Sunnys Bday pressies

I am so excited to have Sunnys birthday presents here and put together. Jasons parents got her this dollhouse and it arrived yesterday! I assembled it when I put the mini Gligs down for a nap. And then the people I ordered came in the mail too! I might've reenacted a few scenes before taking these photos then covered the entire thing up with a blanket for the big reveal day




Here are the grandparents with uh, some of the kids. All of the kids that will live in this house. The middle kid is clearly adopted.


This dad is wearing his baby! Perfect!

The house comes with its own sun shade. And wind turbine. Recyling bins. Water runoff catcher... garden, and the plants that climb up the sides of the home insulate it. Wish this was my actual home...

The theme of Sunnys party this year is "Purplelicious" She is obsessed with the color, even though I encouraged other more appealing colors to love like orange, red, yellow.... no. She likes purple.

They have clothes!

I knew there were some decent deck photos I'd taken! Here they are, my kids with clothes on:

We have playdates on the deck.

Glig water slide

Couldnt resist:

Our yearly kiddie pool purchase

Contemplating a sandbox date

Ok, it was worth birthing them for this shot

Pretending they've never seen each other before

Eh, now that she's gone I can chill

Sebastian Skydive

This is what we tell the kids the name of this place is. Which it is. But the bar is called ZOO BAR and Jason and I refer to it as such. We go here at least once a week, load up our wagon with snacks (or get chips there) and push our way through the throng of European backpackers. Its our own piece of Noosa, Australia 2miles down our street. And we love it.

Plenty of space for exploring alone:

Daddys girl

Snacks snacks snacks

Mommy exists! Not just a phantom blogger

Another sighting of mommy!

Tabletop baby

Bridge back home...

Good Free Fun

The kids were nervous at first, when we arrived to the beach. With a hurricane far out at sea, the waves were bigger than we'd ever seen them and louder, too. Lachlan cried. But as they realized their daddy and I werent scared, they started to relax, enjoy themselves even. They had the comfort of a shady tent by mommy which had food and drinks, and daddy built a wall of sand around them to protect them from the incoming tide. Until the tide took it away. Good free fun.
I helped out an elderly lady who was soaked by a freak wave nearby. No one else got wet but her. We moved her towel to drier land and she asked if my kids were twins. We get that often, not that its obvious from the picture below-- Sunny's closer to the lens and thus looks bigger. In reality, Lachlan is creeping up to her height, the only thing different from her currently. They've been in the same diapers for 6mo (if Sunny wears one), same size pants/jammies/tops. The 'twins' comments are yet to come, I'm sure.

The Beginning of Summer 2012

 I had a lot of outdoor photos to post, but my kids were naked in all of them. Even the most tasteful "grape leaf" covering the parts was not tasteful enough for an online blog that anyone can read. I will just have to clothe my kids more often. I'll paint a picture of my inappropriate pictures: Imagine our deck - a kiddie pool under the shade of our oak tree, a slide that I rigged next to it so the kids fly naked into the water, and my lounge chair nearby in the sun so I can get a tan and watch the entire thing. Periodically the kids think they're being naughty by coming over to where I'm tanning and pour water onto my legs from their buckets. Its a good afternoon.

 Insert redneck comment here.
Or a quote for Lachlan, who clearly is trying to relay a message to his parents.

He eats with a spoon. Sometimes it gets into his mouth.

Something happened here. Still trying to figure it out 

She wanted a photo taken. Fake smile.

Equal Punishment slash Reward

If I could blog whilst running you'd commit me. I become emotional and philosophical. Sometimes I cry. I'm really into the endorphins and the music compounds that, especially a power ballad like The Killers--->"I've got soul but I'm not a soldier" and Fun.--->"What do I stand for?"... I'm still feeling the effects of my run, clearly.

After the juice-fast I've rekindled a love with my old flame.... Sigh. That sounds more frisky than the reality, that I love running once more. Not in the last 4 runs have I dreaded it. I'm standing at the door like a racehorse ready to bolt at the starting line. Even when its raining. Even when my iPod dies. Even when I just ate dinner. Yuck. I've never run after a meal or while raining. And now I dont even care. I've led myself down a free-for-all path for 4 years and I'm sick of it. So running in the rain with water dripping into my eyes and flicking off the toes of my shoes, pushing myself farther than I've run in a long time-- its all my punishment for not taking care of myself. I deserve it. But running is also rewarding. And I deserve that, too.

