example, my goal is to burn calories.  I thought it would be best to do the elliptical at a decent pace for 30 minutes instead of burning myself out and then slowing down.  The PT said that if I do the elliptical on intervals, I will actually burn more calories than if I just went at the same pace the whole time.  By a lot.  I used to do 50 RPM with a resistances level set at 6.  He had me doing 70 RPM at level 8 for 2 minutes, and then I was able to slow down and lower the level for a minute, then back up.  Like I said, he also showed me how to use different pieces of equipment.  Not sure how much I'll actually take advantage of that, but I think I'll do some of it.

I've been doing ok with my eating too.  Not great, but not terrible.  I stepped on the scale at my gym and found out that my parents' scale is 5 pounds off.  I weight more than I thought.  Bummer!  Oh well.  Just means I have to work harder.  I'd like to lose about 9-10 lbs before out trip to the beach this summer.  At this point, I am not sure how realistic that is.  But I'll do the best I can.  I feel like 1/2 a lb a week is good for me.  If I am able to do that, I'll be close but not quite there.  I'll be happy with that :)

My family tried a "Green Smoothie" this past weekend for breakfast.  It was pretty good!  It needed more fruit, but that's easy to do.  Even the kids drank it.  Not a lot of it because they had already eaten some cereal, but I think I could get them to have that for breakfast a couple times a week.  For those of you who don't know, a green smoothie is green from spinach.  You can't taste the spinach though.

I've fallen back to just planning our main meal for each day.  With all the other areas I've fallen behind on, I'll let this one slide until I get back on track with everything else.  Our dinners this week are:

Baked Chicken with some yummy seasoning
Chicken Fajitas
Shepherd's Pie
Tacos made with ground turkey
Caramel apple pork chops

Monday's are usually my day to go grocery shopping, but I've got two kids who are acting like they're coming down with something.  J is a wonderful husband and agreed to go for me :)  Hopefully my kids stay healthy.  Maybe they just needed a day to rest from the fun we had this weekend.  That's what I'm hoping, at least!  Did I share what we did this weekend?  We went to a local college basketball game.  It was a lot of fun!  The kids and I didn't see much of the game (we played out where they had other things set up), but we still had a good time.

That's about all for me.  I hope everyone else had a wonderful weekend and is off to a great work week!

Counting Calories

I've started doing something this week that I thought I'd never do... counting calories.  As I've already shared, my sister and I have started exercising more but for some strange reason, I seem to be gaining weight instead of losing it.  In fact, my clothes are actually getting a little snug.  It makes me want to cry, but I'm trusting everything that I've read that says I will start to see results soon.  J has been exercising for a few months now and looks great, but he decided to count calories with me.  It's nice doing this together.  We are using a site called my fitness pal.  We log everything we eat and it tells us how many calories we've had that day.  If we exercise, we get extra calories.  I was really surprised at first as to how many calories I actually eat.  It was a lot more than I thought!  As far as exercising goes, I love my gym!  We (Stacy and I) have been going about 3x a week.  It's not as often as I would like (I want to go 4x), but it's more than before!  We've gone to a Pilate's class and tonight we are trying out Zumba!  I'm also getting my free personal trainer session tomorrow.  Yay!!!  I was really nervous at first but now I'm more excited.

My house work has not been going as well as my diet and exercise.  In fact, I had an unexpected visitor yesterday and was so embarrassed!!!  But, she has kids and understands :)  The house looks a lot better now.  Not going to let THAT happen again!  But I'm still way behind on where I'd like to be. 

The kids are ok.  Sick again, poor guys!  T has some sort of infection.  The dr took a strep test which came back negative.  She said it's possible he had a false negative, or he has some other type of infection.  Either way, he's on antibiotics and feels better.  L has been such a fun little guy lately.  His personality is really developing.  He's much more adventurous and outgoing than I thought he'd be.  After I got over the initial shock of have two climbers, destroyers, and crazy kids, I have been able to enjoy watching them play.  We have lots of tears, broken toys/furniture/gates, and bruises, but they have a blast together. 

Time to get dinner going. Tonight, we are eating Lasagna rolls.  Mmm

Meal ministry

It's been a while since I've shared where God is working in me, so I'm going to take this time to do that :)  J took the boys to his parents' house for a little while and I get a much needed and long overdue break.  With J starting classes and our schedules filled with birthday parties and ministering to others, it's been a long, long time since I've been able to just relax.  Not trying to complain, I feel like God has been working in those areas and it's fun to sit back and see where He's decided to use me.  Before I get into how He's been encouraging me in my attitude, I want to talk about how He's used to me to minister to others.  Remember that Bible study I did last year about letting God use you where you're at?  It was based on the book, You Matter More than you Think.  I felt like God was calling me to do more, but that He has placed me where I am (being a stay at home mom) for a reason and THIS is my ministry, raising my children to be God-honoring and wise men, responsible and selfless.  Still, I felt like I should be doing more, and started praying that I would clearly see the opportunities He has given me.  My sister's a nanny.  The father of the boys she watches recently took a civi job in Afghanistan, leaving behind a wife who doesn't cook and two small boys.  My sister moved in during the work week and takes care of their meals, but the wife still had a LOT on her plate and I wanted to encourage her and let her know I was there if she needed anything.  The best way I could think of was to bring over a meal.  Turns out, the thing she was most stressed out over was cooking dinners for her children (Stacy didn't "move in" till a week later).  I saw this sweet mother the next morning at church and she gave me the biggest hug and was so grateful.  It blessed me to know how much God had used that one little meal to bring her a little bit of peace while she tried to figure out how to be both mom and dad, all while missing her second half.   I did the same thing for a pregnant neighbor who was having some contractions at 22 weeks.  Thankfully she and baby are ok (we are thinking they were simply braxton hicks), but having dinner prepared for her allowed her to stay off her feet and relax.  Not to mention stress over figuring out what to feed her family.  She said that she has been able to use the leftovers for lunches too.  It's amazing how God has used these two little meals to bring peace to two friends who were having rough days.

