Yummy Smoothie recipes for Mommy and baby(ies)!

I have already posted a few recipes on Kale, the super food! For many of us, Kale has a strong flavor that is hard to get down. I am on the hunt for a Kale salad that I enjoy!  However, I have found a DELICIOUS way for my boys and I to enjoy the wonderful health benefits!

Kale Orange Banana Smoothie

2 c Kale chopped
1 banana (frozen optional)
1 orange peeled
1 tsp fresh grated ginger (optional)
6 oz water
 Blend

Kale strawberry banana smoothie

2 c chopped Kale

1 frozen banana

1 c frozen strawberries

6 oz water

We are officially done with bottles.  I have weened the boys from formula (and unfortunately my breast milk).  I haven't really written about this, but I had SO many issues breastfeeding.  It was the the best and the hardest thing I have ever done (or one of them).  I breastfed my twins for NINE months, which I am BEYOND proud of.  I gave them the best beginning that i could.  I was devastated when I had to stop.  I had to make a choice... I could either pump or play.  You see, breastfeeding twins you need to produce A LOT of milk.  My breasts would get so full!  There was one night around the six month mark that I didn't pump because Maximus had been waking up at 11pm and wanting to nurse. C and I had a date night and got home late and I decided I wouldn't pump because Maximus would want to nurse in an hour... or so I thought!  I fell asleep and woke up at 4 am in the worst pain!  My breast were engorged, hard as rocks, and full of plugged ducts.

After I nursed the boys, I could still feel that my ducts were all plugged up.  It was excruciating.  The following day I felt achy and it continued to get worse.  I thought I was coming down with a flu.  By that evening I had a fever of over 101!  I had full blown Mastitis.  My bones ached!  I was shaking!  It was miserable.  The following day I was able to pump a total of 2 oz during a nursing.  I tried to nurse and my milk never let down.  I had a pumping weekend and was able to build my milk supply back up, but it never was the same.  I had to work so hard to maintain it.  With introducing solids, battling Mastitis, it was a losing battle.  Around 9 months I had to make a choice, do I pump after every feeding again and in between or play with my boys who are only going to be this age once.  I probably would have breastfed them until they were two if I was able and if they wanted it.  That's how much I loved it and how pro breastfeeding I am.

So, my thought process was, if I can't produce the best, I can make the best for them.  I want to instill a healthy palate and eating habits and prevent (as much as possible) picky toddlers.  So far so good!  Rocco and Maximus LOVE fruits and LOVE vegetables.  They eat a variety of proteins (no chicken fingers! no fish sticks!), and whole grains (wonder bread who?).

The picture of the three smoothies one of their new daily snacks (and mine!).  They haven't mastered the straws yet, but we are working on it.  They both polished those smoothies off and loved 'em!  I also love those straw cups (playtex) because they allow me to help squeeze up the contents  until they figure it out.

Fun with my 50! The boys... 13 months! (pictures galore!)

First pair of big boys shoes!  We love vans! 

Back yard exploration!  Every night the boys love to go outdoors to explore and watch airplanes!

Maximus!

Maximus 

Oliver taking a nap!

Rocco  

Rocco loves to play the "drum"

Maximus

Rocco 

Rocco looking at the airplanes! We live near an airport and the boys LOVE to watch them fly by!

Rocco

Rocco

Maximus... His hair is getting CURLY like Mommy's!

Rocco, VERY strait hair like Daddy

Grandma came out to visit!

Bedtime stories with Grandma!

Mommy and Maximus after bath

Mommy and Maximus

Mommy and Maximus

Mommy and Rocco

Mommy and Rocco

Rocco intrigued by my camera

What a month!  The boys are growing leaps and bounds!  It is unbelievable.  In one month the have gone from babies to toddlers!  Some new things they are doing are...

Maximus: Started saying "uh oh, I did it! "His first sentence at 13 months!! Also says, "hi," "ball,"when he is eating he loves to say"mom" about 5o times to see me smile, of course, "dada," he signs "all done" or in Italian, "Finito..." (what Italiano I do know, I speak it to the boys).  It honestly melts my heart!  He is still cruising every where. No first steps yet.  Love to push the Lawn mower. "spider crawls" on hands and feet.  He falls a lot, cries and wines a lot.  I know he gets frustrated and wants to communicate, but can't.  Maximus is very temperamental, and a tester, I have had to start disciplining (time outs for a minute in the pack n play!) him at 12 months (something I NEVER anticipated!)  He had started hitting and biting at 12 months.  He went from baby to toddler over night!  Thankfully, I believe in discipline.  I believe discipline is LOVE.  He has improved tremendously and knows there are consequences to negative behavior, even at this young age.

