a life to Bragg about

The hunk's Ranger School Graduation

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 04:33:00 +0000

This past weekend marks one of the most momentous occasions in our little family's life. My husband finally accomplished the goal he had been talking about since he joined the army 2 years ago...he got his Ranger tab.

The Ranger tab, a tiny black and gold patch that soldiers pin on their uniform, may not seem like much. But to my husband and many other soldiers like him, it's the culmination of a trial by fire that few can accomplish. To me, it meant that we could finally be together again.

Early Thursday morning, my in-laws and I made the 8 hour drive to GA to make the graduation for my husband. I was terribly sick with a cold, had a fever, horrible sore throat and runny nose, and of course, Caleb screamed at the top of his lungs to let his disdain for being in the car seat be known. But nothing was going to stop me from being there to support my husband through one of the most important moments of his career.

We got there that night, exhausted, hungry, but excited. The hunk informed us that the graduating soldiers were given a 5 hour pass for that night so I was beyond myself to see him again. I couldn't wait to see his reaction to how big Caleb had gotten, and I couldn't wait to hug the man that I'm bananas for.

We waited outside the training site among other excited families where I ended up meeting another wife of a Ranger grad (who's adorably pregnant) AND she reads my blog, haha...hi :)

When the buses finally pulled up, soldiers poured out and started running towards their families. The crowd erupted in cheers and claps, and you could hear everyone yelling "congrats". It was such an awesome moment and one that I'll never forget. You could just feel all of the pride and joy in the air...

The hunk found us and we hugged and laughed at how much more thin he'd become. Next, he pulled out a picture of Caleb and told us that it had helped him through many rough nights which prompted me to melt into a puddle of happiness right there. God I love this man.

The next day was the day of the actual graduation ceremony. I've been to 6 different military graduations but this one takes the cake. It was one big explosion of testosterone where they had all kinds of awesome demonstrations of what the guys had learned.

It started with a few real explosions...

Guys running down towers shooting their rifles...

Then even more guys running down this big tower thingy while holding another dude (who was supposed to be injured, haha).

Then a bunch of the guys hung from a helicopter, flew high into the sky, and dropped into the water. Needless to say, the whole crowd was pretty impressed by this part.

There was a nine man infantry squad team demo...

Then a guy who ziplined into the water, a guy who crawled the tight rope, tapped the Ranger sign, then dove into the water while saluting.

One of my favorite parts of the graduation was the hand-to-hand combatives demo. I recently took a local ju-jitsu martial arts class and now have a new found interest in this kind of thing. To see these guys demonstrating various moves in a very realistic manner was so awesome to me and makes me eager to take some more classes.

Throughout the entire graduation, Caleb was a saint. He hammed it up with the ladies behind us and when there were loud explosions, he flinched a little but that was it. I had more of a reaction from the explosions simply because I was worried about his little ears. But my little man ended up being a trooper just like his daddy :)

When it came time to pin the tab on my husband's uniform, I practically leaped off the bleachers and flew onto the field to greet my husband. This was a moment he had been waiting for, and the moment my husband had been dreaming about for months now.

I pinned that black and gold tab on his uniform, we gave each other a huge kiss, and happily laughed that this journey was finally over.

After that, we were told to return to our seats so the graduation could conclude with a speech from the superintendent from West Point. Finally, the day ended with the graduating Rangers reciting the Rangers creed. Hearing the guys recite the creed in unison with such pride and honor was the perfect way to end the monumental occasion.

Ranger School is one of the hardest leadership courses in the Army. They drive these guys to the bone with sleep deprivation, starvation, mental and emotional stress, and exhaustion. These guys are pushed to their mental and physical limits and beyond, and to know that my husband fought through all of this to reach one of his goals fills my heart with so much pride that I really cannot put into words here. I've always known he was tough before, but now I have even more respect for him knowing just how much more stronger he is after all of this.

And of course, seeing him with Caleb again just made this joyous occasion even more wonderful to me.

With copious amounts of paperwork, packing list stress, Pre-Ranger course, and one "recycle" where he had to start over, this whole journey took a total of 5 months, 1 of which I birthed our son without him and 4 of which I practically spent raising a newborn alone.

It was tough for both of us but the sleepless nights, frustrated cries, and lonely meals didn't matter because my husband made the time apart worth it. Just as he would for me, I supported him through this endeavor and am beyond proud that he made it.

It really is an indescribable feeling to be so happy for the person you love the most in the world.

Good Foodie PenPals & Good Food

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:33:00 +0000

You know you're having a good day when you come home to a million packages at the door. Specifically, one from your Foodie PenPal! Lindsay from The Lean Green Bean started this awesome idea where foodies could get together and exchange a box full of goodies, basically, it's like Christmas for foodies every month but even better...because it involves food at your door ;)

So now for the deets on my first Foodie PenPal exchange:

I was matched up with Mariza from My Indulge and was happy to discover that she was also an Army wife AND is from where we used to live right outside DC. Small world! On top of that, she spoiled the crap out of me. Who doesn't love being spoiled?

Mariza hooked my sweet tooth up with delicious, all natural, baked treats from Buzz Bakery, and then treated me with a relaxing lavender candle and Lush bath fizzes. PERFECT for this tired, exhausted momma.

Needless to say, I was one happy camper after getting this box and her sweet, handwritten note. So now I'm urging you to stop by Lindsay's blog and check out the Foodie PenPal program. Even better, sign up for next month's exchange so you too can get your very own box full of delicious goods delivered to your door. You can thank me (actually Lindsay, haha) later ;)

And you know what else makes for a good day? Duh. Even more good food.

Breakfast
If you haven't already 'friended' me on Facebook yet (psst...big pink link on the sidebar that you can't miss) I raved about a dark chocolate, raspberry quinoa bowl the other week. Well, that warm bowl of quinoa was delish and all, but a raspberry, dark chocolate waffle made with quinoa flour is even better!

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Quinoa Waffle

by Maria W

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

2 egg whites
2 Tbs coconut oil
1 1/2 cup quinoa flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp dark chocolate cocoa powder
3/4 cup almond milk
1/2 cup carob chips (or regular chocolate chips)
1/3 cup raspberries

Instructions

Whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Set aside. Combine all other ingredients and then fold into the egg whites. Cook on medium heat in waffle maker and enjoy!

Lunch
Lunch was a greek yogurt, tuna salad wrap with grapefruit, carrots and pretzels on the side. Nothing special here but it does the trick. Yum!

Dinner
If you haven't already stopped by Cara's blog, I suggest you do. It's chock full of awesome recipes, food and photography porn, and she likes to lift heavy weights like I do. Love her!

Anyway, I made her buffalo chicken sweet potato skins after I saw them pinned on Pinterest. They definitely lived up to their pinning hype, because these things are just as good as they sound.

How they look on the other hand is a different story. Let's just say, food photography is not my forte.

Whatevs.

And one last thing before I sign off to play with my super adorable, chunky baby....if you agreed to go on a Target spending freeze with me, how is that going for you?

I failed and went once :( I had to get the green onions (among a few other things) for dinner tonight, haha!

Bad, Maria, Bad. Punish me with some burpees ;)

It's my blog and I can write what I want to...

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:54:00 +0000

When I'm nursing Caleb, or doing one of the other million things I do with him to keep him happy, my mind runs like crazy. And the best way to get all of my thoughts out?

By dumping my brain all over my blog. Yay!

1. You know what's really ironic considering I have a blog? In person I don't really like to talk about myself. I'm more of a listener. And if I have something legit to contribute to a conversation, then I will. But for the most part I usually let the person I'm with do all of the talking with only a few interjections from me.

2. I have been pooped, peed, and thrown up on more times in the past 3 months than I ever have in my entire life. That's saying a lot considering I used to party hardy back in the dizzle.

3. Along the same lines, the GROSSEST thing ever happened to me the other day. Like, so gross that I didn't even tell my real life mom friends. And I have a pretty high threshold when it comes to gross things. Let's just say I won't be doing any more airplane kisses with my baby right after feeding him. Yea.

4. I have a really cute baby. I still can't get over how cute he is. I mean, look at him. ADORABLE.

5. I hate the word fabulous. Always have, always will.

6. I'm going to sucker punch someone in the throat the next time they tell me that I bounced back so quickly because of my genetics. NUH UH. My mom is a cute, tiny, petite asian woman - I can deadlift her body weight and more and not break a sweat (okay maybe that's not true) and my dad is a pretty big, muscular guy with a fairly slow metabolism. I take after my dad which explains why I'll never be a size 0 or 2, and I'll always feel like an ogre when I wear 3 inch heels.

So seeing as how I wasn't blessed with my moms metabolism and tiny body, I had to work my butt off (within reason) during my pregnancy to make sure I didn't blow up blueberry style like Veruca Salt. Stop telling me that I look good after having a baby because I have good genes.

Maybe it plays a small part, but that's it. I worked my ass off (and am still trying) so stop discrediting my hard work. It hurts my little feelings.



Oh and my prepregnancy jeans are loose now. Hard work, baby!

7. I don't post every day because I'd rather spend time with my baby. He's only a baby once. Sorry but I'm not sorry. I'd also like to catch up on blogs that are much cooler than mine or clean my house for the millionth time.

8. Along the same note, I'd much rather post when I have something legitimate to say (this post excluded), not post just to post because I want to drive traffic to my blog and regurgitate something that's already been said a million times before in blogland. So this is me putting it out there that I'm not writing to whore myself out for readership. After all, there are only a gazillion less-than quality posts I can read before wanting to pull an Oedipus Rex. I would hate for myself to fall into that category.

Remember, 4 quarters are better than 100 pennies (thanks brotips for that one!).

9. I putting myself on a Target Spending ban. Anyone care to join? Today marks day 1 of not spending anything at Target. Yes, I am that ridiculous.


10. I was tagged 4 times for that 11 things survey that has been happening around these blog parts but instead of completing them, I hope this suffices. I'm too lazy to tag 11 other people. And why the number 11? So random.

11. Unless something happens I'm now in single digits till I can see this wonderful, adorable, beastly, amazing hunk of a husband again! Excited doesn't even begin to describe how I feel!

12. This spicy kale, shrimp, sausage bake = nasty. It would have been much better if I used crumbled sausage and fresh, jumbo shrimp instead of frozen. I'm determined to perfect this recipe and share on el blog when I get a chance. Stay tuned.

13. I recently met Jenn from Peas and Crayons! I know, I know, lucky me! She's just as beautiful, funny and quirky in person as she is online. I love when people are real, and just like how they portray themselves to be online. On top of that, she took me to Sweet Tomatoes and this place rocked. 10,000 extra points for that.

Photos courtesy of Jenn.

14. Fade into darkness from Avicii is my new FAVORITE song. LOVE. I normally prefer to "run free" without any gadgets, music, etc but lately I've been really getting into house/techno/dubstep music while working out. My husband will be shocked when he gets home!

And that is all for now. Brain dump over and out!

Our Love Story Link-up!

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:31:00 +0000

Valentine's day has never really been a big deal between the hunk and I. Last year we didn't do anything but stay at home and make chocolate covered strawberries and bananas. But since I'm spending V-day alone this year, I'm actually feeling kind of sappy, haha.

So when I saw this adorable survey hosted by From Mrs. To Mama I thought completing it would make me feel better about spending a holiday I don't really care about alone with my little vomit machine. Plus, I miss my husband and this is just another way for me to reminisce and feel close to him!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?

Almost 6 years!

