Happy Birthday to Me!

I've reached the big 35! How did that happen?
My 25th year was one of my best. 30 was pretty great too. So I'm looking forward to what this year brings me.

Yet another blog

I've started a diet, which hopefully won't consume my every thought, like it has lately. I thought it would be useful to start a blog for it so I can track my progress and what I'm eating. I thought about making it private, but who are we kidding. On the first day I already mentioned it on Facebook so I might as well mention it here too.
It's not that exciting, especially since it's day 2 of my diet now. But I plan on posting recipes and maybe inspiration. What you really need is a 2 year old trainer. Ike was great yesterday when I was on my stair stepper. Every time I stopped Ike would say. 'One more time momma' or 'Try it again', although my favorite was when he'd say 'Don't fall off momma'. It really did motivate me.
So here it is, www.largemarjdiet.blogspot.com hop over if you feel like it, leave some words of encouragement if you feel like, and wish me luck. I think I'm going to need it.

New Favorite

I picked one of this fabulous little stair steppers at Walmart the other day. $45 bucks! not bad. And it's small so I can keep it upstairs where I can pull it out and use it when I get the urge. I just got it so I haven't used it alot but it gives you a good work out. Plus it has the arm bands for resistance training. It's part of my plan to start loosing weight. Hopefully it will get me in shape so when it gets nice out I can take long walks with the boys.

Slow on the uptake

I feel like I'm about 2 months behind getting my act together as far as New Years resolutions go. Or maybe it's the looming big 35 birthday that's coming up quick (March 15th). But I'm finally in the mood to get my act together and start.
Ryan married a hot wife and he deserves to have one again. I mean I'm still hot, but I could be smokin' hot. Of coarse I'm really doing for myself. Plus my kids deserve to have a healthy active mom. I've always had a goal to be able to pull off wearing short shorts when I'm 40, and 5 years is sooner than you think. I'm not going to go into details because I feel like I do better if I can keep it a secret. But if it works I'll tell everyone.
My other goal is to start a garden this year. And by garden I mean I want to at least grow tomatoes. Maybe zucchini but I don't want to get too ambitious. It's a skill I'd like to have though. I've already decided that Ryan and I are going to retire to Mexico, 1. because it's beautiful there, and 2. because we probably won't be able to afford to live in America the way the economy is going. When I have my little Villa in Mexico I want to have a garden and raise chickens and goats. Possibly a cow for Ryan but we'll see.
I've been sleep deprived and a sugar addict for the last little while. Both of which make me pretty lethargic. So I'm working on a remedy for both of those things as much as possible here soon. Since Ian will be crawling any minute now I better have the energy to chase after him.
Wish me luck!

Bumbed I missed this

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Jonathan Safran Foer
http://www.colbertnation.com/
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

Ryan came in last night and said, 'Did you see Jonathan Safran Foer on Colbert Report?'

Ah, no, I missed it, so here it is for all of you who missed it too.

I Try

When it comes to food it seems like new rules come out every year. Are eggs good or bad. Which fats raise your HDL and is that good or bad. It's hard to keep track and to try and 'be good'. So for now I'm focusing on trying to eat whole grains, finding natural and organic when I can and cutting sugar (it's a work in progress).

On a recent trip to Target I found some natural, cage free, family farmed chicken that was a really great price. It's called Just Bare Chicken. The thing I thought was cool was that you can enter the code on the package and learn what farm it came from and the name of the farmers. I don't know if that makes it better or worse, but I thought about Kevin and Karen while I was eating their little chicken.

Ryan has been reading, and I want to read, Eating Animals by Jonathon Safron Foers. It's about his journey to becoming a vegetarian. I have no desire to become vegetarian or vegan, please, I like cheese. But I am trying to be a little more conscious of where my meat is coming from.

The other author I've been hearing a lot from and need to read more of is Michael Pollin. I've heard him on NPR a lot but he was recently on Oprah. One thing he said was that since we've been on 'this low-fat kick' we've all gotten a lot fatter, interesting. He also said that you can eat junk food as long as you are the one who made it. Well not sure if that's a good idea for me since I'm willing to make cupcakes and cookies everyday. I have been trying to cook more lately. We even started eating dinner at the table which has been really nice. I've even been making home made bread which I found a really easy recipe for.

