Fall Fun

The boys had their fun with the pumpkins then I had mine. Yes, I did cut up and cook the same pumpkin that Joshua carved. He said I could! Not too bad for my first ever pie, but thankfully there is a lot of pumpkin puree left for a second and even third try.

Just because she is sooooo adorable. :)

Super pink blanket boy to the rescue!

Pumpkin Carving

This year the boys carved pumpkins with the Masons. Matthew had a blast helping Daddy scoop the insides out.

The finished products. Matthew's perfect pumpkin was a bit too small and soft to carve, so he drew a happy face, see?

Jane had a nice snugly nap with Mavric. :)

Happy Saturday!

Dressing Up

I have so much fun dressing up my little girl. This is my favorite outfit on her right now ... how cute are those socks?

Matthew has discovered play dough in a major way. It is awesome! He will sit in his booster seat and play for an hour while I cook and do dishes.

A bear and a bee. Hopefully they will want to leave these on longer on Halloween than they did for the picture. Could it be that they were mighty toasty in those warm costumes?

Pumpkin Fun

Matt has been doing everything with his "perfect pumpkin". Here he is helping Daddy make pancakes.

Ahhh, tv time with the pumpkins.

No pumpkin here, but look at that face! He helped me make Daddy's birthday cupcakes. After licking the spatula clean he declared, "I don't like it." Um, ok sure.

My perfect pumpkin. :) Not the best picture, but the closest I've come to capturing that gorgeous smile. I'll keep working on it.

Pumpkin Patch

Joshua wanted to carve pumpkins for his birthday this year. So, to start things off we headed out to the pumpkin patch. This farm was tons of fun for the family - tractor rides, all kinds of animals, live music, and more. Matthew and Grandpa enjoyed the fire truck.

Mmmmm... hot buttered "pop"corn right off the grill. The goats gobbled up the silk and husks and the chickens pecked off every last bit of corn.

See all those rows of pumpkins? Matthew ran up and down all of them on his search for "the perfect pumpkin." He would pick one up, study it for a minute, then declare, "That's not it."

At last, the perfect pumpkin! I think he really liked the stem. I didn't get a picture, but he used it to sling the pumpkin over his shoulder to carry. It was too cute!

Next weekend we will continue the birthday fun with pumpkin carving!

Diabetes and Me

In case you haven't heard, I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes four days before my 32nd birthday. Yikes! From time to time you may see some posts on this topic because, well, that's what's new in my life and occupying my mind.
Thus far I have met with my naturopath, who prescribed an extremely low carb and low glycemic diet as well as chromium supplements. I am trying for many reasons to avoid medications, the biggest being that I am breastfeeding. Jane has not taken well to the increase in legumes in my diet. Uh oh. I am hoping to meet with a nutritionist next week and fine tune my diet. I am refusing to eat processed foods or chemical food substitutes. I am determined to find a way to eat real, whole food in proportions and ratios that work for my body. I also have several appointments scheduled for acupuncture. Hopefully this will help my pancreas to do its job.
I am debating meeting with an MD. My fear is that he would put me on meds immediately and I would like to try to push that off as long as possible, since I will likely need them at some point and do not want to put a "band-aid" on my problem without really getting to the root. I am curious, however, if what I have is actually type 1.5 diabetes. It seems to better fit my profile and he may be able to work with me in finding out.
I am feeling frustrated at this point. Why me? I don't have a soda addiction or sweet tooth. I am very aware of sugar and do my best to limit it in my foods. I am not heavily overweight. Even with a strict diet my glucose levels are too high and my fasting rates are not in the normal range. What more can I do? Am I going to die from complications at such a young age?
So far, I have found these foods to be helpful in my quest:
*bean flour - substitute it for some wheat flour to make a complete protein. We've had it in pancakes (high fiber whole grain of course), brownies, and cookies
*vanilla stevia - almost as good as flavored coffee creamer :). Helps make plain yogurt tolerable too.
*unsweetened almond milk - makes a great latte
*powdered stevia - perfect for sweetening cereal, cocoa, iced tea etc.
*mudballs - peanut butter, flax seeds, wheat germ, cocoa, stevia, pumpkin seeds, and honey rolled into yummy little balls
*sucanat - sugar in its purest form. Substitutes equally for sugar or brown sugar
*Bob's Red Mill High Fiber Whole Grain Hot Cereal - the only cereal I can eat. Delicious with some stevia, raisins, and milk
Those are most of my thoughts for now. Don't worry, there will be more cute kiddo pictures soon, but I had to get that off my chest first. :)

Jane's First Talkie

Jane gave me a wonderful birthday present- she started cooing and smiling! I didn't capture her beautiful smile here, but you can hear her sweet voice.

Just FYI, this is one of those videos only the Grandmas will truly enjoy watching. It will be pretty boring for anyone else. :)

32

My 32nd birthday... wow. When did I become such a grown up? Here I am with my cute little boy at Grandpa and Grandma's house. (I had to document me all dressed up because it is not every day I use ALL of nap time to get myself ready.)

My love. Doesn't he look so handsome in pink? We ate dinner at the Pacific Grill... Yum!

My sugar free birthday dessert: butter! No, I didn't eat it, but I did get to blow out a candle. :)

My sweet family. We may never get a decent picture of all four of us, so this will have to do. You get the idea. ;)