Angie's Life Changes

Low Carb Lasagna

2013-04-29T12:15:00.000-07:00

Before converting to low carb eating I used to eat pasta, a lot of pasta. Lasagna was one of my favorite pasta dishes. I had to give up pasta in order to lose weight and feel better overall. In my low carb journey I have found several substitutes for my pasta cravings and this Low Carb Lasagna is a great dish in my low carb way of eating. You can find the recipe HERE.

5 Month Baby with Bronchiolitis

2013-04-29T09:21:00.000-07:00

5 Month Baby with Bronchiolitis

Both of my girls were sick during the holidays. Samantha had pneumonia and Stefanie had Bronchiolitis. Samantha is 5 years old and the pediatrician took chest x-rays and prescribed antibiotics for the pneumonia which was in its early stages. She got over it rather quickly. But Stefanie, my 5 month old baby was suffering and my heart ached. She had a stuffy nose, wheezing cough, and you could hear the phlegm gargling in her little tiny lungs while she grasp for air. We took her to urgent care and the pediatrician prescribed Albuterol Sulfate liquid form and told me to continue with the Vicks vaporizer, massaging baby Vicks vapor rub on her chest, saline drops for the stuffy nose, and Tylenol for the aches. We continued this treatment for a week and she was not getting better.

I came home from work one day and my baby was having a really bad cough attack and she couldn’t take a breath. She was turning purple. Once she was able to catch her breath, she was sweating, and her body was really cold. I told my husband, let’s go to the urgent care and we rushed to the urgent care, again. The same pediatrician checked her and this time she gave us a nebulizer with Albuterol, the mist kind for the nebulizer. I asked if they can give her antibiotics or something to help get that phlegm out and calm her wheezing cough. The pediatrician said no, because she is too young.

We used the nebulizer for a little over a week. There were times she looked ok and sounded better and then there were times that she didn’t. I called in to her regular pediatrician for a checkup and the doctor saw her right away. Doctor ordered chest x-rays and saw the spots of phlegm in her lungs and gave her a breathing treatment at the office to see if the Albuterol was helping at all. After the treatment the doctor said it was helping and she also gave us Zithromax and Orapred to take for 5 days. My baby girl was finally feeling better and sleeping through the night. I just ask myself, why she didn’t receive this medication at the first visit. It took 3 trips to the urgent care and 1 to the regular doctor and a chest x-ray to finally get her what she needed.

My baby Stefanie with her new toy, the nebulizer.

Thank you,

Angelica Lopez

What did I get myself into!

2013-04-28T15:31:00.001-07:00

Kids. The day these little creatures come into our lives, that's it. Your life has changed forever. You live for them. You work for them. You breath for them. Your life now revolves around your kids. Once they start school it just evolves. The school wants parents to participate. To donate. To do fundraisers. And it doesn't stop there, now they want you to make a puppet costume. It was a volunteer project. If I didn't volunteer to do the puppet costume then my daughter wouldn't have a puppet to present at the school dinner. I don't want her to feel left out therefore I volunteered. Now, what did I get myself into. I had no idea where to start. What do to. So I did what any parent would do, I went to Pinterest for ideas. Then to Joanne's Fabrics & Crafts to purchase the material. I bought the items 3 weeks ago. The puppet costume is due Monday. Yeah, that's tomorrow. Oh my, and my mom left to Church and won't be back til night time. I had to do it myself. I got my mom’s sewing machine and plugged it in. Then I started cutting the fabric. Good thing the teacher gave me a sample cut out that I could follow. But I had to get creative to make it look like and have my daughter's personality. Kind of like a mini me type. So ok, I figured she likes pink and purple. She also gave her input and said she wants the shirt pink and the skirt purple. After a few oops and what am I doing episodes this was the final result. Not bad for not knowing how to sew or use a sewing machine. And finally, my daughter will be making a paper Mache head in her kinder class. Whew, at least I don't have to worry about that part. See, my baby looks happy with her puppet costume. This is what we do for our children. 😄

A Lot Of Cooking

2013-04-14T14:01:00.001-07:00

I decided to cook meals ahead of time because my time is limited during the work week. This is what I made; meatballs with marinara sauce and cheese. mushroom, onion and ham quiche. New York steak on the grill and broccoli in the oven. Cajun chicken and coffee and cream cheesecake for dessert. It was another great weekend.

Great Weekend

2013-04-08T15:15:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend. On Friday it was date night with my husband. We went to Chili's, something we had not done in a while. I went off course by ordering a hamburger. I had been doing great following my low carb way of eating, but Friday was special. I had reach a mile stone of 20 lbs lost! and I was on a date with my husband. It called for a celebration and I wanted a hamburger. Then I walked it off the next morning with a 5k walk with my mom. Seriously, I have no idea where my mom gets her energy, but she has a lot more than I. After our morning walk I was pumped up to do the house cleaning, washing, organizing, etc. The same old weekend morning routine, when out of the blue, my husband said, "Let's go out to the mall, do a little shopping, and go out for lunch." Of course I did not hesitate and agreed. That was more appealing than to stay home and clean. After a little shopping we relaxed at home, played with our girls, then watched movies.

