21 Day Fix: Day 2 & Pool Time

Day 1 was a success sticking to the 21 day fix! The first week of any program is usually easy for me because I am so motivated in the beginning, and then I tend to forget why I started the program in the first place and start to cheat. BUT this time there will be no cheating!

Breakfast: 1 egg, 2 slices of turkey bacon and sliced up nectarine and banana & Coffee - Red & Purple

Snack: Yogurt & Pumpkin Seeds - Red & Orange

Lunch: Chicken Lettuce Wraps  (I made enough for 3 lunches this week!) -  Green & Red 

Snack: Toast with mashed avocado and cucumber slices - Yellow  & Blue & Green

Dinner: Salmon, sweet potato and broccoli - Red Yellow & Green

Dessert: Watermelon and peanut butter (not together but I love peanut butter by itself) - Purple & 2 Tsp

It was a beautiful day today so I figured it would be a good day to break out the baby pool! What is cuter than babies playing in the water together...but of course Morgan hated the baby pool haha

Morgan's 1 Year Elmo Birthday Party

It's no secret Morgan loves Elmo, so what better way to celebrate her turning one than with an Elmo themed birthday party!

I made a fruit platter of Elmo's face and hot glued some googly eyes and orange noses to red solo cups to go with the theme.

My friend had a red tutu and red bow for Morgan to wear so I painted Elmo eyes and nose on a white onesie. It didn't turn out perfect but it worked and everyone knew who she was supposed to be :) 

She wasn't exactly sure what to do with the cake but she had a couple friends that helped show her how to cake smash.

Once she got the hang of it there was no stopping her....

I forgot to get a picture of the Elmo cake before we cut into it..opps!

It was a great 1st birthday party and Morgan had a great time with her friends eating cake! She was so hyped up on sugar the girl stayed up till 9pm!

21 Day Fix: Day 1

Today is day 1 of my 21 day challenge to develop a healthier lifestyle. I am hoping to have great before and after pictures to post on here after the 21 days.

I will be traveling a lot during the 21 days so my plan is to help show people it is possible to eat healthy and make good food choices even when you are traveling and during holidays. It is important for me to stay healthy and in shape because I am a better mom to Morgan when I have the energy to play with her and cook healthy dinners for my family to eat.

I am going to document my progress on the blog to help me stay accountable. I am also part of a challenge group of 6 other women who are doing the 21 day fix as well and we help keep each other motivated and accountable.

There are workout DVDs that come with the program and each workout is 30 minutes long. Day 1 workout is Total Body Cardio Fix

I will also document my meals (when I remember to take pictures) to show the type and amount of food you can actually have during the 21 days (wine included!). Every day I can have 3 Green, 2 Purple, 2 Yellow, 4 Red, 1 Blue, 1 Orange containers and 2 Tsp of peanut butter.

If you are interested in the program or have any questions please feel free to ask me :)

Day 1 Meal Plan

Breakfast: Veggie Omelet and coffee - Red & Green & 1/2 Blue
(2 Eggs, Lactose free cheese and chopped up red pepper and zucchini. Coffee and 2 Tbsp of almond milk)

Snack: Sliced Mango - Purple

Lunch: Chicken lettuce wraps - Red & Green
(See below for the recipe I used to make the chicken lettuce wraps and I substituted the ground turkey for chicken because I didn't have ground turkey in the house.)

Snack: Plain Lactose Free Yogurt and pumpkin seeds (You can have plain greek yogurt and sweeten it up with cinnamon and a little honey) - Red & Orange

Dinner: Turkey Burger on a bun with lactose free cheese and green beans - Red & 2 Yellow  & 1/2 Blue & Green
(I used whole wheat burger buns and grilled up the Butterball Turkey Burgers. I also had some frozen green beans in the freezer that I cooked up with some salt and pepper.)

Dessert: Banana and 2 Tsp of peanut butter - Purple & 2 Tsp

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:
1 tsp. olive oil
1 lb. raw 93% lean ground turkey breast
½ medium red onion, chopped
½ medium red or green bell pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 green onion, chopped
⅔ cup chopped water chestnuts
1 Tbsp. reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1 large head of lettuce (like red leaf, romaine, or bibb), separated into leaves

Preparation:
1. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add turkey, onion, and bell pepper; cook, stirring frequently, for 4 to 6 minutes, or until turkey is cooked through and onion is translucent.
3. Add garlic, green onion, water chestnuts, soy sauce, and vinegar; cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
4. Add cilantro; mix well. Remove from heat.
5. Evenly spoon mixture onto lettuce leaves; wrap the leaves around mixture, and eat!