2. How did you meet? {What's your "love" story?}
I had just broken up with an ex boyfriend and wanted to stay single for a while. One night after work, I got a phone call from a guy friend asking me to come over for a little party, we had been talking about playing this game we thought we had made up "BattleSIP's" and seeing a local band for the longest time but I never could since I always had a boyfriend. So now that I was single, I finally obliged. I walked into my friends house, saw my future husband sitting on the couch watching football, we locked eyes and I thought to myself "I'm going to make something happen with that cute guy". Later, our whole group went out to see a band and as I was watching them sing, I noticed my hunk staring at me. So I walked over to him and asked him why he was staring at me, haha. That turned into a political argument about Ahmadinejad and ~~one too many~~ a few tequila shots. A couple hours later it was closing time at the bar and the hunk and I stayed back from our group and walked back to the house alone. He gave me his jacket and then surprised me with a kiss :)

We had brunch the next morning where I ended up vomiting everywhere and in my car, but he still liked me enough to take me to a movie the following Wednesday night, watch football together on Friday, and go out to Georgetown on Saturday. We were pretty much inseparable from the start ;)

3. If married, how long have you been married?

We've been married for 3 pretty awesome years.

4. If you are married, where did you get married at? Big or small wedding?

We got married at the Key Bridge Marriott in Arlington, overlooking the Potomac River and right across from Georgetown University. It was a smaller wedding since we wanted an intimate affair with just our very close friends and family. I'm so glad our wedding turned out the way it did, it was nice not feeling pressured to deal with a million people at our wedding, everyone mostly knew each other and it felt like we were all just hanging out. There are a few things I wish I could redo, but we still had a beautiful wedding and it felt so laid back to us, which I really loved.

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another?
I can't believe I'm revealing this on my blog but yes, we do. He calls me schweetie poo, I call him scraggly-poo, and we call our dog squiggily-poo. With the addition of Caleb, we now call him snorty-poo.

I'm not even going to touch the story behind our nicknames though haha. And for the most part, we usually just call each other "babe" or "hon", especially out in public.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
This one was hard just because I really am so enamored with the man I married. I love pretty much everything about him. But if I had to pick the "top" 3 it would be that:

He is so open minded. He'll try new, ethnic foods, new restaurants, new workouts, visit new places that no one wants to go to, and he doesn't get turned off my some of my healthy cooking experiments. He's pretty much always down for anything and really stands by the whole "will try anything twice" mantra.
He's just the right kind of sarcastic. He's sarcastic enough to be funny to me, but not to the point of where he can be a dick. We have a similar sense of humor and I love that he really knows how to make me laugh without pushing any buttons.
And this is a fairly new development since we've only had Caleb for 3 months now but I love that in the short time he was home for Christmas, he was beyond an amazing father to our son. You could really see just how much he loves our kid and seeing him say goodbye to him again was so hard. He was more of a father in those 3 weeks then some men will ever be in their entire lives.

7. Tell us how he proposed?
He surprised me with a trip to Jamaica. On our first day at our resort, we were waiting for our dinner which was set on these beautiful cliffs overlooking the sea. He then shouted that he saw something in the water, and without a moments hesitation he jumped into the water from the 35ft cliff that we were on. I freaked out thinking he had seen a body or something, but when he climbed back up he had this big, goofy grin on his face, was soaking wet, got down on one knee and said something along the lines of "look what I found? Will you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me? Will you marry me?".

And we actually got a pic of him on one knee proposing! The couple next to us grabbed my camera from our table and snapped this pic while I was embracing him :)

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
He's definitely a flowers kind of guy. He's even gotten me flowers and a silly card on days where I've just had a terrible, no good, very bad day. I love him for it!

And teddy bears, really?

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
I would say that I'm a both kind of girl haha. Who doesn't love dinner on the beach? But every now and then I like to channel my inner homebody and just relax on the couch and cuddle with the hubs after a particularly long day.

10. Tell us one thing you'd like to do with your significant one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
I'd love to open a Crunch Gym with the hunk, and a sustainable, organic restaurant somewhere tropical. The hubs talks about opening a restaurant where he proposed but I think Key West would be the best option. Who knows, retirement is still 20 years from now ;)

And I know we'd be pretty busy managing a gym and a restaurant in the tropics but it would still be amazing to travel the world together and soak up as much history as possible.

A girl can dream, right?

11. Tell us what you plan on doing on this Valentine's Day.
Nothing special. I did 400m repeats this morning, suspension training at home, trained, took the dog to an appointment, and here I am blogging.

Besides, some other "single" girlfriends (their husbands are deployed) and I already had a mini Valentines day celebration this past Saturday. We drowned ourselves in wine, chocolate, a Justin Timberlake movie, good conversation and even more chocolate.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
Just for my husband to make all this time apart worth it by getting that coveted Ranger tab.

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
I don't really feel like I'm qualified to say anything here since we haven't been married that long but I will say the best advice we'd ever gotten was from an older couple we met on our honeymoon. They had been married for 65 years and told us that the key to marriage was to treat each other like boyfriend and girlfriend.

This really stuck out to me and I try to remember this when things get too serious in life. The hubs and I like to joke around, goof off, and just be as weird as possible with each other because it keeps things young, and fresh. It's also nice knowing that we can act this way around only each other. It's like our little secret and keeps the romance hot :)

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.

This is one of my husband's Facebook profile pictures. If anyone can love a face like that, that is definitely true love right there.

Happy Valentines day to everyone else out there! To my honey, I love you and miss you so much. When you're able to get on the internet again, I know you'll check my blog so I hope this video finds you well. See you soon my love :)

Attune Product Review and Cookie, Brownie Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 04:19:00 +0000

Normally I'm not a big fan of cereal. I prefer protein pancakes, oatmeal, eggs or some other variation of a sweet meal in the morning. But I'm not completely opposed to pouring myself a bowl of cereal when I'm in a hurry in the morning and don't feel like whipping up another bowl of oatmeal. There is only so much oatmeal a girl can take.

So when the natural foods company Attune contacted me and offered to send me some of their healthy cereals to review, I couldn't pass this opportunity up. I've used their products in the past and have had great success with using their products in recipes. In addition, as corny as it may sound, their products just speak to me. Their products boast no GMO's, low in sugar, simple, whole ingredients that even my 3 month old can pronounce (he's a genius baby, FYI), and they also offer gluten free products as well.

What stood out to me the most was how low in sugar everything was. A lot of self proclaimed health brands market their products as healthy but when you take a gander at their nutrition label, you're pretty much left in shock with how much sugar is used to cover up that "healthy" flavor that turns a lot of people off. What I liked about Attune was that they used just enough to slightly sweeten their cereals, and left nature up to the rest.

The first cereal I tried was the Cocoa Crispy Rice cereal. Being the chocolate lover that I am, I used to love Kellog's Cocoa Krispies until I realized how much crap is put in to that...crap. But this stuff is amazing.

It's made with only 8 easily pronounceable ingredients:

Organic brown rice, Organic evaporated cane juice, Organic brown rice syrup, Organic cocoa powder (processed with alkali), Natural flavors, Organic caramel color, Sea salt, Organic cocoa butter

...and somehow manages to taste out of this world AMAZING. Seriously, this stuff is no joke in the flavor department. It also kept me full when I topped my greek yogurt with it and I love knowing that it's actually not that bad for you.

So if Attune were to ask me in one word how I feel about this stuff? LOVE. I may have had 2 or 3 bowls in one sitting because it was that good. I couldn't help myself :D

The next product I tried were the Dark Chocolate Probiotic bars. If you could take my love for the Cocoa Crispy cereal and multiply it by whatever measure of number is higher than centillion, that would be my answer for how I feel about this bar. Yeah. That much.

It tastes like the Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies that everyone goes ga-ga for but SO much better. And look what's in it:

Dark chocolate coating (chocolate, evaporated cane juice, cocoa powder, inulin, calcium carbonate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin [an emulsifier], vanilla), *6.1 billion Probiotic cultures (Bifidobacterium lactis HN019, Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM, Lactobacillus casei LC-11)

Again, it's made up of simple, whole ingredients - the way things should be made.

And if you're wondering about the benefits of probiotics, they're simply microorganisms that resemble the healthy bacteria in our bodies. Key benefits of ingesting probiotics include enhancing the immune system, reducing symptoms of lactose intolerance, enables the ability to absorb nutrients more efficiently, and probiotics inhibit the body from the growth of harmful bacteria and viruses.

Simply put, probiotics rock. And it's even more awesome for us breastfeeding moms. Since it helps enhance our immune systems, the benefits are transferred to our babies via our milk. As a result, our babies digestive and immune system are able to function better so symptoms of gas, colic and other digestive problems are reduced significantly.

As for the last product I tried, I'll be honest and say that it wasn't my favorite. But I understand it's hard to live up to the Cocoa Crispy Cereal and the Dark Chocolate Probitoic Bars. I tried the Uncle Sam Honey Almond cereal and while it wasn't bad, it didn't exactly stand out to me. As I mentioned earlier, they use just enough sugar to slightly sweeten their products and that's exactly what it tasted like with this. Either I need to train my taste buds not to crave super sweet things (yeah right) or this cereal could have used just a tad bit more honey.

However, I did like that this cereal was comprised of whole, natural ingredients and that it was low in sugar and carbs. I also liked that it had flax seeds since we all know that I'm all about those awesome little seeds.

So to make lemonade out of lemons, or awesomely delicious sugar-laden cereal bars out of not so sugary cereal, here's a recipe I conjured that makes this cereal just as awesome as the delicious probiotic bars and Cocoa Cripsy Cereal. <---mouthful to say

Brownie, Cookie & Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

by Maria W

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

For The Brownies

Coconut oil (in mister)
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp aluminum-free baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 flax egg or 1 egg
1 tbs pure vanilla extract

For the Cookie Layer

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup ideal sugar
1 flax egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter

For the Peanut Butter Cereal Layer

4 cups Uncle Sam Honey Almond cereal
2/3 cup Karo Light corn syrup
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions

Prepare the cookie and brownie batter separately. When both batters are mixed, pour brownie mix into a baking pan. Then drop the cookie batter by spoonfuls into the brownie batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until almost cooked through.

Prepare cereal mixture by melting everything in a heated saucepan. When everything has melted and liquified, stir in cereal and stir everything together making sure everything has been evenly coated.

Pour the cereal mixture over the brownie/cookie and bake until set and the brownie cookie mix has been fully cooked through.

Let cool, then cut into even squares and enjoy!

And there you have it, a moist, decadent brownie with a gooey chocolate chip cookie layer and topped with crunchy peanut butter Uncle Sam Honey Almond Flax cereal! These bars were so delicious that I'm this close to begging someone to make them. If you're looking for the cereal to make the bars, you can buy them on their site or find them at the stores listed here.

Dooo it.

*Disclaimer: I write this blog for my personal enjoyment. From time to time I may give my opinion on a product or service. It is just my opinion, and I received no payment or other compensation for this review.

Home plyo workout you can even do barefoot

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:59:00 +0000

As I've mentioned many times on this blog, it is super hard for me to get a workout in at the gym with how cranky Caleb can get. I love that child but he really knows how to test my patience with his separation anxiety. Since day care isn't much of an option right now, the bulk of my workouts have to be at home. Fortunately, we're pretty blessed to have accumulated a pretty decent home gym. We have a set up of dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and an elliptical so I have no excuses to work out most days. But sometimes it's even hard for me to get to the garage to workout simply because I have to be all up in Caleb's face for him not to scream his head off.

Cue resorting to getting in a workout in my bedroom, while he sits in the bouncer staring at me.

As it turns out, I absolutely LOVED this workout that I created on the spot. It got my heart pumping, I was out of breath, and I'm definitely feeling the burn in my legs and shoulders as I type this post. I loved it so much that I had to share.

I know there are other moms out there who can't get to the gym all the time so I'm hoping this can help you out a little. It's fun, you can do it barefoot and anywhere in your home with nothing but your body weight (and maybe an ottoman), and your baby can have a grand ol' time watching you make an ass out of yourself while you get your sweat on.

Also, I FINALLY mustered up a tiny bit of courage to record a few demos since I've been asked to describe some of the moves I write about on here. I'm not a big fan of the whole working out in front of a camera (I find it cheesy for the most part) so I kept the videos short to spare myself the embarrassment. Plus, I had a baby who was tired of watching me bounce around the room by the time I made the videos.