On Sunday morning another 5k walk with my mom. This time a barely made it home, almost crawling to my door. My mom can walk for hours, but not me. After that, my mom left for Church and my husband took our eldest daughter to the movies. Our younger daughter ate then fell asleep. The day was beautiful and sunny so I decided to enjoy the weather and read outside while also getting a tan.

In this picture we were just being silly. Stefanie looks mad, but she was enjoying it.

Here is my little sleepy head. She loves it when I carry her in the BECO Butterfly carrier.

Yeah, She will eat frozen yogurt, but not healthy food.

Here I am, getting some sun. Yup, I know, I need a tan.

Look white legs. They were getting tanned. The left side was earlier and the right side was an hour later. Any difference?

Then my little munchkin woke up and joined me for a little sun.

I wasn't all carbs during the weekend. I did some cooking and ate low carb. Here are a few items on the menu. From top left to right we have hard boiled eggs and Almond Cookies. I'm really bad at following recipes and if I see something I like, but don't have all the ingredients I substitute. I probably shouldn't have in this case, but I did. Click on the link for the recipe of these delicious cookies. Then bottom left to right we have a Low Carb-One Minute Chocolate Mini-Cake for One! I was craving chocolate, I was craving a cake. This was absolutely great tasting and I will make I again in a heart beat. Click on the link for the recipe. Then I made a tuna salad (10 oz. can) with mayo (1 tablespoon), sugar free relish(1 tablespoon), hard boiled eggs (2), salt and pepper, and topped it off with some avocado in a bed of romaine lettuce. I ate these like tacos and it was awesome.

So, there you have it. This was a great weekend.

Angelica Lopez

20 Down 24 To Go

2013-04-05T12:42:00.002-07:00

Hi All,

Yes, that's right. Today I reached the 20 lbs lost mark. Wooo hooo!!! I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Ok, ok, I'll calm down now. I'm just so excited that I have lost 20! Did I say 20! Yes, 20 lbs, GONE!!!. I started my low carb journey as a new years resolution and new life style. I'm on my way to reach my goal weight. I have been feeling fabulous. My clothes are fitting loose. I've went down a few sizes. I even bought me some shorts to get a tan on my white legs. I'm getting ready for my Vegas get away with my husband.

I have been following several blogs that provided me with lots of great information, recipes, and motivation. I have also been following a good friend on this journey and we support each other everyday. Thank you Alicia.

Angelica Lopez

I'm Losing It!

2013-03-04T17:21:00.001-08:00

Yes, I'm losing it! But in a good way. I'm losing all that excess weight I've been carrying around since I had my second baby. It's not her fault, it's just the cycle of life. Starting the new year living low carb and cheating here and there, but nothing major. I'm taking it slow this time because I don't want to do excruciating excercises or my lower back pain will come crawling back and pinching me in the butt. Literally. I guess being overweight does that to me. Carrying excess weight makes my overall health go down hill and carrying those extra pounds bring body aches and my lower back pain that I don't wish on no one. Well, I want to show you my progress now that we are in March and I've been losing it. First off, I went from a size 16/14, to now a size 12 in pants. On shirts I went from a size XL to a size L. I started January 2, 2013 at 194lbs. Then I entered a 60 day low carb weight loss challenge on January 7th where I have to take a picture of my scale and submit it. On the weigh scale I went from a ... Ok, I'll show you.

Wow! Amazing what 2 months can do to that scale that haunts the crap out of me. I wish I would have taken a picture of the 194lbs, but you can see the difference in those numbers in the middle that change from a 9 to a 8, and now a 7. It will keep going down and down to a 6, then a 5, and end up at 4. God willing! I'll be shrinking and that's great news.

Here is a before and after picture of myself.

Christmas 2012.

Posing for a family photo and I was trying to suck in my stomach. Doesn't look like a did a good job at it.

Today 3/04/2013.

My awesome photographer Alicia took this photo today. We received flowers from our boss at the office.

Can you notice the difference in 15.5lbs lost?

Well, there you go. I know everyone hears this from all kinds of people that lose weight, but here you go any ways. If I can do it, so can you! My journey does not end here and I will keep you posted with more updates on my weight loss journey.

Thank you,

Angelica Lopez

El Pollo Loco a la Low Carb

2013-01-22T12:32:00.002-08:00

Today’s lunch menu consist of leftover Pollo Loco chicken and steamed vegetables. In my house I’m the only one on a low carb diet. When time is limited and I don’t have time to cook I stop by a fast food restaurant to get something quick. Yesterday after work I stopped at El Pollo Loco and bought the 8 piece mix chicken with spanish rice and steamed veggies. At home I only ate chicken and the steamed veggies and added some pico de gallo salsa. That is a low carb dinner menu. The nutrition information in the El Pollo Loco website states chicken has no carbs, steam veggies has 5 grams of net carbs, and the pico de gallo salsa has 2 grams of carbs per serving. Not bad for eating fast food for dinner. Here’s a picture of my lunch.

Well, that’s all for today. I hope this helps you make good decisions when eating out.

