Healthy Halloween Tips October 31, 2012

I can’t believe tomorrow is Halloween and then we are into November! The holidays are going to be here before we know it…crazy! I love the holidays and I can’t wait to see everything through Keenan’s eyes this year, but I’m just not quite there, yet. There are so many things going on between now and the holidays, it is hard to think that far ahead! Does anyone else feel that way?

Anyhow, onto today, “Halloween Eve:” We started our day off with toasted leftover paleo pancakes! I think they are actually better toasted! Keenan topped his with pumpkin butter and a little maple syrup. I topped mine with yogurt and strawberries. In the spirit of Fall, I made myself a pumpkin pie latte…so good!

Yum!

We also started our day with a new spin on potty training: an “Elmo” potty chart! Every time Keenan goes number one on the potty, he gets a stamp, and when he goes number two, he gets a sticker to place on his chart. My mom gave Keenan an Elmo Potty Time” coloring book a while back. The book came with a potty chart and stickers, but Keenan wasn’t ready to use it at the time . Yesterday (out of the blue), Keenan mentioned the potty chart, along with the stickers, so I thought it was time to give it a try. Today, he got four stamps! He was pretty excited to get his stamps, so I am hoping the chart with help (fingers crossed!). I’m going to give this a couple of weeks and if it doesn’t work, I think we will try the “pant-less” method. I’ll keep you posted…

Hopefully “Elmo” and his potty chart will work its’ magic!

Since we so busy yesterday (and Keenan has been so tired lately, getting up between 8 and 8:30 a.m!), we stayed home this morning and played. I had some watercolor paints, so I thought it would be fun to show Keenan how to use them and paint some pictures. He didn’t quite grasp the whole concept of dipping your brush into the water first, then the paint and, finally, painting on the paper. He kept wanting to take the paints out of the package and use them as finger paints! Needless to say, we didn’t do any painting. Instead, we played in his sandbox and cuddled with Slinky!

Putting toys on Slinky!

Cuddling!

To get Keenan ready for Halloween and trick-or-treating, I have been talking to him about what to say, but for some reason, it hasn’t sunk in. He knows that carrying his pumpkin bucket equals candy, but saying “trick-or-treat” is another story! He keeps getting “knock knock” jokes confused with saying “trick-or-treat,” because when I asked him earlier today about what to say when he rings the door bell when trick-or-treating, tomorrow, night, he said, “knock knock!” I laughed so hard; it was too funny!

Speaking of Halloween, Keenan seems to be fixated on having candy! After our MOMs Club Halloween party on Friday, he kept asking to have candy. So, tomorrow shall be interesting. I am going to have to cave and let him enjoy at least one piece of candy! This is why I tend to buy healthier things to pass out, such as fruit snacks and rice krispies (though, not the healthiest, but better than candy!).

If you are taking your children trick-or-treating tomorrow, and/or passing out candy at home, and you’re trying to stay good and not over-indulge in too much candy, here are a few healthy Halloween tips:

• Instead of buying a huge bag of candy, buy one small bag and a couple of bags of healthier treats, such as rice krispies, fruit roll-ups, fruit snacks or raisins. Mix everything together in a big bowl, so the candy is mixed in with the healthier things. (My husband says to be careful, though, as you’ll be known as “that house” if you don’t have a good ratio of candy to “clean” treats. I think he’s crazy.)
• After the last trick-or-treater has gone and you still have a bunch of candy left, don’t save it, as you will be tempted to eat it! Donate it to an office (or bring it to your office, though you will probably still be tempted to eat it!), or throw it away.
• If you must have a piece of candy, choose your two favorites. Eat one of your favorites on Halloween and save the other one  for the next day, as a treat to look forward to. If you save a handful, you might be more inclined to eat all of it in one sitting. (My husband also told me that he would “stretch out” his candy stash until Christmas. Talk about self-control!)
• While you are passing out candy, have some healthy treats to munch on, such as popcorn, homemade kettle corn, nuts, trail mix, no-bake peanut butter chocolate snack balls and fruit. If you have some healthy snacks out, you might be less tempted to indulge in candy.
• Last–but not least–if you do slip-up and indulge in one too many pieces of candy tomorrow, don’t beat yourself up. Get back on track the next day!

