Most of you know that in October I had my gallbladder removed. After the pain I had been experiencing, the day of my surgery was the happiest day of my life.
I should back up a minute and tell you what I was eating during the few months of pain, after having Henry and before having my surgery, I was a vegetarian. I cut out all meat and other hard-to-digest fatty foods. Since the gallbladder is the holding tank for a bile that helps you break down fat (that is secreted from your liver), whenever your liver needs to make more of the enzyme or whenever your gallbladder has to send a lot of it down to your small intestine (like when you have a meal or eat a lot of fat), it can cause major pain. Let me remind you, the worst pain I have ever been in. At one point, by controlling my diet (strictly) I was able to go without this pain for one month.
Fast forward to a really bad and painful episode in October which landed me in the hospital (again), and four days later I was sans gallbladder.
Immediately after the surgery, I felt super! It was as if I had never had any troubles. I went back to eating like normal. About two months ago, I noticed that whenever I ate meat (any kind), I had the slightest pain in the same spot where I did as before. It wasn't nearly as bad, but it was enough to make me think that it wasn't good. I decided it was probably a good idea to give up red meat, being that it has a ton of fat in it. I continued to eat lunch meat, chicken, fish, etc. Two weeks ago, I ate some chicken, and felt the slight pain again. (You can still have pain even after having your gallbladder removed because your common bile duct system stretches just below the liver to create a pocket to hold the excess bile until your body needs it.)
I had seen Alicia Silverstone on Jimmy Fallon awhile back promoting her book, The Kind Diet. I knew that she was a vegetarian, so I thought I would check it out. I bought the book two weeks ago, and I've been a vegetarian for a little over a week.
Here's the thing about this book... I think it's awesome. She has some really amazing stories and she cites a ton of research studies. Warning: she does talk a whole lot about how becoming a vegetarian is good for the planet and how it's going to help with global warming. I would love to tell you that I'm doing this because it's good for the planet, but I'm not. It's not even on my radar. Actually, the jury's still out on what I believe about global warming (but that's a whole other post for a whole other day). I'm doing this 75% because of heath and 25% because I think things have gotten way out of hand with the treatment of animals bred for slaughter. There are a lot of horrible, horrible things that she wrote in this book about instances in which animals were not properly stunned before their legs were cut off. Basically, they were wide awake. While I'm sure that's an isolated incident (or heck, maybe not!), I'm not willing to risk using my money to pay for meat that might not have been properly slaughtered.
Besides just giving up meat, this book talks about giving up dairy and refined sugars, too. As far as giving up refined sugars and processed/canned foods, I'm doing that pretty much as I type. This isn't as easy as giving up meat because it requires a lot of thought about what to supplement with. As far as giving up dairy, I plan to be vegan by the end of the year. I'm giving myself a nice long deadline on this one because I really like milk and cheese. Another thing I'm having trouble with is that we have small grocery stores up here that don't sell vegan cheeses and other good substitutes for dairy. I need to do some more investigating.
So what am I eating if I'm not eating processed foods and meat?
Polenta
Quinoa
Rice
Dried plantain chips (these taste exactly like potato chips, FYI.)
Toasted corn (these taste exactly like Fritos, but are made of corn, olive oil and salt.)
Spinach spaghetti (these are green noodles made from whole wheat and spinach and are GOOD!)
Other whole wheat pastas
Beans, beans and more beans (Alicia gives tips on how to get the "fartiness" out of beans.)
Hummas
Almonds
Fresh fruit
Smoothies
Radicchio, cucumber and lettuce salads
Any and all vegetables (except tomatoes because I still hate them.)
There are tons of recipes in Alicia's book, but they do have some strange ingredients that I'm not familiar with. This is another place where doing more investigating will really help me. We have a terrific Amish grocery store/farmer's market about 20 minutes away that I've been shopping at. They have the biggest, most colorful, most amazing produce I've ever seen. It's also way cheaper than Kroger's. I won't be going to regular grocery stores unless I absolutely have to.
I have a good dehydrator that my parents gave me (we had it when I was a kid) and I've been using that more. Dried fruit is a good snack item and has TONS less sugar than if you were to buy it at the grocery store.