Thank you,

Angelica Lopez

Taco Bell a la Low Carb

2013-01-21T13:04:00.001-08:00

I love my title. I'm trying to be a chef or something. Probably more of something. LOL! Anyways, how was everyone's weekend?

Let me tell you a little bit of my weekend. It was a nice fun weekend. We went to Los Angeles to celebrate my brother in laws 60th birthday. Yeah, the big one. I wish him many more. Well, I tried really hard to not break my diet, but cheating was bound to happen when visiting family. I admit it, it's all my fault. I didn't have the will power to say, no thank you. I didn't have the will power to take out my Atkins snack from my purse. I just gave in and told myself, I'll get back on track tomorrow. So that's what I'm trying to do. I wasn't home on the weekend to prepare my lunch and that's where Taco Bell comes in to save my day. I looked up the steak soft tacos and did my nutrition research.

The Nutrition Information from the Taco Bell website states the Fresco Grilled Steak Soft Taco has 19 grams of carbs, out of those 19 grams carbs, only 17 is for the tortilla it self. So what I did is eliminate the tortilla and now we only have 2 grams of carbs per taco.

Here is the taco with the filling.

Here is the taco without the filling.

Only eat the filling and throw away the tortilla.

Sounds easy right. Next time when you eat out, skip the tortilla and you will be amazed at how many carbs you will be avoiding. I ate 3 tacos without the tortilla and a diet pepsi. My total carb intake at lunch was 6 grams of carbs. Not bad for a lazy Monday.

Sincerely,

Angelica Lopez

New Years Resolutions

2013-01-14T12:32:00.002-08:00

Its the New Year and it's time to get back in shape. It's time to get my house organized. It's time to take new adventures with my family.

In the beginning of the year I started my low carb way of life. It's the diet that helped me loose weight before and is helping me loose weight again. After my pregnancy with my second child I gain 30 pounds. My goal is to shed off those 30 pounds to get back to my pre pregnancy weight then loose another 10-15 pounds to reached my real goal. I joined a Facebook group that's a Low Carb Weight Loss Challenge for 60 days. I have found a lot of support from this group and also from my friend and co worker Alicia. Alicia is the one who inspired me and taught me about low carb living. We work together and we help each other in our journey to weight loss. We exchange recipes and create recipes with what we have at home. Today's main dish is leftover carne asada and asparagus for lunch.

Today was weigh in time for me and I am proud to say that I have lost 6.5 pounds in 1 week and 4 days. I realize that most of it was water weight, but I feel good and my pants are getting loose.

Sincerely,

Angie Lopez

My Family Holiday 2012

2013-01-12T20:25:00.002-08:00

With a full time career a 5 month old baby, and a 5 year old girl, I find it difficult to make time for me. I love to read and write and I will be sharing My Family Holiday highlights for 2012. It was an awesome Holiday and I took vacation time from work in order to enjoy it. My sister Adela and her family came down from San Antonio, TX to Bakersfield to spend the Holidays with us. It was a 2 day trip for them while they stopped along the way to visit family. Once they arrived to my home on December 23, 2012, it was party time for the grown ups as well as for the kids. I had a full house with 4 kids and 3 of them running around like monkeys and screaming, fighting, and just enjoying time at Tia Angie's House. Yup, I'm tia Angie, that how they know me. Here is a picture of the little rascals.

From left to right we have, Tony, Samantha, Ray, and Stefanie.

Getting the perfect shot with kids is impossible.

My niece Isabella Danielle Guerrero turned 1 year old on December 18, 2012. We were not able to celebrate her Birthday because she lives in Fresno, CA, which is 2 hours from Bakersfield, CA. We decided to get her a cake and break the pinata when she came to visit after Christmas. I didn't get snap shots of the pinata because I was busy carrying Stefanie.

From left to right we have Ray, my sister Domi, Isabella, Samantha, and Stefanie.

In order to entertain the little rugrats I had them do a Gingerbread Train and Gingerbread House. They had some help from the adults, but at the end they licked the houses. I didn't let them eat it with all the germs around the house. All the kids were sick with a cold and germs were all over the house and the cold was spreading to everyone.

Finished the Gingerbread Train, now what, eat the Train.

Samantha licking the candies.

Samantha was having fun with the New Years party kit Tio Rudy brought for the celebrations. The adults drank Mai Tai's prepared by the bartender Rudy aka GG (Gentle Giant). That's his name when he's in his happy mood and mixing drinks for the party. The kids had hot chocolate and went to sleep early. The adults almost made it to midnight, but we knocked out at around 11:50am. We were so tired and of course we were sick with a cold.

Happy New Years 2013.

Here are photos of my family.

Tia Adela with Samantha and Stefanie.

This is the whole Familia from my side of the blood hood.

My mom Socorro with all her grandchildren. Ray, Samantha, Isabella, Stefanie, and Tony.

Mom with all her kids. Rudy, Domi, Adela, and me.

Here is grandma with the grandchildren again.

My siblings and me.

As you can see in the photos above, there is no dad. My parents divorced over 17 years ago and my father has remarried. I visit my father once a year and sometimes twice. Depending on my mood and how my heart feels at the moment towards him. I'm not attached to my father because he made my mother suffer a lot while they were married, but he is my father and therefore I make time to visit him when possible. I have not seen him in over 1 year and a half and he did not see me pregnant either. This is the first time he meets his newest granddaughter, Stefanie. We made time to visit today and here are some pictures of my father.