Anyway, try it and let me know what you think. I liked it. I'm sure there's someone out there bound to like it as well!

Warmup: Plyo Side Jump thingies
Works: Just a way to get your heart going ;)
Reps: As many as you can for 3 minutes

Jump Lunges
Works: Legs, butt and heart ;)
Reps: As many as you can for 3 minutes.

No video because this is pretty self explanatory, haha.

Wall Climbers
Works: Be prepared to wreck your shoulders
How to do it: Start with your toes and chest on the floor like you're in the pushup position, walk your feet up the wall until your chest touches the wall, and then descend back to the original position.
Reps: As many as you can in 3 minutes.

Jump Squats
Works: Legs, butt and heart.
How to do it: Squat and jump!
Reps: As many as you can for 2 minutes.

No video because again, this one is also pretty self explanatory.

Plank Jacks w/ Groiners
Works: Shoulders, abs, arms, legs, heart...the whole shebang.
How to do it: Start in the plank position. Jump both legs out to the side while keeping your back neutral. Do this 5 times, then bring your legs in like you're doing a mountain climber for 5 times.
Reps: As many as you can for 2 minutes.

Decline Plank Steps
Works: Shoulders, abs, legs, heart...again...the whole shebang.
How to do it: Start with your legs angled on the wall with your stomach facing the ground and your back to the wall. Keep your back neutral and bring your legs down, tap the floor and bring them to the wall again.
Reps: As many as you can for 2 minute.

Finish with:
1 min side planks (left side)
1 min side planks (right side)
1 min full plank with leg lifts

Repeat Circuit 3-4 rounds (or as many times as you can)

Printable for ya:

Exercise	Reps	Time
Lateral Jumps Warmup	AMRAP	3 min
Jump Lunges	AMRAP	3 min
Wall Climbs	AMRAP	3 min
Jump Squats	AMRAP	2 min
Plank Jacks w/ Groiners	AMRAP	2 min
Decline Plank Steps	AMRAP	2 min
Side Plank (LEFT)	1x	1 min
Side Plank (RIGHT)	1x	1 min
Regular plank w/ leg lift	1x	1 min
Repeat circuit 3-4 times or as many times as you can

And because it's hard for me NOT to end a blog post without a little something from Caleb:

Later!

Caleb is three months...

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:59:00 +0000

and this has probably been one of the hardest but best months of my life so far.

Caleb went through another horrific growth spurt where he stopped sleeping through the night and became an absolute terror. Instead of taking a quick 10 minutes to go back to sleep, it took hours. Once he was up, he was up and ready to play. And since momma wasn't down to play itsy-bitsy spider at the asinine hour of 3am, I would put him back in his crib only for him to end up screaming like a banshee till my ears bled. Needless to say, we hit a rough patch and going through it completely alone was harder than I ever imagined.

On top of that, he started to hate his car seat and would go bonkers every time we were in the car. I felt like a prisoner of my own home because I didn't want to go anywhere and listen to Caleb cry the whole way. I definitely shed a few tears here and there.

But we've passed the growth spurt saga and the baby drama is behind us for now. Caleb's personality is starting to shine and now I'm having an absolute blast with each new milestone.

To start, he's become so expressive with his eyebrows...

And he's smiling all the time! When he smiles, his eyes smile along with his mouth and I melt into a a little puddle of love on the floor.

Within the past month, Caleb has officially found his lungs. When he's not crying at the top of his lungs, he's greeting me with squeals and LOUD shrieks of joy.

And with only three months in, Caleb is also closing in on Bandit's length. Oh oh.

Another thing I've noticed about this month is that he makes the most hilarious faces. His favorite is the Zoolander face (still hasn't turned left haha):

But my favorite is when he blows spit bubbles at me. I like to pretend they're kisses ;)

I also love when he sneezes:

And I love to try and decipher the hysterical faces he makes:

Seriously, folks. This little boy just cracks me up. Especially now that I'm getting a glimpse of what it he'll be like when he's a teen. He's already giving me those "you're crazy, mom" looks that I can't help but adore.

And I know we're crossing into picture overload here but I just can't get over how big and handsome he is!

If one this is for certain, it's that all of those horrible nights seem like a distant memory when I look at these pictures. My patience and strength were tested one too many times this past month but I survived. I made it through multiple ends of the worlds and just like everyone says, it's all completely worth it. I'm starting to get better at functioning on very little sleep and coffee has been a huge lifesaver. As tough as it can be at times, I really do love being a mom and I wouldn't change anything (except for maybe a few more hours of sleep). Motherhood gets a little better with each passing day.

And next month it'll only get better because I hopefully won't be a "single" mom anymore. I'll have my wonderful husband with me to enjoy all of the precious moments with Caleb that make those crazy nights completely worth it.

I can't wait till the hunk sees this precious face again...

And for his to turn to survive another baby apocalypse ;)

I love you my beautiful baby boy. Let's hope that month 4 brings just as much joy as the last :)

More fun things you can do with Chobani Greek Yogurt

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 22:14:00 +0000

After my post about greek yogurt flavors you wont find in stores, Chobani contacted me and asked me to review and come up with new recipes with their 0% greek yogurt. Since I tend to gravitate towards the sugar free, plain versions of greek yogurt, you all know there was no way I couldn't pass this opportunity up.

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know that I love to put greek yogurt (or protein powder, haha) in almost everything I make. The thought of mayo grosses me out and I don't even own a jar of that nasty stuff which is why greek yogurt makes a suitable substitute for most of my recipes. It's low in fat, high in protein, rich in probiotics, how can you not love this stuff!? Needless to say, when my doorbell rang and the postwoman handed me this beautiful box of Chobani, I was super excited.

When I tried the yogurt plain and without any additional toppings, I was surprised that it had a sweeter aftertaste to it and that it was actually pretty good. And it was still low in sugar with only 9g per 8oz serving (which is a lot) so this pleased me. Very much.

But I'll never be one of those people who can stomach eating a whole bowl of greek yogurt plain so that's why I came up with a few more sneaky ways to get my greek yogurt fill in.

The first recipe being lemon greek yogurt thumbprint cookies with raspberry preserves and made with gluten free almond meal!

Whew. A freaking mouthful to say, right?

Greek Yogurt Lemon Cookies with Rasberry Jam

by Maria W

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup almond meal
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs Chobani greek yogurt
2 tbs honey
juice of 2 large lemons
1 cup Ideal sugar
1 egg
Raspberry Preserves

Instructions

Cream the sugar and flax egg together. Slowly add in your almond meal. Then mix with greek yogurt and lemon juice. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. When the batter is ready, roll into balls and drop onto baking sheet. Cook for 8 minutes and then take the sheet out. Place your thumb into the middle of the cookie, fill with raspberry preserves and then cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.

Next, I channeled my inner love for everything buffalo chicken and came up with buffalo chicken patties with DUN, DUN, DUN....more Chobani greek yogurt!

Buffalo Chicken Patties with Greek Yogurt "ranch"

by Maria W

Ingredients

For the Greek Yogurt Ranch

1 cup Chobani greek yogurt
1 tbs dill, minced
1 tbs parsley, minced
1 tbs lemon juice
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp celery seed
1 tbs garlic salt and pepper

For the Buffalo Chicken Patties

1lb lean ground organic chicken
1/4 cup hot sauce
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbs of Greek Yogurt Ranch
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg

Instructions

Mix all of the chicken patty ingredients together. Form into a meatball shape and sear both sides in a fry pan. Finish cooking them in the oven set to 350 for 15-20 minutes. Dip these into a blue cheese dressing, or into even more greek yogurt ranch, yum!

The next dish I made was inspired this mouthgasmic soup a friend and I recently shared at Mellow Mushroom. We're pretty obsessed with this soup now but since I don't have the funds to eat out all the time, nor do I want to know just how many calories are in that soupgasm, I decided to make my own but in the version of a dip.

Holy Shiitake Dip

by Maria W

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

8oz baby bella mushrooms, chopped
4oz shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1/3 cup Pecarino Romano cheese
1/3 cup white wine
3 tbs greek yogurt
1/2 sweet white onion, chopped
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
2 tsp fresh chives
2 tsp fresh thyme
2 tsp fresh parsley

Instructions

Saute the onion in oil until softened. Add in garlic and mushrooms. Stir in wine and let it simmer until the wine has evaporated and the mushrooms are softened. Transfer to a food processor and blend while slowly adding the cheese. Stir in greek yogurt and herbs and let it cool. Plate it with crostinis, crackers, pretzels, you name it. It's pretty much awesome with everything because the dip itself just plain rocks. You can't even taste the "healthy" ;)

And finally, the last dish is an old favorite of mine. Pioneer Woman's jalapeno bacon poppers ain't got nothing on these Spinach and Crab poppers.

Spinach, Crab Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

by Maria W

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup jumbo lump crab
1/4 cup greek yogurt
2 tbs cream cheese
1/2 cup spinach (if using fresh, run under water and squeeze out water with hands, then you should have 1/2 cup)
2 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs sea salt
1 tsp old bay
1 tbs pepper
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
10-12 jalapenos, sliced in half

Instructions

Mix the crab, cream cheese, greek yogurt, spinach, garlic powder, old bay, salt and pepper together. Place into the fridge to chill while you slice your jalapenos in half and spoon out the seeds
.

Next, spoon the mix into the jalapenos. Dip the jalapenos into the panko bread crumbs and place onto baking sheet. Lightly spray the poppers with olive oil and bake for 15 minutes until cheese is bubbling and the panko crumbs are a golden brown.

So there you have it! DELICIOUS and amazing new recipes thanks to the awesome peeps over at Chobani for making a greek yogurt that goes well with pretty much everything and anything. Emphasis on the delicious and amazing part.

And I guess you can use some of these for the Superbowl tomorrow but to be honest, in our circle of friends I would be laughed at if I ever brought mushroom dip to a football party. When we watch the superbowl, it's all about the good ol' pizza, hamburgers, and wings for us. Mmmmm...

Disclaimer: All reviews on this site, unless otherwise stated, are my own opinion based on my own experiences. I wasn't paid for this review, just sent some cool stuff for free. It happens.

WIAW: Asian style!

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:08:00 +0000

Happy WIAW! I haven't done one of these in awhile so I figure I should jump on the bandwagon again. This Wednesday it's all about getting back to my Korean roots and sharing the asian inspired meals I've made.

Breakfast

I don't know how asian you can get with breakfast so I just started out my day with simple buttermilk pancakes. Sometimes a girl just wants some good old fashioned buttermilk pancakes. Especially when I've finally learned how to get that pretty golden brown color that makes the pancakes taste better, hah.

Lunch
For lunch I dusted off my old bamboo roller and whipped up some 김밥 (Kim Bop) which is the Korean version of a sandwich. Koreans have so many variations of Kim Bop where they switch out the fillings. It can be made with beef, cheese, noodles, and anything your little heart desires. When my mom makes them she uses ground beef, spinach, eggs, carrots and radish but I decided to go the traditional route, my favorite, and use radish, crab, carrots and spinach.

These were delicious but next time I'll use brown rice to up the nutritional content. I'm still trying to figure out how to make brown rice sticky - any ideas?

Dinner
Dinner wasn't a specific Korean meal but it seemed "Asian" enough to me, haha. I made this soup a few nights ago while I had a friend over. We both ended up loving it so I decided to try and make it again, this time using more broth per my friends suggestion. Sure enough, it was just as delish as last time, if not even better!

Ginger Pork Meatball Soup with Brown Rice and Basil

by Maria W

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients (4-6 servings)

For the meatballs

1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
2 tbs lower-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
3 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup finely chopped bell peppers
1 pound lean ground pork
1 large egg ( I didn't have any so I used a flax egg and it worked just as well)

For the broth

2 cups organic low sodium vegetable broth
1 cup water
3 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs grated ginger
2 tbs sesame oil
2 tbs sweet rice wine vinegar
1 tbs honey
2 tbs crushed red pepper
1 tbs salt
1/2 chopped sweet white onion
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbs pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil
1/2 cup already cooked brown rice

Instructions

For the meatballs

Saute the onion and garlic in a tsp of oil until softened. Mix with the rest of ingredients and form into small balls using your hands. Sear the meatballs on high heat until the outside has browned but the inside hasn't cooked. Set aside.

