...Sunday. Blah. Ick. Not too wet to go outside, but not dry enough for the playground, so we stayed home today. Meghan loves to go on the slides and 2 out of the 3 slides hold water at the bottom; the 3rd is always damp when the others are wet. Meghan loves walking up and down the stairs and I washed diapers today-now that was exciting. For her. Hah.
The past couple of days I've been feeling really fatigued and tired and napping at odd hours of the day. Like right after dinner, but before Meghan goes to sleep. It is so weird. I think my excuse for exercise and poor diet this week are to blame. We've eaten a lot of convenience foods, last night we had Hamburger Helper. I was super grossed out afterwards. I just felt like I ate a brick of goo. Usually I don't have a problem eating it. Tonight I made lemon pepper chicken, brown rice, corn and King's Sweet Hawaiian rolls. A much better menu. If you have King's anything at your store, buy it. Seriously, go right now and buy some, it is so evil and divine!
Kait took me grocery shopping yesterday (because we still have no car, the mechanic friend never called my dad back!) Aldi had their rolls this week. I bought 2 packages, naturally. :) I heated them up in the oven and they were even better than room temp! My dad got me a Food Saver system for Christmas, so I buy our meat in bulk, then vacuum seal and freeze it. Well, Food Saver makes steamer bags for the microwave and you can do chicken in it! Best. Idea. Ever.
I portioned out our chicken, then added some spices to some bags and some I left plain. I did some curry, lemon pepper and cajun rub and all 3 varieties have been delicious! Now, you might be thinking that the microwave makes it rubbery, but not with the steamer bags! The chicken stays super moist and you can microwave it when it's frozen, fresh or defrosted.
That sounded like a paid post, but it's not, I just love their products!
On a darker note, today one of my sister's friends from high school posted a picture or herself on Facebook saying she was down 80 lbs. That's amazing and I'm so happy for her, but at the same time I am mad at myself. I lack the motivation I need to lose weight. I wanted to lose a bunch of weight before my 5 year college reunion, it's lurking in the shadows at 2 months away.
I fight a constant addiction to food, which might make some people laugh, but until you're addicted to something or someone, you have no idea the hold it has over you. I can't go into the kitchen for anything without thinking about having a snack. I don't know why I'm so snacky, I got into some bad eating habits in college and at my customer service job.
As far as I know, all our friend did was start running. How is it that some people just start running and the weight falls off? Drew's constant harp is that I should be doing an hour of cardio a day. I'll see what his reaction is tomorrow when I leave him here with Meghan and Dylan for an hour! I've been exercising according to this new plan this week. I did 55 jumping jacks last night! Which I was proud of until I went to do the 2nd half of the workout-10 sit ups. Real ones. I was only able to do 2 1/2. Blah.
I don't feel like I've lost any weight, we'll see what happens tomorrow when I do my weekly weigh in. I really should've written last week's weight down... :)
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label diet. Show all posts
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Monday, March 19, 2012
got a case...
...of the Mondays? Not me! :) Yesterday was super busy, so I'm glad Kait got to babysit Dylan today! He is such a little bundle of energy, always zooming around! Luckily, the weather has been ridiculously warm, so we went to playground/park every day last week. Dylan's back tomorrow, so that'll be chaotic!
Yesterday, we went out to my dad's house for St. Patrick's Day dinner. He made 3 corned beefs, boiled dinner (potatoes, cabbage, carrots), rueben sandwiches (corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, thousand island dressing on rye bread), and fried cabbage. My mom made a pasta salad and my grandma baked homemade rye bread. My sister Kait made apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Everything was so delicious! And I did ok as far as diet goes, I only had 1 slice of bread on my sandwich, 1 potato, a small amount of pasta salad and 1 scoop of ice cream. We woke up late yesterday, so I had part of a yogurt for breakfast (Meghan had some too!) and then we snacked later last night after we got home.
Today, we mostly just sat around. I did nap on the couch (twice! gah!) and this afternoon we had to walk to the UPS drop box (about 3 blocks away) so I could drop off a package and then we went to the playground for a bit. We are so fortunate to have a playground so close, I love it! Especially since we are still without a car. We didn't stay long at the playground, unfortunately because it started to rain and thunderstorm.
