10 Day Detox

I usually cringe at the idea of a cleanse. I think that is because professionally people come at me all the time with their ideas of cleanses, then I give my opinion and they do their cleanse anyway!  There are some really interesting challenges, cleanses, diets, fads, restrictive ways to detox, jump-start, or cleanse our bodies.

I have been wanting to do a challenge for a while but haven't wanted to affect my milk too much since Ara is quite into mama's milk. She has, however, the last 2 weeks cut back from 6-8 times per 24 hour period to 3-5. This is significant! I was a little sad for a while then I realized that she is setting the pace, and teaching me to trust the process. I'm not calculating anything with her, weighing her daily, or any of the crazy things I did in managing Owen's nutrition. So when she cut back I thought it would be a great time to do a metabolic detoxification.

Without running the risk of becoming boring I will sum it up.... We accumulate toxins in our body from our environment, food, chemicals, lotions, basically anything! Even if we eat a really clean and healthy diet our livers do a hard job getting rid of all of the things our body doesn't utilize. The plan I followed targeted specific nutrients to assist the liver in metabolizing toxins that may be stuck in the body. I also utilized 1/4 of the recommended meal replacement as it contains a lot of nutrients and components I didn't want my milk to be completely full of.

It was really a wonderful experience. I can say that now that I'm on day 9/10. I experienced a few unpleasant side effects, namely headaches and tiredness, especially for days 2-6. The headaches are supposedly side effects from the body mobilizing the toxins and working things out. I stopped coffee 3 days before and didn't have any side effect there but longing.  The last 3 nights I have had a lot of energy, and felt really pretty amazing!

What I haven't eaten in 10 days:
Refined sugar (other carbs from fruit were fine!)
Dairy
Wheat

Corn
Other Grains (other than rice)
Caffeine--- yes this means my morning cup of cherished beautiful magic potion  coffee.

After the following the plan you add in foods one at a time to see how your body reacts. 

Days 11-13

I added chocolate in the first day

Then Coffee and corn

Then soy and dairy the third day.

I did need to bring my food to a few social events but it all worked out. I realized that I already eat pretty clean but it is challenging to eat so plain & simple if relying on others. 

It's going great! If you're interested in doing a 10 day elimination diet/metabolic detox for a change, or a food allergy or sensitivity, keep me in mind:). 

Lots of cruciferous vegetables, even for breakfast some days! Roasted cauliflower is so yummy, we already eat it often. I would eat it every day if it didn't get little white kernels everywhere! Any ideas to stop that? Oh well it's so good it's always in the cart anyway. 

My favorite breakfast was pears in coconut oil in my iron skilled with lots of cardemom and cinnamon.

Dehydrated pears and tahini...(ate lots of tahini, used the pears to finish it off). 

This is actually a normal meal for me so it wasn't too hard to enjoy. Garbanzos, steamed broccoli, tuna on a salad with red wine vinegar and olive oil. 

Day 9 with the addition of rice I made a rice and bean pizza crust with sunflower seeds. Just threw it into my blender and plopped it on the pan (with lots of olive oil beneath it). Turned out so yummy and went with the boys pizza dough from trader joes. 

I think I'll do this again, maybe in the spring? Really missed chocolate:). And also found myself putting food to mouth of the kids that wasn't on the plan. I thought more about food and my relationship with it. I love food. I enjoy food. I mostly make great choices, and sometimes eat more than what my body actually needs for nutrition and health. Increasing mindfulness is easier to teach than to learn and it was such an eye opening experience. 

Walking 11 Month Old

It's getting busier around here!

The kids love to dance together, warms our hearts just watching them play together!

Ara loves to eat... anything... including dirt, sand, hay, yikes........

She has a mind of her own, and is not afraid to use it.

Blows kisses, loves to wrestle, high five's, gives hugs and kisses, dances, seriously loves to wrestle...

