Beauty is skin deep....

So as most of you know, my family is a biracial unit. My husband is black, I am white, and my son is the perfect mashup of the two of us...(aka he took all my perfect qualities and combined them with my husband's perfect qualities and voila...an amazing kiddo if I do say so myself :) )

Anyhow- it still amazes me how much hate there still is in the world. It does worry me for my son.

Here's what sparked this post. For several months I have been an administrator on a subscription box trading group. We oversee trades and what not but for the most part people trade among themselves, we keep a list of bad trades, mediate, etc. So one of the kid subscription boxes sent out a really cute stuffed doll. As people posted more and more of the dolls up for trade, I realized all the dolls being traded were the (as they put it) 'tan' dolls. Some families got the 'blonde hair blue eyed' doll, and other families got the 'tan-skinned brunette' doll. So obviously white and black (or more 'ethnic' doll). The women said they were trading the dolls because their child would rather have a doll that 'looks like them'. ?????? What 3 year old (or 4 or 5) year old would 'rather' have a doll that looks like them?! When I was that age I'd have been happy with any doll given to me! And the posts were worded like this 'not that it really matters, but I think we'd rather have the blonde haired doll instead of the tan skinned brunette doll'. <---do you see the issue? Where is the mention of the skin color on the 'blonde' doll? She's just blonde, but the brunette is tan AND brunette.

I do think I'm biased because of my family but still. Children need diversity to see that they do not live in an only white bubble, or an only black bubble, or an only asian bubble. ANY bubble.

It's 2014....Jeez

Sweets- you nasty little things.

So...I think I'm addicted to sugar again. It was hard enough to get past the first time! I crave sweets. I don't give in but every once in a while but it does take time for your body (system) to reset itself. Even one slip up can be detrimental to the overall homeostasis in your body. You eat sugar, your tongue and brain like it, it sends pleasure signals through your body and voila- your body wants it again. DUH.

The author(ess) that got me in to Paleo has another book titled '21-day sugar detox'. I'm thinking I need rehab and may need to get this book.

I also haven't started my Whole30 program yet (which is essentially a sugar detox too if you analyze it). I said I would start October 11th but I'm not sure I'm ready. It takes some dedication that I'm not sure I'm ready to give. When we became paleo I felt ready, prepared. This time around (while still being paleo and only ingesting 'clean' foods) It seems like a bigger step.

It is not necessarily a more difficult regimen....but you are supposed to balance yourself. For instance, I eat til I'm full. It works. However my plates have become increasingly sparse and less balanced. Breakfast tends to be lunch (12:30) and I skip lunch because I'm not hungry because I just ate breakfast, then dinner is usually super late (9:30)...so at that point I have only eaten once, perhaps had a couple small snacks, and I never feel hungry. When you starve your body (unintentionally but still the same principal) your body utilizes every ounce of sustenance it is given and stores EVERYTHING. This is how you gain weight...and you're welcome for your 5th grade science lesson. Anyhow- so since I am only eating 2 meals a day and snacking in between, I'm not eating enough. So now I'm gaining weight again because it's screwing with my hormonal balances (which are always finicky due to PCOS).

My dream schedule looks something like this.

7AM-get up
7:15- be at complex gym or some other type of exercise
8:15- back home, showering
8:30- nursing Bryce (yes he still nurses at 2.5, unconventional yet our choice, move on :D )
9:00- cooking breakfast
9:30-eating breakfast (do you see the problem already? You're supposed to eat within an hour of waking maybe somebody can help with this area?)
10:00- family time and getting Bryce outside
11:45- seeing Keith off to work
12:00- Lunch
1:00 Bryce's nap
3:00- Bryce is up
Play time, errands, etc
6:00- dinner
etc....

^^^^ Just don't know how to switch from the schedule we are on (waking at 9, not eating until 11 or 12, never eating lunch (don't worry, Bryce eats food all day, this is lack of eating for Keith and I) and having dinner super late, then going to bed at like 1:30 or 2am...

Help!

Not totally the beach post....

Sorry I did not post from the beach! I did not bring my computer and posting via mobile is not the easiest thing to do.

We honestly needed to get away. I saw a meme that said vacation to everyone who doesn't live in Florida means somewhere else...that is warmer, and most likely Disney- and that vacation when you live in Florida means -to travel somewhere nearer to a beach in a different part of Florida that is away from Disney. This was very true for us this weekend. Normally we are pretty partial to Disney and those that know us know that Disney is close to our hearts. We love the company and they are pretty important to us ;-) However, all of our vacations as a married couple have been to Disney and we had not gotten away since Bryce was 5 months old!

The house we stayed in was a friend's and it was awesome. Split level 3 bedroom fully stocked home. Probably could walk to the beach but it would be a bit far...but literally a 2 minute drive to the shore. You can hear the ocean waves from the driveway. Just what we needed.

