Fat Chick Fed Up

Menu plan, Week of October 8 – October 14

Happy Monday everyone! This week should be really interesting in our house since The Chick Magnet started his new schedule last night (third shifts). I am hoping it will help the dinner-time madness go a little more smoothly since he will be here to help corral the kids while I work my magic in the kitchen. Dinner lately has been all about speed and efficiency, since I still have to tend to the needs of 4 little ones while I am working on it. So maybe I will be able to start incorporating some more of my more complicated meals in the future. Mostly, I will still be keeping it as simple as possible, because let’s face it pregnancy, Florida heat (which is still going strong) and spending hours over the stove just is not a good combo!

Monday:

• Breakfast: Scrambled eggs
• Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, baby carrots, fruit (we will be gone on a Field Trip during the day so I need a lunch that will travel well and not get icky in the heat)
• Dinner: Beef Barley Soup, Spinach Salad (I don’t care if it’s still 90 degrees here-I’m making soup! Great crock pot meal since we will be gone all day)

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Steel-cut oats with pumpkin add-in
• Lunch: Grilled cheese, tomato soup
• Dinner: Crock pot roast beef, mashed potatoes, Spinach Casserole

Prep for Wednesday: Mix-up pancake batter

Wednesday:

• Breakfast: Healthy, Hearty, Whole Grain and Nut Pancakes (with pumpkin add-in-I eat eggs)
• Lunch: Peanut butter and banana sandwiches, sliced cucumber, cottage cheese
• Dinner: Turkey Picadillo, served with quinoa (another great recipe from Skinnytaste! I just made this a couple of weeks ago but it was SO good, we want it again already)

Thursday:

• Breakfast: Homemade peanut butter chocolate chip granola with milk/ Greek yogurt (I eat a kid-sized bowl of this and eggs)
• Lunch: Egg “McMuffins”, cottage cheese
• Dinner:Out

Friday:

• Breakfast: Steel-cut Oats (for the kids, eggs for me)
• Lunch: Leftovers
• Dinner: Homemade pizza

Saturday:

• Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal
• Lunch: Leftover pizza
• Dinner: Baked Chicken Fajitas, cornbread

Sunday:

• Breakfast: Eggs, toast
• Lunch: Pizza Quesadillas, sliced cucumbers and avocado
• Dinner: Cilantro Thai Chicken (I’ve made this recipe several times-I always add fresh lime juice and it is SO yummy), roasted cauliflower, green beans

Snacks:

• Roasted Chick Peas
• Skinny Monkey Cookies
• Veggie Chips (can use kale, sweet potato, spinach, zucchini, summer squash etc…)
• Popcorn

What’s on your menu this week?

As always, I am happy to post recipes for anything I have not already linked to, just let me know in the comments!

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Happy weekend y’all! It’s especially happy for me because this is the last weekend The Chick Magnet will have to be working for a while. Though it comes with a price-he will be switching to third shifts-it also comes with the nice bonus of having weekends off from now on. I can’t remember the last time he had a job with weekends off. Hooray!

As you probably know, if you have been a reader here for more than a couple of weeks, I started my new Saturday series, “Isn’t She Beautiful“, as a response to a “controversial” picture I posted on my Facebook page a few weeks ago, in which I dared to say that someone who was overweight AND pregnant was also BEAUTIFUL. I stand fully behind that statement, and because of the conversations that took place after I posted that picture, I decided that I had one more reason I should be blogging: so I can see and share about unexpected beauty-beauty that may not be defined by the world’s standards (i.e. a number on a scale or the amount of money in your wallet), but is beauty nonetheless.

Honestly, I am weary of feeling ugly myself-and while I am working diligently, on the outside and the INSIDE, in order to change the way I perceive myself, I STRONGLY believe, every woman, every PERSON deserves to KNOW and BELIEVE, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they are beautiful. That is the whole point of this series-to celebrate beauty that may typically go unnoticed, uncelebrated.