Speaking of getting back on track, yesterday and today’s WODs were hard, to say the least! Yesterday, we did 100 double unders followed by 3 rounds pf 20 ring dips, 20 kettle bell snatches (35 lbs) and 20 box jumps. The time cap was 15 minutes and I finished 2 rounds and 45 reps (just shy of 10 box jumps to finish). The ring dips were the worst (something I have to work on!). I used the lightest band, red, but they are still difficult!

Today’s WOD was 5 rounds of thrusters (95 lbs) and over-the-bar burpees with a 20 minute time cap. I finished in 16 minutes and 49 seconds, using the prescribed weight. It wasn’t too bad, but we did max deadlifts for the skill beforehand, so my lower back is pretty sore! So, we’ll see how tomorrow goes…

I had to include this! Keenan was wearing a wrap that you put ice or hot packs in for your back. My husband was wearing it on Sunday, so Keenan wanted to give it a try!

Before I wrap-up this post, I have to share this picture of Keenan playing the guitar with my husband on Sunday. Since he was over at his friend’s house while I attend last week’s The Fresh Market Roseville Sneak Peek, Keenan has been fascinated with guitars! My friend’s son had a mini-guitar that Keenan played with most of the evening. Once he got home, he wanted to play with my husband’s guitar. So, on Sunday, my husband and Keenan re-strung and tuned the guitar together, and spent some time playing it. Keen was SO excited! It was too cute!

Making music!

Questions: Are you passing out candy tomorrow night? If so, what do you usually give out? What do you do with the leftover candy?

REMINDER: There is still time to enter the Artisana giveaway!! Contest ends tomorrow, October 31st at 8 p.m. PST! To enter, click here.

Silliness and the Love of “Baba!” August 31, 2012

Showing his love for his “Baba!”

Today was once again all about being silly and goofy at our house. Keenan literally wrestled his “Baba” on the couch for 10 minutes straight this morning! He kept saying, “Ummm, I love you Baba” as he hugged and laid on him. Keenan loves “Baba” so much that he practically goes everywhere with us, not to mention “Lambie” (or his new additions: Elmo and Polar Bear). But, “Baba” and “Lambie” still reign at the top, amongst all of Keenan’s critters! Poor “Baba,” he has travelled to two countries and back, not to mention Alaska, Oregon and Hawaii while still staying intact. Every time he goes through the wash, I swear he comes out looking a little less stuffed! 🙂

Wrestling with “Baba” round one!

More wrestling and showing his love for “Baba!”

Anyhow, more about today: As soon as Keenan got out of his crib, he demanded to have peanut butter for breakfast. So, I made him a frozen whole grain waffle with peanut butter and blueberry honey with a side of strawberries. I ate a waffle topped with a scoop of Fage 0% Greek yogurt, honey, strawberries and banana. It was the first time I had yogurt on a waffle and it was delicious! I will definitely do it again!

My lovely breakfast…a good change from my usual!

After breakfast, we headed outside to feed Slinky. Since we were outside, I decided to do a bit of pruning/dead-heading flowers, while Keenan played in his sandbox. After being outside for awhile, we headed to a play date (rather, a book club meeting) for my MOMs Club. On our way home, we stopped by Marshalls and picked up Keenan’s sunglasses! They called me last night telling me that they had found them. Keenan and I were both happy to have his sunglasses back! I still feel bad about the whole thing.

Busy playing while I pruned!

For lunch, I made Keenan a turkey and cheese sandwich with a side of carrots, nectarine and a glass of milk. I made myself an egg white sandwich (microwaving a 1/2 cup of egg whites with a little Parmesan cheese and spices mixed in a small bowl for 1 minute and 30 seconds) with lettuce, tomato and mustard. I used to be on an egg white kick, but for some reason, I just forgot about it, until I saw the container in our fridge today. The sandwich was exactly what I was craving!

Keenan’s lunch.

My lunch.