This is my father, Santos Sanchez meeting his newest granddaughter for the first time.

Here we are all together. My husband took the photo.

Even though we suffered from bad colds, this holiday season was the greatest. We are blessed to have been together and take pictures to capture the moments. These special moments that the kids will remember as they grow older and the grown up will cherish during future holidays when we will not be able to spend them together. I wish all my siblings lived close by, but as we grow up and create our own lives we go our separate ways. My eldest sister Adela moved from Bakersfield, CA. to San Antonio, TX. in 2005. My sister Domi moved to Fresno, CA. when she graduated High School and started her studies at Cal State Fresno. She met people and made her life there. Then she married my bro in law Chris in 2007. My bro Rudy moved out of my house in 2009 and moved in with roommates. That's life, but we still try to remain together and not lose communications. After all, we are Family and even though we disagree, argue, fight, bump heads, we are here. That is why during this Holiday season, it was a blessing that we could be together.

I never tell my siblings that I love them, so here it goes, I LOVE YOU GUYS!

I wish you all the best on this New Year and hope all your dreams come true.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Sincerely,

Angelica Lopez

01/12/2013

Samantha's Princess Birthday Party

2012-11-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

My baby girls is turning 5 on 11/30. She is growing up so fast. She has hit and conquered so many milestones this year.

When Samantha was born 11/30/07

She became a big sister on July 27th.

Being a Big Sister to Stefanie

Started Transitional Kindergarten (TK is a program sponsored in the State of CA for children that do not qualify for regular Kindergarten due to their birth date) on August 20th.

Lost her 1st tooth October 25th.

Is turning 5 years old.

Pretty soon, she will be a teenager, go to High School, get married, have children of her own. Ok, not pretty soon. There is still a long time for all these things to happen. For now, her handsome prince is her daddy.

Here are some pictures of Samantha's Princess Birthday Party.

This was my creative idea. I bought Disney Princess plastic cups at DollarTree, cut then from the middle with a scissor, then taped the halves to the napkin holder.

This idea I got from Pinterest and I think mine came out better.

The kids having fun decorating their goodie bags with foam stickers I got from DollarTree.

Breastfeeding and Jury Duty

2012-11-20T12:56:00.000-08:00

Breastfeeding and Jury Duty

My baby is almost 4 month old and I’m still breastfeeding. About a month ago I received my Jury Summons and didn’t think much of it. I called in on Friday to check my status for Monday, and I was excused for that day and to call back on Monday after 5:30pm. Then on Monday I called in and I was to present myself for Jury Service the next day. Crap! I was upset for like 5 seconds and figured, ok, it’s my civil duty. Then I was getting my family ready for the next day and I did my final pumping session for the day and it dawn on me. OMG! I’m breastfeeding and how am I supposed to manage this at Jury services. Oh no. I figured it's the law to provide a mother a private room in order to express milk and my worries faded. I slept well during the night and then got up to get ready for Jury Duty Tuesday morning. I was packing my stuff when I started thinking again, how am I going to manage at the court. I then remembered, my sister works at the courts and she expressed milk as well. I checked in with her and she said I can get excused and to take my baby’s birth certificate. I was relieved but also unsure if I would be excused. When I arrived at Jury Services the line to check in was loooonnnggg, very long. I then saw a few people requesting excuses and they were directed to an office in the back and I figured ok, let me follow them and see what happens. The clerk asked me, “Can I help you?” I said, “Yes, I would like to be excused because I’m breastfeeding.” He said, “Ok, you are excused. Just sign here.” And there you go. That’s how I got out of Jury Duty. I had a valid excuse. Yay! Til next time.

By the way, I’m in CA. My friend Alicia googled and told me 11 states allow excuses for breastfeeding mothers and CA is included. If you are a breastfeeding mom, check with your state.

Here’s a video my co-worker posted on my facebook when she heard I had Jury Duty.

Enjoy!

Stefanie Alyssa Lopez

2012-11-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

Birth Story

I have been impatient to have my little bundle of joy. I searched online how to induce labor at home. I ate pineapple, walked, made love, ate more pineapple, walked again, and made love again. Nothing happened. I’ve been contracting for a month already. Since I had my first daughter at 38 weeks, I figured it would be about the same with this pregnancy. At my Doctor’s appointment on Friday 7/20/12 my OB/GYN said I was 1 centimeter dilated and my tissue was softening. He asked if I wanted him to strip my membrane. Of course I agreed hoping to get things going. My contraction got stronger and I was so excited that I called my mom to let her know. My mom came as quickly as she could thinking I was going into labor soon.

Then nothing happened. Friday passed, then Saturday, then Sunday. Monday came around and my contractions were all over the place. My husband was hoping I would go into labor so he can call in to work. It didn’t happen and he went to work Tuesday. The week almost passed. Thursday afternoon my husband and I had an argument (not relevant to the pregnancy) and I was pissed and emotional. Friday came around and it was 4:15am, my water finally broke. My contractions were 10 minutes apart. It was time. We were having a baby.