I've been obsessed with food blogs lately. There are so many good ones out there. If any of you know of ones I may not have heard of let me know.

As Michael Pollin says, 'If it doesn't spoil, don't eat it.'

P.S. I watched this cool show last night on the Sundance Channel called The River Cottage Treatment. It's about this guy in England that has a farm and has people stay with him and teaches them about eating and cooking organic and natural food. It was better than I make it sound. Plus I have fun trying to understand British accents. I think it's a series so try to catch it if you have that channel.

2 Great Men Gone

R.I.P J.D. Salinger
Image by Megan

I love J.D. Salinger. Not just Catcher in the Rye which is a great novel but even more I loved Franny and Zooey and a lot of his short stories especially "A perfect day for bannafish". I got really into him in my 20's and felt like he was really talking to me. He's one of those authors who you either get it or you don't. My girlfriends and I use to use him as a litmus test to see if guys were cool or not. It's a shame Sarah and I never went on that road trip to go find him. My only hope is that now some of his unpublished work will be released. I can hope can't I.

R.I.P Howard Zinn

Another great author and man. He was recently on Bill Moyers Journal talking about his new program called The People Speak on The History channel. Both of which are recorded on my DVR right now. Ryan's been reading A People's History of the United States. I hate to say but I always get annoyed when he's reading it because he's usually up really late reading because he can't put it down. I need to read/listen to it too.

If you know these two men I'm sure you share my sadness at their passing. If you don't know who they are, it's not to late to find out about them and read their work and fall in love with them like I did.

6 Months

My baby is 6 months old. Ok so he's still a baby, but where does the time go. I want him to stay this age. For one thing...

It's time to start feeding him real food. This was one of the first attempts and as you can see it wasn't a complete success. But we'll keep trying.

I've also noticed all you bloggers out there having cool pictures lately and I figured there must be a website that helps with this and I finally found one called Picnik.com if anyone wants to share there cool pic secrets please share.

In the mood to cook

I don't know what's got into me but I've been in the mood to cook the last couple of days. Yesterday I made Hannah's Miracle Bread which was easy and actually turned out good for my first attempt which is a miracle! Then for Sunday dessert I made a German Chocolate Cake Trifle which was really good too.

I finally updated my Oranges and Biscuit blog which had been dormant for about 6 months. I even went through and labeled all the posts so its easier to find what you are looking for. I also discovered on the Real Simple website they set it up so you can blog the recipes really easy, just click the share link and pick 'blogger'. I had to copy and add the picture myself but that's easy. Thanks to Amy P for the suggestion to look and that site for recipes. Also my friend Anne somehow got me a 6 month subscription to the magazine that I'm totally stoked about. Maybe I shouldn't advertise that fact cause she probable doesn't want everyone hitting her up, but I just thought it was super nice of her.

Tonight I'm attempting to make Calzones with homemade pizza dough then filling it with Pesto, chicken, tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. Wish me luck.

Post something already

For Christmas Ryan fixed my laptop!
I figured the reason I quit posting as much as I use to, was because my laptop quit working and I rarely got on my other computer. Well I guess that was just an excuse. I think the real reason might be that ever since I became pregnant with Ian I've become very self centered. And by self centered I mean focused on My Family. I assume all moms go through this. I've just been focused on my Husband and adorable boys and kind of let everything else go by the wayside.
My favorite (Math) teacher Mr. Culberson use to lecture us about "The Big R" responsibility. What I took from those lectures was that I wanted to avoid having any, as long as possible. I was pretty successful for 30 years, but now that I have it I'm working on keeping everything else more simple. That and having a baby and a 2 year old keep me so distracted I can't focus on anything long enough to worry about it.
So everybody has been doing posts recapping 2009 and all. I've been thinking about 2009 and the main thing I've learned from it is that I never thought I could love 3 people as much as I do. Ian has been the sweetest baby. Ike just keeps getting cuter and smarter every day. And Ryan keeps getting cuter and smarter every day too. I'm a lucky lucky girl.
I can't promise 2010 will bring me more productivity in the blogging department but I'm looking forward to having a very happy year.

