Katey Kontent

So one week down

and no pounds lost

on my clean eating plan.

Seriously?

I've been living on fruit, veggies and nuts

with the occasional piece of chicken/fish.

I've had no sweets, pasta, bread, cereal (except my bowl of 

steel cut oatmeal in the morning).

Saturday night we did go out

with our good friends Dave and Kerry :)

to Alma Nove...

but  I cheated only by eating the risotto 

served underneath my striped bass.

yum.

Anyway,

I am craving pasta

so I think I'll be 

making this

over the weekend.

And I love the new Method scent

for Spring!

Maybe I'll do some cleaning

:)

The book I'm reading right now.

Rules of Civility.

My friend at my local bookstore

said if I liked The Paris Wife

I'd love this book too.

The main characters name

is Katey Kontent.

And her name fits her

so well.

So, after a trip to Target and Trader Joes,

and Griffy down for a nap..

I'm going to curl up on the couch

with my tea and my book

and watch the snowfall.

Forget the cleaning.

Heart Therapy and Clean Food

I found this idea on Meg's blog

I could have sat there all day

with my tea

painting hearts.

Calming.

For Lent I gave up

all processed foods.

I'm eating only clean 

whole foods.

I bought this book

Clean Food

a while back.

I made this Goodness Soup

yesterday.

I love the name.

And I've never cooked with kombu

before.

It's good

and filling.

I think I'll be using this 

cookbook a lot.

The kids are on vacation this week.

We went to the Vineyard for a few days

to visit my mom

and my sister and her kids.

We always have so much fun!

Hannah had a doctors appointment

at Children's yesterday and one tomorrow.

That's it.

Exciting stuff huh?

I can't stop singing this song

Aren't homemade Valentine's the best?

This year I followed this tutorial and sewed paper valentines.

But then of course I couldn't just stop there.

The glitter and the glue gun had to add their magic.

And like every year I made this cheesecake for Steve.

We don't go to the movies a lot

but this past weekend The Artist 

was playing at my favorite theatre 

and it's nominated for so many awards

I begged Steve to see it with me.

I LOVED it.

But

I think Steve fell asleep for a few minutes.

It was just so different and such a great story.

And what's not to love about the clothes

during the late 1920's?

We also rented Moneyball over the weekend.

I'm not a big Brad Pitt fan

but I really liked this movie too.

Especially this part...

Hannah and I are obsessed with this song now.
Try not to sing along.
I bet you can't.

Yesterday we are at Children's hospital all day.
Meeting up with a whole team of doctors.
It really was a good day.
Hannah has responded so well to her treatment..
she's gained 10 pounds!

I made Panera bread's

Broccoli Cheddar soup for dinner last night

in bread bowls.

Yum!

Here is the link to the broccoli cheddar soup!

Lately and Today..(today meaning yesterday)

Lately...I've been addicted to this tea. Stash's Lemon Ginger. I have my one cup of coffee in the morning and then drink this all day long.

Today..Friday..the kids have their piano lessons. We have a teacher that comes to the house. His name is Jesse..he's about 25...drives a beefed up Mustang that we can hear coming from miles away...and has tattoos. He's also a dj.    Seriously, he's a great teacher.

Lately...I've been catching up on a million past episodes of Mad Men and Parenthood. Well, not really a million..but I watched 52 episodes of Made Men and 35 episodes of Parenthood. Late at night on the ipad with my earbuds.  I think I have a problem.

Today...I've been looking forward to date night. 

 Lately...I've been putting off calling my doctor. The backing to one of my earrings has basically become part of my earlobe. I've lost a couple of earrings in the past and now I'm freaked out that I'll lose another so I screw on the backing so tight that I can't get it off. Not looking forward to this at all.

Today..it was 50 degrees and sunny. Will had a "personal day" from school. So we went to the play ground. He and Griffin played outside all afternoon. Tomorrow we're expecting snow!

Lately...I've been dreaming of gardening. I have two raised beds in the yard and really want to add more this year. I'm thinking hard about starting some from seeds.  Maybe I'm way over my head. 

And Today...pizza night. 

Happy Weekending!

The New Us

For almost a year now, Hannah has been sick.
We've been back and forth to the pediatrician,
x-rays, blood tests, missing school here and there.
In December she started getting sicker, losing weight.
Back to the pediatrician.
He called later that day to say he thought she had an eating disorder,
anorexia.
We were floored.
We started staring at her while she ate
spying on her outside the bathroom door.
In my gut, I knew it wasn't the right diagnosis.
I came right out and asked her one day,
"do you throw up?"
Her response was, "mom, I haven't thrown up in 9 years"
I believed her.
After pulling her from the last few Nutcracker recitals
due to extreme weight loss and fatigue and stomach aches,
we made more appointments.
This time with specialists..
not only with the eating disorder team for adolescents
but with a GI specialist.
After seeing the GI doctor
we canceled the other appointments.
January brought trips to the hospital for
blood work
ultrasounds
more and more blood work
and ultimately
an endoscopy/colonoscopy.
Biopsies confirmed it is
Crohn's disease.

I'm very familiar with Crohn's disease as my sister has been living with it for 20 years.
She has been such a great source of information and support for us.

So, now we know.
And knowing is a relief but still, we worry.
It's a different kind of worry now though.
No longer the "what if it's this or what if it's that"
But the worry of knowing that this is a lifelong disease.
With no known cure..
yet.

And so I read.
Everything I can on this disease.
Waking Steve at night to talk about prednisone, and 6MP, and side effects..
and probiotics and naturopathic doctors.
We join www.ccfa.org and learn about support groups and fundraisers.
I alter our diet.


I'm so thankful to live where I live.
Boston's Children Hospital is an amazing place.
I was moved to tears the day I was there for Hannah's procedure.
Sitting in the cafeteria,
drinking my tea..waiting,
I looked around to see so many sick little children.
But, ironically, it was a happy place.
There were
clowns walking around playing the banjo,
colorful displays and aquariums.
And smiles.
Everyone was smiling.
Not just the doctors and nurses that we met,
but the janitor we met on the elevator,
the cashier at the cafeteria,
and the police officer that let us take Hannah in her wheelchair
to the Bertucci's across the street for dinner.
And then he gave us his cell phone number in case we needed
his help when we were finished eating.

I'm so thankful to live in this time.
Where information and help is all around me.
Whenever I want it.

I'm so thankful for the family and close friends in our life.
Your thoughts and prayers,
and cupcakes and flowers,
and sweet gifts
and shopping sprees :)
have been so appreciated.


Hannah is back to school
She missed about 3 weeks.
She is getting healthy.
She keeps a food diary and takes her meds.
I'm so proud of her.

This is the new us.
And it's going to be ok.