PaleOH....

OH.  What I've learned the past 2 weeks.  One.  It's really not that hard to give up soda.  Two. It's actually really hard to give up coffee...and by that I specifically mean creamer.  No dairy right? But I don't drink coffee black.  I've cheated, put a splash in my vanilla blonde roast from good ol' Starbucks, and it wasn't bad so the next time I got a vanilla blonde I went straight and sweetened with agave nectar.  Not quite the same, but not bad either.  I'll do that now on days I really want coffee.

I had another cheat day...well...weekend. (bad mommy, bad!) My body reacted the same way as last time. Only worse.  I felt like throwing back up all the cookies I ate.  I'm sorry body, I can't promise I won't do it again..but I'll try not to do it so bad next time!   Anyway, I had the opportunity to grab some Insomnia Cookies.  And since you can only get those at a few select college campuses, uh how could I pass that up?! I've heard the rumors, and I needed to try them out.  Minus the upset stomach that evening from eating like 6 cookies...(which by the way I wouldn't have thought would hurt me, how wrong I was!)... it was worth it.  I got them straight out of the oven because I walked in at like 1:30...just 30 mins after they opened! I brought a dozen home and shared with my family.  It's funny how each of us had a different favorite.  My sister - the plain sugar cookie...my mom - macadamia nut...and me? well...the double chocolate chunk...obviously. But having had that one straight out of the oven...it was gooey and melty and chocolatey. It was like chocolate lava cake in cookie form.  So glad there isn't one close by here, I'd be in trouble.

This week has gone a lot better.

Garlic and herb mussles and petite scallops

Sea Scallops with tomato pepper salsa on spinach

I forgot to take a picture of my lemon chicken that I paired with a baked sweet potato and green beans.  It was delicious though.

I also made my own paleo mayo last night, but I haven't used it in anything yet.  Today's lunch will be a crab salad made with my mayo...hopefully its good.

Lots of seafood lately. I guess when I eat healthy I crave less red meat. Who knew? But I did just find a recipe for chili that looks tasty. I've got some ground bison that needs cooking.  This sounds just right for it.

This diet is actually really helping me out mentally as well. I've been emotionally stressed to say the least, but creativity is my outlet. That's where I am happiest.  I love cooking, I love being in my kitchen with my son showing him what I love to do.  I can't wait til summer comes and we can go outside and paint.  Grandma won't like it if I let him make a mess inside so we'll wait for the warm weather.

Enough about me...this blog is about the Little Sir!

I can't believe how much he's grown.  Sometimes I forget that this isn't a year of 1sts for him.  His first New Year's was in the hospital, 2 days after he was born. With Easter coming around the corner, I have to realize this is his 2nd Easter!  So I looked up his first Easter pics:

Easter 2012

Its hard to believe that is already this:

Snack time before nap time

Easter will be fun this year since he'll be able to 'hunt' for eggs now.  And by "hunt" I mean chase his cousins around while they look for eggs. Haha.

LM knows how to eat with a fork now.  It's a messy process but he's getting it.  I love watching him concentrate on picking up food with the fork.  He's also learned how to use a spoon, though that's much harder to keep the food from flinging everywhere.

eating and sharing his avocado smoothie

Oh, and when I showed Grandma the LeapPad option she went ahead and got it for him.  Hey! Buy me an iPad too please!  I can use it more then he knows how to use the LeapPad anyway!! :-P  joking, joking...or am I?? Hehe...

But he does like using it.  I've recently ordered a couple games for it. I doubt he'll know how to play them yet but its there...

playing with his leappad

He likes sitting in the big chairs.  Luckily, when he was just a wee little baby last spring, during garage sale weekend my mom and I picked up a little big person chair... complete with foot rest.  He can't figure out the foot rest but at least he's safe about getting in and out of his 'big' chair.  Then there's moments like this:

reading his color book in his little big chair

and I manage to capture it on my phone while he's not looking. Makes me squeal with a pride I'm sure only a mother can feel.