My Primal Nest

Monday, August 20, 2012

11 months old

In one week my baby will be a year old! Adrian is all over the place. Not quite walking yet, but he has learned to climb stairs (and scare the crap outta mommy)! We tried baby gates, but couldn't get them to fit right and were afraid the older kids wouldn't be able to get around them. So Matt found this mesh gate that blocks off all but the living room (we have one gate up in front of the stairs in the living room). Baby is into everything. I think he will be like his big sister. He is extremely curious and not scared of anything!

We're still doing well with eating. We introduced milk a couple weeks ago and at first he didn't like it, but later realized that he didn't like it cold! I guess that makes sense s

ince breast milk is body temperature. It's nice to not have to break him of the bottle. He's been using a sippy cup

since around 5 months so he's a pro at it now. He does not however like the cups with the straws. Still no grains, but I am planning a gluten free birthday cake made with rice flour. We'll see how that goes.

I cut my strict paleo a week or so short since we were traveling to

Mississippi for Matt's family reunion. The first day of no dairy was absolutely miserable. I felt like I was back

in the days of low cal, low fat. I was hungry and obsessed with eating. This feeling passed though and I lost around 7lb that I had put back on. I've since lost another lb since going back to normal (low carb paleo but including dairy, eggs, nuts and nightshades).

We had a great time in MS. My kids got to see both sets of grandparents and after my parents went back home we traveled a few minutes down

the road to Louisville, MS to Lake Tiak O'khata where the Herschede

family reunion was held. It

was great catching up with family and the kids had a blast. I had a little trouble with the meals as the food was very southern (think fried chicken and mashed potatoes) and I later discovered that the green beans had sugar in them! Also, whatever was in their Salisbury Steak spiked my blood sugar to 270! I spoke with one of the servers the next day and was told almost all of their veggies were made with sugar! How crazy is that? They did however offer some steamed veggies and grilled chicken the next night so all was good. All in all, it was a great reunion

and everyone enjoyed themselves.

We got to stop at one of my favorite restaurants on the way

home. Mcallister's Deli! They have a beanless chili that has like 1 net gram of carbs and I also had their awesome chopped Italian salad. Heaven!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

10 months old

Almost 11 months! Can't believe my baby will soon be a year old. Adrian has grown so much. At his 10 month appointment he weighed 20lb10oz and was 29 3/4 in long. The doc was impressed with his weight gain since three weeks earlier he had been concerned about lack of gain. We put him on 3 solid meals a day. He's eating all table food of course and boy does that child love to eat!

He's nursing much less now, probably 2-3 times a day which is ok. I don't want to stop completely yet, but he seems to be self weaning so that works for me.

Adrian is now standing alone and walking with his walking toy. I don't think it will be long before he is actually walking. Matt has to go on a business trip soon and is afraid Adrian will walk while he is gone. Hoping he decides to wait. The Herschede family reunion is in a few weeks so that would be a good time to start!

We had a great 4th of July. The family went to

Fort Bliss and it was really nice and breezy. The kids played on the playground and there

were little game booths. Looked like rain for a while but it held off long enough for the fireworks. I thought Adrian might be afraid of them but nope, he kept smiling really big and saying "ooh".

I've been debating

Adrian's diet for a while and think I've figured out how we're gonna do it. As of now he basically eats paleo/primal but not low carb. He eats meat, eggs, veggies (starchy

or non) cheese and fruit. His favorite is bananas! He would eat them all day if I let him. So I've decided to start grains when he turns 1 but to keep him gluten free. I would like that to be the ultimate goal for the family but don't know that it will ever happen. So I figure I'll start with rice since that seems to be the most benign. I'm planning a gluten free birthday cake made with rice flour. Wheat is the worst of the grains so we're gonna steer clear there.

Last week Grandma Ginny came to visit! Everyone had a great time visiting. The kids got to do lots of stuff with her. They went shopping, went out for ice cream, went on a walk, built a birdhouse, played with chalk, wentswimming (that was impressive that theyconvinced her) and even got her to play their video game (even more impressive!). On Friday Diana, Grandma Ginny and I had three generation pictures taken. I think we got some really cute ones. We even had a girl's night complete with mud masks!

My weight has been slowly climbing up, so I decided to go 30 days of strict Paleo. In addition to no grains, sugar, starchy veggies, and avoiding processed food I have completely cut out dairy, nightshades (like tomatoes and peppers) nuts and I'm still undecided about eggs. I haven't specifically eaten any eggs but I have unwittingly eaten foods with egg ingredients. I've become more aware of the

dangers of soy and have discovered it is in everything! Even my smoked almonds! So I was on a quest to find a soy free mayonnaise. I was unable to do so but found something similar called aioli. It has garlic and Dijon mustard but is otherwise mayonnaise but without the soy. So I ate some of that with tuna not thinking about the egg content. So we'll see. The first day was really tough but it's getting easier.

Sunday, June 10, 2012

9 months old

We've had a rough last few days. On Thur, Matt was getting Adrian up and bringing him to me like every morning and noticed he felt hot. His temp was around 100 so we figured it was from teething. He has like 4 coming in on top all at once. I gave him Tylenol and he seemed ok. That night he was up every hour. He normally sleeps through the night, so I knew something was not right. Then he felt super hot, like burning up. His temp was 102.7. I gave him Tylenol and Motrin continuously and took him to the doctor. Of course at the doctor he acted fine and his temp was 98.7. The doc said it was probably a virus but because his urine seemed to smell strong, we would do a urine culture just in case. At first they wanted to straight cath him which did not thrill me, but they were out of the supplies so they put a little baggie on him to catch the pee and I would bring in the specimen to the hospital.

