Eggs: The Perfect Food. Feel free to eat them. Every. Single. Day.

Yep, I said it.  Every. Single. Day.  


So I was doing a little research on eggs and their benefits this morning.  I know, I know, I'm a big nerd.  It actually all stemmed from a conversation I was having with a girlfriend who was talking to me about her egg-whites-only breakfast.  I just couldn't imagine throwing out the yolks!!  It's the most delicious part, not to mention it gives us the most health benefits.   I googled some quick info for her.  She's actually a super healthy person and turns out, she knows the yolks are healthy, they just gross her out and she doesn't like them.  Oh the shame. 


But I wanted to share this study I found....  

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19369056

Basically, it is saying that the subjects all did a carbohydrate restricted diet and some of them also ate lots of eggs.  They all saw healthy benefits, but the subjects eating eggs everyday had even more positive results!  Not only did the low carb eaters lower the very small particle LDL (the worst kind) for all of the subjects, the egg eaters also raised the HDL (the good) and the larger LDL, which also raised the plasma lutein and zeaxanthin in their blood!! That's amazing! Plasma lutein and zeaxanthin helps in the prevention and improvement of visual disorders such as macular degeneration and helps to support healthy eyesight!

It's also interesting to note that the study I posted is from a government website.  Funny how most of their own studies contradict what they say we should be eating.


Eggs are especially good for growing children and egg yolks are the perfect first food for babies!


BTW, most of the health nutrients are found in the yolk!!  Just check out this awesome article all about eggs!

http://www.cholesterol-and-health.com/Egg_Yolk.html

And it's a good thing too.... Eggs are pretty much the only food I can eat every single day and not get sick of.  

Okay, I could probably eat bacon every day too.  

And chocolate.   

Chocolate covered bacon anyone?  

Bacon and Eggs - The Hangover Cure

Saturday was a big drinking day for me.  I started out at a family gathering, where everyone was drinking, so I myself finished up a bottle of wine.  Later that evening I met up with a friend and we went to a beer garden at our old grade school.  Having never acquired much of a taste for beer, I brought my own little bottle of captain Morgan.  I started getting the munchies really bad and by the time I got home, I was craving bacon and eggs.  I whipped some up, sarfed them down, then promptly passed out.

The next morning I felt better then I had expected.  I don't drink alot, so I'm kind of a lightweight and usually have a pretty harsh hangover if I drink a little too much, so I was expecting to feel like dog poop.  I made myself some more bacon and eggs (because that is what I was craving) and felt even better.  I couldn't believe how good I felt considering and I knew there had to be something more to it.

So today, I did a little research and found some pretty interesting information.  Apparently there is some scientific reasoning as to why the bacon and eggs pretty much cured me of having a hangover.

Some of the interesting info I found:

“Bingeing on alcohol depletes brain neurotransmitters but bacon, which is rich in protein, contains amino acids that top these up and make you feel better,” explains Elin Roberts of Newcastle University.

The University researchers themselves were actually quite amazed to discover that not only the actual consumption of the bacon sandwiches or bacon and eggs with toast meal immediately helped to cure the hangover, but simply the mere act of just smelling the bacon cooking, actually begins the healing process, long before the meal is in one’s mouth.

Then be sure to get yourself a nice, big, hot breakfast of Bacon and Eggs, either in a sandwich or in a meal, that can also include cheese, beans and any other high protein, high amino acid food to start putting back into your body all of the important nutrients that drinking “too much” can rob your body of and make you weak an sick.

Some scientific studies have suggested that eggs are good for hangovers. Why? Because they contain an amino acid called cysteine that, according to some studies, helps break down toxic byproducts of alcohol metabolism. 

And a quote from Jamie Oliver himself, in regards to his hangover cure:

"I have always maintained that a double serving of eggs and bacon works for me".

Just more reasons for my to continue my love affair with bacon and eggs! 
Sources:
BaconToday
JamieOliver

A Missing Post?

I just realized that I had uploaded all of these pics back in December after Thanksgiving and after we bought the munchkin her new table for her christmas present. They are a little late, but I am going to to ahead and post them anyway :)

This was the old (atleast 10 yrs) pottery barn table that I found on Craig's list for the Munchkin's christmas present. It's the sturdiest table and so cute in her playroom.