For the broth
In a heated saucepan, saute the onion and garlic in the sesame oil until softened. Add in the broth, water, soy sauce, and seasonings. Place the meatballs in and let it simmer in the broth until cooked. Finally, add the brown rice and basil and stir.

I know the ingredient list seems hefty but trust me when I say it's totally worth it! It's a light, nutritious soup that's filling and perfect for a cold night. Except it hasn't been that cold here lately, hah.

*******************************************************************************
And something I wanted to share:

I paid a visit to my favorite Korean grocery store on Sunday and stalked up on some favorite snack staples. Pictured here are roasted chestnuts, aloe vera drink, kelp noodles, and barley crackers. I know it all seems weird but I grew up eating this kind of stuff not knowing how healthy it was. I ate this stuff just because it tasted good, haha.

I mean, I had no idea just how awesome chestnuts were until I looked it up:

"Chestnuts, unlike other nuts and seeds, are relatively low in calories; contain less fat but are rich in minerals, vitamins and phyto-nutrients that benefit health.
Nutritionally, chestnuts possess almost similar nutrition composition as that of other staple foods such as sweet potato, sweet corn, potatoes etc, consisting mainly of starch. However, the nuts also contain high quality protein."

Um. AWESOME.

On top that, aloe vera is great for your immune system, digestive track and actually works as a pain reliever. It boggles my mind that I've been drinking this stuff this whole time and had no clue, haha!

As for the kelp noodles, they're a low carb way of getting in my noodle fill (does that sound wrong?) and satisfy my resolution to eat more raw foods. They're also a nutritional landmine and only 6 calories for the whole bag!

WINNING.

Needless to say, I'm pretty happy that I was introduced to all of this healthy stuff at an early age thanks to my parents. And I'm glad I've finally learned all of it's benefits. I'm hoping I can teach Caleb about all this and that he grows up eating the same way I did. Cross your fingers I don't end up with a picky kid!

And just for good measure, here's a pic of the cutie pie I speak of ;)

IOU recipes galore!

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000

What makes a horrible blogger? One that posts pictures of delicious, scrumptious looking meals but skips posting the recipe due to sheer laziness.

Oops.

Since I strive not to be a horrible mother, wife, friend, trainer, sister, daughter, blogger (the list goes on) here's my way of making it up to my wonderful, amazing readers who make me actually enjoy blogging more than I usually do :)

First up, delicious Nutella banana protein pancakes from last weeks post:

Nutella Banana Protein Pancakes

by Maria W

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients (4-5 pancakes)

1/2 cup white wheat flour (I use King Arthur)
1 banana, mashed
2 tbs Nutella
1/3 cup vanilla protein powder
1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbs truvia
1/3 cup almond milk
1 tsp ground flax mixed w/ 1 tbs water (flax egg)
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

Mix the banana, Nutella, flax egg, and almond milk together, set aside. Mix the flour, protein powder, baking powder, truvia, and chia seeds together. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry, if the mix is too dry and clumpy, simply add a few drops of water until you get your desired consistency. Cook in coconut oil on medium heat until you see bubbles rise, then flip.

Next, a protein packed snack that's quick and easy to make for those post workout hunger pains or just to impress those last minute guests you might have:

Cucumber Salmon Boats with Greek Yogurt

by Maria W
Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1/3 cup greek yogurt
1 canned wild caught salmon (in water)
1/2 cup bell peppers, chopped
1 chopped celery
1 tsp honey mustard
salt+pepper
few drops of lemon juice

Instructions

Mix everything together. Slice cucumber slices and spoon mixture onto the slices. Then enjoy! Wild caught salmon is high in Omegas and protein, coupled with the greek yogurt, you get even more protein!

And finally, another protein packed snack or dessert that's also super easy to make and ready in a cinch. Time is now key here folks. And you all know I'm never going to sacrifice on flavor either.

Chocolate Protein Bomb

by Maria W

Ingredients

1/2 cup oats
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 egg white
1 tbs almond butter (or peanut butter)
1 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp truvia
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbs water

Instructions

Set half of the chocolate chips aside to use for a glaze. Mix the rest of the ingredients together (including the rest of the chocolate chips) and place into a small mug or bowl. Microwave for 45 seconds or until everything has set. Microwave the chocolate chips in a separate bowl 10 seconds until the chips have melted. Take the cake out of the mug and top it with the chocolate chip glaze.

Enjoy your treat without feeling too bad ;)

**********************************************************************************

And because I can't NOT share the awesome workout I had yesterday thanks to a wonderful friend who watched the baby for me:

Exercise	Reps
Sprint Warmup	5 minutes
Trap Bar Deadlifts	25x
Jump rope	1 minute
KB Snatches	25x
Jump rope	1 minute
Front Squats	25x
Jump rope	1 minute
Thrusters	25x
Jump rope	1 minute
Box jumps	25x
Jump rope	1 minute


Prowler Push	1x
Rowing Cooldown	5 minutes

So that's it for now. If there's anything else I've posted but haven't shared the recipe for, let me know.

Ask and ye shall receive ;)

How NOT to have a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:11:00 +0000

1. Wake up to all of the wonderful comments from yesterday's post. Smile.

2. Make banana nutella pancakes for breakfast. Devour.

3. Brave the driving-in-car-with-devil-baby-who-now-hates-his-carseat anxiety to meet up with a new friend for a workout. Get excited.

4. Have an awesome workout planned but don't actually go through with it because you have two screaming babies that won't let you. Instead, take them for a walk in the strollers and have a great time conversing with said new friend while enjoying the beautiful weather. Smile.

5. Brace yourself for the car seat anxiety again only to come home and finally have a happy baby who wants to play. Laugh.

6. Accomplish chores that you've been meaning to do forever but can now accomplish because your baby is finally napping. Breathe a sigh of relief.

7. Make cucumber salmon boats for a nutritious snack. Devour.

8. Get in a real workout at home and thank your husband for allowing you to have the means to do so. Sweat.

9. Turn off technology for a few minutes and take a hot bath. Groom your eyebrows (which I rarely get to do now). Relax.

10. Blog, watch Friday night lights and actually get to bed before 11:00. Ahh....

These kinds of days are now a rarity, but these are the days that keep me going and make it all worth it.

It's the little things :)

2 1/2 months postpartum...

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:58:00 +0000

I've had this post written for awhile now but was too hesitant to post this after reading what other moms in the blogosphere were going through with their postpartum body. But I wear the same shoes so I finally decided to post anyway.

My hips, which were wide before, are even wider now.
My stomach, which was flat before, isn't so flat anymore.
My inner thighs, which never touched, now touch.

There's no telling whether or not my hips will ever get back to normal. But honestly? I'm sick of all the negative body talk. I'm done with fixating on what's wrong with my body. Frankly, when I look at pictures of myself, I feel like I look pretty damn good after just having a baby 2 months ago. Granted, I don't look the same as before, and I'm not 100% sure I ever will, but that's okay with me now.

I mean, come on. Look at what my body just did for me. I grew a living, breathing, freaking person in me for almost 10 months. And then when it was time for him to enter the world, my body did what it was intended to do in what the nurses dubbed "in the blink of an eye". I birthed my baby naturally and I have this bigger, wider body to thank for that. And I'm actually thankful, imagine that.

You know what else? I've gained weight since my first month update. After not being home since the end of September, my husband came home for a short 3 weeks during Christmas and I'll be damned if I wasn't going to enjoy every meal we had together. All of the times I skipped the gym to spend time with him on the couch didn't faze me. Time with him is limited, I don't care if my weight temporarily takes a back seat to him. Spending precious time with my husband is absolutely worth a few extra pounds.

And as I mentioned before, why should I let a number on the scale tell me how I should feel about myself? Why choose an arbitrary number to dictate my happiness?

I fit into my prepregnancy jeans.

My stomach is fairly flat.

And I am damn proud.

I'm not going to hide my pride anymore just to fit in with others who may be having a harder time than me. I'm going to proudly display that I'm pretty happy with where I'm at, few extra pounds an all. And at a difficult time in my life like right now, I'll take what I can get.

Again, I was afraid to post this because I felt that I would receive major backlash for actually being content with my postpartum body. But then I realized how ridiculous that was. If I'm happy, I shouldn't hide it. I shouldn't fear repercussion from other mothers in fear of sounding conceited. Not that I need to justify myself or anything, but I'm actually not conceited. I am simply choosing to be thankful for my body, postpartum flaws and all. So please don't hate me for being happy.

We're all mothers with bodies that have gone through similar changes, instead of commiserating with each other on how much the postpartum body can be a huge bag of suck sometimes, or hating on someone who's happy with her body, let's applaud each other for what we just went through. It's simply not helpful to anyone to be negative. And if there's someone happy with how she looks, don't judge her. Be genuinely happy for someone who has finally accepted herself. Who knows? You could be in her shoes very soon.

And in light of the few extra pounds I've happily padded myself with, I've concluded that I'm not working out to be skinny again. I'm working out to beat my 5k PR, or to be able to add extra 25lb plates to my deadlifts. I'm working out to feel better, to not have horrible migraines anymore, and to be able to keep up with Caleb when he gets into this hyperactive toddler mode that I keep hearing about.

At the gym today, a woman told me I looked awesome for just having a baby two months ago. And instead of wallowing in self-pity and replying back with "oh no, I still have so much more jiggle to eradicate", l threw modesty out the window and simply said "thank you". And I meant it.

After all, how can I NOT be thankful when I get to stare at this beautiful baby everyday?

Guest Post: 10 Commandants of an Army Wife

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:07:00 +0000

Hey guys! Jen from AKA The Wife is taking over the blog tonight since I have a busy night planned this evening.

Plus, Jen just plain rocks, I've been wanting her to do a guest post FOR-EVAH. We've known each other for awhile now and I just realized she is A LOT more knowledgeable about the military lifestyle than I will ever be. And since it's come to my attention recently that a few readers are marrying into the lifestyle, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to talk about something that plays such a huge role in our lives.

Take it away Jen!

*****************************

10 Commandants of an Army Wife

When Maria asked me to guest blog over here she said I could write about anything but said she was lacking some military themed posts. I racked my brain for days trying to come up with something that wasn’t overly preachy but still informative. I find that I’m often repeating the same things over and over again when women ask what they should know about being an Army wife. Below are my 10 commandants.

As an aside, I know women can and do serve in the military but since I’m a wife that’s how I wrote this. Feel free to substitute “husband” or “spouse” for wife and whatever branch your spouse may serve in for “Army”.

1. Thou shall not contact the company command with exception for emergencies (sickness, arrest, or death). Don’t be that wife. Everyone gets stuck with shitty assignments or denied leave now and then. Stomping your feet and demanding that the command give your husband a more favorable assignment so you can go to Cousin Ginny’s wedding as a couple isn’t going to get you anything but laughed at.

2.     Thou shall not say “we” in terms of deployment or training. “We” didn’t go to basic training so it’s not “our” deployment.

3.     Thou shall go forth and embrace the current post. Sure the new post could be in the middle of nowhere but every place has at least one good thing about it. It could be the people, the food, the sights; whatever it is find out what it is and enjoy it. You’re only going to be at this place a few years and don’t want to look back on your time there with regret.

4.     Thou shall not wear dog tags, a “Army Wife: Toughest Job in the Army” t-shirt or ACU patterned anything. The general consensus is ACU patterns are better left to the soldiers and on rare occasions the kiddies.

