Lucee Lou's

Maybe it's just the crazy amount of "things" we got for christmas, or the mess that my daughter makes in my house on the daily, but i am so overwhelmed with the amount of personal belongings throughout our house. Does anybody else ever feel this way? Like you can never keep the house clean for more than a day because of all the stuff?! My plan in january is to completely binge through my whole house and get rid of anything that has not been used within the past year.

I have made a list of goals i would like to accomplish throughout 2017, short term and long term. I used to think New Years resolutions were bologna because nobody actually ever follows through with them. But now that i am a mom and wife, i think goal setting is completely rational to tackle tasks that may seem far fetched.

My 2017 goals:

Collect less things
Be aware of unnecessary money spending
Save more money
Find the positivity in my own pessimistic views
Less screen time
Keep up on household chores
Organize EVERYTHING in the house
Better consistency in nutrition and exercise
Serve 100% in my church calling
Study scriptures and pray daily
Find happiness in simple things
Be more grateful and less entitled

This list may seem like a lot to some, or nothing to others but i feel it is a good amount of goals to work on throughout the next year. I am so excited to donate so many items in our home that we don't use. It is going to take a load off my shoulders and make so much more free space from clutter!

Getting started:

Make a plan and a list!
Start with one resolution at a time.
Start with something easy, like running for 5 minutes the first week, 10 minutes the next week, etc. Slow and steady wins the race.
Put your list of resolutions somewhere you can see them every day. Examples: Refrigerator, bathroom mirror, nightstand, etc.
Make a routine. Want to workout but don't have the time? Set your alarm an hour earlier and go to bed an hour earlier.
Track your progress
REWARD YOURSELF!

Having a friend to make goals with keeps us responsible and liable. Need a new gym buddy to keep yourself accountable? Someone to meal prep with each week to make sure your nutrition is in check? Need help creating a budget plan? I want to know your 2017 goals!

Did you ever eat your grandmother's carrot cake as a kid just for the cream cheese frosting? I remember secretly taking a swipe of frosting right off the top of the cake hoping nobody would notice once the slices were all dished up.

If you're anything like me and LOVE carrot cake, or at least cream cheese frosting, but hate the guilt of eating it, I have found the BEST recipe! I stumbled upon a carrot cake protein pancake recipe on Pinterest and KNEW that my long lost childhood memories of eating carrot cake frosting had been fulfilled! You can find the blog with the recipe here.

I gave this recipe a shot after my gym session with Ben & Jerry ( my biceps 😉) and HOLY MACARONI!!! This recipe completely exceeded my expectations of "healthy" pancakes! And filled my muscles with some glycogen and protein! Score! Double wammy there folks.

This recipe will definitely be going into my recipes for next weeks meal prep, which i might possible share as well. The icing on these cakes are what takes this recipe to home base. Using real cream cheese is always a winner in my book.

Ingredients

For Pancakes:

¼ cup old fashioned oats
¼ cup cottage cheese
1 egg
1 TBSP coconut (OPTIONAL) sorry mom, i know how much you hate coconut
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp vanilla extract
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of allspice (optional)
¼ cup shredded or grated carrots {from ~1 sort of small carrot}

For the icing {optional}:

3 TBSP cream cheese or plain Greek yogurt (for less fat and extra protein)
1 tsp maple syrup or honey
2 tsp milk
dash of cinnamon

DIRECTIONS: Add all pancake ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Cook in a skillet on medium heat until bubbles form in batter. Flip pancake and cook through.

Mix together ingredients for icing and microwave for just a few seconds until melted. Spoon over cooked pancakes and ENJOY!

NUTRITION INFORMATION for pancakes ONLY: Calories:333 Fat:13.4G Carbs: 33G Protein:19.5G

After eating these scrumptious pancakes, Ava and i headed into her room to pray and sing a song before bed. I had to capture this moment to always remember how sweet she could be as an almost 2 year old. She is always quick to fold her arms and close her eyes, but this is how she does it. Hey, I'll take what i can get! She is such a smart little lady and is already learning to serve the lord.

