Birthday Blend

Glowing green smoothie

3 leaves of lettuce

about 5 or 6 sprigs of spinach

one apple

one pear

1 celery stalk

one banana

a cup of water

and some lemon juice

Healthy and delicious! And for my birthday yesterday, Joe took me to get my nose pierced (also featured in the picture above.)

And we drove to the coast the day before to have some family time, which was really awesome. I don't know what the coast does to us, but as soon as we get our feet in the sand it's just total relaxation. Now we are just looking forward to a simple slow moving weekend, and we hope all of you have the same.

Shmorgishborg Ln.

...is what our road should be called. It seems like every day I walk down it I discover yet another tree or bush that contains edible delights.

Blackberry bush

Plum tree in our front yard (which we and the neighbors have eaten mostly all of, but there are a few out of reach that remain.)

Saylor snagged an apple from the apple tree in front of our mailbox (I've counted about 7 apple trees so far.)

She generously shared her apple with the chickens right across the street.

And growing in my garden is the corn...

watermelon...

summer squash...

zucchini

and my tomato is JUST starting.

And in front of the chickens I discovered what my neighbor and I believe to be a hazelnut tree!

In updates about the no sugar, I'm still going strong- today is Day #3. Joe caved and ate a Snickers yesterday. Tsk...

And in potty training world, Saylor is doing very well... We're having trouble with the #2. Yesterday I heard her playing in the dining room, and she came into the kitchen and said "Yay!!! I pooped, Mama!!" I walked into the dining room to discover she had done just that under our table. She has the right idea, just not the right location, unfortunately.

Our week long challange starts TODAY!

Joe and I got woken up in the middle of the night by Saylor wanting to get in bed with us. This happens at least 3 times a week, and it usually takes me about half an hour to fall back asleep. In that 30 minutes last night I started thinking about one thing I could cut out of my life that didn't make me feel good, or wasn't benefiting me. The first thing that popped into my head was sugar. For whatever reason, at 8 pm every night an alarm goes off in me that screams "SUGAR! SUGAR!" and I always give into it. I even make a serious attempt to not keep anything sweet in the house, but of course, a sweet tooth always finds a way to feed. I usually just make cookies or something from scratch. Tsk... So, at 2 am this morning, I decided to set out on a mission... a mission to do nothing! When my sweet tooth calls, I will not respond. In fact, I went as far as to make myself cut out sugar in general (for one week). No yogurt with added sugar, no ketchup, no sweetened jelly, you get the idea. I went to my sacred calander where everything written down is done, and continued to right an 's' with the "no smoking" slash through it for 7 days.

I told Joe about it this morning and he got really excited for me... And even agreed to join me! Our conversation started to drift towards high fructose corn syrup, and in a fit of excitement we started going through our fridge and throwing things away that contained it. And the things that we didn't want to waste the money on throwing away was sorted separately on opposite sides of the fridge or cupboard so we would know to eat it in moderation. So, the week started this morning and I am doing fine... But when 8 pm rolls around I might have to lock myself in my room!

All or nothing: When nature calls....

                                                               My Saylor...


So I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself for being super proud of her for pee peeing 8 times in her potty yesterday, with about 2 accidents, but I can't help but be super stoked. We're making a special trip to wal-mart to pick up some real panties and some plastic liners to go over them. I kind of feel like I'm an all or nothing kind of person... If we're going to do it, we're going to do it completely.

I still am a little confused on how I'm going to handle the night time pee pees. I guess I'm going to enforce a "no liquids after 6" rule (her bed time is at 8), and not put her down until she's pee peed. But besides that I'm a little lost on what to do in the middle of the night when nature calls. I guess I'll do what I'm best at when it comes to parenthood and play it by ear (or play it by pee pee).

Well, I don't have much else to write about. My mind has pretty much been focused on potty training for the last 30 hours, and I don't really want to focus it on anything else at this point... I'm painfully determined to make this happen! I'll update in a few days (and I'm hoping to still be this optimistic!)

I feel healthy...

I woke up this morning and realized that I feel so good when I exercise and eat well. I mean, duh, common sense, but the benefits of doing those two things outweigh the taste of any decadent treats. Another thing I've realized is that even though you don't wake up 10 lbs lighter, the fact that you know you're working towards your goals gives you self confidence.

I've been thinking about why I've felt so overwhelmingly happy since I've moved here. Not that I wasn't extremely happy in Georgia... being around my family would mean everything to me, but I have been thinking about what I've changed since I've moved here that has gotten me closer to happiness. Obviously getting married would be #1. Sharing everything with someone is really beautiful, and I look at is as an art that no one will master. The hard times bring happiness, because when you overcome hurdles you're one step closer to mastering the art of matrimony.