We arrived at the hospital at 6am, registered, got a nice spacious room. By 8am I was settled and with an epidural. Already at 4 centimeters by 8am. 10am I was 6 centimeters. 11:30am I was 9. By 12:37pm we had our little bundle of joy on Friday July 27, 2012.

Stefanie Alyssa Lopez, born 7/27/2007 at 12:37pm weighed 7.1 lbs and 18 inches long

First Picture

All cleaned up and with mommy

With her grandmothers (Jacoba and Socorro) and big sister (Samantha)

With her godmother

First bath at home

1 month

2 months

3 months

Halloween

Doing Nothing!

2012-10-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since my last post. I have been lazy, tired, and sometimes I just didn’t want to do anything and just lie on my couch and watch T.V. Well I did have an excuse, I was pregnant. Therefore this excuse became my excuse for everything. I didn’t want to work, I didn’t want to cook, I didn’t want to clean, I didn’t want to blog, I didn’t want to exercise. I just didn’t want to do absolutely nothing. Then I had my baby. The first few weeks, well I just couldn’t do much. I’m lying, yes I could do a lot, I just didn’t want to. And why would I if I had my hubby and my mommy at home to tend to me and our new baby. I was being pampered by them and I was ecstatic. So now all these I didn’t want to are coming back to bite me in the ass. Yes, my big fat ass and of course that hanging belly we women get after giving birth. Sigh! Yup! So now I’m getting ready to go back to work and guess what, I can’t wear sweat pants to work. I work at an insurance office and even though our clients are truck drivers, I’m the insurance professional and I have to dress professional. It was time to put away the maternity clothes and the sweat pants I’ve been wearing after giving birth. By the way, I will do another post regarding my birth experience.

So, I’m getting my pre pregnancy clothes out of the closet. I was a size 10, but I also had a few size 12. While LMFAO! I also started crying while trying on my clothes. Yeah, I know we all do this when our clothes don’t fit and we need to go a size or two up. Noooo! I needed to go shopping. We all hate shopping for pants, especially when we know deep down inside our heart we are wider and need a larger size. I did just that. I purchased pants size 14. Yup, yup, yup. Then I told myself its time to stop doing nothing and it’s time to get off my big fat butt and start working out and eat well. No more splurging because I think I deserve it, just because I just had a baby and because this baby is sucking the life out of me and I need comfort food. No more doing nothing.

25 Weeks

2012-04-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

First of all, we are having a GIRL! I'm now 25 weeks pregnant and feeling tired, heavy, and my back hurts. Here are a few pictures.

18 Weeks 3D Ultrasound

18 Weeks Ultrasound - confirms it's a GIRL!

20 Weeks

22 Weeks - new hairdo

24 Weeks - different hairdo

Yup, these are my changes so far. The belly kinda looks the same, just my hair do changes during these phases. LOL! But I'm feeling like a whale. Very heavy and Oh my, look at my butt, it's growing at the same pace my stomach is growing. *Sigh* I guess all woman go through these phases of feeling big, fat, ugly, as their whole body is changing. I have gained 25 pounds so far during my pregnancy. I don't care. I'm still happy and excited because I have a little girl on the way. Doctors say everything is looking good and she is healthy. That's all that matters. A healthy baby is all I care about and I will take care of my body after I have my baby girl.

Sincerely,
Angelica Lopez

Boy or Girl

2012-02-16T18:00:00.000-08:00

We have an appointment next week to find out the sex of the baby baking in my oven. My daughter wants a brother just like her cousin Mia. I told her we don't know yet, but will find out soon. I would also like a boy, but it doesn't matter, boy or girl, I will love my baby. My husband wants another girl. Go figure! Usually men want to have boys to carry on the family name, to play soccer, basketball, or any sport. But not my man, he loves his little princess and wants another little princess so he can spoil both of them. And he is so bad at spoiling our daughter that I get upset with him because Samantha just wants to be with daddy. My daughter has a saying, "Daddy is my daddy, and you are not my mommy, only daddy is mine." OMG! I hate that and I get hurt and I tell my husband to see the little monster he has created. He laughs at me and tells me not to be jealous. I tell my husband, just wait when she gets older and wants to go out with boys, just wait.

Princess Belle

Princess Samantha with Daddy

Princess Samantha playing with daddy

Princess Samantha riding the carousel with daddy

Angie Lopez

16 Weeks

2012-02-14T21:00:00.000-08:00

13 weeks

16 weeks

Aside from the morning sickness, body aches, and feeling tired all the time, I love being pregnant. Let me tell you why, and I know many women might agree with me. I love the fact that I’m growing a little human being in my belly. I love that my 4 year old daughter Samantha wants to kiss my belly. I love it when my husband holds my belly and massages it. I love being loved by my family.

I also love the excitement of not knowing if we are having a girl or a boy. We want to know, so I have scheduled and ultrasound for next week. My husband has picked out names which I like as well. We have 2 names for each, if we have a boy we will name him Sebastian or Josue. If we have a girl we will name her Alexandra or Sofia. I’m still debating on the boys name, but we still have 5 months for the arrival of our new bundle of joy.