Such an Easy

Dinner. Brilliant yummy easy healthy dinner. I wasnt even gonna throw it together, but the kids were playing together nicely so I did it. 20 minutes tops. Chicken breasts butterflied with parmesan and mayo with panko crumbs on top (the mayo was the only unhealthy thing!), WITH a sprig of rosemary from my garden somehow made the entire dish AMAZING, roasted garlic and carrots, and quinoa. Jason said the kids ate it all. Heaps. So thats how we know a good dinner.
I got home from school and ate everything left over. Jason had even taken the aluminum foil off the chicken for the last 15 minutes and it the panko was crunchy on top. I just cant get over it. Sorry, I was hungry.

Friday Night

I had a revelation on the way home from seeing Jena's awesome blonde baby. There was this song singing... "What do you stand for?" and of my things I stand for, number one is my husband. I stand for him and all else follows. The kids are next, along with things like education, breastfeeding, health, morality. Starting this post off on the deep end.

So I get home and scarf dinner in the 10 minutes I have left with the kids before their bedtime. I nurse nurse nurse Lachlan. We put the kids to bed. We never heard a peep from them. This isnt always unusual, just a surprise we thought of later after we hadnt heard them in awhile.

Then as I checked my ETSY site, FB, and emails, Jason says he's gonna walk to a bar nearby. Totally within 10 minutes, the walk. Something we used to do in Australia so this doesnt completely blow my mind. Then he says he'll take his bike. Anyways, I'm ignoring him. Nodding along. But then he goes! And I am so content to find myself blogging here, looking forward to my evening alone with Hulu on TV watching any series I feel like, and relaxing after a massive day. And my husband? He's enjoying himself, knowing his wife doesnt care that he's out having innocent fun (talking shit to friends, playing darts, etc etc), and NOT DRIVING. I swear, thats my only issue with going out. I want to be secured in this house, locked in, all doors and garage shut/locked, and know that there's no way Jason can get into trouble. And since Jason knows that, he finds his ways around it. By taking a bike. Locking us in. Then I'm happy as Larry.

ETSY and Lachy-isms

Ok, I always have a lot of drama going on at my ETSY site (good stuff mainly) and no one to release this drama TO. A couple good friends will listen to the latest, and Jason gets it, but none of them have a site and understand the complexities and frustrations.

I sell here and absolutely love it. I have over 100 sales now since I began  ;)

What irks me today is how slow business has been. Low and behold, ETSY stopped my advertising without tell me! Perhaps they emailed me, but I dont check that email since its overloaded with other ETSY stuff. Point is, as soon as I got the ads back, the business started rolling again. Still, I looooove ETSY.

On a side note, when Lachlan finds little bits of tissue or a napkin lying around, he puts it to his nose and makes noises into it. Hehehe, just like his momma. He must think I'm crazy, blowing my nose all the time (I have terrible allergies and sinus issues).

When I make popcorn I dont even bother to worry about the mess it'll make (I've relocated meals outdoors for this purpose! It is AWESOME! We'll never eat inside again!). I set the metal bowl in the middle of the living room floor and the kids go at it. We have a cool cordless Shark vacuum so when the kids are starting to fight over the bowl only or tip its contents upside down, I take the bowl away and vacuum it up in a jif. Before I got to the vacuum though, Lachlan went into my kitchen and grabbed a handtowel. He took it to the pile of popcorn and started wiping away at it on the floor. SO FREAKIN CUTE! I praised him for helping mommy cleanup and probably blew raspberries on his fat tummy.

We're Done!

Fast is over. And we had delish potato and kale soup last night. Well worth it. I lost 8lbs overall and Jason-- ?? He's yet to weigh himself. We felt healthy and light while on the fast but now its kind of yucky to feel any amount of fullness. We wanted to detox for up to 10 days, depending on how we felt. And we were both over it yesterday. Something we'll do once a year? Perhaps. Give our bodies a break. Now its on to the next phase- clean healthy eating. No fast food. Eating from home. More whole foods, less processed. And running. I'm going to the Rock n Roll Marathon in Savannah in November. Running the Half with my dad. Better get started.

On to Day 4

My good friend Tangie who lent me the juicer said she once juiced for 4 days and I had to at least beat her record. Didnt think I'd make it but here it is, Day 4 and I'm sipping a fresh cold tomato juice right now.
Jason and I just cant believe it. Our bodies, which love beers and fast food (and healthy food cooked at home!), are enjoying the break from digestion and riding the wave which is a nutritious diet. First in my life, really. We are still juicing 100% on Day 4 and thats all that really matters.

