Week 9, Day 5 - I resisted an omelet today

This morning I didn't bring any of the kids to school because one of them started throwing up at 5am, the other one felt sick all through the night, and I am just plain not feeling well either. At least, not feeling like getting the other 2 dressed and ready and off to school. Too much work just for 2 kids!

So we all stayed home and I tried to relax in bed until about 9am, in between changing diapers and rinsing throw up bowls and getting cereal. Not very restful, ha ha, but at least I kind of had more of a relaxing morning than normal.

As I was laying there though, I started getting hungry and a good, cheesy omelet started to sound soooo good! With onions and peppers and tobasco sauce, and warm buttered toast...yum.

But that's not even fudging raw, not like Manna bread or cooked corn like I had last night. That is downright COOKED animal products including dairy, butter, processed flour...all the combo's I'm trying to stay away from.

So instead I opened a thai coconut and drank the milk/ate the meat. That was yummy...but now I'm still hungry. Hmmm...what to make, what to make.....?

Week 9, Day 4 - Making my own Manna bread!

I seem to be quite enamored with Manna bread, lol. I knew it was healthy but I didn't know that it is *just* made of sprouted wheat berries! The loaf I bought from the health food store that is a good 20 min drive away, was $4.99. For a small loaf that lasted me 2 meals.

So of course I had to google it and see if I could make my own, and turns out it's super easy! I already know how to sprout wheat berries - in fact, I like their sprouted taste so much that sometimes I add raisins & honey, and it tastes similar to oatmeal raisin cookies with a little crunch.

Edited to add: the Manna bread did NOT turn out like I'd hoped! It was all dried and crusty on the outside and gooey and not cooked on the inside. I'll have to figure out what I did wrong...I cooked it for 5 hours on Warm.
Today I finished my loaf and upon looking at the package, it is made of sprouted rye grain. So we'll see how I like the regular wheat berry kind - I have 2 cups of them sprouting now. This time I added tobasco sauce to my "sandwich" and as I looked at it on the plate, it occured to me that it looked an awful lot like a raw pizza. I had 6 small pieces centered on the plate and then topped with tomato, fresh ground pepper, avocado, baby bell pepper, avocado, and lots of alfalfa sprouts. I'm looking forward to experimenting with some spices and maybe coming up with a pizza flavored bread that I can use for my fave pizza toppings.

This weekend we spent much of our time at our church's retreat center - Bret took the five older kids and slept there, while I came home at night & naptime. I feel much sicker at night so it worked better for me to come home after dinner time.

I found out that it's much harder to be raw when you're sick, when you're away from home. Here at home my fridge is really stocked right now, with all of my favorite standbys. When it's time to eat and I start feeling nausea waves, I go through my stash mentally and can almost always come up with something that sounds good.

But when I'm on the go and I throw some bananas, soaked hazelnuts, and dates in a bag....urgh. It may or may not appeal and then I'm sitting there at lunchtime staring at these bowls of lasagna soup + garlic mozzerella bread that my toddlers have decided to turn their nose up to...and I'm hungry for THAT. Ugh.

So yeah, I didn't have a successful weekend at ALL and I also, interestingly enough, felt much more sick as well.

I'm curious about my theory of eating raw for 24 hours and seeing a bump up in feeling better. As of right now I have eaten raw for 24 hours - I fasted for 17 hours kind of on accident, just ate an early dinner and didn't eat breakfast until late. We'll see.

Cool news, we now qualify for WIC since I am pregnant (the program allows you to count the unborn baby as a member of the family, so our family of "10" now qualifies =)! I am excited about that - it's a program for women, infants, and children under 5 years old here in the US. They give you vouchers each month for certain "healthy" food - and it's quite a lot. Especially for us, since I have 3 children that qualify + myself.

The main staples are cheese, milk, cereal, peanut butter, veggies/fruit. There's more but I can't remember. They really push the milk as healthy for the children which I don't agree with, but they do eat cereal regularly for breakfast and usually go through 4 gallons per week at the least. WIC combined with going to the food bank once per month should really help with food if I can be frugal and creative.

What I ate today:

32oz of fresh squeezed OJ
4 cups of broccoli "coleslaw" salad
2 cups of cooked corn
half a Manna bread loaf w/sprouts, tomatoes, avo, tobasco, bell peppers
half a pineapple

Week 9, Day 1 - Manna Bread Sandwich & I lost 3 lbs!

