Weekly Grocery Challenge week 1

(He has nothing to do with this post other than being cute)

How is the grocery challenge going? (the $40 a week one)

In a short sentence?

Like CRAP. 

I have never paid much attention to our grocery bill or how much we spend on what. I guess it never really mattered. 

Then I lost my job. 

One income down. 

Then we had a baby. 

Extra expenses.

Then another job was lost. (how do you like that bomb I just dropped on you...and it happened at the beginning of December)

Two incomes down. 

And all of this meant paying more attention which is why I challenged myself to have a $40 weekly budget for food and groceries. 

We lucked out and already had things like frozen chicken, frozen steaks, frozen ground beef, frozen green beans, wild rice, jam, almond butter, 4 cans of tuna (yes I counted), chicken stock, almonds, flour, sugar, some canned soup, protein powder, flaxseed oil, and some other things I can remember right now like beans and tortillas. 

I make this list because you might laugh when you see what I spent $37.78 leaving $2.62 left over until next Saturday. Groceries are expensive. I have been buying them for a long time and just now came to this realization. 

I am still off dairy which complicates things because non-dairy stuff is, lets face it, more expensive. 

Costco

• 3 lbs of bananas = $1.39
• 6 avacados = $5.99
• 2 packs of Daves killer bread = $6.99
• Mushrooms = $3.99
• 36 Eggs = $9.38 (this leaves us 6 eggs short for the week and I can't stomach not eating organic free range eggs, this is my splurge. I think we need to get our own chickens)

Fred Meyer

• 2 half gallon Almond milk = $3.98 on special
• 1 half gallon skim milk (organic because that's how I roll)=$2.50 on special
• Organic green onions = $3.16

See why I laugh? That is rediculous. That is like no food and it is supposed to last for a week. I do get screwed on having to buy almond milk and not being able to eat most bread because they contain dairy but really? This is just flat crazy. Oh and the avocado is necessary because it boosts breastmilk production. 

I am beginning to wonder how much I used to spend and my stomach is turning a little knowing it was a LOT. 

And did you notice the items that aren't even on there? No meat, no cheese, no drinks (other than milk and milk substitute), no broccoli, no spinach...

So tune in for updates as this challenge continues. 

40 dollar challenge

Can a family eat for $40 a week?

That is my challenge. 

Not just eat - but eat healthy. No freezer dinners or extreme couponers buying all the lean cuisine in the freezer at Fred Meyer. No - we are talking fresh food. 

I think the key to doing this is simplification of diet. If we eat many of the same things, I think we can do this. As such, no gourmet items. No experimental foods with lots of ingredients. 

The thing is, we have certain things already that make this challenge easier, but the challenge is to eat on $40 per week for - oh lets just say a month. 

The staple foods are as follows:

Eggs, eggs eggs

Almond milk

Spinach

Green Onion

Mushrooms

Broccoli

Green beans

Avocado

Bananas

Oranges

Tuna

Almond Butter

Jam (I made jam in the fall)

Rice

Bread

I anticipate going through a ton of eggs. Good thing we love scrambles. We will be having between the two of us, a 6 egg scramble with green onion, mushroom and spinach daily for a meal. 

Smoothie - almond milk, banana, soy protein, flax seed oil

Tuna sandwich

Almond butter and jam sandwich

I will keep you all posted on how this goes. 

Proud

Breastfeeding is a lot of work. 

Exclusive breastfeeding is even more work. 

I feed bear approximately every 2 hours during the day  and lately, every 2 hours at night (with the exception of last night - 4 blissful hours. Thank you!)

We have given Bear a grand total of around 6 bottles in his life (pumped). 

He averages 10 feedings a day and has since birth. 

Bear is 113 days old so that is approximately 1,130 feedings - Woa. 

I am proud of the fact that I have never used formula - and not because I think you are a bad parent if you do, because lets be honest, there are a ton of very good reasons to use formula - but because I have put forth a tremendous amount of effort and I feel like I should be proud of this feat. 

I gave up dairy. 

I am careful to eat and drink enough to keep up milk production.

I work everything around feeding schedules. Workout. Shower. Grocery shopping. Everything revolves around Bear's eating schedule. 

From a personal standpoint, I am a huge breast-milk only advocate. Nothing is more well suited to the nutritional needs of babies. It lowers risk of disease, obesity, its good for their emotional well being, ect, ect, ect. And it is for all these reason that I am so willing to give up my personal well being for Bear's 

So with that - I would like to say, I am so proud to have made it 113 days because it has not been easy, it has been a tremendous amount of effort and it will continue to be a lot of effort. 

With any luck, I will continue to be able to provide for Bear in this capacity for a long time coming. 

To all you mom's out there who have made this tremendous commitment, way to go!

Because lets be honest - there is nothing easy about this whole breastfeeding thing. 

Sleep

Sleep has become a problem for us - well, me mostly - but us a little.

Bear wakes up EVERY.TWO.HOURS.ALL.NIGHT.LONG.