'tis the season

It's that time of year again, Present time, I mean Christmas time. Over the years I've posted some ideas of presents people can buy for me (or themselves). This year I'm doing the same only differently. Here's the thing, yeah there is plenty of stuff that I want but what do I really need. Nothing. I have plenty to eat (trust me), a loving, providing husband, two healthy beautiful children, a nice house and even an annoying dog. By all accounts I'm one lucky lady. So this year the things I want aren't just for me but can help women and children who aren't as lucky as me.

I went to the mall yesterday with the idea to get Ike a 'Build-a-bear' but I just couldn't bring myself to buy it. For one thing the bears clothes cost more than I'd spend on Ike's clothes. The other thing is for the same price I could buy one of these cute bears. Each FEED 5 bear that is sold will provide Plumpy'Nut®, a high nutrient paste, to 5 children under the age of 5 years old through the non-profit organization Industrial Revelation. I also want one of these cute bags that will feed 1 child for a year. That's 60 bucks to feed a child for an entire year, that's like 1 bi-weekly trip to Walmart. They also sell bags like these at Barnes and Noble and Whole Foods as well as other places, check out The Feed Project website.

I also want this book Half The Sky. It's been featured on Oprah a couple of times and shares stories of women around the world overcoming unbearable oppression and turning their life around and becoming powerful educated women. It also shares ideas about how we can help. One thing that intrigues me is how Micro Loans can transform a woman's life.

There are a number of things you can do to help women and children in other country through Oprah's website. It ranges from things you can do for Free to $7 to give a girl textbooks for a year and on up. In fact if you want to get Ian a present why not give a $10: Health Services for a Mother and Her Baby. It delivers health services to one mother and her baby, including prenatal and postnatal care, routine checkups, immunizations and safe delivery services. From us Ian is getting being born, which trust me, cost more than $10.

On Oprah she has some suggestions from Heifer International which is one of Ryan and my favorite charities. For $10 to $5000 you can provide animals to 3rd world countries. This way I can buy that goat that Ryan wants but I don't have to feed it everyday or clean up after it. Plus it's a witty way to give a gift, you can buy $10 Bees for someone and tell them you think they are "the bees knees". Or you can buy a single guy some chicks, cause that's what single guys are looking for right. They will also give you a card to present to the person you are buying for so it makes a great gift, especially to me!

There are also some great gift ideas from Product Red that help fight aids.

Oprah's recent show ended with this simple yet profound video from The Girl Effect. Please watch it and if you want to make a donation in my honor or yours I'd be over joyed. And that's what the season is about right, bringing Joy to others.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I'm not kidding

This is Ike dancing around to K'naan. He's also wearing that hat cause it looks like the one K'naan wears and he's even trying to sing the part that's in a different language. As you can see my iPhone is on the table away from me which means he pulled up this video himself and was dancing around to it before I grabbed my camera. I'm sure some may think I'm exaggerating how much my kid likes K'naan, but you have no idea.

K'naan

My family has a new favorite artist we are obsessed with. K'naan. That's right my whole family, Ike especially. We've listened to music with him before but he hasn't really cared until Ryan introduced him to K'naan. He now can't get enough. First he would ask Ryan every time he was around to listen to K'naan, then he learned to find it himself on the iPhone, then he figured out how to watch him on youtube, I don't know how this kid figures things out so quick.

Do you have a favorite artist that you listen to so much that you just assume everybody must listen and love them as much as you do. Well that's how I'm starting to feel about K'naan although I know most people haven't heard him yet so I'm trying to change that. Now he is a hip hop artist so I know he's not for everyone but I think he has universal appeal. If nothing else his story makes him interesting. He was raised in Mogadishu, Somalia. After civil war broke out his visa was approved the last day the American embassy was open and was on the last commercial flight out of Somalia. He taught himself english by listening to hip hop. He feels his purpose to to tell people about the things he's seen and lived through. Listening to his lyrics kind of puts into perspective how hard life can really be. I think he kind of puts American rappers to shame, like you think you've had a hard life, try growing up in a war torn 3rd world country.

