Counting Calories

I know some people are completely against it, but counting calories works for me. I actually blogged here almost 3 years ago about my calorie log and how it worked to help lose the last of that nasty 30 pounds I had added since Freshman year in college.

Last year, I started slowly getting back into running about 6 weeks after Drew was born and have been keeping that up since then. Although it took nearly 6 months to shed all the baby poundage, I eventually got down to my pre-pregnancy weight. But wanting to lose a bit more, I continue to push harder, generally trying to get a good run in 5 or 6 days out of the week. And since booking a spring vacation to Sanibel Island, I needed to do more.

A couple months ago my husband finally convinced me to try My Fitness Pal app. I was hesitant as I'm a dork and enjoy excel spreadsheets. My old-school calorie counter did the trick before, so why not do that again? After seeing his results, however, I couldn't resist and dove into app. It worked and except for a brief hiatus while we had grandparents in town, I've been true to keeping track of my calories. You see, my problem is self control. I work from home and having food accessible and at my fingertips all day makes the snacking inevitable. Knowing that you have to enter everything you eat, however, works for me. I don't WANT to eat those 5 cookies because I don't want to enter 250 calories!

This app teaches you self control while helping you learn what's low calorie and good to eat as well as snack on. I love it! So thus we began the "Sanibel Shed" in which I have a few months to shed these last 5-6 pounds and tone up my abs! (Ugh.... as I write this I'm drooling over the thought of throwing back a Shamrock Shake).

On that note, I wanted to include a few low calorie snacks that I've been LOVING to have around the house in case anyone else is watching their el-beez. Enjoy!





Kellogg's Special K Cracker chips. You get to eat 27 of these babies for only 110 calories. That's bigger than a double handful and they are DELICIOUS! We love the cheddar and sour cream and onion flavors in this house, but there are a few more!






Jell-O pudding snacks. There are only 60 calories in tons of flavors! I personally like the double chocolate the best.








SnackWells fudge drizzled chocolate chip cookies. Probably my favorite chocolate-type dessert snack. Sure you only get like 8 small pieces, but they each taste heavenly!







Frigo String Cheese. So yummy and only 60-80 calories depending on the flavor you get! I love cheese and it's my weakness so having a low-calorie option is great.






Sure fruit and veggies can be good to munch on, but let's be honest. Who wouldn't rather have some cheesy carbs or chocolaty goodness instead?

What treats do you like to snack on that aren't too high in calories?

Coloring

We love Melissa and Doug in our house so when I read about their jumbo crayons, I got really excited.

Here's why:
     * They are non toxic
     * They are triangle shape so they don't roll
     * They are made of plastic meaning they won't break like wax does
     * They are nice and big for fat toddler fingers learning to hold onto things

Although they have been taste-tested one too many times, Drew seems to enjoy coloring on his sketch book with these crayons. My father is a talented artist and Derek's brother Matt can sketch like no other so I'm glad to see that someone else is continuing the drawing chain in this family! 

Future Picasso perhaps?


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And on a side note, the "Sanibel Shed" is going well as Derek and I are now officially the lowest we've been since being a senior in high school! I really would like to lose another 5, but Derek and I are rewarding ourselves tomorrow with a splurge day. Bagels for breakfast, Jimmy Johns for lunch, pizza for dinner and a yummy piece of cake from a local deli to top it all off. I. CAN'T. WAIT.

And then it's back to the grind to lose 5 more pounds and tone up my deflated tummy before this.....

Back from Sanibel

After 2.5 weeks away, it felt SO good to crawl into my bed on Sunday night. Work has been CRAZY so no long posts or time for picture editing over here just yet. You'll have to enjoy some Instagram pics for now.

My parents took our family to the beach to celebrate their 40th anniversary and my brother's med school graduation. It was beautiful and we had a GREAT time there. Drew loved the beach and we did something fun every day while still relaxing here and there with a nice cold beverage in hand.

Thanks again to my parents for the wonderful trip and I'll elaborate more in my upcoming posts on everything we did and add more pictures!

Ornament Show & Tell

So after decorating our Christmas tree last weekend, I was thinking it would be fun to post some of my favorite ornaments! Then I thought of you guys and how I'd love to see what's hanging on your trees also! Feel free to grab the image above for your own ornament posts. Be sure to let me know if you do so that I can read up! 

Derek and I have always collected ornaments to the places we've traveled. Either I have an ornament on the tree, or it was broken by the dogs, from each of the places on the right-hand side of the blog. I love this tradition and will continue it until I'm too old to travel. Hopefully by retirement, we have a full tree of ornaments just from our trips! Here are a few of my favs....

Clockwise Order: London, Cayman Islands, Sanibel, Vail, Paris, Costa Rica, Disney World

And then there are my favorite sentimental ornaments. Our engraved wedding heart, Drew's first Christmas picture and then the silver spoon engraved with "Baby's 1st Christmas 2011".

And what tree would be complete without a couple ornaments with our favorite team on them?

Now it's your turn!

....Johannah over at The Sirois Family  and my dear
friends Desiree at The Macke Monologues and Laura at Laura's Latest In Life already posted theirs!