I don't remember what real sleep is like. 

 This has been going on for a month, maybe more and before that, we were getting one 4 hour stretch and several 3 hour stretches. 

I am stubborn. Bear is exclusively breastfed. 

Formula makes me nervous with recalls and stuff. 

But eff. 

I look ragged. Run down. I have dark circles. And by gosh - I am becoming a grouch. Or a crumudgeon - whatever. I'm pretty sour about it. 

It doesn't seem to be getting any better. 

The Pediatric Society or Association or whatever they call themselves says no solids until he is 6 months. 

The idea of being this run down and sleepless for another 2.5 months is unthinkable. To put that in perspective - I have until March 23. 

And here's the thing. I refuse to let my selfish desire for sleep interfere with Bears health. Stubborn.

But let me say it again. Eff. I'm tired!

Christmas 2012

In a world with lots of “stuff,” we decided that Bear didn’t need stuff just for stuff’s sake for his first Christmas. He is 3 months old and honestly, he doesn’t need anything. He has clothes and baby equipment and he really doesn’t play with toys yet. We kind of put out the word – Bear really didn’t need much for Christmas this year.

We celebrated with Joni on the Tuesday before Christmas. We had an amazing dinner and exchanged gifts. Poor Bear was a little grouchy. He cried a long time while we were over at grammie’s house. He didn’t sleep well during the day so it came back to haunt us for dinner.

This year we went lo key. The tile guys finally had some time to work on our bathroom so we took them up on it and they got started on the tile the week before Christmas. As I sit here and write this, the tile around the shower is up. The tile for the floor in the bathroom and entryway still need to be put up but that will happen after the first of the year when we get back from Vacation in McCall.

Because the tile was being put up, Nick stayed up in Portland while I drove down to Eugene on Thursday with my little sister Heidi and stayed over night til Friday. We celebrated Christmas with my whole family this year – just a little early. 

Auntie Ali, Bear and Cousin Jordan

My dad being silly

My mom, Cousin Tanner (cousin to Bear) and brother Russ

Russ and Heidi

 

Tanner being a goof!

We headed out to McCall (where I am writing this from) to relax. We headed out on the 24^th and will be here until the 3^rd.

The weather is super strange here. Usually, there are feet (like 3-5 or more) of snow on the ground. There may be a foot. And it rained the last 2 nights. Rain? In McCall? In December? And the mountain opened today, the 30^th which is the second latest opening ever. And the snow is terrible. Like, I wouldn’t ski on it. The snow is rained on, frozen, there is hardly any snow at all. Usually, they are open in early to mid December and the snow by now is deep, thick, powdery amazingness. Hm. Yea. The trees don’t even have snow on them, it is too wet – it rained too hard.

We went for a walk with Bear in the Bjorn yesterday. Have you ever walked in a foot of snow with a baby attached to your front that weighs around 13 lbs? In case you never have, it’s hard. Quite the little work-out.

Otherwise, we have mostly been relaxing. We had a low-key Christmas and are looking forward to a low-key new year.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!

Christmas Card

Three Months Old

• Sleeping in his pack n play next to our bed, swaddled for most of the night and sleeps in bed with us for the rest of the night. 
• Sleeps 4-5 hours wakes to eat, sleeps 2-3 hours wakes to eat, sleeps 2 hours wakes
• Wears size 3 month carters, some are getting small. Fits in one 6 month Jammie but it is still long. 
• Wearing size 2 in seventh generation disposable diapers or his bumgenius cloth diapers on the medium setting
• Was watched by my sister Ali for 5 hours while we went to the Civil War Duck game, our first "date" since having Bear
• Was watched by Joni for 2 hours for our anniversary dinner on December 15
• Seems to prefer mom at night and dad in the morning
• Clasps hands together when sleeping
• Loves his pacifier
• Giggled for the first time on December 1
• Loves to stand. 
• Can sit holding your hands with no support
• Bats at toys
• Crinkles his busy bee on his car seat
• Loves to be touched - does not like to be independent or alone
• Smiles like crazy
• Coos, talks, jabbers
• Cries when tired and before falling asleep
• Rubs his eyes when tired
• Mostly naps being held (people say this is bad but he is only this small for so long - I want to enjoy every minute of him like this - besides, most of the rest of the world doesn't seem as concerned as Americans about kids being independent from a young age - I don't understand our obsession with making our kids grow up so fast)
• When "standing" marches his feet up and down
• Grasps and holds burp rags, pacifier cord, toys - but it is un-coordinated
• Looks around, follows your voice, stares into your eyes
• Still has some cradle cap
• Still startles
• Sleeps best when he has his sleep sheep (white noise machine)
• Enjoys looking at lights, the TV and anything that has lots of contrast
• Rubs his fuzzy blanket on his face
• Loves baths, smiles when soaking in the water - doesn't mind getting out
• When laying on his back, kicks legs, waves arms, bats at toys
• When laying on tummy, does mini pushup, turns head from side to side, kicks feet (swims)