Ok, I've changed my mind about sharing how God has been working on my attitude.  I want to go relax a little :)  I'll share soon.  Happy Weekend!!!

I miss blogging

Looks like I'm already slacking this year when it comes to blogging.  I have actually been slacking off in a lot of my goals for this year.  My house is a mess.  We only have dinners planned (instead of all meals and snacks).  And I have been yelling at the kids more than I'd like to admit.  But you know what?  Today I will do better.  I have recently found that if I sing "This is the day, this is the day that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.  I will rejoice, I will rejoice and be glad in it, and be glad in it." every time I start to feel frustrated, it helps me calm down and remember my purpose for this stage of life...to raise my children.  I don't want to just deal with them,  I want to train them to be Godly young men who are responsible, kind, and leaders who walk the path of righteousness.  I need to set a good example for them.  Time to get back on track!

On a side note, the one area I haven't been slacking in is my exercising.  My sweet sister and I joined a gym last week and I love it.  We have gone a few times and tried out our first class this morning.  The boys seem to enjoy it, especially the older two.  Our gym has a huge maze with those tunnels that McDonald's and Chuck E Cheese have.  The difference is that our gym puts those other places to shame.  It's every kid's dream :)  The babies tolerate it.  Before joining the gym, we were doing videos several times a week.  We are determined to get in shape!  Hopefully before bathing suit season :)

On another unrelated note, GREAT NEWS!!!!!!  My sister's boyfriend was deployed on a ship for the past 11 months.  Any deployment is hard.  Really hard.  But her man couldn't call as often as he had expected (she averaged a call once a month), he wasn't able to skype unless he was stopped at a port (in other words, not often).  It was an 11 month nightmare for her, probably worse for him.  BUT HE'S HOME!!!!  Yay!!!!!!!!!  I'm so so so excited! 

Ok, that's all for now :)  Oh, and our meals this week (since I forgot earlier) are chicken tacos, chipotle chicken, lasagna rolls, ham and escalloped potatoes, and pizza casserole.  Mmm...

Reflux

I know it's Monday and I said I would be posting my menu on Mondays.  This week, I'm not going to.  Instead, I thought I'd share a little bit of our reflux story and give some advice to those going through something similar.  I recently talked with a friend about it and felt it would be good to write it all out here too. 

Our Story:
We started noticing something was off with Sweet T when he was just a couple months old.  He spit up an average amount, slept GREAT, wasn't fussy, and was a big baby.  Nothing indicated reflux at all, until he started have episodes where he looked like he was choking.  I took him to the doctor, who at first didn't think it was anything major.  Maybe a little cold or something.  Then it started getting worse where he wouldn't breathe for a second, so I called again, and they said it was most likely silent reflux.  We started on some over the counter meds immediately, and this momma freaked!  My baby would literally stop breathing.  Can you imagine trying to sleep when your child did something like that?  It was scary.  And it got worse.  Those meds worked for about a month and a half, but by 3 1/2 months, we needed something stronger.  So we switched to Zantac.  It works for some kids, but not for T.  It didn't work AT ALL!  In fact, two weeks later we were back in his doctors office to figure something else out.  By this point, it was BAD.  REALLY BAD!  He would stop breathing for extended periods of time.  His pedi told us to switch to Prevacid.  After leaving the doctor's office, we had a scary 10 minute drive to meet my parents at a local restaurant.  T stopped breathing several times.  I remember thinking, "what if he doesn't start breathing again?"  At the restaurant, he had another episode.  This time, he turned blue and fainted.  Several times.  You can imagine what that did to his daddy and me!  HEART ATTACK!!!  We rushed him to the ER (which was thankfully really close by), where they put us in the cardiac room.  They said since he stopped breathing, turned blue, and fainted, he needed that room.  They ran tons of tests, pricked him several times, couldn't get that stupid IV in! and ran some X-rays.  It was every mother's nightmare and I remember it vividly.  After several hours, the ER doctor dismissed us and said to see our pedi the next day.  There was nothing else wrong with him.  His blue and fainting episode was simply reflux.  Turns out with some babies, they are able to close their throats to keep the acid down, because the acid burns so badly.  That's what T was doing.  We did not sleep well after that.  T was in our room for months because of it.  We were afraid to leave him with baby sitters, refused to put him in the nursery at church, and even when we started to a while later, I made sure to explain very carefully how to turn him upside down and smack his back if he stopped breathing.  I always made sure to throw in the "he turned blue and fainted" part just to make sure they watched him close enough.  And then I shook the entire service wondering if they would catch it if it happened.  Even with the prevacid, he would occasionally stop breathing.  It was nowhere near as bad, but still happened regularly.  My grandma is scarred from seeing it happen once.  She seriously cries even now when she talks about it.  As you can imagine, I've done tons of research and have lots of experience with reflux.  In fact, Little L had reflux too.  His was the more traditional type.  He didn't sleep, was SUPER fussy, spit up all over the place, you know, that type of fun.  They are both awful.  One is scary, one is frustrating (who likes to be up all hours of the night every night because your child is in too much pain to sleep?).  As if I don't have enough info in my brain, I've discussed this with a friend of mine who also has two reflux babies.  Her first was like L, her second is like T.  Together, we could teach classes.  Or... write a blog post about it :-D