Does this sandwhich not look delicious?!!! This is Manna bread topped with tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, salt, pepper, avocado, fresh basil, and baby yellow bell peppers.

I made a trip to the local health food store today, and on my list was the Manna bread. It's not 100% raw but it's pretty darn close - close enough for me, as I'm aiming for as mostly raw as I can. I would much rather have something like Manna bread if I am going to have something cooked, rather than potato chips or something!

The loaf is very small, and cost me $4.99. I know, ouch. I may look into making my own but it all seems rather complicated with lots of sprouted stuff, lol. I bought a rye loaf and it doesn't taste anything like rye to me, but it has kind of a sweet taste - no yeast or anything. It makes me wish I had not sold my dehydrator last summer so I can start making some raw wraps again.

After dropping the kids off at school at 8:15, I headed to Lifesource Natural Foods, but realized they don't open until 9am and they are only about a 20 minute drive. Hmmm...

Ever since we got home from AZ on Monday night I've been writing down some things that we need grocery-wise, and grouping them into the 4 store we usually shop at: Costco, WinCo (lots of bulk), Lifesource, and Norman's Farmer's Market. I decided to swing into Winco - I had maybe 8 things on my list so I figured that wouldn't be too hard with the 3 littles - 4, 3, and 1.

Hmmm...funny the things you buy that you didn't realize you NEEDED! Half an hour later of solid shopping and many, many different bags from the bulk section, we trooped out. I realized while in the store that Easter is, um, TWO days away, and I only have 1 single solitary stuffed bunny! And I feel sick every evening so it's not like I want to go shopping while Bret is home with the kids.

So I just tossed in 6 chocolate bunnies, peeps, jelly beans, etc into the cart - the kids were really good about it. They got fussy after a while but I found a small package of vanilla cookies for $.48 that I let them munch on. For the Easter baskets, I also bought a 10-pack of cornnuts, 3 packs of jerky to split into 6 baggies, and a family pack of ritz cracker with cheese. Marie helped me pick out some Easter reese's cups and some jelly beans. That was too easy! To fill up the baskets I'll use white tissue paper - much less mess than the fake grass. All I need are some bunnies and a couple of baskets - I realized I'd saved 4 baskets from last year so we'll just reuse them.

I weighed myself this morning and was VERY happy to see that the scale is back down, from 133 a few days ago, to 130.0. I remember from ages ago that, even while pregnant, eating raw food helps me to lose 2-3 pounds pretty much within days due to bloating and the heaviness that comes with eating SAD food. So now I can officially say that as of week NINE I have only gained THREE pounds! Yay! Last pregnancy at week 10 I had gained 6 pounds, so I am ahead - at least, if I can stick with the raw foods.

At the natural food store I was disappointed that their SO SO SO yummy food bar was not open yet - they always have the best vegan vegetable stirfries that are all natural. Instead I opted for a day-old cold piece of pizza made from spelt flour - delicious! It had artichoke hearts and all sorts of yummy veggies - all good EXCEPT for the mozzerella. But it was very minimal so I felt ok about that.

I also found a RAW ice cream sandwich! It was this tiny little thing, about 2" square and cost me $2.89 but felt oh so good to splurge a little and enjoy. It didn't taste anything like a regular one, the "cookie" part tasted alot like dates, but the ice cream was delicious, exact same texture. I also found and bought a Rawvolution chocolate coconut bar for $1.79 - very good. I ate it like candy, yum! I especially enjoyed the coconut.

When I made the kids their lunch, I had bought some Lay's chedder & sour cream chips for them - we make all our kids' lunches at school so I like to put in a few to make the lunches not so mundane. I inhaled the smell and while it did smell good, it smelled really...oily to me. I knew that if I ate some, 1) I would feel poorly shortly, 2)I would wish I hadn't because I really want to stay raw, and 3) they wouldn't taste as good I remembered them. That's just how it is - once you're mostly raw for a while, things that you remember being really good and that you crave, become wayyy too salty (like the garlic french bread I had the other day) or just more "bleh" than I remember.