As far as a car goes, my dad has offered us his car, but it needs some work-including new tires, Kait got stuck with a flat the other day! Luckily, she was with Fred's mother (Freddy's grandma) so, they got some help with the donut and were soon on their way. My dad talked to his mechanic friend about maybe setting us with one of the cars he's been buying at auctions down south-along with a payment plan. But, what I can tell from what my dad said was that the friend doesn't have a lot of cars (which is not what I thought) and the friend said he had just taken in a saturn, but it needs some work, but the friend has another in his junk lot that he can get the parts from. This is a familiar story, that's just how the friend works. My dad is going over there on Wednesday, to get his car worked on and also to see if the friend has any realistic offers.
If that doesn't work out, there is my dad's car, but it needs work. It won't pass inspection because of a fuel pump issue, it needs at least 2 tires, and some sort of alignment or something like that. But, anything is an improvement over the Alero. We've had nothing but trouble with it. I am grateful we got a year out of it though, because it was a gift.
Meg's up crying, so I'm off to cuddle!
Yesterday, we went out to my dad's house for St. Patrick's Day dinner. He made 3 corned beefs, boiled dinner (potatoes, cabbage, carrots), rueben sandwiches (corned beef, sauerkraut, swiss cheese, thousand island dressing on rye bread), and fried cabbage. My mom made a pasta salad and my grandma baked homemade rye bread. My sister Kait made apple crisp with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Everything was so delicious! And I did ok as far as diet goes, I only had 1 slice of bread on my sandwich, 1 potato, a small amount of pasta salad and 1 scoop of ice cream. We woke up late yesterday, so I had part of a yogurt for breakfast (Meghan had some too!) and then we snacked later last night after we got home.
Today, we mostly just sat around. I did nap on the couch (twice! gah!) and this afternoon we had to walk to the UPS drop box (about 3 blocks away) so I could drop off a package and then we went to the playground for a bit. We are so fortunate to have a playground so close, I love it! Especially since we are still without a car. We didn't stay long at the playground, unfortunately because it started to rain and thunderstorm.
As far as a car goes, my dad has offered us his car, but it needs some work-including new tires, Kait got stuck with a flat the other day! Luckily, she was with Fred's mother (Freddy's grandma) so, they got some help with the donut and were soon on their way. My dad talked to his mechanic friend about maybe setting us with one of the cars he's been buying at auctions down south-along with a payment plan. But, what I can tell from what my dad said was that the friend doesn't have a lot of cars (which is not what I thought) and the friend said he had just taken in a saturn, but it needs some work, but the friend has another in his junk lot that he can get the parts from. This is a familiar story, that's just how the friend works. My dad is going over there on Wednesday, to get his car worked on and also to see if the friend has any realistic offers.
If that doesn't work out, there is my dad's car, but it needs work. It won't pass inspection because of a fuel pump issue, it needs at least 2 tires, and some sort of alignment or something like that. But, anything is an improvement over the Alero. We've had nothing but trouble with it. I am grateful we got a year out of it though, because it was a gift.
Meg's up crying, so I'm off to cuddle!
Saturday, March 10, 2012
I have got to stop...
...waiting so long in between posts! This is ridiculous! I've only got 1 kid, it can't be that hard right?! You'd think I could just sit down and write already, I know the suspense of my day-to-day is killing you all. ;) Hah.
We have been very busy lately. After last time I wrote, we went to court with our landlords, celebrated Island Week with Drew's family, celebrated 4 birthdays in a week, might be pregnant (cross your fingers), car's breaking down, fell off the exercise/diet wagon, might be moving out, still have 0 income...not in that order, but you get the gist.
So, we went to court and settled with the lawyer before we went before the judge. Ended up borrowing money from my mother so that we could get all caught up with the landlords. I went to her house to borrow the money the night before they went on vacation to Costa Rica! My poor, yet so helpful mother :) She is really awesome, and always there for me when I'm in a jam. And she was at the top of my "People I Can Borrow Money From" list, so that was nice. Ironically enough, our ceiling started leaking last night and this whole fiasco started out with the leaking ceiling last May! Needless to say, I cannot wait to get out of here-even if we have to move in with Drew's parents! :)
Island Week is the Winter Break where all the kids are off from school. Drew's family doesn't go on vacation, they do Island Week! They decorate the living room/kitchen area, dress in bathing suits and island attire, listen to island music and eat island food. It is so much fun and a wonderful family tradition. This year, Meghan and I spent the whole week there! Meghan slept in a pack and play and I slept on a spare bed in Drew's sisters' room. We had a lot of fun and ate sooo much good food! I am never disappointed when we go there to eat!
