I will not eat icecream or cookie dough at every meal. 

I will not eat icecream or cookie dough at every meal. 

I will not eat icecream or cookie dough at every meal. 

I will not eat icecream or cookie dough at every meal. 

I will not eat icecream or cookie dough at every meal. 

I will not eat icecream or cookie dough at every meal. 

So, that is the sugar update…

I think that the physical withdrawal from the sugar has subsided. Now, I am left with a glaze of crankiness whenever sugar is mentioned, I walk by the vending machine, I see a pile of donuts in the break room, etc. At this point in the game, I do not see a time where I don’t want to eat icecream or cookies, but I definitely have taken some valuable things from the sugar cleansing experience. One is that sugar is added to way too many foods (and foods that you wouldn’t think have sugar) like peanut butter, dried cranberries, yogurt, and essentially anything that is processed. It is the sneaky hidden sugars that are the issue to me. If you eat a balanced and generally healthy diet and sit down for a slice of cake, you well aware that you are eating sugar. This is not a problem in my opinion because you know what you are getting.  If you are on a diet and sit down to have some blueberry yogurt and a few pieces of dried fruit for a snack and without realizing it have just injested the same amount of sugar as having a candy bar and soda. That in my opinion is the problem. Hidden sugar. The other valuable lesson that I have learned is that just like with any other food issue, knowing where your food came from and what is in it is the key to eating healthy. Being educated about your own food choices is the best thing you can do for yourself when it comes to eating. Happy sugar eating, folks!

Mostly eaten raw (Ashley would scold me for this often).

Newest Ben and Jerry’s find. So Delicious.

A Staple.

I keep this in my top desk drawer at work and would eat a few pieces in the afternoons during the sleep lull…

And when you know you cannot have something, it makes you want it more.  Today is an improvement over yesterday when I felt the physicial effects of no sugar: sweating, fatigue, headache, etc. I am having a much more difficult time with the sugar cleansing than Ashley is, I think because she was not as big into sugar. I have also come to the painful realization (I think I knew this before but didn’t want to accept it) that no sugar means no chocolate which is also a problem for me. I am making great efforts to continue on in our sugar cleanse and feel that in no way will I fail to make it the entire 31 days. Do I think that after 31 days that I will not longer want to eat the above items…? Not at all. I am sure that I will still eat them, just in moderation. Ultimately, I went along with this because I know that Ashley is right about my consumption of sugary goodness and because I am still feeding Andy. Here are few of the items that I am replacing my snacks with:

These are great. They are easy to take to work, crunchy and tasty.

These are good. I ate them prior to the no sugar thing and will continue to eat them after I am sure.

I have read many places that depending on your level of sugar intake, the symptoms of going sugarless can last up to two weeks. I am hoping that my next update will be more positive and I will not longer be craving sugar or have any “withdrawal” symptoms. We shall see…

They say it is a good idea:

So far, I have made it almost 24 hours and I have already made her make me sugarless cookies. They are sweetened with honey and maple syrup and taste delicious. I am still always hungry because I am using all of my food stores to create food for Andy. We went shopping last night in advance so that we could buy some snacks and food that I can eat.

I am still not sure how I will be getting my calorie intake for the day since sugarless foods as a general rule are not high-calorie foods. I did get this awesome egg-cooker for my B-day.

I am really into eggs right now so maybe that will be a start. We shall see…

Andy’s first time at the beach (in a state of awareness and with control of his limbs):

Ready for the wedding:

Andy loves an adult beverage bottle:

Dancing with Mom:

Second day at the beach… A little more active in the sand today.

As you can tell, very few waves…

As time went on they got a little better and Grandma was able to snap this shot (lucky I’m even in the shot) of me:

Pool time!

Andy and his BFF, Olivia:

We had a great time in Florida but learned that either our blood has already thickened or it is dang hot there and we are so glad to be in cooler climates for the summer… When we returned here to Vermont (aside from our baggage issue) we noticed that it is really greening up and everything is blooming like crazy. It is going to be a beautiful summer!

We have been in Vermont for just over two months now and we are loving it here. I have completed two full months of work in my new position and though there is a lot to do, I am enjoying it. Our life here in Vermont is relatively simple… For instance here is a day to day picture:

Sometime before 6:30am – Andy wakes up and thus we wake up. We pretend that we are not awake in hopes that he will go back to sleep. It doesn’t work.

6:30am – We give in and “wake up” which entails checking the weather, news, Facebook, etc. on our phones from the bed while Andy locates the remote, chews on said remote, gets remote taken away, tries to take one of both of our cell phones (rarely succeeds), locates “Stace” and “Fredmed” his two stuffed animals that sleep in bed with us all, smiles at them and finally loses interest in being in bed.

7:00am (ish) – We get up. We take showers and I get dressed for work while Andy plays with his bath toys on the bathroom floor. He loves his bath toys.

7:30am – We eat breakfast. Andy also eats breakfast (many times having the same thing or sharing with one or both mommies).

8:00am – Andy gets his second breakfast (happy to say that breast milk is still his main source of food).

8:28am – I leave for work (work starts at 8:30am, it isn’t a long drive). I wave to Ashley and Andy when I drive out (most days if I don’t forget)…

8:29am – Ashley entertains Andy all day. I am sure that there are naps, playing, etc. involved. (She does a great job)

12:00pm – I leave work for lunch.

12:02pm – I arrive home for lunch. I feed Andy while Ashley makes lunch, we eat lunch, and I feed Andy again.

