Match Made in Heaven Sunday we went to the aquarium with Tamsin's boyfriend and his parents. He's five weeks older than her and, truth be told, they really haven't spent much time with each other. At any given time, one of them is sleeping (him) or having a meltdown (her). After the aquarium, we went to lunch and their highchairs were placed side by side. Silly girl couldn't keep her hands off of him. Actually, she was trying to grab his food, I think. Or she was hitting him.* But then, he was taking her bottle. And don't even get me started with the toys. Somehow, someday, these two little persons will look at each other and realize they've been in love since before their first birthdays.
*Tamsin was in a very hitty mood this weekend. When the waitress was leaning over the table, Tamsin was hitting her bum. I wonder if she's still too young to understand "personal space."
Lean, Mean Machine I've been working out for about 2 months now. I usually get 3 to 6 workouts in each week. Whether I work out that day is very much tied to how Tamsin slept the night before - a good night means a workout day, a bad night means no energy. Anyway, I think I'm starting to see results. I can feel more tone in my thighs and glutes. Now, no one is going to look at me and think I have a toned body. In fact, most people looking at me will only see the layer of fat covering the more toned muscle, but *I* know it's there. Now I wish all that work would translate into a smaller dress size - I miss my clothes.
New Milestones So, I posted the video of Tamsin's first word last week. What I didn't get on video was the unsupported step she took between the couch and her piano. This was followed by 2 steps at her uncle's house this weekend. And, apparently, 3 steps last night chasing me when I left the room. I'm so proud of her...and a little scared, too.
Day 8 - Sunday Two birthday celebrations and I managed to avoid sugar at both of them. That was not an easy feat.
6 days to go.
Day 9 - Monday Donut day again. Why did I choose 2 weeks instead of 1 week again? I'm beginning to wonder if sugar actually does serve a purpose...
5 days.
Day 10 - Tuesday This is really starting to suck. Everything has sugar. Seriously, everything. Did you know that Wheat Thins have sugar in them? Why does a wheat cracker need sugar? Last night I told Kenji maybe I should relax my rules a bit, but this morning I think that's a bad idea. Maybe I need this second week of no-sugar to really understand how much I'm eating. Last week it was a fun little experiment. This week is driving home the point. It's still getting really old. I feel like I can't eat anything - there's only so much fruit a person can eat, y'know? Whatever.
Only 4 days left.
Day 11 - Wednesday I kept dropping things all day. Do you think it's because I don't have enough sugar in my system any more? I'm just going to assume that's the cause rather than my natural propensity for clumsiness.
3 Days to go.
Day 12 - Thursday Wow. I've been at this for 12 full days. Weird. I think what I'm missing most is grains. I don't eat a lot of bread, but I do like crackers. I really love multi-grain crackers with some cheese. But I have yet to find a cracker* that doesn't have sugar as one of the first few ingredients. It's really discouraging. Like I said before, there's only so much fruit my body can handle.
*We have some rice crackers that don't have sugar, but they don't really satisfy the grain craving. They're tasty (really tasty!), but it's just not quite right.
2 Days until the glorious sugar binge. Or you know, maybe just a chocolate bar.
Day 13 - Friday I'm satisfying my sweet and grain cravings by eating a piece of whole wheat bread (that I made myself!) with honey. Hopefully eating this first thing in the morning will help me avoid the frustration I've been feeling later in the day.
1 Day left.
Day 14 - Saturday Final day. I made it. As a retrospective, I really doubt my eating habits are going to change as a result of going without sugar for 2 weeks. I am more aware of how many products contain sugar, but, the truth is, I don't eat a ton of those products anyway. I did miss eating crackers, but that was about it. I know I shouldn't be eating a bunch of desserts and drinking sodas on a regular basis, so I only do it occassionally anyway. This has been a good and valuable experience, but, like I already said, I don't think I'll be eating too much differently in the future.
Day 15 - Sunday I had chocolate-peanut butter rice krispie treats for breakfast.
Day 1 - Sunday Not too bad. We don't usually have a ton of sugar products in the house, so it was fairly easy day. The walk through Costco with their free samples every 2 feet was a bit treacherous, but I made in through unscathed.
Day 2 - Monday The donuts down the hall are taunting me. I've skipped the donuts on Monday morning before - it's not a big deal. But today, those donuts are just calling out my name. Mean donuts. Only 10-ish hours until I can satisfy my sweet tooth with grilled pineapple.
This was a tough day. Not only was it donut day, but someone brought in cookies from a nearby bakery. They have the best sugar cookies in the world. I probably looked like a freak of nature reading the ingredient lists on potato chip bags at Subway, but Salt & Vinegar flavor have no sugar - BBQ and Sour Cream & Onion flavor do contain sugar. I also discovered that my beloved teriyaki turkey jerky has sugar - which I should have known and probably suspected. But it still makes sad.
The grilled pineapple and pears were a lovely dessert, though.
Day 3 - Tuesday It's the little things getting to me. Mainly at work. The Coke in the fridge, the hot chocolate on the counter, the candy in the snack drawer. Somehow cheese and rice crackers aren't cutting it for me.
Day 4 - Wednesday I woke up with a nasty headache. I don't know if it's related to my lack of sugar or just because I get headaches sometimes. Hopefully some caffeine and fruit for breakfast will cure it.
Day 5 - Thursday Today didn't seem so bad. I think Day 4 was the critical point. I did have fast-food nachos for lunch and I don't know if there was any sugar in my meal. But none of the various ingredients (tortilla chips, guacamole, beans, etc) traditionally contain sugar, so I think I'm good on that one.
Day 6 - Friday I'm starving today. I don't know if that has anything to do with my sugar deprivation, but I think I could eat the entire contents of my refrigerator right now. The sugar cravings do seem to be pretty low, though. I would have loved a flavored creamer in my coffee this morning, but I'm OK without it.
Day 7 - Saturday I miss chocolate. Halfway through my challenge - Yay!
I've decided to spend 2 weeks not eating any sugar. I need to break the sugar habit. It's also an experiment in self-discipline.
Here are the rules: No desserts or candy (obviously) No sugar in my coffee No fake sugar (which I don't like anyway) As much natural sugar as I want - fruit is perfectly OK Honey is OK as long as it's in something I would use honey for anyway - like in tea. A cake made with honey would defeat the purpose. No sweetened processed/prepared foods - like flavored yogurt
Kenji is laughing at me for this. He doesn't think I can do it. Which, of course, makes me all the more determined to finish out my 2 weeks.
In preparation, I'm going to have sugar at every meal. For breakfast, I had a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg. I'll probably have something protein-ish in a minute.
Sleeps Like A Baby Indeed The other night, I was making salsa before going to bed. Our handy dandy chopper thing makes a very loud noise when you close it. Kenji set the security alarm when I was about halfway through the salsa chopping. Suddenly, the alarm went off, screeching loud enough for the entire world to hear. We've concluded that it was our glass-break sensor misinterpreting the sound of the chopper. Tamsin slept through the entire thing - not a whimper, not a cry, not even the slightest movement. How is that possible?
New Milestones She's growing up so fast. Tamsin can now clap her hands - in fact, she loves clapping her hands. Yesterday, she also let go of her activity table and stood unsupported for about 10 seconds. She did it again a few minutes later. Baby girl is learning new things every day. Of course, she still doesn't hold her own bottle, but whatever.
