A Little (Big) Rant

I don't quite know where to start, but I am so tired of hearing about my current weight-or lack thereof I could just scream. I know that I am really skinny, skinnier than I have ever been in my adult life, in fact, but I am also not unhealthy. I am not wasting away as I have been told by some well meaning people. I am not starving myself, and no there is no magic pill, potion, drink, or powder you can take to "lose weight the easy way." I like the way I look for the first time in a long time. But it has been a really tough nine months and honestly I wouldn't wish my situation on anyone. But I also wouldn't trade it for anything so I dare you to try and figure that one out.
Let me back up a bit, when I found out I was pregnant with the baby I lost in the fall of 2011, I was a very unhealthy weight of 176. By February of 2012 I was down to 169, that was when I found out I was pregnant again. I had a rough pregnancy, I alway do and struggled to gain the weight necessary to keep both of us healthy. I gain 20 pounds, again I don't want to hear about how lucky I am, yes it's really "lucky" to spend day after day hunched over the toilet plucking my guts out. Forcing myself to eat something, anything, just to have something for my body to use as fuel. Really lucky.
 I had a really weird reaction to the anesthesia they used after Myles was born, and I was pumped full of liquids because I ended up getting dehydrated. I left the hospital, after giving birth to a 8 pound 5 ounce baby weighing more than I did when I went in. But it was all water weight and within two weeks I was back to just a couple of pounds over my "starting weight". That is the only part of this that has been easy.
 As Myles got older, he cried more and more, my mommy instincts told me there was something wrong, more than just a grumpy baby or colic. But I didn't know what was wrong and neither did anyone else. That was when the experiment started. Cut out all dairy and see what happens. The crying lessened and he seemed happier. His weird mucus filled diapers became more normal. He was improving so even though it was hard I kept at it. Finally, at his four month checkup he was diagnosed with MSPI (milk and soy protein intolerance) and shortly thereafter his crying stopped and he started having normal diapers again. So here we are 9 months later (he will be 10 months on Thursday) both of us dairy and soy free.
 I now weigh 137 and am still losing about 1/2 pound a week. I eat about 2500 calories a day and still I lose weight. I am still nursing Myles and don't plan on stopping anytime soon. He is happy, and healthy and growing up so very fast. So to all those people who say "you don't eat any dairy? That must be so hard" It is, sort of, but when you have held your screaming infant in your arms and not had any idea how to help them, while you are watching them literally wasting away because their body isn't able digest and absorb the nutrients you are giving them, you are willing to do anything to help them. It isn't hard then. Not one bit.
To all those people who think I am doing "nothing". I say, I a am the busy mom of four kids, I clean and cook and do laundry. I am the primary president in my ward, and I shuttle kids here and there before and after school. I have to be creative and find solutions for things I can't eat, I make my own bread because almost all commercial bread has dairy or soy in it. I mostly cook from scratch because of the same thing. I have to read the label of everything I buy at the store and I have to shop for speciality items 45 minutes to an hour from my house because no one in town carries them. But, no I don't go to the Y and work out, I can't. I burn enough calories in a day with adding exercise. So if by nothing you mean I don't work out then yes you are right, I can't. But if you think I sit on the couch all day and do "nothing" you dear are wrong.
And finally, to all those people who "have found every pound I've lost" how is that my fault? You choose the things that are important for you, not me. Don't try and make me feel guilty for your bad choice. I am not lucky. But it did take a huge life changing event for me change. Will I ever eat dairy again? Probably, when I am finished nursing Myles and I don't have to eat like this for him, but if he still can't have dairy then I won't either. At least not on a regular basis.
So I am celebrating the fact that I can wear a size 6, I've earned it.
Just don't tell me I have it easy.

I'll get off my soap box now.....

Myles 9 months

He keeps growing up. No matter what I do to slow time down I keep failing and my kids keep growing every time I blink.....  But really it's a good thing, Ashton asked me the other day when I was only half jokingly telling the kids to stop getting older, "Mom, what would you do if we stayed this age forever and you kept getting older that would be really sad."  He's right that would be sad, and I know that they need to grow up and experience things and learn but I still don't have to like it all the time.  Anyway, Myles turned 9 months old this month and here are his pictures from 8 and 9 months.

Eight Months

these are from our family pictures which I will be posting more of soon.

Nine Months

notice how is hands are blurry because they are moving, this boy never holds still unless he is asleep and then it is debatable if he is truly holding still.  