We played a lot of limbo-which I never win, hah. Played a lot of Rock Band on the Xbox, drank lots of pina coladas and Malibu-and-pineapple-juice (this is my all time favorite grown up drink and it really needs a shorter name!) and danced a lot! Meghan loves to dance and groove and loved all the islandy (yes, that's a word) music!
I also love Island Week because we get to see all of Drew's siblings and their significant others within a few days. We are hardly ever in the same place at the same time besides holidays and apple picking in the fall. :) I especially was glad to see Drew's brother Pat and his wife, Alex. They work crazy-long hours at a hospital in the big city and sometimes even miss holiday get-togethers. The Super Bowl was the first time I had been to their house and they've been there almost a year!
March is a ridiculous month for birthdays in our family! Five in total! The 2nd is Drew's brother Luke, then the 5th is my mother. Olivia, Drew's sister, was born on the 6th. His sister, Val on the 9th and his mom on the 29th. We have been spending a lot of time in our hometown recently! We went to Chinese buffet for dinner on the 4th for Luke's birthday because he was at the church's Brother Conference all weekend. We went with Drew's sister Michelle, her boyfriend Corey, Luke and their cousin, Joey; who is very good friends with Drew and Pat. He was the groomsman in our wedding! Then we had chinese takeout for dinner at my mom's on the 5th. Back to the homestead on the 6th for Olivia's birthday and tonight we had dinner again there for Val's birthday.
I think I did a fair job as far as presents go this year. I got Olivia a really cool tshirt, but it is a bit big. It looked so small on the hanger! I guess I didn't realize she's gotten a lot slimmer recently with all the gymnastics she's been doing! I got Val some really cool nail polish, earrings and a candle. She loved the earrings and polish-which I'm glad for because she is so hard to buy for! I made Luke a mohawk hat, and then realized I made the mohawk part very crooked so I had to re-do it while we were visiting. We also ordered him something that he doesn't know about and are waiting for it to arrive :)
Found out today that our only car is probably on it's last legs. With less than 93,000 miles on it too! Can we ever catch a break with cars?! :) The alero is making a knocking noise that gets louder when you accelerate and my dad thinks the cam shaft is going, which is not good and expensive to repair/replace. Add that to the leaking anti-freeze, leaky but not holey tires, and shutting-itself-off issues and we may as well walk everywhere!
We might be able to trade it for credit towards a used car at a (hometown) local garage my dad used to work at. He's good friends with the owner, Donnie, and he has been getting cars at auction down south to sell up here. My dad is going to talk with him tomorrow about maybe working out a deal where we make payments towards a new-to-us car. I'm hoping something works out as we have no clue as to when the car will just stop working. :( But, I am determined to look on the bright side of this as we may be needing a bigger car anyway...
:D
Haha. Today is day 31 of my cycle. I've gotten out of practice of taking my temperature everyday. We were at Island Week and then Meghan and I were horribly sick in the weeks after, so I haven't been charting at all. I also haven't had any period cramps-I haven't had any pregnancy symptoms either. Who knows? Either way, if my period doesn't come by tomorrow morning, I'm taking a test! :)
My lifestyle change was also hit hard by Island Week and being sick :( I didn't exercise at all and ate so much yummy, but bad-for-me food. It was definitely worth it though. Being out of our apartment for more than a couple hours was great, like a mini-vacation! While there, I made a few cowl/neckwarmers for an upcoming craft fair (or my etsy store, if they don't sell) and also finally finished the baby blanket for my good friend, Klare. She's due in April and I was worried I wouldn't finish! Now I'm working on a stripey earflap hat for her son, Scotty (he's Meghan's age) and then I have to go deliver them!
As far as moving out, I definitely don't want to live here after our lease is up at the end of April and I don't imagine that the landlords will be renewing our lease this year. Especially after all the flack we've given them and the whole court debacle. I just hope we can find something or work out a situation with Drew's parents if we have to, but with 0 real income, it's hard. Drew gets unemployment at about 72% of what he was making before and I am still getting paid by Lacie for babysitting Dylan during the week, so it's not really 0 income, but it is so scary for neither of us to have a "real" job.