I am so, so excited about this series and about the amazing people that I have lined up to write about. I want to keep this series going as long as possible, so I am also asking my readers to send in stories of people you consider beautiful. You can contact me via the comment form here, via a private message on my Facebook page, or via e-mail at fatchickfedup (at) gmail (dot) com. I would love to hear your stories! And if you want to read the series from start to finish, just visit the “Isn’t She Beautiful” page, linked here, and found in my right side bar.

Today, you should consider yourselves very, very lucky because I am introducing you to someone who is so, so special to me. I want you to meet my BEAUTIFUL baby sister, Danielle.

My sweet sis, Danielle, with her sweet hubby, Shannon

I shared last week about our other sister, Anjie, and if you recall I told you that she and I are as different as night and day. Danielle and I are freakishly similar. So much so that we were often asked if we were twins when we were younger, even though we have different fathers. Danielle is about 3 years younger than I, but she was always tall for her age, so we were usually about the same height (until she passed me by-stinker!). We both have dark hair and dark skin. But the similarities don’t stop there.

We also have similar personalities. We are both Type-A to the extreme. That expresses itself in different ways in our lives, but we are both very, very nit-picky. We laugh about the same things, we finish each other’s sentences at times, and we both have very similar outlooks on life and on our upbringing. What’s odd about that is that we didn’t even live together growing up.

Danielle lived with our mother and basically grew up as an only child. Anjie and I lived with our father. It certainly made for an interesting family dynamic, to be sure. I definitely suffered from the “middle child” syndrome as I was jealous of both my older and my younger sisters. It was hard for us to not see each other very often and it was hard for me that Danielle had our mom all to herself. But I think it went the other way as well-her basically being an only child, when we were there to visit it was a totally different environment for her and she had to get used to sharing our mother’s affections, and then we were gone again.

We only saw each other once every month or two, if we were lucky. As is often the case, absence made the heart grow fonder and we got along great. For about the first five minutes of any visit. In all reality, we actually got along much better than Anjie and I did. I think part of that was because we were close in age and part of it was that we weren’t together all the time.

But when we did fight, we sure had some doozies. I am going to go ahead and rat myself out here now, because if I don’t she will probably say it on my Facebook page or in the comments-I didn’t come by my nickname “Linda Blair” by accident (seriously, if you are too young to know who that is just google it-and her most famous screen role). When we did fight it could get vicious. And there may have been a time where I clawed her face. And drew blood. Maybe.

But, I digress. That’s ancient history. I mean, it was five years ago, but give me a break.

Kidding. Totally kidding.

But we did have some doozies, for sure. Of course, mysteriously, no one can ever remember anything bad Danielle did. She was just a victim.

We also had lots and lots of fun. Some of my best childhood memories involve Danielle and some of the games we used to play. Like “camp”-which I think was just our mother’s trick to try and get us to go to sleep. We would pull the covers up over our head and pretend we were camping out under the stars. And then we fell asleep.

Or playing with our mother’s Mary Kay our of our dryer. We had a whole professional salon going. I have no idea why we thought the dryer was a good choice, but hey, it was fun.

And my personal favorite. Doctor. NO, no, not THAT kind of doctor. The kind of doctor in which we were constantly sick so we had to go to the doctor for our medicine. Which was Hershey’s Syrup, of course. Yeah, the food issues started very young.

Alas, we grew up. And just like our other sister, Danielle has become one of my best friends. One of my favorite qualities about Danielle is that she has to be one of THE most generous people I know. Danielle LOVES to give gifts. She loves to get them too (another thing we have in common-we might fancy ourselves princesses). But I don’t think I know anyone who is a better gift-giver than Danielle. She is so thoughtful and can always come up with the perfect way to celebrate someone.

She has thoroughly spoiled all of my children. I think she might be wondering when I am going to stop having kids to make it easier on her pocketbook. In all seriousness, though, Danielle is just a giver. Not just of gifts, but of herself. She has one of the biggest hearts that I know and is one of the most unselfish people I know. Unless you steal her butter-then you better watch out! (She knows she loves me!)