At Winco they had 1lb containers of strawberries for $1.18!! The cheapest they usually go around here EVER is $2. Maybe because it's Easter and everyone is going to have strawberry shortcake and/or fruit salad, lol. I couldn't believe my eyes, and what made me actually look for them was the SMELL - wow, this delicious smell kept wafting my way in the produce section. I would have probably purchased 10 packages as we go through them like water, but there was a limit of 4 per purchase - probably a good thing, lol. They were covered with a layer of dirt, and looked & smelled almost exactly like the ones locally grown here. Usually strawberries are prime here the end of May/early June so we're almost there!

I am feeling almost no effects of morning sickness today. I am very curious as to whether this is because I am eating better (I was 100% raw yesterday, munching on that broccoli salad almost all day!) or because I'm coming closer to "the end"?? Regardless, I am thankful - I feel almost back to my normal self except I am still pretty tired.

Week 8, Day 7 - Cautions on going raw while pregnant & THE BOMB broccoli salad

Yesterday seemed to be an ok day as far as morning sickness - I didn't experience that I was worse than normal, and I was able to make a full spaghetti dinner for the family and serve it. I did end up eating 4 pieces of french bread complete with butter and garlic spread, from the store so who knows, it could've been margarine, bleh. But I'm OK with it because ~

A friend of mine, Elmina, texted to tell me that if a person has an extreme dietary change during pregnancy they can miscarry. I know there are a lot of rumors and cautions out there regarding eating raw especially, I experienced that alot when I went raw with Jack. I had to kind of get a spine of steel against the cautions I got from friends and just go with what I felt was right for my body.

So I don't know if that is true or not, but one thing that is different this time is that I was NOT eating raw when I got pregnant. I wasn't even eating a plant based diet - I ate everything I wanted except meat about 95% of the time. I was going the calorie counting route where everything goes as long as it's low calorie.

So that's the difference. I came into pregnancy with a highly toxic body, unfortunately, and I forgot about that. I know that all raw is the best for me and for baby, but not the detox part of it. So I'm going to take it slowly and work my way up to eating all raw - but mostly, I'm going to shoot for all raw each day and try, if I do eat something cooked, to have it be healthy cooked. I just know that if I give myself a license to eat cooked then I tend to go overboard the wrong way. I could totally tell too, as soon as I ate that first piece of crusty french bread, my mind immediately went to those ritz crackers I'd been avoiding all day and I wanted to just eat a whole package of them, lol!

Today so far I have eaten:

***1 thai coconut with milk & meat
***Bowl of frozen sorbet of blueberries, strawberries, vanilla flavoring, and 1T. honey.
***THIS broccoli salad - O.M.G. I am in heaven!!

I just ordered some raw cocoa powder, barhi dates, and agave. I'm looking forward to making some yummy recipes!! Now I just need to find a good source for raw coconut oil...

What I ate today

In trying to be accountable and knowing this is ONLY my 2nd day raw, so I am still in a very fragile state (plus, those darn Ritz crackers keep calling me!) I am going to post what I've eaten, as I eat it during the day.

***4 cups of fresh squeezed OJ
***2 cups of watermelon
***big salad with: spinach, nutritional yeast, raisins, raw sunflower seeds, baby bell peppers, tomatoes, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, avocado + balsamic vinager/EVOO/honey dressing
***1 whole pineapple, chilled
***4 pieces of garlic buttered french bread

It's interesting to look back on my day and see how that turned out. I'm actually ok with the fact that I ate the french bread - it WAS delicious! But later on I was sooo thirsty, I felt like SALT was just poured into my mouth. I could literally taste it in my mouth for hours afterwards. Weird, huh.

Week 8, Day 6 - Day 2 of 100% Raw! & Arizona thoughts

My dear blogger friends, I have so much to say today!!! I doubt I'll be able to remember it all, or even have time, but I'll definitely try.

First of all - weight gain. So fun, right? My body is officially one full size larger than before - and that includes everything: arms, legs, torso. Of course my tummy is like 40 million sizes larger! I fit into size 5 jeans just right - almost too tight.

Weigh-in for week 8 is ~

133.0 pounds. I started at 127, so that is a 6 pound gain in about 4 weeks. NOT good. My last pregnancy I gained 6 pounds by week 10 - and I am barely to week 9. So if I hang in there and continue to eat raw I think I might be able to hang on to this weight and not gain more.

