Christmas Day in Pictures

Christmas 2013

Christmas 2013

Why, donuts for Santa of course! 

Love this one!

Baby's 1st Christmas!

Julianne and Joy her first Build-a-Bear

New vacuum 

Anything can be a pacifier 

Car rug!

He LOVES it!

Ikea finds! 

New bedding

Oliver's Bedroom Facelift 

Pretty pumped about his new train! 

He's a good man.

Kurt and I have been together 8 years this month.  We started dating my freshman year/ his senior year of college.  In a way I feel like he has always been in my life.  I am blessed to be his wife.  He is a good man.

Let me explain why he's a good man. 
Do you know his work schedule?  He wakes up at 3 in the morning.  Every.single.weekday.  He gets up in the middle of the night.  He has been working this schedule since before we had Oliver.  Since having Julianne he takes her to bed at night so Oliver and I have some time.  He does this without complaining the vast majority of the time.  I know I could not keep up that schedule.  If I did, you would not want to know me; I would be a wreck!  Kurt is tired a lot of the time- due to his schedule- but he still plays with the kids- is a loving husband- and a present father.

You know why else he's a good man? 
He supports my desire to be a stay-at-home-mom.  OK, sure- a lot of his crazy schedule might have to do with the fact that he does it because he's the bread winner.  He makes our only income.  Sure, we could be making a lot more money if I were teaching. I do have a Master's degree that is not being used.  He doesn't make me feel guilty for that.  He values what I do in our home as my work.  He knows it's a job in itself.  He compliments me for making delicious food, keeping the house, and doing the kid stuff.  He doesn't throw it in my face that I make.no.money.  He doesn't treat me as a lesser spouse because 'all' I do is stay home.  He doesn't make snide remarks about 'what I do all day'.  It makes what I do all the more rewarding because I know, no matter how my day goes, or what society says about me; I am doing something meaningful and important and valued in this home.

He's also a good man because he's cute.  He's funny.  He loves me.  He stands by my decisions to go sugar free.  To nurse my toddler.  To birth like a rock star.  To leave our son intact.  To decorate for Christmas right after Halloween.  To shop on Black Friday just because it's my tradition.  You know what else he does?  He makes my coffee every morning after he finishes his, at 3 in the morning.  He sets my coffee so when I get up with the kids- all I have to do is turn it on.  Coffee is important in this household, in case you didn't know.

When I put it all in one spot, it makes me wonder?  Am I as good to him as he is to me?  I hope he knows how much he means to us.  8 years baby! <3

Thank you, God for this wonderful man you have blessed me with!

xoxo,
Riss

THM Update

We've been doing Trim Healthy Mama for about 4 weeks now.  So far we are loving it.  We are eating yummy food, feeling satisfied with our food choices, definitely not starving ourselves, AND I'm losing weight! I am down 15 pounds since cutting sugar.  About 5 of those have come off after starting THM. The inches have been falling off too.  2 inches off my navel, 2 inches off my hips, and 1 off my thigh just in the last 3 weeks!  Sunday I was over joyed and a little shocked when I tried on my pre-pregnancy jeans.  They were one of my first goals in my weight loss and they FIT!  My Lucky Brand, Levis, and 9 West from after losing Oliver's baby weight fit me again and I'm thrilled!  I still have about another 15 pounds to lose to be back to Julianne's pre-pregnancy weight.  I have given myself until her 1st birthday as a goal to lose her baby weight and I think I'm on my way there!

I am feeling much better.  Life is busy and things can get crazy around here with an infant and a 2 year old, but overall we're doing well.  It feels good to eat good, healthy food and to know that I'm doing something great for myself and my family.