Leading from that, I have joined some sponsored blog sites where I could be paid for writing blog posts about different topics. Each post will have a disclaimer, hopefully I'll be able to put at the top, so if you don't want to read it you don't have to. I am also hoping to get topics that are related to what I already write about. Nobody wants to read about quantum physics here, right? ;)
How's that for an update? See you tomorrow? ;)
We have been very busy lately. After last time I wrote, we went to court with our landlords, celebrated Island Week with Drew's family, celebrated 4 birthdays in a week, might be pregnant (cross your fingers), car's breaking down, fell off the exercise/diet wagon, might be moving out, still have 0 income...not in that order, but you get the gist.
So, we went to court and settled with the lawyer before we went before the judge. Ended up borrowing money from my mother so that we could get all caught up with the landlords. I went to her house to borrow the money the night before they went on vacation to Costa Rica! My poor, yet so helpful mother :) She is really awesome, and always there for me when I'm in a jam. And she was at the top of my "People I Can Borrow Money From" list, so that was nice. Ironically enough, our ceiling started leaking last night and this whole fiasco started out with the leaking ceiling last May! Needless to say, I cannot wait to get out of here-even if we have to move in with Drew's parents! :)
Island Week is the Winter Break where all the kids are off from school. Drew's family doesn't go on vacation, they do Island Week! They decorate the living room/kitchen area, dress in bathing suits and island attire, listen to island music and eat island food. It is so much fun and a wonderful family tradition. This year, Meghan and I spent the whole week there! Meghan slept in a pack and play and I slept on a spare bed in Drew's sisters' room. We had a lot of fun and ate sooo much good food! I am never disappointed when we go there to eat!
We played a lot of limbo-which I never win, hah. Played a lot of Rock Band on the Xbox, drank lots of pina coladas and Malibu-and-pineapple-juice (this is my all time favorite grown up drink and it really needs a shorter name!) and danced a lot! Meghan loves to dance and groove and loved all the islandy (yes, that's a word) music!
I also love Island Week because we get to see all of Drew's siblings and their significant others within a few days. We are hardly ever in the same place at the same time besides holidays and apple picking in the fall. :) I especially was glad to see Drew's brother Pat and his wife, Alex. They work crazy-long hours at a hospital in the big city and sometimes even miss holiday get-togethers. The Super Bowl was the first time I had been to their house and they've been there almost a year!
March is a ridiculous month for birthdays in our family! Five in total! The 2nd is Drew's brother Luke, then the 5th is my mother. Olivia, Drew's sister, was born on the 6th. His sister, Val on the 9th and his mom on the 29th. We have been spending a lot of time in our hometown recently! We went to Chinese buffet for dinner on the 4th for Luke's birthday because he was at the church's Brother Conference all weekend. We went with Drew's sister Michelle, her boyfriend Corey, Luke and their cousin, Joey; who is very good friends with Drew and Pat. He was the groomsman in our wedding! Then we had chinese takeout for dinner at my mom's on the 5th. Back to the homestead on the 6th for Olivia's birthday and tonight we had dinner again there for Val's birthday.
I think I did a fair job as far as presents go this year. I got Olivia a really cool tshirt, but it is a bit big. It looked so small on the hanger! I guess I didn't realize she's gotten a lot slimmer recently with all the gymnastics she's been doing! I got Val some really cool nail polish, earrings and a candle. She loved the earrings and polish-which I'm glad for because she is so hard to buy for! I made Luke a mohawk hat, and then realized I made the mohawk part very crooked so I had to re-do it while we were visiting. We also ordered him something that he doesn't know about and are waiting for it to arrive :)
Found out today that our only car is probably on it's last legs. With less than 93,000 miles on it too! Can we ever catch a break with cars?! :) The alero is making a knocking noise that gets louder when you accelerate and my dad thinks the cam shaft is going, which is not good and expensive to repair/replace. Add that to the leaking anti-freeze, leaky but not holey tires, and shutting-itself-off issues and we may as well walk everywhere!
We might be able to trade it for credit towards a used car at a (hometown) local garage my dad used to work at. He's good friends with the owner, Donnie, and he has been getting cars at auction down south to sell up here. My dad is going to talk with him tomorrow about maybe working out a deal where we make payments towards a new-to-us car. I'm hoping something works out as we have no clue as to when the car will just stop working. :( But, I am determined to look on the bright side of this as we may be needing a bigger car anyway...