And a picture of my two boys.  It is so fun to watch them together.  There is nothing like the love of your brother.

Pierce County Fair

Right after we got back from vacation it was time for the Pierce County Fair across the river in Wisconsin.  It was the perfect day to go to the fair, not hot at all.  We had a good time looking at all of the animals other different displays.

My little chickens

 playing on the tractors

 The kids loved this huge combine

And the petting zoo....

We did stay and ride any of the overpriced rides because Jake had to go to drill for the National Guard which disappointed the kids, but we still had a fun time.

Fishing Trip

Before we went on vacation, Jake and Ashton went fishing on the Mississippi with Carter, Jake's shift partner from work.  They had a great time and brought home a few fish that we had for the dinner the next night.  While we have gone fishing before, this was the first time that Ashton has actually caught a fish all by himself and he was so excited.  They had a fun evening.

A Few Fun Facts

A Few Fun Facts about our summer vacation..

• We traveled a total of 3889 miles (to get to Utah and back)
• We traveled through 12 states
• We were in the car for 60 hours plus
• We stayed in 4 hotels

Vacation, vacation, vacation

We just got back from 3 1/2 weeks on vacation... I just downloaded the pictures from my camera to the computer and there are 504.  Plus the ones my mom took that I don't have yet.  I have all the laundry washed, folded and the kids put it all away.  I made bread today and restocked the fridge.
I'm tired, I need a vacation to recover from coming home from this vacation!
We had so much fun and nobody was ready to come home it's way too bad that we live so far away that it has to be a once a year thing.  Here are a few pictures of what we did...


 We went to Utah via San Antonio...I know long out of the way detour.  But we got to see Nathan and how well he is doing in his recovery.

He is proving all the doctors wrong, he can sit up in his wheel chair, speak, and so many other things they said he never would.  

We hit four corners on the way to Utah.

Played some miniature golf.

On the 24th we went for a picnic and 4-wheeling in American Fork Canyon, with Lisa and Ben and their kids.  

We went to see relatives in Vernal and stopped by the cemetary.

Myles rode his first horse.

We went to the zoo with cousins

And a family reunion.

On the way home we went to Mt Rushmore.

And stopped at more than one rest stop along the way.

It was a great trip and I will post more about it soon.

New Car

Oh how I loved my old car.  We got it when Ashton was a baby because his huge car seat didn't fit in out old car.  It has been with us through so much, including moving to Minnesota.  We stuffed that little thing so totally full on the way here. 

 It has been such a great car, we have never had any problems with it at all.  I wouldn't even have thought about getting ride of it if the kids didn't look like this in it now.

We were so squished in there.  And the thought of making the LONG drive back to Utah for vacation in it was more than we could stand.  Even with the box on the top we would have been totally crammed in there.  So we made the plunge and bought a new car two weeks ago. 

 A GMC Acadia 

I love it too.  And we are no longer squished.  The drive to Utah will be so much easier in this. And I feel a little spoiled with all the standard features this one has that I am not used to.  I just don't love filling up the gas tank, that hurts just a little.  

Baby Led Weaning

First of all I have to say that I hate that name, but someone thought it sounded good so that is what we are all stuck with.....   Basically it means that instead of feeding Myles a bunch of purees, we give him a bit of whatever we are eating and let him figure out how to eat it.  It is seriously the cutest thing ever. And Myles absolutely loves it.  He loved eating traditional baby food at first, but then he got increasingly frustrated with the whole thing, either I wasn't feeding him fast enough or he wanted what we were eating instead.  So one night I handed him a piece of bacon just to see what he would do with it.

He sucked on that thing until it was in teeny tiny pieces and loved every minute of it.  It was a huge success. So we have slowly started letting him eat what ever we are eating and he LOVES it.  Here he is eating rigatoni

And mushroom barley soup.

He really likes pancakes and any kind of fruit.  He chowed down on pieces of broccoli the other night.  

No he doesn't choke on anything, never has, he does occasionally gag on something but it is totally normal and he doesn't seem bothered by it and goes right on eating.  And he is so much happier at mealtimes.  And it's super easy to just give him whatever we are eating instead of trying to feed him something while trying to eat my own dinner before it got cold.  I know that he isn't actually swallowing most of what he is trying to eat, but I am totally ok with that.  I still feed him some things on a spoon, but I have also let him try and feed himself coconut yogurt and some of the baby food we have left and he does pretty good if I put it on the spoon for him.  He is still milk and soy intolerant but I figure if I can eat it so can he.  Happy Eating!