#2 would have to be prioritizing. Now that I'm lucky enough to be able to stay home with Saylor, I'm able to appreciate her has my main priority. Not that I didn't before, when I was working, and not that the working Mom isn't able to, just for me specifically... I feel as if I'm not blinded by other factors that should have been on the back burner. She's my main focus throughout the entire day, and even though it's not easy, the difficulties add great reward. (i.e. 2 hours of non stop attempts to get her to use her potty yesterday and she FINALLY did it. Stressful, then rewarding for both parties involved!)

The #3 in the list is taking care of my own messes. Oddly enough, I've found great meditation in cleaning. There's just something about taking something messy and making it shine that gives me great pleasure. Now, don't get this confused with enjoyment. If I didn't have to clean that would be awesome, BUT after I'm done there is a sense of achievement. When I lived at home the dishes magically always got washed, and I didn't mind clothes all over my bedroom floor, and not cleaning my bathroom. Or at least I thought I didn't mind, but it is a much more pleasant living environment now that I DO mind.

And last but not least, #4. I've been forcing myself not to stress over the things I can't control or that doesn't REALLY matter. If I start to feel myself getting anxious, or losing sleep over a stressor, I try and think about being on my death bed. Will this "stressor" be important then? Will we lose our house, electricity, or be unable to eat because of this "stressor"? If the answer is "No," I make myself put it out my head and let it be. Sometimes it's easier than others, but I really try to make a conscious effort to let it go and let it be.

Now, if only I could see my family and Joe's family often I would be the happiest girl on the planet! So, thank goodness for Skype!

The Oregon Trail: an update on newlywed life.

So we've been in Oregon a little over a month. Our routine has finally been established and things are really smoothing down. Even though we have been married for a month and a half, at the end of a long day we will sit down, sigh, look at one another and still be shocked that we are where we are. I can vividly remember being 10 years old and looking in the mirror intently at my face. I wanted to know more than anything what I would be like in 10 more years. I couldn't see a grown up, as hard as I tried. Now, I look at myself and I can thankfully still see 10 year old me. Sometimes, I can still talk to her and assure her that she somehow gets everything she wants out of life.

Becoming a parent and getting married has been so rewarding in a countless number of ways, but one of the things I am most grateful for is the immense appreciate I've gained for my own Mom. I FINALLY can comprehend the love and devotion she has for my family. I'm able to understand that her love for me and my brother truly is undying and unconditional, and it's through my love for Saylor that I'm able to understand it.

Saylor is so exciting. She has just started saying 'I love you, Mama,' out of nowhere, without me saying it to her first. It tears my heart in half every time I hear it just because it's almost too painfully sweet for me to handle. She can count to 13 (she has the numbers memorized, at least. Don't ask her to count actual objects), she says 'macamoni' for macaroni, 'piece-a-ghetti' for spaghetti, and 'sayah' for saylor. She is having difficulties with her r's, which may just be due to the fact that's she's 2, but I'm still really trying to work with her on it. We're starting to attempt to introduce her to some Spanish, so I'm super thankful that Joe is almost fluent. (Bear with me, I'm not the type to brag about my daughter, so when I do decide to I try to spit out as much as I can.) Now the cutest, in my opinion, is when I go to get her from her nap or in the morning, she says 'I wake up from my nappy time.' She's my best little friend.

Married life has changed me, for sure. I am.... ORGANIZED! I make lists! All kinds of lists! AND... I am a clean freak?? Who would have ever thought? And the weirdest thing of all is that I like it! The virgo is finally coming out in me, is what my Mom says. But I have really been enjoying being a stay at home mom. Before we got married and moved, doing that stay at home thing was what scared me more than anything. I thought I'd be dying of boredom each day, counting the seconds until Joe would come home so I'd have another adult to talk to, but now I have come to realize that I don't have enough time in the day to get everything done that I need to BEFORE Joe comes home. But I don't slave too much. I divide up chores so I do one part of the house a week. Like Monday: kitchen Tuesday: Living room, etc. etc. Then I take Saylor to the park or on a walk down the street, and it seems like there is ALWAYS something that needs to get done. And when I have finally completed everything on my list I use it for creative time and just do different crafts that are fun to do AND provide some sort of purpose or usage. Like, I made a pencil holder for Joe the other day. And what is really odd to me is that I feel like I move non stop each day. I never sit on the couch and watch TV, EVER, but somehow... every day over dinner Joe will ask me 'So, what all did you do today?' and I can never for the life of me give a response that gives good reason as to what filled up my day. My life is a big mystery even to myself. More posts soon to come........