Some of my favorite foods this week have been-- Chocolate Peanut Butter Dessert Shake, Rooibos Tea (I drink mine hot w/ a cinnamon stick in it), and Bulletproof coffee-- I make mine w/ coffee, 1/2 a scoop of Swanson's Whey Protein Powder, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and organic heavy cream.  Add some pumpkin pie spice for some fall flavor, or make w/ flavored coffee and you'll love it!  These drinks and shakes have been so yummy and filling!  The PB Shake feels way too decadent to be healthy and on plan.  It totally feels like I'm cheating!

So far this journey has been totally worth it and has kinda become a hobby.  My Healthy Life Pinterest board has new followers everyday and is one of my favorite things to browse when I'm nursing Julianne.  Who knew eating would become a hobby that could make me lose weight!?  :)

xoxo,
Marissa

Trim Healthy Mama

Well, I've been a little MIA lately.  We took a trip to DE and had a fabulous time visiting with family.  My kids loved the beach, Funland, fishing, and shopping just about every Goodwill in the state of DE. ;)  Of course we also hit Ikea and I stocked  up on toys for my babies Christmas!!  Fun, fun all around!

Since we've been back I've been feeling a little behind.  This week I've worked on getting my act together and it feels good!  Our journey to healthier living has taken another turn that I wanted to fill you in on.  A friend told me about Trim Healthy Mama.  I had never heard of it before but she has been doing it with great results since May.  I was curious so I asked her more about it.  I joined the facebook group for THM and was quickly sold.  The ladies were dropping pounds like nobody's business!  My book took awhile to arrive so I didn't get to read it until I got home from our trip to DE.  I jumped in reading and started the plan as much as I understood last week.  I'm still learning as I go but so far I like it!

The meals are labeled by "S"atisfying and "E"energizing.  The thought behind the plan is to separate your fats and carbs so your body can burn through your foods energy source and get to burning your stored body fat.  "S" meals are the meals including butter, coconut oil, bacon, eggs, any meat, non-startchy veggies, and so forth.  These meals are EASY for me to LOVE!  This was the way we were eating after watching "Fathead"and following a low carb lifestyle.  "E" meals are a little harder for me which is kinda surprising because I'm a recovering Carb-a-Holic! "E" meals can have up to 45 grams of carbs but less than 5 grams of fat.  1 tsp of butter or oil is allowed in an "E" meal.  Of course sugar is a no- no in case you didn't pick up on that so we're still sugar free!

The authors of the book are sisters.  They are both mothers to large families and they are Christian women.  I love the way the book feels like you're just chatting with a friend.  They took 5 years of research to write the book.  A large portion of the book is comprised of recipes that are THM friendly.

I lost 1.5 pounds in my first few days of THM and I think this lifestyle will work great for us.  A dear friend has also purchased the book and is doing the plan.  It has been great to discuss and learn together.  We even got to go out for a wonderful "S"atisfying dinner, THM style the other night!  I am confident this is a fabulous, healthy, sustainable lifestyle for me and my family.  Oliver has actually GAINED 2 pounds and I think he's benefiting as well!

I look forward to posting updates along this journey and sharing my progress with you! And keep an eye out for Trim Healthy Tuesday posts.  I'm planning to link up next week!  :)


xoxo,
Marissa

Hello Cauliflower!

It's Saturday night and I'm sitting on the kitchen floor nursing Julianne.  Kurt and Oliver have destroyed the kitchen made a black bean chocolate cake.  We're one week into our new lifestyle and I'm down 5 pounds!  I'm happy to see those numbers dropping.  This week we've tried several new recipes and have pretty much enjoyed all of them.  

Today we went to the Farmer's Market to check things out and we're considering doing the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for meat and maybe dairy?  Do you drink raw milk?  We've never tried it but are curious.  We have so much to learn about healthy/whole/raw eating and have enjoyed reading and diving in to learning these things.  We plan to join 3 Rivers Market (our local co-op) to get a membership rate and will look around at meat at Earth Fare, Kroger, and Trader Joe's to make a decision on how to start buying grass fed, organic meat at the best price. 