Justin graduated with his bachelor's in nursing last month (with straight A's throughout the ENTIRE bachelor program). Since then he has been applying to different hospitals for the intensive care unit (ICU) to gain experience to get into anesthesia school in a few years.
With Ava being such a hard baby and being so far from family we have been dying to live closer to home! With justin working nights and sleeping days I sometimes feel as if i am a single mom. Which is not at all bad! I have learned so much and gained so much patience and more strength than I ever thought I could have. It has been a true test for me but God gives us nothing that we can't handle! We went to the temple and prayed about what to do and I just had a strong feeling that I should support my husband and let him guide us in the direction that he felt best fit our family. So, he took a job in the ICU here in Twin Falls! At first I was bummed that we wouldn't be closer to home but it is what it is and i know this will benefit us in the long run! In a year justin will start applying for grad schools to become a nurse anesthesiologist. We could go anywhere in the country!
On a side note, Ava turned 5 months old and time is flying. She has improved quite a bit since birth with her acid reflux. She is still pretty grouchy a lot of the time and is fussy a lot. But when she's not refluxing, SHE IS SO MUCH FUN! Her smiles and coos and yells are the best. I don't remember what life was like without her. Oh wait, I do. It was quiet. And pretty boring! She brings joy and a sweet spirit into our home. She has started reaching for things recently and she loves to grab faces, hair, and the dogs! Oh my lanta she LOVES dogs. All of them. She especially likes to grab their ears and shove them in her mouth. Maizie really doesn't love her yet but little does she know that sweet blue eyes girl will be playing fetch with her soon enough and they will be best friends!

She is OBSESSED with the wiener dogs!

Welp, I'm officially the worst blogger in the world. It's a whole lot easier to update our lives on social media than here, so I apologize If you've missed my blog updates recently ..
As most of you know, our sweet Ava Louise Heyrend was born on December 31, 2014 weighing 6 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long. My birth was the easiest thing I had gone through my whole pregnancy. I would take that and the recovering process over the kidney pains I experienced during pregnancy!
I went in for a checkup the morning before her arrival with contractions 5 minutes apart. The doctor told me to go walk around for an hour and if they got any closer to check In to labor and delivery.. as soon as we got to target to do some last minute shopping, they were 2 minutes apart. I checked in to the hospital, the nurse told me to bounce on an exercise ball for an hour and when she came back to check me it was go time! The doc came in and broke my water, I got my epidural and we patiently waited.. a few hours later with 45 minutes of pushing, she was here!
About 30 minutes after ava arrived and got checked out and cleaned up, the nurses put her on my chest for some mommy cuddles. All of a sudden her little body went limp and her breathes were shallow. I called for the nurse, she listened to her heart, took her out of my arms faster than I could blink and rushed her to the NICU with my husband and step dad. My mom stayed in the hospital room with me for hours before anyone could tell us what was going on and if Ava would be okay.
Finally our doctor stepped in and let us know that she had to be recessitated with a few pumps of air and that she was doing okay and being tested for anything that could have caused her apnea episode. While justin worked most nights, I spent most of my time in ava's NICU room, waiting for her to be discharged. She had a few more times where her heart rate would get really low or she would stop breathing. It was the most traumatic experience for me to go through as a first time mom, always expecting the worst.. $41,000 in NICU bills (thank goodness for great insurance right?!) and 9 days later, she was FINALLY sent home with us attached to a heart monitor. It would go off anytime her heart rate would drop or get too high. It was as loud as a home smoke alarm to make sure we always knew if something was wrong. Luckily she only had to wear it for 2 weeks as she grew out of her apnea.
The doctors assume she quit breathing because of acid reflux. As newborns are still adjusting to the outside world, they don't always know how to react to certain situations (like having acid reflux).
She sees a doctor about every other week for her reflux. He has tried switching her from breastmilk to different types of formula. She takes medicine 3 times a day still. We are taking her to a chiropractor to see if an adjustment will help and her doctor wants to send her to a pediatric gastroenterologist for further testing.
This little one keeps us on our toes at all times but we wouldn't have it any other way. We love her so much and are so grateful she's here with us. I know heavenly father has a plan for all of us and this is just one of those trials we are trying to get past. I have learned to have so much more patience than I am used to and I am thankful for the things I learn everyday with her. ❤

ava's first day of life, hooked up to all her monitors