Turkey Meatballs

This is one of my favorite go-to meals. They are easy to make, low in fat and calories and my whole family loves them. 

Ingredients:

2 Tbl olive oil

1 package of ground turkey

1 egg beaten

1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs

2 Tbl Parmesan cheese

1 clove of garlic- minced

salt/pepper

Directions:

Set oven to 350

Cover bottom of 9x13 baking dish with olive oil

Place the dish in the oven while it's preheating

In a bowl, mix the turkey, egg, bread crumbs, garlic, Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper together using your hands

Roll meatballs into golf ball size

Remove baking dish from oven

Place meatballs 1 inch apart in the baking dish

Bake for 15 mins, then turn and bake for another 5 mins.

I serve them with sauce and pasta.  Sometimes we substitute pasta for zucchini and squash that is sauteed in olive oil and garlic.

If you like your meatballs spicy, you can add red pepper flakes also.  These are great to freeze and use later too!

Enjoy!

-Alison



Weight Loss: Week 1

We have 13 weeks until we leave for the Outer Banks for vacation.  13 weeks to lose as much weight as I can and possibly attempt to brave a 2 piece.  I have to say, at almost 31 years old with 2 kids, I didn't think that would ever be an option for me. 

I'm going to be brave and track my progress here, including some not so flattering pictures of myself.  Hopefully this will be a good form of motivation.  If I put these pictures on the internet, I have to be able to post "after" ones to justify it.

A little background: Dave and I started working out and watching our calories last April (2011).  I was still breastfeeding Owen, but really wanted to do something about all this extra weight I was carrying around. When we started working out, I weighed 161.  This is what I weighed when I got pregnant with Owen.  When he was born, I weighed 181 (gulp). I only gained 20 lbs with the pregnancy, which is great. However, I shouldn't have weighed 161 when I got pregnant.  At any rate, the breastfeeding quickly took care of the pregnancy lbs, but did nothing for the extra 25-30 I was carrying before that.

We started tracking our calories on myfitnesspal.com and started doing the 30 Day Shred every night after the kids went to bed.  It was the last thing I wanted to do at 9:00 pm, especially after working all day.  However, that was the only option. 

I believe 150% that if Dave and I had not done this together, it wouldn't have happened.  Having your partner on board with you makes all the difference in the world. It's really hard to push yourself to eat right and exercise if he's on the couch watching tv eating Big Macs.

So, we did this from April to October.  I lost around 26lbs and Dave lost around 36lbs.  We were doing great! Then, in October, I got a new job.  It was much needed b/c I was so miserable at my old job.  However, I fell out of my routine.  I wasn't watching my calories as much and slacked WAY off in the working out. Then came winter and the holidays. Blah, blah, excuses, excuses. 

In October, when I got the job, I weighed around 135.  Monday morning, I weighed 148. I have essentially gained around 13lbs of my weight back.  I cannot express enough how frustrating that is and how irritated I am with myself.  I threw a lot that hard work out the window and now have to do it all over again.  I can't say that all the food and laziness was worth it. 

Now, it's time to focus again.  My goal this time is to not only get to my ideal weight (I will say 130 for now) but to also have enough investment in myself to keep it off. 

Monday I started running with some friends.  I was really nervous.  I have never in my life run a mile without stopping.  I ran 3.  3!!!!!  And, it wasn't that bad.  I would dare to say I kind of enjoyed it!

Right now the plan is to run M, W, F, do the Shred T, Th and Sa and take Sunday off. 

I'm back to watching my calories as well.

I weighed myself this morning and I was at 145.5.  So, we are moving in the right direction.

Here are some pictures I took of myself in January when I thought I was back on the wagon (I was wrong).

(I am not sucking in at all in these pictures)

These are from after my run yesterday:

So, no real difference yet.  Dave likes to blame that tummy on the babies.  Maybe, maybe not.  Either way, I want it gone!

Oh, here is a picture of me sucking in as much as I can.  Hopefully I will look like this some day w/o holding my breath!

-Alison 





VINCENT

I have been trying to write this post for several weeks, but blogger keeps messing with me.  So, here we go again.

My sweet boy turned 4 almost a month ago.  It's a little difficult to call him "sweet" after the fits he threw this morning.  He didn't want to get out of bed, didn't want to get dressed, didn't want to brush his teeth, didn't want to come downstairs, etc.  You get the idea.  Sometimes it's hard to remember, in these moments, that the majority of the time, he is a complete joy.

At any rate, he's my first born and my best bud.  We did an interview with him for his 4th birthday (an idea I stole from my friend Catie.)  We video taped it, so I will attempt to get it on here eventually.

He's so smart, probably too smart for his own good.  I have loved every age with him.  Although, admittedly, 2-4 was kind of rough.  He is really becoming his own little person and says the funniest things.  I heard him ask Owen in the car the other day, out of no where, "Owen, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  So funny.  He also likes to ask us what time it is, as if it has any real meaning to him.  He also says not so funny things like "Mommy, it looks like you have another baby in your belly."  Uh...thanks dude. (That's another post all together).

He really can be so loving and so sweet.  He will come up to you with no warning and say "I love you and daddy."  Yeah, little man, the feeling is mutual. I think (read: hope) that he and Owen will be best friends.  Owen is old enough now that they are starting to play together more.  This, of course, leads to more fights.  I suppose that's inevitable though.

He seems excited about his role as a big brother and the opportunity to teach Owen things.  He is also requesting that we have another baby.  A sister this time, if we wouldn't mind.  He is a natural leader and I hope he will transition into this well.  I hope he uses this trait for good and not evil.

It's hard to believe that little 4lb 9oz baby that surprised us 4 weeks early is a big, strong, healthy preschooler. The beginning of his life was dramatic and that suits him just right. 

It's hard to remember how tiny he was...

I will never forget the day he almost quit breathing and had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.  He wasn't even a month old. I'll never forget my mom coming in our room, after I got out of the shower, to tell me that Dave had to call an ambulance to come get our baby because he was turning blue.  They wouldn't let me ride in the back with him.  I sat up front.  I remember looking out the window so that the EMT driving wouldn't see me sobbing.  I also remember her telling me that the fact that he was screaming back there was a good thing.  It meant the he was breathing.  



So much to be grateful for.

Not a day goes by that I don't thank God for the opportunity to be a mother.  The blessing of being able to get pregnant and carry a baby to (almost) full term. There is no experience in the world that I will cherish more than spending 9 months with my children inside me, all to myself.  It's so exciting when they are born, but then it means you have to share them with the rest of the world.

Vincent, you are so incredibly loved by so many people. He asked me the other day if I still love him when he's being bad.  I told him that I will ALWAYS love him, no matter what he does.  There is nothing he can do or not do that would ever change that.

Nothing could be more true.

-Alison