We've had cauliflower breaded and fried in coconut oil, baked in a cheesy casserole, and mashed like potatoes (aka fauxtatoes) all in one week.  I think it would be safe to say that before this week we hadn't had cauliflower our entire married career.  It is the starch substitute in the low carb world so we've jumped in and have been pretty happy with it.  

I started thinking about changing the way I ate because I had baby weight to lose.  I didn't realize Kurt would jump right on board with me and make this a family affair.  I'm so thankful he's making these changes with me because it makes it so much more of a lifestyle change than a diet which would be a temporary change. 

These are all good changes and we're feeling good.  We are happy to keep this up!

xoxo,

Riss 

Bye Bye, Sugar!

Guess what?  We're making some changes around here.  What kind of changes you ask?  Well, we're saying "Bye BYE!" to carbs and sugar!  No more bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, sugar, artificial flavoring/colors, and dyes.  I really thought we ate pretty good, healthy meals because I was making so much of our things from scratch.  Well a friend turned me on the the movie "Fathead".  Have you seen it?  It's free on Hulu, so go watch it.  It changed my mind on food and got me moving in the right direction.  Kurt is excited.  He's ready for bacon and steaks.  I'm ready to lose my baby weight and to feel better about myself.  So, we're doing it.  We're diving in to make a change and are pretty excited about it!

I'm going to keep a food journal so I can look back at what we ate over this first month.  We are trying tons of new recipes that we are excited about.  Today we ate romaine lettuce wraps with cream cheese and chicken inside.  They were good!  And satisfying!  I will share the recipes we enjoy.  We shopped at Aldi's yesterday, and found some pretty awesome things so we'll be going back.  I think the biggest struggle will be our morning coffee.  Full fat half and half is a GO but SUGAR is a NO- GO.  So we are trying Stevia in the Raw right now and it will take some getting used to.  It's kinda funky.  :)

I'm excited to be healthier and hopefully thinner.  I'm excited to get my family more healthy and to cut out the junk that has crept in.  I want my children to be healthy and strong!  And Julianne will be eating solids soon too so it's a great time to start this new lifestyle.

We've also organized some major things in our life this past week.  The coat closet was horrific and it's now accessible without cursing, the desk in our kitchen had become a catch all for mail (that never got opened), and all kinds of junk, receipts and coupons, and, and, and.  We cleared that out along with our "junk drawer".  Those small things feel so good to get under control, don't they!!??  The biggest thing we got ahold of this past week was our finances.  We had really taken a break from tracking our purchases which is just awful.  We got it all figured out and are excited to keep track again-- one week at a time!!

So August is a new month and we've got big plans for it!  Pretty exciting things around here! :)  What do you have going on?

<3
Riss

2.5!!

In this family we celebrate half birthdays.  That's exactly what we did last Thursday.  We spent quite a bit of our day at the zoo.  The giraffes weren't around for feeding but we still had a great time.  Oliver was a little angel and he walked next to me while Julianne was in the Ergo.  That was the first time we were successful with allowing him to walk beside me.  It is much harder with both kids in tow!  He explored, pointed to the animals, drove the truck, and played in the splash pad.  He's been telling me when he's done at the splash pad which has been really nice to avoid a screaming tantrum when I tell him it's time to go.

After the zoo we came home and made dinner.  Oliver asked to eat on the porch so of course we did!  He must have worked up an appetite at the zoo because he ate a heaping plate full.  Since he's spending a lot of time naked while we're potty training he was eating in the nude.  After he finished his dinner he remembered his kiddie pool was on the deck so he ran over and jumped right in.  Every kid should get to skinny dip in the summer, right?  It is actually easier for me too because then there's no wet swim trunks to take care of!  ;)  He swam until Libby, Haddie, Cathy, and Will came over.  We visited a while and enjoyed brownie sundaes in celebration of Oliver's half birthday!  This year I didn't light candles but we did sing Happy Half Birthday To You!  The first picture was a celebration of the ice cream he was about the eat!  His face in the second picture shows he was rather confused about whose birthday it was!  Lol!!

