My first taste of The Green Monster.

Earlier today, while browsing the Health and Fitness board on the Nest, I ran across a post about something called "The Green Monster." I was intrigued.
A quick google search landed me Here.
The website claims that drinking these Green Monsters will give you energy and also decrease your cravings for sweets. Sweets cravings are something I have a huge issue with. I've never met a cake, cookie, or brownie that I didn't love so I thought, what the hell? I'll give this drink a shot. I like that it's a recipe. It's not something you need to buy not knowing if you would even like it.

There are a lot of different recipes on there, but I decided to try the Blueberry-Banana Green Monster.

Here are the ingredients:

2-3 cups organic spinach (I used two)
1-1.25 cups your choice Almond, Soy, or Cows Milk. (I used 1 cup fat free cows milk)
1 Banana
1/2 cup blueberries
1 T flax (this is optional and I didn't use it)
Ice (I used 5-6 cubes)
*I chose not to use flax because I get plenty of fiber in my diet and it would of added one Weight Watcher point to the recipe and it just wasn't worth it to me.*

They say to put the spinach in first, then the banana and blueberries, followed by the milk.



Blend until smooth. (About a minute)
Add ice and blend some more.





I was a little sceptical...



Turns out, it's really good! You don't taste the spinach at all and it just tastes like a cold Blueberry-Banana smoothie. I give it two thumbs up! I'm going to give it a trial, drinking it everyday for a week and see if I notice a difference. If nothing else, it's a great way to get some fruits and veggies, which is really nice for this busy mom.

Ahh..





For those of you who are fellow WWers, it is 5 points, if you don't use the flax.

Fatty Friday!

I've decided to blog about my weight loss/getting fit journey. I realize that the name "Fatty Fridays" might be a little self deprecating, but I'm alright with that.
I think I may do pictures here and there as well. Weekly pics surely wouldn't show any difference, so maybe I'll just do monthly.

So, loosing weight.
I've always "battled the bulge." I was a total fat kid in high school. During my senior year, I decided it was time to change. I did everything the wrong way. I took diet pills to help curb my appetite and give me energy to work out. I ended up dropping 25-30 lbs and I felt fantastic, it was a great weight for me. I stopped taking the pills. Then I started at OU and still had a good workout routine with the girls I lived with, and only managed to gain around 3 lbs of the dreaded "freshman fifteen."

Then I met Tim. And like so many women, I fell out of my workout and eating healthy routine in exchange for spending more time with my man. When we got married, I was 10-15 lbs heavier than when we met and gained a little (OK, a lot) more after the wedding.

Seven months after our wedding I was pregnant with Ashton. I worked so hard to lose the 40 lbs I gained while pregnant with him and finally did about 5 months after he was born. I was back to pre-pregnancy weight and finally fitting into my pre-Ashton jeans. One month later, I was pregnant again!

Luckily, I only gained 20 lbs with Poppyseed. Mostly due to chasing after my first baby as he is FAST and loves to get into everything and give his mother daily heart attacks.

This time the "baby weight" came off easily. I lost the weight within a few weeks and even fit into those jeans again.

The thing about these jeans is this: They are my fat jeans.
While it feels great to fit into them now, I can't help but remember the day that I got them and how I was so upset about the size of them. I don't plan on fitting into them long (even though they are cute).

This time, I'm trying my hand at doing things the "right way". You know, diet and exercise. YAWN. Today I start my 5th week on Weight Watchers and it's just now getting to the point where my body has adjusted to the amount food and I'm not starving anymore. That's nice because a Hungry Dani is an Angry Dani. :)
In my first four weeks on WW, I've officially lost 11.8 lbs. That's just about 1/3 of the way to my goal weight.

I've been doing a Zumba class everyday during the week with my friend, Heather and it's an ass-kicking good time! It was just what I needed to get back into working out. High energy and exciting enough that I don't get bored halfway into it.

