Sunny Springtime

Even though spring isn't technically upon us yet, it definitely feels like it in Summerville now.  My springtime allergies are in full bloom and fresh little green grass patches are popping up everywhere.  It's going to be weird to see what our grass looks like green instead of brown, which is the only color we've ever seen it here.  We've had a couple of days this week that have been right around 80 degrees at their hottest, and we've been soaking up every minute of it.  Tate and I usually take a little half hour break at lunch time to soak up some sun in the backyard while Jace naps.  I'm actually in the backyard as we speak in shorts and a tank top since Jace is down for an earlier than normal nap. We're going on a long walk when he gets up, which we've been doing alot lately, which is good considering we're trying to get healthier around here.

Speaking of trying to be healthier.  I posted last week about how we were trying to drop carbs for a few days to jump start our healthy eating.  We were actually pretty successful at it.  We didn't eat any sugar, pastas, or white breads.  (I had a peice of whole wheat toast everyday so I wasn't truly "carb-free" but close enough).  I was impressed that Tate agreed to do it with me, and after the first three days we were both down 5 pounds... which is partially real weight and partially water weight from lack of carbs.  Either way, it felt good to be a little less bloated and although we enjoyed eating carbs over the weekend we're definitely being a little bit better than our old over the top junky selves.

On Friday night we sat on the patio at Margarita's mexican restaurant.  It was so nice to be able to eat outside on a patio again.  The food was really good too... and I ordered something way healthier than my usual huge combo meals and two baskets full of chips and salsa.  I ordered a shrimp and chicken salad that was amazing.  Who knew being healthier tasted that good??  I did eat some chips and salsa, but kept it under control.  Jace was enjoying his food and dunked a chip in the salsa because we were... yikes, that didn't go over well.  He just had a teeny taste of the house salsa which isn't too spicy but he immediately started crying and drooling.  Poor thing.  I had no part in it, if I would have seen it I would have stopped him!  He was fine a few seconds later, but learned his lesson and didn't reach for any more chips and salsa.

That evening our neighbor who has a son 5 months older than Jace stopped over with some hand-me-down clothes for Jace and a couple of "Elmo's World" dvds to borrow since I told her Jace wasn't really into watching TV yet.  She said her son loved Elmo's World and Jace would too.  Jace and her son played/screamed with eachother for an hour or so while we chatted about motherhood and all about her new daughter who was at home sleeping.  Jace loved having another boy over to play with his toys, but I've come to realize he's not exactly sure what sharing is anymore.  Both boys fought over the cookie monster figurine and kept crying when it was taken away from them.  This stopped when our neighbor was called home to feed her hungry little newborn... ahhh... memories!  Later that weekend I turned on some Elmo's World for Jace before bedtime and let me just say: MESMERIZED!  He just sat on his couch with his blanket and stuffed animal and didn't move.  It was so adorable.  I guess we're going to have to pick up a couple of our own Elmo's World dvd's next time we're out.

On Saturday morning we spent the morning walking around downtown Summerville.  We stopped at Single Smile Cafe for coffee before strolling around for a few hours.  I love Single Smile... it's just a little coffee shop that's privately owned, so I try to go there more often than somewhere like Starbucks, just to give them the business.  We stopped in a few shops and browsed some of the cool stuff offered.  There was a cute kid's boutique called Ginger Snaps that we stopped in and although they had a ton of stuff I wanted to buy Jace, we ended up picking him just one item which was a Melissa and Doug alphabet peg puzzle.  He's been playing with the puzzle ever since, so I guess it was a hit!  Before we headed home we stopped at Perfectly Franks which is a little walk up hot dog shop that's really popular in Summerville and got a little lunch.  Ok, so we're not perfect, I get that hotdogs and onion rings aren't healthy... but we're working on it!

That afternoon I headed out to get coffee with a couple moms I've met through our moms group.  We only met for an hour, and it was completely during Jace's nap time, but I still felt weird leaving him.  It was my first time since we've moved here that I got to leave the house alone for a bit.  It was really nice!!  Just as I got home Jace was starting to make noises in his crib... haha perfect timing!  Lucky for Tate, he got to spend that entire time prepping our patio furniture for stain uninterrupted while Jace napped.

We decided that even though our patio was out of commission for the night, that didn't mean we couldn't grill for dinner.  We set up a make shift table and chairs in the garage and grilled in the drive way.  We made a ton of fresh shrimp seasoned with chipotle and lime flavors, and also made a variety of flavors of chicken wings.  Since we weren't having any carbs with dinner we didn't feel too bad about enjoying a couple of homemade mango daquiri's along with it.  Yum!

Sunday was a bit cooler out but we still went for a nice morning walk with our coffees.  Jace spent alot of time outside enjoying his cozy coupe and running around.  When he went down for his nap we stained all the patio furniture.  Once Jace was awake he and I headed out to a couple of thrift stores to browse for treasures.  Nothing was worth buying so we left empty handed but we still had a fun time together.  It was still sunny out when I got home so Tate (the bad influence) convinced me to go downtown Summerville with him and eat at this romantic little italian hole in the wall we'd seen the day before.  We've had nothing but gross pizza since moving south, so he was determined to try it out and see if it was any better here.  I relunctantly agreed.  Grrr.

The restaurant was super cute and we were one of two tables in the entire place.  Jace enjoyed a little pizza and bread with olive oil.  The pizza was ok... not great like what you find in the midwest, but it was pretty good.  If we went back I'd definitely get pasta instead.  After that we headed home and spent the night playing with Jace and his toys on the floor and relaxing on the couch after he was in bed.  Nothing spectacular, but definitely a nice end to our weekend.  After the weekend of good eating was over I weighed slightly more than I had on Friday, but that's to be expected since some of that was just carb-free water weight.  Even with the weight gain I've still lost 4.2 pounds in 5 days, so that tells you something about how unhealthy I was eating before this week!

After Jace wakes up from his nap today we're going to head to the park near downtown and meet up with some of our new mom and kid friends.  We have alot of outdoor activities planned this week, including a trip to Magnolia Plantation in Charleston, so hopefully my allergies cooperate.  Magnolia Plantation is supposed to be just gorgeous and they have a petting zoo for the kiddos, I'm really looking forward to checking it out!

Daddy and Jace at Margarita's

Mmm... who knew salad could be this delicious?

Eating at Perfectly Franks in downtown Summerville.

Just a few of the many shrimp skewers and wings we grilled.

Jace eating an appetizer and waiting on more food.

Umm Mama why is elmo on da TV?

In love with Elmo's World

TV trance

Can you say mesmerized??

Daddy get off the phone and take me for a WALK!

Why are we still WAITING!!!??

Phew... finally heading out for a walk :)