5.     Thou shall heed the advice of those who have been before you. This is a “learn as you go” lifestyle. There are plenty of people who have been living this lifestyle much longer than you and can teach you the ropes or show you a short cut. Listen to every piece of advice and take what you want from it. Who knows, you may just find a way to get an earlier appointment at the MTF.

6.     Thou shall not believe that one holds rank because one’s husband holds rank. This falls in line with #2.

7.     Thou shall appreciate all the benefits the Army bestows on one and one’s family, including but not limited to health care, dental care, tax free shopping and housing. Remember it’s more than some people will ever have.

8.     Thou shall not hang homecoming signs that include references to the marital activities that are soon to commence after shutting one’s front door. We’ve all been there and we all know what is about to happen.

9.     Thou shall not resent one’s husband for serving. Whether he was already serving prior to your meeting or he joined while you were together, it came as no surprise. If he walked through the door with a signed enlistment contract and you didn’t kick his ass to the curb that’s on you.

10. Thou shall be proud to call thyself an Army wife…very few can say it.

******************************************

And no truer words have been spoken. Thanks Jen!

PS. I may or may not be guilty of number 8, oops!

And this isn't the sign I speak of, by the way ;)

Hey Sugar, let's talk: 6 greek yogurt flavors you won't find in stores

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 03:19:00 +0000

One of the ways to achieve my goal of reaching MILF status is to watch my sugar intake. As most of you already know sugar is the bad boy culprit in most weight loss/management journeys. However, sugar is hard to avoid because it can be found in almost everything and anything. The key is to differentiate between Refined sugars (which are the processed sugars found in most shelf products) and Natural sugars (found in fruits, sugars that occur in nature) and try not to consume too much of either. The problem with this is that even seemingly healthy products, like greek yogurt can be found to have too much sugar. The AHA recommends a healthy person consume no more than 30% of their calorie intake of sugars, and no more than 245 grams of sugar for woman. To me, that still seems like a lot for someone trying to significantly reduce their body fat percentage.

And speaking of greek yogurt, a popular brand has recently come out with a ton of new delicious flavors to encourage people to try greek yogurt. After all, greek yogurt is one of the best sources of protein out there. It's full of natural probiotics, low in fat, and again, is chock full of awesome protein. I recently checked out one of the newest flavors (pomegranate) which tasted absolutely amazing but when I read the nutrition label, I was flabbergasted (one of my fave words, haha) by the amount of sugar it contained. That one small 6oz cup of greek yogurt had 19g of sugar which is way over half the recommended daily allowance. That's absolutely ludicrous to me!

After learning all of that, for the past few weeks I've been experimenting with creating my own greek yogurt flavors. I used 0% fat greek yogurt, all natural ingredients and limited the amount of sugar I used. I finally feel comfortable enough to share them with readers so without further adieu...

As for the type of brand I use, I use the Dannon Oikos 0% fat in the plain flavor. I prefer this brand simply because it has a smoother, creamier consistency which makes it easier to mix and feels a little more indulgent.

And as always, if these don't float your boat, it doesn't hurt to fall back on the tried and true method of mixing yogurt with granola, fruit and honey. I did that for the longest time and still do occasionally. I figure these make a great treat for every now and then when you're fixin' for something new. They'd also be great for those picky eaters too ;)

Red Velvet Greek Yogurt

by Maria W

Prep Time: 5

Ingredients (1 serving)

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
chocolate chips for garnish
2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs red food coloring
2 tsp Truvia (or splenda)

Instructions

Mix everything together except chocolate chips. Use the chocolate chips as a garnish.

Peanut Butter Banana Bread Greek Yogurt

by Maria W

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients (1 serving)

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 vitatop banana nut muffin
1 tbs peanut butter
1 tbs honey
1 tsp flax
1 tsp Truvia (or splenda)
1/2 banana mashed

Instructions

Mix everything together except Vitatop muffin. Toast Vitatop muffin, crumble to pieces and then top your yogurt!

Key Lime Pie Greek Yogurt

by Maria W

Prep Time: 5min

Ingredients (1 serving)

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 tsp lime juice
1/2 packet of SUGAR FREE lime jello mix
1 tsp Truvia (or Splenda)
1 graham cracker, crushed

Instructions

Line dish with graham crackers. Mix 1/2 packet of jello mix with lime juice, then mix with the greek yogurt and sugar. Top with rasberry and more greek yogurt and enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Greek Yogurt

by Maria W

Prep Time: 5min

Ingredients (1 serving)

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs Truvia (or Splenda)
1/3 cup of vegan chocolate chip cookie dough

Instructions

Mix everything together and enjoy!

Birthday Cake Greek Yogurt

by Maria W

Prep Time: 5min

Ingredients (1 serving)

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 tbs Truvia (or Splenda)
Sprinkles for garnish

Instructions

Mix everything together but the sprinkles. Garnish with the sprinkles and enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie Greek Yogurt

by Maria W

Prep Time: 5min

Ingredients (1 serving)

1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 tbs pumpkin puree
1 tbs Truvia (or Splenda)
1 tbs honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp ground flax
1 graham cracker

Instructions

Line your dish with the crumbled graham cracker. Mix everything together. Sprinkle the top with a dash of cinnamon and enjoy!

I forgot to mention that it's best to chill the yogurt in the freezer for a few minutes to get that frozen yogurt texture. But if you're in a hurry (or just can't wait to try one) it's no big deal to dig in right away. They'll still be just as delicious ;)

As always, stay tuned for my next greek yogurt recipe post! Yes, there's more!

Workout and kick butt in less than 20 mins & under $20!

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:00:00 +0000

For all my fellow mommas and/or peeps just looking to get fit as quickly and efficiently as possible, you're in for a treat! I'm sharing a workout that you can do anywhere, anytime and with nothing but your body weight. And you'll still work up a massive sweat, kick ass and boost your metabolism into high gear. What more could you want?

But first, let's get on with the eats.

Breakfast

Pumpkin, Banana Protein Pancakes

by Maria W

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 10

Ingredients (4 pancakes)

1/4 cup liquid egg whites
1 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
2 tbs pumpkin
2 tbs ground flax
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 mashed banana

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients together except the banana. If the mix is too dry, add a few drops of water as needed. Pour mix into a medium heated pan with coconut oil. Wait till those magical bubbles appear and then carefully flip over. There you have it, a low carb, fibrous pancake!

Dinner
Just a simple cobb salad using chicken I grilled during my Sunday Food Prep.

And because today's eats were so tasty and nutritious, I decided to reward myself after today's tough workout with again, low carb, flourless peanut butter cookies!

Flourless Peanut Butter Protein Cookies

by Maria

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 8-10 minutes

Ingredients (10-12 small cookies)

1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 flax egg (1tsp flax & 1 tbs water combined. Wait till jelly forms)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients together. Let mix chill for a few minutes in the fridge. Then form into small balls and place onto a baking sheet. Press down with fork to form a criss cross pattern and then bake for 8-10 minutes. Make sure the cookies come out soft as they'll harden later on. They're delicious and chewy, just like a regular cookie. You can't even tell there's no flour, yum!

Workout

And now for that workout! It's a tabata workout which means you work as hard and as intensely as you can for 20 seconds, and then rest for 10 seconds. You repeat this 8 times which amounts to a total of 4 minutes and that's one tabata. Tabata's are meant to be quick, painful, and ultra intense. They're one of the fastest ways to get fit and lose fat in a short amount of time but the key is to make sure you go all out during the 20 second interval.

The first tabata consists of various exercises that work your whole body, again using only your body as resistance. The second tabata is a jump roping tabata, you don't need a jump rope since you can mimic the jump rope motion but I prefer to actually use one since I find I jump faster and harder with one. Speed Jump ropes are cheap and easy to find and they really do make a difference.

Use a gymboss to time your intervals. If you don't have one, this site works. And you can even download it onto your computer to use offline. How sick is that?

Remember, make sure you go hard, but never sacrifice form. And if you're not wanting to die at the end, you're not working hard enough.

Oh and moms, you might want to do some kegels before these ;)

Tabata 1
TIME	EXERCISE
20 sec	Speed Squat
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Burpees
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	High Kicks
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Mountain Climbers
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Tuck Jumps
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Plank Jacks
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Speed Pushups
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Floating Lunge (or Jumping Jack)

With the next tabata, if you don't know how to perform crisscrosses or alternate food jumps, just jumprope the old fashioned way, you'll still get a great workout.

Tabata 2
TIME	EXERCISE
20 sec	Regular Jump Rope
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Double Unders
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Crisscross w/ Jump
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Alternate Foot Jumps
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Regular Jump Rope
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Double Unders
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Criss Cross w/ Jump
10 sec	Rest
20 sec	Alternate Foot Jumps

Repeat both tabatas for as many rounds as you can. And then STRETCH!

I tried to make a video to demonstrate the moves but that was an epic fail. If you follow my twitter, I tweeted about how I thought I had hit record but actually didn't. I did this 5 times before giving up and realizing the camera and I just aren't meant to be. I need my husband to record me because clearly I suck.

Also, I used a weighted jump rope (because my other one sucks now) so there was no way in hell I was going to go through another round just to try and make the video...what if it didn't record again? Pretty sure I would die and there would be no more blog posts. Sads.

Anyway, try this and let me know what you think. It's perfect for us busy moms or for those on the go and who don't have access to the gym. You'll get your heart pumping, build all over strength, burn fat and save yourself precious time. This is my new fave go-to workout!

My Clean Eating Meal Plan Revisited and Revised

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 04:26:00 +0000

I've been asked about my Sunday night food prep ritual so here it is!

I posted about my meal planning ritual back in 2010 (can't believe I've been blogging that long!) and how I've always done my meal planning has worked great for me so far...until I had a baby. Having a baby changes EVERYTHING. Now I simply don't have the time or energy to make the fun, elaborate meals that I used to make EVERY.SINGLE.DAY. Before, I would clip coupons, compare them to a document I have of healthy-husband-approved meals, and try to match them up. Then I would go through Clean Eating Magazine, or through various web sites and blogs to find the most original, outrageous recipe I could find to impress my husband, and then add it to our little meal planner.

My goals back then were to have a Meatless Monday (obviously a vegetarian meal), Taco Tuesday (I tried to vary the type of tacos we had every week), Whatever Wednesday (whatever I could come up with), and etc. I had a theme for every night and every night we had something new. I rarely fell back on a trusted meal since I kept wanting to try new and newer recipes.

And even though I thought it was a pretty quick process back then, after experiencing the time warp that is "baby time" it's ridiculous and just not possible for me to be as elaborate with my meal planning anymore. So to save time, I'm not making a new meal every night. Instead, I'm making 3-4 new meals per week and the other nights are for leftovers or for meals that I've prepped on Sunday. Now I give myself an hour every Sunday night to prep my choice of one protein, side and snack to have on those nights where I'm not trying something new from recipe land.

Every week I'll vary between the list and make just enough of a protein, side and snack to last throughout the week for breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinner. It's really helped cut down on food prep in the kitchen, even more so now that I've learned a few sneaky tricks. Here's the list I choose from to prep on Sundays:

Protein
Grilled Chicken (used for various dinners, salad topper, chicken salad sandwiches, etc.)

Grill 5-6 chicken breasts, season with olive oil, salt + pepper. Chop breasts in halves.

Grilled Fish (used for various dinners, salad topper, etc.)

Grill 5-6 filets, seasoned with olive oil, salt + pepper

Side
Roasted Vegetables (used for dinner side, or scrambled with eggs for breakfast)

Mix a bag of frozen vegetables with 3 red potatoes cut into chunks, season with olive oil, salt + pepper, thyme. Roast when needed.

Roasted Spicy Sweet potatoes (used for dinner side)

Cut 2 large sweet potatoes into chunks, season with chile powder, paprika, garlic, cumin. Roast when needed.

Plain Salad

I normally just buy one of those Organic Mixed Greens and a bag of spinach, mix the two together and dump it all into my salad spinner. I'll add various toppings when I need them later.

