Monday, February 25, 2013

Great in 8 - Week 3

I lost 1.5 pounds this week! Overall I've lost 4.5 pounds, what?! We celebrated Valentine's on Saturday and for dinner I might've ordered a dish that prominently featured truffle butter. And then I might've had a slice or two of pie after that. But the splurges were few and far between this week, promise. Seriously though, lots of water and Yoplait Light and at least 30 minutes of cardio. That's pretty much it.

Janey and I have started walking around the basement of Froedtert/Children's/Curative and it's so nice to have some time to just chat. We're mostly by ourselves down there, so we talk about babies and husbands and school and work and food and siblings and all sorts of other stuff. It's almost therapeutic to walk/talk out ideas, concerns, etc. I feel a lot less stressed and hurried at the end of the day.

Grocery rant - Why is it so hard to find 100% whole wheat tortillas?! The fancy Pick 'n Save didn't even have them! If any friends have insight on where to buy some, let me know.

Favorite workout song of the week - Let's Go by Matt and Kim

I'm only slightly obsessed with this song. It's nothing really special, I just happen to love it a lot. Also, the music video is hilarious. You could do a little kickboxing routine or jumping jacks, I feel like it's a pretty versatile tune.

Recipe FAILS - Zucchini with soy sauce
My beloved zucchini failed me this week! I think a lot of it had to do with the quality of the zucchini, apparently I picked some not-so-good ones this week. The flavor was just awful, even with copious amounts of soy sauce! Save yourself some trouble and look over your produce several times before buying/consuming.

Recipe WIN - Salmon with Avocado (I Can't Believe It's Not) Butter


Super easy recipe! Add spices of your choice (we used salt, pepper, basil, and garlic) to a salmon fillet, wrap in foil, and bake for 40 minutes at 400*. Mash a ripe avocado with about 3 tablespoons of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, then add a quarter cup of lemon juice and a few shakes of salt. Play around with the proportions to get the flavor and consistency you want. Daniel and I LOVE avocado so we didn't want to stray from the flavor very much, but you can definitely change it around to match your tastes.

-Jenn

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Great in 8 - Week 2

This week didn't go as well as week 1. I gained half a pound! But I wasn't as careful with what I ate, so I'm kind of glad it was only a little bit. My friend threw a Parks and Recreation-inspired Galentine's party and I indulged in waffles with strawberries and sugar-free syrup, and also a few pieces of chocolate. Then on Saturday, Daniel and I had a craving that only Jet's could satisfy, so we stopped by on our way home from the temple and ate pizza while watching Nacho Libre. Daniel had never seen it before and I had only seen bits and pieces; we've started saying Ess for fun around the house.

One day we won't be in school anymore and we'll pay off our loans and I won't wince every time I pay for groceries. I should also probably not go to the store after working and sitting in traffic for 20 minutes in the rain. I bought $8 grapes because I didn't look at the tag close enough because I was tired and just wanted to go home. We had gone 3 days without milk at this point though, so this trip was sorely needed.

After the Fresh Start! thing a couple weeks ago, I'm suddenly obsessed with muffins. I asked Daniel to buy me a couple muffin pans for Valentine's Day (romantic, I know). Hopefully I'll make a few batches and have a healthy grab and go breakfast and/or snack. I've also discovered the joy of Triscuits! I'm not sure why I wasn't a big fan before or why I'm suddenly craving them now, but they're an approved snack and I don't feel bad for eating a few handfuls every day. They're definitely worth the extra $1 or so I would've saved if I'd bought less nutritious snacks #triscuits4life

Favorite workout song of the week - Magic by B.o.B. featuring Rivers Cuomo

This is just a fun song that gets you moving! Plus, how cute is Rivers Cuomo jumping around like he doesn't really know what's going on? I also take pride in the fact that I know every word to this song.

No major recipe fails this week, yay!

Recipe WIN - Daniel's minestrone
There are no pictures of it because we ate it so quick!

Daniel's a fan of allrecipes.com, so he found this recipe and adapted it just a little. He doesn't use the wine (obviously) and instead of tomato sauce, he adds diced tomatoes. This time he grabbed a can of diced tomatoes with chiles and put it in by mistake, and it added a little kick that we both liked. The recipe makes a TON of soup and it stores/freezes well, so you can save some for later. Daniel got a little tired of it after a few days, so I finished it off. Plus, it's awesome for Great in 8 - it has enough veggies to satisfy the 10 point requirement for fruits/veggies servings!

-Jenn

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Infertility Adventures: IUI #2

This is my story about trying to make a baby. If bodies or infertility or words like sperm make you uncomfortable or bum you out, then you can skip this one.

