Monthly Check-In: January

Number of days I did each resolution:

Workouts: 15

Writing: 21

Color in Food: 31

Raw Foods: 31

I know I missed quite a few days of writing, but we had some major computer problems and I couldn't get the computer to do anything but turn on. The mouse pad didn't work, it took a good half hour for everything on the desktop to pull up, then after you clicked on whatever you wanted, it took another half hour for that to pull up, too. Then it didn't even work. So I printed off the pages I had and now I'm writing long hand in a notebook. We've been having lots of color in all our foods, and usually a smoothie every day (hence the raw foods *grin*).

I know I haven't blogged much, well, at all, this month, so a quick re-cap is in order - Natalia can now climb up all the stairs, she's standing for a good 10+ seconds, loves to eat, has two teeth, crawls like it's going out of style and keeps us on our toes. Leilani is reading amazingly well, is spelling lots of things phonetically (I like mome [mommy]), drawing amazing pictures (my personal favorite is of Rapunzel locked in the tower with the bad guy who locked her there, and Leilani's there with a ladder to do the rescuing instead of waiting around for a prince to come do it for her - I LOVE that!), and constantly beggin for hot lunch at school. Obviously, hot lunch isn't an option, not only does it cost about two and a half dollars a day (!), but it uses animal products. Fortunately, the school sends home the months menu at the beginning of the month, so I've started trying to make her lunch be something similar to what is being served. So far, she's loving it.

Jeremy's mom came in for a week. Leilani loved having grandma around. I have to admit, she kind of tried to use grandma - having grandma do things for her she's been doing forever. But isn't that what grandparents are for, spoiling the kids? Rachael and I did some shopping and lots of talking. Fortunately, we have the same views on diet and we both knew things the other didn't, so we expanded our knowledge :).

I'm going to finish off this post with pictures from the past month. They're all out of order, but they're there :) Enjoy!

helping Leilani do her homework while nursing Natalia

Leilani got the sharing bag again!

Leilani made dinner

in the matching aprons Rachael and Rosey made for us all.

crazy hair day at school - Leilani wanted blue hair :)

the dolls my auntie Lee got the girls for Christmas

tea party!

Leilani fell asleep on the way to the airport, so grandma kissed her while she was asleep :)

I put Natalia down for the night and went to brush my teeth and get ready for bed. When I came back, I found her like this.

eating breakfast "together" this morning

Natalia's sensory play - a ziploc bag inside another ziploc bag, filled with shaving cream and some food coloring. Natalia's been loving it.

a bit fuzzy, but you can sort of see her two bottom teeth

Winter Break

We didn't do too much over Winter Break, I bought stuff to do crafts, but we never got the time. Leilani and Jeremy did a lot of working on the bed, I did a bit of cross-stitching, and Natalia became a fantastic crawler. There's NO stopping her now. She goes anywhere and everywhere. Watching her is a full time job!

Leilani's favorite thing is going out with Jeremy and working on the bed. Jeremy's had to work a few times the past few weeks, and as soon as he gets home, she's begging to go out and "chomp wood". The other day they were working on the hearts in the shutters. Nearly all the cutting is done, then Jeremy will assemble to make sure it all goes together as it should, disassemble, paint, then reassemble.

We've discovered a few new shows, so we're *finally* off Dora, Diego and Wonder Pets. Thank goodness. I don't think I could have stomached another episode of those. Now she watches Super Why!, My Little Pony, Pound Puppies, and her newest find - Horseland.

Natalia has stood for a few seconds at a time, and taken a few steps while holding onto the couch. I can't believe she's eight months old already! She's crawling all over the place non-stop, anything she sees that she wants, she makes it over there in seconds flat. She's also not distractable anymore - if you try to switch out something she shouldn't have for a toy, she gets awfully mad and lets you know it.

New Years Eve, I was the only one who stayed up, not by my choice, I assure you. Leilani made it to 11:45, and Natalia made it to 11:59 (that's why I was awake, she was nursing). Jeremy conked out before any of us *grin*. We had homemade vegan pizza rolls, white pizza dip, whoopie pies and fudge

I made some nuggets and hot "wings"....I made cutlets, then cubed them, breaded them, then on some of them I brushed hot sauce. I made some vegan ranch dressing to dip them in, too. It was super delish, if I do say so myself.

Jeremy flew out to go to his grandmas funeral, and the girls and I stayed home. We went to the store to get groceries, then spent the weekend hanging out at home. Movies, dishes, playing together, cuddles, it was nice and relaxing. On Friday I did laundry and Natalia throrougly enjoyed watching the clothes tumble round and round. I think it was a bit over-stimulating, but it was so adorable, her amazement at the colors whirling around, unable to touch the water she saw. She stood there for a good 5 minutes, just watching, until she got tired and plopped down onto the floor.

