BentleyTurns7MonthsMerryChristmasHappyNewYear!

Happy Birthday little B!

This month you:
 learned to sit up...

Played trains at Barnes and Noble with your brother and cousin...

(they had more fun than you did)

played in your first snow with Jack...

 held lots of business meetings in the kitchen...

took up reading as a hobby (we're still working on proper book orientation)...

...and spread LOTS of Christmas cheer.

When you smile, you smile with your whole darn face. And those cheeks... they're not getting any smaller.  In fact, I've noticed that after you've been crying (yep, this still happens on an all to regular basis) a little tear will just sit on your cheek below your eye.  Your cheeks are so big, they can hold the little tear puddle there for hours without drying up. I pretty much can't even look at you without telling you and your fuzzy little head how much I love you. The end.

CHRISTmas was loads of fun this year... Jack really really got into the 'pressies' and Jesus' birthday and Santy Claus. Like a typical seven month old, Bentley spent lots of time just trying to figure out what was going on.

Jack checking out his new Llama Llama book.

 Safety first!

Busted! Doing what... I'm not sure.

 Jack jamming on his new saxy-phone.

This kid looooves music. Especially the sax because his big cousin, Sam, plays the sax.
Jack loves to watch his band concerts and now he has his very own sax to be just like 'Shammy'.

We had so much fun celebrating God's greatest gift... His son, Jesus.

I guess we didn't get any family photos and this is the only picture of Chris and I that I could find.

Tonight is New Years Eve... more family fun!
For my part of the family fun, I'm bringing bacon wrapped jalapenos and Oreo bark... yea baby.

2012 will have to be pretty amazing to compete with 2011.
Thank you, God for all the wonderful blessings in my life.

Whole 30 ...and DONE!

I'm feeling pretty darn proud of myself right now, thankyouverymuch.

I just completed 30 days of eating only real food: tons of vegetables, one fruit a day, meat, nuts, eggs and healthy fats (coconut oil).

I cut out completely:
Added sugar of any kind, real or artificial. No maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, Splenda, Equal, Nutrasweet, xylitol, stevia, etc. 
Processed foods.
Alcohol.
Grains. This includes (but is not limited to) wheat, rye, barley, millet, oats, corn, rice, sprouted grains and all of those gluten-free pseudo-grains like quinoa.
Legumes. This includes beans of all kinds (black, kidney, lima, etc.), peas, lentils, and peanuts.
White potatoes.
Dairy. This includes cow, goat or sheep’s milk products such as cream, cheese (hard or soft), kefir, yogurt (even Greek), and sour cream.

All of that GONE.

It was both easier and harder than I thought it would be.  Most of the time it was pretty easy, but I did have some challenging times in the past 30 days. For example~ Thanksgiving, Christmas parties and cookie decorating parties. Well, and stress, I wanted some wine, bad. But I made it without cheating and hopefully in addition to losing six pounds, I've permanently changed some eating habits. 

So, yea, I only lost six pounds... I was hoping for more, but super happy with six.  I am still nursing too, so maybe my body is hanging on to fat for that?  Who knows, who cares.

What I do care about was savoring the cream in my coffee this morning that I haven't had in 30 days. Mmmmmm. 

I will most definately continue on with a Paleo or Primal eating plan (like I was doing before anyway).  I love this way of eating and these 30 days just confirmed for me that this is the lifestyle I want to live.

I'm am kind of disapointed that I don't feel very different... I was expecting to feel like a champ after this, but after the first two weeks of amazing sleep, that went away and I feel like I always did before. Oh well, the way I feel now is infinately better than when I was eating the Standard American Diet (low fat, high carb, some protein, lots of processed foods like cereal, wheat thins, etc. and not enough healthy fats).

So there, done in time for some Christmas cookies!  Yup, I will be going there...

Jack, two and a half years of awesome

A tsunami of awesome, if you will (a couple people will get that).  Never has one little person been able to make me so mad and so head over heels madly in love all in the same minute.  Can I get an 'amen' from you mom's reading this?? 
Thankfully the head over heels part reigns most days :)

So I thought it was time for an update on my favorite oldest son. 

Here goes, this is Jack at 2 1/2-

You loooove to help me in the kitchen.  We do this often...
thus the emergence of hundreds of new gray hairs on my head.

You've got your ABC's down pat; as long as you're singing them

(I'm the same way, buddy).

You have recently discovered the question, 'why?'.  However, you think the appropriate word is 'because'.  Several times a day I hear

'because, Mom, because?'. 

{Precious doesn't even cover it.}

On a related note, you have dropped Mommy and Daddy from your vocabulary in favor of Mom and Dad. What the wha... where is this coming from?

You potty trained at exactly 2 1/2,

 which is ironically the same time you learned that the actual toilet is not necessary.