I'm also training for my frist 5k race. This is hella interesting because I have never been a runner but, you know what? I'm enjoying the crap out of training. (So weird)I'm slow as a snail, so my goal is to do the race in 35 minutes. That's an 11:29 pace. Very slow but the race is April 11th; coming up fast. I'll be lucky to just run the whole thing without walking at all. It's so funny to run on the track at the Y because I really am probably the slowest person up there. There are 60 year olds passing me, how sad is that?

I talked to a fellow YMCA momma-gym-nut today who just ran her first marathon. I've decided she's my hero. When I think about running a marathon, my eyes glaze over and I may or may not start to have a little panic attack. Those girls are hardcore.

This weekend I'm supposed to run 2 miles/20 minutes without stopping. *If* I can do this, I may just start to believe that I can do this running thing...

To those of you also on a getting fit journey, I wish you luck and calorie free chocolate cake!

*I'll have Tim take my Fatty Friday picture later and put it up here*

Poppyseed (part two)

I want to talk about what it feels like to have a baby with something "wrong" with him. Do any research on cleft lips and you fill find that it is a "birth defect" that occurs in pregnancy. They don't specifically know what causes it but see a correlation in babies whose mothers' drank alcohol or used drugs while pregnant. UM, DRUGS AND ALCOHOL? No, and no. I did everything right. I took my vitamins, I rested when I could, I exercised. Sure, I ate my weight in sweets and other random things that I would crave, but that shouldn't give my baby a birth defect, should it?




I went through every possibility. Could it of happened because I got a high fever at some point? Could it have been caused by the gas leak that was in our house the day we moved in? Could it have been some virus that I got because I work with children and am constantly exposed to their germs?


Unfortunately, there is no way to know what caused it. All I knew is it was my fault. That's a crazy amount of guilt to carry around. I am happy to say I am working through it. It's no where near gone, and it probably never will be, but it's less.



I gotta say, I LOVE Braxton's lip. It seems so normal now, 10 weeks later. It's just *him*. His little smile is the most beautiful smile I have ever seen, exactly the way it is.
He will have surgery to correct it on March 25th. This scares me to death. I cry whenever I think about it. I can't imagine them having to give him another IV, putting him under.

I am extremely sensitive to the things people say about my little guy. I'm his mother. It's my job to protect him and protect his feelings. He isn't broken. He doesn't need fixed, thankyouverymuch. I would even get upset with my husband if he were to mention something about it. I immediately jump to the defensive. "Why does it matter? He's perfect the way he is!" This commences the tears.



When you think about a baby growing in the womb, it's crazy and overwhelming to think of all that could possibly go wrong. Yeah, I'm nervous for him to go into surgery, but I could be nervous for him to be having heart surgery, or brain surgery, or surgery to place his intestines in the correct spot because they grew on the outside. These things happen, and it could have been so much worse. I'm so thankful that of everything that could of happened, Braxton's troubles are purely cosmetic and not something much more serious.

Bottom line, I am honored that God chose me to go through this journey with Braxton. He knew that, for some reason or another, *I* was the right woman, the right Mommy for this job. So there is no "why me?" Only, "Lucky me!" He trusted me with this little baby, who will deal with this for a long time to come. To say that I'm honored isn't enough.

**All photos were taken by my amazing friend and photographer, Tavia Redburn**

Braxton, the biggest Poppyseed you will ever meet. (Part one)

During my pregnancy with Ashton, I wanted nothing to do with being pregnant again. I warned Tim he may have to find another wife to have more children with. I just didn't like it, and didn't know if I wanted to do it again.
Then, shortly after Smash graced us with his presence, I got the fevah again. So, many assume that because A&B are only 14.5 months apart that Braxton was clearly unplanned, but this is not the case. He was so very planned and so very wanted. Sure, there were many times during my pregnancy that I *freaked out* wondering why I thought it was a good idea to have two, but God doesn't disappoint and I am thrilled that they came so close together.