Leilani has a new favorite hobby - vacuuming. Since I told her no vacuuming could be donw until the living room was cleaned, she now randomly picks all of Natalia's toys up so she can vacuum.

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, we cuddled a LOT. As we sat on the couch, all together under a blanket, Leilani leaned over and kissed Natalia on the cheek. So Natalia leaned over with an open mouth and touched Leilani on the cheek. So the girls had this adorable little "kissing game" going. Leilani would kiss Natalia on the cheek, so Natalia would "kiss" Leilani on the cheek. Then this morning we all cuddled in bed for a good twenty minutes, playing and talking, when Natalia leaned over me to Leilani and kissed her. It was so sweet. Leilani's been pretty spectacular this weekend - we've had much less yelling and toy pulling than usual. Instead of disciplining Leilani (timeout or consequence) I just started loving on her, so she started loving on Natalia. We had a bump this afternoon, when Leilani got mad at Natalia so took away a toy and I had to explain that Natalia's only 8 months and doesn't understand, now she's just sad you took away her toy. Leilani gave the toy back and we all moved back to our happy place. We're all much happier when we just be nice to each other, obviously.

Resolutions

I'm doing something I've never done before - making some New Years Resolutions. I'm keeping it fairly simple, so I don't overload myself, and I'm putting them up here to keep myself accountable.

-I'm going to write every day, so that by the end of the year, I'll have a novel finished.

-I'm going to put more color into out diet and move towards a high-raw diet (50% or more food consumed is raw)

-I'm going to exercise three times a week (at least)

And that's it. Every month I'll let you know how I'm doing, and at the end of the year, we'll see how well I did :)

Merry Christmas!

Leilani woke us all bright 'n early. Well, not too incredibly early, really, but she was unwrapping presents at 7 o'clock. Natalia slept through Leilani's unwrapping. Leilani loved her gifts, but her favorite was the snowglobe. She's been asking for one for a few months now, so when I saw a plastic, unbreakable snowglobe, I knew I had to get it for her. Of course, she thinks Santa brought it :). Leilani also got a LeapPad, it has a camera and everything, just like an iPad, so she's pretty excited about that!

Both girls got train sets: Leilani's is a battery operated My Little Pony one, and Natalia's is the Disney Baby train. The trains have gotten more play time than all the other toys combines. Natalia got a toy laptop instead of a LeapPad. They each got puzzles and books, lots of little things in their stockings and got each other some fantastic gifts - Leilani got Natalia a talking lunch basket and Natalia got Leilani a Backpack kit with Map, a bracelet and fake phone. Natalia got a shape sorter and Leialni got a Minnie Mouse dress-up doll. I got Jeremy a book on General Custer (his current obsession) and he got me the Harry Potter Complete 8-film Collection.

After gifts, I popped breakfast in the oven. I was so excited - sticky pecan rolls. But not everything that I make can be a homerun - it wasn't very sweet. I made the recipe exactly as it was written, but I think if I make it again, I'm going to tweak it. Dinner was a much better success - vegan roast with veggies, and garlic mashed potatoes. After dinner, Natalia took a nap and Leilani watched some movies. I steamed the Christmas Pudding. Once it was done steaming, we poured some brandy over it and lit it on fire. Leilani was so excited and Natalia was mesmerized by the flames. I pulled out the reindeer rootbeer I made last week. Just IBC rootbeer decorated to look like reindeer. Brown pipe cleaners twisted around the top for antlers, googly eyes and a poofy red ball for eyes and nose. Leilani was super excited, both to have soda and at the decoration :).

Last night, between movies and bed, we tracked Santa's progress and Leilani got a phone call from the big man himself. She was so excited! We also did every single action rhyme I know. Leilani and Natalia had a blast with it and we had to do most of them twice.

Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Happy Christmas Eve!

Today we've had lots of fun - Leilani and Jeremy did some more cutting on the bed project, I did some cooking (yummy dinner, but more on that later)and we -hopefully - started some new Christmas Eve traditions.

Our dinner was one of our pre-vegan favorites, remade to be vegan, obviously. Scrambled tofu, biscuits and vegan sausage gravy and hashbrowns. I made the potatoes in the oven since I don't have enough frying pans and I needed my one for the tofu. I found the MOST amazing scrambled tofu recipe ever - everyone ate it up! Finally, a tofu recipe the whole family loves! Even Natalia chowed down on her plate full of food. I made the sausage this morning, then used the drippings for the base of the gravy. For the biscuits I used the "bisquick" I made a month or so ago. Leilani ate her entire plate, plus more potatoes. When I find a meal that the whole family will eat, I know I've found a winner.