Speaking of lunch, I just read an interesting article on BabyCenter about popular characters helping kids eat healthy foods. The article talked about how popular kid’s characters are used frequently to sell junk food, but recent research has shown that the same characters can be used to promote eating healthy foods. As soon as I read this, I thought, well…duh! After seeing Keenan be so infatuated with Elmo and wanting to do what he does, of course kids would be influenced to eat healthier food, if their favorite characters were eating it! The article goes on to say that the method can be used in schools to help promote healthier eating. In one study, researchers had children pick between cookies and apples. A group of kids were offered plain (non-branded) apples and cookies, while another group was offered plain cookies or Elmo apples that had stickers of some of the Sesame Street characters. The Elmo apples were chosen more frequently than the cookies. Although, this seems to be a no-brainer for me, I think this is very powerful. Hopefully schools, government organizations and even some parents will use this effective strategy. How do you feel about using popular kid’s characters to influence children to eat healthier foods?

After Keenan’s nap, we went to CrossFit and did a good, but not so gruelling workout. It was a nice change, compared to the past few days! Today’s skill included hanging snatches and the WOD was 3 rounds for time of 10 snatches (women weight: 95 lb) and 15 facing the bar-facing burpees. Since I can’t seem to snatch anything above 85 lbs (another weakness I have to work on!), I stuck with 75 lbs for the workout. I finished my 3 rounds in 9 minutes and 21 seconds, not too bad.

For dinner, we had roasted brussel sprouts with a simple pasta sauté of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, cherry tomatoes, onions, fresh basil from our garden and feta cheese. It was very satisfying! This was Keenan’s first time eating brussel sprouts and he did pretty well.  At first he didn’t want to eat them, but after I sprinkled a little balsamic vinegar on top, he liked them!

Dinner tonight!

Keenan’s plate!

Well, it’s time for bed, since I’m heading to CrossFit in the morning, instead of in the afternoon. My husband and I have a double date with some friends tomorrow night. We are going to dinner at Kupros Bistro and seeing “Crazy For You” at Sacramento’s Music Circus, while my in-law’s babysit! Night, night!

Keenan’s 2nd Birthday Party Recap August 28, 2012

Happy Monday! Was it me, or did the weekend go by way too fast? We had a great weekend: Celebrating Keenan’s birthday on Saturday with our family and friends, and on Sunday we had a reunion for our Bradley Method birth class. It was definitely a party weekend! Needless to say, we are all still recovering from the festivities (lack of sleep and too much good food!).

Keenan’s birthday party went very well. Keenan had a blast playing with all of his friends and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. The party started at 3:30 p.m., and everyone pretty much left around 8:30 p.m. or so. Keenan had so much fun playing at his party, he immediately fell asleep as soon as I put him to bed around 9:00 p.m. He was exhausted, but just as I thought, he was up bright and early at 6:30 a.m. the next day, since he doesn’t sleep well at my parents’ house. I’m not sure why he doesn’t sleep well at my parents’ house…either there are too many different sounds or he is too excited to be there.  Since he was so exhausted, I put him to bed a little early last night, at 7:00 p.m., and he woke up at 8:00 a.m. this morning!

More on Keenan’s party: I made it pretty simple with red table cloths (going with the Elmo theme), flowers for centerpieces, a birthday banner (from his 1st birthday), Elmo balloons and Elmo plates and napkins. It was a perfect day, too, not too hot or too windy.

Once everyone arrived, we snacked on my husband’s infamous guacamole and chips (one of Keenan’s favorite foods) and swam. Keenan had fun swimming with his puddle jumper! After some swimming, the kids played with the water table, took rides in the wagon (courtesy of Nonna!) and played on the swing set. The kids were constantly busy playing, it was so fun to watch!

Before dinner, the kids swam a little more, making them all pretty hungry! For dinner, we had grilled chicken, Artichoke Torta, grilled peach spinach salad, fresh blueberries and strawberries, along with some freshly baked ciabatta. It was all very yummy! The kids dined at the little table, while the adults sat at the big table. The kids did a great job of cleaning their plates and once they were finished, they were off to play again!

A little while later, I brought out Keenan’s Elmo cake (Pig-out Carrot Cake), and we all sang Happy Birthday. It was funny, Keenan was afraid of his birthday candles and kept turning his head away (not wanting to look at them). Since he was a little unsure about blowing out his candles, his friends gladly helped him! Since we have talked about the danger of fire, I think Keenan was a little too scared. I hope we didn’t permanently scare him away from blowing out his birthday candles in the future! In addition to cake, my husband made peanut butter chocolate swirl ice cream, so all of the kids had ice cream cones in addition to the cake (LOTS of sugar). Keenan ate Elmo’s eye balls and his ice cream cone first, so he was too full to finish the rest of his piece of cake. Luckily, we have plenty leftover for him to have little pieces for some dessert this week!