I took these pics at Thanksgiving. The spread was amazing. It was the first time we ever tried to give the Munchkin mashed potatoes and she hated them! Joe says I ruined her with my caulitators (mashed cauliflower).



Here's my littlest sis Erin and her boyfriend.


My hubs passed out after dinner.


He wasn't the only one....


The girls playing in the ball pit.



Me and my sisters. I'm not sure what was up with the really awkward positioning here...

"It's not so much how busy you are, but why you are busy. The bee is praised. The mosquito is swatted." ~ Mary O'Connor

I think I have finally recovered from the weekend. Talk about busy! I really wish I had more time lately to blog, instead of recapping an entire week, each time I do. Things have just been crazy and non-stop lately. Joe and I have also been really hooked on watching all the seasons of Dexter on our Instant Streaming Netflix (best $11 per month ever!), so that doesn’t help either. Each episode is an hour long. And it’s so addictive...

Thursday night my friend Gina gave birth to her new baby boy, so Friday, after putting the munchkin to bed, I headed up to the hospital to see them. Per her request, I brought some apple dump cake with me, which is basically 4 ingredients dumped into a special bowl just for this dessert, and cooked in the microwave for 8 minutes. Easy peasy but sooooo good! I stayed just long enough to get some new baby love, share in polishing off the dump cake, and then headed home.

Saturday we celebrated our friends 30th birthday with a trip to a local winery. Joe headed out around noon, riding with some friends, and I headed out at 2:00 after my mom showed up to watch the munchkin. I arrived around 3:00, and found everyone. I purchased a bottle of wine (a semi-dry red), and poured my first glass. It was very warm outside, the view was absolutely gorgeous and it had been a while since I was fortunate enough to visit a winery. I was feeling good. Maybe a little too good, cuz I finished most of the bottle of wine within an hour and a half. It was a good time and I wasn’t ready to leave, but around 5:45 we started to gather our belongings and head out. I was due at my house at 6:30 to meet up with my girl Anna to head over to an engagement party.

We didn’t get far from the winery before we saw the lights and emergency vehicles lined up ahead, re-directing traffic. We were not too far out of town, but the area we were in was only used (by us) to get to the wineries. We didn’t know the back roads (they were all “back roads”) to take to find an alternate route. We followed the cars in front of us, thought we were making progress, and 20 minutes later, we were spit back out onto the road right by the winery we had originally left. As we came up to the lights and traffic, we were re-directed in the same direction once again. As we pulled up to the man directing traffic, I rolled down my window, explained to him that we had already been through this and it only took us in a big circle. He said go to the top of the hill, and near the fire hydrant, make a right on Schlausselburg (or something like that).

After we pulled down the street, I was so elated to not have the previous car in front of me that had only been driving 15 mph. I pushed down on the gas, and suddenly realized that I was flying down a gravel road. WTF?! Apparently, we had come to a dead end, in which I was supposed to make a sharp left, but instead continued straight. After looking into my rear view mirror, I saw that I had led a couple of young girls down the same wrong turn as well. Oops. I turned my car around, as they backed up. Our cars moved, facing each other, back towards the paved road. The girls were laughing hysterically, it got me laughing pretty good as well. I had a feeling they too, had just left one of the wineries. They motioned us on to go first. I guess they still felt better about following us then going on ahead of us. I wasn’t so sure that was the best idea.

Joe turned on the Sprint GPS on his phone. It was no freaking help at all. It kept telling us to do U Turns or to make a left on a street, but would call it by another name. I think we were in too deep for the GPS. And where the hell was “Schlausselburg”? Or the fire hydrant? I am pretty sure there was no way out, and this guy was laughing at all of the trusting souls he had sent on this wild goose chase. After taking a couple of different turns we finally turned back onto the same main road, this time we were right by the accident.

As someone drove by, we asked them what had happened. Apparently, a car and a motorcycle had hit head on, and 2 of the passengers had to be air lifted out of there. I was no longer in a hurry and frustrated with the hold up. I could only feel bad for whoever was involved in this accident. We waited, somewhat somberly, another 30 minutes or so and cars were allowed to pass through. I finally arrived home a little after 7:30. I did a quick wardrobe change, grabbed my gift, and headed out the door with Anna.