Danielle has been on her own weight-loss journey. The above picture was taken at her wedding (obviously) just over 3 years ago (and yes, those are my cuties with her-my oldest boy was the ring bearer). Since then she has lost about 100 pounds. She is seriously my weight-loss hero and I love her outlook on all of it.

She has this to say about her weight-loss success, “I think I just realized I was done with the weight thing, sort of.  It is never easy and every 5 pounds comes back twice as quick as it goes away.  I try not to be scale-obsessed, but if I’m not, it is way too easy to excuse a little weight gain here or there.  I am nowhere near what the “real” ideal weight chart says I should be, but I can’t imagine being too much lighter.  I feel like if I am limited to a couple of carrot and celery sticks a day just so I won’t gain an ounce back, that isn’t really a very exciting life.  I am able to have a “treat” and not feel too guilty!!”

I love that, don’t you? This is the ideal attitude towards food I am working towards myself. Not seeing food as the enemy and not seeing myself as its prisoner. Instead, I aim to develop a healthy relationship with food and let go of the guilt associated with certain foods. My sister is living proof that it can be done!

Here she is now

Isn’t she beautiful.

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Hey everyone! For the last couple of weeks I have posted some interviews from the documentary “Hungry for Change”. I just received news that you can watch the entire documentary for FREE online, now until midnight on Saturday, October 6. I can’t recommend it enough. It was really eye-opening for me and I learned SO much from it. Check it out right here!

http://www.hungryforchange.tv/book-free-screening

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Hey everyone! I hope your weekend is off to a great start! We have a busy weekend full of baseball games and hopefully visiting with my baby sister who is in town for a bachelorette weekend.

This is my third post of my new “Isn’t She Beautiful” series. If you are curious to know what and why of this series, just visit this post right here. I have also created a page with all the posts in order so that if you want to read them start to finish, you can. I will add to the list every week to make them easier to find. I hope you enjoy reading this series as much as I enjoy writing it!

Today, I have the special privilege of introducing you to someone who I have known since the day I was born. And I promise, I did not spell her name wrong in the title of this post.

Anjie, or Anjanette (hence the odd spelling) if you really want to make her mad (she’s always hated her first name), is my older sister. Amazingly, she is my only full-blooded sibling (I have one younger half-sister and two younger half-brothers-but they are my sister and brothers in the truest sense of the word) and we are as different as night and day. My younger sister and I were often mistaken as twins when we were young and even now if I introduce her to people, many will remark about the resemblance.

My older sister and I, however, could not be more different and most people are shocked when they find out that we are sisters. Anjie is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, vertically-challenged (ahem-you know you love me! ), effervescent, out-going (and out-spoken) kind of girl. As you all know, I am a dark-haired, quite a bit taller (though still on the short side myself), broody, introvert kind of girl.

“The Girls” ~ The baby, Danielle, me, Anjie and my daughter, Madison

Anjie has always been one of those people-you know the type-who can talk to anyone, at any time, about anything. She makes friends with everyone and has no qualms about striking up conversations with complete strangers. I, on the other hand, don’t share her confidence. I know you all will be shocked to learn that she was a cheerleader in high school. I…was not. Her career of choice? Sales.

Of all the people in the world though, despite how different we are on the outside, Anjie is probably the one person on earth who gets me more than anyone. She is the only one of my siblings who I actually lived with growing up. She understands our history and our family dynamics and where I come from and where I’ve been like no one else. We are incredibly close and I am just so, so proud of her.

When Anjie was about four years old, she almost died. I was just a wee lass in my mother’s belly when Anjie became very, very sick. At first, the doctors did not know what was wrong with her. She was throwing up blood and she was diagnosed with leukemia. I remember a few years back my grandmother telling me that was one of two times she ever saw my father cry.

