Things are going well.  There are a few things I am missing but not much.  I can't believe it's almost over.  Just ten more days!

Breakfast:
Oatmeal

Lunch:
Enchiladas
Chips, Salsa

Dinner:
London Broil
Salad

Days 8-14 have brought a big challenge to us.  My daughter has been in and out of the hospital.  My son's celiac test came back positive, and I've seen more snow this week than I have in my whole life.

We've eaten out way more than we normally do, and with that is sugar.  It's hidden everywhere.  I am hoping that one day soon everything slows down and we can resume a normal pace around here.  Until then I'll be blogging when I can. 

Today was a rather eventful day.  We went to pick up raw milk from our co-op which is two hours away.  So we started the morning around 6am and I took the kids to Sonic for breakfast.  They had french toast sticks, I had a croissant with sausage.  Lunch was pizza at Whole Foods and chocolate croissants (yes, I cheated and it was good).  Dinner, leftover pizza and salad.  I plan on posting our weekly menu plan tomorrow.  I didn't plan our meals last weeks and it shows.  We ate a bunch of not so good food.  I'm tired and ready for bed! 

Day Five:
Went well.  No sugar, but still not feeling well. 

Day Six:
Easy breakfast of toast and eggs, lunch was chicken and stock that had been simmering all day and last night.  Dinner, I ordered out and got mexican food.  My first 'real' meal in days.  It was good.

Day Seven:
Breakfast, oatmeal.  Lunch, leftovers from the previous night.  Dinner will be sandwiches and veggies...and maybe a cookie.

So far everything is going well.   Now that I am feeling better I am having some cravings.  There is only 20 more days left.  I know I can do this.

                                         Chocolate Syrup

1/2 cup raw cocoa
1 3/4 cup Sucanat
1 cup water
dash salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix first three ingredients in a medium saucepan, mixing until cocoa is dissolved.  Boil 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, add salt and vanilla extract.  Store in fridge.  Will last for several weeks.

My kids love chocolate milk.  I don't like all the sugar that comes with it though.  I have come up with my own recipe for chocolate syrup after many failures to find something that we all like and that has no processed sugar.  I add a tablespoon to their milk and they love it.  If you want more of a chocolate taste you may have to add more but this satisfies them. 

Things have been crazy here.  I started throwing up Monday night and didn't stop until early Tuesday morning.  Needless to say I haven't been eating much and what I have been eating isn't the greatest of things but it's something. 

Day 2:
I only had one cracker and some canned chicken noodle soup to eat.  I couldn't keep water down so I sipped on 7 up throughout the day.

Day 3:
Felt somewhat better but still very nauseous.  I ate some oatmeal, a very small amount of Jell-o (I find it way too sweet), and a couple bites of chicken.  Sipped on water and Gatorade.

Day 4:
Felt much, much better but it was still hard to eat.  We had toast in the morning with butter.  I had fish for lunch, and two bites of chicken for dinner.  Only water to drink. 

The kids are still sick and on steroids to help with the coughing to help them get better.  Praying next week will be much better. 

Today has gone well.  My son (20months) starting throwing up last night and my daughter (2yrs) is still sick.  I was very tempted to go by Starbucks this morning on the way to the Dr.'s office and pick up a latte.  But that wouldn't fit into the challenge so I didn't.  After we went to the Dr. we dropped by the grocery store.  Came home and ate lunch then everyone took a nap.  My baby (9wks) woke up with a fever at 2 and now I'm not feeling well.  This may be easier than I thought if I end up sick along with the others.  At the moment I have no desire to eat anything.  And sugar would be the last on the list. 

What we got at the store:
Milk
Lettuce
Pears
Mangoes
Apples
Squash
Broccoli
Dry beans
Canned tuna
Canned Salmon
Orange Juice
Corn tortillas

Starting Feb. 1st I will be doing a sugar free challenge for the whole month of Feb.  My oldest is sick and has been for the past three days now.  So to help our immune systems we are going to be going sugar free the whole month of Feb.  This should give our bodies a little detox as well. 