12:58pm – I leave home to head back to work.

1:00pm – Arrive at work. BTW. At work, I chat with people, push buttons on the computer, organize things, tell people things they don’t want to hear, and generally have a good time.

4:58pm – I leave work.

5:00pm – I get home, feed Andy, and change clothes. We set out for a walk or something equally nice (pending weather conditions).

At this point we have dinner, etc. Andy typically has his bath time, which he loves, and we get into our bedtime routine.

Andy is getting so big and is turning into a little boy instead of a baby right before our eyes. Every month Ashley takes photos of Andy and when we compare them to past months we are amazed. Here are some of the most recent photos that Ashley took for Andy’s eight month Bday:

Ashley and I drove to Oviedo to pick up the truck Sunday before we left. The truck was… large.

We spent all afternoon Sunday and most of Monday packing the truck until it looked like this….

One of the cats got a great seat and view during the trip… Note the yellow truck in this picture. Ashley said that driving behind the truck was about as entertaining as watching paint dry. A short note about the cats during this trip: the first day, I had Harvey (shown below) in the truck with me and I thought that he was in shock the entire day. He was very still and quite… the entire day…  Anyone that knows this cat will tell you that for him to be still and quiet means he must be near death. So the second day we decided to switch as Bella had done very well in the car the day before. We thought maybe a more open cage would help Harvey. About 20 minutes into the drive I called Ashley and offered to trade back as Bella had a bad habit of meowing the entire time…

Now we get to the good part. Day 2. Driving through Richmond, D.C., Baltimore, and New York. Everything was going great until we decided to follow the GPS’s recommendation through DC instead of taking the pre-printed Google directions or the much better plan of following the signs… Turns out, the GPS cannot predict which route you should take when driving a truck. It often times will send you to roads that say “passenger cars only” and tell you to drive directly into town instead of around it. The below photo is the only good thing that came from our diversion through DC. Ashley’s mother snapped this from the back seat…

Learning from our little incident in DC with the GPS we decided to follow the signs when we got to New York. This was a good plan… except that our delay in DC put us in New York City, preparing to cross the George Washington Bridge at exactly 5:15pm and as if driving through New York City during rush hour in a large moving truck wasn’t bad enough, there was also an accident just before the bridge… Another delay to say the least. But, alas we made it across the bridge (one million dollars in tolls later and another detour in White Plains) and we were in our hotel for night two. Day three was significantly less exciting in a bad way and we easily made it into Vermont where we snapped this little beauty at the welcome center…

We arrived on Thursday afternoon just in time to get into the house before the guys came to unload the truck.Dang straight we paid someone to unload the truck after two days or loading and three days of driving. The guys got everything moved into the house and mostly in the correct rooms and I cannot say how worth it it was. Only problem then was… where did we put that? where was that packed? where did we pack our Andy? Oh, here he is!

We are mostly unpacked now. Well, at least the items that we use regularly are unpacked and put away. We are loving it here, I am loving my new job, my wife is covered on my insurance, we get our first local produce basket on Thursday (yay), and we will have our first visitor from Florida in early March. Life is great in Vermont

*note… it would not be fair to go on about how great things are without noting that we do, of course, miss all of our friends and family that are now far away… everyone is welcome to visit and we already have plans to come to Florida to visit twice this year*

So, I bet some people are wondering how this all happened and how it happened so fast so here is a little history (a little is all there is)… A little over a month ago we decided that it was time to start looking for jobs in Vermont. Our major hold up with moving over the past few years has been our house. We own a house and we need to sell our house (still. So if you know someone who is looking to buy in New Smyrna Beach, let me know. We’ll make you a good deal.lol). Anyway. We decided that it was time to start looking for jobs despite our house not being sold. We decided that I would only look for jobs that would be worth moving to Vermont while still owning our house. I applied for a few jobs, similar to the position I was in, at major hospital systems and I applied for a couple at smaller companies, but companies that had great benefits and would be well worth the move. I submitted my resume and cover letter to a human/social services company in northern Vermont between Christmas and New Years thinking that it was likely filled and only posted because it had to be. Less than a week later, I got an email that this company was interested and wanted to do a phone interview because of the distance. I agreed and the next day we talked on the phone. The job sounded great and the more I heard about it the more I liked. Luckily, the feeling was mutual and they called me back within a couple of days to talk money. We agreed on money and the next day they offered me the job, which I accepted (after discussing it with the family of course).

Since then everything has been a pretty big blur. Ashley’s parents were on a cruise when this all happened and when they returned we had to make a plan and make it fast. We decided to fly to Vermont to find a place to live over the weekend and shockingly we were able to find a great place to rent and mostly likely purchase if all goes well. It is less than a mile from the office where I will be working and only a mile or two from pretty much everything in town.We are very excited to be moving and getting to the place that we have wanted to be for some time but still in shock as how fast everything is happening.

With the purpose of this blog now being fulfilled, we will definitely have to keep up with it better than we have recently if for no other reason to keep up with everyone that we will miss here in Florida. This of course will not be the case until after we get to Vermont and get settled. Next week we start the long and excitement filled arduous journey of driving from New Smyrna Beach, Florida to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. In tow we will have: us, 2 grandparents, 1 six-month-old baby, 2 cats (Snickers and Blu are going to be staying in Florida for the time being with Grandma and Grandpa), 1 freezer full of frozen breast milk, and a full 26′ rented moving truck. Let the fun begin and see you in Vermont!