Tips on how to help a reflux baby:
-Eating Right- Many babies have a hard time digesting dairy and you will probably find that cutting dairy out of your diet makes a world of difference (I'm assuming you're breast feeding, because Breast is Best).  Cutting spicy foods, tomato products, and caffeine will help too.  L's biggest issue was wheat.  When I cut gluten out of my diet, his milk allergy cleared up, and so did his reflux.  He was able to stop his meds months before T did!
-Speaking of feedings, small, frequent meals are best.  If you're anything like me, this one is HARD.  I'm not really a big fan of breast feeding.  I do it because I honestly believe it's best for them and would be selfish if I didn't.  I may not be the best momma ever, but I try really, really hard to put their needs above my wants.  Anyway, back to the topic :-).  You might feel like you feed baby, change a diaper, get a half hour nap, then have to feed baby again.  It's exhausting, but really does help!  And how's your let down?  Strong?  I'm sure it is.  That could be part of the problem too.  If you have a really strong and fast let down, let the milk spray in to a burp cloth or wash cloth until it stops spraying, then let baby re-latch and finish the meal.  My friend said her daughter does best being upright while nursing.  If you bottle feed, you want your baby upright too.
-In fact, that leads us to the next point.  Baby should be upright as much as possible.  Both of my boys slept in their car seats for a while.  L was in there for what seemed like forever!  He needed to be sitting up like that, though.  Laying down flat makes it so much worse.  Do you have a moby wrap?  If not, it might be worth buying one so you can have baby upright in there while you go about your day.  Hands free AND helpful! Alright!
-Burp baby often.  Feed for 5 or 10 minutes and then burp.  And burp the correct way.  Don't just put baby against your shoulder.  It doesn't do much.  You need to put a little bit of pressure on baby's tummy.  If you insist on burping over your shoulder, put baby's tummy on your shoulder with his hands down your back.  I always felt like my babies were going to fall, so I didn't use this method.  I preferred to have my boys sit on my lap with their heads supported between my thumb and first finger.  Here's a picture of J burping L like this (but L was trying so hard to lift his head, so it's not the best example ever)

With them leaning forward like that, pat their backs nice and hard (not too hard, but enough to get that air out).  Some people find it helpful to put baby on their lap and bounce.  This didn't work well for us, but it might work better for you.
-Tummy time is important for reflux babies, but not right after a meal.  Wait AT LEAST a half hour!
-Some people find Hazel wood necklaces helpful.  I honestly didn't even try them and my friend said it did absolutely nothing for her kiddos.  They are expensive, but if you feel so inclined, give it a try.  I wouldn't have high hopes, though.
-Another thing I just recently learned (thanks to my friend!) is that Papaya is supposed to help a lot.  Don't like the taste?  I think they have vitamins or pills.

So, there ya go!  I might add to this if I think of anything, or if my super informed friend has anything to add.  If I have any readers with suggestions or comments, please feel free to let me know!  Reflux is an awful, awful thing and it would be wonderful for you to share!

Menu Monday, Jan 23. and Buckwheat Cookies

I'm kind of slacking off this week.  I know I shouldn't, but I'm doing it anyway.  I have meals planned, but no sides to go with them.  I'll just grab something out of the freezer each day I guess. 

Breakfast: waffles, eggs, bananas, cereal on the days we eat eggs, and I'm going to make some gf chocolate chip muffins
Snack: same ol' same ol'  Fruit (I have a few apples, clementines and grapes left from last week.)
Lunch: hopefully leftovers most days.  I also have some lunch meat and some bread in the freezer.
Snack: raisins, fruit snacks, cookies (which I haven't baked yet but hopefully will)
Dinner: Pizza with Bob's Red Mill's pizza dough mix, Tater tot casserole, Potato Soup, and French Onion Pork chops.  J's birthday is this week.  His last birthday in his 20's.  I think we're planning to go out for it.

For this week's recipe, I'm going to post my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Actually, I'm going to post the link to it,  It's from the Gluten Free Goddess.  HERE ya go!