End of Month Recap - October 2010

Sometimes I feel like a whole month just flies by.  Well, not so much with October this year.  As much as I love fall and everything that goes with it, I am beyond thankful that October is coming to an end!  And with it my 1st trimester fog :P  I think I have finally turned the corner with feeling sick.  Not that I feel great all the time now.  But definitely starting to improve.  Praise the Lord!

Needless to say this wasn't a very productive month.  I did my best to keep up with most of my goals.  But many of them had to slide.  I didn't eat as well as I would have liked.  But I still managed to get some nutritious food down every day.  My stock of baked goods/easy breakfasts in the freezer has almost been completely used up.  Thankful I had so much in there!  Else Justin may have had to eat toast for breakfast every day too :P

Here's a quick recap of the month.  Looking forward to November...when I can hopefully get back in the kitchen :)

FOOD

1. Eating for pregnancy, specifically the 1st trimester - getting down what I can each day.  Some days are better than others :P  At least I'm doing pretty well with butter, eggs and cod liver oil.  I get those pretty much every day.  So the 1T nutrients should be covered.

Essential nutrients throughout pregnancy:

B Vitamins - meat, poultry, lentils, whole grains or Brewer's yeast
Vitamin C - fruit and vegetables or raw juice
Vitamin E - olive oil and nuts or vit. E supplement (Dr. Ron's)

Essential nutrients during 1T (vitamins - organs and limbs are made up of vitamins and need them to develop well):

Vitamins A and D - butter, eggs, pork, seafood or cod liver oil

2. Mostly grain free - this kind of went out the window.  Grains seem to be a staple for me right now.  And will be until I'm feeling better...hopefully soon!

3. Cook or bake with lard- I cooked with it a little.  Seemed to work fine.

4. Eat in season - apples, pears, pumpkins, squash, root veggies - check.

5. Food preservation - I canned a few batches of applesauce.  At least I got a few done before my energy was totally gone.  I froze some cauliflower too.

6. Four large organic chickens - I cooked one and froze a lot of meat, froze one whole and broke 2 down and froze in individual pieces.  I also made a lot of chicken broth.

7. Chewing - I do pretty well with this when I remember.  I think it helps.  So I'll keep trying.

HEALTH

1. Continue my healthy eating/lifestyle series. Potential topics - microwaves, nitrites/nitrates, artificial ingredients, aluminum, soy, phytates, nuts, gluten/grains, sugars and dairy - just didn't have the energy for this.

2. Research topics

a. digestive process - I need to do this to continue working on my OCD. My perspective of what's normal has gotten skewed over the years, especially since my colon surgery. I think learning the details about digestion and what really goes on will really help me. Learn what healthy digestion really is and how our bodies use what we eat - it will have to wait until next month.

b. pregnancy and childcare - learn more about natural care during pregnancy and for raising children (i.e. nutrition, cloth diapers, first foods, etc.) - I did do a fair amount of research on cloth diapers.  I think I've narrowed down my top choices.  And I'm very excited about them :)

COST REDUCTION

1. Continue recording spending and sales - check.
2. Food budget - $150/week - check.  It was actually only about $100/week this month.  Not bad.
3. Continue to plan meals based on sales/what we have on hand and on what's in season - I splurged a bit this month, buying what sounded good to me when it sounded good.  But just a few snack items.  And it obviously didn't run up our food bill :)
4. Continue to make as much food as possible from scratch - I did what I could.  Very anxious to get back to my normal level of kitchen work.
5. 2nd hand shopping when necessary - went to a big 2nd hand sale Oct. 8.
6. Simplify - continue to minimize where possible - check.

FAMILY/PERSONAL

1. Sewing machine - nope :P

2. Activities

a. Kindermusik - check.
b. nursery cmt - I had to skip our meeting this month b/c I felt too sick.  But I'm still keeping up with my duties as chair.
c. Little Lambs (Rebecca's class at church. I'll be a helper every 6 weeks, Oct. 3 and 10) - check.
d. MOPS (meetings Oct. 1 and 15) - glad I was able to make it to those.

3. Fun stuff.

a. 9 week ultrasound - Oct. 12 - check, check, check!!
b. Nephew's birthday party - Oct. 16 - check.
c. Justin's work Halloween party for families/kids - Oct. 29 - check...but barely :P  Rebecca came down with a cold.  After her nap she cried and screamed for quite a while and refused to put on her costume.  I was lucky to finally get any clothes on her, get her in the car (a half hour later than planned) and make it to the tail end of the party.

4. Rebecca - some things to do with Rebecca this month:

a. Keep working on potty training - We're trying.  Progress is up and down.  It gets tiring dealing with wet underwear all day.  Brainstorming new ideas to make it more fun for her.  At least she finally pooped on the potty (a little) for the first time in a LONG time yesterday.  She was very excited.  So hopefully we'll keep making progress now.
b. Keep working on letters, numbers, spelling/sounds, counting, math, etc. - check.  Rebecca is really making great progress with her letters.  She pretty much knows all of the lower case letters now (has known upper case for a long time).  She is quite good with their sounds.  And she likes to "spell" words.  She reads all the letters and either tells you what it says (if she already knows or it's a picture book) or asks what it says.  She's definitely back in a reading phase right now.
c. Teach her a little more about babies - check.
d. Start setting up her new room - we've got her bed set up now.  We still have to furnish the rest of the room.
e. Start transitioning her to a regular bed - maybe in November - hoping to change her crib to a toddler bed soon...once I'm feeling better.

5. Memorize scripture. I would like to work more on my spiritual growth. And a good way to do this is by memorizing scripture - I memorized Psalm 113.

6. Long term goals.

a. Overcome OCD - slow but steady progress as always.
b. Stop using miralax - hoping to start working on this after the 1st trimester, when I can eat good food again.