Recipe from: www.teambeachbody.com

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

Yesterday was Morgan's birthday and probably one of the rougher days I have had being a parent. Maybe it was her way of foreshadowing the toddler behavior I know is to come and if so God help me!

I try to be patient with her and at the end of the day when she is fast asleep in bed I think maybe I reacted too quickly or I could be done better. Being a parent is hard and there is no clear set of rule or guidelines to follow. Matt and I would always joke Morgan is out practice child because we have no idea as new parents what we are doing. We just go with our gut and love her unconditionally. I know there are tons of parenting books out there but truthfully I never read a single one and I think my instinct as a mother is better than what any book can tell me.

Just when you think you have your child figured out they start screaming and get clingy for no apparent reason and throw themselves on the floor and just leave you standing there with no clue how to help them.

But then they giggle or give you the biggest hug ever and you forget about the screaming for a minute and realize it is all worth it. Then you put them to bed and have a glass of wine and think about doing it all over again the next day :)

Morgan 1 Year!

Height & Weight: She's about 23 pounds and 29 inches I think :) Ill find out for certain at her appointment today.

Eating: Morgan loves eating anything and everything! I cannot sit down with any food in my hand without her crawling over to share with me :) She is pretty much eating whatever we eat for dinner: chicken, steak, vegetables, pasta, potatoes. She also loves fruit (especially bananas) and ritz crackers. 

Sleeping (naps): She takes about two naps a day still. One in the morning about 2 hours after she gets up in the morning and the other nap is about 3 hours after her morning nap.

Sleeping (night): Morgan is rocking sleeping through the night. However, she does not like to sleep in. If she sleep till 6:30 I call that a win. More than likely when she goes to bed around 7pm she will wake up between 5:30am-6:00am. 

Clothing: She is wearing 12 month clothes but they are getting to be a little to small for her so mainly 18 months clothes now. 

New this month: 

• Morgan is a couch cruiser. Loves to walk while holding onto the couch or her walker. 
• Gave up the baby food completely and is eating all big girl food.
• She is drinking out of a sippy cup and learned to use a straw.
• Lots of babbling and will say "hi" back when you say "hi" to her
• Morgan is starting to waving hello and bye
• She has two little bottom teeth! Finally, this girl is holding on to her teeth because she still only has two :)

Nicknames: MoMo

Morgan likes:

• Flipping through the pages of her books
• Elmo! She loves Elmo and Sesame Street
• Climbing into her toy tub containers
• Playing in and pushing around her toy house
• Playing with her friends
• Being outside
• Hanging out in the hiking backpack with Dad
• Eating apples

Morgan Dislikes:

• Getting washed in the bath tub
• Sand from the beach
• Being fed by her parents, she has to be a big girl and feed herself everything!

Traveling with a Baby

I am not an expert when it comes to traveling with a baby and I am sure many people have mastered traveling with multiple kids. But after a taking a couple trips with Morgan, one which was a 7 1/2 hour flight from the UK to the USA, I think I have a couple helpful ideas for people who are hesitant to travel with little kids.

Each trip is different and things that work on one trip do not always work on the next however, with each trip I learn new things and what not to forget for the next trip!

I think flying on a plane with a baby is what gives me the most anxiety because if she completely looses it and starts to scream I have no where to go! Morgan is also a baby on the move and hates to stay still for long periods of time and doesn't enjoy sitting on my lap for hours at a time. All of this makes a plane flight very difficult!

Different airlines have different rules when it comes to flying with an infant so I would suggest looking into what you can bring for baggage and what free items you can check at the gate. For example, Virgin Atlantic will allow you to check a stroller at the gate and allows you to check a bag for your lap infant as well as yourself. However, if you do not buy an extra seat specifically for a car seat they do not let you bring on a car seat (even if there is extra room). One cool things about Virgin Atlantic is you can purchase extra room which allows you to buy the seat next to you for an extra $100 (way cheaper than the $1000 seat it would cost to fly from the UK to the USA). With the extra seat the infant has to sit on your lap for take off and landing but while flying they can sit in their own seat. If you are not able to buy the extra seat (they only have so many they let people buy per flight so buy it as soon as you buy your ticket!) you can request a basinet for the baby. Even if the baby is too big for the bassinet, it allows you to have bulk head seating which gives you extra leg room for free and then there is no one in front of you.

Never forget the iPad! This is one time when you have to let all your "TV time rules" go out the window. Use whatever works in the situation. I bought baby head phones for Morgan and she hated them, so I wouldn't bother with headphones and since the noise of the plane is so loud most people can't hear the iPad anyways or have headphones on themselves. The $13 I spent on 13 episodes of Sesame Street was the best money I have ever spent. It helps distract Morgan in the car, on a train or the plane.

