No-Poo

Yes, you read that right, but no, it's not what you're thinking. Well, it might be I guess since I can't read your mind and all. Anywho.. I read a blog by a hairdresser from New York who discusses the topics of (you guessed it) hair. Well the other day she posted about no-poo. I said to myself, "Say wha!?" and continued reading. The problem: Turns out there are tons of chemicals in shampoos and conditioners that strip your hair and fakely condition it making your hair rebel and produce tons of excess oils to fix the problem thus leaving you to fully depend on the chemicals of shampoos and conditioners to take care of the excess oils. Vicious cycle it is. The solution: So instead of continuing the vicious cycle, you stop using the shampoos and conditioners all together and instead do a simple basic alkaline solution. The miracle powder: Baking soda itself. Then you condition your hair with apple cider vinegar. Who'da thunk? You wash your hair twice a week to get it back to it's healthy state with the baking soda/water mixture. So far, I'm loving it. Last wednesday was the last time I washed my hair with shampoo. And I don't miss it. I still get the squeaky clean feel of clean hair without it stripping it but simply removing the dirt and extra oil. It's a little on the dry side but I can fix that with either using less baking soda or rubbing a SMIDGE of olive oil on the ends of my hair. And the dryness only seems to last for a day. Then after than it's fine, so probably just use less baking soda. AND! for those worried, my hair does not have a hint of smell of the apple cider vinegar. It just smells clean. I dig it. So I've done the baking soda twice now, last Sunday and yesterday, and I plan to keep going with it. My husband calls me a hippie. I don't mind. I'm going back to natural things, healthy eating, growing my own fruits and veggies, buying things organic. I love it. Now if only I can get my hubby to stop teasing me and put up my clothesline already ;)

Almost There

Bryan and I are almost finished with week two of phase one of the Maker's Diet. Whew! It's tough but I'm proud of us. Bryan only had a cheat once on Mother's day. You would have thought it had been me having the cake and ice cream but it wasn't. His mom didn't make a homemade dessert like she usually does but instead brought home a bought cake from pinning the day before. I'm kind of a cake snob so I could easily pass. Because store bought generic white cake? blah. But if it had been one of her homemade deliciousnesses then I wouldn't have been able to resist. Her stuff is yum-mo! Anyway, I digress. But we're doing good. Bryan has lost 10 pounds and I've lost 5! Go us! I'm almost to my first goal. AND! I think I may have even talked my mom into doing this with us. It'd be so good for her too if she does. She has hypothyroid too so it's like no matter how much we exercise, if we eat carbs and sweets, we won't lose a pound. It stinks. But this is the solution. So, pray for her if you think about it. I told her to look at it like this: For one, it has to be a lifestyle change. Not a diet. We have to make this work for us. And two, we have to see the hypothyroid as it is: a disease. And like others, like say people with celiac's disease who can't have gluten, we can't have just any ol' bread. There are certain types that we can have and we just need to adapt. I have a list of reasons for doing this diet change. A couple are that I need to be healthy for my kiddos and show them the proper and healthy way of eating. Especially if they end up with hypothyroid as well but even if they don't. Also, I want them to be proud of me. I don't care about being stick thin, I just care about being healthy and comfortable in my own skin. I will never again be 110 pounds like I was in college and that is a-okay because I am woman, I am curvy, and I am glorious in the body God gave me. I just need to take better care of it. So I think I am doing pretty well. However, I sure can't wait until the next phase because then we can have more fruit! And some cheeses!! Not in large quantities of course, but some. Even just having a more variety of smoothies will be lovely. I've also discovered some recipes for desserts that will coincide with our change so then we can have sweets every now and again as well! That'll be awesome. My uncle had to lose weight for his health as well. He looks great and sticks to it very nicely but I guess he will have one cheat day on Saturday where he can have sweets or something a little more rich and it sort of restarts his metablism. I'll have to look into that because, boy howdy, I miss me some peanut clusters.

here we go

Tomorrow begins Day 1 of Phase 1 of the Maker's Diet. It's a rough diet. No. Lifestyle change. It's a rough start anyway. After you get going it gets easier. By the time you're in the third phase it's cake. Even though you can't eat cake. Ha! Anyway, it seems to be the best thing for my body with having hypothyroid so here I go... I'll let y'all know how it goes.