Saturday morning Kurt took Oliver with him to band practice.  While they were walking Kurt noticed a new sign at The Oliver.  He got an awesome picture of Oliver standing under the sign.  I absolutely love this picture!  My boy is so fun, sweet, loving, adventurous, independent, wild, and all boy!

I love you, Oliver!  Every day you make me laugh and roll with the punches (sometimes quite literally). 

XOXO, 

Mama Riss

One Year!

I cannot believe it has been a year since we found our home.  This place has been such a blessing to our family so far.  It is cheesy, but this place was built with love, cared for with loved, and purchased with love.  The owners we purchased from built the house to raise their family.  It was on land his family had owned for decades.  We are the second owners and plan to raise our family just as they did.  There is something different about this home.  It's perfect for our family and means so much to us!

The year has been wonderful and full of so many changes.  We have had quite a year and look forward to a lifetime of memories to come.  Some top favorites from our first year include Oliver turning from a baby to a toddler here, the holidays, almost having Julianne in the living room, and brining our girl home here!  The photos that follow show our home and some of the details we love about it. 

Home.Sweet.Home

Shelves Kurt made me- one of my favorite spots of our home

Love the yard!

First family picture on our porch! (about 14 weeks pregnant with Julianne)

SOLD!

Father's Day 2013

xoxo,
Riss

Check, check, and check!

We partied with our small group last night. You know, slip n slide, kiddie pool, and food galore. In the process we got to check three things off our summer checklist! We got our kiddie pool, cooked out, and played on the slip n slide. It was a blast watching Oliver and his friends take turns on the slip n slide. I heard Kurt even went down it but somehow I missed that one. I think I was inside on my second dessert. Hey, I never said accomplished my 10 pound loss goal. ;)

I'm sure we'll do all three of these things weekly. Just like we should!

Thanks for capturing these moments, Milt!

Lane Family Summer Checklist

You know the drill.
Here's our list for a summer of fun!!

go to the mountains
go to the pool (often)
go to the splash pad
visit the zoo
new harvest park w/ buckets in tow
go camping (backyard or real?)
see fireworks
eat corn on the cob
grill every week
play on the slip n slide
catch fireflies
have a bonfire
eat ice cream
go to a pool party
get a kiddie pool
do sidewalk chalk
have a yard sale
hike at Ijams
take the kids pictures
visit the drive in
eat at petes and go to the farmers market
have a picnic
learn to count to 10
drink iced coffee
lose 10 pounds (in that order!)
ride his trike on market square
organize our basement
go strawberry picking
go to a Smokies game

This is something I saw on facebook a few weeks ago and I loved it!  I decided then to follow this for the summer.  My ideas in our summer list will fit nicely into these!  We are so ready for some fun in the sun!!

What's your summer looking like?

xoxo,
Marissa

An (un)LIMITED Supply

If you know me, you know how important breastfeeding is to me.  It's not that I think I'm proving anything; it's just the way I mother.  There's no way around it.  I love the attachment it creates, the sleepy smiles of appreciation, the closeness.

If you have known me since Oliver was an infant, you also probably know that we struggled with my milk supply the whole time.  And by struggled, I mean really struggled.  From what I can gather, I never made more than 10 oz. of milk a day for Oliver.  But guess what?  Who cares?!  He is still nursing at almost 28 months old, so I'd say he sure doesn't!

Breast milk is the healthiest thing we can give our babies.  Everyone knows that, but both my babies need formula and donor milk to thrive.  I've come to terms with that.  It's less about how much milk they are getting from me, and more about the relationship we both need.  Any little bit counts and there's much more to it than just nourishment.