As you can see, I decorated Keenan’s cake with m&ms (red and orange), chocolate chips for the mouth and peanut butter cups for the eyes. I definitely learned my lesson; I will not use m&ms again because they immediately started to bleed as soon as I placed them on the cake! Once I put the cake back into the fridge after I finished decorating it, the frosting and m&ms stopped melting, so it wasn’t too bad. But, I was still a little bummed that the cake didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped. At least the cake tasted good! The cream cheese frosting was perfectly tart and sweet, while the cake was super moist! Below is the recipe:

Pig-Out Carrot Cake:

Ingredients:

– 4 eggs

– 2 cups sugar

– 3 cups flour

– 2 tsp cinnamon

– 1 tsp nutmeg

– 2 tsp baking soda

– 1 tsp salt

– 1 1/2 cup canola or grape seed oil

– 1 tsp vanilla

– 1 8 oz. can crushed pineapple (reserve 1/4 cup of juice for frosting)

– 3 cups grated carrots

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat eggs and set aside.

2. Mix sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

3. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in oil, vanilla and beaten eggs. Mix.

4. Add crushed pineapple, carrots, raisins and walnuts.

5. Pour into greased 9X13 pan (or prepared cake pans) and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until knife inserted comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Ingredients:

– 1 cube butter

– 1 8 oz. package cream cheese

– 2 cups sifted powdered sugar (add by taste, instead of all at once)

– 1/4 cup pineapple juice

Directions:

1. Beat  together until well mixed.

2. Spread frosting over cooled cake.

After cake and ice cream cones, the kids played a little more before everyone headed home. For party favors, I gave each family a small bag of kettle corn that I made. All, in all, Keenan’s party was a lot of fun! Everything went smoothly; my husband and I were still able to relax, enjoy everyone’s company, watch Keenan have fun, while getting all of the food ready. It was great day.

Since it was so late after everyone left the party, Keenan opened his birthday gifts on Sunday morning, after we got home from church. He definitely knew how to open his gifts! One exciting gift he got was from Nonna and Avo: a tricycle! The nice thing about this tricycle is it has a removable handle, so we can push him now (since he doesn’t know how to peddle) and once he learns to peddle, you can take it off.

Today, Keenan helped my husband put his new trike together and then we went for his first ride! He was SUPER excited to take it for a ride!

Once Keenan woke up (sleeping for 2 1/2 hours), we headed to CrossFit for a much needed workout, after eating lots of sugar and rich food this weekend. My body sure needed it, but it definitely was not my best WOD. The WOD was a 7 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible), doing power cleans (women weight: 115 lbs) and 12 over the box jumps. I started with the prescribed weight of 115 lbs, but once I was on my 4th rep, it took me 5 attempts to get another one, so I decided to go down in weight to 105 lbs (not something I’m happy about). Since I changed the weight, I lost a lot of time, thus I was only to complete 3 rounds and 5 reps. A weakness of mine is “early arm bend” which makes it hard to increase my strength, if I don’t have proper technique. The “early arm bend” is something I have been working on for months, so it is something I need to continue working on…bring on more medicine ball cleans!

For dinner tonight, we had my turkey meatloaf in the crock pot (Mexican style with: cumin, oregano and salsa), roasted sweet potatoes and a salad. I didn’t have enough oats, so I added some flax seed and bread crumbs, thinking it wouldn’t effect the consistency. As soon I scooped the meatloaf out of the crock pot, it fell a part, thus not holding up as it usually is. But, it still tasted good! Since we were so hungry, we inhaled our food before I could take a picture, sorry! What did you make for dinner tonight?

Back to reality August 15, 2012

Keenan this morning: he wanted to take all of his critters in the car!