Fortunately, though, the doctor’s initial diagnosis was incorrect. Instead, Anjie had something called haemolytic anemia. Haemolytic anemia is a rare and severe form of anemia caused by a high rate of red blood cell destruction. Severe haemolytic anemia requires prompt treatment, or it often proves fatal. Thankfully, the great medical team at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, despite the initial diagnosis, was able to react and treat Anjie quickly enough that she made a full recovery and has had no lasting effects of her illness to this day.

I remember my mom telling me a story of something Anjie did after they got home from the hospital. One day my mom was standing at the end of the driveway and Anjie came outside and her face was as white as a ghost. Understandably, my mom took one look at her and started to get really scared. She made her way up the driveway to Anjie, only to discover she had painted herself with white shoe polish. Hilarious? Oh yeah. So like her to give her parent a heart attack? Yep, that too.

Anjie and I are just under five years apart. We were inseparable for a long while. And then that girl hit puberty. And I wasn’t the cute, sweet baby sister anymore. I was the bratty, annoying sister who wanted to be her shadow and do whatever she was doing. For quite some time, we NEVER got along. Sure, there were a few bright moments in there where we supported each other and gave each other a shoulder to lean on. But for both of us, throughout our high school years, things were rather tumultuous. It was a really, really hard time for both of us and for our whole family.

If I was being really honest, and you know I am, I was a little resentful and a lot jealous. She always got along with everyone and I always struggled. Everyone loved her and there were a few times I was asked, “Why can’t you be more like Anjie?” I think Anjie was so happy-go-lucky, that our family was surprised when I was the polar opposite. I always felt like they favored her. I know now that wasn’t true and it had more to do with her not getting into trouble and me causing it.

She happened to graduate right at a particularly tough time in the life of our family. She went on a vacation to New Jersey right after she graduated…and she never came back. Meanwhile, my dad and step-mom got a divorce and in the blink of an eye we went from being a family of 6 to it just being me and my dad. I felt a little abandoned.

Of course, none of that was Anjie’s fault. And if I was in her position, I am sure I would have got the you-know-what out of dodge too. In fact, there were a few times where I tried to do just that. But in my immature, adolescent mind, I felt like I had lost the one person who protected me and understood me.

It wasn’t until I got married and started having children that we started to pick up the pieces of our relationship and seek healing, restoration and forgiveness. It sure wasn’t hard to do. I had kids and I wanted her to be a part of their lives and she was madly in love with them. It was simple really. And it truly, truly felt like coming home, finally, when we decided to right past wrongs.

Today, 10 years later, Anjie is one of my best friends. Though distance still separates us, she is one of the first people I call and turn to when I am struggling with something. We laugh and poke fun of each other. I make short jokes and blonde jokes and she makes jokes about me being called “Linda Blair” when I was younger. We don’t fight, we don’t argue, there are no grudges. It’s just easy.

I bet most of you don’t even know who Linda Blair is, and if you do you just got a deeper look into my psyche than you ever wanted to see.

It hasn’t always been this way and I am so thankful to God for bringing beauty out of ashes. Something that could have been dead and ugly, is alive and beautiful. I am so, so thankful for my sister and that my kids have such an amazing, amazing aunt. They are so blessed. I am so blessed.

The thing is-while a lot has changed, there is a lot that hasn’t changed. We are still as different as night and day. We still don’t look a thing alike or act a thing alike. She is still out-going and upbeat and positive-a definite extrovert. I am still a melancholy, pessimistic, introvert. She is Tigger. I am Eeyore.

I am a stay-at-home mom. She is a successful career-woman who makes a living selling airtime for television affiliates across the country. She works in downtown Philadelphia (when she isn’t working from home) and, though born and raised a midwestern girl, she is east coast through and through. I’m country. And she’s rock and roll. And I love how different we are. It’s what makes us so beautiful.

And she is a crazy sports fan. And when I say crazy, I really mean psychotic. I don’t even think fan is a strong enough word to describe her.

Anjie recently started her own weight-loss journey with Weight Watchers. She has lost over 25 pounds so far (and she has a lot less to lose than I do, as you can see from our pictures) and is doing so well. She has gone from a size 16 to a size 10. I am insanely proud of her.