What does Dustin think of this? He's on the fence. Thus far he has eaten every vegetarian meal I've made and said they were great. I think for him to give up the "delicious" meat from Taco Bell, is too much. I told him that I won't be preparing meat for meals at home, but he can do whatever he wants. If he wants to eat a juicy steak at Applebee's, great. If he wants to prepare his own meat to accompany the meals I make, great. He definitely doesn't have to do this if he doesn't want to. In terms of Henry, this is a more touchy subject. I've been reading about a lot of parents who have vegetarian children and they have excellent recipes for including more fat and protein in their diets without meat. This is what I plan on doing (as long as Dustin agrees). Since he's still on formula for another two months, I'm not really worried about not giving him meat until then. I will consult with his pediatrician at his one-year appointment and see what she thinks.
It's definitely a long process. The past week has pretty much been nothing but reading and looking up recipes and finding out about ingredients. It's also harder when you travel and visit people who eat meat for every meal. This is something I need to work out. I don't plan on being a huge pain about this, and if I end up eating a bite of meat, I'm not gonna freak out. As a matter of fact, I had a small amount of chicken yesterday... and wouldn't you know it, I got that pain back after a week of feeling awesome. That sealed the deal.
Mom, do you remember where I put my yogurt bites?
On Monday, Dustin and I took Henry to the park for the first time. We finally had some really nice weather and we found a cute park that has plenty of fun things for kids. We grabbed some Subway and a blanket and had a picnic before we played. It was nice to have some time in the middle of the day with Dustin, especially since it was our anniversary.
Henry was a huge fan of the swings.
He held on to the swing, though. He wasn't brave enough to let go at first.
What's more fun than swings? Swinging into your Dad while he makes goofy faces at you.
We took him over to the monkey bars. I wanted to see if he would hold on. Not only did he hold on, but he pulled himself up so that he could lick the bar.
I know it's totally gross and disgusting. Don't worry, we pulled him away after like 1 second.
He liked going down the slide on his belly.
It was a great afternoon. Dustin and I decided that we're going to meet up once a week this summer so that we can have lunch and take Henry to the park together.
Last month, I took Henry to get his pictures taken. I went to a different place this time -- Portrait Innovations. I couldn't pass up their offer (one 10x13, two 8x10's, four 5x7's, four 3x5's, thirty-two wallets and six greeting cards for $9.95).
Here's the picture we got with the offer:
When I saw this picture, all I could think about was how much he looked like a little boy. The way he's holding his hands is so cute. I'm sure you'll notice that his hair is still red. It's redder and thicker than ever. His eyebrows are also red, so I'm thinking the color is going to stay. Weird, but I love it.
All through the session he was waving to the photographer. His wave is a little wonky. He holds his hand close to his face and waves backwards.
Of course, we had to get a few shots of him in his monster hat.
Things that he started doing at 8 months:
1. Continued crawling on his belly up until about a week after his 8-month birthday. All the sudden he just figured it out and started crawling on his knees.
2. He was finally able to pick up cheerios with his thumb and index finger (pincher) and put them directly into his mouth.
3. I started feeding him more 'people' food. (Dustin makes fun of me because it's not like he was eating dog food before this.) For example, we went to Panera for breakfast and Henry had half a bagel ripped up into tiny pieces. Although, it was probably more like a quarter of a bagel because a lot of it ended up on the floor.
4. He started pulling himself up onto furniture to stand and take a few steps along whatever he was holding onto.
5. Because of number 4, he started looking like a child of abuse. He frequently has bumps or red marks on his head from losing his grip and falling or constantly trying to stand up while seated under the coffee table. This has led me to question his intelligence. We've added bumpers along the coffee table and even removed the bottom shelf, but he still seems to find trouble. It's so amazing how he can cry so hard, but once Dustin or I pick him up everything seems to be less painful.
6. This month was the first time we used a can of simple saline on his clogged nose. For those of you who haven't used this on your kids, I was amazed at how helpful it was. He hated it, but it cleared up his boogie-filled nose in about three days.
7. For an early Easter gift, we got him a little walker. I didn't think he'd be able to hold on to it, push it and walk with it at the same time, but he did! He's not super steady, but he can do it.
8. He says, "dada".
Well, that's about it. He goes to the doctors on Friday for his 9-month checkup, so I'll have more pictures and info to post about his 9-month activities soon!
