{around here} Week 5/52: Week of 2.3.17

Around here, I have been:

drinking a lot of water.  Like a lot a lot.  When P was born, I remembered to bring my water jug home from the hospital and am finally using it on a daily basis.  Filling it up four times equals about a gallon, so that’s been my goal.  Right now, I’m at around two and a half.

trying kefir and starting on a probiotic to help my digestion issues.  I’m thinking I may have leaky gut, so I cut out all sugar, dairy and most grains.  It’s crazy how sensitive the dairy is – I had a handful of Goldfish, felt sick to my stomach, only to remember that they were cheddar Goldfish.  Duh.  I also had ranch flavored Veggie Sticks and felt the same.  I’m in uncharted territory and the learning curve is hard!

declaring February to be the month of food!  My new dietary restrictions have me a little overwhelmed, so I want to dig into some new recipes.  I have “complete a green smoothie challenge” on my 100 Little Things list, so this may be a good time to implement it into my morning (and a good way to get down that kefir, hah).  I also pulled out the list for “Cook through the 30 Recipes You Should Know by Age 30“, another 100LT task, and hope to get a good start on that too.  This week, I roasted a chicken and made lemon thyme chicken thighs.

feeling a range of emotions with post-baby weight loss.  The more babies I have (and older I get), the longer it takes for me to lose the pounds.  The days of nursing and “the weight just melts off!!” is over!  I still have half of the pregnancy weight to go and then probably 15 pounds more if I really want to be at fighting weight.  But ahh…I hate having the scale and step counts and food choices dominate all of my thoughts.  Life’s too short!  But I also would like to be a bit more comfortable in my own skin…and fit in some of my favorite clothes again too.  Vicious cycle.

discovering that you can get 3% back on Jet.com orders through ebates!  I depend on Jet for almost all of my pantry staples, so this was awesome to find.  We’ve decided to put all of the “Big Fat Check” (what ebates calls your money back) onto our debt and every little bit helps.

playing Qwixx with Mark and The Scrambled States of America Game with the kids.  We’re trying to collectively lessen our screen time and games are the perfect form of entertainment for our competitive bunch!

helping J with his 100th Day of school project.  He had to fill a heart with 100 items and he chose buttons.  I loved spending that one-on-one time with him, counting (and counting and counting…) and chatting about whatever was in his head.

finishing the first book of the Series of Unfortunate Events series and Yes, Chef, bringing January’s reading total to six.  I’m slowly making my way through The Little Book of Hygge (SO good to read during winter!) and starting The Summer Before the War.  I also listened to a few more episodes on Modern Mrs. Darcy’s podcast and have been filling up my Goodreads to-read list…I think I’m up to more than 360!

watching Hunted.  We don’t have cable, so Mark and I watched online.  We love it and are excited to watch a show “old school” (week-by-week) instead of binge watching on Netflix. 

thinking about these articles and what they may mean for me going forward:
+ Where Do Donated Clothes Really Go?
+ The Link Between Clutter and Depression

Big White Farmhouse notes:
+ So many new products coming in!  We are expanding our children’s section to include more toys that encourage imagination and our first product just arrived: a treasure hunter’s kit!  I love that all of the little pieces fit nicely in the wooden box.  We also have new berry-inspired tea towels that are packaged in berry baskets.  SO cute and would make easy gifts!  We also have apple versions and berry cloth napkins.
+ We just launched a new promotion for February: free heart stickers with every purchase, while supplies last (and then we’ll probably send some other surprise).  They are perfect for that little something special on envelopes, scrapbooks, planners or Valentine’s Day cards.