Remember my clean eating post?

Clean Eating

I was pretty happy with the results and decided to start another program with my coach, called the 21 Day Fix. This program consists of daily 30 minute workouts and a bunch of plastic containers for you to measure your daily intake of food in.

Sounds complicated but it was actually a lot easier than a calorie counting app and as a bonus you learn to eat in the right food groups, not just count calories. At the same time, you also have the flexibility to pick what you want to eat.

I really, really enjoyed it. And I had A LOT of success with it.

I lost a total of 4 pounds but more importantly, I lost 1 and 1/2 inches off my waist.

So where is my gratuitous “before and after” photo? Well, as it turns out, 1 and 1/2 inches off my waist and four pounds light isn’t exactly where I want to be.

But don’t fear, the picture is coming.

Right after I do just one more program. Or after I do however many programs it takes to get my freakin gratuitous “before and after” shot!

Now that I’m seeing some results, I’m jazzed to keep going, to push myself to see if you really can get your body back (without surgery) after birthing four children.

This time Coach Megan is starting a 22 Minute Hard Corps group. It’s 8 weeks and I’m hopeful if I stick to the rules, which means eat right and complete a 22 minute workout a day, I will be “Beachbody” ready, as the company is so aptly named.

Want to shape up before it’s time to bare it all at the beach this summer? Would love to have some friends join me in the group, it’s a great way to be healthy and social all at the same time.

(I’m not a coach, and do not get paid or compensated in any way if you join. It’s just more fun with friends.)

In another desperate attempt to help Ben’s anxiety and issues at school, we started a gluten free, dairy free, low refined sugar diet.

Home made lactose free yogurt

This time around we gave it a full month and instead of buying store bought gluten free flour mixes, I went to the ultimate source for recipe perfection – American Test Kitchen.

I spent a lot of time changing to rice flours and paleo recipes with cashew, almond meal and coconut flour.

Sam helps mix the America’s Test Kitchen Gluten Free All Purpose Flour

If this is something you are thinking about doing, I highly recommend trying both thier How Can it be Gluten Free and Paleo Perfected. I swear you’ll never miss gluten or dairy again!

Paleo pie crust

Most websites that I stumbled across while researching this said you will see results within 3 or 4 days, if there are any to be had.

The first week we tried it, both Sam and Jack were the same. We noticed Ben was slightly calmer. Aaron surprisingly had a perfect week.

Minimalist Baker’s 3 ingredient Peanut Butter Granola Bar

Then we went over to Nando’s Peri Peri, where the kids menu had an unlimited bowl of frozen yogurt for dessert.

For the next 4 days, Aaron was back to his usual whiny, tantrumy self and Ben became combative and argumentative.

Paleo Omelette

I had no idea if I was projecting or if the diet had any real effect, so I decided we were back on the strict diet the following week.

I was cooking and baking so much I started running my dishwasher 3 times a day.

During that time Ben showed little to no improvement and after a month I’m sad (and a little relieved) to say that diet is not a factor in his Sensory Processing Disorder.

I was secretly hoping such an easy fix would be the answer but unfortunately it is not.

In fact, last night we had a few friends over and let Ben eat as much gluten and diary as he pleased. We noticed he was playing hide and seek in the dark along with the other kids, acting just like all the other kids. In the past he could never hide, and certainly couldn’t play a game of tag. He has learned how to do this with his occupational therapy through many, many sessons of hard work, and no amount of gluten, dairy, or sugar could undo that.

Just one of the gang.

It wasn’t a total waste of time, though. Besides finding some great new recipes, we realized we had let too many processed foods with refined sugars creep back into our house.

When the ban was lifted, we decided to leave Nutella, a morning staple before the experiment, off our diet. Today at the grocery store I walked by the shelf stable cheese and crackers and decided if they want cheese and crackers, they can eat real cheese on real crackers from now on. I didn’t pick up the package fruit bars, granola bars and pop tarts either.

One of the unexpected perks of going to Jackie’s wedding in Costa Rica was reconnecting with Adam’s west coast cousins.

Jackie’s oldest brother, Brett, actually has a place here and comes for work every so often.

This time he gave us the pleasure of his company for the evening.

I got the chance to hear some of the stories from before my time with Adam, it’s always fascinating to hear other people’s perception about what life was like for your spouse before you came into the picture.

And just like all the other Baumgarten’s who have come to visit our kids, the kids were instantly charmed by him.

Ben sitting on Brett’s lap

It was a delightful evening, one of hopefully many more in the future.

Parenthood can be quite an isolating era in one’s life.

The din of children’s demands, tantrums and chatter is constantly in your head. Slowly it grows, so that you don’t always realize you are under constant auditory assault.  It’s hard to be conscious of the fact that the noise is slowly replacing what used to exist in the space before kids.

The music you used to listen to, the quiet moments of reflection or reading, and the adult chatter you used to actually choose to listen to and enjoy.

I told Adam at the start of the year it has been too long since we’ve seen some old and dear friends, then I made a list of people we needed to make a priority.

Well, it’s three months later and we’ve finally managed to see at least one of the people on the priority list – The Harradines.

Luckily for us, the Harradines are the kinds of family that doesn’t mind if it’s been a while, we can just pick up where we left off like no time has past.

They came bearing alcohol, including Rick’s home made beer’s. A yummy blueberry stout and another IPA that Adam enjoyed. He brews with a group of buddies and it sounded like such a fun thing I started to envision me and my girlfriends stomping on grapes barefoot in a tub, but he said it wasn’t even cost effective so I decided to keep that thought to myself and leave it to the professionals.

They have three boys of their own, two in double digits so Michelle is a pro at parenting boys. Look how she instinctively helps feed Aaron!

And yes, we had 7 boys between two families. That means a 5 pound brisket was decimated in almost one night.

Trent playing with Ben and Aaron.

And just like you can with old friends acting like no time has past, next thing you know Adam and Rick are bumping the old TV up the stairs and out the door, the one I’ve been trying to get rid of for about 10 years.

I’m pretty sure if you look up the definition of “good friend” in the dictionary, it will say, “helped you move heavy furniture out of your house.”

Gluten and Diary free dessert table (I’ll explain in a future blog….)

It was a throughly enjoyable evening that I must remember to make happen more often.

And now, what should I do this the new space in my basement?