Earlier this month (March 11th through the 14th) Abby, Eli, Charlie and Olivia came to visit. We were SO excited to have visitors, and especially excited to have some friends for Henry to play with. I hadn't seen Charlie and Liv for awhile, so when they walked into our apartment I almost cried! I should also say that Liv walked into the apartment and said "hi" to me like it was no big thing. I just cannot believe how much they are doing these day (and that was even 2.5 weeks ago... I'm sure they're learning to ride a bike without training wheels this week).
One of my favorite parts of the whole weekend was giving our kiddos a bath. Abby and I have been friends for almost 22 years, so seeing our children together like that was definitely cool.
I must tell you that I was cracking up with all three of them in the tub like that. Charlie and Liv would stand up and bend over to grab a toy or something and they would inadvertently bump Henry in the head with their naked tushy. TOO FUNNY! Henry didn't seem to mind one bit, though.
During their visit, we also spent a day shopping at Ikea. Abby and Eli had never been, so I felt like it was my duty to show them all the greatness of Ikea. Side note: while we were shopping at Ikea, I was holding Charlie for a bit. He decided to lean in and give me the sweetest little kiss -- for no reason. Adorable!
We also watched a movie, ate good food and of course, played with the kids. Henry loves Abby. She knows all kinds of fun songs and games -- many more than his boring old mom knows.
Charlie and Liv helped me put on my makeup for the day. Don't let this picture fool you, Charlie was actually really into it!
We also played euchre. Let me tell you, that was the funniest thing! Dustin had never played before, so we spent a long time teaching him. Dustin, I love you so much but you stink at euchre. I'm not sure that Abby, Eli and I have ever laughed so hard. He had an extremely hard time with the concept of 'trump' and also that the jacks of the trump color are the two highest cards in the game. Hilarious!
Overall, it was a great visit!
On March 7th, Dustin, Henry and I went to Kalamazoo for the National Curling Championships. After watching the Olympics, I was really interested in curling. Just ask Dustin, I know all the curling lingo! We were excited to go watch it live and visit another part of Michigan that we hadn't visited yet.
Here's Henry with his new toy. It was a $20 curling rock hat that we just had to have. He really loves it! Also, the fuzzy guy at the top of this picture was one of the Olympic curlers. He was wearing his Vancouver 2010 jacket and all the little nerdy curling kids were coming up to him and asking for his autograph.
We were rooting for this yellow team, but they lost.
Henry got tired from all the watching.
The hat's a little big. He'll grow into it.
I was really surprised at how good all the teams were. There was a really young team that we were keeping an eye on. The guys must have been no older than 16 or 17, but they were really good! We only stayed to watch one round of men's games because each round was $10 per person. Kinda pricey if you want to stay the whole day (4 rounds). It was really different watching it live (versus watching the Olympics on TV) because you had to focus on the team you wanted to watch with all the other games going on around it.
Henry is going to be 8 months old on Monday.
He is definitely starting to act older. The other day he threw his very first tantrum. He had pulled a highlighter out of my purse and was chewing on it. I went over to him, said "no" (very firmly) and took it away from him. He started crying/screaming and leaned over and banged his hands on the ground several times. Nice.
He's also moving everywhere. He can crawl with his belly off the floor, but he is still faster with his belly on the floor so that's usually how he does it. He follows me around the whole apartment. It's cute that he wants to be in the same room. He can't go backwards though, so sometimes we hear him whining because he has gotten himself in a corner and can't get back out. It's funny.
The other day I had him sitting in his car seat, but not buckled. I had to drive like 6 spaces away and re-park the car. After re-parking I got out of the car and started to transfer stuff from my car to my mom's car. After a minute I noticed this...
Something similar happened at the grocery store. He was sitting in the cart while I was loading groceries onto the belt... apparently he thought we needed to pay for him as well.
This is a cute picture from Sofa Mart. While I was picking out new furniture, I had him sitting on this little baby couch. If it weren't $119 I would have bought it for him. So cute!
Henry, Dustin, Michelle and I went to the MSU Hockey game two weeks ago (Michelle had come to visit for a few days). I was a little worried about having him there because the game was so loud and everyone was clapping, etc. He didn't mind one bit, though. In fact, I think he thought everyone was clapping for him! He was making friends with everyone sitting around us. Including this lady...