Angie Lopez

Prenatal Visit & Cost!!!

2012-02-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

I had my prenatal visit a few weeks ago and I haven't written on my blog because I have been in shock all this time. It was not a good visit. The baby is fine and we are now 16 weeks pregnant. But my last prenatal visit starting with a shocking bill! I told the reception lady, excuse me, but I have insurance. She replied, "yes, but your deductible is $2,500 and your insurance does not kick in until your deductible has been met." So she went over the cost of having a baby, well not all the cost, only what the OBGYN charges for her services and that did not include labs, ultrasounds, hospital, epidural, and all the other stuff. The bill was for my monthly prenatal visit when I go and pee in a cup, then the doctors has me waiting 2 hours in the room for a quick check up. Oh, and i forgot to mention while I was waiting, and waiting, and waiting, the nurse comes in and ask me to undress for the pap smear. I tell her, wait a minute, why a pap smear, I'm 13 weeks pregnant. She said, that's ok, we need to do a pap because it's already been a year. Oh, no I freaked and I did not undress. I told the OBGYN I did not feel comfortable with a pap smear at this time. She said that was fine. But going back to the bill, that was not fine for me. The Doctors Office wants me to make a monthly payment of approximately $500 from now until delivery because the services need to be paid before the delivery.

I'm changing my insurance plan soon. Good thing my husbands job is having open enrollment for health insurance and I will be getting on his insurance plan.

Angie Lopez

10 Weeks

2012-01-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone. I hope you had a wonderful time during the holidays and now we are starting off 2012 with many many new resolutions. I didn’t make any because I’m not good at keeping mine. But I am off to a good start in the new year. I’m now 10 weeks pregnant and the nausea is kinda fading away which is great. I take my prenatal vitamins religiously. My pants no longer fit me and I don’t have any maternity clothes at this time. I will be visiting my sister in Fresno to take back my old maternity clothes that I let her borrow along with some clothes that used to be my older sisters, Adela. My sister Domi had her baby girl 3 weeks ago and now I need the clothes back. Maternity clothes is so expensive and I was blessed with an older sisters that loves to shop for clothes. LOL! Here’s a picture of Samantha, baby Isabella Danielle, and me.

This past weekend I went to the maternity store to purchase a tummy sleeve for my pants because I could no longer zip them up or button then up. It has been a life saver because I’m between my clothes and maternity clothes. Here’s an example of the Tummy Sleeve I bought at Motherhood.

We also announce my pregnancy to the whole family on Christmas Eve, well actually my husband side of the family. I told my side of the family a lot sooner. My daughter Samantha made the announcement. I bought her a shirt at JustJen.com that said “I’m going to be a Big Sister.” My niece Brenda read the shirt and she went crazy and started asking everyone to read Samantha’s shirt. Samantha was getting a lot of attention and congratulations and she’s 4 years old, she loves attention, but was not really sure why she was getting it. Many of the relatives were confused so then I told them, “I’m Pregnant.” It was exciting to tell everyone.

Angie Lopez

Life Changes

2011-12-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

I apologize for my absence. It has been a busy time for me with the holidays just around the corner and completing a college online course, which by the way I passed with a B. My major is Business Administration and I have been taking it slow to reach my goal. The good thing is that I have not given up and I value education so much that I would love to complete my Bachelors Degree one of these days. But that’s a story for another day. For now let’s get back on track. Aside from being a busy woman I am also an expectant mother. I am 7 almost 8 weeks along and going through some rough changes in my body, my eating habits, and let’s not forget the most exciting part of it all, the NAUSEA that comes along with the joy of being pregnant.

Since you can imagine my eating habits will be changing dramatically. And the only thing that helps ease the nausea is eating CARBS. Oh yeah, those little devils are creeping back into my life. I am excited to share this news even though I wanted to wait after the first trimester. I couldn’t handle the waiting game and I want to tell the world. I am confident I will have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby at the end. My daughter will no longer be an only child. For the next few months I will be posting about the joys of my pregnancy.

I had my first prenatal visit this Monday with my Dr. Elva Lopez. She prescribed Citra Natal B-Calm prenatal vitamins that will help ease the nausea. I started taking the pills yesterday. And it’s not ONE, but THREE pills. And let me add, a very huge pill and 2 little ones.

I am so bad at taking pills; I can’t swallow the big pills. This might sound gross to some of you, but what I do is crush the big pill, mix it in apple sauce, then take spoons of it and try to swallow it down with apple juice. Apple seems to minimize the aweful flavor of medication when I take it. That is the way I swallow my pills. My brother even bought me a pill crusher at Rite-Aid that looks like this:

It has been a very handy tool for me. In case anyone else out there has trouble taking pills, this is an option for you. I guess I’m not the only one that needs a pill crusher since this little machine was invented and sold at stores. Ok, so back to my prenatal and easing the nausea. Today is day number 2 and so far it helped somewhat but the nausea is not completely gone. I know it takes time for the B6 vitamin to kick in so I will keep you posted.

I want to wish you all a great Merry Christmas and Happy New years. And may all your wishes come true in the coming year. Happy Holidays!