But actually, to be expected...I have been eating to survive. Especially on our trip to Arizona - the main goal there, was to feel okay enough to actually enjoy my time. There was no calorie restriction, no fasting, it was w.h.a.t.e.v.e.r it took to make me feel better.

Generally, though, I think I did okay. Not good at all, but not horribly bad, like binging crazily. I do seem to have a bigger appetite than before, but in Arizona I would typically eat at around 11am and have a snack at 3pm, then dinner at 6-7pm. Then head straight to bed and try my hardest to keep from throwing up. To date, I haven't upchucked at all BUT it's always there, I totally could if I wanted to at any given moment. I feel like it's a slippery slope, though - if I just let myself go then I won't be able to stop from here on out.

I ate meat - although it was mostly restricted to sandwich meat. One time I ordered chicken breast on pasta and after one bite, was like bleh. I just can't eat outright chicken breasts or steak - ever. Too gamey and meaty tasting no matter what the sauces or spices. I can, however, eat things like spaghetti sauce with hamburger, that sort of thing.

When I was in Arizona, I can't even tell you how INSPIRED I was to stay fit and not gain weight this pregnancy. Being smack in the middle of summer will do that to you! It was 90+ degrees every day we were there, not a cloud in site - and we did plenty of people watching. I know that the way I feel right now, chubby and not toned, is not the way I want to feel this summer.

This is one of my favorite pictures just because it was taken in the warm sun, at the pool. =)

That's a bag we bought at Marshalls after realizing that we had no way of properly transporting all the stuff we wanted to bring with us from our room to the pool - 2 SPF bottles, books, phones, squirt bottle, watch, water bottles. On our way to Arizona, we were at the airport for 7 hours before catching our flight because we were on standby. We found this "natural" spa and surprisingly enough, it was Bret's idea to get a massage (for him) and a pedicure for me (I mentioned I wanted to get one before we left but didn't have time/was too sick). Instead of normal nail polish, they offered "Minx" applications which are like a sticker - really strong sticker. $85 later, ouch, LOVE them!!!!! Especially on tan feet - mine are more tan now than the picture. =)

It felt AWESOME to get a good tan base - I love my tan! Just a hint of a tan - it was tricky trying to get a tan, yet being careful not to burn. Going from completely 100% WHITE to 4-5 hours at the pool in 90+ degree weather is not something to mess around with! So I wore 50 SPF and 30 SPF, and then on the last day, no protection on the parts of me that don't normally burn when I have a base tan. We spent a good portion of our day at the pool, it was pure heaven.

Here is the best picture I could find of the pool - at the far end you can see the cabana where you could order drinks and snacks - we ordered the veggie nachos twice...huge and sooo good with sour cream, guacamole, and salsa! Eaten in the HOT 90 degree sun is sure an experience!

Every day we went to bed at 10pm and woke up at 8am. That's just the way it had to be - I felt so completely and utterly SICK by about 6pm that it took all I could just to eat dinner and try to enjoy it, and then rush back to the hotel room so I could just lie down - I usually felt ok if I was lying down. Here's what our room looked like - but it didn't have so many green plants, lol.

In the morning I would wake up refreshed and with barely a trace of morning sickness (thanks in a huge part to Unisom, I think! I took 1 1/2 tablets each night before sleeping). Bret & I both went for a run 2 of the days - I ran for 15 minutes the first day, and 20 minutes the next day. It felt awesome! One of the days we also went for a pretty good hike after running - that made me SO, so sick...but I think it wasn't the hike so much as the trail mix I ate beforehand. I was just so darn hungry, but food always kicks the morning sickness into high gear and that + hiking made it miserable.

The last day, the day we came home, was the worst. I was in tears at many points that day - and different verses would come to me and I was reminded of how God is with me during this time. I worked hard to banish all thoughts of "this is NOT fair!" during our trip - in my mind, I was not supposed to be pregnant and sick on this trip, but in GOD'S mind, it was the perfect, the VERY perfect.

The first morning I was back (we got in Mon night, so this was Tues morning) and my alarm went off at 6:40 - the first thing that came to my mind was this song,

"Minute by minute, in God abide....
...better than gold is faithfulness..."