I think it's important for us to learn about other cultures and other times in history when people survived despite so much adversity. It makes me thankful for even the small things in my life. Like when I wish I had a second bathroom, I stop and am thankful that I have indoor plumbing and a roof over my head.

Family Portrait

We went to a fun wedding reception last night that had a little photo booth set up. I thought it was a great idea because they printed out 2 of your pictures so you could put one in the sign in book and keep one. It's rare to get a family picture so I'll take what I can get. If anyone else is interested the website is http://www.footloosephotobooth.com/

They had some fun music playing at the reception too. Ike showed off is new dance skills and I even busted a move when they played House of Pain's 'Jump Around'. It gave me total church dance flash backs.

I need to blog

I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging, on my site anyways, I've posted a few things on Ike's. I've found that it's alot easier to post a status update on Facebook than it is to write out a whole post with pictures and all.

I just updated my sisters blog she started for her sewing class, http://thejuniorhomemakers.blogspot.com/ they are making some really cute stuff. I keep thinking about getting my sewing machine working but I need to just do it cause I like sewing but I haven't done much lately.

My nephew Brian is going on a mission this month to Calgary, I can't believe he's old enough to go. His sister Sam is here at BYU so I get to hang out with her which has been alot of fun, and she has even offered to babysit which I need to take advantage of.

My mom came up to visit for a few days and we had a good time shopping and hanging out. Then my Dad came and joined her and was here for Ian's blessing.

We blessed him at Ryan's parents house like we did with Ike, then we had a yummy dinner.

Ike last night at 4:30am said 'bye Grandpa Chuck', don't ask me why.

Ian's been a really good baby, he's slept all night two nights this week, I don't want to jinx it but I'm really happy about it. I have a feeling he's going to be a better sleeper than Ike, note the 4:30 am Ike comment.

I bought Ike some goldfish today because I took him over to see the fish and he kept obsessing over it so I thought what the heck, I'll spend a dollar and get some gold fish. Well then he was so excited about them he got a hole in the bag, so picture me with a 2 year old that won't sit down in the cart, a 2 month old strapped to my chest, a leaking bag of goldfish trying to check out at Walmart. The joys of motherhood, as Sharon just put it.

I bought Ike a training potty and some spongebob underwear and we had quite a fun afternoon. How kids know instinctively to put underwear on their heads amazes me. We aren't pushing the potty training yet, just getting him interested.

I think I've decided to have Ike be a farmer for Halloween this year. I want Ian to be a farm animal if I can find a cute costume, and I'm going to be a farmers daughter. Ryan will be what he is every year, a party pooper.

I attempted to make beans the other night. I soaked them for over 12 hours then cooked them from 3 till about 9pm and they still weren't done but then I got them out and cooked them some more the next day and they actually turned out. When I was eating them Ryan asked, 'are those going to give you gas?'. Answer, Yes!

My life has been pretty mellow lately, which is the way I like it but it doesn't make for exciting blogging but that's ok with me.

We are all finally feeling better. Well except for Ian who is still a little congested. It's been a long month but on Saturday it was Ian's month birthday.
It was Ryan's birthday on Saturday too. We got to go to breakfast and to a movie later that night. Hopefully he had a nice birthday. Ryan discovered this new restaurant in Orem called Joe's Cafe, it's by that pebble in my pocket store. They serve breakfast and lunch and all I can say is try the Grits, they were soo good.

My sister Rainey was here this weekend too. It was perfect timing for her to come, we were just all feeling better and I needed to get out of the house a little. We had a fun visit, I wish she lived closer. It makes me sad that I don't know her boys anymore, I use to live with them so I got to know them really good but that was 5 years ago and you know how kids change. While Rainey was here I talked her into doing a photoshoot of the boys for Ryans birthday.

I've got a two year old on my lap pulling my hair and a baby crying a filling his diaper so that would be the reason for so few posts.

