Pregnancy Vs. Mommyhood Real Talk

I've told many of my friends this but I did not enjoy being pregnant.  I could go through the birthing process over and over but pregnancy for me was ROUGH. I don't say that to be a complainer or ungrateful. I'm just being real. I was beyond grateful to be pregnant as it took us a little bit longer than anticipated to get pregnant BUT I just struggled.

I was throwing up sick for the first 20 weeks.  Then I got in a car accident at around 6 months that required a chiropractor/physical therapy 3 x per week for the rest of my pregnancy and in to postpartum. My acne was that of a 16 year old teenager. I gained no weight during my first 20 weeks because of the throwing up. But then my last 20 weeks I packed on 40 pounds. That is a VERY short amount of time to gain so much weight. My sides, butt, and inner thighs will never be the same (my stretch marks look like I was attacked by a lion). The swelling in my legs/ankles/feet got so bad that the last two months I could only fit in to one pair of sandals, a pair of Birkenstocks (ew) but they were so comfy and I still wear them on occasion. In fact my last week of pregnancy I didn't even fit in to the Birkenstocks and ended up wearing slippers to church, classic. 

By the end I was miserable. Check out the pic below people! HA. 

I give you all the complainer details only to juxtapose how I have felt during mommyhood. 

It is something I can't even quite put words to. 

From day one Gray has been a doll baby. He has slept great, ate great, and been a VERY content baby. The only time this boy gets fussy is if he is hungry or overly tired. These things have absolutely nothing to do with me or Logan (although "sleep training" has certainly been a big priority and focus from day one) and I feel mostly to do with 1. Gray's demeanor/personality and 2. The fact that that he was a nine and a half pound baby.  

I was worried about how I would feel not working anymore. I LOVED social work people. That work fulfilled me. But that was all quickly put to rest as those feelings were replaced with feelings of completeness, happiness, and fulfillment unlike anything I had every experienced prior. 

Gray is the light of my life. 

I love parenting him with my best friend. His smile, giggles, and talking crack me up. He is an independent dude and it amazes me. I love going in to get him after a nap and hime laughing/smiling at me.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not seeing mommyhood through rose colored glasses. Of course there are hard things. But the joy I feel overshadows all of the hard things. 

I also know that not all mommies feel the way I do and thats okay too!! Different strokes for different folks I think! I also think that a BIG part of the easy transition to mommyhood for me is the village that surrounds me (I will write a blog post about that later). We have had SO much love and support from our friends and family that I have never felt alone or like I didn't have someone I could ask the bazillion questions I have on the daily about raising a baby. Or that I couldn't have a break, I mean how lucky are we that we have friends near us that I trust my baby with! Coming from a social work background I couldn't leave my dude with just anyone (too many horror stories). But we truly have a lot of friends that we can, and have left Gray with so we could have adult only time! Being able to have time to go to dinner together, run together, catch a show together has been VITAL to the transition process as well! (Wow, I feel yet another post coming on about that one) 

All in all, life is so sweet right now. I wish I could slow the clock because it's just been flying by us. 

God is good people. 

Salmon Cakes and Cauliflower Fried Rice

As Logan and I are getting more and more in to our half marathon training schedule I find myself wanting to fuel us with healthier and yummier things! (It's much easier to run when we are fueled with whole, non-processed stuff, than a tummy full of bacon, ya that happened one Saturday and I almost yacked on our run...oops!)

My friend Kristi sent me these two recipes and we tried them out this week. They were both a hit. 

The link for the Cauliflower Fried Rice is HERE. 

My notes I will add for you is that you can find cauliflower rice at trader joe's next to the bagged salad. I went to grab some and they were sold out so I made my own by simply grating a head of cauliflower with a box grater. SUPER easy. Also, we used pancetta from trader joe's instead of the ham (not a big ham fan) and it worked great. My last piece of advice on that recipe is to start out with just a couple of tablespoons of soy sauce and work up from there until you are satisfied with the taste. I find soy sauce to be overpowering and the amount suggested was a bit much.  

The next recipe, the Salmon Cakes I ended up modifying a TON from the original recipe just for taste purposes (I substituted green onions for white, regular flour for the coconut flour, and carrots for the celery) so my take on the salmon cakes is below: 

Serves 2 people with 2 cakes each. 

Ingredients: 

1 6 oz. can of boneless/skinless wild salmon (got mine at Trader Joe's, but Costco also carries it)

1/2 cup chopped green onions

1 handful of chopped carrots

4 Tbsp. flour (for thickening)

2 eggs

1 tsp. of dried dill (you can add more if you really like dill, but I just wanted a little bit)

1 tsp. of garlic pepper

splash of lemon juice

1/2 tsp. of sea salt

EVOO

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients except for EVOO in a bowl. Make sure to add the flour last. The mixture should be about pancake batter consistency so if you need to add more flour do so. 

2. Heat up a few tbsp. of EVOO in a grill pan over medium-high heat. When the pan is nice and hot scoop 4 patty sized scoops of batter in to the pan.

3. Cook for 3-4 minutes per side and enjoy! 

Serve plain or with a little Greek Yogurt, creme fraiche, or sour cream. 

ENJOY XOXO

Zuppas Veggie Chowder

I am a HUGE soup freak. I love it. I eat it in the middle of summer here in scorching Las Vegas. I just can't get enough. I have a lot of soup recipes that I love. But this one is definitely at the top.

Now, let me start by saying I am NOT a huge Zuppas fan. That's right I said it. They give you like 1 shred of cheese, and half a strawberry on their salads and think that is sufficient. No. No. No. Load it on people! Also, their bread?! It's like wonder bread, it's the worst. BUT what they do get right is their soups, every. single. one of them.  They are all good. But their veggie chowder is definitely a favorite. 

I found the recipe HERE and it is the real deal. The only comments I will add to it are this. 

1. Don't add the chicken, that's not necessary, this is a vegetable soup.

2. It needs ample seasoning (salt and pepper). I season it when I sauté the onions/zucchini, I season again when I add the vegetable broth, and once again at the end. As always do it to taste. But if you don't add any salt it can be bland. The salt really makes it POP. 

ENJOY XO