Black Bean, Corn, Tomato Salad (I use this as a side, or mixed with eggs in the morning, or I'll blend everything together to make a burger patty for lunch.)

Mix one can of black beans, 1/2 cup frozen white corn, 1 can of low sodium organic diced tomatoes (drained), and 1/2 sauteed onions.

Snack

Homemade Greek Fro-yo

Recipe to come! This one deserves it's own post ;)

Granola

I usually fall back on this recipe (my fave!)

Hummus

I'll alternate between garlic hummus, sun dried tomato hummus, broccoli pest hummus, and/or roasted red pepper hummus. To make the base, I'll mix 1 can of garbanzo beans, 1 tbs tahini paste, 1/3 lemon juice, 1/4 olive oil, 2tbs minced garlic, 1/4 of the garbanzo bean juice. Then I'll either add packaged sun dried tomatoes or roasted red peppers. The broccoli pesto is something I'll share later. Quick and easy!

Veggies or Fruit (for dipping)

I'll cut carrots, celery and bell peppers to use for dipping into hummus, greek yogurt or cottage cheese.

So for example, this week I'm using a lot of chicken, hummus, salad and roasted veggies for my meals. Therefore, tonight's prep consisted of just that - here I have the roasted veggies, hummus, salad and grilled chicken all ready for the week!

I also have everything planned out using a doc I created:

Well, almost everything.

I got lazy and decided to just print it out and write in the rest later. But the whole prep took me 40 minutes total which isn't bad at all. I take a lot of short cuts like using frozen veggies to avoid all of the chopping and dicing and used one of those premade boxes of organic greens for my salad. And if you're wondering about the nutritional content of frozen veggies, never fear. Frozen vegetables can actually be more nutritious then the "fresh" ones that sit at the grocery store or market. Frozen vegetables are picked when they're at their peak, then flash frozen to avoid losing most of their precious nutrients. And as I always say, frozen veggies are better than no veggies.

So that's my revised clean eating food prep process! Now I have everything I need throughout the week so I'll be able to spend less time in the kitchen...and more time with this cute little fella.

...who also happens to my super awesome sous chef while Daddy is away ;)

Hope this has helped someone! As always, I'll respond to questions in the comments section!

The topic of what we put on Caleb's booty

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 04:31:00 +0000

The thought of cloth diapering never even crossed my mind until the hunk (I know, right!?) suggested it. Both of our parents used cloth diapers and raved about how inexpensive it was which had him convinced to try it. But the icky factor kept me from pursuing cloth diaper options until I read about Sherry and John's experience. After reading their opinions, I slightly opened up to the possibility of cloth diapers. I wasn't fully convinced though so I decided to do some more research before making my final decision.

Upon further research I discovered that the average child uses 6,000 diapers and the average family spends between $2000-3000 per year on disposables. That's a lot of money for something that ends up in a landfill! And that's just for the cost of diapers alone, keep in mind that with disposables you also need diaper rash cream, pail liners (if you're using a diaper pail), and baby wipes. I know some parents save money by stocking up on coupons but I wasn't willing to spare any precious time I had to myself clipping coupons for diapers and wipes. Plus, I wouldn't have anywhere to store a million boxes of diapers.

Most importantly, I learned that there are many harsh chemicals found in disposable diapers that lead to harmful diaper rashes in infants. I try to avoid using harsh chemicals around my home and on myself so why should it be any different for my child?

So after weighing the various pros and cons and discovering that we'd save a lot more money, wouldn't have to deal with as many diaper rashes or blowouts, and coming up with a solid plan on how to make cloth diapering efficient for us, I decided I was in. We were going to attempt cloth diapering.

But then I learned that there were TONS of cloth diapers out there and my head almost exploded Dawn Of the Dead style. There were so many options - pockets, all-in-ones, prefolds, covers, fitteds, and etc. I had a hard time narrowing down which method was best for our lifestyle, which brand was better, which brands were most affordable, and which would work best for our little family.

Finally, I decided on using ONLY one sized pockets and one sized all-in-ones for simplicity sake.

I chose pocket cloth diapers because they're an easy alternative to disposable diapers. They go onto your baby the same way as a disposable, the only thing you do is stuff them with an absorbent insert and you're ready to go. If you have a heavy wetter (which fortunately Caleb is not), you can simply add another insert. I liked that I had this option for those just-in-case moments.

I chose the All-In-One's because of how easy they were. There is no stuffing of diapers at 3am, you just put them on the baby and go. Out of all of the brands we came across we opted for the BumGenius All-In-Ones because they're organic, stain resistant, very absorbent (just in case) and got great reviews all around.

For both types of diapers we made sure we chose one sized diapers. With one sized diapers you can adjust them from birth to toddlerhood so we never have to buy diapers in different sizes. They'll simply grow with Caleb as he goes from tiny baby to monstrous toddler.

As for how many of each, we orgininally decided on only getting 12 Sunbaby Pocket Diapers and 12 BumGenius diapers out of necessity. We figured having 24 diapers would allow for me to go 2 days between washing. But then I became a little obsessed with how cute, functional and easy the diapers were and ended up buying some more. Now I can go 3 1/2 days without doing laundry which makes me very happy since I absolutely loathe laundry.

So now we have:
12 Sunbaby Pocket diapers - perfect for daytime use, carrying around for travel since they're not very bulky, and they're very affordable and cute!
12 BumGenius Organic All in One Diapers - Great for nighttime use since Caleb can go longer without changes with these diapers.
6 FuzziBunz Pocket diapers - Love that the fit around the legs are adjustable since Caleb has lean legs.
5 Kushies All in One diapers - Great for daytime use since they're not as absorbent and we have to change more often. The velcro straps make the diaper change a lot faster too.

And I plan on getting 6 more BumGenius All-In-Ones just because I love them so much. Plus, it never hurts to have a few extra for those days he does his "thang" more often.

Basically, our whole system is pretty similar to Young House Love. We change Caleb's diaper in his nursery, and then place him in his crib while we go to the bathroom next door to rinse the diaper. We don't use a diaper sprayer attached to the toilet since we have an adjustable shower head right next to the toilet. We spray the diaper with cold water to pretreat any stains, then throw the dirty diaper in a waste basket lined with the PlanetWise Diaper Pail Liner. I love this liner since it's so eco friendly yet holds the smell in so well. And once the wastebasket is full, I simply just throw the whole thing (including the liner) into the wash, so everything is done in one step.

Once the diapers are clean, I'll line the diapers using a cheap drying rack we placed in our screened in porch. The sun is AMAZING in getting out stains, there is absolutely no need for any chemical stain treatments since mother nature does all the work (which also saves us more money). And not using the dryer cuts down on our energy costs as well. For those gloomy, rainy days when I need to dry diapers, I'll resort to using the dryer but that's only happened a few times so far.

So far, we're loving the cloth diapers we chose. They all fit Caleb very well as they're easily adjustable and can grow with any baby. We love that the diapers we use are made with snaps too. I've heard way too many stories of kids tearing off their diapers and making a mess so having snaps prevents that from ever happening. Plus, they hold up better in the wash versus velcro.

Caleb doesn't mind the diapers either. He's had zero blowouts or leaks with the diapers and most importantly, we haven't had any rashes yet. I've also noticed that his skin never gets red or irritated like they did when we used disposables when he was a newborn.

And doesn't he just look so darn cute in them?

We love the cloth diaper method so much that we've even gone as far as using cloth baby wipes. I purchased a bunch of cheap baby wash clothes and keep them in a basket at his changing table. I also purchased a cheap spray bottle at the dollar store and filled it with water, a tbs of baby wash and tbs of vitamin E oil (which I use on myself). When I'm done with the wipe, it goes into the same wastebasket as his diapers so everything gets washed at the same time. Since cloth wipes are more absorbent and clean better then regular baby wipes, I find that I only have to use one at a time so I'll always have a good stock pile of cloth wipes ready to go for the next diaper change.

For traveling and when I'm out in and about, I still use cloth diapers but use regular baby wipes. I fasten the the dirty diaper tightly to prevent any leaks and then throw it into a Wet Bag. The wet bag is great because it can also go into the wash with the diapers, cloth wipes, and liner and be air dried as well.

And just in case of an emergency, I keep an old sanitizing wipe bottle filled with plastic bags in the car. It's come in handy for when I don't have my wet bag, or for when Caleb has a really soggy diaper.

For long trips away from home, we resort to using disposable diapers so we don't inconvenience who we're staying with. There are the Charlie Banana diapers and Gdiapers for traveling purposes but again, for simplicity sake I wanted to only use the two easiest cloth diapering methods available.

And here's a just-for-fun video of Caleb and I demonstrating our cloth diaper system. Let me preface this video by mentioning that:

1. It was late so I had greasy, unwashed hair and no makeup.
2. No, I didn't almost drop Caleb.
3. The diaper on the counter was actually clean.
4. I was using a plastic bag to hold the diapers instead of the PlanetWise Pail liner since it was out to dry at the time the video was made.
5. I hate how my voice sounds when I hear it in playback. Friends who know me in real life, do I actually sound like that!?
6. My son is so vain. He actually LOVES to stare at himself in the mirror.
7. I'm super annoying when it comes to playing with my baby but whatever, Caleb still loves me :D

So that's the story of what we're putting on Caleb's cute little booty. So far, we absolutely LOVE the cloth diapering route and I'm so glad we decided to take the plunge. Though it may seem like it's a lot of work to cloth diaper, it really isn't much more then simply washing dirty diapers and then hanging them to dry. The money and time we're saving to cloth diaper negates any of the "inconveniences" some may find with cloth diapering. It's also not as gross as I thought it would be which is a huge plus. I have no problem with spraying a diaper's mess into the toilet, tossing it into a wastebasket, and then throwing them in a wash. No regrets here about this whole experience!

Expectant moms, if you have any questions, let me know! I'll be more then happy to respond in the comment section ASAP :)

*note* This post wasn't written to dish on parents who choose disposable diapers. We just found a method that works best for us and I wanted to share why. What works for some may not work for others.

Random baby thoughts & WIAW

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 02:27:00 +0000

First, a few baby related ruminations...

1. I made up a bomb nursery song while nursing Caleb one night. It's so utterly amazing and simple and effective. It blows my mind that I came up with it. It's so good that I can't share it, sorry. Instead, I'm going to get that ish patented or whatever, and turn it into one of those cheesy children's books that makes no sense but everyone loves because the illustrations rock. Only this nursery rhyme does make sense. And since I'll still have cool illustrations to accompany the rhyme, it'll literally make heads explode when I get this published someday. Seriously. This is how I'm going to make my millions and be able to afford that water slide into the Mediterranean sea in Italy that everyone keeps pinning on Pinterest.

So unless someone manages to figure out where I live, break into my home, steal my laptop, find the file (I even came up with cryptic title, booyah) and publish the rhyme, I will be keeping it top secret.

2. Fitnessista had her gorgeous baby. Cue ugly crying.

3. I got home today after a long day of being out and about with Caleb and noticed a huge pile of spit up near my crotch. When did it get there? I have no idea. Therefore I can only assume that I walked around all over Fort Bragg with a huge white stain on my crotch for 5 hours. And not a single person had the balls to point out it's monstrosity. RUDE!

4. Caleb had his two month check up today, including his shots. If you're against vaccinations or whatever, spare me the gory details. It's my kid, my choice.

Anyway, Caleb handled those needles like a freaking champ. He screamed bloody murder after the first shot, but with the second two he was like "been there, done that, I got this". I was shocked. On top of that, I expected him to be half dead all day from needle trauma since other mothers have warned me that after the shots, their kid was out like a light. But no, my little freak of nature? Out like a light he was NOT. While we waited 2 hours for his heel prick, he had the time of his life cooing, smiling, and almost-laughing with the baby next to us. I was hoping he would pass out so I could get some gym time in...instead, I did a 20 minute HIIT and waited to do weights when I got home. Sadly, that was all he would let me do because my little monster just wanted to PLAY.