I thought my issues with Oliver were due to extenuating circumstances.  I did absolutely everything you, your mom, and your best friend have ever heard of for increasing my supply, all to no avail.  I was able to maintain my small supply through the use of the Medela Supplemental Nursing System; which I continued to use through his entire first year.

Now, since we all thought my issues with Oliver were a one time thing, I was totally caught off guard this time when Julianne was 4 days old and my milk was not it.  She was still pooping meconium and wasn't really giving us significant wet and dirty diapers.  She was also still losing weight, which I was watching closely with my postal scale.  I began a strict regimen of nursing, using the SNS, then pumping with a rented hospital grade pump.  I took fenugreek, motherlove tincture, and brewed my own loose leaf tea with all the good herbs for milk supply.  I ate oatmeal.  I tried beer.  I tried getting more sleep.  I even encapsulated my placenta.  

Nothing made much of a difference.  I talked with my OB and had blood work done to check my iron, thyroid, and HCG (checking for retained placenta).  All my results were normal which left me questioning-WHY this was happening again?!  You see, all my tricks for raising supply were done when it was too late with Oliver, but this time I was proactive.  I did it all from the beginning and still have struggled in the same way.

We were able to make an appointment with Kristin Williams from the Lisa Ross Breastfeeding Center (part of the Lisa Ross Birth Center).  She is a licensed lactation consultant, the fourth we'd seen since having Oliver.  The first three were essentially no help and we had to find a lot on our own through online research and mothering message boards.  It didn't take Kristen long to diagnose Julianne's tongue tie and lip tie.  She referred us to a trusted ENT to have them both clipped when she was 3 weeks old.  This helped to allow her latch to be fully engaged (fish lips) and her no-longer-tied tongue can help with her ability to suck.  As we looked more closely, we realized that Kurt actually has the lip tie and, subsequently, Oliver.  Granted, he was 4 weeks early, but that may have factored into my supply issues then, as well.

Kristin also got me a prescription for Domperidone, which is known to help improve milk supply.  The Domperidone has really been helping.  I've been feeling let downs(!!!!!!) which is something I had NEVER felt before!  Julianne is content to nurse without the SNS at night now.  She's also been happy with only getting 1 oz. from the SNS at each of her daytime feedings; and she doesn't use it at all at night.  That means she's only being supplemented about 8 oz., or less, per day.  I've been blessed with sisters who are lactating and friends who are as well and are generous with their milk!  I LOVE having breast milk in my freezer to give her.  She still needs formula but it feels like a good boost of immunity when I can give her breast milk.

I have gotten over the the feeling of failure.  This is the hand I've been dealt, for whatever reason.  It sure makes things harder, but I know I can do it.  My sweet girl is growing and gaining weight.  She is lifting her head and rolling over.  She's thriving and that is what's important.  It makes what I'm doing worth it.  We have been blessed with a happy baby.  I'm jealous of those of you with abundantly flowing breast milk, but I am glad to have the option of the SNS and the chance to still nurse my children.

ZOO DAY w/ funny Oliver video! :)

We went to the zoo on Friday. I've been meaning to take the kids for the past few weeks and my fears of handling both of them has gotten the better of me. I psyched myself up the night before and told Kurt I was going to do it.

The morning went well and we made it to the zoo by 11. When we arrived we realized we were accompanied by about every surrounding school district. No joke. It was rather crowded but there was no-turning-back-now!

So we parked a mile away and I hiked myself up that hill pushing the mother load of strollers. It was worth it! We had fun. Oliver was good. No one tantrumed or screamed- or even pooped their pants for that matter---Success!!

Now on to the reason for this post- At dinner that night Oliver and I were telling daddy about our trip to the zoo when Oliver made up a hilarious story (complete with sound effects) about how the giraffe came and licked his face!

No such thing happened. This is our first taste of his imagination and I'd say its a good one!! Love this boy and the stories he's starting to tell!

xoxo,
Riss

Crossroads- love myself now or work for better?