The thing is-I was proud of her before. She doesn’t have to look a certain way or act a certain way for me to see her beauty. She doesn’t have to be a certain size, or a certain shape, or really change a thing about her to be beautiful. She just is.

Anjie dancing with our brother Matt at my wedding

Isn’t she beautiful.

And yes, I intentionally did not put a question mark at the end of that sentence, so grammar nazis, back-off (you know you are out there!). It wasn’t a question. It was a statement of fact. Isn’t she beautiful.

How many of you have a beautiful sister? Give a shout out in the comments! I am so blessed to have TWO!

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All right, I admit it. I have taken weight-loss supplements. Well, not any time recently, and not since I started this journey, and certainly not while pregnant. It was actually years and years ago before I ever started having kids. I wanted to believe that there was some magic “pill” out there that would help me take the weight off and keep it off. I can’t even remember the pills I took but I think I remember that we (both The Chick Magnet and I tried them) got them at a kiosk in the mall.

Smart.

The main ingredient I know was caffeine. I did not handle them so well as they made me sick to my stomach and jittery. Let me tell you people, as an EXTREME type-A personality, this girl needs NO help in the jittery department. So, my foray into the weight-loss supplement industry was incredibly brief. I think I lasted less than a week and pretty sure I lost no weight on them.

My plan this time around does not include taking a pill or drinking a shake or going to a meeting or having a surgery. I believe that those things may work for some people, but they just aren’t for me. The reason I have this topic on my mind is because I received a question from a reader a couple of weeks ago. Lisa (not me, the reader) and her husband would like to get pregnant soon and she asked me my thoughts on weight-loss supplements while trying to conceive. Here is what her e-mail said (re-printed with permission):

I am 39 and weigh 233.  I had given up on the thought of having a baby but I got married in June and now I have baby fever.  I know I am at an unhealthy weight and want to lose weight but I also want to get pregnant.  I have recently purchased the YP10 weight-loss system which is similar to the hcg diet.  You eat a very low-calorie diet and take these drops 3 times a day.  I am torn about whether to do this since I want to get pregnant.  What are your thoughts on weightloss supplement while ttc?

TTC = trying to conceive

I thought her question was an excellent one and wanted to share my response with you here, so you guys, too, can know where I stand on the issue. I will preface this by reiterating that this is what works, FOR ME. Weight-loss is highly individual, and what is right for me and my journey may not be right for you and yours. My sister has lost GOBS of weight, at a much faster rate than I have (she is now pretty much at goal-weight), through a medical weight-loss program that included using medication. I am insanely proud of her, she is absolutely beautiful (she was that before though too!) and maybe only slightly jealous.

So, please don’t misunderstand what I am about to say as me being anti-weight-loss program. I am pro-what-works-for-you. Also, recognize that I am not a dietician, nor am I a trained medical professional. I am simply one woman attempting to share my journey to becoming a healthy and whole person. Please consult your physician if you have any questions about my opinions on this matter.

Here is my response to Lisa:

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Menu plan, Week of September 24 – September 30

Happy Monday everyone! I can’t believe it is the end of September already and it has been a whole three months since we became Floridians. We got to experience the full effect of Florida’s heat this week when our A/C went out. The temperature topped out at 90 degrees in here, which, as I’m sure most of my readers are aware, does NOT make for a happy pregnant mama! It also does not make one want to spend much time in the kitchen over the hot stove. So you will see that some of my meals are hold-overs from last week.

There is a happy ending to this story. The A/C repairman is in my home as we speak. It was nothing super serious-just a seriously dirty unit from our house sitting empty for so long (this was a bank-owned property, so it likely sat empty, with the A/C running continuously, for at least a year if not longer). The repairman took the unit out and it was covered with about an inch worth of dust and grime. I even have photographic evidence. Wanna see?

Of course, you do.

