Hey Hey, Its My Birthday

This is my first birthday where I feel like going about normal life instead of doing something special and different. We have been on the elimination diet for a whole week and the hardest thing has been keeping track of what we put in our mouths.

We’ve been dreaming big dreams this past week. A crisis of faith combined with the desire to do something DIFFERENT with life, has lead us to the though of selling our home, packing into an RV, and going on crusade with some fellow homeschooling friends.

It is fascinating to exist in our home with the thought of purging less than vital items and of fixing it up for the sake of someone other than ourselves.

This is the first birthday I have felt like doing something that IS good for my body rather than delve into indulgences because I “deserve” them. I am now thirty-one, I have crossed the boundary of adulthood and my decisions are for a greater cause. It feels right. I hope today is a very pleasant normal day.

Elimination Diet Prep.

Tonight I hit Whole Foods on a prowling shelf search for appropriately pure foods for the Elimination Diet that (gulp) I am going to do with the whole family! Zoikes!

There are probably several different levels of elimination diets out there, but the one we are doing targets: gluten, soy, corn, sugar, yeast, caffeine, dairy, eggs, nuts, sugars, yeast, and anything artificial.

The hardest part for my husband will be the gluten and caffeine, (he is such a muncher of pretzels and crackers). The hardest part for the kids will be the eggs and dairy. The hardest part for me will be appeasing the masses and keeping everyone on target!

Two weeks and then over the following four weeks we will slowly add things back in and assess how we feel. The exciting part is that I am doing it as part of a group with some of my favorite people which makes it more of a fun challenge rather than a punishment.

I am however preemptively grieving over whatever food groups I may find a sensitivity to. I know I know, cart before the horse and all that. Let’s see, I am changing my relationship with food. I choose to appreciate and enjoy the food that goes into my mouth for the nourishment and vitality it gives my body, therefore helping me be a more useful human being, wife, and mother. There, is that better?

Happy Anniversary To Us

So today was our wedding anniversary – number six. It was an absolutely perfect fall day full of crisp air and sunshine. We started the day off with a good run at a nearby trail with all the kids packed into the stroller.

Once nap time came around, my husband and I left the kids with grandparents and took off on a day long adventure just putzing around in the countryside nearby, looking at houses and plotting the next several years of our marriage and life. It was so refreshing to spend an extended amount of quality time with each other, just being and talking.

We unfortunately cut it short before our fabulous dinner as I got progressively more and more ill feeling throughout the day (silly cold going through the family). So we got takeout and ate in at home once all the kiddies had been put down by their doting grandparents.

I’m sad that we missed out on our dinner – especially since we had made reservations several weeks ago (something we NEVER do), but it will be better to go another time when we both feel well and able to savor every bite.

All in all, I would call it a great day, and I am happy to be a place in our marriage that we can roll with the punches and have fun even when plans go awry.

Enchantment: Courtesy of My Wee Folk

Today I am feeling particularly blessed with my children. At 18 months the twins are suddenly bubbling over with new words, my daughter in particular. I am fascinated at how entwined her verbal words and ASL signing have become. She seems to be executing each type of communication with greater precision simultaneously.

I sat down the other day to officially start teaching my oldest how to read. She will be five soon and has become aware of friends not being available now that the school year has started. I have been prepping her with talk of doing school at home instead of a school building and thought that this would be a good time to start doing some actual work. I am using the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Englemann. I lucked out in finding it at a rummage sale last week. I distinctly remember some of the stories out of it from when my mom taught me (age three, go figure) and I used it to teach my sister how to read when she became frustrated at not being about to do what her older sisters’ could. I am eight years older than she is and I was so excited to help her out!

I am thrilled with my daughter’s interest and capability as we work through this book. If she wasn’t begging to do the lessons I would happily put the book away for later, as I do not believe in forcing her to learn something she is not ready for.

We sat on the living room floor for her first lesson with the twins bombing around us. They were both highly attentive to the process, Mr. Magoo was intent on turning pages for us, and Missy Miss was imitating our exaggerated pronunciations. Is it my imagination that this sudden explosion of language followed closely on the heels of that first lesson? Maybe so, but either way I am grateful and humbled to have the opportunity to educate my children, and I believe that it will be a huge benefit to the young ones to be around active learning. We shall see how it progresses!