Dress comfortably for you and the baby. The last thing you want is to be uncomfortable on a 7 hour plane flight. You also want to make it as easy as possible to change a diaper or change clothes when needed. I always put Morgan in a light weight zipper sleeper when flying or if its warm out I just have her in a onesie with no pants. You could also do a onesie with leggings.

Bring small toys that don't make a lot of annoying sounds. I would also suggest getting a lanyard to hook the toys to because Morgan loved throwing all her toys on the ground and trying to pick them up while holding her was difficult! By keeping all the toys on a string they don't wind up on the floor and rolling under other peoples seats. You also don't want toys with too much sound unless you want to piss the people off next to you.

Bring snacks! especially snacks that take time to eat. Morgan is still teething so harder crackers that take her a while to chew on are the best distraction. Which brings me to the other point bring lots of wipes and a change of clothes!

Tylenol, Benadryl, Advil....bring whatever works best for you baby (Don't give them all three!!!) Sometimes Morgan is just crying and screaming uncontrollably because she is so tired and Benadryl calms her down enough for her to fall asleep. After the two hour screaming train ride back from Paris I will never forget the Benadryl again! Also, make sure to try the Benadryl before your trip because sometimes it can have the opposite effect on children and you don't want a super hyper baby on an international flight.

Don't be afraid to ask for help. I always think I can do everything on my own but when flying with Morgan by myself back to the states I have learned its ok to ask for help and the flight attendants or people next to you are usually more than willing to help. I have had to learn to go to the bathroom on an airplane while holding Morgan and you don't want to do that, ask for help! :)

Lastly, try not to let a screaming baby get you upset. People are going to stare and judge you but you have to try and not let it get to you because the more frustrated you get the worse the baby will react to your intensity. A lot of the time when people are looking its because they feel bad or they have been in that situation before so stay clam and just focus on claiming your baby. Sometimes babies just need to cry it out and you just have to let them, even if it is on a airplane!

France and Switzerland

Over the past month we have gotten the chance to travel to some pretty cool places. It hasn't been easy with a little one but we made it work! Little extra coffee in the mornings and you completely forget about the lack of sleep from the night before when you are looking at the Swiss Alps or the Eiffel Tower :)


We decided to drive and take the ferry to Normandy in France and stay there the whole weekend and take the train to Paris one day. We spent most of the day in Paris walking around and seeing the sights. Since we only had one day in Paris we didn't get to go into any museums or see as much as we probably would have liked but it was the perfect amount of time for Morgan.

The second day we went to the American Cemetery in Normandy and then went to Omaha Beach and walked along the beach. It was surreal walking the same beach so many men had fought and lost their lives on. It was definitely one of the most humbling experiences ever. It was also Morgan's first time on a beach and needless to say she was not a huge fan of the sand....we will have to work on that one before we go to the beach in Maine this summer. We also went to Mount St Michel which was about two hours from Normandy and it was worth the drive! It was a beautiful castle on this island that you had to walk to. The inside had a lot of hotels and restaurants and of course became very touristy but the castle was huge and so gorgeous to walk around in. We had the stroller so it was a little hard to get around since there was no elevators so after carrying Morgan and the stroller up multiple flights of stairs we called it a day.

A couple weeks ago my friends came out to visit and we took a short trip to Switzerland. Switzerland is by far one of the most beautiful countries I have ever seen! We flew into Geneva and then took a four hour train ride to Zermatt to see the Matterhorn mountain. We spent two nights there and then took the train back to Geneva for a night. Zermatt is a beautiful mountain town that only allows electrical cars. The first day we had an excellent view of the Matterhorn from out hotel room but as the day went on the clouds moved in and covered it up. We took the train up as far as we could go with Morgan which was 10,000 feet! There was still snow and glaciers up there and it was an amazing view. Afterwards, we took the train half way down the mountain and then decided to hike the rest of the way.

The hike was by far the prettiest part of the trip! It was a step incline down but the views made it worth it.

The second day we hiked to a Gorge and enjoyed a cloudy day without the sun.

Our last day in Geneva was a hot one! We took a boat tour of lake Geneva and saw the Jet d'Eau which is a huge fountain in the middle of the city. We also go to see the United Nations headquarters and enjoy some yummy ice cream.

We have been very lucky to get to see so many places but it is always nice when we get back home and get Morgan back on a regular sleeping schedule. The lack of sleep and tempertatrums that happen as a result can take their toll on your after a couple days of traveling :)