A for Effort in Health & Fitness

At the beginning of this year, I was "gazelle intense" with a workout regime, though Knox made it a wee bit difficult most days with crying a decent amount in Kidz Klub. So as I always do, health and fitness got pushed to a back burner--sadly. Now that we are wanting to expand our family someday in the near future, I think it's important I get back in gear.

I'd like to report that I have started to get it in gear again as of Monday. The pups and I have walked each morning for about 35 minutes. Lately, Knox has become infatuated with the Wii which is a blessing and a curse. Blessing because it entertains him and we are up getting some exercise, and curse because he throws a horrid fit when we turn it off no matter how long we've been playing. Yesterday I unlocked a new item on the Wii Fit called Free Run. I'm basically running in place and my little Wii character is just running on the screen with other little Wii people, but I know I'm trying to beat my previous score. That competitiveness in me gets me going. I throw on my iPod for some musical encouragement for a few extra 10 minute segments, and before I know it have had an hour of cardio for the day broken into two sessions. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I got a side stitch yesterday while doing my Free Run! Ha! Guess that's how out of shape I am!

Food's a little more difficult when eating on a budget, but definitely do-able. I'm also logging my food intake by using this great website tool. Perfect for me since I'm at my computer a lot during the day. My current favorite breakfast has been a Kashi Go-Lean 7 Grain Waffle (on sale with coupons) with reduced-fat PB (on sale) and half a banana (Aldi for 49¢/lb.) smeared on top of the waffle. Like a PB and 'nana sandwich, just with waffle instead of bread. YUMMMMM-O! AND I guess the added protein of the PB and whole grains of the waffle have me filling much more full through out the AM. Plus I've been downing some H2O, so I know that helps.

Last night's dinner was a complete success in terms of yumminess, healthfulness and family satisfaction. I was in the mood for some southern cooking, but obviously wanted it healthy. Yeah, right? Well, this is what I did. I had dried pinto beans (SO CHEAP!) and did the quick soak method on the package (I had Publix brand, but any brand works). To finish cooking the beans (according to the directions) I used the chicken stock I made last week--and nothing else besides salt! And they were DELISH! I only made a half bag thinking we'd have leftovers, but they were completely gone by the end of the night! Knox devoured a cup or more, I had a cup (I actually measured for once!) and Keith had the rest in two sittings! The only fat was from the chicken stock, and beans are so great for you--tons of protein and fiber!

In my world, if you have beans you have to have cornbread. It's a must. An unwritten law. I had some self-rising cornmeal and randomly looked up recipes. I found one on cooks.com and altered it a bit. This is all it read, but my alterations are in parenthesis:

Corn Bread

1 c. self rising cornmeal (cheap to begin with!)

1/2 c. vegetable oil (I used 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup No Sugar Added Applesauce)

2 eggs (I did use real eggs--79¢ at Aldi, but it could easily be subbed with Eggbeaters)

1 c. cream style corn (I didn't have creamed corn, but did have TONS of cans of regular corn--on sale with coupons.)

1/2 c. sour cream (I used reduced fat--on sale with coupons)

(I added 1 T. Splenda--on sale with coupons--and one large pinch of salt)

Mix and bake at 350 degrees until browned. (I tried that for 25 minutes but wasn't set up in the middle. Package read 375 degrees, so I upped the temp and backed for probably 10-15 more minutes. I would probably start temp at 375 next time.)

It was one of the most yummy and moist piece(s) of cornbread I've ever had! Don't be scared of the applesauce, you don't taste it AT ALL! A great way to cut down oil in most any baked good, but be sure to use some oil. For the corn, I used my hand emersion (sp?) blender right in the can after I drained almost all of the liquid out. Plus you get the added benefit of the regular corn, so you get a few more veggies in without knowing it!

I added a salad to all this yumminess for a complete healthy, vegetarian meal! Plus Hubs and Wild Man were full and satisfied! YAY!

What a FABULOUS Giveaway!

I stumbled upon this fabulous blog with an equally fabulous giveaway! It's a double stroller from Bumbleride--how fabulous is this thing? I know we currently don't have two bundles of joy, but hopefully some day in the very, very, very near future we will--and this would be my one dream item! Oh! The luxurious ease of a double stroller would be wonderous! Don't ya think?

It may put a damper on Puddin' Pops cargo rides--I don't think I'm quite strong enough to push a 30 lb. 19 month old, an 18 lb. shih tzu and another 8lb baby (when that day comes and God may bless us!) Guess it would be an amazing way to work off "baby fat." :)

I Heart Autumn

We love fall in the Rogers Household.  We love fall and everything that comes with it--football, holidays, cooler temperatures that are more conducive to playing outdoors.  Knox has loved the out of doors since the day he has been born.  Can't get the kid to calm down, then take him outside.  He's instantly calmer when he's in the open air.