Angie Lopez

Life Changes

2011-12-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

I want to wish you all a great Merry Christmas and Happy New years. And may all your wishes come true in the coming year. Happy Holidays!

Angie Lopez

Zuchinni Patties, Turkey Salad and Pepperoni Pizza Salad

2011-11-17T09:14:00.001-08:00

I know it's been a while since I shared any new low carb recipes I've tried, but here are a few to make up for my absence. I hope you try them and enjoy.

Zuchinni Patties

Items you will need to make this recipe are:
2 medium size Zuchinnis
2 large eggs (or I use 1/2 cup of egg beaters)
About 1/4 cup of parmesian cheese
1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
And some unsalted butter for the pan

First, shredd the zuchinnis in a cheese shredder and then add your eggs, parmesian cheese, and garlic salt. Mix it well. Heat your pan and add a small amount of unsalted butter and let it melt, then with a tablespoon, add the zuchinni mixture and spread it out. Wait about 5-8 minutes until brown from the bottom, then turn them over slowly with a spatula and cook for another 5-8 minutes, until brown. These are about 2-3 carbs each and a great snack or breakfast.

Turkey Salad

Items you will need to make this recipe are:

1 pound of ground turkey and taco seasoning (or you can buy the already seasoned, just check your nutrition info for carbs.)

Chopped ice berg lettuce

Shredded cheese

Additional thing you may add:

Chopped tomato and onion

Ranch Dressing

Cucumber

Bacon bits

When I made this salad, it was early in the morning and I was trying to make my lunch to avoid eating out. But normally I do add chopped tomato and ranch dressing, but I didn't have time that morning.

Pepperoni Pizza Salad

Ok, so when my husband wants pizza once a week, I figured out a way to fight the temptation. Now, don't get me wrong, this salad might have some extra hidden carbs due to the pizza sauce, but it's a better option than to eat the actual pizza. I get 2-3 slices of pizza (depends on how big the slice is) and remove the top part, the good part, which is the pepperoni, cheese, and sauce stuck to the cheese. I then scrap it off the pizza bread as much as I can and place it in a cutting board and start chopping it into tiny pieces. Finally in a bed of chopped iceberg lettuce with ranch dressing, I add the pizza topping. It's a very delicious pepperoni pizza salad.

Well, that's all I have for today. I'm still trying to see how I can make a low carb Thanksgiving dinner for my family. The dinner is not really the problem, the problem is the desert. We'll see how that goes.

Sincerely,

Angie Lopez

Baby Shower

2011-10-18T20:58:00.000-07:00

Domitila and Christophers Baby Shower

This is the first time I throw a baby shower where I am in charge of everything. The location, decorations, games, favors, food. You name it. Ok, well I had my brother in charge of the drinks, ice, and canopy. He also made a Baby Shower sign, a Sign In Poster, and a collage of my sister and brother-in-law. Also, I had my mom make a potato salad and fruit cocktail. I’ll give credit to my husband, brother-in-law, and brother for putting up the canopy’s, tables, and chairs and for bringing them too. Ok, so I didn’t do it all, but it seemed like I did until I started writing my blog. LOL!

I created several games for the shower that I googled of course.

1. The first game we started playing was don’t say the word “BABY”, don’t cross your legs or arms. If you do, the person that identifies the mistake will take away you rattle. I gave all the guest a cute rattle to hang over there neck. At the end of the party, the person with the most rattles wins.

2. The second game was the dirty diaper. I made these cute little diapers with my daughter Samantha. I melted some brown chocolate and dirty the a cotton and placed it inside the diaper. The person with the dirty diaper wins.

3. Guessing. I had my sister, the pregnant one, walk around with a tray with several baby items and told all the guest to remember the items on the tray. Then I had her go inside the house and hide. Here’s the fun part. I gave all the guest an index card and asked them to write a minimum of 5 things my sister was wearing. They all laughed and were confused. But they got to work and wrote down the things they remembered.

4. I had a 4 way tie on this game, so as a tie breaker I had the 4 guest open up a box of Kleenex and the guest that emptied their box first wins. This was exciting to see.

5. Another game we played was “My Water Broke.” I gave all guest an ice cube with a little plastic baby inside. The one that released the baby from the ice first was the winner. I told them the only rule is to not brake the baby. This was hilarius to watch. Some guest stuck the cube in their mouth, others rubbed the ice cube, and the winner broke the ice on the cement floor and the baby popped out.

6. Another guessing game was the “Messy Diaper.” I numbered 4 diapers and dirty them with baby food. I selected 2 green and 2 orange foods to make the game more interesting. I had the tray passed around and had the guest open the diaper and smell the poop (baby food). Then they wrote down the type of food that was in the diaper. I also had 4 ties on this game.

7. The tie breaker was to blow up a balloon and sit on it. The one that popped the balloon first wins.

8. The final game we played was measuring the girth. I went around to every guest and had them cut a ribbon long enough to measure the girth of my sister. The person closes to the measurement wins.

Cake Pops

The other highlight of the event was my cake pops. I gave one to every guest and the kids. They all loved my cake pops and didn’t believe I made them myself. I told then, yes I did and I can prove it. So here I am, proving to my friends and relatives that I can make cake pops. Here are the pictures showing the process. I forgot to take photos when I was dipping them in chocolate, but believe me, I made them.