We got that in and a couple hours later his temp was 104.3. It made me nervous as I'd always heard 105 was when the brain starts frying. I gave him more Tylenol and Motrin and 20 minutes later he was 105.1. Called the dr and got the answering service. The lady was like, "omg over 104 they can go into convulsions" and immediately switched me over to the dr. While I'm on the phone, Matt takes his temperature and gets 99. What the heck? He does it again and gets similar results. So the dr says give him a bath, something cold to drink and go fill the prescription for antibiotics he had given me just in case the results from the culture come back positive. He then asks me to take a temp while he is still on the phone. 102.3. I really don't trust the thermometer now. It was one of those $10 temporal ones so not sure how accurate it is.

I went and filled the prescription and got a rectal thermometer. Got 103.2 so 102.2 after subtracting a degree for a rectal temperature. He was a little better Friday night. Was only up 4 or so times. Extremely fussy but the temperature was coming down. The dr called me first thing in the morning and said the culture was normal but to continue the meds. Temp was completely gone by afternoon thank goodness. He's still fussy but I think we're on the mend.

At the dr, Adrian weighed 19lb4oz which means he hasn't gained any weight since his 6 month appt (actually think he's lost a couple oz. He was 29 in so has grown length wise. The dr didn't believe the numbers at first and Adrian doesn't look thin but he was a little concerned. He wants me to feed Adrian more solids since he is 9 months old and my milk supply is probably lower. We'd been doing dinner every night and lunch most of the time but just nursing all the rest of the time, so now we're doing regular meals. Today he had whole milk yogurt for breakfast and for lunch raspberries, sweet peppers cut up tiny and ham and cream cheese rolls cut up in tiny pieces. He eats great. Yesterday he ate a whole plate full of food when we went out to eat.

I am trying to come up with meal ideas. Right now I'm feeding him mostly Paleo (he does get dairy) but not low carb Paleo. So I'm looking for ideas that are grain free and not processed that are easy for quick meals. We made yogurt bites the other day and he gobbled them up.

Adrian is scooting along furniture and has learned how to climb stairs! Too fast for my comfort. Hoping he doesn't walk for a while but I'm not counting on it. He is in to everything! If he's not in his playpen, you have to watch him like a hawk. He will eat anything he finds. He is totally mobile and crawls all over the house. We gotta put up gates asap.

Adrian's first bath in the big tub. The older kids didn't want him to be scared.

Summer is here! The kid's last day of school was Jun 1. They both got awards. I'm such a proud mommy. We're having fun (and I'm losing mind). We went to the zoo which was really fun. Hot, but not horrible. The kids had a great time and got to feed the giraffes. I was not happy with the food choices. They would not let us leave to eat lunch and come back, so we had to eat there. Carbage carbage carbage. So a salad it was! Fun trip though.

Feeding the Giraffes.

I'm also trying to come up with fun projects for the kids this summer. So far we have made bathtub paint and sidewalk paint. Both were great successes except for one broken glass (glass and soap=bad idea. The kids had a blast!

Sidewalk Paint!

Bath Paint!

Chillin

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

My Primal Weight Loss Journey

I've wanted a separate spot for weight loss for a while now, but I can't figure out how to do it in blogger so I'm just doing a post on it. In January 2010 I turned 30. I was 200lb and taking a myriad of medications. I was miserable and hated the way I looked. I had even contemplated plastic surgery to lose the belly I thought was just from pregnancy. Haha.

I decided on my birthday that I'd had enough. I was done being fat. I started out doing a combination of the Curves diet and another gimmicky diet I had bought online. Soon after a friend pointed me in the direction of Steve Cooksey of www.diabetes-warrior.net . At first I thought he was crazy, but then I realized he made perfect sense. I didn't want to do it though! Give up my sugar and carbs? I had been restricted my whole life on the diabetic diet and wanted to eat what I wanted! My hatred of being fat won over.

Progress was slow to start. I only lost around 5lb in a month and a half and wanted to throw in the towel, but I kept on, (with many many hours of phone calls with Steve). I was extremely stubborn and questioned everything. I needed to know WHY. Show me proof. What about this? Why am I not losing? Can I eat this? I researched constantly. After a while, food started tasting so much better. I was never deprived or hungry and LOVED my food. I would wake up thinking, "what do I get to eat today?" Within 10 months I had dropped 55lb, and was able to stop all medications except my insulin, which I was able to cut in half.

Then as you all know, I got pregnant! I was so scared it had all been for nothing. I continued to eat primal throughout my pregnancy and did not gain as much weight as my other two. My husband said he literally watched my belly disappear when I was giving birth to Adrian. I left the hospital in a size M tshirt and a pair of jeans ( a couple sizes bigger). I didn't not even look pregnant. Within a couple weeks I was 8lb from pre-pregnancy weight.

It took about 8 months to lose the remaining pounds, but I finally did! Now, I'd like to lose 10-15 more to get down to my all time low.