I thought about how God awakens my ear each morning to hear. How He is so good to whisper those thoughts into my heart first thing in the morning, that today will not be too much for me. It came to me so clearly not to fret about how I would make it through this day, this day that is so daunting and looming with all the things I need to do as I struggle against the waves of nausea. Minute by minute, to call on Him in my need. And then to have that ONE goal in my heart, to be faithful. Not to give in to self pity or to feeling sorry for myself. But to stand firm in my faith KNOWING that He has sent this situation perfectly for me.

And now, on to eating raw!

I ate SO much regular food in Arizona, for basically 6 days in a row. Whatever I wanted, I ate. Sometimes after eating dinner I had to eat gelato (I know, pull my arm, lol!) ice cream and that settled it down. I ate NO raw at all - and I was getting really really tired of it. Oh except I did have quite a few salads, but of course the feta cheese, dressing, etc were not raw.

So starting yesterday, I have plunged in and I have not looked back. It really gave me a vision in Arizona, that summer is just around the corner and I really really really want to feel good about myself!!!

I took the 3 kids to the Oriental Market and got 9 thai coconuts. Drinking the milk when I got home felt absolutely like HEAVEN! Then we went to the farmer's market and stocked up on so many yummy things. With all these options around me, it is easy for me to find at least one thing that sounds good to my stomach. I can't wait for even more options to make their appearance like cherries, peaches, fresh strawberries, blueberries!

I am also going to be buying some raw cocoa powder from Amazon in a few minutes, here. That helps me to stay raw when I can have some chocolate - and I am really looking forward to having my raw chocolate maraschino cherry frozen drink!

Other than that, though, I am hoping to stick with mostly fresh fruits & veggies, mostly mono-meals. I was highly successful yesterday and felt SO good about myself! I didn't feel any different sickness wise, but the hope and spring in my step made it all worth it: finally I'm doing something!

Yesterday I had:

**2 Thai coconuts - including the milk & meat, shared with Marie(4).
**3/4 lb of sugar snap peas - so sweet, pure heaven!
**3 cups of fresh squeezed OJ - ice cold, soooo good!
**10 baby carrots - brought to munch on during the kids' school program.
**3/4 pineapple - ice cold, delicious (can you tell everything needs to be icy cold? ha ha!)
**1 banana

I think I would have eaten more if I'd been able to, but things got super busy after school - I had to take Rachel(11) to get a sparkly red dress for the school program, with some shoes to match - and we finally got home at 5:00. We had to LEAVE for the program at 5:45, yikes!

So cereal was in order for the kids for dinner, while I ran around like a crazy lady trying to get everyone dressed nicely, fed, and of course the odds & ends like James(10) wanting me to put the sticker on his DS that he got for his birthday. And of course I didn't notice when I ordered it, that there are actually TWO sizes of DS's and his is smaller so the sticker had to be painstakingly cut to size. That is not something to be attempted when you're fighting off waves of nausea and trying to be in warp speed at the same time, ha ha! But I was able to keep my cool and not flip out, and we got 1/3 of it finished.

So anyway, I grabbed a banana to snatch bites here and there while trying to get them ready - but what I should've had on hand is a couple of green smoothies ready to grab & go. I felt like having a ginormous salad......I really enjoy them with my vinegar/honey/EVOO dressing.

These days everything leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. Things like watermelon leave an aftertaste of nutrisweet, that sickly sweet taste that is just, bleh. So sometimes salads are a nice change - withOUT onions or the taste in my mouth will be even worse. Someone described it to me as a metal taste once, and it's almost like that - and of course it makes me sick, sick, sick.

That's all for now - I was without internet for a whole week! The night before we left, as we were eating at our fave restaurant and then were to go to our hotel for the night, to catch an early flight the next morning....someone broke into Bret's truck and stole his briefcase with laptop, GPS, bluetooth, sunglasses, passport, and several expensive books from our church - Smiths Letters and Shepherd & Prophet. It was such a shock - just FEET away from where we were sitting, they bashed his window in! What a way to start a vacation.

So my plans of blogging each day and really getting caught up on blogs on my vacation were, brought to a halt rather quickly.

Week 6, Day 3 - Disgruntled-ness

I just wanted to share about my day today. Currently I am feeling really sick - but I have to admit that I did consume - literally CONSUME as if I was a crazy starving person - 3 white flour tortillas with a single slice of bologna inside.

If that is not weird pregnant tastes then I don't know what is!