Bake the bread, let it cool. I substituted the cake frosting with cream cheese to make the cake pops less sweet.

Crumble the bread, then add cream cheese at room temperature and mix in with hands.

Cake crumbs and cream cheese mix very well. Now you start making your balls.

My little helper.

Cake balls done.

Put them in the frig overnight.

Dip them in chocolate, then add sprinkles and let them cool down. Finally wrap them in a small treat bag and tie them. You are ready to share the love.

I had a lot of melted chocolate left over, so I improvised and came up with this idea. I had tiny plastic cups and I poured some of the white chocolate in the cups then topped it off with a tiny plastic non-edible teddy bear. After the chocolate cooled down I pushed he bottom of the cup and the chocolate popped out and finally I wrapped them in a little treat bag and tied them up. And I shared more love. LOL!

Here are more pictures of the Baby Shower.

This is how I decorated my backyard for the party.

Here are all the cake pops, ready to distribute to guests.

This is the cake. I had an old high school friend make the cake. She's taking baking classes. It came out really good.

Here is my sister socializing with her friends.

Here's my mom socializing with our relative. Which came late to the party. But that's ok, we had enough food for everyone.

How cute are Domi & Chris.

Well, that's all for now folks. Now we just wait for my niece Isabella to be born. The due date is December 15th. I can't wait to meet the new addition to our family.

I dedicate this post to my sister and brother-in-law. May God bless you and bring you great joy and happiness with your new bundle of joy. I love you guys.

There Goes My Low Carb Diet

2011-09-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Hi to all my new friends and welcome to my blog. First, I want to thank you for taking the opportunity to check out my blog and following me. Next, there goes my low carb diet. I say this because the Holidays are just around the corner and this is the time that it's so difficult to follow your great eating habbits and fall into temptation. For those who have done the low carb thing and love carbs, you know what I'm talking about. I have a sweet tooth and I love baking all kinds of sweets. So this brings me to my story.

I'm planning my sisters baby shower. I'm trying to save money by doing the planning, decorating, and food on my own. It's been a difficult journey doing it on my own, but I'm still sticky to it because in the end my sister will love it and appreciate it. I hope. For the favors I wanted to do something special and different. I started googling for baby shower favors and came up with the Teddy Bear Theme for the shower, so I wanted Teddy Bear favors. Ok, so Teddy Bear Cookie Favors sounded great and I found a great video on Youtube that showed an easy way to make Teddy Bear Cookies and this was my result.

I’m a beginniner in decorating, as you can see. These do not look professional but it’s a good start. By the way, I did not eat these. My daughter ate one, and the rest I gave to my co-workers at the office.

Then, my friend Alicia told me to do cake pops. I was like what’s that? She directed me to Bakerella’s blog and thought I can do those. Have you heard of cake pops? I've seen them at Starbucks, but I didn't have a clue or even bothered with them until now. Well, I’m getting to like Youtube because I search how to make cake pops, and walah. I went to the store and bought the things I needed, which is as follows:

Cake Mix – 1 box
Cake Frosting – 1 can
Wilton Chocolate Melts – 1 bag
Pop Sticks – about 30
Sprinkles to decorate them
Wax Paper

You start by baking your bread, then let it cool down.

Once it’s cooled you start crubmbling your bread and then add the cake frosting. Make sure it’s mix in very well and use your hands to mix it up.

Then, you start making your balls, as seen below. Don’t make them too big or they will fall apart when you dip them in chocolate.

I put the cake balls in the freezer overnight. That's a no no and I will explain later. I started decorating my cake balls as shown below.

Yeah, I know. What a mess. LOL! I was experimenting. I started off by using bakers chocolate. Those are the messy brown ones and I stopped before I messed with all the cake balls. Then I brought out the correct chocolate (Wilton's Chocolate Melts). I melted my chocolate and then I dipped the stick in the chocolate then puncture it into the cake ball, and finally dipped the cake pop in the melted chocolate. You can see in the middle rows I was doing a good job, until the chocolated started cooling and getting bumpy.
From this batch of cake pops, I was able to save 9 of them. The rest I threw them away. I was not going to eat them or give my daughter this sugar filled high carb cake pop. Remember, I'm experimenting. Here is my end result.

TIPS: Ok, here is the tricky part and I learned my lesson and don’t want you to go thru what I did. After making your cake balls, DO NOT FREEZE THEM! Put them in the refrigerator and let them stay overnight so the frosting and cake stiffin up. Also, when you are ready to dip them, First and foremost, melt some chocolate, dip the stick, then puncture the stick into the cake balls. Put them back in the refrigerator for a few minutes to let the chocolate stiffin up. After that, melt the rest of your chocolate and add 1 tsp. of shortening (that helps make the chocolate thinner and easier to dip.)

I will continue to make the perfect cake pops. I will be making these for my sisters baby shower and I will post some pictures after the event, which will be October 15th. I still have time to practice.

Let me know if you have any tips for me or what you think of my post.

Thank you,

Angelica Lopez