"I'm Tough to the Finish, Cause I Eats Me Spinach..."

I've been tired a lot lately. I think it has a little to do with getting sick, being sick, and recovering from sickness, and a lot more to do with being pregnant in general. The other day I was doing some reading about the third trimester, here is just a small portion:

To meet his increasing nutritional demands, you'll need plenty of protein, vitamins C, folic acid, and iron. And because his bones are soaking up lots of calcium, be sure to drink your milk (or find another good source of calcium, such as cheese, yogurt, or enriched orange juice). This trimester, about 250 milligrams of calcium are deposited in your baby's hardening skeleton each day.

And it occurred to me, that the reason I'm so tired is because the baby is soaking up all my nutrients and I'm not eating enough of them to give both of us what we need. Now don't get me wrong, I consider myself to be a fairly healthy eater, especially while pregnant, but it's looking like I need to be paying more attention and making sure the healthy things I eat contain the stuff Adelia and I need. As I was pondering the best way to go about this, I came across a really awesome post by my friend Paige. She suggests lots of great ways to get some good things going with your diet. One of the things she suggested were green shakes. And since I think I do fairly well on my protein and iron already, and the thing I have the hardest time getting lots of are veggies, I thought I'd take her up on her idea. She was right, the thing was amazing! I put 1/2 cup spinach in mine today along with 1 cup blue berries, 1 cup strawberries, 1 cup blackberries, 4 oz of yogurt, one ice tray's worth of ice, and just enough milk to get things wet. It was really really good. I ate almost a whole blender full of it. And she was right, you can't even taste the spinach. I'm excited to try some different combos this week and see what I can come up with. Thanks Paige!

 

As I mentioned, I had the shake for lunch, and by the time my kids woke up from their naps, I still felt like I had energy! (Usually that's our hardest stretch of the day because I'm tired and out of ideas, and it's still a long ways 'til dinner.) And since the sun had decided to come out (it rained all morning) I decided we'd go for a nice long walk up to campus and meet Aaron and walk home with him. The walk to campus was beautiful, perfect weather. Just as we picked up Aaron and got headed in a homeward direction, dark clouds rolled back in, and before we even got to the edge of campus it was pouring rain. There was really nothing to do about it except keep walking. We all got absolutely soaked. But we had fun. At one point Lincoln wanted Aaron to carry him, so Aaron put Linc up on his shoulders and Linc said, "Dad your head is all wet." It was really funny because by then all of us were all wet all over, but Linc thought he'd point out Aaron's head being wet.

 

 

When we got home, we had our neighbor take our picture. I don't know if the picture does enough justice to our soaking state, so just in case you can't tell, we are all thoroughly soaked through, except Ivan's head, it managed to stay dry underneath the stroller visor, but the rest of him and the all of the rest of us are wet everywhere there is to be wet. I'm just glad I thought to take all our jackets, or else we would have been cold too. We went in and gave the boys a warm bath and had tomato soup and cheese sandwiches for dinner, yum!

 

And yes, if you're wondering, I'm one of those terrible mothers who makes her child where the harness backpack when we walk to campus, because I'd rather he be safe and tethered to me, than squished like a bug because he ran out into one of the busy intersections we have to cross on our way without waiting to hold my hand. I never use it to drag him or pull him along, just to ensure that he not dash away faster than I can catch him, resulting in him hurting himself, or me hurting myself (or baby) by trying to run after him. And he's happier because he doesn't have to hold onto my hand, or the stroller for our entire walk. So yes, I think there is a time and place for the harness backpack if you use it the right way, so sue me. If you'd like to debate the issue further, I'd be glad to, just let me know.