I'm going through one of those times that many wives go through I know, where DH gets invited to a birthday with his friends and you WANT him to go, so you say yes, I'll be fine! I do want him to have a good time...but I am also feeling neglected and like all the burden of the children and the house is on me. Normally that is FINE but I just feel so darn sick! Like if I wanted to, I could walk right over to that pearly white throne and upchuck all those burritoes.

So even though I said he should go, and blah blah blah, I'm thinking that it's way past time for him to be home and getting irritated that he's not. So.

Two choices.

Get my tush off this bed and go vacuum, no matter how I feel. Realize that it doesn't matter what he is doing at ALL, my job is to take up the battle against complaining and demands and let him come home to a wife in a good spirit even though her body is not of the same mind.

Or whine and be a grump when he gets home.

Clearly the first option is the way to happiness, and that is what I choose this day!

By the way, I ran 2 miles this afternoon which was really nice. Two days in a row - yesterday I ran 1.5 miles. I hope to make it routine that I run on the weekends, and get at least one run in during the week. I am going to up the mileage slowly, and my goal is eventually to make it to 5 miles, then 7 - and probably hold steady at 7 miles. We'll see!

Other than the dumb bologna wraps and a small bowl of about 1/2 cup of cooked raman noodles, I have had raw everything else. Watermelon, big salad, and fresh squeezed OJ. It'd be nice if I didn't have to eat anything for the rest of the night...but whatever, I don't really care.

I'm hoping to take Unisom tonight to see if that helps with the MS tomorrow.

Week 6, Day 2 - My first run!

Last night was my worst night yet, yowza! I had an enjoyable night watching a movie on my laptop in my room while DH was gone, and the kids were half in bed, half watching their own movie in the other room.

I made my favorite cauliflower recipe which includes dill, brewer's yeast, lemon, garlic - sounds strange, I know, but it is absolutely scrumptious! It is baked in the oven and turns out crispy and crunchy with just the right amount of tenderness.

Then, I ate the whole thing! It's basically an entire head of cauliflower + I added 1/8 head that I had left over from a while back. Then you mix up the marinade or whatever it's called, toss it, and bake it. So it's just cauliflower + spices.

So yeah, I ate the whole thing - I guess that was my dinner, lol!

But last night at midnight, I woke up feeling soooo sick. It wasn't necessarily from the cauliflower though, it wasn't like I was thinking how gross it was or anything. It was more like ---- this is the next step deeper into the morning sickness. It woke me up again at 2am, and so did 2 of my kids so after helping them individually, I cut up half an apple with shaky hands, trying to b-r-e-a-t-h so I wouldn't throw up. That helped but I still woke up every 2 hours after that.

I was reading about running while pregnant, and some ladies wrote that even though they felt crappy, they pressed through it and ran anyway - and it was always a good outcome. I realize that while I DO feel like I HAVE the stomach flu, I do not. It's almost like it's all in my head, you know? My body doesn't need "coddling" to recover or get well.

So that mindset helped me get up this morning and at 10am, I set out to run for the first time ever while pregnant! I ate a big banana first and felt actually, pretty good. I warmed up for 4 minutes by powerwalking, then jogged at a medium pace for 20 minutes. It was about a mile and a half. A good start!

After my run, I ate a big bowl of strawberries...yum!

Oatmeal & It's Touch & Go

Eating when you're pregnant is a whole post in itself. Right, ladies?

But eating when you're pregnant AND nauseous is like...a novel in itself. It changes every day, from moment to moment.

It's like waking up from a coma where you've had memory loss and you know you're hungry, but you have no idea what you like. You have to relearn your tastes all over again.

My goal with eating right now, is 85% raw - with the cooked being 100% vegan and limited to whole grains (think oatmeal, quinoa), lentils, legumes, and vegetables.

This morning after I did my workout, I was really hungry - and getting more nauseous by the minute. I had to change my two kids' diapers because they pooped right after the other and hooooo boy, that was a challenge.

I got a watermelon out and was all ready to cut it open & dive in, but....for some reason I was just NOT craving the liquidy sweetness of it. What sounded soooo good to me was something heavy, something more tasty but not quite as sweet.

So I had 2 cups of cooked oatmeal with 1 cup of blueberries, and cinnamon, stevia, honey, and 1/2 cup of raisins with water only, no milk. It hit the spot! SO delicious, a bit too sweet so next time I'll nix the Stevia - but yummo! Marie (4) and Harmony (1) were begging for a bite but no, I wouldn't give them any ha ha! But I did do the good Mama thing and make them some more.