She was sitting next to us and wanted to hold him. Of course, Henry couldn't care less who holds him as long as someone is holding him. Dustin talked to her a lot through the night about hockey and found out that she bakes cookies for all the hockey players.
He's really started to eat lots of things lately. He's tried yogurt bites, sweet potato puffs, cheerios, bread and other random bits of food. His favorite is to chew on sticks of celery. I also gave him a biter biscuit the other day. Um...had I known how messy this was going to get, I would have stripped him down.
So those are just a few pics from the last few weeks. We're going to get his 8-month pictures on Monday and we have the cutest outfit picked out for him. Let's just say it fits his personality perfectly... stay tuned!
The reason I haven't been blogging lately is because I've been packing, moving, unpacking, putting away and decorating.
Let me start you at the beginning. On Feb. 10th, we found out that Dustin was going to Alabama on the 11th (yes, the next day). On the 11th, I found out that we were moving to our new apartment starting on the 12th (the next day). Our landlord called me and asked me leave asap so that he could get the new renters moved in sooner. This was two weeks ahead of schedule. I was happy to oblige since I hated the old place and the new place had been ready for us for weeks. No worries, we had our families come up and help. The only problem was that Dustin was stuck in Alabama because of snow (a whopping 3 inches). He had to rent a car and drive 13-hours home so that he could help move. (The reason he went to AL in the first place was to work on a AF base - it ended up being closed anyways.) He got back to Michigan at 1am on Saturday morning and we started moving 7 hours later.
It ended up going swimmingly. We got all moved thanks to my Mom, Dad, Gina, Bob, Bailey, Keegan, Kaden and a couple of Dustin's friends.
Here are pictures of our last apartment in Michigan. We are NOT moving again unless it's to move out of Michigan.
So here's the view when you walk in the door.
How cool is it that our walls aren't stark white?
This is the little "nook" immediately to the right (behind the door). I love that we have a place for purses, jackets, shoes (no shoes on in the apartment, please) and other stuff. Inside the bench is extra blankets and pillows.
I saw some antique match holders like these on a blog that I read awhile back. I found some this fall at an antique shop with Dustin in Shipshewana when we were "vacationing" after he took comps.
Here's the view from the dining room looking towards the door. Note our new couch. Much better and smaller than the old one. Our recliner is coming in sometime in the next two weeks. It will go in the space on the right (in the picture) under the shelves.
The door that you see open in this picture is where Dustin's office is. It looks the same as his last office did. The only difference is that he doesn't share it with me anymore. If it's ever clean, I'll take a picture.
Here's a shot of the shelves.
This is the dining room/scrapbook area. I decided to move my scrapbook table into the dining room because I have a better view of where Henry will be spending all of his time.
It's hard to tell, but outside of the window is woods. Every window in our apartment looks out to woods. It's so wonderful not to have to see other buildings or cars.
Even though I don't have a scrapbook room, I do have a very large closet.
I still have major organizing and cleaning to do in here. Our bedroom technically has two walk-in closets. This is the bigger one.
Henry's bathroom. I was so excited to make this a kid-friendly bathroom. I still have a few things to put up, but I think it's cute :-)
Next comes Henry's room. Side note: Terri, I finally put up the vinyl animals that you gave Henry. They are so adorable!
We were going to paint in here, but the apartment doesn't allow people to paint for themselves. You can paint, you just have to hire professionals to do it.
These are pics from our bedroom...
The other closet.
My little bird sitting on our headboard.
Here's the master bath. Hellooooooo counter space!
The kitchen. It's clean and it's the biggest apartment kitchen I've had. I love it.
This bookcase is in the hall across from the kitchen.
The sign on my laundry room door.
So that's the apartment so far. I still have little things to do, but I'd say it's 98% finished. I should tell you some other things that make this place awesome.
1) we have a carport
2) we have an ice-maker
3) we have a pool
4) our building is smoke-free
5) the maintenance guy is so nice and friendly
6) no more shoveling or raking
7) Henry has free reign... no baby gates!
It's so nice that Henry can just crawl wherever he wants. He follows me into the kitchen, into the bathroom, into the laundry room... etc. He's getting a workout!
Also, all of the vinyl stuff comes from Stampin' Up!, which I now sell. If you want a catalog let me know. They have tons of cute things.
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