Nasty! So, thankfully, our worst fears of having to replace the entire unit were not realized. The added bonus is that we should now be saving about half what our electric bill  previously was-which will be big bucks. We got quite the shock when our first electric bill came in and we figured that was the price we would have to pay for living in FL. So thankful that is not the case and we should have more “normal” bills coming in now. What a relief! Ah, the joys of home ownership, right?

Now that drama is over, I am ready to get back in the kitchen and try out some new recipes! I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Monday:

• Breakfast: Eggs
• Lunch: Peanut butter and banana sandwiches, baby carrots, fruit
• Dinner: Leftovers (The Chick Magnet is going to Father/Son football Night at Chick Fil-A with our two oldest sons, so it will just be me and our other two kids home for dinner tonight-I rarely cook a full meal unless my whole family will be around.)

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Eggs, whole wheat English Muffin (this is what The Chick Magnet makes me just about every morning-he’s perfected his “eggs over medium” technique and they are SO yummy)
• Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly, apples, carrot sticks (we will be gone for the day at the children’s museum so I need to pack lunches that will keep well in the stroller)
• Dinner: Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken, spinach salad (The crock pot is invaluable on days like this when I will be gone all day-after being on my feet all day at the museum and having baseball practice at 7:30 in the evening, it will be so nice to come home to a ready-made, healthy meal rather than succumbing to the drive-thru temptation)

Prep for Wednesday: Mix-up pancake batter

Wednesday:

• Breakfast: Healthy, Hearty, Whole Grain and Nut Pancakes (with pumpkin add-in)
• Lunch: Grilled cheese, zucchini boats, roasted brussel sprouts
• Dinner: Turkey Picadillo, served with quinoa (another great recipe from Skinnytaste!)

Thursday:

• Breakfast: Homemade peanut butter chocolate chip granola with milk/ Greek yogurt
• Lunch: Egg “McMuffins”, cottage cheese
• Dinner: Brown Rice Casserole, roasted asparagus

Friday:

• Breakfast: Steel-cut Oats (for the kids, eggs for me)
• Lunch: Leftovers
• Dinner: Homemade pizza

Saturday:

• Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal
• Lunch: Leftover pizza
• Dinner: Beef tips over homemade whole-wheat egg noodles

Sunday:

• Breakfast: Eggs, toast
• Lunch: Pizza Quesadillas, sliced cucumbers and avocado
• Dinner: Out (we do enjoy one meal out on the weekends-gives mama a much-needed break and it’s just nice to relax with my family and not have to worry about who has to clean up the mess afterwards!)

Snacks:

• Roasted Chick Peas
• Skinny Monkey Cookies
• Veggie Chips (can use kale, sweet potato, spinach, zucchini, summer squash etc…)
• Popcorn

What’s on your menu this week?

As always, I am happy to post recipes for anything I have not already linked to, just let me know in the comments!

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Happy Saturday everyone! I hope you all are having a great start to your weekend. We are spending lots of time at the ball field this weekend-two practices today and one tomorrow (two boys in Little League). Temps really haven’t started to cool off here in FL, like it seems to be doing everywhere else, so it makes for one hot weekend. Good for the Vitamin D intake. Also, our A/C is on the fritz so it’s just as hot inside these days as it is outside. That’s one hard thing about moving-trying to find quality repairmen! We would appreciate your prayers that it isn’t something super serious!

Some of you may remember that I began this new series “Isn’t She Beautiful” a couple of weeks ago on my blog, after a bit of controversy over this picture I posted on Facebook. Instead of perpetuating the negativity surrounding the photo, I decided I wanted to turn it around and spread a little positivity here in my little corner of cyberspace. The goal of this series is to find beauty in places where it might be least expected or in unconventional ways, as opposed to the way the world typically defines beauty. I am excited to report that I have nearly 40 people signed up to participate in this series. My goals is to get that number up to 52, at least, so this series can continue for a whole year. So, please, if you know someone who would be a good fit for this series (it can be someone you know personally, a fellow blogger, or even someone no longer with us), email me at fatchickfedup (at) gmail (dot) com.