After stopping at Walgreens to get a card (I can’t remember everything, I’m luckily I had a gift that I had already wrapped!), we arrived at the party around 8:15. Luckily the location of the party was only a mile or so from my house. How convenient is that? We found our way to the house and out into the backyard. We made ourselves a couple of drinks and started to mingle. Not long after we arrived, so did someone else I wasn’t too excited to see. Remember this chick? I guess it’s hard to avoid people forever when you run in some of the same circles. I was warned she may be coming, so I wasn’t completely unprepared, but it was still incredibly awkward. Well, for me anyway. Once she walked up, she gave Anna a hug, then turned to give me one. Completely caught off guard, I half hugged her back. Other then some forced, polite conversation, we didn’t speak to each other much the rest of the night. And then she left early.

I’m not gonna lie, the hug not only threw me for a loop, it also kinda pissed me off. I haven’t spoken with her at all since the whole debacle, and I was still feeling just as hurt and confused as I did when it happened. Plus, we were at a friend’s engagement party. Not exactly the right place or time to confront someone about something like this. I couldn’t help but feel relieved when she made her exit.

Apparently, I drank more wine then I had realized. I would have loved to blame all of the purple stains going down my shirt and pants on some drunk idiot, but the glass of wine in my hand was most likely the point of origin. It had been a long day, and I seemed to have lost the ability to regulate myself or know my level of tolerance. I guess that can happen when you drink much less frequently and also start too early in the day. I do wish I had been alert enough to notice the mosquitoes feasting on my feet. No exaggerating here at all, I have at least 50 bites on my left foot alone! I think one of the highlights of the evening was when Anna and I found the dessert table and shared in 3 different pieces of insanely delicious cakes. Mmmmmm.

Another highlight was seeing our friend Brooke so happy. I remember how amazing it felt to be newly engaged to Joe. How filled with hope and romantic everything was. It’s wonderful to see a friend beginning that journey as well.

I made it home around 12:15 or so and after a make out sesh with the hubs, I passed out.

Thank goodness, Sunday morning, Joe was getting up with the munchkin (we alternate between Saturday and Sunday). I woke up at 7:15 with a pounding headache, took my Tylenol, and went back to bed until 11:00. I definitely had to pay for my fun. Later in the day, I took the munchkin with me on a trip out to Trader Joe’s, along with some other errands.

I also wanted to mention that I bought the Trader Joe’s brand Sprouted 7 Grain bread there on a whim. So far, I have had it with an egg, turkey bacon and cheese sandwich, a turkey sandwich, a cheeseburger, and with peanut butter spread on top. It was absolutely delicious in every situation. Not only is the bread super nutritious, it has only 4 net carbs and 5 grams of protein per slice! I am loving this bread!

For dinner we made a double batch of spaghetti so we could bring some of it to Gina and Brian. I remember how impossible it was to cook a meal that first week after being home with a new baby. After I put munchkin to bed, I headed over to Gina’s. I loved snuggling up with the baby, as he slept soundly in my arms while I was there.

Monday morning I was finally starting to feel normal again. Not long after I arrived to work, Joe called me and told me his car wouldn’t start. Yay. So after only being at work for an hour, I headed home, picked up the munchkin and took her to the sitter so Joe could get a jump start from the neighbor and take his car into his friend’s shop. Luckily, it only ended up being the battery. It could have been much worse. Last night my girl Brenda came over to visit me. I made her watch the Bachelor Pad with me. (Sorry Brenda!) What is it about escaping into other people’s drama, that helps you to forget your own? And that show is never short on drama.

So tonight, I am meeting up with Anna for some sushi. I am REALLY looking forward to it. Nothing like an evening with a good friend, some sushi and a glass of wine to rewind and decompress. And yes, I am sticking to a glass, maybe two, but NOT a bottle!

Now I just have to get through work today....

An Action Packed Weekend and Mini Rant

Guess who's walking?! That's right the munchkin is walking! Well not very good and usually not more then 6 steps at a time, but still, she is working on it. She has been practicing this weekend and it has been melting my heart to watch her. She will take off with this look of determination on her face, that just really cracks me up. She flings her body forward, wobbling 5 or 6 steps then tumbles over. Sometimes she moves on and doesn't let it phase her, other times she yells or cries out in frustration. I just can't believe she is going to be full time walking soon. I am excited to see her more mobile, as I think she will be less frustrated once she is, but at the same time, I am sad to see her growing up so fast.