The rules:
No processed sugar
No sugar free alternatives ( which cause cancer and not good for you in any way)
Limiting natural sugars such as honey, maple syrup, sucanat, and such.
Limiting fruit to two servings a day


I will be blogging about our days as we strive to eat less sugar and more whole nutrient dense foods.  This will not be easy for me cause this mama likes sugar!  I'm an addict.

A super quick breakfast or snack that is loaded with vitamins and nourishing is a green smoothie.



I am on a dairy free diet right now (since I am nursing a little), so the green smoothie has replaced the usual kefir smoothie I have every morning.  I once was scared of all the green, but I got over it and gave it a try.  I'm glad I did.  Then the kids wanted to try it, and next the husband.  Everyone loves them. 



You can put whatever you want in your smoothie, just a mixture of greens and fruit.  I prefer spinach it has a mild taste and I use bananas, mango, peaches, pineapple, and strawberries as the fruit.  Add a small amount of water (1/4cup) just to blend.  Blend until smooth.  It may take a few minutes to blend depending on what type of blender you have.  No sweetener is needed, at least we don't think so. 

Life is crazy right now so I am posting an older blog post I wrote in Feb 2008.   Enjoy!
*We now have three babies, and a whole lot more diapers.  What worked for my daughters didn't work for my son.

                             

• Cloth diapers are just cheaper than disposables!




• I don't wear paper underwear...and don't want to, so why would I put that on my baby?




• There are lots of chemicals in disposables....really! It will amaze you.

We are very cheap! I can't see the sense in spending $20 a week on something I will just throw away. I certainly wouldn't throw a $20 bill in the trash on a weekly basis so why would I buy diapers to just throw away????

If you haven't looked into what all is in the leading disposable diaper...please do! No wonder babies get diaper rash!

We, as Christian's are responsible for the way we live our lives. Disposable diapers create so much waste in our landfills. I don't know the exact numbers but it is in the millions or billions of oil, trees, and other natural resources we would save annually if everyone just used cloth diapers.

Now, stepping down from my soap box....what do you really need to cloth diaper.

Three months before our first child was born I order lots of pre-folds and diaper covers. I wanted to go the cheapest route. We received an organic fitted cloth diaper...and wow! It fit so much better than the prefolds. Prefolds do the job....don't get me wrong, but it does take a little longer and there is bulk if you have a small baby. About three months into cloth diapering I ordered (6) bumGenius One size pocket diapers. These are great, but we have a really small baby. She is now one year old and only 16.5lbs. She has really small thighs so these leaked some if we didn't fasten them really tight. Next I ordered (3) Happy Heiny One size diapers. We liked these a lot more, but still the same problem. Then, I found Green Acres Diapers. These are not one size but they work so wonderfully well! We had to order small, medium and will order large if the need arises. We have probably spent about $400 on cloth diapers so far....and we have a stash...a huge one!

So far this is what we have:

2) Tiny Heiny diapers (these are for preemies up to 10lbs)

6) Happy Heiny size small diapers

4) Fuzzi Bunz size small diapers

3) Green Acres size small diapers

6) bumGenius One Size diapers

4) Happy Heiny One Size diapers

3) Green Acres size medium diapers

1) Knickernappies Disposanots size medium

3) Fuzzi Bunz size medium diapers

We also still have our prefolds and several fitted diapers. All the diapers listed above are pocket diapers. These are wonderful and make cloth diapering so much easier.

We have so many different kinds because our baby has really small thighs and it took a lot of searching before we found that perfect diaper. The preemie diapers still fit her and she is 1. If you have a "normal" size baby One size diapers are the way to go! One size diapers have adjustable snaps to make either a small, medium, or larger diaper. That way you use one diaper the whole time your baby is in diapers....well one type, you will need several diapers If you have a small, thin baby...well then you must search to find what works best for your baby. Don't give up though! There are lots of different kinds of diapers and I promise one will work for you.

We are now expecting our second baby and we already have most of the diapers we will need. We will purchase a few more because it is so much fun and cloth diapering is soooo addictive.

If you don't have a lot of money to start out, look for used diapers. I have bought used diapers and have never had a problem.

Here is a site that should be able to help:

http://www.myuseddiapers.com/

You can also find diapers on ebay. There are lots of WAHM's (work at home mom) who sell there handmade diapers on ebay for a very good price.