I apologize for the technical glitches with last week’s post. I had it written and ready to post Friday night. When I got up Saturday it had disappeared except for the picture! I was headed out of town for the weekend and had no way to write it again. So weird-I’ve had some technical difficulties before, but that was a new one! At any rate, here is the post that was supposed to run last week.

I am so excited to introduce you to a person who I happen to believe is one of the most beautiful people on the planet. I may be slightly biased, as I am her mother, but she is unequivocally beautiful nonetheless.

The Chick Magnet and I make it a point to tell our daughter, Madison, on a very frequent basis, how beautiful she is. And while we absolutely think she is physically beautiful, we try not to focus too much on her physical characteristics. We do affirm her physical beauty, because what little girl doesn’t want to hear that from those she loves? But we try very hard to explain to her where we feel her true beauty lies.

Before she was born, I prayed and prayed that Madison would have a personality like my husband’s. I was scared out of my mind to raise a girl. I had issues with girls growing up-most of my good friends were guys and I felt I could relate to guys better. I grew up with two younger brothers. As a counselor in my pre-motherhood days, I worked exclusively with boys. I always wanted a gaggle of boys running around my house.

So, when we found out our first was a girl, I was on my knees constantly. We’ve long established I have issues, so I was so desperate to be sure I didn’t raise my daughter to have the same issues, thoughts and feelings about herself as I do myself. I prayed and prayed that she would look like and act like my husband-laid-back, peaceful, calm and self-assured-with his cute dimples, of course.

Imagine my surprise when she was born and she slept through the night her second night home. Of course, I was a paranoid wreck hovering over her bassinet to see if she was still breathing. She’s been the same ever since. Cool, calm and collected, with the absolute sweetest personality.

While Madison is truly beautiful on the outside, what is most stunning about her, is who she is, on the inside. She has the most amazing heart. She truly empathizes with those who are hurting and can’t stand to see anyone suffer. Even as a child as young as two, if she ever saw someone cry, she would cry too. It’s like she has a visceral, physical reaction when she sees other people who are hurting.

Another thing about my daughter that simply exemplifies beauty is her confidence. You can tell she is a girl who knows she is loved and accepted. She can make friends with anyone and talk to anybody about anything, anytime. This fact scared me a bit when she was really young because she was just SO trusting of other people. She never really experienced that stranger anxiety that my boys have, and she was just always happy no matter who she was around. I remember being in the airport one time, she couldn’t have been more than two, and her making fast friends with another child who was there, and at that moment, I realized that she would totally walk off with them if they asked her to!

Another way Madison expresses her confidence and beauty is by standing up for what she believes in. She can’t stand injustice and can’t stand to see anyone left out. I have seen her, time and time again, stick up for those younger than her, less fortunate than her, or those she feels have been wronged in some way.

One thing I love about Madison, and so wish this was a quality I possess, is that she has the ability to talk to anyone. She is just as comfortable striking up conversations with adults as she is with a two-year-old. Just yesterday we spent the day at the park with a local homeschool group. This was our first time meeting these moms and children and I was anxious and nervous the whole time. Not Madison though-she made fast friends with several girls there-older and younger-and is already planning a sleepover! She makes me at ease in social situations I might otherwise avoid altogether if it weren’t for my social butterfly.

Obviously, Madison has inherited none of my self-image issues. She is comfortable in her own skin and always ready to try something new. I love that girl and she defines the word “beautiful” for me. I totally don’t know what I ever did to deserve her, but I am so incredibly blessed to call her my own.

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Last week, I posted a video that was released from Hungry for Change, a documentary I watched a few months ago. “Hungry for Change” is a follow-up to the famed “Food Matters”.

This week they released another video that I thought many of you would be interested in. This particular video is an interview with Kris Carr, who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Kris shares her journey to health and wellness and how kicking her sugar addiction literally transformed and saved her life. She has been featured on television shows such as Dr. Oz and Oprah. She’s got a great story to tell and is very inspiring for those of us, like me, who have struggled for years with a sugar addiction.