You love to do art projects with me and you even learned how to use scissors...

gah, more gray hairs!

 Rooooaaarrrrrr. 

Finished product below!

You learned to pedal your bike...

 and then joined a neighborhood gang 
(don't be fooled by how cute they are).

You have demonstrated your own way of sleeping.

You love both your brother and chapstick. Equally.

 You are always ready to keep Bentley company.  Even in your undies.

 You love to take silly pictures.

 You spend half your time bugging your brother with lights on his head,

cars on his head...

 making him cry...

 and the other half loving all over him.

The best is when Bentley is crying and you say,

'Don't cry B, I'm here. It's okay, B. Jack is here, don't cry'. *sigh*

 I have about a million other things I could say... but I will stop for now.  The most important 'other' thing I want to say is that I love you, Jack, so much more than you will ever even begin to realize and I thank God for you daily.  I'm so proud of you; you amaze me on a regular basis with how quickly you learn new things and how much love you have for family and friends. And what's more... I really like you, Jack.  Keep on being you... you're pretty awesome.

Rudolph!

Thank you Pinterest for yet another fabulous art project. 

Today Jack and Bentley made Rudolph the red nosed reindeer out of their sweet little piggies!

There are no pictures of the process because there was no way I was getting distracted after painting my two year old's feet brown.  I'm either so brave or so stupid  :) 

Either way, he was a champ and cooperated so well. 

And, as a general rule, Jack does wear clothes... but again,

I WAS PAINTING DIRECTLY ONTO MY TWO YEAR OLD!

Had to take the proper precautions.

 This is Bentley's very first craft project! Awwww.

Merry Christmas to all!

Day 15- I'm halfway there, YA'LL!

Well, I'm halfway through my Whole30 challenge, starting day 15 today.  It's been a lot easier than I expected (from day three on, that is).  On day two and three, I had major headaches and almost flu-like symptoms... that was the sugar withdrawal. Whew!  After going through that, I {almost} don't want to add sugar back in now!  I am actually debating continuing this on through after New Year's Eve.  I've done so much GOOD for my body so far, I would be very disappointed if I gave in to the Christmas cookie call. 


I find it funny that (including last night, now) I've had THREE dreams where I cheated!  That shows how much I think about how I eat during the day!  But in all three dreams, I was SO disappointed and MAD at myself for cheating! ...hoping that helps me stay on track during the day too. So far so good.


Now for the info everyone is most interested in... I'm down 4 pounds and my clothes are fitting better.  (By the way, according to the Whole30 website you are not supposed to step on the scale all month long.  This is  about being healthy, not weight loss. It's about changing the way you eat permanently, not dropping a few pounds then gaining it back- but I can tell you, as much as I want this to be a permanent change in the way I eat, I've always stepped on the scale every single day... so that wasn't going to change in these 30 days. Sorry, Whole30.)


AND I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!  (sorry for screaming that) But for real, I usually have a major afternoon slump, as in I literallymustsleepNOW.  And sometimes I do nap and other times I fight through it with coffee and a two and a half year old and a cranky six month old.  But now, I'm really, truly feeling so much better!  At night, I'm sleeping like a drugged person, I literally am sleeping so deeply that when I wake up... I'm up.  It's so odd, I just get up.  Maybe some of you reading this do that already, if so congrats. I, however, usually 'wake up' dog tired and can barely open my eyes, let alone get out of bed. It's quite refreshing to get a good nights sleep. And the same goes for bedtime, I have a pretty steady energy level all day long, then sometime in the evening, it's as if my body says, 'time for bed'- and I'm suddenly I'm so sleepy I have to got to bed NOW.  No insomnia here.

I still get the munchies and I either eat nuts or drink LaCroix... I pretty much have two a day, one for the afternoon 'snack' and one in a wine glass at night. Har. Not quite the same, but I have to do something! 

To sum up, I am so happy I've started this challenge and I am more than ever determined to finish it without cheating.  That's all for now.

You're six months, Bentley!

Wow, another month GONE. 

Six months is such a milestone!  At this point you're actually closer to being ONE, a real age, rather than being so many months or a newborn or my tiny little baby.  You're that much closer to walking and talking and just simply... growing up (can I get a collective *sniff*?).  As Jack says almost daily, 'When B grows up, he gets to ______ '(fill in the blank with whatever we're doing at the moment... eat raisins, go down the slide, bang on the drum, etc.). 

I pretty much love it.

You still have the biggest smile aaaaaand loudest scream. 
I love that we never know what's coming... yea, did I just say that?

You had your first Halloween this month! You were just the tastiest little chicken I have ever seen.

You do the most amazing thing that melts my heart Every. Single. Day.  As I carry you out of your room first thing in the morning, you put your little arms around my neck and squeeze!

