Bitty Baby's First Jumper

Olivia has been asking me to make clothes for Bitty Baby for a while now. I hardly have time to sew anymore but I knew it would mean alot to her so today I bought the McCall's 4338 pattern while we were at Hobby Lobby.



After she went to bed I holed up in the sewing room desperately trying to understand the pattern. I detest old fashioned patterns because I was never formally trained in sewing. I have a hard time understanding what to do when I look at them whereas the .pdf patterns available online contain lots of photos and are easier to understand. But I stuck it out and read and re-read til I felt comfortable cutting out the pieces and proceeding. Bitty Baby is styling in her pleated polka dotted dress!


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The Great Sugar Experiment

This past weekend we had a children's birthday party to attend. I have been testing my blood sugar regularly since changing my eating habits and have seen improvement but I had never tested it after a carb/sugar-filled meal. I was curious to see what would happen if I ate like I used to at the party. So, I had a couple slices pizza, ice cream and cake. I did skip the soda so it wasn't exactly how I used to eat but close enough. I knew all that sugar would blow my meter up and I didn't want the full impact of it so as soon as we got home I mowed our yard. Exercise is known to decrease blood sugar. If I had not mowed I'm sure it would have been significantly worse.

At 2 hours after starting a meal a normal person's glucose should be below 140 mg/dl. At the 2 hour mark mine was at 139 so I thought "hmm, not bad". But, I had a sneaky suspicion that my glucose might still be rising so an hour later I retested and got 169...whoa! That is a hallmark of insulin resistance....glucose that is not curbed by insulin at the 2 hour mark. The insulin is either insufficient to counter the glucose or it isn't working properly. By the 4 hour mark I was back to 139 again and it we can assume it continued decreasing. My fasting level was 129 the next morning, much higher than it usually is, so you can see that the effects of that meal were not limited to one evening. And that, my friends, is why decreasing carbs is so important for the insulin resistant!


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Food Prep Sunday {Meal Planning edition}

This weekend the only FOOD I prepped was browning a half pound of sausage for our daily omelets but I did do something related....meal planning.

Let me back up to share that I have struggled with meal planning since marrying 7 years ago. I can count on one hand the number of weeks I have had a meal plan in all that time. A few things I have done over time to improve on this issue include:

Reading lots of blogs and a couple eBooks on the topic
Pinning recipes daily to my very organized Pinterest boards
Subscribing to online meal planning services
(eMeals, Fresh 20, 5 Dinners 1 Hour and Plan To Eat to name a few)
Being an active member of a local freezer meal group for about 2 years

Despite these efforts it has been a struggle to actually commit to a set of meals, shop for those meals and follow through with the plan.

Lately though, the lack of planning is really becoming a burden. I am tired of starting dinner only to realize I'm missing a key ingredient or feeling stressed at 4 pm because I have no plan whatsoever and my day has been busier than I was expecting. Additionally, when you cut out rice, pasta, potatoes and corn it becomes exponentially harder to throw something together. Meal planning seems determined to weasel itself into my life and I think I'm ready to embrace it. I present this week's meal plan and some prep reminders so I can try to do my chopping the night before.


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Chia Chia

Today I woke feeling very tired and not hungry. Tired happens everyday but not hungry? That's a new one. I used to skip breakfast with great regularity and wasn't bothered in the least but now I am very irritable if I do not eat breakfast. Once I started eating a filling breakfast daily I found I could no longer skip meals without serious side effects. I also think it is one of the keys to my weight loss but that is a blog for another day.

Anyhow, I wasn't hungry today for my usual eggs but I knew I needed to put something in my belly. I started looking around the kitchen and all I saw was Honey Nut Cheerios (my former breakfast staple when I did eat). I knew that would not do so I searched my Pinterest breakfast board and remembered Grain Free Hot Cereal. Luckily I had some frozen blueberries that I quickly thawed in the microwave. I can only eat about half of this because I'm not a huge fan of chia seeds but even half loads you up with fiber.


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Reflections On The Year and May

It's hard to believe it is already May.  This year is really flying.  It's been a year of change and maybe that is why it seems to be moving at such a rapid pace.  Two huge changes so far this year have been my husband starting a new job in March after a very surprising layoff in February and me changing my eating habits drastically in late March.  The first change was very stressful initially, especially the part where we lost health insurance, but now a few months later, it just seems like a blip on the radar of life.  There were quite a few blessings that came with the ending of the old job and the new job is really just now getting started so it's hard to say but so far it seems to be going pretty well.  

The second change has changed how often I grocery shop, what I buy, how much I cook (every single day), how much we spend on said groceries and of course, for my family, lots of new foods that they aren't as eager as I am to try and let's not even mention the amount of time I spend reading blogs or Pinterest looking for recipes.  This change has drastically affected how I spend my "free" (ha ha!) time as well.  I used to spend quite a bit of time at night and on weekends sewing.  I love sewing.  But now I am so tired I just do not have the energy to sew.  I used to eat cereal for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch so I really only cooked a full meal for dinner.  Now I cook at breakfast and dinner and sometimes lunch depending on whether there are leftovers.  Even if I don't cook at lunch I assure you I am chopping vegetables, grating cheese, something.  It is never just slapping the peanut butter and jelly on the bread anymore.  Additionally, I am also preparing food for my almost 4 year old and husband since he works from home.  So, three meals a day for three people.  I know there are moms of six who may come across this and roll their eyes but let's keep this in perspective, I am talking about the changes in my life, not how much less work I do than someone else.  So, honestly, I'm feeling a little tired and single minded.  

With all that being said, I am moving forward, full steam ahead with my new way of eating and whatever time it takes is what it takes.  I spent many many years letting my glucose get out of whack and eating junk all day and night so if this is my penance then so be it!

Wow, I got off tangent, didn't I?  Back to May....  This month there are lots of fun occasions - our 7th anniversary next week (hello Angus Barn!), Mother's Day, my birthday and a vacation the last week of the month in Williamsburg.  That also means lots of opportunities to overeat, eat off plan, gain weight, get frustrated, quit, etc.  Well, I refuse.  I have worked too hard to lose the weight I have lost so far so if setbacks happen, I'll just deal with it and get back on plan the next meal or next day.  There...it's in black and white.