After dinner, we watched some Super Why!, well, Leilani watched, I played on the computer and started dreaming about a vegetable garden. Then we went upstairs and I gave the girls a "Christmas Eve bath"....I put green food coloring in the water and some Johnson and Johnsons cold bath stuff in there so it gave it a sort of woodsy smell. Then I tossed all the characters from the Veggie Tales nativity play set and let the girls play in there for a while. Natalia screamed at first, but after I got in and held her, she calmed down and played for a good 15 minutes before I figured it was time for her to get out. Leilani stayed in for a bit longer.

We put out the magic reindeer dust Leilani made at school after they were done bathing and we were all dressed in our Christmas PJs. We also put the key and poem on the door so Santa can get in. We're going to spend the rest of the afternoon and evening watching Christmas movies and later we're going to make popcorn and hot chocolate and have some cookies, too.

Everyone, have a Happy Christmas!

Advent: Day 23

We pretty much just chilled all day. Jeremy did some more work on the bunk beds, I did some stitching on one of the stockings (I haven't forgotten about Natalia's birth record, I'm just taking a break and working on another project for the time being). Leilani started her needle craft today, she had enough fake money saved up for it, and I gave her a "Christmas discount" too. It took her almost all morning, but she got a whole row and a half done. She kept saying "I'm not good at this mommy" and I kept reminding her that I wasn't fast when I stated either, that we get better the more we do something.

Natalia "helped" me do my cooking and baking today - we made chickpea tomato soup and grilled cheese for lunch and a pecan pie for Christmas. Mostly, she just tried to grab everything and eat it or knock it over. Leilani "helped" Jeremy with the bed, which really means, climbed all over the wood, used the pencil to draw on the wood and ask questions. I think the way kids help is really kinda cute. And they're little for so short a time, I really am just trying to enjoy each minute.

Our gingerbread cookies from yesterday were a huge hit - we ate quite a few of them yesterday, so I hid them so we'll have enough for Christmas Eve. Natalia LOVES them, she ate an entire leg. More like gummed it, then it came drooling out of her mouth and kinda looked gross.

Leilani drew a lovely picture - a smiley face with ginormous eyes and the words "I see" printed above it. The only problem I have with this picture is its location - the bathroom wall is NOT the place for masterpieces to be drawn. Oh, and it's directly across from the toilet, so the picture WATCHES you.

Today's activity was reading the story of Jesus' birth. Yes, I know this is no where near His birthday, and originally not even close to a Christian holiday, but it is nice to remember His birth.

Tomorrow we're going to do our Christmas Eve box - new PJs all around, little stuffed animals for the girls, then we're gonna have popcorn, cookies, eggnog or hot chocolate and watch a movie together.

Advent: Day 22

Today, for our Advent project, we made gingerbread men. Our vegan recipe is super yummy and we went all traditional and used raisins for the decorations. I think Santa's going to be getting gingerbread cookies under the tree this year. Leilani had so much fun pouring the ingredients, sifting the dry ingredients and mixing them all together.

While we were mixing and measuring, Natalia was playing with Jeremy - she was in a serious daddy-mood this morning. He had to hold her constantly or she got M-A-D. It made me giggle - evil, I know - since he got to experience a bit of what I go through every day. I love Natalia, so don't get me wrong, but she just does NOT like to be anywhere but in someones arms. As a baby, she has that prerogative, I know, but that's why the floor doesn't get swept and dinner's not made - no using a knife while holding a baby! She finally settled on the floor and did some zombie-crawling, pulled a couple ornaments off the tree and then grabbed my leg.

After Natalia released him, Jeremy went out to the garage to get everything ready for his huge DIY project - this amazing bed. Leilani is beyond excited. He's going to be the girls' hero for years to come for making this thing. It's incredible.

Last night, our Christmas light hunting lasted maybe 20 minutes. Natalia fell asleep and Leilani was just done. We had bundled them up in their PJs and went out with high hopes. But alas, this area really doesn't do much in the way of Christmas lights. It was a rather sad showing, but Leilani did enjoy seeing the lights we saw. After we got back, Leilani had some cookies and watched a snowman movie that wound up scaring her, so we switched to Super Why. She finished the snowman movie this morning and wasn't nearly as scared - I think last night had something to do with being tired. Natalia stayed asleep after we got home, and then woke up a little after seven and didn't go back to sleep until 11:30 - used to be that was no problem, staying up that late, but I'm officially a mommy - I was ready for bed hours before she was. We danced, played with some puzzles, watched Elf, had some cookies and read some stories.