And yes, it's true. I completed day 6 of the Whole30 today. If you're not familiar with it, you can click HERE to get a more detailed run down of the program. For the record: I am not doing this program to lose weight (although, I won't complain if I shed a few, because if we're being honest, I ate a little too many cracklins and homemade toffee during Christmas in Louisiana). I really am doing this because I have a family history of autoimmune diseases, and as I have gotten older, I have had a few problems flare up. Nothing major, but enough to make me want to see if changing my diet will help alleviate symptoms without modern medicine. So here we sit. So far, it's not been too incredibly bad. Going into things, I had assumed that the coffee would be the hardest part; no dairy and no sugar make for sad lattes. But coconut milk added to black coffee seems to be doing the trick for me. Eating LARGE breakfasts has been an adjustment, as I'm not much of a breakfast eater and it's hard to go from a small bowl of granola to 2 eggs, a fruit, a veggie and a starch. I'm ready to be done with the first week and a half, which is when they really say you start feeling great from all of the changes.
One of the things that has been my saving grace when I wanted to just throw something because I couldn't eat an after dinner snack or I couldn't have my beloved Sonic drink, was that Netflix now has Friends. Y'all. I can't even contain my happiness. Drew was a bit on the begrudging side of things when he first heard that I was watching the series from start to finish. But after watching it with me the last two nights he casually remarked "this show brings you to your happy place." And I couldn't have said it better myself. Also, it's funny how a character you once thought was a little whacky (Phoebe) now makes you laugh the hardest. And I also want to have a party with throw back outfits to the Friends series... the shout outs to the 90s fashions is too much (and scary that a lot of it is coming back into style!).
And lastly, I needed to share with you my new invention to get my children to do anything I want: buy a Nintendo. No, seriously. The boys have been asking for the past few months if they could get a video game system. Drew and I drug our heels in saying yes because it seems to be a black hole that once you go down you can never return. However... the boys have diligently saved their birthday money and Christmas money and decided they'd pay for the system and extra controller. We happened to find a Wii Mini game set with Mario Kart (the mini is basically a dumbed down Wii-- it has no internet connectivity, so you can't play the games online, but that actually was appealing with 2 young kids) for under a hundred bucks, so we figured we'd let them go for it. The past two days the boys have literally done EVERYTHING that I have asked them to do (they have to complete all their chores before I allow them to play). Brayden's even cleaned out his lunch box during lunch for the first time all year... it's definitely a Christmas miracle!
I texted this pic to Drew and he remarked at how happy it makes him that they have each other to grow up with... I couldn't agree more.
And that's how we've brought in the first week of the New Year. We've also welcomed in our normal routine which has been good for EVERYONE. All 3 of the boys thrive on having a schedule, so it's been nice to have structure back to our everyday lives. Although, I could really do without the bitter cold ;)
Here's to hoping for a warmer weekend....