 It's a baby Bentley hug!  Let's keep that up, k?

You had your first bath with your brother. It was the only bath you've had where there was a very good chance you came out dirtier than when you went in.  Har.

You ate real people food this month!  You had some homemade sweet potatoes for your first meal.  I'm going out on a limb here and guessing you weren't much of a fan...

You gobbled up avacado's though... ahhh, boy after my own heart. 

And, you get by with a little help from your brother.

 I just love ya, little B. Keep on keepin' on.





Whole 30 Challenge!

READ THIS LINK FIRST!

http://whole9life.com/2011/06/whole-30-v4/ 

 I'm just starting day 2 of the Whole30 Challenge.  I'm going to need some accountability on this!  This is very close to how I eat already, but now I have to cut out cheese, ANY added sugar (craisins, dark chocolate, cream in my coffee) and WINE!  And not cheat :)  I typically do my fair share of cheating. Eeeeeek!

I have a friend who is 2 weeks into this who has been SUPER motivating and she told me 'you can do anything for 30 days'.  That is a great reminder!  I'm really looking forward to feeling even better and just doing something so good for my body. 

I keep wanting to think of this as 'hard' (especially over Thanksgiving- and there will be NO cheating, btw)... but if you read the details of the program, they say "It is not hard.  Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Giving up heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard.  Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard." 

Yup... so true.

Feel free to check in on me... I will be totally honest with you if I have cheated AT. ALL.

Thank you very much.

Some Crafty Hair

(As a side note, Beastie Boys were my all time favorite band when I was in high school.  And, let's be honest, if I randomly hear Beasties on the radio, I have to crank it up and it puts me in a pretty good mood.  Anyway, all of this 'crafty' business on my blog, always makes me think of the song 'She's Crafty'.  And then it's stuck in my head for the remainder of the day... which is fine by me!)

So, my hairdresser is the owner of her salon and is amazing.  Her salon slogan is 'Confidence is Beautiful' and she exudes confidence.  Recently she posted a picture of something a little different on her facebook page and I immediately said, 'I need that'. 

So, there it is... crafty, eh?  I know it's totally different... but I happen to love totally different.  :)

Here it is with my hair pushed back.  This is too dramatic for me, so it generally always looks like it does in the above picture. I was only the second person she did this to.

My dad's comment on my hair was 'WHY?'  My answer was 'why not?'  :) 

Thoughts?  I think it's pretty fun.

BAWK!

This is what happens when you wait until the last minute to buy your baby a Halloween costume...

 I think he's a chicken.

I wasn't sure what the hubs would think about his son being a chicken,

but he was surprisingly okay with it.

I see a dimple.

Nom nom, chicken legs.

And then there's Jack, all up in B's business trying to get a smile out of him. 

Ahhh, brothers.

(And, never fear, Jack has a costume too. 

This was just the dress rehersal for Bentley.)

Baby B, five months

Happy five month birthday, Bentley Charles!

Here are some fun facts about you, Mr. B:

-You suck on your first two fingers as if they are a delicious treat.  {Well, if we’re being honest here, I will confirm that they are, in fact, pretty tasty.} 

-Kisses on your face and belly Rock. Your. World. Don't mind if I do.

-You charm friends, family and perfect strangers with your giant grin, floppy cheeks and yummy dimple.  Yes, I want to eat your dimple.

-You love your brother.

-And the feeling is mutual.

-You've started sleeping on your belly most of the time. You love love love to have a blanket up by your face when you fall asleep. And since you still scream and pretty much get your way whenever, I oblige and snuggle you in to sleep. {And then I stalk you on the video monitor to make sure you’re still breathing and take the blanket off you before I go to bed.}

-Several times I've noticed through the video monitor that you've pulled the blanket up over your face and then you just lay there like a starfish* flailing around with the blanket on top of your face. After I stop laughing, I come in to rescue you, and you give me a smile that Melts. My. Heart.  True story.

-It's nearly impossible to get a good picture of you. The camera comes out and I get the *blank stare below.

-It's similar to the stare usually reserved for your hands and fingers.  Which by the way, how in the heck did they get there??

Bentley~ Thanks for keeping us on our toes, little buddy.  I'm excited to see what's in store for us as you grow and show more of your unique personality.  I'm calling it now that you won't let your brother run the show, you seem pretty independent.

Last weekend was your baby dedication at church. Pastor John talked about how we are committing to raise you to love God and serve Him and that the church is there to support that cause.  I'm so thankful to have such an amazing church family for you to grow up in.  Below is a picture from Sunday...

*This is an example of the little known combo, blank stare/starfish pose. This pose is usually reserved for when I'm actually trying to get a really good picture.  But I'm onto you, and despite your best efforts to foil my pictures, I still think you're pretty cute.

Love ya lots, B.