I Literally Jumped Up and Down

Yesterday I hit a thrift store to see if maybe I could score some cheap smaller pants for our Anniversary Outings, pants that would make me feel sleek, young, and comfortable. Always comfortable. I have never successfully allowed fashion to trump comfort – I’ve tried, usually in the form of shoes. But unfortunately I will wear my green, paint stained Crocs to church when I am going to sing – from the balcony – usually barefoot. Sigh.

Anyway, shopping is one of those hideous hit or miss occupations that can either soothe your soul or send you plummeting into chocolate cake land. I seldom feel triumphant after a shopping expedition. Yesterday would score pretty high on my list of successful outings.

I’ve been wearing my ancient size 10 (with some stretch to them) jeans. When I started this process I was busting out of them and refusing to commit to a larger pair. I found a pair of petite (I am 5 ft 1/4 inch tall) size six Old Navy jeans that fit me pretty darn well. Size six first of all – wahoo! Old Navy – which I have tried in the past and never worked – so cool!

The dressier pair are Eve Arden size 10 which I am OK with since my experience is that fancy brands run way smaller (for my proportions at least) than the Walmart pants I usually purchase.

If I think of it I will post some photos and if anyone out there feels like giving me some advice on putting an actual outfit together – I welcome it.

The jumping up and down happened once I got home and slipped the jeans back on and danced around the house in them for a bit. Now this is saying a lot as I am fairly OCD and before washing tends to give me the heeby jeebys. They have now been through the laundry so I can officially wear them today on my first “Twin” play date. Wish me luck!

‘Tis a Grey Sort of Day

I dragged myself to the gym at 6:00 this morning. While the scale screamed at me in protestation at the funky timing, my actual work out went quite well. I am feeling a tad down that my weight is not plummeting as my anniversary fast approaches. But I think more than anything I am feeling highly inadequate having spent time the past few days reading through some truly fabulous blogs. But I am trying to remind myself that this is for me. If others read for some reason and find something they enjoy – that is a bonus.

Four Weeks In

So we are a month into our Anniversary Blitz and still going strong – wahoo! We are definitely starting to long for a day off, but I am amazed at how low our craving has been. My husband has it pretty good since he doesn’t really need to watch his calories. His main focus has been on eating throughout the day instead of a big load at night and getting regular exercise. He has been running around five miles most days. He amazes me.

My triumphs have been sticking with it even when my weight plateaued for 11 days, alternating between 140 and 141. That drove me crazy. Just the past three days I finally dropped below 140 and today I am 138.4. With one week left I am not sure how to hold my 130 goal. One pound per day is a tall order but I don’t want to just give up on my vision. But a huge part of my vision was getting down to a smaller pant size and from previous experience I believe that I should do that around 135 lbs. Ultimately I do not feel that it is useful for me to feel disappointed in myself and just enjoy the fact that I am getting smaller and stronger and eating with intention.

My other big triumph is through adding minutes to my sprints, I can now run a whole mile straight and I am now working on increasing my speed. I was able to run an 8 minute mile when I got pregnant with the twins and was on the cusp of going even faster. So far I have accelerated from a 12 min. mile to an 11 1/2 min. mile. I’ll just keep chipping away at it.

When I watch myself lifting weights in the mirror I can see the lines starting to come clear under my various lumps and bumps of where my body is headed. I love it. I love that I have committed this time after being so wishy washy for several months. The gym has been a HUGE part of it. I know that I can do everything necessary on my own just using my surroundings – but I absolutely thrive in a gym environment. The kids are being looked after and I can be measured and consistent in my efforts.

I am amazed at how much more I respect my body when I am using it to excel. I do not wish to dwell on beating myself up for not getting back into it sooner after the twins. I choose to believe that my body had to take time healing in less obvious ways before I could be ready to blast away at the pieces that I was displeased with.

It can be very difficult in these times to honor and embrace what happens to my body through age and childbirth when it seems the status quo is to do everything possible to erase and conceal any sign of physical process.

Will I get to the point of wearing my stretch marks with pride? We shall see.

Oh, and PS – we have chosen to go to a restaurant in Doylestown called Honey which has mega good reviews and is sort of like a tapas restaurant. Our other plans include tracking down this ice cream place that makes aMAZing ice cream using local and organic ingredients. We will also maybe go horseback riding????