While at a small gathering of some of my best girlfriends, I got encouraged to POAS (pee on a stick). I say "encouraged" but what I really mean is peer pressured. :) So, we made a trip to Wal-mart and got the things. I was absolutely SHOCKED to see that second line and I busted out of the bathroom screaming "I think I see two lines!!" Luckily, my girlfriends were there to hold my pee stick at the right angles to confirm that there were indeed, two lines. Pretty sure there was some jumping up and down and screaming that followed. Soon after, my friend, Cati, said something about him being the size of a poppyseed, and the name stuck. I'm sure that some people find it very strange that I didn't take the test with my husband, or that he wasn't the first to find out, but it was very special to me and it's definitely something I will never forget.



My pregnancy with Braxton was uneventful. Easy. I hardly had any morning sickness, I didn't *feel* any different, maybe just a little more on the tired side. OK, a LOT on the tired side, but that is nothing in the spectrum of pregnancy complaints. All along I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, though. In the beginning, I was totally braced for a miscarriage, even though I had no reason to think that I would have one and then as the pregnancy progressed, and was going so perfectly, I just thought "nothing is this perfect, something willgo wrong."


That feeling was right. The day Braxton was born, I was in the OR for my repeat c-section. They were just pulling my baby out and my doctor says, "The baby has got a little cleft lip." Can I just say I was SHOCKED. Only because at our anatomy ultrasound, the tech got a great look at his face and says to us, "Well, he doesn't have a cleft lip!" I remember thinking at the time that it was odd of her to say that. Mainly because they never said anything about Ashton's lip at his ultrasounds.

So, he has a cleft lip. I was freaking out because I had been preparing for my entire pregnancy to breastfeed. I didn't get to very long with Ashton and I was determined to educate myself and surround myself with people who would do everything they could to help me nurse successfully. I remember asking the nurses, "Will he be able to eat?" terrified that he wouldn't even be able to take a bottle. The nurses were fabulous and told me that his palate was not affected and that he shouldn't have a problem eating, but probably won't be able to breastfeed. *tears* I was so upset.

Meanwhile, they are cleaning him off, and doing all the footprints, weighing and all that jazz. They tell me they are going to have to take him to the NICU, because his breathing was a little labored. I was prepared for that, as it's common in c-section babes.


Before they took him away, they brought him over to me. (This is where the soundtrack slows down to some really peaceful music.) One look at that little face and I was in love. All over again. It was the same as the first go-round and yet so different all at the same time. I got to stroke his beautiful cheeks and talk to this little boy that we had been praying so hard for and you know what? His breathing slowed. He calmed down. The nurses were amazed at the improvement he was making by just being near me. There is no greater feeling.

He goes onto have to stay in the NICU for three nights and doesn't come home until the fifth day. I could get into all the medical talk, but I would just lose those of you that aren't in the medical profession. I'll say this. It was hell. I had to wait six hours to even see him again. It's something I still cry my eyes out thinking about. It's hard to shake the feeling of being "ripped off". Ripped off of the normal hospital experience. Ripped off of the first few days of life of my little boy. On the other hand, I feel extremely blessed that his problems were relatively minor and he wasn't in there as long as some of those other tiny babies.


(After a pretty difficult road, Braxton did go onto breastfeed successfully and is still nursing!)

My first monster.

What can I possibly say about my first born baby? He changed my life in an instant. Though he was very much planned, during my pregnancy I developed a unwanted case of the "Oh-shit-what-have-I-dones?" You know, the realization that your life is about to be picked up and thrown around until it is absolutely unrecognizable. Kind of like a tornado.
But in this case, it left no devastation. Just a devilishly handsome little baby boy that I fell in love with at the first glance. And also, had no idea what to do with.

Ashton, or "Smash" as I like to call him, has survived his first whole year being looked after by me and Tim and is now just under 17 months. He has personality to boot, he seems to be exactly like me, only all boy (this may or may not be a good thing). He plays with balls and cars constantly. He is a spitting image of my father but he was lucky enough to be blessed by the dimple fairy with his daddy's dimples. They get him out of all kinds of trouble. Unfortunately, he was also "blessed" with his daddy's hairline, but I won't go there.

Doesn't he look like a scary monster? :)