Cheating Eating ~ Flourless Chocolate Muffins

I love a good cheat treat! 

Let's be honest... diets suck. I like dark chocolate and I LOVE good food. Dinner with David is one of my favourite treats and I hate it when I am worried about the calories and I can't enjoy it. I have been working really hard to enjoy food but steer clear of any junk food. That doesn't mean I have given up on my dark chocolate addiction. I found these chickpea based chocolate muffins on the Beachbody site. They have a huge collection of low sugar, low fat recipes that I plan on trying out. So far these have been a hit and we have also fallen in love with their avocado brownies (more on that later). 

You can find the recipe and nutrition breakdown HERE.

Mrs. E

Our Happy Home ~ Backyard Progress

There is something so satisfying about completing a home project that has been on your to do list forever.  

This is the entrance to our backyard. For the last three years it has been a major eye sore. Grass refuses to grow along the house and most of the fence line so we have always had these huge patches of dirt. I decided that it would be the perfect location for some flower beds. We had torn out the sand box that the kids play structure sat in at the end of last summer and we were left with all of the bricks that had lined the sand box. I wanted to reuse them to create the border of the flower beds so the first step was to lay everything out. Here is what I decided on for the layout along with the perennials that I decided to plant along the house (Spirea).

The next step was to dig up all of the grass and create the trench for the rubber stripping and the bricks. This project took some major muscle strength, and for the three days it took me to complete (between feedings and naps) this was my workout. 

The last step was choosing what to plant in the smaller flower bed. Our perennials from last year and our vegetables look like this....

I ended up finding this beautiful flower that will fill in to be 36-48" wide and will grow up to 6ft tall. It's called Martha Washington's Plume. I know you are supposed to plant in odd numbers but one would have been to small and three would have been too much. I am so excited to see how everything fills in next year!

Mrs. E

Canada Day 2016

When your parents ask if they can take your two older kids to Phoenix for an extended long weekend.... you say yes!

David and I had been looking forward to Canada day long weekend for months. My parents had taken Sydney and Henry to Phoenix for six days and David actually had the weekend off. We were really looking forward to enjoying time alone with Hugh and meeting up with some friends. It's funny how easy one kid is now that we have three!

We started our day at 5:30am when we left the house to go to the November Project workout. I obviously wasn't taking part in the workout with Hugh strapped to the front of me, but we had a great time watching and taking pictures. Especially when the entire group of 250+ people ran through the pools causing a massive, unexpected tidal wave that ruined more than one phone and a few backpacks that day. 

After the workout we headed over to the Canada day pancake breakfast and the Canada day road race finish. We had so much fun enjoying some free breakfast and cheering on some friends at the finish line. Once we got home, Hugh and I had a long nap and then it was off to a BBQ at Randy and Stacey's house where Hugh spent some time with his uncle Ryan and met his cousin Addison. All in all it was a fantastic day. The weather was perfect and it was nice to enjoy one on one time with our new little man. 

Mrs. E

Postpartum Weight Loss

There is so much pressure on new moms to snap back into shape as soon as their baby is born. I felt an incredible amount of pressure to look a certain way after I had Sydney. I had just given birth to a 10 pound baby and my body had been through hell. All I could think about was the fact that I would never look the same again. I had gained 65 pounds and I felt like it would never leave.... but it did. It just took me an entire year to lose it. 

When I had Henry it was substantially more difficult to lose weight. I now had two kids to care for and time was at a premium. I had also gained 65 pounds with my second pregnancy and it took over a year to lose the weight. As soon as I lost everything, I got pregnant again. Two losses later I found myself holding on to quite a bit of extra weight. It wasn't until I started practicing yoga almost daily in preparation for Costa Rica that I started to get into shape. I left for teacher training holding on to an additional 15 pounds or so and when I returned I got pregnant again! Little Hugh was totally worth the 65 pounds I gained.

As my pregnancy rolled on I could not wait to get back to my old self. As soon as Hugh was born I started watching what I ate. I gave myself one week to eat what I wanted to (mostly out of survival) and then I jumped right on track. I really don't feel any pressure this time to lose the weight. I am more excited to be able to go for a run again and feel healthy and strong. I am also SUPER excited to be able to fit into some of my old clothes! I am loosely following the 21 Day Fix portioning system and returned back to hot yoga two weeks ago. Here is my progress so far....

One Week Postpartum: -20lbs

Two Weeks Postpartum: -25lbs

Six Weeks Postpartum: -35lbs

Mrs. E

A Dad & His Boy

All I can think about this morning is how fast time is flying by.... so here is a brief flashback to one month ago when these two men were falling madly in love. This is one proud papa and I could not love him more. Sweet moments that I never want to forget. 

Mrs. E

Hugh's First Bath at Home

Let's face it... even water babies hate their first bath or two. 

I always get sooo nervous when we give our babies their first bath. I know that they are going to cry and I know that their crying will make me anxious. It was no different with Hugh. 

We don't have a baby bathtub so we use a little bath sling. The only problem with the bath sling is having to lean over the tub.... so we just get in! I love having baths with our babies. It's easier to clean them and make them comfortable and it is so nice being that close to them. It is a bit of a two man operation though because you need someone outside of the bath to wrap up the baby once their bath is done. 

Aside from being a little bit upset, Hugh did fantastic. He was fairly calm and let Dave clean him. Once he was done I wrapped him up in warm towels and eventually put him in a diaper. The entire bath routine is finished with a massage using baby lotion which is easily his favourite part. So sweet! 

He loves the bath now. But here are a few photos from his first bath at home. 

Mrs. E

Our Youngest Tribe Member

Let me tell you the story of a super proud dad....

When we were in the Hospital having Hugh, all Dave could talk about was how we had to take Hugh to a November Project workout as soon as possible. Those who know Dave personally know that November Project means the world to him. They are a grassroots movement that aims to bring free fitness to the masses. They do this by hosting free workouts on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays every week. Wednesdays are stair days and in the summer, the city gives November Project access to the football stadium to do their workout. We made sure that Hugh became a part of the November Project tribe on a stair day to give him the best intro ever. 

We woke up at 5am and I fed Hugh quickly. We packed him up in the car seat and made our way to the workout. David wanted to carry him in the Ergo carrier so we got him all set up and walked our way through the crowd stopping to let people get a look at him. Dave walked the stairs with Hugh that morning and I just enjoyed the view. I wasn't feeling quite up to a full on workout at 8 days postpartum. 

At the end of the workout they always do a group photo and then honor any Birthdays in the group with what they call a Birthday boom. A Birthday boom is where the individual celebrating their birthday has to yell out "My name is ________ and it's my Birthday!" The entire group then responds with a super loud "BOOM!" There were two Birthdays that day... and they also decided that Hugh needed his own boom considering it was is ACTUAL Birthday only eight days earlier. Dave stood at the front of the crown with our newborn strapped to his body and yelled, "This is Hugh and is WAS his Birthday!" Over 200 hundred people responded with "BOOM!" It was definitely a morning I will never forget. 

Mrs. E