To Make You Feel My Love

When I listened to this song for the first time after having children, I heard it as though it was Christ singing it to me. I know that it's a love song from a man to a woman or vice versa, but this is exactly how God feels for us. He'd go to the ends of the earth for us. He'd die for us. He'd conquer hell for us.
And he did.
How, then, could we not see it as a love song from Christ to His child?

When the rain
Is blowing in your face
And the whole world
Is on your case
I could offer you
A warm embrace
To make you feel my love

When the evening shadows
And the stars appear
And there is no - one there
To dry your tears
I could hold you
For a million years
To make you feel my love

I know you
Haven't made
Your mind up yet
But I would never
Do you wrong
I've known it
From the moment
That we met
No doubt in my mind
Where you belong

I'd go hungry
I'd go black and blue
I'd go crawling
Down the avenue
Know there's nothing
That I wouldn't do
To make you feel my love

The storms are raging
On the rolling sea
And on the highway of regret
The winds of change
Are blowing wild and free
You ain't seen nothing
Like me yet

I could make you happy
Make your dreams come true
Nothing that I wouldn't do
Go to the ends
Of the Earth for you
To make you feel my love, To make you feel my love

A trip to the Dentist

A had her first dentist appointment on Wednesday. Yes, I said her first. I know I know, she should've had her first check-up when she turned 2 but I just never got around to it. I'm Mother of the Year.
Anyway.
There's been a tooth that Bryan and I have been keeping an eye on for quite some time now and no matter how much we brushed the tooth it just seemed to get worse. Well, the dentist confirmed what I figured would happen. Her first cavity. The dentist assured me that it's common, being the back tooth and all. It's hard to brush clean, especially on a three year old who won't hold still.
I felt a little better.
Howerver, it needed to be filled. So I scheduled the filling for the next day, yesterday, just so we could get it done and over with. I tried explaining it to her a few times before we even got to the dentist of what was going to happen. She must have forgotten everything I said once things were about to get started.
She got scared and it ended up taking me 45 minutes to convince her to cooperate. I had to explain that we were at the nice dentist's place and if she didn't let them do it then we'd have to go to the other dentist where they don't let mommy's go back with them to hold their hands. I even showed her where they had to get the "sugar bug" out of my own tooth. She stuck her whole hand in there trying to point at it! Haha!
It seemed to finally sink in and they renumbed the area so they could give her the shot of "sleepy water" for her tooth. She braved it pretty well but after he was done I think A thought she was done too. She started to get up and I had to explain that they weren't finished but this part wouldn't hurt at all.
The dentist came back when she was numb and she got scared again. We had no time left and needed to keep going. She finally laid back down and the fact that the dentist and the helper each had two things in her mouth freaked her out. They even showed her all the tools before hand so she would know what was coming but she was still in panic mode.
He was pretty quick and got most of it when he pulled out to give her a second. There was no turning back now so after telling her she had to let them finish by putting in the filling there was many tears that followed as they finished. I just kept smiling and opening my own mouth really wide so she would see that I was doing it right along with her.
She held my hand the entire time and it was one of those moments that I really felt like a mom. So interesting how being a mom is just someone that you are, that you become the moment that your baby is placed in your arms, but that you only have moments where you really feel that "mommyness". Interesting how things work.
So now A and mommy are twins with the same back bottom right tooth is filled. Of course, hers will eventually fall out after she grows a few more but for now, we're twins.
Now I need to get Bryan and myself in for a check-up of our own. That and in June to find out the prognosis on my front tooth. Hopefully a crown will be in order and not a complete replacement. Scary! A cavity seems like nothing compared to a whole frontal tooth replacement. Eek!