Did I mention how I'm still breastfeeding Lachlan and he's getting all these fruits and veggies too? Through my breastmilk, obviously (although the kiddies do like to sip mommy & daddy's drinks as well). There is controversy about the toxins my body is releasing going into my breastmilk and into him, but I choose to believe that a woman's body would never betray her offspring like that. And to quote my fav Dr (Dr Punger!)--- "I dont believe in toxic breastmilk. What about the crap you were eating before you started the fast?" Yes, she said 'crap'. And she's right. I dont think the toxins in McDonalds and processed foods are the right things for him either. So I kept on fasting, even though that was an easy out for me; Jason even gave me the go-ahead to quit since weaning Lachlan wasnt the answer either. After more professional, positive [non-scary-Google] insights including "Drinking lots of water will dilute toxins and flush your system faster" from a massage therapist, I chose to still fast.

Day 3. There is actually a Day 3.

I thought for sure I'd give up today. But something inside me (caffeine) kept going. Happily, even. When Jason got home from golfing we had a nice chilled melon juice out on the deck while the kids played in the pool (just a kiddie pool, nothing crazzzy but I did put our slide on the side and now its a Glig Water Park). Then for dinner we each had a giant green juice. I put it in tumblers with fresh limes on top and we walked the neighborhood like we had cocktails in our hands. It had the right effect- thats what we miss, the routine of eating and drinking. The routine of walking the neighborhood drunk, lol. I'm kidding. Sort of.

I didnt mention that I lost 4lbs the first day. Water weight. Who knows what I've lost by now. We will wait til Friday to weigh ourselves again. Looking forward to that bonus.

We're still going strong (minus my coffee. I wonder if I'll have it tomorrow? Probably if I get a headache I will. If not, then maybe not....). 4-6 oclock pretty much sucks. We're HUNGRY. But then we're not. We're actually never hungry. We crave food though. How is it that we used to (and will in the future, like, Saturday) shove food in our mouths ever few hours and still be ravenous? Its funny to think about because we're now drinking practically nothing and not hungry. Just a thought. We should fast more often.

I've Caved

I'm drinking coffee! And I nibbled on the kids' popcorn today. Literally 5 pieces, maybe. I'm still drinking the juice and I'm not hungry or I might have moved on to a proper meal by now. 2 days of fasting has shrunk my stomach? Cool. Fine by me. So I am having water, juice, and coffee so far all day. And I love it. I feel like I'm cheating. Cuz I am. But I'm not guilty  ;) Thats the best part. That and the wee stomach.

Jason is still going strong. Here is a picture of his breakie and lunch he took with him to work today

 

Fresh orange juice and a green juice. He came home from work before going golfing and said he felt great. Not hungry. I'm still beyond amazed. He should never eat again, lol. He brought home 2 cantaloupes. When he gets home I'm making us a juice with those plus oranges and perhaps carrots or beets, since technically we're supposed to have more veggies than fruits. We are impressed with our bodies ability to utilize the juice, especially Jason's. His is handling it well. Mine is like, "fine, you want to detox, I'm giving you a headache then". I think my headaches are from caffeine withdrawals. Obviously, since my coffee binge today has meant no headache. I think I'm ok with a caffeine addiction. I LOVE unsweet tea. I drink it all day, or water. After coffee. So there it is- I have a caffeine addiction. At least its not addicted to coca cola. I can live with this.

This morning I assumed I was also "addicted" to food (the documentary talks a lot about this). But I see now its just the caffeine, lol. I'm ok with not eating food at the moment. But come 4 oclock.... I'll see how I am today! We dont really go anywhere now that we're not eating. I mean, what could we possibly do that doesnt start and stop with food and drink? Sure, there are things, but most things involved enjoying food/drinks while doing it. Thats where its hard.

Great Idea

After an afternoon that was touch and go, Jason restored my faith in myself in the form of a cantaloupe juice that I was hesitant to even make. Sounded yuck. But it was oh so yummy and creamy and the sugar and calories boosted me back to flying high. We are going to remember the awesome effects of this and drink it about that time of day.

Jason is still high as a kite all day long. Its so unlike him. He thinks he should just stay on this fast forever.

So as of now, I'm still happy about the fast. 4 oclock tomorrow, not so much.

Day 2

Didnt crash til later in the day today. Woke up feeling great, energized. No coffee required (I cant wait to have coffee again. My fav part of the day). It lasted until about 4. I'm finished now. Ready to go to sleep so I cant think about food any longer.

