Our Little Laynie is 1!

Our Little Laynie-Bug is 1 year old! We can hardly believe the time has flown by so fast!

Some things about Elayna right now:


- She has the sweetest personality. You just want to eat 'er up.
- She loves to climb. On everything. The table, the dishwasher, laundry baskets, you name it, she gets on top of it.
- She is sassy. She will push Colt or Cade off my lap if she wants to sit on it. This is accompanied by lots of grunts until she gets her way.
- If you turn your back on her for a second and she isn't it sight, there's about 100% chance she is in the bathroom trying to brush her teeth.
- She can say Ma-ma and Da-da and makes you feel so special.
- She loves her sleep. She will go to bed at 6:30 and sleep 'til 7:30 the next morning. She also takes one good 2-3 hour nap a day! Beauty sleep!
- She is loving just about every food we give her. Trying not to give her a sucker when the boys have one= nearly impossible. She loves suckers.


We had such a fun day celebrating her birthday. Cade was the most excited! He wanted to do everything- shop for party decorations, wrap her presents and make her cake! While Layne and Colt were taking a nap in the afternoon I left him the wrapping paper, scissors, tape and 3 presents to wrap while I went to take a shower. I peeked out after my shower and he was just completing the first present with atleast 50 pieces of tape- but it was just so precious! He was just so focused! He would not let me finish helping him with the other ones either!


Here are some pics of Elayna and her birthday! Warning: There are a lot!

She loves to get into everything! My cupboards are always getting emptied!
Here's where we knew we'd find her! Trying to brush her teeth!

Loves her food!

This is her on her birthday. She loved all the balloons!

One of the cakes!

She actually loved opening her presents!

She got mad because we couldn't get the box with her baby doll open fast enough! She sure does have a temper already!

She immediately tried to suck the pacifier that was the baby doll's. She also refuses to put the baby in her new baby stroller but instead tries to sit in it herself!

This was one of the presents Cade wrapped!

Her fave present by far! She's waving to all the passerbys!

Cake time!

She acted like she had done this before! Just dug right in!

Lovin' it.

Did I mention she hardly ever sits down in her highchair!

Daddy cleaning her up! Fun day!

Happy Birthday Laynie-Bug!

Can't get my computer to upload photos right now! So bummed!

Laynie is 1 today! She is sunshine right now, absolute sunshine!
I will post pics tomorrow!

We love our Laynie-Bug!

Day 7

So all I do now is think about what I'm going to eat and what I'm not going to eat. So not fun.

I am realizing more and more that restrictive diets like this don't really work. Okay, so yes, I may be losing some weight- but it's because there's not much I feel like I can eat since I'm doing the no white flour, fruit, etc. But I feel like I'm eating more cheese and nuts which are okay------- in moderation! When there's limited options I feel like I'm starving!

I WOULD RATHER RUN 10 MILES EVERY MORNING THAN NOT BE ABLE TO EAT PIZZA OR JIMMY JOHNS!

Is this any way to live?

I just wanted to see if I could be disciplined enough to stick to something like this. I've done it for a week. Will I make it the next 14 days?

DAY 5

I have been so freakin' cranky.

Am I not eating enough cals? Been lovin' on the veggies. Some cheese, some nuts, some chicken, minimal whole grains, what else is there?

Today I didn't even lick the caramel off my finger after opening some caramel sauce for Cade for dipping his apples in. What's happening to me?

I think I have realized a few things already from this sugar cleanse.
1. I HATE being restricted and constrained.
2. Sugar makes me happy I think.
3. I really NEED a diet coke.
4. I can't wait for 21 days to be up!

Day 3 of sugar cleanse

Wow. Not gonna lie, this has been hard. I notice myself being a lot more hungry. Trying not to eat any white flour products either- that is harder than I thought as well. I have to say though- I feel so much better!

Had sushi with the hubby last night then went to a movie.(Yes there is white rice around the sushi but they didn't have brown- was bummed) But I did forgo a diet pop and the goodies- aka popcorn at the movies!

Was definitely grouchy today. Not sure if it was the no sugar thing or lack of sleep thing.

