OMG... Almost a YEAR has gone by!!

Ok.  Not gonna lie.  I have remembered that I started this several times, most of which included the thought "I should post something about this" (whatever I was going at the time).   Aaaaaand then there was a baby cry... or a poop... or a mouthful of peas sneezed onto me... 

Now it's September of 2014 and my baby boy is one.  ONE.  I can't believe it!

Look closely and you can see how much he's grown from day one to year one!!

What a difference a year makes!

Since J is now eating more and more solids, we've started cooking more and more healthy stuff.  Not my favorite, but we made a commitment that we would raise J healthier than we grew up so that maybe he won't struggle with his weight as much as my hubs and I both have. 

The good part of eating healthier is that both Big J and I have lost weight.  I'm very proud to say that I'm now UNDER 210 lbs.  I haven't been under 210 in Y-E-A-R-S.  Big J is almost down to 300.  (Keep in mind that I'm 5'11" and he's 6'6" before you judge those numbers too harshly, lol).

We both feel healthier and it's much nicer to be able to have food we want as treats than to be on some fad diet.  No- we didn't go paleo.  No- we didn't cut carbs.  No- we didn't nix sugar.  We eat closer to nature and that's it.  What that looks like for us is that we buy organic when we can, we buy fresh when we can, and we try not to over cook/freeze/process/spice/etc so that it stays as much like God created it as possible.  However- please notice it said WHEN WE CAN.  We go out to eat.  We eat fast food.  We order a pizza.  Don't be crazy. It's not feasible for either of us to cut out food we love... we're addicted.  That's sad, but it's true.  So ... instead we just try to cook most of the time and plan to cook healthier meal options.  For instance- we just started cooking turkey in cilantro lime rotel.  Turkey normally dries out reeeeeally badly (thus we didn't like it), but when you cook it in the undrained cans of rotel, it stays moist and the flavor sinks way into the meet.  We wrap it up in giant lettuce leaves (instead of taco shells).  We still put cheese inside... we're not insane.  But ya know what?  Those things are ba-licious.  Big J said he likes those equally to regular tacos and doesn't mind having the healthier version every time.  Score one for me.

Now it's time to tell about the time I lost.  I hate fish.  When I say I hate fish, I mean HATE HATE HATE with a fiery passion in my soul HATE fish.  And yet- I ate fish the other day.  (Side note: as I typed "I ate fish" my fingers typed "I hate fish".... true story)  We made baked tilapia.  And by we I mean I found the recipe and my husband did everything else because I refused to touch the fish.  It was a decent recipe, if it hadn't been for the fish.  YUCK.  But- it was my way of committing to the healthy aspect of our changes since Big J isn't big on healthy or change. 

Sadly, I'm still a size 18.  I was a 16 when I got pregnant and I weighed 222 lbs.  I'm down to 209.4 and still in an 18.  UGH.  Talk about frustrating!  Apparently my not-big-enough-for-a-baby-head hips didn't get the memo that they're supposed to be smaller.

Oh well.  I'll keep on truckin'!  Maybe I'll remember to post again before another year goes by.  Until then, here are some adorable pictures for y'all to drool over.  Yeah- my kid's the cutest.  You can't deny it!