This face! We are having so much fun with her. Owen has recently wanted his own time, not to share toys, us, etc. It has been a little more challenging, my cameras are out more often as she has been taking her first steps over and over again! She has been walking about 5-10 steps the last few days, hasn't completely taken off yet, but she is getting more confident daily. I really enjoy my one on one time with Owen and we have been having a great time lately digging for worms, making sandcastles outside, playing with the beach ball, and reading richard scarry books.

 This kid can really rally the power wheels!

Blurry but man he can swing all day!

King Fire

I think I have written a couple blog posts in my head/sleep but nothing has come to fruition on the actual blog! If you are from around here, the King Fire is the big news these days, and sadly it is still burning. Here are some photos that I have taken. I have borrowed some off of facebook, not sure how that works for any copyright issues, but I will not take credit. So many people have shared amazing photos, our community is pretty amazing.

The Fire burns on over 8 days, now. The drought and steep terrain as well as a lot of pine has made for quite a disaster. Over 5,000 personnel are working on the first, and there does seem to have been a little improvement overnight, sounds like a slight increase of containment.

 View from EDH day 1

 View from Rescue Day 1

 Plume View from home

 Sunrise from home

Smokey morning

 Plume View from Bowens

 5 day later Plume view from home

 Wind change, plume barely visible from behind Sutter's Mill school

 Many planes flying overhead.

 On the half hour most days

 I can't take credit for this photo, this is from Lake Tahoe, unknown photog

I believe this was taken by a friend, Ray Pledger. 

Many friends have been evacuated but a few have been able to return to their smoky but intact homes. The firefighters continue to work night and day to get a handle on this beast of a fire.

Free time

Been having a great late summer! In my "free" time I've been working on Arabelle's 1 year photo book. I always thought these were so easy but I realized darn I take a gazillion pics! Been doing about 30 mins every night or so for the last week... A fun tradition. It's my gift to the kids every bday. 

Wish me luck tonight, I'm 27 pages in and 7 months so far in her life! Hope to finish it up in a week or so.

Morro Bay with Aubins

In January we came up with the idea and dates to go to morro bay with aubins... And the weekend finally came! I literally have hundreds of photos from the 4 day adventure so I picked some of my favorites. 

Here is Owen, alseep while playing the kindle.

And when you're in the car for hours, you do what you do to keep the kids calm. Ara ate this way a few times on the road. That's what I call eating on the road:).

Elise's buritto from taco temple as big as her head!

Uncle Dave snuggling the kids in the morning. They were watching uncle Dave aka bob Ross draw morro rock. 

Out at big sky restaurant with the cousins! (Yes we went to a nice restaurant with 5 kids and I didn't have a panic attack!) the glass of zin helped chill me out.

So much cousin love & beach time.

Sista sistas! We ran in the mornings while the husbands stayed with the kiddos. 

We enjoyed fresh cinnamon rolls and a walk on the pier. 

Ara was in 7th heaven exploring all the different textures in the sand.

Daddy Dave & 2/3 girls.

Cousins in the mush pot

Beach stander! She is standing but not taking steps yet. Coming soon!

We had a great (and surprisingly relaxing!) trip. The week before we left (and the week she had a cold) ara miraculously began sleeping 8-6. Night after night. Not drugged nor drunk. Ha!!! She did it about 7 nights and then we left. She did pretty well, waking once or twice while we were gone. 

She slept 7-730 2 nights ago and I had to wake her to leave for Owens school!!! Last night up many many times but I felt a huge molar on one side. The sleeping saga continues but Its been great to get some decent stretches in. Amazing!

Pre school

His first day went great! Chris and I were both able to see him off. I drove him and got a little teary on the way. Chris seemed to hit that moment when we were saying goodbye. It's a big step for us! 

I snuck up and watched him play for a few minutes. He told me most of the kids names, his teachers names, and that they had snack at someone's house. (They walk from the school on the property to the home on the property). 

I love the outdoor setup at his school, feels just like home. 

He was super excited and took a long nap when we got home on Tuesday.