The Burn

This post doesn't have any pictures, but I feel that it's necessary to include on my blog. I debated about posting it as it definitely will hurt my reputation as a mother, but I want to include all aspects of our life, not just the good. Hopefully it will help someone else think twice.

On day 3 in Sanibel I awarded myself the Worst Mom in America award. You see, the cottage had outlets in weird locations around the rooms and we tried to child proof the entire facility as much as we could. All breakable items were put up high and any cords were removed or covered. I guess we didn't do enough as the event following was just terrible.

As I dried my hair in the bathroom while we got ready for dinner, I heard Derek yell and Drew begin to scream. I ran into the room and that's when things got fuzzy. Words like 'curling iron', 'grabbed' and 'burn' were swirling around while Drew screamed his head off. I remembered that I had plugged in my curler on the ground thinking the door to that room was shut and Drew would not venture in there. I grabbed my screaming child to see his right index finger red on the inside and jetted to the freezer for some ice figuring that he had gotten in there somehow and grabbed the iron.

And then I almost threw up. And started hyperventilating. And shaking. I burned my child. My sweet little boy might have a scar forever on the inside of his hand and it's my fault. He's only 16 months old and he just experienced something this painful and it's my fault. {Cue throat dropping into the pit of my stomach}

I won't spare you the details on the tears shed and words yelled, but in the end it could have been much worse than it really was. Apparently Derek grabbed the iron out of his hand VERY fast and he ended up only having one blister on one finger. He calmed down and stopped crying within 15 minutes (much unlike myself) and it really only seemed to bother him the rest of the trip when he would fall and catch himself on that hand. I, on the other hand, was pretty distraught the rest of that evening. Despite my mom telling me shit happens and assuring me that I was a wonderful mother and it wasn't my fault, the guilt you carry when something like this happens doesn't ever leave. I still can't believe I caused my little boy that much pain, all because I wanted to curl my hair.

I know stuff like this happens and it's called life, but it's still hard to accept. I'm hoping that my Drew won't remember the event and I can remove my Worst Mom in America award someday, but for now I'm still a bit shaken when remembering that moment.

Feel free to share your worst parenting tragedy as I'm hopefully not the only one who accidentally caused their child distress!

First Beach Trip For Drew

When we got to the beachfront cottage it was perfect weather! And then a couple hours later the rain came. Our entire first evening at the beach was drizzly and the weather showed no change for the rest of the week on our phones. Fortunately, after the first day, we had barely any rain, clouds or sprinkles and enjoyed sunshine and warmth every day! Knowing that this time of year is traditionally the 'rainy season', we lucked out and really had gorgeous weather for 90% of the trip!

We couldn't resist taking Drew down to the beach as soon as we arrived despite the fact that we were all still in normal clothes. He went right to work picking up the shells and tossing them in and loved the little waves rolling over his baby crocs.

The second morning we ventured to the Ding Darling wildlife preserve for their drive through viewing. We saw SO much and would definitely recommend this for anyone visiting Sanibel. There were tons of birds and chameleons, but we also spotted an alligator, a crab, a snake, some huge pink birds and even a few manatees! 

Because we were only going 5mph, Drew was able to ride up front on Grandma's lap and watch out the window. Boy did this kid LOVE doing that. He checked out everything along the drive and it was so funny to watch his excited little facial expressions when he would spot something new. 

More pics to come of the rest of the trip!

Bath Time

I don't think I've ever mentioned this on here, but up until about a month and a half ago, Derek and I would take turns joining Drew in the water for his bath. It started out of necessity as our bath is super high and leaning over was not the most comfortable. And then it became a way to keep Drew IN the tub. (He wasn't too fond of being in there by himself.)

After our vacation to Sanibel, it just happened to be a nice transition period for him to bathe alone. We didn't get in with him at the cottage and he had so much entertainment that I think he realized it was A-Ok to fly solo.

He still fusses for about 5 seconds right when you put him in, but once he's sprayed by his water froggy or sees his boat, all is well in the world.

Tupperware and The Island Cow

As mentioned before, Drew loves to get into cabinets and re-arrange the items as well as take them one by one to whomever is around at that moment in time. Well someone went straight to work in our cottage and loved taking all of the tupperware to Poppa or Grandma. This task was great for when we all needed to get ready as it really did keep him busy. The cottage was huge and had tons of room for him to walk around carrying his pieces one by one. I didn't get a picture, but towards the end of the trip his favorite thing to do was carry the broom around the pretend to sweep our floors! I love how organized and clean my little man is already.  :)

That night we decided to venture out to the Island Cow for dinner and drinks, but wanted to snap some pictures beforehand. Drew is definitely at an age where he doesn't want to be held for long so getting a good family picture has become quite difficult. 

My brother's beautiful girlfriend joined us on the trip and I really like this picture of the 4 of us together!

The restaurant was so fun and we were able to get a corner table on the patio. Before dinner Drew got to play bags and enjoyed putting each bag into the hole. During dinner, Drew even got a balloon puppy made at the table by a balloon master. The food and sangria was delicious and I would highly recommend this place to eat if you're visiting Sanibel!

Thanks again mom for the delicious meals and drinks not only at the Island Cow, but all week!