Rocco: Says, "plane" which sounds more like "pain." He has picked up on Maximus saying "Mom" during meal times and says "mama" about 20 times and waits for me to smile or say "Ciao" or "Ti amo" to him or Maximus or blow them a kiss.  He also signs, "finito,"waves "hi" and "bye" Every night we go out in the back yard and watch the planes fly over us.  I also have taught Rocco to wave "Ciao" to the planes! He Cruises everywhere. No walking yet or steps, but will stand with no hands.  He Also loves to push the Lawn mower. "Spider crawls" on hands and feet.  Rocco is SUCH A sweet LOVING lil boy.  He loves to give Kisses and hugs and rub his head all over me, Daddy and Maximus.  He has a very mellow personality and is an easy going boy.  I am thankful of the balance ;-)

Cycle update

Cycle one- 35 days

Cycle two- 44 days

Cycle three- still waiting... I'm CD 46

I have officially started the Pregnitude on September 17th, which would be CD 40 (since I had the short break of the flu).  I have had cramps and bloating and I feeling like i am going to start AF any minute, but haven't.  I am not sure why I feel this way?  I loathe PCOS.

WRESTLE MANIA! Boys will be boys!

Here is a just for fun post! Enjoy!

Here is my YouTube link...  WRESTLE MANIA!

A little delay...

I had a rough start to my "plan."  The night after writing my last blog post, I came down with the stomach flu!  Today is the first day I have eaten breakfast and have taken my supplements again since Wednesday.  It was the worst flu I have had in a very long time!  Wednesday night I threw up SEVEN times!  The first five times were EVERY 30 minutes from 11 PM to 330 AM.  It was horrible.  I had no appetite the last five days and yesterday I was finally able to choke down a bowl of oatmeal and later a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  I slept every time the babies slept during the day and would just lay in the room they were playing in.  I think they were having a hard time with me being sick, just like I was!  Also, making them something to eat was no easy task and made me so nauseated!  Even when you are sick, you still have to cook! Its definitely not fun being sick and ESPECIALLY not fun when you have 13 month TWINS to take care of!  Thank goodness my hubby was hear to help as much as he could!

Enough of my rant.  We are back on track with the Pregnitude!  I thought I would add a couple pictures of what it looks like...

They come in a box with two little packets attached to each other for each day

The powder is white, but it dissolves to clear and is tasteless!

My typical diet...

Breakfast

1 egg 2 whites

Oatmeal with flax and chia seeds or sprouted wheat toast with homemade butter spread

fruit

snack

plain fage greek yogurt

fruit

or 

post workout

protein shake

coconut water

Lunch

dinner leftovers usually or

a sandwich on sprouted wheat

or salad

snack

apple and natural peanut butter

Dinner

chicken 

veggies 

brown rice

Now... Looking forward to beginning this journey... AGAIN! ;-)

I will leave with you a photo I took over the weekend!  They love their boots!! 

Bongiorno! From Maximus and Rocco! 

Treating PCOS... Naturally? Pregnitude, clean eating and exercise!

Prior to getting pregnant, I felt there was only one way to deal with my Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome... Medication.  The only two options that were given to me were to "get on birth control pill" if not TTC, or "take Metformin" if I was planning to conceive.  YIKES!  Is our only answer?  We have to stay on medication the rest of our lives or until we hit menopause?

Breast feeding had taken care of my symptoms for the most part.  My skin was still clear and I was losing weight.  If fact I had lost ALL of my baby weight by the time the boys were five months old!  However, in the back of my mind, I knew once I stopped at had two choices, get back on Metformin or BCP's.  I chose neither!

My two main PCOS symptoms are acne and irregular periods.  I have never been over weight however at times, like when my PCOS is in full force I do find it harder to lose weight if I gained or I will gain easy.

That being said, I had decided to research Natural remedies.  I don't want to be on medication.  Now that I am 31, I don't think it is wise to be on BCP, since it can lead to blood clots.  Metformin is a DRUG, that can't be good for long term use either.  Especially because it is know to cause Vitamin B12 deficiency.  I can only imagine what it does to our liver (just speculating!).

I found a supplement called Myo-Inositol.  There have been numerous studies that have shown very positive effects on women who have PCOS.  Some of these include more regular cycles, less acne, reduce miscarriage rates, improve ovary function, better egg quality, etc.  Even though C and I are not TTC, I am going to be taking the supplement called Pregnitude, which you do not need a prescription for.  It has the most mg/dose that I could find on the market and seems to be very easy to take.  I will be taking it every AM/PM for the next six months and will be updating my progress.

