Inside A Butterfly Exhibit

Yesterday my mom and I took the boys to a butterfly farm.  It was one of the most incredible things ever.   There were literally hundreds of beautiful butterflies flying all around us and being that up close and personal with them was unreal.  Ronin has been obsessed with "bugs" lately and the fact that butterflies were just coming up to him and landing on his head like it was no big deal was just about the greatest thing ever.

Here are a few pictures from inside the exhibit...

Have you ever been to a butterfly exhibit before? If not it is a must see for sure!

Ronin's Updated Big Boy Room

So here's a little tidbit you may or may not know about Ronin...since he has been born (he will be two in June) he has slept in his crib (through the night without ending up in our room) a total of probably two times.  One of those times I announced it on Instagram like an idiot and I am pretty sure I jinxed myself.  Basically Ronin thought his crib was an evil jail where he would go to cry for long periods of time, never sleep ha!

The funny thing is he sleeps like a little angel whenever he is in an actual bed with a pillow, blankets properly folded over him and the whole nine yards.  So I decided it was time to ditch the crib and move him into a toddler bed.  So far it has been a total success! He has slept in his own room for the past couple nights and I am could not be happier about that.

Here are a few pictures of Ronin's updated big boy room.

For those of you who are interested, here are some of the main sources of Ronin's room:

Bed: All Modern
Rug: Rugs USA
Orange chevron blanket: Home Goods Find (similar here)
Geometric pillowcase: Target

See Max's room here

Things That Make Me Say Yeay

I caved and bought my first pair of Birkenstocks.  Best decision ever.  My husband hates them (he called them butt ugly...so rude ha) but he can hate away because they are the most comfortable shoes in the world.  Seriously these babies are coming with me everywhere!  

A new (to me) pair of vintage Danish chairs that my aunt found at a thrift store.  We had them reupholstered and I could not be happier with how they turned out.  I am still debating whether or not to stain them walnut or leave them be.  Thoughts? 

Max (my little baking helper/mess maker) and I made our favorite triple berry cobbler with some  berries we picked up from the farmer's market.  This lasted a while 8 hours in our house before every last bit was gone.  Recipe can be found here. 

Dining room progress.  We added a new light and hung a mirror, which was a killer Craig's List find.  Things are coming along! 

Life lately has been busy in a good way.  I have been putting all my energy it seems into house projects.  We have quite a bit going on over here and I will share more updates soon.  I also have an appointment this morning with my endocrinologist to talk to him about taking a pump vacation and going back to manual insulin injections.  After reading all of the awesome feedback here I am even more pumped (pun intended) to go pump free for the summer.  

Have a wonderful Easter weekend! 

Have You Seen This?

Have you seen this yet?  You have to watch it if not! My Aunt sent this to me yesterday and let's just say that it made my day :)  I will let the video do the rest of the talking...

Our Family RV Road Trip + Things That I Learned Along The Way

Last week we packed our bags and went on a mini RV road trip.  We drove through Santa Barbara, Pismo Beach and eventually made our way to Morro Bay, which was our final destination.  It was an adventure for sure and by far the best family bonding trip to date but with all that said I am not sure I would do the actual RV thing again.

A few things that I have learned after our RV adventure: 

• RVs camping is not my jam (I am not speaking for my boys who though it was heaven on wheels).  Even if I had a million dollars to get a crazy RV that was all decked out, I would still rather just stay in a cabin or rent a little beach condo for the weekend. UGH I am so disappointed in myself that I am that girl, but hey at least I can admit it.  I like hot showers and at least a queen bed.  Go ahead and judge me if you want.  The RV we rented was the most rickety thing ever (not even sure how it passed inspection ha) and I am just glad we made it alive and to our destination in one piece.
• Do not forget bandaids and first aid supplies when you go camping.  Well DUHHHHHH (I am the worst mom ever) but I did indeed forget that stuff and the moment we arrived Ronin fell into a giant pile of rocks and was bleeding all over the place, which leads me to the third thing I learned.
• Make friends with your camping neighbors because you might need to ask them for bandaids, hydrogen peroxide and a wine opener (forgot that too).  Man those people were prepared thank God!  
• If you plan on taking pictures of your trip make sure to bring a back up memory card.  My memory card decided to poop out on me half way through our trip and I lost ALL of the pictures I had previously taken (so bummed).  Thankfully, I had a backup plan.  Yes, I brought a backup memory card but forgot bandaids. I suck big time. 

Minus the actual ghetto RV that we rented we had a wonderful time together as a family. The boys had the time of their lives for sure.  When we came home and it was time to return the RV, Max was so bummed.  Apparently he was convinced it was our new home forever and was completely fine with the thought of taking 10 second showers for the rest of his life :)  Love that kid.

