WooHoo! Bella's 2!

So our little girl is two years old already! Where did the time go?  Seriously ... all signs of my baby are rapidly disappearing.  So to celebrate her big birthday, we threw her a little bash of her family and our friends and their kiddos.

Having a birthday is February, the weather (especially here) can be unpredictable.  So we made sure to plan a little art activity for Bella and friends since we had no guarantee that Mother Nature was going to allow the kids to run outside ... which she didn't, instead she rained and even snowed for a brief while!

Since we have called Bella, "Bug" since she was born and we knew we were going to have some of her male cousins over, we did a Bug-themed party.

So for their art activity, we got each of the kids two plaster bugs to paint.  As an added "cute" bonus, my Mom made each of the kids a little art apron with bugs all over it.  I think it was a hit! 

 

My cousin (3rd gen), Sonja, even brought her newborn baby boy Sterling to the party.  He and Bella are 4th cousins ...Eek!  I love that!  Bella even had two other 4th cousins there (Ethan and Damon).

Although this party was to celebrate Bella, I felt as though I was the one receiving all the blessings.  I had two of my dearest high school friends here with their daughters, my family, a post-college roommate and her husband, and some new friends that  meshed so seamlessly with all of us.

 

 

As if that wasn't reason enough to feel blessed, they were all here to celebrate our sweet Bug!  We even had friends of my parents who have become family to me, here building "family bonds" with my daughter.  How lucky I am to have wonderful relationships with so many loving people?

 

 

 

 

My hope is that we are surrounding Bella with people and moments that leave here having fond, happy childhood memories.  I hope that she always stays so happy. 

 

 

I think my favorite moment of the entire day was as Bella was opening each present, I would tell her who the card was from and without any prompt, she signed and whispered "thank you" to each person. Proud mommy moment! She does listen when I am trying to teach manners.

Happy Birthday, my mighty little Bella!  We all love watching you grow up!



I had lots more to say

My beautiful health coach cousin, Heather, invited me to talk about Nutrition on our SHRED Challenge call last night.  I had a ton of notes and only 10 minutes to talk about it all.  I got so excited about what everyone was saying and sharing a single epiphany I've had about teaching my daughter nutrition that I fear I failed sharing probably some of the wisdom that was most applicable to the entire group.  So here's what else I wanted to share:

 

1) Herbalife is amazing and tastes great; my 2-year-old daughter begs for sips of my shakes.  Perhaps that is why Herbalife makes this.

 

2)  My husband started drinking one shake a day and just taking a lunch to work and lost nearly 25 lbs.  He was barely trying.  That speaks volumes about the impact even little purposeful changes to your nutrition can make huge differences in your health.

 

3)  Parents - please don't avoid working out at home because you have an audience (aka: our kiddos who laugh at everything).  My daughter thinks me doing push-ups and squats and crunches is hilarious!  Laughter is infectious and it works your abs!  Also, seize the moment, I had my best friend and her daughter, Daisy, over for a play date.  Daisy was doing something that resembled downward dog, so I said: "Yay!  You're doing yoga.  That's downward dog."  We laughed about the funny name and then she told me she is learning yoga in kindergarten.  So I ask her to show me what she is learning.  next thing you knew, we were having a little yoga session in my living room.  It turned out to be a great workout, my daughter was trying it too, and we made memories and got the kiddos excited about movement.  Win!  Score one for the parents.

 

4)  When making food choices for your family.  You can make the same dishes that you always did, just keep these things in mind: 

    a) Flip the ratio (make sure that the protein and veggies outweigh the starches on the plates)

    b) Dish up dinner on smaller plates (it tends to help people who are proned to clearing their plate  

          eat smaller portions)

    c) Keep the food on your plate colorful!  Naturally, colorful food is an indication that it's full of the good stuff (omegas, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals) and the kids looooooove color. For my   little one, I ask her to point out what food is green, blue, red, purple, etc.  It keeps her engaged.

    d) Just because someone in the family didn't eat a veggies or a healthy grain prepared one way   doesn't mean they'll hate it every way.  Don't give up; try new things.  Your family may think couscous is boring, but try adding toasted pine nuts, roasted garlic, some chopped parsley or arugula and a little feta ... orrrrr diced tomatoes, basil, and some grated parmiggiano reggiano. BOOM!  Yum fest!

    e) If veggies aren't your thing or your families thing, hide them!  We put chopped spinach in our meatloaf and grated zucchini in our home-made lemon bread.

   

I am by no stretch of the imagine a perfect mom, perfect wife or perfect human ... none of us are.  I make mistakes everyday.  What worked yesterday won't always work tomorrow, but I refuse to give up.  The key is that we are all human which means we have the awesome ability to adapt, overcome, improvise, and be a better version of ourselves than we were the day before.  Keep trying.  Keep in mind that fueling this gorgeous machine of our body is our number one responsibility, it affects every other aspect of what we do, see, and say.

 

OK, that's what I wanted to say.  To the SHREDDERS on the call last night, sorry I got off track and didn't get to share it all.  To my other readers, take care of yourself.  You wouldn't put off-brand regular unleaded in a Maserati, so why would you put artificial food with questionable ingredients and quality control in your body or the bodies of your loved ones.

San Francisco and Family on my mind

My family endured a lot of loss in 2012.  In the course of one year, three of my beloved family members left this Earth.  It was hard, but today I had a nice little smile on my face thinking of one of them and I thought I would share. 

 

I was sitting here working away at my desk, when Alan Jackson's "Remember When" came on. I instantly thought of my Uncle JR and how much he loved Alan Jackson; I teared up a bit. I miss him terribly. He was taken from us by pancreatic cancer.  It was quick and although cruel it did not make him suffer long.  While healing from the loss of this man who meant so much to so many of us, I constantly think of the last thing he ever said to me. It was the last Christmas (2011) he was here and as he and my Aunt Judy were leaving, he came and hugged me and gave me his usual sweet kiss on the cheek and said, "Bella is amazing and beautiful. You are doing a good job with her." That meant more to me than I will ever be able to express. 

 

 

My Uncle JR was the man who caught me in the hall when I ran out into the hall of Mercy Hospital's SICU with tears rolling down my face, the day my Mom and I (at 19 years old) had to make the decision to turn off my Grandmother's life support.  He caught me and held me and let me sob until I could stand on my feet again.

 

Everyone who met him loved him.  I miss him.  He will never be forgotten and I carry him in my heart everyday.

I know he would be so excited for the Big Game this weekend. Although normally I could care less about football, I will be cheering for the 49ers in honor of my Uncle JR.