I'm a big fan of the Dove Real Beauty Campaign.  I've seen several of their videos and am moved by each one.  The one I saw this week circulating facebook struck me extra hard. I admit to shedding a few tears by the end, as did most other women who watched, I presume.  Watch it if you haven't yet, it is worth your time.  

I'm left wiping away my tears and asking several questions.  Why is it that we're so hard on ourselves as women?  Why do we compare ourselves to others; to what we think we should look like?  Why is it so easy to find other women beautiful and to be our own hardest critic? 

The questions continue- Why am I hard on myself when I just had a baby two months ago?  Maybe because I am carrying around an extra 25 pounds?  I'm struggling with deciding to be OK with myself and my body; and working to change what I don't like.  How can I love myself now, while trying to be more healthy and not settle for a body I don't love?  I'm just struggling with knowing whether I need to be confident as the woman I am today or wait to lose the baby weight.  You see, the hard thing is that I know what the easy answer is.  Of course I need to be confident today.  I need to learn to love who I am now.  The mother of two.  The woman who has spent 17 of the past 34 months pregnant.  The woman who has been breastfeeding since January 2011.  

I know that's what I need to do, but WHY IS IT SO HARD?  I know my children think I'm beautiful.  I know my husband thinks I'm beautiful.  And I've had two different women tell me within the past couple weeks that I'm one of the most beautiful people they've ever met.  Seriously?  That hits me hard...

I'm asking a lot of questions here.  I am just at a crossroads, like I said.  Where are you in this journey?  Do you have advice to offer?  Can you relate?  

Lets get one thing straight----

"YOU ARE MORE BEAUTIFUL THAN YOU THINK!"

xoxo,

Riss

Is it Iced Coffee season yet?!

I've been thinking about my iced coffee recipe for a couple weeks now.  I've yet to make it because I suspect it's going to start my obsession with the stuff all over again.  I'm close to giving in to my craving though and I can't wait!  

For those of you that missed the recipe-- here's a copy and paste from my old post!

You will need:
Coffee
1 can sweetened condensed milk (local friends- cheaper at our walmart than our Kroger)
Half and Half

Brew some dark roast coffee- I suggest dark roast because I want it to be a strong coffee.  I like to use French Roast.  Depending on what I have on hand I use my Cuisinart Grind and Brew and either brew ground coffee or whole bean.  If making a pitcher of iced coffee I make a whole pot (12 cups) and fill the grinder or filter to the top with coffee.  Once brewed I add 1 can of sweetened condensed milk and a couple cups of half and half.  Refrigerate.  Serve over ice with a straw and I promise you'll go back for more!  To avoid watered down coffee as your ice melts- freeze some of your left over coffee in your ice cube trays.  (thanks pinterest)

Per Pioneer Woman's advice I do love to slurp it up from a mason jar with a straw!  It's just so summery, you can't go wrong.  Unless of course you drink it all day every day, because then you may gain a few.  :)

I think I'll make it tomorrow!  Who's with me!?

Bright Babies- Easter Pics!

We got together with Libby, Sean, and Haddie today for a photoshoot and dinner.  We decided to match the cousins for Easter this year.  Their wardrobe began from a $3 sweater I found for Oliver at Target.  We picked matching dresses and leggings for the girlies as well.  The yellow blankets were crocheted by my mom's cousin.  She makes baby blankets for each of the babies and the yellow went perfectly!  We am pretty happy with the pictures.  It's not easy getting pics of three little ones together, that's for sure!

For dinner we had Root Beer Pulled Pork, baked mac n cheese, and Pioneer Woman's green beans. You should try out the side dish recipes.  They were yum-o!!  On to the point of this post-  You'll now be bombarded with pictures of beautiful babies decked out in yellow....

Aren't they yummy!?  What a blessing these babies are!  I just love them all to pieces.  Precious, busy, wonderful blessings that make our world go 'round!

xoxo,
Riss