Feels like Spring

I always find my spirits seem to lift just a little when the sun turns warmer and the crocus flowers start poking their way up from the dirt.  The kids on our street start to appear outdoors on bikes, scooters and skateboards.  The soccer balls and baseball gloves get dusted off and boom Spring has arrived!

We are heading off to Kelowna next week for a little bit of fun with the kiddos for Spring Break.  The kids can swim and horse around for a few days before my daughter's soccer tournament on the weekend starts.  Looking forward to a break from the regular routine.  I plan to do some walking around on this leg, the more work I do on it the stronger it will get and with summer so close I don't want to be out of shape and struggling like I was last year.  I have now had this prosthetic just shy of a year and although I am so much more confident right now on it then I was this time last year I know that its going to be an ongoing challenge each and every day but it's one I am up for!

Happy Easter to you!

Small Steps Big Changes

I have been a pop drinker/lover for as long as I can remember.  Growing up it wasn't as accessible to me as it seems to be for my own children.  For me having a pop with a meal while out for dinner was a huge treat.  My dad would pick up a flat of Pic a Pop for the beach on our way out.  That to me was bliss but never did we have pop with a meal at home nor was it bought for us kids to consume at will, it was usually meant for my parents friends when they would be entertaining.

It was almost as exciting as dessert...almost...but I find that my kids are living in an age where pop, chips, candy you name it are average everyday occurrences.  Its in their school vending machines, its at the gas station where they get off the bus everyday after school, its almost impossible for me to limit or try to reign in this pop addiction.  Our son loves his pop, he will mindfully drink one and then hide the can behind/under/ or buried in the couch.  We have talked to him, tried to punish him with only allowing pop on the weekends but it seems nothing really works with him.  

In trying to change his pop habit I had to look at myself.  I can honestly say that Diet Pepsi is my drink of choice, when I am thirsty instead of a tall cool glass of water I will grab a can of this dark cold enticing elixir from the fridge...again almost like dessert to me and this finally got me to thinking about just what exactly are the long term effects of drinking soda and I didn't like what I came up with.  I won't get into the details of what has long been debated, that is out there for you to research if you feel so inclined, but I needed to make a change for me and my children.  My first step away from soda pop was trying Talking Rain Sparkling Water

and this was gooood but it was hard to find in Canada so when I would run out before our next trip back to Costco in the good ole USA I would fall back into the Diet Pepsi trap, which is baaaad.  While watching Dr. Oz he talked about changing your pop habit by cutting it with club soda to which I thought "absolutely gonna try that" and I did and it helped but I still knew I needed to make a break with my BFF DP.  Enter stage right SanPellegrino in all its glory.  Sparkling water at its finest and its readily available in Canada..double yes!  Another benefit of this wonderful product is that they also produce flavoured waters which make my son happy and that folks is the triple threat experience for this family.  We have taken our soda pop addiction down a notch and that makes me one happy mom.  Just recently we purchased a Soda Stream, another step in the right direction,

 

And the greatest part about this purchase is it uses our plain ole filtered water straight from the tap...the best news yet!   

Now while I do admit to enjoying a DP now and again at BBQ's and such I find that I am not craving it anymore and really do prefer a sparkling water in my hand instead.