We are back to our regular routine today… having our “usual” breakfast with Fage 0% Greek yogurt (Mountain High Original whole-fat for Keenan), strawberries, flax seed, chia seeds and Kashi Go Lean Crunch Cereal and of course, a latte for my husband and me. After a fairly quick breakfast, we headed to Keenan’s swim class at the Y. We actually arrived early for a change (a first for us!). We are usually right on time or a couple of minutes of late, so it was nice to not have to rush. After swim class, we ran a couple of errands before going home for a little play time and lunch.

Keenan and I played a little piano together (I play and he taps, or sometimes bangs the keys!) and then we made all of his favorite critters (aka Baba, Lambie, Elmo and Polar Bear) lunch from his little kitchen. He was adamant on feeding them before we ate our lunch; it was too cute!

Feeding lunch to all of his critters!

For lunch, I made Keenan his favorite, a peanut butter and honey sandwich with some nectarine pieces on the side and a glass of milk. I ate some baby carrots, a nectarine and a turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato and avocado on a sandwich thin spread with some new tzatziki sauce that we got at a different Costco. Our regular Costco discontinued the one we usually buy, so we found a different brand at a Costco near my parent’s house. I love Costco, but I get so frustrated when they discontinue an item that you always purchase. What are your favorite items at Costco?

Anyhow, today is all about getting “back to reality.” Last night I made a to-do list with all of the things I need to get done before the end of the month, including a few for Keenan’s birthday. His birthday is next Monday, but we are having his party at my parent’s house the following weekend. It seems aside from Keenan’s birthday, every weekend is booked until the end of September! It is crazy how busy things are going to be for the next month. I guess that is typical after getting back from vacation. I don’t think we have ever come back from a vacation and not had any commitments or things to do…life is just busy in our household!

Though, I’m looking forward to all of the things we have planned for the next month: Keenan’s birthday, our good friend’s birthday, my cousin’s wedding and getting my CrossFit Level 1 Certification, it will be nice when we have a free weekend again! The hustle and bustle of life makes me continue to think of the simplicity in Alaska, and prioritizing what really is important. Instead of racing through life, constantly thinking/worrying of what I have to do next or how I am going to get things done, I am making a vow to slow down, not get stressed out or overwhelmed when I have a lot on my plate. I am committing myself to focus more in the present, cherishing each and every moment and most importantly, appreciate the little things (i.e. kisses and cuddles from Keenan, laughing/playing with him and enjoying time with my husband). Lastly, I am pledging to truly differentiate between our needs vs. wants.  Life is too short and too precious to get caught in the rat race and forget what is really meaningful. How do you stay balanced and sane when life gets busy?

This afternoon, after Keenan wakes-up from his nap, we are heading to his friend’s birthday party and then to CrossFit for another grueling (but awesome!) workout. Yesterday, we found our 1-Rep-Max deadlift, which I PR’d (Personal Record) at 230 lbs and then had to do 150 wall balls in 8 minutes! It was rough, but I was able to complete 107 wall balls (not bad for my first day back)!

On the menu for tonight is a Basil Peach Salad made with arugula, fresh mozzarella cheese and walnuts, that I found in this month’s edition of Women’s Health Magazine. It looks so good; I can’t wait to try it! I’ll take a picture of it and post the recipe tomorrow!

Random…Elmo, Strollers and Solids July 27, 2012

Diane Sawyer was on Sesame Street.

I just love lazy mornings! Keenan woke up late (9:00 a.m.) again, so it was nice to sleep-in a bit! Since my husband is off today, we were able to have some family time this morning: eating breakfast together and watching a couple of Elmo’s World and Sesame Street episodes. Keenan rarely watches TV (he hasn’t really shown an interest and we are just too busy with other things!), so this morning was a treat! Ever since Keenan met Elmo at Sea World last week, he has been infatuated with him! He has wanted to watch Elmo on TV, sleep with his Elmo doll and wear his shoes! As you can see from the pictures, Keenan was mesmerized!

I had to take a picture of this: Keenan watching Sesame Street (Feist was singing her song, “1234″) while wearing Daddy’s shoes…too cute!

I did it again, I forgot to take a picture of breakfast this morning, which was my “usual,” with half of a banana (sliced) mixed in it. So, I snapped a quick picture after I finished, sorry! I’m still working on the whole picture thing!

