Thursday, April 9, 2009

My sweet little sunshine girl (sometimes)

We're here in AZ visiting the family during Addison's spring break. We got to spend some time with Wyatt, Lori, Rhett, Kelli, Kodi and Gray tonight. Lori brought her camera and got some great shots of little miss Addison. Lori is so talented. If you ever need a great photographer she's your girl. :) The cute little bohemian (which I decided to call it after Grandpa said she looked like a "hippie") hairdo to go with her tye-die dress was courtesy of her cousin Kodi. How Kodi convinced her to let her touch her hair is beyond me. She can't stand having it combed, brushed or anything that might involve a teensy bit of discomfort. I've been tempted several times to give her a buzz cut, but it's so thick, long and beautiful that I'll endure the fighting we go through every morning when it comes time to brush it for school. I remember going through the same thing with my mom and my hair every morning until second grade when I decided a mushroom cut would be the way to go (someone should have talked me out of that one). We're here until Saturday and we're enjoying spending time with "the family" as Addison calls it. My heart melts when I think about how much she loves being around "the family". I'm so proud that family is so important to her.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

I did it, I kicked the habit!

Nine days without any soda. I think I have officially overcome my addiction. We've been out to eat a few times since I quit and it has been no problem asking for a cup for water instead of ordering a soda. I'm so proud of myself because I am the girl that never finishes anything she starts (just come take a look at all the semi-finished projects at my house). Dr. Pepper will always hold a special place in my heart and I'll probably tear up every time I'm in the checkout line at the store and the darn bottle stares up at me from the cooler with it's shiny maroon label and fancy script spelling out it's name. I'll miss you Mr. Pepper! ;)

Friday, January 2, 2009

Five days, no soda!

I'm so proud of myself. As Mom told me Grandma Bower used to say 'don't hurt your arm patting yourself on the back' or something to that effect. The first few days were so horrible. I had migraines and missed that burn in my throat at 9am every morning. I've gone five entire days....make that six, I just realized it's Friday and I haven't had a single sip of soda. I even took Addie out for pizza a few nights ago and I had water while her root beer taunted me from across the table while she was away playing video games. I almost snuck a sip, but decided not to...even though it was caffeine free. My goal is to quit it completely, even the caffeine free stuff.

Oh and for all you diet soda drinkers out there, I've read that diet soda contains something regular soda doesn't that is pretty scary in my opinion (please don't take this as me on a soap box, it just scared the pants off me). The stuff is called Aspartime and it's known to cause the following: arthritis, birth defects, fibromyalgia, Alzheimer's, lupus, multiple sclerosis and diabetes. Here's a little excerpt from a book I recently read:

"When methyl alcohol, a component of aspartime, enters you body, it turns into formaldehyde. Formaldehyde is toxic and carcinogenic. Laboratory scientists use formaldehyde as a disinfectant or preservative. Want more bad news? When aspartime is paired with carbs, it causes your brain to slow down its production of seratonin."

By the way, this stuff is found in most sugar-free foods. Just an FYI. Thought I'd pass along the information because I was absolutely blown away that they'd put this stuff in our food and drink.

Okay, so off my pseudo soap box and back to the topic at hand. So each time I go out to eat and see the soda fountain or I open my refrigerator door and I see the Dr. Pepper staring me back in the face I almost feel like I'm betraying THE DRINK. I'm so torn, I don't want to hurt the poor soda's feelings....but then I remember, it's just a soda, it doesn't have feelings and there's nothing to feel guilty about. I am a bit disappointed that I haven't seen my extra pounds melting off, but that could have something to do with my intake of strawberry cream hearts (darn valentine's day). Oh well, I guess I just need to give up one thing at a time if I want to be successful. This has been really hard though, don't know if I can give up all chocolate.