Sick of being Sick

We've got a house full of sickies right now. It started out with Ike getting an eye infection last Tuesday so I took him in to the doctor and got him some eye drops. Then Saturday I got a sore throat and congestion. Tuesday I woke up from my nap with goop in my eye from an eye infection. Then I took a bath around 2 and when I got out my ears were all plugged up then they started hurting. So when Ryan got home I decided I better go to Urgent care and get checked out. Turned out I had an eye infection, a really bad Ear infection, really red sore throat along with the congestion and runny nose. The doctor gave me an antibiotic and recommend I get some sleep. He said I need at least 2 solid sessions of 4 hours of sleep. Well tell that to my new baby and sick 2 year old.
I thought I was starting to feel better. Then Ike got a runny nose and started coughing and had a fever on Wednesday. Ike and I have been coughing back and forth for the last couple days now. My throat is hurting again but I'm hoping it's from all the coughing and not strep. Ryan started feeling sick on Friday and Saturday he had a fever and a really bad sore throat so I talked him into going to Urgent Care to see if it's strep. Luckily Holly had stopped by to see the baby and she offered to stay while I ran Ryan to the doctor. His strep came back negative but the "Doctor" said it looked like it so they sent in another culture but he hasn't heard back yet.
We all have a sexy raspy voice now which would be sexy if it didn't hurt to talk. My ears are still plugged up which is my worst thing because it makes me feel dizzy and I can't hear very well and I have a weird echo in one ear. I've been on antibiotics for 6 days now and still have all the symptoms I started out with so it's kind of frustrating. The really frustrating thing is that I recovered so quick from having the baby and was feeling good and getting stuff done around the house then all this hit and it has just taken me out. Ian has a little snot and has coughed a couple times but otherwise he's been ok, thank goodness. I'm really hoping we are feeling better by next week so my friends can come see Ian before he gets too big. He'll still be cute he's just growing out of new born size.

Doin' Good

I have to say for having a baby a week ago I've been feeling pretty good. The whole having a baby thing went a lot smoother than I thought it would. I scheduled an induction for 8 on Wed. the 22nd. We got to the hospital about 8:30, because apparently Ryan wasn't in a hurry. They started my pitocen around 9:30, I got my epidural around 11:30 and the baby arrived about 1:30. Three contractions and he was out. I have to say I was amazed. It took about 12 hours and 2 1/2 hours of pushing. Because everything went so well my recovery was a lot faster than I expected.
I can't thank Ryan's family enough. His mom and sister cleaned my house while I was in the hospital. Then Monday and Tuesday they babysat Ike so I could get some rest. My parents were able to be here for the birth too which was great. I even got a few foot rubs out of it. Thanks Mom. My friends Kellee, Amy and Hannah all came to see me at the hospital which was fun. We got dinner and presents from the ward. And I got a lot of encouragement ant support on facebook. So I just want to thank everyone for all the help and love. I'm feeling good and I have a cute little baby to show for it all.

New Arrival

Ian Charles Weidauer

Born July 22, 2009

7 lbs 10 oz

20.5 inches

Tomorrow is the Big Day

unless something happens today, knock on wood.
I'm scheduled to be induced tomorrow Wednesday the 22nd. Most likely we will be headed to the hospital early. I'm delivering at Timpanogos Hospital in Orem. The on call doctor that day is one I really liked so I'm happy about that even though the doctor usually ends up being there about 15 mins. Ryan's mom and sister want to help with delivery which is cool with me. I told them I have no desire to see what's going on down there but if they do cool. My parents are coming in to town to help out also.
I'll be updating my Facebook status regularly (I think) so check there for updates. I've figured out how to upload pictures onto facebook from my new iPhone but haven't figured out how to upload them to the blog so check there. Maybe one of the girls from my bookclub can show me how to do it since I'm planning on going to bookclub tonight.
Today I'm hoping to relax as much as possible while getting as much done as I can. I'm pretty much packed I just need to pick up my house a bit. And of coarse enjoy my last day with Ike as my only child. He's my little sweetheart, I'm hoping this all doesn't traumatize him too much.