When we arrived at the house we put Bryce down for a nap. Later that afternoon we went to the beach. Bryce was NOT having it. Something about the whole water rushing at you thing wasn't appealing to him. He played in the water with Keith for a bit but mostly played in the sand. Went 'home' (felt like home) and he went to bed. I was very surprised he was cooperative for sleeping in a new place. Maybe the appeal of a king-sized bed? I know it sure appealed to me! Keith and I spent the evening watching Once Upon a Time (I got him in to the show after YEARS of telling him he'd like it and he finally gave in and now he's HOOKed. <---get it? HA!) The next morning we just sort of lounged around and took our time. Went down to the beach and played for a few hours. This time Bryce gave in to his sea-side and happily splashed around in the deadly rip-currant (undertoe? same thing? I dunno) waves. We had to hold him the. entire. time. Any time we loosened our grip he got sucked down. I am not exaggerating. It was really bad. The BEST part of this event was seeing the dolphins. I know it's probably old news for some but it always seems magical to me to see these wild and amazing creatures swimming freely in the ocean. We came 'home' and showered and put Bryce down for nap again. When he got up we were really tempted to go to the beach again but seeing as how there was sand in places we didn't know we had, we decided to keep our clean showers in their rightful place and find something else to do. We decided to go to Cocoa Beach Pier and see the sights. It was already dark when we got there so we couldn't really see the ocean very well and the pier itself is moreso bars and restaurants. Had it not been our year anniversary of eating paleo- I might have splurged- but we stayed good. We went back to the house and that was that. Took Bryce back to the beach this morning but the rip currant was even stronger and the waves were pretty big so he was not so sure again. He kept saying 'bye beach see you later'. We had an amazing time. Here are some pictures marking the vacation...

Blogging from the beach...

No, not yet. But I will be! A friend has a beach house and we are going there for the weekend. It will be nice to get away for a few days as we have not been ANYWHERE since Bryce was 5 months old....that's over 2 years! We do not have the ways to get to VA to see Keith's mother...but luckily she is able to come down a few times a year. Bryce also gets to Skype with her fairly often and so he asks about her.

Bryce had a playdate today and it went really well...until it was time to leave...but the actual playdate went really well. Luckily the other mom has a very spirited child as well (her older child) and she understands that all children are different with beautiful and unique personalities. Too many times Bryce has been judged by other parents because he's unruly or hits...and the looks would be warranted if I let him get away with it...but I don't. He is reprimanded, sat down, disciplined every time. It's also getting better. He responds MUCH better to positivity rather than negativity. He's just that kind of kid. He stays sad or upset after being disciplined if I forget to hug and kiss him after and tell him everything is ok. From the outside it may look like I'm showering him with affection and praises too soon after a negative action (on his part) but in actuality I'm reassuring him that he and I are ok...that I'm not mad anymore and that life goes on...NOT that the action is ok.

Anyhow- this time tomorrow I will be sitting at a beautiful house at the beach and hopefully sipping water (calm yourself down party girl) and hanging out with my family in a relaxed environment. Maybe even walking on the beach to see the moon!

We are very excited. More later. And hopefully pictures!

Question time-what family vacations have you taken with your children? Any advice for a newbie?

It's time I come clean...

I've gained a ton of weight :( blech. I'm so mad. The thing with my body is that when a normal person (without underlying thyroid, pcos, etc issues) cheats on their diet occasionally they are usually fine. I convinced myself that since Virgil's Root Beer is made with pure cane sugar, nutmeg, etc and that it is all-natural that it was ok to drink one a day. STUPID. LOL. So probably for the last month or two I've had them consistently a few times a week. Then we discovered non-alcohol butterscotch beer soda (aka butterbeer). Oh em gee. These 2 things were my downfall. I also convinced myself that a chocolate bar that was made with fair-trade cocoa and all natural ingredients was ok. STUPID. None of these things are Paleo anyhow. I told myself that because they are 'real' food (aka no chemicals etc) that it was ok. STUPID STUPID STUPID. My body does not tolerate sugars well. Keith has eaten all these things PLUS more and he's still at the same darn weight. Me? Well...yeah. I'm back up to 185lbs :( I also have not been drinking as much water as I should. As of this morning I upped my water intake and already back down to 182.4lbs...but from someone who had lost almost 25lbs...I'm kind of ashamed :( I was from 194 lbs down to 171 lbs so 23 lbs. We will go with the weight I was this morning which means I've gained 11 lbs and/or only lost 11 lbs.

Yup so while I didn't necessarily stop being 'healthy' in regards to fast food or not making my own food etc, I did fall off the good choices wagon. It's pretty easy to do.

So- if you're with me and I do not eat out with you or will not eat your food, please do not take offense to this. Please do not think I think my choices are better than yours. It simply means I need to do what is best for myself and my body. Keith will eat anything, but as I've been discovering, my body reacts VERY differently to foods than his does. I get sick and gain weight from eating dyes, refined sugars, sugar in general, gluten, etc. I need to stick to meats, veggies, occasional fruit...and water lol