Be sure to check it out ASAP as it will only be available for online viewing for a short period of time (I’m not sure how long). It’s an amazing story!

You can check it out right here, on the “Hungry for Change” website. Enjoy!

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Menu plan, Week of September 18 – September 23

Hey all! Sorry I am posting this a day late. We’ve been out-of-town for a couple of days and just getting back into the swing of our regular week. Things are great here. I am finally getting over my sinus gunk, although there is some residual stuff going on (cough, sore throat) it is MUCH improved over last week and I feel like I am actually going to live now, lol. It was a doozy, for sure!

We had an ultrasound yesterday-nothing too exciting. Baby was a stubborn stinker and would not show us the goods so at this point we are still not sure what we are having. I’m thinking boy, everyone else says girl. For those of you who don’t know-our oldest (10) is a girl and then came three boys, so while we would be thrilled either way we are all kind of hoping for a girl. It’s a bit early yet anyway (17 weeks) but we should know probably next month.

Everything else looked great and I gained a pound and a half since my last visit about 6 weeks ago. I will post more on my weight gain tomorrow with an official “Weigh-in Wednesday” post. Blood pressure was great, all of my labs came back normal and so far everything seems to be going very well for this pregnancy.

After seeing baby’s sweet face yesterday I am just getting so anxious to meet him or her and for labor and delivery. I will write a bit more about that in coming weeks, but I promise not to turn this into a pregnancy blog. I have a ways to go yet so I really need to try to sit back, relax and enjoy the wonderful second trimester!

Because I am feeling so good finally, I hope to spend some more time in my kitchen in the coming weeks. I would love to get a few freezer meals made up for when the baby comes. I know I have a while yet, but I also know how easily worn out I get when the third trimester hits so I figure I better take advantage of feeling great while I can. I also want to try out some new recipes this week since it’s been so long since I have felt well enough to spend much time in the kitchen. So look for some new things to pop up on the menu over the next few weeks.

Here’s what we’re having this week!

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Eggs, whole wheat English Muffin (this is what The Chick Magnet makes me just about every morning-he’s perfected his “eggs over medium” technique and they are SO yummy)
• Lunch: Grilled cheese, sliced tomatoes and avocado, fruit
• Dinner: Taco salad, Apple Nachos

Prep for Wednesday: Mix-up pancake batter

Wednesday:

• Breakfast: Healthy, Hearty, Whole Grain and Nut Pancakes (with pumpkin add-in)
• Lunch: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sliced cucumber and baby carrots, Greek yogurt
• Dinner: Spinach Lasagna Rolls, spinach salad (I absolutely LOVE the Skinnytaste website-all of the recipes I have made from there are DELISH and they are generally very healthy and she is great about including all of the nutrition information for you-it’s a fabulous resource for anyone, especially those of us on a journey to health and wellness)

Thursday:

• Breakfast: Homemade peanut butter chocolate chip granola with milk/ Greek yogurt (eggs for me)
• Lunch: Egg “McMuffins”, cottage cheese
• Dinner: Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken, spinach salad

Friday:

• Breakfast: Steel-cut Oats (for the kids, eggs for me)
• Lunch: Leftovers
• Dinner: Homemade pizza

Saturday:

• Breakfast: Baked Oatmeal
• Lunch: Leftover pizza
• Dinner: Turkey Picadillo, served with barley (another great recipe from Skinnytaste!)

Sunday:

• Breakfast: Eggs, toast
• Lunch: Pizza Quesadillas, sliced cucumbers and avocado
• Dinner: Out

Snacks:

• Roasted Chick Peas
• Skinny Monkey Cookies
• Veggie Chips (can use kale, sweet potato, spinach, zucchini, summer squash etc…)
• Popcorn

What’s on your menu this week?

As always, I am happy to post recipes for anything I have not already linked to, just let me know in the comments!

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