Does anyone know if you can have fruit while doing a sugar cleanse? Have only had a banana in a protein shake I made after I ran yesterday morning. Did I mention I'm training for a half marathon too? I need goals people or I just slack off!

Thanks for all of your support! I need it!

Bye Bye yummy candy hearts

Do any of you watch Ellen? Love her. She makes me laugh so hard! I DVR her everyday and then watch it at night when I get a chance. It's so nice at the end of a long day to get a good laugh isn't it? Anyway, she's doing this sugar cleanse thing and is encouraging everyone to give it a try. Well, yes, I'm giving it a try. I think most of you know I LOVE my candy. If I don't have candy in my purse or tons of candy in my car then I'm having a bad day. Thus, I need this. I always tell my kids that they shouldn't eat so much sugar because it's not good for them. Time to start practicing what I preach. This blog is going to keep me accountable. It's for 21 days. I know- long time. I have to prove to myself that I can be disciplined though! What happens after the 21 days you ask? Well, I hope to learn that I don't need so much sugar. Hopefully I'll be able to keep it in check and just have it in moderation. This has been my downfall thus far.

Oh- forgot to add- this includes no substitute sugar either- aka- DIET POP. I love me some Diet Coke with a bit of Cherry Coke or Dr. Pepper. This is killer for me.

Did I mention I'd like to be in a cute swimsuit for an unplanned trip I'd like to plan? Yes, alterior motives too.

Day 1
This is absolutely horrible. I crave sugar more than I even realized. I am constantly grabbing for a cookie, a conversation heart or some other junk! I have eaten so healthy all day. So many times I thought, "I'll just start it tomorrow" but I know myself. Just another excuse. It has opened my eyes though to how much I depend on sugar to get me through the day! Miss my diet pop like crazy! I am surprisingly not that hungry though. Going to have some herbal tea before bed and hope I'll be good to go!

My Maize and Blue Boy

It all started when the boys were getting their jammies on tonight. Well, let's not fib, it probably started way before that. Maybe when we dressed our lil newborn Cade in Michigan apparel every football Saturday and took him to his first tailgate at 10 weeks. Then preceded to take him to the Big House at 2 years old for his first game. Maybe it continued when I subconciously didn't buy red clothes because of my issue with the color red. Maybe it continued when we were screaming at the TV "GO BLUE" every fall Saturday. Perhaps there was some slight brainwashing, okay a little more than slight, but anyone that went to U of M knows where I'm coming from here. It's like a disease. You bleed maize and blue. Atleast we do in our family.


So then earlier today, Cade was supposed to wear red to preschool. He has said for a long time that his favorite colors were red and blue. I never opposed to it. I held back my hate for the color red until Cade asked me if I liked it. I told him that for some reason I don't wear much of it because it reminds me of the Buckeyes. You should have seen his face. As soon as I mentioned that word he about lost it. He immediately retracted his statement about liking red as his fave color, and I then had to let him know that it was okay to like red and still root against the Buckeyes. What a deep conversation this led to. Wow. He wasn't buying any of it. Am I an unfit mother?


So on to tonight. Mind you, it was past his bedtime so he was really tired and really whiny as it was. But, I had laid out his jams for him to get on after he got out of the bath. He saw that they were his Christmas jammies and that they were RED (I admit- they are cute- snowmen all over them) BUT that Colt's were some other blue ones with snowmen skiers all over them. He started to cry and throw a fit because he wanted BLUE ones. I wasn't havin' it. He kept crying and finally said- "But I don't want to wear Buckeye colors! I don't like the Buckeyes! And Colton gets Michigan colors! I don't like the Buckeyes mommy!" Yes- I was secretly gleaming inside, but it was a long day and I just wanted him to put on the jams and get to bed! Long story long- sorry- he finally put the RED jams on with a huge fuss and much coaxing from me.

Then right before I tucked him in he said, "It's okay, mommy, my jammies have some blue in them so they have a little bit of Michigan colors in them so I'm okay now. And Colton has some red in his! So there- he has some Buckeye colors on too! So, it's no big deal!"

I kid you not, folks.


I love this kid.


We will not go into his issues with the color green at this time. My fault too, whadaya know.

Yes, we all dress like this for EVERY football Saturday.