1 Week To Go

I can't believe my due date is in 1 week. I had a doctors appointment yesterday and got the same Nurse Practitioner I had the week before who came in and said 'hi I'm (so and so) do you have any questions ok I'm going to listen to the heartbeat'. Note the lack of commas, that's because she didn't pause. If you are on facebook you may have read what happened this week, but to recap.
She comes in has me lay back, as she is checking the heartbeat she says. "I'm going to scrape your membrane today which will probably send you into labor in the next 24 to 48 hours." to which I said 'um really?' "yeah ok if I do this right it will hurt alot." I kind of started freaking out cause this was all in less than a minute. So she about ready to do it and I say to her 'um, I actually don't want the baby to come till next week'. She looked surprised and said, "oh, most women want me to do it. Ok I'll just check your cervix" which I'm at a 2 and 75% effaced like last week. As soon as she was done she said, OK see you next week and left.
That was the entire visit. She didn't even ask me if I had any questions which being a week away you would think I might just. The waiting room was completely empty when I got there and was empty when I left, so there was no reason for her to rush me like that. Then I realized later that she didn't even measure my stomach, which really pisses me off because I have gestational diabetes and I think monitoring the babies size is kind of important. Obviously I'm still fuming about it today. Thankfully I won't have to go back to her.
So here is what I'm hoping will happen next week based on my experience with Ike. I figure I'm going to need to be induced because Ike was 10 days late and still induced. I want to schedule it for Weds. the 22nd. I'm still a little vague on what I'm doing with Ike since my babysitters also want to be in the room when I'm delivering. I'm not really a planner, but I'm getting frustrated that I don't know exactly what's going to happen like what time I'll check in and how long I'll be in labor. I guess I need to just relax and let it happen.
On a happy note, Ryan got me an iPhone so I'm having fun playing and figuring out that. Also I should be able to take pictures and email or post them pretty quickly. I may have to do some practice posts before then.

The More you Know

Sometimes I wish I was still naive and uninformed because then things like this wouldn't make me so upset. This whole health care reform has had me intrigued for a while now. I get so frustrated when I hear the arguments against it because I know that it's all the lobbyist manipulating the politicians.

Well Bill Moyers show this week was incredibly insightful. His guest Wendell Potter who was the former head of corporate communications at Cigna talks to Bill Moyer and shares some insider secrets. In this interview he tells what is really going on in the insurance companies. I highly recommend you watch THIS.

Ryan and I were talking about it the other day and think (and wish) that Health Care reform should be something that we vote on and not something the politicians are left to decide for us.

The funny thing is, yesterday I was listening to Radio West with Jon Ronson as a guest talking about his book Them. It's about his experience hanging out with conspiracy theorists and terrorists. It intrigued me so I was watching some stuff last night about the Bilderberg Group and some other conspiracy. So today I go to watch the Bill Moyers Journal that I had recorded last night and guess what, all black. It recorded solid black for the full hour. Spooky, jk. I was irritated though so I watched in online.

This video is not short but it's the most informative discussion I've heard so far about health care so I really hope you will watch it. So much of politics today are based on scare tactics. If we are informed then we can't be scared by irrational claims. Might be more pissed off about what's going on but at least we won't be scared.

Shower in the Park

My book club girls threw me a baby shower at the park today. It was a perfect day under the trees. They all brought yummy food and got me some really nice presents. It was really thoughtful of them to do this all for me.

I guess they'd be planning it for a while. Then Hannah got a hold of me Monday and asked if I knew about Saturday, I had no clue, luckily I didn't have plans and everything turned out perfect.

Thanks girls for thinking of me, and the little fellow in my belly.

Knocked Up (WT) Pin Up Girl

Did you have a good laugh? I do every time I look at these. But I love them, can't help it. So I had this crazy idea for my pregnancy shots to do a white trash pin up girl look. Don't ask me where I get my ideas, but I wanted something different than the normal belly pictures. So I asked my friend Cathy (Cotton Sox Photography) and she was nice enough to humor me. They turned out better than I had imagined, which takes an awesome photographer. I love that Ike is in almost all the pictures too. Ryan was a little embarrassed by them so don't give him a hard time about having such a hot pregnant wife.