:D
Haha. Today is day 31 of my cycle. I've gotten out of practice of taking my temperature everyday. We were at Island Week and then Meghan and I were horribly sick in the weeks after, so I haven't been charting at all. I also haven't had any period cramps-I haven't had any pregnancy symptoms either. Who knows? Either way, if my period doesn't come by tomorrow morning, I'm taking a test! :)
My lifestyle change was also hit hard by Island Week and being sick :( I didn't exercise at all and ate so much yummy, but bad-for-me food. It was definitely worth it though. Being out of our apartment for more than a couple hours was great, like a mini-vacation! While there, I made a few cowl/neckwarmers for an upcoming craft fair (or my etsy store, if they don't sell) and also finally finished the baby blanket for my good friend, Klare. She's due in April and I was worried I wouldn't finish! Now I'm working on a stripey earflap hat for her son, Scotty (he's Meghan's age) and then I have to go deliver them!
As far as moving out, I definitely don't want to live here after our lease is up at the end of April and I don't imagine that the landlords will be renewing our lease this year. Especially after all the flack we've given them and the whole court debacle. I just hope we can find something or work out a situation with Drew's parents if we have to, but with 0 real income, it's hard. Drew gets unemployment at about 72% of what he was making before and I am still getting paid by Lacie for babysitting Dylan during the week, so it's not really 0 income, but it is so scary for neither of us to have a "real" job.
Leading from that, I have joined some sponsored blog sites where I could be paid for writing blog posts about different topics. Each post will have a disclaimer, hopefully I'll be able to put at the top, so if you don't want to read it you don't have to. I am also hoping to get topics that are related to what I already write about. Nobody wants to read about quantum physics here, right? ;)
How's that for an update? See you tomorrow? ;)
Saturday, January 28, 2012
hahaha...
...I finally figured out why my last post is showing up when I post comments on other blogs-I posted that giveaway to this blog instead of my giveaway blog. Blah. Oh well.
The scale didn't move today. Not down. But at least it didn't go up. :) That's my mantra for today. Dieting is still going ok. It's so hard to stay away from sweets. Especially when your hubby and baby can and will eat anything they want! (well, Meghan can't have whatever she wants, but you know what I mean!)
It's really tough when Drew asks for cookies or something. I love to bake, but I'm awful at not tasting the batter and the freshly baked goodness and then...just a bite here and there. Ugh. Well, there's still brownies in the kitchen .
I don't know. It's hard to not get the gloomies when the scale doesn't move, or worse, goes back up. It feels like nothing is happening. Definitely not happening fast enough.
I'm a pretty optimistic person, too. Ask anybody. I've always been cheerful. I'm sure it doesn't help that my hormones are all wacky because I'm ovulating. (cross your fingers and send baby dust our way!)
Not to mention all the other crazy stuff going on. grr. Stupid life getting in the way! haha.
Drew got his w-2's in the mail the other day, so I've been slowing working on our taxes. As soon as we get them, Meghan and I are taking the train to visit my college friend and bridesmaid from our wedding, Angie. She lives and works near Boston and it stinks being so far away from your best friend. We've been meeting up at Wells in June for reunions and in October for volunteer weekend because we're both on the FARGO Board (Friends And Recent Graduates) But we decided twice a year for a couple days isn't enough! So I offered to come visit her after tax-mas (like Christmas only when our tax returns come-haha) She works full time Monday through Thursday, so we'd be able to spend at least 3 days together and she might take a couple days off or work from home while we're there.
Off to wash some diapers :)
The scale didn't move today. Not down. But at least it didn't go up. :) That's my mantra for today. Dieting is still going ok. It's so hard to stay away from sweets. Especially when your hubby and baby can and will eat anything they want! (well, Meghan can't have whatever she wants, but you know what I mean!)
It's really tough when Drew asks for cookies or something. I love to bake, but I'm awful at not tasting the batter and the freshly baked goodness and then...just a bite here and there. Ugh. Well, there's still brownies in the kitchen .
I don't know. It's hard to not get the gloomies when the scale doesn't move, or worse, goes back up. It feels like nothing is happening. Definitely not happening fast enough.
I'm a pretty optimistic person, too. Ask anybody. I've always been cheerful. I'm sure it doesn't help that my hormones are all wacky because I'm ovulating. (cross your fingers and send baby dust our way!)