Paleo Banana Cream Pie

Well hello there Friday!  Things around here have been quite a whirlwind these last couple months and some pretty big changes have occurred within our family.  So this weekend Ian and I are finally getting around to celebrating all the good things and I can't wait.

As a pre, "Thank you for working your butt off" to my husband I made this seriously addicting frozen treat.  Banana cream pie is his favorite thing in the whole world so I was hoping this cleaner version would still make his heart do a little happy man dance. Ladies, it is always a good idea to make your man a pie every once in a while, they really dig that kind of stuff.  And dudes, if you make this you are my hero.  A man who bakes is pretty awesome too.  I used this recipe as a guideline but made a few changes to beef it up a bit.   Well...the boys and Ian ate the entire thing in one day.  That may defeat the purpose of the whole it being healthy thing but nonetheless (I have been overusing that word lately) that is always a sign it was recipe winner!

What you will need for the crust:

• 2 cups of raw cashews (for best results soak them in water overnight)
• 2 cups of unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup of dates
• 1 tsp of cinnamon

What you will need for the filling:

• 1 1/2 cups of raw soaked cashews
• 2 medium to large bananas + one extra for slicing and placing on top of the pie 
• 1/4 cup of honey or maple syrup 
• 1/3 cup of coconut oil
• 1/4 cup of fresh lemon juice 
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• a dash of sea salt 

Directions:

1. Place all of the ingredients for the crust in a food processor.  Process until everything can easily stick together. 
2. Add the crust mixture into a pie dish and evenly distribute it along the bottom.  Press down with the back of a spoon until is tightly packed and will hold together. 
3. Place all the ingredients for the filling inside your food processor.  Process until you have a smooth creamy consistency. 
4. Layer the filling on top of the crust.
5. Add sliced bananas to the top
6. Place in the freezer until firm (at least a couple hours).
7. Slice and enjoy!

Just a little tip: the longer you leave this pie in the freezer the tastier it becomes.  If it becomes too frozen simply let it thaw out for a few minutes before slicing. 

Have a wonderful weekend!  And make sure to come back and let me know if you make this! 

The Highs and Lows of Type 1 Diabetes: The Insulin Pump & My Love/Hate Relationship With It

I have been on the insulin pump for about 5 years.  I did a ton of research before I chose which one to go with and I ended up going with the Medtronic MiniMed Insulin Pump.  I love the customer support they offer and all the new advancements that they are constantly making to their products.

Even with all I know now and the different options for other pumps out there I would still go with the MiniMed.  I like that is it small and I can easily hide it in my bra, back jean pocket or attach to the side of my shorts.  I would say that it has drastically helped get me in tighter control and made life much easier.  I can eat snacks when I want and do a correction right there and then.  It comes with me everywhere I go and only comes off when I take a shower or go swimming...or spray tanning ha.  I would also say that it is a must have when you are pregnant since insulin doses are much higher the further along you get and doing a million shots a day would just not be ideal.

But with all that said sometimes (like this week) I just want to rip it out all dramatically, cry, throw it across the room (okay maybe not throw it because it's so expensive) and say screw it and just go back to regular insulin injections.  Most of the time it works great.  I insert my infusion set into the top part of my butt (my favorite spot) hit the start button and we are good to go.  No problems.  But other times (more frequently than I wish) I will insert the infusion set and a shooting pain will go through my body telling me something is wrong.  I will pull it out and blood will start spewing out.  Other times I will insert the infusion set and I think everything is fine.  A few hours later I will test and I will be 300+.  I will take it out and it turns out the infusion set had somehow bent when it was inserted and insulin was never delivered to me.  This is beyond frustrating because I have to do it all over again plus for the remainder of the day I cant eat or do much of anything until I get my blood sugars back on track from something that I did not even cause.  This always seems to happen at inconvenient times too like when I am on vacation or out with my family.  I do always bring a back up just in case but it still puts a major damper in my day.

Now you may be thinking, "Well maybe you are using the wrong infusion set or inserting in the wrong spot?"  The truth is I have tried all of the different kinds and inserted in all kinds of places on my body and it still happens every so often no matter what.  I have told my Endocrinologist about my pump frustrations and told me that sometimes people go on "pump vacations."  This means that for a few weeks or even months you don't use your pump and go back to insulin shots.  I have thought about it but haven't done it yet.  The thought of being without my little gadget that I have been attached to for so long is frightening, but nonetheless the thought is still on my mind.

If you are type 1 diabetic I would love to hear if you struggle with your pump as well and how you deal with it?  I would also love to hear if you have ever taken a pump vacation and what the results were.

See all the posts of this series here.