Friday, January 15, 2010

Our little man in 3-D...

My Dr. decided to do an ultrasound because I was measuring 3 weeks ahead ... I went in hoping they would move my due date up 3 weeks (not realistic I know but I was still crossing my fingers) ... it turned out that my amniotic fluid is just at the high end of the normal range (the normal range is 8-20 and mine measured 20) and they estimated his weight at 5 lbs. 4 oz (62nd %tile) ... also normal. It was a relief to know that everything is fine and that he's not going to be 12 lbs. It was nice to have an excuse to get another sneak peak of the little guy. The ultrasound tech even gave us some 3-D pictures!! We think he looks EXACTLY like Boston but we'll see. Also this week I only measured 1 wk. ahead so I guess things are balancing out in there.



Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Because I love it so much!!....

My parents got me a juicer for Christmas!!! Today I made our first batch of juice. I put in two apples, an orange, celery, a beet with all the greens and a tomato. I was amazed that it yielded two full glasses of juice! It was so heavenly ... I love this amazing little machine!



This is a great way to enjoy some of the health benefits of juicing if you don't have one. I LOVE Green Machine by Naked. If you haven't tried it you are really missing out.

I'm planning on trying these variations for homemade green drinks (recommended by Dr. Oz) as soon as I can get to the store to buy the ingredients:
Option 1:
1 lemon 1/2 cup parsley,
chopped 1 rib of celery
2 big handfuls of Spinach
1 pince of peeled ginger
1 medium cucumber
2 apples

Option 2:
2 apples
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups spinach
2 cups cucumber
1 head of celery
1 bunch parsley
1/2 inch or teaspoon ginger root
Juice of 1 lime
Does anyone have any favorite juicing recipes to share?...

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Lowering my expectations...

What happened to my good eater?... I used to think that every meal my kids ate would be well balanced because I would make sure of it but somewhere around 15 months Boston threw us a curve ball. He started wanting more independence and didn't want anything to do with mealtime anymore. He didn't want to be constrained in a high chair anymore.


I've had to really lower my expectations ... now I feel successful if I can get him to eat anything! It's not that the kid likes junk food ... in fact he spits out most things sweet like cake or cookies ... he just doesn't seem to like the way eating interferes with his life. I've found a few things that have been helpful but I would love advice.
Here are some things we've tried and love...



Boston loves the V8 V-fusion juices which have a full serving of fruit and a full serving of vegetables in every 8 oz. glass without any added sugar or corn syrup and no artificial flavors, colors or perservatives. It's the best alternative I've found if you don't have a juicer.
Veggie Stix are made with dehydrated potatos, rice flour, tomato and spinach puree, green peppers and celery. There is nothing artifical or hydrogenated and Boston would probably eat them for every meal if we let him.


Boson has been such a bean lover since day one. It's hard to get him to eat anything off a utensil now that he wants so much independence but sometimes he'll still go for these.

A pasta that has as much protein as ground beef but is as lean as chicken and packed full of Omega 3's and fiber!! It's a miracle that such a thing could taste so good because I usually think most whole wheat or multigrain pastas taste like cardboard but we love this stuff!!

Boston is such a meat eater but most of the time he thinks he's eating meat he's not. These veggie protein links make great finger food and Boston eats one almost every day.

How do you get your kids to eat healthy?... or eat at all for that matter?...

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Looking Forward...

2010 is going to be full of changes. Here are some of the things we are anticipating this year:

January: Boston went into nursery and we can finally enjoy church again!!

March: Our baby boy is scheduled to arrive on the 5th so I'll be enjoying a long maternity leave with my boys.

April: Mark graduates!

May: Mark leaves for five weeks to do Officer Training for the Navy.

July: I turn 25 and boston turns 2!

August: My Family Reunion in Oregon and a trip to visit friends in Seattle! We'll also be celebrating our 6-year anniversary!

September: Mark leaves for 8 weeks for more navy trainings and I quit my job and become a stay-at-home mom ... We put our condo up for sale and hope it sells by January.

November: Mark finishes his trainings and we are finally all together again and probably homeless.

December: Move to Salt Lake in anticipation of Mark starting a year-long internship at St. Mark's Hospital.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

First adventure sledding...

We went sledding up in Salt Lake wtih my brother Zack, his girlfriend Jess and her family that is visiting from Souther California. We had a great time!
Boston and Zack.

Boston and Jessica.
My one and only daring run of the day.
Jessica's neice was so funny she just wanted to get up really close to Boston and stare at him. They did this for a few minutes without saying anything ... it was really funny.

Boson's first time down the hill.



Zack and Boston take everyone out.

Friday, December 25, 2009

Christmas Morning...

I wanted to post these pictures/videos right away for my parents who didn't get to share Christmas morning with us. It was fun to celebrate Christmas morning with a one-year-old this year! We loved that Boston let us sleep in until 9am!! It was the best Christmas present he could give us ... sleeping in late is something I really miss about life before kids but most things including Christmas morning is so much better with kids!
Doesn't he look thrilled ... haha! He really did love it but it looks like he's being forced to sit on it in this picture. The video does a much better job capturing the moment.

Here's to hoping Boston gets Mark's artistic abilities and not mine.



Thursday, December 24, 2009


Re-cap of 2009:

Mark started his second year of graduate school at BYU and we are looking forward to him graduating in April! He will be doing Officer and Chaplain trainings for the Navy this summer and then starting a year-long internship at St. Mark’s Hospital in Salt Lake. Boston is growing like a weed and the year was full of firsts for him including his first birthday in July. He is now walking and talking up a storm and we are loving all the smiles and laughter he adds to our home. He has made the transition to parenthood so easy for us and we’re excited to be expecting another baby boy at the beginning of March. Natasha is still working part-time while Mark gets to be a part-time stay-at-home-dad and Boston loves getting to spend so much time with his daddy. We are grateful for all the love and encouragement we receive from our friends and family and hope that you are all doing well.

Peace and love, The Simonsens