I bought her a little kitchen set off of someone on craig's list. It was pretty dirty and neglected when I picked it up, but with a little elbow grease, you would never know. It is really cute and it came with a bajillion accessories. All sorts of dishes, along with lots of plastic foods and condiments. The lady threw in all sorts of random items with the kitchen set. Included was a pop-up toaster with toast, a tea pot, a little pitcher that makes liquid noises when you push a button, pots and pans, and cups. A chicken leg, a donut, pancakes, salt shaker (no pepper) and jelly. There is even a DQ ice cream cookie and dilly bar. What is funny is that out of all of that stuff, her favorite items have been the little plastic fork and knife. She carried them around with her all weekend. I will have to add a pic of that later. I don't have any good photos with me at work. For now, here's a pic I took of the kitchen with my phone camera.


From the same lady, I also purchased a little Laugh and Learn Chair. It plays music when they sit in the chair and also when she touches things on the side table. There is a voice that reads the words in the book as she turns the pages and also sings songs when she pushes down on the crayons. She climbs into the little chair and plays with all of the stuff on the table. It is really cute and she loves it. Gotta be one of the best five bucks I have ever spent! Here's a terrible picture Joe sent me from his phone while I was out grocery shopping.



I think we are finally getting the table foods down better and getting her off the jar food completely. Fruits and vegetables have been pretty easy for her, but I have been having trouble finding meat that she would eat (other then out of a jar). I had been feeding her Earth's Best Organic Stage 3 foods, which she loves and anytime I would try to give her other stuff like cut up chicken she would just have a hard time figuring out what to do with it. She would gnaw on it with her gums and store it all in her cheeks like a squirrel. Most of it would end up getting pushed back out instead of swallowed. I realize that chicken can be kinda dry, so I would get dark meat to start with, but it didn't help much.

So on my last trip to Trader Joe's I picked out some new stuff. I grabbed some turkey dogs and turkey deli meat that were preservative/nitrate free with no msg or fillers, and some all natural salmon patties. I had to de-skin the turkey dogs for her, but she gobbled them right up! I couldn't believe how much she ate! I steamed some carrots and threw in some applesauce and she ate everything I gave her. Yay! Most of it she fed herself. I was so excited... I really wanted to get her completely off of jar food before she was a year old. Her cousin Q, along with most of my friends kiddos have been off of jar food way before then and even though every baby is different, I felt like I was really lagging behind on getting things going. Part of the problem was finding things I felt comfortable feeding her. I felt very good about the particular jar food she was eating. I knew everything that was in it, and it was hard for me to venture away from that. Plus, she only recently got her first 2 teeth in, and even though everyone says that her teeth do not matter, I just didn't feel right giving her too much table food without any teeth.

This also brings me to another subject. What we feed our kids. I am not going to get too into this right now, but I just want to say that I truly believe that this is a very personal choice for each individual parent. I have been very picky about the food that I put into my own body (especially lately) , so naturally I am going to be the same way about my baby. I have been really frustrated lately with the way some other parents look at me like I'm a wierdo because of what I will or will not let the munchkin eat. I do not care what other parents feed their children. Infact, I couldn't care less and realize that it is none of my business. I am not judging you, so why are you judging me? I don't say anything to them about how I feel about the food they are feeding their kid, so why are they giving me a hard time for what I am feeding mine? It really pisses me off sometimes actually. I feel so much more comfortable feeding her natural, healthy food, that doesn't have preservatives or fillers. Isn't that a good thing? It doesn't make any sense to me why I should be made to feel uncomfortable by other parents because of these choices? It's getting old, and I am worried about the mom that says something to me on the wrong day at the wrong time, when I have finally had enough.

Does anyone else ever have an issue with other parents commenting on what they are feeding their kids? Whether you are feeding your child a hot dog or won't let them have one, what do you say when another parent is actually rude enough to make a comment on how they feel about it?

Ok... moving on...

All in all, we had a fantastic weekend. Friday night I got caught up on a bunch of things I needed to get done around the house. Saturday, I met my sisters for sushi for lunch, then went to the container store with Amy. After that, we went to a birthday party for our nephew, and then my parents and Amy & Q came over to hang out. We watched 3 comedians in a row. We just recently got a blue ray player (awesome sale price at Best Buy!) and can now get netflix streaming instantly. I gotta say for 8.99 a month it is totally worth it. We can watch all kinds of movies and tv shows instantly! Plus we can still get the dvds in the mail. With the money we were spending every month renting movies at blockbuster and red box, this is way cheaper. And way more fun! We love movies. We went so long without hardly being able to watch any at all, so I feel like we have alot to catch up on. We started watching season one of Dexter, after it was the most highly recommended show from a poll I did amongst my friends on facebook. And they were right, so far that show is awesome. Sunday, was my weekly trek out to Trader Joe's (why won't they build one closer to me?!) and the rest of the day was spent hanging out at home with Joe and the munchkin.