Jason took a cold thermos full of tomato juice to work today. Said he is done with it, cant have tomatoes any longer. He informs me that its hard to do this while working-- he passes so many fast food restaurants each day. He's still not hungry but agrees the evenings/dinnertime are the worst. Apparently the fast is giving him nightmares. I'll spare you the details of his "first gay dream" he's ever had. "Very life like" he says....
The pulp leftover from juicing is an absurd amount- 2 grocery bags full, the bags from Publix. 2 of those bags go to the compost each day. Thats why juicing is so good for your body---> its cramming 2 grocery bags full of veggies you cant possible otherwise eat into your system.

I'm trying convince Jason about 6 times now to lets go out to dinner. He keeps turning me down. I am so hungry! He says he wont quit, especially now that we've told people we're doing it. I've told people too; I'm blogging about it! But it wont bother me much to log on tomorrow and say I ate grilled salmon and potatoes. Thats what I happen to be thinking about at this moment. Sometimes its cheeseburgers. Tuna sandwich. The kids' oatmeal they're eating.

Some advise Dr P gives to breastfeeding mothers that I've adopted as my mantra (one of many) for this fast: Take it one day at a time. If I find myself counting the days until Friday, or saying that I have to do the 10 day fast, I feel hopeless. So I think, "just get through tonight and see how you feel in the morning". The outlook in the morning is always fresh and new and promising.

Oh, and Jason....

Is fine. Is weirdly higher than normal. Had lots of energy. Teased me all day. Said I'd cave, not him. I am thrilled that I dont have to nurse him through this, since he's a total wimp. But I am dreading the next few days because I think its still coming for him--- we will get worse before we're better type of thing...

Hope he stays this energetic the entire fast. Maybe he should quit eating food forever if it affects him this way. Secretly I think he's just stoked that we will be saving money by not eating out, drinking out, drinking alcohol, or other general fun things we love to do.

Not so cheery now!

Im fat sick and nearly dead.

When I finish typing this with the computer screens backlight glaring into my eyeballs worsening my juice headache I'm going to lay down again and continue to detox. I am literally imagining toxins leaving my body. Through my head since thats where the pain is.
I'm not thirsty, but making myself drink water now that I realize its the only cure for the headache. But I'm not thirsty. Thats hard.

Muscle fatigue. Which I wouldnt mind except I have to entertain 2 screaming toddlers and feed them. I'd rather lay down and detox some more. But I cant.

Leaving the house is pointless. Where should we go thats not centered around food? That doesnt end at a restaurant or bar? No where, right. So lets just stay home.

The juices are yummy. Love a tomato one with pepper and garlic salt. I was hungry this afternoon but just sat and thought about all the garbage I'd been eating and sat in my misery because I deserved it.

I'm feeling ok now! It was just that mid afternoon point where I knew the day was still 4 hours from being over with (4 hours from putting the kids to bed)! I'm blogging and headachy and ready to lay down, close my eyes, and think about how much my body should thank me for giving it a digestion break for a few days. Or 10. Or 3.

Juice Fast Day 1

I've made it until noon on the first day! I feel great. Jason's not hungry. We are normal. This surprises me and I am soooo relieved. The days leading up to this were the worst part. Thinking I'd grieve my coffee or McDonalds or sweets. I am not grieving yet. Yet. We weighed ourselves at Publix, too.

I had the ingredients this morning for our starter meal--- carrots and romaine lettuce. I couldnt believe how much juice came out of the lettuce. I juiced the entire thing. It was a sweet drink and tasted of carrots only. Its color was yuck but it did the trick. No coffee required this morning.

On our way home from errands in town we stopped at the market. I bought something like 3 heads of romaine, 2 bags of beets, 6 bags of carrots, 7lbs of green apples, 3 stalks of celery, 6 cucumbers, and some more odds and ends. We are getting heaps of oranges later- we'd like a nice fresh oj in the morning.

We arent hungry. I know its soon, but its still the only mantra we keep saying aloud when we look at each other like ticking time bombs. Once you wrap your mind around an idea, a solid idea like no alcohol, no coffee, no food--- then its not so hard to resist it all.

Our afternoon meals consist of green juices-- lots of anything green I mentioned purchasing above, plus kale I already had. Its my fav so far. I made a huge jug of and that I put in the fridge. You're not supposed to wait too long to drink it. We're going to the Sebastian Inlet soon and I plan to take it in a cooler. A cooler that's only housed beers in the past  :)

And tonight we'll have a "dinner" juice-- tomatoes, peppers, even garlic and onion???? Will update you on that later. Wish us luck!

2 Days Prior to Juice Week!

Two days before The Fast begins. Friday May 4th.

