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Planning A Party During COVID-19

October 5, 2020April 14, 2021Leave a comment

DIY caketopper using cardstock paper designed using phonto app on android and iphone

My husband and I had the special task of planning out a special day. My son’s first birthday party! The challenge was how were we going to do it in compliance with all the Guidelines for COVID 19.

The good thing was that we had planned to have it outdoors at a park so that was perfect for social distancing, which we visited before hand so we could know how much space we were working with. We couldn’t actually reserve any spaces so we just had to hope that the section we wanted wouldn’t be taken the day of the party ( which it wasn’t thank goodness!)

All DIY

We decided on a DIY babyfirst themed party because my son loves babyfirst tv. We didn’t want to have to spend such a large amount of money so we decided to do things ourselves. Supplies was pretty simple because most things we already had on hand such as crayons , markers, and pencils. Other supplies we needed were canvas holders, canvas, black printer ink, and color ink. Ballons , food trays, cupcake holders, hand sanitizer, napkins, paper towels, and cardstock paper. We also got banner paper to create our own banner. We went to stores micheals crafting , dollar tree, and amazon online for supplies.

We wanted to keep things pretty much contact less so there was too much touching going on and everyone had the option to take their food tray home or their cupcakes home. We also reserved a table and set up a handwashing station so that everyone was able to wash their hands. For this we used hand sanitizer , hand washing soap and a spray bottle filled with water to wash off the soap and paper towels.

For the desserts I made the cupcakes myself and was able to put each cupcake in a cupcake holder so that they were not left out in the open. We pretty much kept the cake covered until it was time to cut the cake.

For food we kept it simple and only had six dishes rice and beans, chicken party wings , fried chicken, mac and cheese, fried fish, and salad which my family was able to help me prepare. As for drinks they were served as is we did not have cups to minimize contact and touching.

All in all the party turned out great and everyone was able to social distance which was a relief for me. We had the right number of people and were able to carry out the party safely.

Below I will share links for items that I used ( these links are affiliate links )

Stay safe everyone!

Canvas Pack on Amazon

Cupcake Holders

Balloon Stand

Food Trays ( I got mine from family dollar but saw something similar on amazon)

Balloon Stand Center Piece

Acid Re-flux Update

The ” Weight” of Pregnancy

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Pregnancy is one the most exciting times in a women’s life. To experience the joy of bringing a new life into this world. Throughout the stages of pregnancy and three trimesters the body will go through a series of changes one of the most notable things being weight. That may be the one part women dread the most about pregnancy the weight gain that comes with it. Then you start to think will I be able to lose this weight after?

For me weight gain was not a major issue in the beginning of my pregnancy. During my journey I was not able to eat much at all. Once the nausea started it pretty much stayed with me throughout my whole pregnancy and never went away. For most women nausea usually goes away by the second trimester. It was a tough battle to tackle the nausea and dry heaving on top of already having a history of acid reflux. Most days I didn’t even feel hungry I had no appetite because of the nausea but I still made sure to eat anything I could of course not anything but nutritious foods for me and the baby. Then eventually as time went on I had to drink ensures for extra calories.
My weight pretty much stayed stable until about 25 weeks of pregnancy. I started weighing 138 pounds and by the end of my pregnancy I was 160 pounds. Not bad right? A month after giving birth I weighed in at 146 pounds. Now today I am 156 pounds so I am almost back to my end pregnancy weight. Even though I instantly lost weight I seemed to gain it back. Even though the pregnancy is over the real work has just begun and postpartum weight also counts.

How did I get back 156 pounds ? Well the good news is that it wasn’t instantly but gradually. During postpartum you go through a whirlwind of emotions. Your getting used to having a new baby, juggling bottles, diapers, pumping, or breastfeeding and no sleep is not easy! And in between all of that you have to figure out when will you have time to eat and do you even have time to cook?
For me, I just pretty much ate anything whenever I could. Most days I wouldn’t eat until at 4 PM. I ate a lot of chips , chocolate and anything that was easy fast food. It seemed as though all my healthy ways of eating had gone through the window.

Now to this present day I am getting back on track with how I used to be I am eating healthier, meal planning, and even exercising something that I never was really used to doing much at all. I am making sure to drink a lot more water and not beat myself about my current weight.
The point of this post is to tell you mamas out their not to be upset about weight gain and to embrace it. The post postpartum journey is not easy but once you ease into a routine and also fit in time to take care of YOU, everything will fall into place.

How Do You Handle Your Sweet Tooth on Valentine’s Day

February 12, 2019February 12, 2019Leave a comment

Happy Valentine’s Day! Picture Credit: Me!

Now we all love sweets, at least most of us get a sweet tooth from time to time. Now for someone like me who has Acid Reflux when it comes to those Valentine’s Day chocolates, I definitely cannot have the whole box in one day. Maybe more like one piece of chocolate a week lol. So the question is how can we still enjoy sweets without consuming too much sugar and calories?

First to start do not overdo it! Whether you get one box of chocolate or many different sweets do not eat it all in one sitting! Whew! Second, try looking for sweets that are vegan! Now they still contain sugar of course but the ingredients in vegan sweets will be a lot healthier and not contain high fructose corn syrup which we know is like the number one sugar enemy. High fructose corn syrup is used in so many food products including wheat bread that you may think is 100 percent healthy, always read your nutrition facts labels they are there for a reason.

Third try looking for sweets that are organic which will have much better ingredients but again it does not mean it does not contain sugar. Fourth, you can go completely sugar-free and look for sweets. I have tried many things that are sugar-free such as sugar-free cakes, sugar-free ice creams, and sugar-free chocolates and they still taste good! Lastly, if you are good at baking in the kitchen you can bake your own sweets that way you get to control how much sugar you use in your recipe.

When it comes to sugar in the diet, it should always be in moderation. Really when it comes to sugar consumption for Males the total amount for one day should only be about 37.5 grams of sugar and for females 25 grams of sugar per day (According to the American Heart Association). Now we all know that most of the time we go over those recommendations.
As I always teach to anyone that I coach we have to have certain things in moderation and sugar is most certainly one of those things.

Here is a list of a few things I have tried out:

Breyers Sugar-Free Vanilla Ice Cream

Breyers Non- Dairy Peanut Butter Flavor Ice Cream

Pillsbury Sugar-Free Yellow Cake Mix

Healthy Foods Healthy Foods

There are many sugar-free sweets you can purchase through Amazon if you can not find them in your local supermarkets such as sugar- free Reese’s and Hersey candies

Some of my favorite vegan brands are:

Enjoy Life

Lenny and Larry’s

Nature’s Bakery

Happy Valentine’s Day!