I hope everyone else had a fantastic weekend! I am not going to try to get caught up on everyone else...

I won a prize! A birthday Luau! Shopping! Baking! And ofcourse, lots of cute pics!

This past week has been busy, busy, busy!

Friday morning started off really really good when I found out I won a giveaway from Lil' Woman! I couldn't believe it! I never win anything! I won a $40 gift towards anything at CSN.com How fun is that?! I have had my eye on some of these for a while, so I went a head and ordered this and this on Friday and they should be arriving any day now. I am so excited! It's one of those items I have been wanting for a while now, but couldn't justify spending the money. With shipping and everything, I only paid about $1.50. Thank you so much Lil' Woman! You should check out her blog too, her and her big man are really cute;)

Friday night my sister came over and we started making and preparing the food for my mom's birthday luau the following night. There was alot to do! So we were up pretty late getting everything done and then cleaning up the mess. We also indulged in the key lime pie that I had made the night before. It was low carb, sugar-free and absolutely AMAZING. I have been trying out recipes from this girl's blog and I am so happy that I found her. She is a master at making low-carb, sugar-free deliciousness!! I had 2 big pieces every day over the weekend and somehow my weight still went down... crazy! I also saved a piece for my grandmother who is diabetic and she absolutely loved it. She was so happy to share in dessert and not worry about how it would affect her.

I picked up my mom Saturday morning and we headed down to The Loop. It's about a 20 minute drive over to a stretch of road with great restaurants, shopping and music. They have the cutest little boutiques with unique clothing and accessories and lots to look at and lots to do. This was important be because I needed to keep her busy while the rest of the family got her house ready for her party that night. I was bringing her back around 5:30 when we would walk in the door and everyone would yell "Surprise!" She had never been down to The Loop before, so she was excited to go. We had alot of fun walking around and checking out all of the shops. We got very lucky with the weather. It could have been a scorcher considering the weather on the days before and the days after. But it actually wasn't too bad and we even had a breeze. I didn't even sweat. Yay!

Her party was alot of fun. Old friends she hadn't seen in a while showed up, along with family and other friends. Everyone's babies were crawling around and having their own fun. Then at the end of the night, we all decided to crash there. Even my sisters neighbor decided to stay (only because he was too inebriated to drive himself home). So he slept on the couch, Amy on the little couch, her hubs J slept on the floor in the living room right beside my sister Erin and her man C. Joe and I slept in the bedroom downstairs. The munchkin and her cousin each got their own bedroom upstairs. Not fair at all I tell you, but whatda gonna do?

This was the first time the munchkin had slept the entire night in her pack n play and not in her own crib. I wasn't sure how it was going to go. I gotta say, I was mighty proud. She went down at 8:00 and slept soundly through the entire night until about 7:30 in the morning. I was also afraid that she was going to freak out when she woke up in a strange place. But instead I just found her standing up looking around and talking quietly in her little baby babble.

My mom made breakfast for everyone. Her specialty, bacon, eggs, biscuits and gravy. Yum! I skipped out on the biscuits and gravy and had brought my own muffin, but it was all still delicious and it was so much fun having everyone around the table for a big breakfast, along with the addition of our guys and little kiddos. I think it would be really awesome if we could all live in a huge house together. Ofcourse, we would all have to have our own private quarters equipped with kitchens and private living spaces.

Sunday was spent recouping and getting ready for the next week. I usually make up a bunch of food to prepare for the week ahead and this is also the day we do all of our laundry.

The munckin's babysitter's kiddo was sick on Monday and Tuesday so we took turns taking off work and staying home with her. It was pretty awesome having an extra bonus day to spend with her. My favorite part of the day with her is in the mornings before her first nap. We usually only get to spend that time with her on the weekends.