As with everyone's juice-fast crazed ideas, ours began with that documentary on Netflix with some Aussie guy who was too fat, too sick, and almost dead or something like that. Jason had the video going and I joined and enjoyed it with him. Seemed like if these guys could do it then so could we!

Jason and I are overweight, but not morbidly so. Enough that if we take control of the situation now then we wont have such a huge problem later. Jason's never dieted and he's excited. Or curious. I am looking forward to the energy and 'reboot' of my system (no more cravings, please! and I'd like to stay awake passed 8p). I'm also training for a half marathon with my dad and I thought a juice fast would help-- I'm not training yet! But after this is all said and done. I wont be exercising too much these next 2 weeks... or maybe I will. Who knows. But the extra weight needs to GO before I begin hard core running again-- wouldnt wanna do a knee or anything.

My friend Tangie also lent me her awesome expensive looking juicer months ago and I didnt realize what a goldmine I'd been sitting on. We really only decided to do this fast since we already had the juicer. I probably wouldn't have been aloud to go buy one!!

Today is a Friday. I have prepared a little bit for Sunday's juicing. Bought insulated to-go thermos's with an icey center to keep a drink cold when leaving the house (Jasons juices). I also bought a pitcher and the kids' a weeks worth of easy-to-make food so I wont have to cook them a dinner I cant have.

I know this will suck. Jason knows this will suck. We might not make it through the first few hard days.You'll have to keep reading to see what we accomplished  :)  I've figured out how to do video blogs and I plan to record ourselves each night for fun. To see how crabby we are. Or happy and energized.

Today was my last cup of coffee. I posted that to FB and everyone thought I was pregnant. I'm sure I'll have headaches and tummy aches from an overload of veggies. My body will be like, WTF!? But then it will be like, Yah! And then it'll be like.... why are you writing like this?

I'm down to savoring each sip of milk and every bite of oatmeal since I wont be having these extravagant foods for awhile. I do not plan to overly indulge today or tomorrow, but I do plan to savor. We will enjoy a nice dinner out Saturday night. The last supper.

My compost pile will reap the benefits of our juice fast. I hope my kids enjoy the juice too! Looking forward to putting away all kitchen crap, not cooking or doing many dishes, and laying off completely, obviously, sweets, fast food, and alcohol.

I'm happy to have my BFF as my accomplice. Hope he's ready!

Mother Daughter Afternoon

I just put a screaming hysterical Sunnylee to bed. I'm trying not to let the stressful bedtime negate our entire brilliant evening together. She was just overtired, spent, and ... cranky.

She's never been to the movie theater before and I've been ready to take her for some time now. Waiting on a fun Disney movie was taking too long so I took her tonight to see Pirates: Band of Misfits (or something along those lines). All the chocolate and popcorn in the world would get her through any mildly entertaining movie and I was right.

But first we went to the funnest park around in Vero called Pocahontas park. After texting daddy about a bully and he gave us the go ahead to "destroy him", I set out to encourage Sunny with a lesson we hadnt had to teach in awhile, which is this: put your hand up in a clear "stop" hand gesture and yell STOP! Followed by "I dont like that!" She whimpered 'no' to the girl bully (daddy stereotyped big time) and I figured it was a step in the right direction. But Sunny was bait after that so I had to tell the bully-girl to back off. Regardless, we had a great time.

Then we had Taco Bell!

Then we went to a book store while we waited for the movie to start. Sunny picked out a Hello Kitty book just like the Hello Kitty she has on her favorite shirt. Its a travel HK with haikus so I approved. Pics of HK all over the world doing worldly things.

The movie- she was stoked to give the guy her ticket, pick out popcorn and chocolate. Was mesmerized by the lobby. Her excitement ended there- we were late to the theater and the previews were already booming- she ran out! Did not like the scary aisle that led to the theater. I had to pick her up and she buried her face into my shoulder but I knew she'd like it eventually so I made this happen. Once we sat and she saw the big screen, started in on her chocolate, she settled. The loudness was what did it, I think. It is loud.

After that it was easy. She clapped her hands, laughed out loud, did a few fist pumps into the air... Was even yelling movie quotes. I enjoyed her enjoying her first movie.

I was stoked the entire evening alone with Sunny. After many many days of only studying and not having a minute of time to devote to one on one time with her, this was awesome. Nothing was hanging over my head (deadlines), no one needed to be nursed, it was nice. And we plan to do it weekly.

Baby Model

Its official. Here is Lachlan's magazine page layout! Apparently its in Mays issue of American Baby mag but I havent seen it yet. Just got this emailed to me though  :)   Send your copies here and I'll have him sign it by smearing it with peanut butter.