SO with the more bearable temperature, we have been taking advantage of spending some quality family time outside, watching Knox toddle around, crash, and figure out how to get up again.  I think a combination of being outside and watching Willem get to standing on his own, has culminated in the wild man's noggin.  He can finally get to standing all by his lonesome, without the aid of any props for leverage.  This just goes to show that my little man does thing all in his own time--most babies stand before they ever walk.  Knox has been walking for almost two months and has just now gotten on two feet without pulling up.  Ahh, the wonders of little minds.

In other Knox-related news, he's still not waving or clapping but if you say Patty Cake with him sitting in your lap, he'll move YOUR hands in the appropriate manner and in the correct order.  He will not attempt this by himself.  Laziness or sheer genius?  Time will tell, I guess.  He also got his first flu vaccine, with the second dose to follow in 30 days.  We didn't know if Bug was allergic to eggs, since he's never had any, so we had to hang out for 10 minutes following the shot to ensure he didn't have a reaction.    Turns out, he can eat eggs to his little heart's content--no egg allergies here!  Daddy and I will be following Knox's precedent by having flu shots on Friday, while we are in Alabama.  Nothing wrong with Georgia flu shots--only going to the drug store down from Ma Jack & Big Daddy's for convenience, and so I can hold Daddy's hand while he gets his.  There is a small fear of needles there. :)  

S0--happy first of fall!  Go get your flu shots, so there is less chance of spreading the bad bug around!

Pee-pie!

Well, our latest news includes playing "pee-pie" (the Lamm/Rogers house version of "Peek-a-boo"), Knox getting closer to walking and he first attempts at throwing a temper tantrum.  The last is, obviously, our least favorite of what he has learned lately.

We play pee-pie using a burp cloth or dish towel to cover his eyes while saying, "Where's Knox?  Where could he be?"  Then we pull down the cloth saying, "There he is!" and making a big fuss over him.  It has been one sided for many months now, but he turned that around on us this past Thursday.  I threw his burp cloth over his head, saying the norm, when he decided to take action and pull it down from his eyes.  He was so excited to hear me respond to him, that he immediately pulled it back up and waited for his prompts to lower it yet again.  We played several times, just to make sure it wasn't my imagination, and rushed him and the burp cloth upstairs where Keith and Charlie (the next door neighbor) were talking deer.  I interrupted so Knox could perform, but as babies do, he got performance anxiety and only wanted to check out what the big boys were doing.  Knox's next attempt at playing pee-pie just happened to come while I was attempting to jog for the second time.  It was one of those instances when it was only the second time he's made an effort to play any form of game, and, as a mother, you feel an obligation to encourage his new activity despite ANYTHING that I might be doing--including a miserable attempt at jogging (knees hurting, out of breath, barely able to speak, saying "Where's Knox?  Pee-pie."  At least the dogs weren't with us for that lap.)

As most of you know, Knox has been working his way to being able to walk for quite some time now.  He keeps getting closer and closer.  Lately, he's been letting go of furniture to try and get to another piece of furniture a few feet away.  Even more recently, I've caught him getting into the "breakfast nook" (if you want to call it that), pulling up on a chair and just gunning towards the center of the kitchen.  By gunning, I mean three steps...total.  In addition to walking, he's made it up three steps in just a matter of seconds, instead of the initial two from which he feel a few weeks ago.  I'm starting to lovingly refer to his bruises as battle wounds.

And now to what Keith and I both now, will be the first of many temper tantrums.  Of course, since we're "Super Parents" (equivalent of Superman), we will squash those tantrums from the get-go and have the most well behaved child--ever!  If I could only dream in color...Anywho, the extent of his tantrums only include the arching of his back with his head thrown back and a slight whine.  But I think for the most part, he's just learning to use his body a bit more.  He does the whole head back, arch thingy even when he's not upset so I'm not too concerned--yet.

Oh and Keith finally got latched on the kitchen cabinets, so I'm not chasing after him there.  I thought I was smart in using his corral gate in its extended state to block him for the kitchen, i.e. the dog bowls, but my little genius has found the slight hole between the gate and wall.  He even goes to the measure of pushing the entire gate to get to the edge of the carpet (my little linebacker) where he sits and enjoys a nice little snack of carpet fuzz.  He throughly enjoys picking individual pieces of carpet and putting them into his mouth, only to choke until he ralphs.  Lovely, isn't it?  At least I know he can feed himself.  Here's to looking at the positive.

So, that's been our week's highlights.  We'll have an exciting weekend with Grammy & Grandaddy (Keith's parents) since they are coming to visit for the weekend.  I think Knox is very excited--and I think Mommy and Daddy are too!  I'm sure we will have some wonderful pictures to share after their visit.