I am slowly easing my way back into carbs. Things like brown rice and whole wheat pasta are things I definitely want to incorporate back into my diet. So last night my girl Gina took me out for some sushi. There is this new sushi place near my house where you can sorta build your own roll and you can opt to have it with brown rice! It was so good. The spicy tuna practically melted in my mouth. It had been over 3 months since I was able to eat any sushi (this is huge coming from someone who previously ate it 1-2 times per week... or more). It was a glorious reunion. Her hubby and their little boy came over with her and stayed and hung out with my hubs for some bbq pork steaks while we ventured out for the sushi.

I gave the munch some edamame and she loved it! I bought them already shelled at Trader Joes, boiled them for about 6 minutes. I then peeled the skin off of them and laid them on her tray. She gobbled them up. Look how happy she is!


She has just been so much fun lately. She is clapping really well now and waving hello and goodbye. It's so amaing to see her grow and learn new things every day.


Her and her little cousin are definitely partners and crime. When they are together, they just follow each other around and get into everything. Here they are trying to pull things out of the fridge.



Reading books. They are so smart.

For the first time ever, they were actually sharing toys and handing each other things.

Our friend Justin brought his little girl Mya over to play too. It was pretty hilarious watching them all crawl around like a small herd of animals.

They kept fighting over who got to hold Mya's cheerios.

I put the munchkin in this little dress on Sunday. I thought she looked so adorable in it, we just had to do a photo shoot.


She got some cool new shades on Sunday from Target. This is as close as I could get to a picture of her wearing them.

I had alot to do in the kitchen yesterday before we could head out for sushi and not much time to do it. I gave the munchkin free reign over the storage containers cabinet to keep her busy. It worked like a charm.


So there's my week. I better get back to work!

Salad "freshens without enfeebling and fortifies without irritating." ~ Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

I have been a little salad obsessed lately.

I have been making salads for my lunch at work and I am loving them! They seem to keep getting bigger and better with each one.

Who says a big healthy lunch salad has to be boring? Well I used to...

Ingredients:
Romain Lettuce
Grape Tomateos
Red Onion
Black Olives
Baby Bella Mushrooms
Fresh grated mozzarella cheese
Grilled chicken (thanks to the hubs for throwing an extra chicken breast on the grill for me just for my salad)
Dressing (made up of 1 part olive oil, one part red wine vinegar, Italian seasoning, pepper and sea salt)

For some reason I don't like adding my chicken or cheese until I am actually eating the salad. I'm not sure why. Somewhere along they way I got the idea that it was better to keep them separate until the last minute. Is that wierd?

Oh and my Trader Joe's natural chunky peanut butter and celery for a snack. Have I mentioned my love for this peanut butter? I eat it atleast once a day, sometimes twice:)


I need some more ideas for my salad... anyone have any suggestions (Starch, preservative and Sugar free... )?

Where does the time go?

I am so bad. It's been months since I've blogged. Or atleast it seems like it. Life is so crazy busy right now its hard to find the time. I feel terrible I haven't updated things and I don't want to look back and have nothing to show for months at a time....

Things have been picking up alot for me at work and I have been super busy there. So after I get home from work, play with the munchkin, make dinner, clean up the kitchen, play some more, then put the munchkin to bed, then do some more chores, I am usually too tired to get on the computer. I always say I am going to make more time, and I really would love to, but we shall see....

I will try to get things caught up without going on for too long.

We have been in the new house for a little over a month now and we love it. The past year was hard as far as our living situation, but everything definitely worked out for the best and we couldn't be happier about it. We are pretty much settled. Everything is unpacked and put away. All that is left to do is hang some more things up on the wall. Right now my computer room is full of stuff that still needs to be hung up or set out somewhere. I just leave the door shut and most of the time pretend its not there. And since I rarely go in there to get on the computer anyway, that's not very hard to do.

Things are also getting much busier for Joe at work. This is great in many ways obviously, but since he is going to school now as well, lots more paperwork and lots of homework is alot to juggle. He is doing great though. I am so proud of him. His grades have been so good and he has been working really hard.