5. During Caleb's appointment I learned that he is 11lbs and 24 inches long. Long and lean just like his daddy! I also noticed today that my left bicep is bigger than my right. I attribute it to how often I hold Caleb on my left side. And now I can't wait till he gets bigger.

Bigger baby = bigger bicep!

And finally, it's hump day so we all know what that means. It's time for a What I ate Wednesday with Jen at Peas and Crayons!

Breakfast
The other day I had a major baking fail when I attempted to make a popular blogger's who-shall-not-be named vegan snickerdoodle recipe.

EPIC FAIL. If you follow my twitter account you would have seen the saga I tweeted. Anyway, since children are starving in Africa and infantry soldiers in Afghanistan are surviving on one nasty MRE a day, I can't let food go to waste.

So I mixed up a batch of oatmeal with almond milk, chia seeds, flax, cinnamon, vanilla extract and vanilla protein powder. Crumbled a few cookies onto the mix and then had a mouthgasm. It was amazingly delish I tell ya.

And that is how you make ~~lemonade out of lemons~~ mouthgasms out of vegan snickerdoodle fails.

Lunch
Lunch was a repeat from a few weeks ago. A puff pastry dough filled with prosciutto and turkey, fontina cheese, spinach and a horseradish mustard sauce. Basically, it's Ina Garten's recipe but waaaaaaaaay jazzed up.

Dinner
Part of my Sunday night food prep consists of a black bean, corn, tomato and chile mix. I use it to mix with eggs in the morning, or with chicken and salad for a quick lunch during the week. Tonight I decided to use my black bean mix for dinner in the form of a tostada.

Simple, nutritious and delicious. Just the way I love it!

Workout

20 minute HIIT on the dreadmill & 21-15-9 of thrusters, overhead squats, and SDHP. Feel the burn!

And finally, I really miss seeing these two together :(

I miss you my love...

Have you added me on Facebook yet? You know you wanna!

Guess who is two months!?

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:44:00 +0000

Somehow I've managed to keep my little baby alive for exactly 61 days. And in these 61 days of living, he has changed and grown so much. Can time please stand still? I'd really like my baby to stay a baby. Things have gotten a lot better since the first month so I wouldn't mind time standing still for a little while. Just for a little bit, I promise.

So what has changed since his first month of life?

Breastfeeding
I still feel like I have a hungry hippo permanently attached to my boobs, especially when he hit that crazy growth spurt around Christmas. I won't lie, there were a few tears shed then. But I digress. Nursing Caleb is basically a cinch now and we're at the point where I only give him one bottle a day, and that's before I put him to bed. I'm extremely comfortable with feeding him in public and I've gotten handy with using a blanket as a cover.

And for some more real talk here. I never really was one of those smiling, picturesque moms who stares lovingly at her child and strokes his head while nursing. Most of the times I'll catch myself checking my email, twitter or surfing the net on my phone. I know, I know. Sign of the times. However, the other day Caleb was eating when my stomach let out a huge roar that would rival the sound of the artillery mortars they constantly drop near my house. He pulled off, looked up at me, gave me a huge gummy smile and then went right back to sucking. I about died. It was at that moment that it hit me that this is a little human that the hunk and I created, I'm nourishing him and he is a little sponge absorbing all of this stuff happening around him. Even something as little as my stomach growling against his chest. I love this child so much and I love knowing that I'm giving him the best possible start to life as I can. So I smiled and stroked his head. I became one of those moms you see in those annoying pro-breastfeeding ads.

And the best part of this whole experience? Nursing doesn't hurt anymore. I've come to the conclusion that I have nipples of steel now. I'm sure I'll eat my words later when he starts teething but we won't go there right now.

So there you have it, world. Three paragraphs about my boobs. You're welcome internet.

Sleeping
I still feel exhausted and like I'm not sleeping enough even though I'm getting a good 6-7 hour stretch now. And I will say that I feel like I get more sleep then other parents so I shouldn't complain too much, but man, that growth spurt he went through ruined me. I shudder when I think about how bad Christmas Eve was.

But like everything else, the storm passes and things do get better with each new day. Caleb goes to bed at exactly 8:30 at night and instead of getting up 2 times a night like he used to, he's now getting up only once and even that has been pushed to later. He'll wake up at around 5am, I'll quickly change his diaper and feed him, then put him right back to bed. Before he used to take what felt like forever to get to bed but now he's out like a light within 5 minutes of me putting him down. He's learned to self soothe and for that I am beyond grateful.

I know I'm only two months in but believe me when people tell you that it does get easier with time. It really does. Though I'm sure that because I just wrote about how he's an awesome sleeper, he's going to give me a hellish time tonight. And now I'm scared.

Caleb
Caleb is still a handful but he's definitely a little bundle of joy. Though I don't know how little he is anymore, he gets heavier and heavier everyday. He has outgrown most of his Carter swaddles and the Moby wrap isn't very comfortable anymore. We're now using his Bjorn and even then I can only handle about 2 hours max. I've also noticed his limbs are longer, his eyes are bigger, brighter and greener and his hair is getting longer.

In addition to everything else that's changing, his neck is incredibly strong as he likes to push himself up and he has already rolled over. Only once though, haha. Does that still count?

He also likes to grab at things in front of him which makes momma very proud. Except for when he grabs at my hair. But I love being in the kitchen and hearing the toys rattle on his rocker. I'll run faster then the speed of light to try and catch him grabbing his toys but when I get there, Caleb will put his hands at his sides and look at me, like "Mommy, I'm just sitting here chillin'. Why are you all up in my face?" Then the second I turn around and walk away, I'll hear his toys rattle again. He's a mischievous one for sure.

And as if he couldn't be even more alert, he's now bright and awake a lot more during the day. When he's awake, he wants to take in the world and look around. He doesn't like laying on my chest anymore, he now wants to sit with his back facing me and stare at the windows and ceiling fans. His eyes will also follow me around as I walk around. And when he's in his bouncer, I'll say something to him from afar and he'll quickly turn his head in my direction. The other day, I was in the gym locker room burping him after our nursing session and Caleb intently watched as a woman undressed in front of us.

This all makes me one proud momma. Even the little creeper baby part.

One thing I'm really loving about the second month? Smiles, smiles and more smiles! I can't get enough of them. He has the biggest smiles and it's like his eyes smile along with his big, gummy mouth. They make my day, year, and LIFE. His smiles make all of the poopy fingers, projectile vomits, and sleepless nights completely worth it. I absolutely live for those smiles. So much so that I catch myself doing the most ridiculous things just to get him to smile again. You'll never see me acting this way outside of my house, as goofy as I can be at times, I turn on the ridiculousness to the max when I'm with Caleb. Honestly? I just get plain stupid to get this kid to smile.

But whatever, those smiles are totally worth it!

Last month I talked about how Bandit is so protective of Caleb. Well, this month Bandit seems to be at much more ease with this little human that likes to scream his head off. So much so that I'll catch Bandit curling up to him. If you follow my twitter account you'll see that I've uploaded various pictures of the two of them canoodling. Seeing the two of them together is like an instant heart melter, after all, nothing is better then cute puppies and babies. Cute overload!

One thing that stands out to me about this picture is how Caleb is quickly going to close in on Bandit's height. He started out so tiny and poor Bandit is always going to be the same size. Before I know it, Caleb will be much bigger then Bandit and once again he'll be the smallest guy in the house. Poor dog.

Motherhood

In the two months I've had Caleb, I am now a one handed pro at basically...everything. In fact, I typed this post one handed. It may have taken me 4 hours over the course of a whole day, and thank God for spell check but if I were to ever lose one arm, at least I know I'll still be able to type. As long as I don't lose my right hand.

I've also learned to scramble eggs one handed, run the washer one handed, fold baby clothes one handed, and yes, I've even peed while holding Caleb. I'm waiting for CPS to show up at my door any day now.

What can I say? Caleb still really likes to be held. And you do what you gotta do when it's just you and the baby and you want your ears to stop bleeding.

And if there's one thing I know for certain, it's that Caleb is the most cutest baby to me ever. He gets more and more adorable everyday with each smile, coo and almost-giggle. I miss him when I put him to bed at night and I love every little piece of him more then words can possibly describe. Being a mom may be new to me still, but it is an amazing journey that I'm feeling a little more comfortable with as each day passes. And in spite of all of the not-so-glamorous moments, Caleb has made my world and life so much better.

I love you Caleb Hunter W. One day you will learn just how much....

2012's first WIAW and a dreadmill workout

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:06:00 +0000

Happy 50th WIAW! It's amazing to me how Jen had an idea and rolled with it and now it's one of the biggest link parties within the healthy living blogosphere. What an ingenious idea and great way to connect fellow bloggers. And how could I NOT participate in 2012's first WIAW?!

Breakfast
It's been getting cold here in NC and cold weather always calls for oatmeal in my books. And in this case, an Oatmeal Apple Crumble.

I replaced white sugar with truvia, used Earth balance vegan butter instead of regular butter, and used whole wheat flour to up the nutritional content.

Later I snacked on homemade cilantro and jalapeno "tortilla chips" and my no fail roasted red pepper hummus.

Lunch
Lunch was a chicken salad mixed with greek yogurt, white cheddar, carrots and tomatoes on the side. Cheese is one of my vices so if I don't cut myself a piece and walk far, far away, I'll end up eating the whole block. It's all about portions here, folks.

Dinner
Dinner was just one of those quick, easy dinners I fall back on when I'm in a time crunch. In this case, a grumpy baby. I simply cook quinoa in veggie broth and grapeseed oil, and toss in garlic, lemon, salt, pepper, sundried tomatoes, olives, spinach and Parmesan cheese.

Easy and delicious. The best part is that it's easy. And delicious. By the way, did I mention it was easy?

You know you want to make this. Dooooo it.

Workout
Today's workout was a 30 minute Treadmill Interval workout followed by a full body kettlebell workout at home.

As for working out, I've started to become a little frustrated. I absolutely love working out, and I NEED working out to keep my sanity. But truthfully, it's getting really hard to squeeze in workouts with a 10lb ticking time bomb in my arms. The roads and my favorite trails are calling my name yet I can't do anything about it because I don't have anyone to watch Caleb while I run. And though he has remarkable neck strength for his age, he's obviously not ready for a jogging stroller quite yet. My only options are to run on the dreadmill in the measly childrens room at my gym...or not run at all.

Of course I'll take what I can get so for now I'm getting my runs in via the dreadmill and I'm making every second count. My workouts have to SHORT but intense and effective. And that's exactly what I did today with my sprints...I worked my booty off. Let's hope this all pays off!

On a brighter note, Caleb and I unintentionally matched today :)

He also helped my run go by quickly :) It was nice having him next to the treadmill so I could sneak glances at him. Any pain I felt during my run immediately disappeared then.

He stared up at me with a wide eyed look the whole time, haha. I seriously can't wait till we can be workout buddies later on in life!

And one last thing before I sign off, I finally bit the bullet and created a Facebook page! I'm doing this in my efforts to expand my blog and eventually offer services. The link is here but you can also click the Facebook Icon in my sidebar under "Follow".

I'll be posting daily tips, inspiration and anything and everything so feel free to follow me! Looking forward to making some new friends! :)

Weekend Recap

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:31:00 +0000

I haven't done one of these in a while so I figured I'd recap how we rang in 2012. On Friday the hunk and I visited Wet Willies, a frozen daiquiri bar/restaurant chain that recently opened up here in Fayetteville.

We wanted to try something new before the hunk left for 62 days of food deprivation. And I'm so glad we decided on Wet Willies, this place rocked!

They had tons of fun daiquiri flavors like Shock Treatment, Ninja Turtle, Easter Egg, Dreamsicle, and dun, dun, dun....the killer Call-A-Cab daiquiri.