It filled up my tummy and felt good. But, here it is 15 minutes later and the nausea is back and there is a sour taste in my mouth. So I think it's going to be pretty touch & go for the next 6 weeks (oh, gah!! That is like an eternity when you have to take it one.day.at.a.time). I don't think I'm going to find my "miracle" food that makes me feel awesome for a long period of time, but REGARDLESS I am determined to only allow myself the option to eat raw and cooked vegan plant based (only 15% though).

Week 6, Day 1 - Feeling soooo good! And guess what?? I'm going to start running!.

No, not because I'm feeling less morning sickness, I wish! Although to be honest, it is *not* that bad - I can still function very highly, including washing the toilet and cooking food....so I'm not going to complain. I'd say on a scale of 1-10 it's about a 2-3 right now.

Last night I stayed up way too late trying to inspire myself. I thought about my fitness goals before I got pregnant, and I think that's why it's been hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I'm pregnant, because so many things that were working for me -- no longer will work.

Like eating really low calorie, 500 a day sometimes, or even fasting 2-3 days at a time drinking just tea and water. And the ability to drop pounds pretty quickly if I had a bad weekend and gained 5 pounds.

Anyway, this morning I had a ROCKING workout and I am pretty excited about that. I felt twinges of morning sickness throughout but I pressed through and it felt so good, both in my head and in my body.

Here's what I accomplished (this is the Venus Index workout, Week 1, Day 2)

Curtsy Lunges - 20 each leg @ 20#
Step Up & Press - 20 each leg @ 12lb dumbbells
Double Raise - 20 @ 8lb dumbbells
T-Bend - 20 each side @ 30#
Squat & Lateral Raise - 20 each side @ 8lb dumbbells
One Arm Dumbbell Rows - 20 each side @ 25#
Dumbbell Squat - 20 @ 30# dumbbells
Side Plank - 2x each side for 30s
Dips - 20 using body weight

After looking around the net at women who run during pregnancy and realizing this is totally doable for me, I am so excited about it! I am challenged to take what life has given me and ROCK it, you know? Stop moping about because of this or that that I have to give up because of this baby, and square my shoulders, take a deep breath, and face it, go through it, and really live life happily instead of always wishing for something different. Because I KNOW I do, if I wasn't pregnant, I'd be wistfully looking at all the babies....ha ha!

I do really well when I am challenged to do something. Today I am challenged to not give any room to the excuse that well, this is my 8th pregnancy after all...

That is really annoying to me for some reason. I will and always have, refused to be the overweight mom who can barely fit behind the steering wheel of her minivan. I know some people are not able to help it, but I know that *I* personally can do something about it, and while I do LOVE a good binge fest with chocolate, ice cream, donuts, hee hee, that person is not me. I've been there before and I never ever want to go back.

So! I am going to buy myself an ipod with my spending money that I've been saving. It'll be my very own with just my own music and podcasts on it - up until now I've been borrowing DH's whose taste in music is not similar to mine, and who doesn't have anymore room on his ipod anyhow.

I'm so inspired! I feel like I can really do this, I can do a 45 minute workout just 3x a week, and I can go running 3x a week too - especially since Rachel is old enough to babysit now. And summer is coming! The glorious weather is almost here which is totally motivating for me to get up and go running in the morning.

I'm going to start out with maybe 2 miles at a slower pace after a good warmup, then work my way up from there. My goal is to run for around 30m-45m each time. I run about a 10 minute mile so that's about 4 miles = perfect. I'm excited, it's a total rush when you have the right music on and you're pounding out the perfect rythm while running. I also don't have much sickness during exertion so who knows, maybe running and working out will be my "relief" from it at least while I'm doing it.

I know I'm going to feel more sick than this. But I am determined to press through that, because there really isn't anything WRONG with my body, it's just - well, making me feel sick. Boo! I'm hoping though, that maybe, just maybe, the magical cure for me, for my body, will be to go running regularly, do resistance training regularly, and eat mostly raw food.

So far today I have not had anything to eat, I did my workout on an empty stomach and I think next time I'm going to have half a banana or something a little solid to make it feel better. I feel a little weak.