The greatest sign will be my cycle lengths.  With Metformin, my shortest cycle was, I believe, 39 days. Normally I range from 50-80.

My Current cycles Post Breastfeeding

First- 35 days

Second- 44 days (this is when I realized I needed to do something!)

Third- still waiting... I'm CD34 

My Plan

1. Eat clean. This is not a diet.  Its how I CHOOSE to eat and live my life. Its how my family eats.

2. Exercise. I workout 3-4 days a week. Three days circuit training, 1 day jogging. With added family walks/bike rides

3. Pregnitude. Take every morning and evening.

4. Document progress

I am looking forward to this journey and hoping for a positive outcome.  Although we are not TTC, we are not preventing. I hope you follow along! :)

Name Change?

Should I change the name of my blog?  I don't know...  I kind of feel like it is false advertising.  I would hate for an IFer to come to my blog and then be bombarded with baby.  But, at the same time, I liked reading blogs that that had a happy ending.  I would just read the past posts where they went through all the IF treatments and then get their BFP!  Hmmmm.....  What do you think??  If you think I should change, any suggestions would be great!

PS.  we still want a #3, just not now (unless it happens by a BFMiracle)!

Shoe obsessed!

I am not one of those Moms who always has her baby in shoes.  In fact, my boys have been barefoot all summer!  During the winter months they were in socks.  I have tried a few pairs of shoes but usually they end up on the floor or in their mouth.  However, my boys are obsessed with shoes... mostly to chew on, unfortunately.  I don't know how many times I have caught them sucking on my sandals! So gross!  Today they found the gold mine... my closet!

Yes!  That is Maximus and Rocco who took down all my shoes off the racks... or ones they were able to reach anyways!  So now the term "Double Trouble" (which I hear EVERY TIME we leave the house) is in full effect!


Now, even though they are obsessed with every shoe but the ones they are wearing, I think we finally found some they like!  For their birthday someone was gracious enough to buy the boys each a pair of Uggs!  I was shocked by how much they loved them!  I can't wait until its cooler and they can wear them.  I guess they will be house shoes for now ;-)

Here is Maximus LOVING his new boots!!

I didn't get a video of Rocco, but here is an adorable pic!...

Hope you all Enjoy your weekend!  Salute! 

1st Birthday Carrot Cake

In recent months, we have been eating healthier and healthier!  I used to think I was a very health conscience person who ate very well... until I had babies!  Slowly but surely I have realized that there were many things I could improve on.  There were many things I didn't want my boys to eat and yet I was eating it.  I would only cook their food a certain way... all natural!  No Pam, No sugar, No Smart Balance, No funky ingredients... ONLY NATURAL!  My new mentality, if I wouldn't give it to my perfectly pure babies, why would I give it to myself or my husband?  We eat CLEAN!

A few things I have changed... Instead of Pam I use coconut oil (which I can write a whole blog post about!) or olive oil, for example.  C and I have cleaned out our cupboards... High fructose corn syrup... GONE (bye bye Ketchup!)... artificial ingredients... GONE (good bye smart Balance that isn't smart at all!), partially hydrogenated oils... GONE (see ya coffee mate creamer! Hello black coffee... its better than you would think!).

Anyways, I will most likely be posting some of my new recipes on here, which my family is loving!  For the first one I will start with my sons first Birthday Carrot cake!

THE CAKE

2 1/2 cups thinly sliced carrots
2 1/2 cups apple juice concentrate (you may use slightly less)
1 1/2 cups raisins
coconut oil to grease the pans (or oil of choice)
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup coconut oil (or oil of choice)
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup wheat germ
2 Tbsp low sodium baking powder
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Prep: Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two 9 inch square cake pans with waxed paper and spray the paper with vegetable spray/shortening.

1. Combine the carrots with 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of the juice concentrate in a medium size saucepan.
2. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, covered, until carrots are tender, 15 to 20 mins. Puree in a blender of food processor until smooth.
3. Add the raisins and process until finely chopped. Let mixture cool.
4. Combine the flour, wheat germ, baking powder, and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add 1 1/4 cups juice concentrate, the oil, eggs, egg whites, and vanilla; beat just until well mixed. Fold in the carrot puree and applesauce. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.
5. Bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 mins. Cool briefly in the pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

THE FROSTING

½ cup apple juice concentrate
1 pound light cream cheese
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup finely chopped raisins or dates (dates would be sweeter)
1 ½ tsp unflavored gelatin

I mixed with a hand mixer.

Now, of course this does not taste ANYTHING like the carrot cake you buy at the store!  But, it is full of NATURAL healthy ingredients that you can be confident in giving your baby!  And the best part is, your baby doesn't know the difference :)  Enjoy!!