If you're looking for a cheap way to lose your inhibitions for the night, this is the drink to order. Not that I condone any of that ;)

The drink is 190* of pure grain alcohol and rum. In total it's made of about 80% alcohol. Basically, it's a terrible, no good, very bad drink for you.

Of course this meant my husband had to try it. Fortunately, he survived.

Anyway, I'm not here to go on and on about an alcoholic drink. I also want to note how I was impressed by the decor and atmosphere of the restaurant, it's definitely a fun place to visit. I'm pretty sure we'll have a few fun baby-less nights here when my super hunk returns.

Another thing I loved about this place? The military related art they had all over the restaurant. I'm such a sucker for anything military themed.

I'm also a sucker for good food and the occasional greasy meal.

To start, we had the homemade chips with blue cheese, bacon, scallions and buffalo sauce. One of my favorite combinations out there, minus the chips. To be honest, I've never been a big fan of chips, blegh.

I went back and forth between the veggie wrap and chicken avocado sandwich and ended up ordering the latter. I should have gone with the veggie wrap though, while the sandwich was good, it was too greasy for me.

After Wet Willies, we decided to walk off our dinner by exploring downtown. But we didn't stay out too long because the next morning we had to wake up early. Unfortunately, it was time to say another goodbye to the hunk.

And this time we had a baby for him to say bye to.

After the hunk left, I spent my New Years eve with just the little guy. To ring in the New Year I kissed him on his belly and he immediately started crying, haha.

Such is the life.

I spent the rest of the weekend cleaning, and doing what I do best: stuffing my face, working out and playing with a few of my favorite things.

Particularly, my brand spankin' new toys that Santa brought for me ;)

A full Kettlebell set! To say that I'm excited about these is an understatement. I love switching up my workouts and kettlebells are the perfect way to do so.

I also plan to use the kettlebells for my in-home personal training. Yup, you read that right. After a brief hiatus during my pregnancy, I'm ready to get back into training and have decided to expand and offer services via the blog. I'm currently working on a new site so stay tuned for that.

I hope everyone else had a great New Year's weekend! Hard to believe that I'll be celebrating my first child's first birthday this year!

2011 in Review

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 04:03:00 +0000

Wow. I can't believe 2011 is already coming to an end. To say that this year has been eventful is an understatement. So I figured to start off this new year I'd recap some of my favorite happenings I blogged about that made this year as amazing as it was.

To start, I discovered one of my favorite gyms in January. And this is one of the gyms that got me into learning more about CrossFit, SealFit and GymJones type work outs. Since this gym, I haven't looked back and my fitness is all the more better for it.

That same month I also discovered the perfect protein pancake, got a little crabby and learned how to make spicy crockpot falafels.

The next month I ran a HORRIBLE 5k...the reason being I would later find out when I took my first ever pregnancy test. My sweet husband also surprised me with my first fancy camera which has been a tremendous help with this blog :)

Also in February, I learned I was being let go for the first time. I was devastated but decided to use that as an opportunity and start a business with a friend. The business went well until I decided to stop working halfway through my pregnancy. Thinking about picking it up again...and expanding via the blog ;)

March was probably one of the most shocking months of my life. I found out I was pregnant! A fellow blogger and friend also visited me that month so that we could both run our very first half marathon.

And yes, I ran it while pregnant - whadup?

The race could have been better for me but we had tons of fun and I spoiled the lovely Sam with good food ;)

In April I was incredibly happy when my husband got home from another way-too-long-for-me work trip. It was nice for him to come home and "enjoy" a few pregnancy milestones with me.

In even bigger news, the hunk and I stumbled upon our dream home. And on a whim, we purchased it. We became happy homeowners!

And in spite of my pregnancy symptoms and being super busy with a new home, I managed to whip up some fun recipes that received great feedback on this blog. I was pleasantly surprised :)

Here are a few of my favorites from that month:

Parm & Herb Tilapia Sticks with Garlic Lemon Aoli
Johnny Cakes and a lighter mac & cheese
Korean stuffed pancakes with green tea & coconut flour

Other then moving into our new home and documenting our moving saga, not much else happened in May except a whole lot of good eats!

Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork w/ Greek Yogurt Slaw
Tandoori Chicken Tacos
Red Pepper & Sausage Egg Muffins, Lobster, and Bruschetta

In June, it got ridiculously HOT here in NC. But that didn't stop the hunk and I from going on our first Army sponsored Marriage Retreat. I also revealed the gender of our baby and attended the Military's biggest baby shower!

In July the hunk and I went to a neat-o outdoor lake waterpark, I discussed how I stay motivated to workout in NC's insane heat, revealed a nursery sneak peak, and I turned a quarter of a century old. The big 2-5!

On the recipe front, I made a cinnamon and brown sugar waffle stuffed with nutella and banana that again made it onto the websites Tastespotter and FoodGawker. Needless to say, I was proud ;)

In August, I shared some of my maternity pictures, shared my awesome ginger french toast with caramelized peaches., and had another feature on several blogs and websites for my Kale, Spinach and Bacon hash.

And one of my favorite bloggers, Gina from the Fitnessista, also shared my recipe for French Toast Sticks.

In September, one of my best friends tied the knot! I was deliriously happy for her and her wedding was absolutely GORGEOUS. The hunk and I also hit up a pretty cool International Food Fest that made my pregnant self deliriously happy again.

In October, I had my second amazing baby shower and also got to see Josh Turner in the same weekend. And for the first time ever, the hunk wrote his own guest post!

Unfortunately, his guest post was followed by a sad post for me. He had to leave for Ranger School and since that month, the hunk hasn't been home for longer then 2 weeks at a time.

That's okay though because the next month, November, was one of the most amazing months of my life. That was the month my first child, Caleb Hunter W was born.

On top of that, my beautiful mom was there to spend that month with me. I hadn't seen her in two years so it was beyond amazing to be reunited with family again!

I also revealed Caleb's newborn pictures and discussed his first month of life. I got a few "negative" comments from that post but chose not to address them simply due to the fact that this is my blog, if you don't like what I have to say, don't read it. Moving on.

Finally, to end a wonderful and exciting 2011, December was also full of joy. I finally posted my Freezer Meal post, updated about my 1st month postpartum body, got into the Christmas spirit, and of course, it was Caleb's first Christmas!

Needless to say, 2011 was a pretty special year for us. And if 2012 is anything like last, I will be one happy girl.

Cheers to the New Year, may it be everything you wish for!

Resolutions for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:36:00 +0000

Last year was the first year in awhile where I set resolutions and stuck with most of them...

However, going through my first pregnancy and the fact my husband was away a lot precluded me from fulfilling all of my goals. Waking up early got hard to do as it got harder to sleep, most yoga poses were impossible as I grew a bump, and it's hard to have a monthly surprise date with just me, myself and I.

In spite of all that, I was pretty consistent with my other goals so for this coming year I've actually decided to have resolutions again.

And because 2012 is the year the world will end, it'll make my resolutions all the more important to fulfill ;)

Without further adieu, my goals for 2012 are as follows:

Love
Continue telling my husband one thing I love about him every day
Go on a date night once a month - if the husband is home
Get to church together more often
Be a little more understanding of how stressful his job can be at times

Cooking
Try one recipe a month that scares me
Be more consistent with Meatless Mondays
Get over my fear of leftovers

Fitness
Wake up early to work out - I have a baby that helps with this
Yoga once a week
Continue exercising 4-5 days a week
Perfect the military style push up & pull up (NOT kipping pull ups)
Do a PROPER handstand push up

Beauty
Get more haircuts
Actually get a pedicure for once - It's been 2 years!
Continue my natural skin care regime, start applying to hair/body

Life/Other
Continue playing my piano 3x a week
Get certified in 2 new certifications - more info on this later
Organize all of my files
Finish painting the living room, hallway and kitchen

Caleb
Have faith in my own maternal instincts
Learn to say no to having all of the latest, coolest baby products out there
Try not to stress too much and learn to appreciate the moments
Arrange all of his photos and memories into a photobook
Enroll him into Baby Sign Language Class on Post
Breastfeed for the first year of his life
Once he can eat solids, make ALL of his food from fresh veggies/fruit

I'm not kidding myself and making promises that I will definitely satisfy all of my resolutions. Anything can happen next year so I won't be holding my breath. I will however, do my best to remember my resolutions in hopes I'll complete at least one resolution thing by the year's end.

And of course, if there's one thing I'm looking forward to most next year, it's that I'll have a whole year to simply enjoy. I have a wonderful husband, an adorable baby, really fluffy soft dog that loves to cuddle, a beautiful home and great family and friends. If I don't fulfill any of my resolutions I can always take solace in the fact that I am still incredibly blessed and that's all that really matters.

Baby's first Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:42:00 +0000

For the first time in a few years, the hunk and I decided to forgo our usual Christmas trip to DC. We had already made a trip last weekend and opted to stay home this weekend for a quiet Christmas celebration with just our little family. I missed all of the festivities with my in-laws back home but it still felt wonderful to start our own traditions for little Caleb's first Christmas.

To start, we donned our Christmas hats, loaded my husband's ruck sack with weights, packed the baby in the bjorn, and laced up our shoes for a few miles of a Christmas eve Ruck March.

Hey, just because it's Christmas doesn't mean you can slack on the workouts, right?

While my husband marched, I did an interval of walking and sprinting and trying not to trip over our dog. It was nice to get out for fresh air and get moving...especially after all of the holiday treats I've been eating lately. We had so much fun and decided this is definitely something we plan to do every Christmas now :)

Later, the hunk and I made a batch of homemade oatmeal, walnut and chocolate chip cookies for Santa. I really hope Santa enjoyed them because this was the FIRST TIME EVER the hunk had ever made homemade cookies.

The things men do for love and the sake of childhood traditions ;)

Another tradition we've always done together on Christmas Eve was to compete on who can make the best gingerbread house.

However, the few glasses of wine we had prompted us to get only one gingerbread house together as quickly as possible so we could watch a How I Met Your Mother marathon and get to bed.

Obviously we LOVE that show a little too much as evident by our masterpiece, haha:

Unfortunately, Christmas day didn't get off to a good start. Caleb was going through a growth spurt and was up ALL NIGHT screaming. When we finally got him back to sleep, it was 7 in the morning and the sun was rising. We opted to try and catch a few more hours of sleep while we could so Christmas day got off to a late start. That's okay though, Caleb was all smiles again after he woke up. Those smiles make all of the sleepless nights completely worth it.

After our no sleep saga, we welcomed Christmas morning with our traditional red velvet pancakes that were absolutely delicious. And coupled with Caleb's gummy smiles, this was the perfect way to start our favorite holiday.

And after opening our gifts and watching a few more episodes of How I Met Your Mother, I began to prepare our Christmas dinner while Caleb slept in the rocker next to me.

Even though it was just the two of us eating this year, I still broke out our wedding china and cooked up a feast. We had acorn stuffed with cornbread & sausage stuffing, roasted herbed veggies, lemon garlic roasted chicken, maple orange cranberry sauce, my new favorite vegan sweet potato rolls, and pumpkin pie.

After dinner, we bundled up and drove around Fayetteville looking at Christmas lights in the more affluent part of our city. Some of the houses were GORGEOUS and decorated so beautifully. This has always been one of my favorite part of Christmas, I just love how festive people can be.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures...I would feel odd about posting some random family's house on the blog, haha.

I did, however, get pictures of our growing family. It's hard to believe that we started out as just a twosome, then there were three of us and now we've been blessed with a beautiful baby. We're now a little family of four and I couldn't be happier :)

We ended our first Christmas as a family of four with hot chocolate, Christmas music and even more How I Met Your Mother episodes.

We had one of the most low key celebrations we've had in a while but I wouldn't have had it any other way. It was our new baby's first Christmas and our first Christmas in our new home. And though we may have gotten off to a rocky, exhausting start, it was the perfect way to celebrate the birth of Christ with just my precious, growing family. I feel so blessed :)

Merry Merry Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (maria) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 03:38:00 +0000

Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. - 2 Corinthians 9:15