IUI #2 started really well, and then things kind of went downhill. My first round of Letrozole cost about $155. No joke. 10 pills, $155. Yikes. When things didn’t work out, I told my friend “I’m having the most expensive period of my life right now!” Right now, I’m having the second most expensive period of my life. Super lame. BUT, with a new prescription plan that went into effect January 1, my Letrozole cost $8.08 the second time. I was pretty pleased with this, and convinced that it was a sign that everything was supposed to work out. My medicine was significant cheaper! My follicles were ready at the first ultrasound! The day of the insemination was a rainy, yucky, slow-day-at-work Monday and I didn’t miss anything super important! IUI#2 was the magic one for some friends! The only downside was that Dr. Robb was off to his new job in Canada and I had a different doctor for the ultrasound and actual insem (yup, I just abbreviated the word insemination. Deal with it). When they called my name and put us in an office instead of a procedure room, I didn’t think anything of it. They’re probably waiting for someone to finish and then they’ll move me to a room. They just didn’t want me waiting out there for too long. Then the doctor came in. Then the resident came in. And then she closed the door. The alarms still weren’t ringing. And then the doc dropped a bombshell: Daniel’s sperm counts were low. Like half of what they should be. Still not a big deal to me - whatever, we’d just wait a few days and come back to try again. The egg(s) would still be okay, right? I asked the doctor what day would be good to come back. She and the resident exchanged an awkward glance and I knew we were in trouble. She said if we didn’t do it now, it wouldn’t happen this cycle. Then I wanted to throw up. I wanted to cry. I wanted to run away. I looked at Daniel and he shrugged (thanks hon) and I panicked. I had just paid for this whole thing 10 minutes earlier. If we didn’t do it, we’d lose money. We knew our chances would be lower, but they were greater than 0% and that was better than nothing. We said we’d move ahead with the procedure. I don’t think the doctor thought we’d go through with it, they put me in a room and then came back 20 minutes later. Bad idea! I just sat there and was freaking out and trying to talk to Daniel, but he was too busy looking up articles about the importance of sperm count in regards to IUI on his phone so I was mostly just rambling. The doctor and resident finally came in and they all crowded around me (Daniel included) and went to work. The first time, Dr. Robb had to do some fancy maneuvering to get everything where it needed to be, so I spotted and cramped and felt yucky for the rest of the day. This time was a walk in the park, I didn’t hurt or spot or anything, so that was really nice. I bummed around the rest of the day and went back and forth between thinking Why did I let myself go through with this?! and I’m glad I did it while watching Netflix and napping.

From the beginning, I told myself I wasn’t going to test until the weekend after the 14 days had passed. I’m working on a lot of projects at work and I didn’t want to get distracted during the week with a positive or negative test. Unfortunately, I didn’t have to wait that long because good ol’ Aunt Flo made an appearance 15 days post-insem. I’m much more okay with this one than I was the first time, I knew that this chance was much smaller and I had mentally prepared for it. I ate half a box of chocolate chip cookies though, and that helped me feel better too.

Daniel’s spring break is coming up in a couple of weeks and we’re planning on taking a day to go to Chicago to meet with LDS Family Services about adoption. I have a couple of girls in the ward who have some know-how about the adoption process, so I will definitely be going to them for more info. The last few times I worked at the temple I’ve been in the Youth Center with little ones being sealed to their parents, so I feel like it’s a sign that it’s something to pursue (which is good because I’m one of those people who needs to be smacked upside the head to “get it”). I put Baby Lindsay and Our Caseworker on the temple prayer roll on Saturday, and IUI #3 starts tomorrow, so hopefully we’ll get a baby one way or another soon.

Please continue to pray for us and think happy thoughts!

-Jenn

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Great in 8 - Week 1

Week 1 was rough. I had my second IUI first thing last Monday and it didn’t got so well (but that’s another story). Then I caught a cold and fought that last Wednesday-Sunday. I ate a lot more fruits and veggies though, and even though I ate a couple of servings of “bad” food everyday, I lost 3.5 pounds! What?! I don’t know if it was just a fluke or if keeping most of the junk out of my body really is the key, but it was definitely the motivation I needed to kickstart this week! Now, I’ve watched The Biggest Loser enough to know that the first few weigh-ins are the most drastic ones. I won’t lose 3.5 pounds every week. But Yoplait Light (apple turnover is my new fave) and Just Dance are helping me get there, so at least it’s a fun ride.

The one thing about eating healthier is that it's so darn expensive! Daniel and I spent $150 at Pick 'n Save for just the two of us for a week's worth of healthy foods. Ouch! I wish good foods were subsidized the way corn and sugar are.

Last Saturday we had a Fresh Start! activity at church. We had a healthy breakfast, learned about how to set and keep goals/resolutions, and had a mini yoga lesson. I also have a TON of new recipes to try, so hopefully I find some winners!

Favorite workout song of the week - Aaron's Party (Come Get It) by Aaron Carter
I remember turning my Discman all the way up and jamming to this song in the back of my mom's van in elementary school. It's a really fun warm-up song; it gets the blood pumping and you can't help but want to move around!

Recipe FAIL - Fruit pops
Look how beautiful these are...

Source: skinnytaste.com

I looked at these and thought I can totally do this. Since not all of the fruits in the recipe were in season, I decided to mix it up a little bit - kiwi, lemon, and lime. So I bought like $20 worth of fruit and went to work. I looked over the recipe and decided my fruit didn't need the extra sugar because it was ripe/sweet enough. I make the kiwi layer just fine, then Daniel came home and helped with the rest.



Instead of separate lemon and lime layers, we mixed it up even more and did an orange-lemon-lime layer on top of the kiwi (Daniel's idea). We topped it off with a mango layer and let them sit overnight.




After dinner the next day, we popped a few out of their little cups and starting chipping away. I don’t think I’ve ever been so disappointed in a recipe! It was so tart and tasted almost bitter, the flavors did not blend AT ALL. The mango layer was pretty good and the kiwi was tolerable, but that orange-lemon-lime layer was a disaster! I felt bad because we could’ve used those fruits in so many other ways and I wasted it all! So note to self: You are not a master chef. Follow the directions next time!

Recipe WIN - Fried zucchini
Slice some zucchini, lightly fry it on the stove, and add a few shakes of soy sauce. No pictures, but trust me, YUM!

-Jenn