Sorry, this was after I finished my “usual” breakfast. At least, you can still see some of my latte that I was drinking!

For lunch, I had my “typical:” turkey sandwich on an Oroweat sandwich thin with lettuce, tomato and Costco’s yogurt jalapeno dip! In addition, I had a few baby carrots and a nectarine  that I shared with Keenan. He ate leftover chicken, eggplant and carrots from last night’s dinner. Speaking of nectarines, do you like your stone fruit firm or soft? My husband and I always butt heads over stone fruit. I like my fruit to be firm (which he says is “rock hard”), while he likes his fruit to be soft (squishy and over ripe, in my opinion) and juicy. Fortunately, Keenan likes firm fruit, so that is what I buy!

On another note, I have received a couple of questions in regards to jogging strollers and introducing solids. Yes, I know these two things are totally unrelated and random, but I thought I would address them here.

Jogging Strollers:

We have the BOB revolution and we absolutely LOVE it! It is our only stroller, so we bought the car seat adapter to use when Keenan was an infant. It was a perfect stroller for us, because it is so versatile. In addition to jogging with it (as soon as I was cleared to exercise again at 6 weeks postpartum), we took it everywhere: shopping, going to the beach, walking, some hiking and traveling. It rides very smooth and it is so easy and effortless to push. You can walk over any terrain and the stroller still rides smooth. The catalyst for choosing the BOB was when my niece was born. My brother and sister-in-law had a Graco stroller, where the car seat locked right in, and when we took a family vacation in Spain and France, it was horrible on the cobble stone streets. It was so bumpy and rough, we had to carry the stroller! After that trip, my husband and I knew we wanted to get a stroller that had pneumatic tires and rode smooth, once we had children. When I found out I was pregnant, we did a lot of research and stumbled upon the BOB. We tried it out at REI and loved it! We have taken it with us on four trips and each time, it was very easy to travel with. It even rolls over soft sand! We folded it down, took the front wheel off, strapped the wheel, and put the whole thing in a large plastic bag (that we got from our airline, or you can buy a big package of extra large clear garbage bags at Costco) and gate-checked it. So far, the stroller has been fine and it has been our savior to have in the airport. Needless to say, I highly recommend the BOB, if you are in the market for a stroller. (I can take pictures of my husband breaking down the stroller for travel, and describe the process in another post, if anyone is interested.)

At the beach in San Diego!

Introducing Solids:

When my friend asked me what food I introduced to Keenan first, it brought back a lot of memories that I thought I would share. It seemed that everywhere you read or even who you talked with, the universal “first solid food” recommendation was rice cereal. Luckily, my sister-in-law told me that rice cereal constipates your baby (she experienced it with my niece), so she recommended starting with oatmeal or barley and to not even introduce rice cereal. I listened to her and started Keenan on oatmeal, making it myself by using whole oats, grinding them in a blender or food processor and cooking them with my frozen breast milk. I made big batches, poured the oatmeal into silicone ice cube trays and froze them. When it was time to feed Keenan his oatmeal, I would pop out a cube or two (depending on how much he was eating), place them in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for about 1 minute, until thawed. Of course, I would have to wait until it cooled before giving it to him. For added flavor and nutritional benefits, I added ground flax seed and cinnamon. Keenan loved it, in fact he ate oatmeal every morning for his breakfast until he was 15 months old! We started him on solids when he was 7 1/2 months old, rather late, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Our pediatrician follows the World Health Organization recommendations, which at the time, stated if your baby is exclusively breastfed, then solids don’t need to be introduced until 7 months. Since we visited my brother, sister-in-law and niece (for her 3rd birthday) in Montreal when Keenan was turning 7 months old, we waited until we got home from our trip to give him solids. Up until then, he really never showed any interest in our food, so it was perfect timing. When he ate oatmeal for the first time, he devoured it, so he was completely ready! When did you introduce solids to your children? Do you have any helpful tips for those who are just starting to introduce solid foods to their babies?

This afternoon, we are off to CrossFit for our second-to-last workout before we leave for Alaska (we are going to do one more WOD tomorrow morning, after I help out with the morning class) and then it’s dinner. On the menu for tonight is my Grilled Corn Salad (which we made for 4th of July) with chicken! It should be good!!