I have been on a new diet. I have been doing the HCG diet. Some of you may have heard of it, but if you are like me you never knew anything about it before. My sister decided to do it and once she told me about it, I thought she was crazy and that it sounded like a ridiculous idea. So I got online and researched it so that I could tell her it wasn't a safe diet, but the more I researched it, the better it sounded and I decided to try it myself. I am on day 25 and I have lost 18.5 lbs!! They are drops that I take under my tongue 3x a day, along with an extremely healthy low calorie diet. I am doing the homeopathic version, so it is safer with absolutely no side effects (there are also injections and prescriptions that you can get from a doc, but this is a little different) and I gotta say, I am feeling fantastic and my baby fat is finally going away! The diet is way to complex to explain right now, maybe I will try to dedicate a blog entry to it later. If you are curious though, just google homeopathic HCG diet. Or check out this link for a quick synopsis: HCG Diet Its absolutely crazy how amazing this diet is and how it has changed my life. Not only is it getting ridding of my stubborn baby fat, I have increased energy, and even my skin and hair are looking better. I wouldn't believe it if I wasn't going through it myself!

Update: Knowing what I know now, however, I would NOT recommend the HCG diet as a healthy way to lose weight.

Saturday is Joe's 30th birthday party. I am so excited. We rented out the top floor of a bar that we used to hang out at alot and there are a bunch of people coming. Some people we haven't even seen since the munchkin was born. I can't wait!! My friend Sarah is making his birthday cake and I am sooooo excited to see how it turns out. I will definitely post some pics. She is an amazing cake artist and I am always amazed with her creations. Joe is a huge Grateful Dead fan and she is going to design his cake in 3D to replicate the little train station from the cover of the Terrapin Station album. I can't wait to see it!

The munchkin is growing so fast, I just can't believe it. She is pulling up and walking along furniture, but not quite walking on her own yet. I expect that she will be doing that very soon though. She can crawl so fast, its crazy! She just starting feeding herself a little. I give her little gerber puffs and she can stick them in her mouth. For the longest time she would hold them in her fist, bring her fist to her mouth, but then she wouldn't open her fist. She would get so frustrated! So just last night she made a breakthrough and seems to be finally figuring things out. She is starting to get her pincher grasp going. She still has NO teeth! She is doing pretty good at mashing up some foods in her mouth, but I am kinda wary to give her too much without any teeth. She has started to clap a little bit. She babbles all the time. It's like she is having entire conversations in her little baby language. She has kinda started saying ma-ma-ma and da-da-da but I'm not totally sure she is really talking about us. My friend Gina watched her last week and worked on signing the word "more" with her. She actually seemed to be getting it!

I am so inlove with this little girl, I just can't believe how much she has changed our lives and how happy she has made us. I just never knew you could love someone this much. She just turned 9 months on the 9th. I can't believe that she is going to be a year old in only 2.5 months... time really does fly!

We are LOVING LOVING LOVING our new babysitter situation. First of all, it takes me 6 minutes to get to Stacy's house from mine, so to say she lives close is an understatement. I get up for work in the morning and give the munchkin her bottle, I then dress her and get her ready for the day. Then I put her in her pack n play with some toys and I leave for work. Joe finishes getting ready for work, then he feeds her breakfast and takes her to the sitter. I get off work at 3:00, then head straight to the sitter. I arrive around 3:15 to 3:30 depending on traffic. She is usually just waking up for her nap or still sleeping when I get there. I have known her sitter since high school so we were already friends. So sometimes, when she is still sleeping, I will just hang out and chat for a while until she wakes up. Once she does, I give her a bottle and we head home. She loves playing with Stacy's little boy and there is another little girl there too. She seems really happy there and everything is working out great. When Stacy needs a day off for vacation or whatever, the munchkin goes to her original sitter's house (our very first one) who she loves too and gets to play with her little girl Ada. It is so great to have such a wonderful back up as well and to have people that I really like and trust taking care of my little baby.

Here she is going swimming for the first time!! She was so scared and nervous at first, but then she finally warmed up to it.


Here she is with her little cousin.


And I will leave you with this video. Her little cuz kept trying to chew on her ear. It cracks me up....

"In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires." ~ Benjamin Franklin

For mother's day, we had my mom's side of the family all over to our house for a celebration! And of course, as usual, my family went completely overboard on the food...


What are those silly apples doing in there?

And aftwards, everyone laid around and took a nap. I thought this was Mother's Day, not Thanksgiving. We didn't even serve any Turkey. The couch was filled with sleeping bodies, and people over flowed onto the floor as well. My sister's husband passed out with their dog Louie. Isn't that special?

I know its late in the game, but I hope all my mommy friends and moms-to-be had a wonderful Mother's day!