Not to mention all the other crazy stuff going on. grr. Stupid life getting in the way! haha.
Drew got his w-2's in the mail the other day, so I've been slowing working on our taxes. As soon as we get them, Meghan and I are taking the train to visit my college friend and bridesmaid from our wedding, Angie. She lives and works near Boston and it stinks being so far away from your best friend. We've been meeting up at Wells in June for reunions and in October for volunteer weekend because we're both on the FARGO Board (Friends And Recent Graduates) But we decided twice a year for a couple days isn't enough! So I offered to come visit her after tax-mas (like Christmas only when our tax returns come-haha) She works full time Monday through Thursday, so we'd be able to spend at least 3 days together and she might take a couple days off or work from home while we're there.
Off to wash some diapers :)
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
happy happy...
...Wednesday! I've got to be positive about today because yesterday didn't go nearly as planned. Unfortunately. We went to my mom's house for dinner, but then she was too sick to do anything else. (which I'm still not sharing because I don't want to jinx it)
Seems like everyone I know is sick. 3 week ago, Meghan came down with a cold and I got it the day after. Woot. It was not fun, especially since this was the first time Meghan's been sick besides the sniffles. I wholly attribute that to her being breastfed, as far as her never being sick. Didn't save me, I've been sick a couple of times since she was born ;) At any rate, she was miserable and it was not fun with a sick baby. She got better in about a week and I expected to get better as well, but I'm still battling a ridiculous cough. Lacie and Dylan were sick before us, so I think we got it from them, and Lacie's cough lasted 3 weeks and she cracked a rib from coughing! So I'm hoping I'll be better by this weekend. Not that we're doing anything special, I just don't want to be sick any more!
I feel great besides the cough and throat burning :( I've exercised at least 30 minutes a day for the last 10 days in a row, which is awesome! I'm proud that even though sometimes I gain a little bit, I still keep with it. It used to be so easy to get discouraged, but I'm not beating myself up about slipping up while eating. It's not the end of the world if I eat a cookie, I know it's not what I should be eating. But I'm not going to let a cookie deter me. I am strong!
:)
I mentioned that we went to my mom's for dinner last night. She made pasta and home made spaghetti sauce, salad with oil and balsamic, Italian bread and chocolate chip cookies. (that's where the cookie reference came from) I had my sauce with green beans and lots of salad, no bread and part of a cookie, which I spilt with Meghan. :) Even though we didn't do what we planned, it was nice to see her and her husband, Jim. We don't see them very often. I wish Drew and I could do family dinners with our parents, sometimes I feel left out because we don't live in the same town as our families any more. If we ever get a house, I think I'll have to start hosting family dinner, then everyone will be obligated to visit! ;)
Speaking of dinner, I have no clue what we're eating tonight...I'd better get on that!
Seems like everyone I know is sick. 3 week ago, Meghan came down with a cold and I got it the day after. Woot. It was not fun, especially since this was the first time Meghan's been sick besides the sniffles. I wholly attribute that to her being breastfed, as far as her never being sick. Didn't save me, I've been sick a couple of times since she was born ;) At any rate, she was miserable and it was not fun with a sick baby. She got better in about a week and I expected to get better as well, but I'm still battling a ridiculous cough. Lacie and Dylan were sick before us, so I think we got it from them, and Lacie's cough lasted 3 weeks and she cracked a rib from coughing! So I'm hoping I'll be better by this weekend. Not that we're doing anything special, I just don't want to be sick any more!
I feel great besides the cough and throat burning :( I've exercised at least 30 minutes a day for the last 10 days in a row, which is awesome! I'm proud that even though sometimes I gain a little bit, I still keep with it. It used to be so easy to get discouraged, but I'm not beating myself up about slipping up while eating. It's not the end of the world if I eat a cookie, I know it's not what I should be eating. But I'm not going to let a cookie deter me. I am strong!
:)
I mentioned that we went to my mom's for dinner last night. She made pasta and home made spaghetti sauce, salad with oil and balsamic, Italian bread and chocolate chip cookies. (that's where the cookie reference came from) I had my sauce with green beans and lots of salad, no bread and part of a cookie, which I spilt with Meghan. :) Even though we didn't do what we planned, it was nice to see her and her husband, Jim. We don't see them very often. I wish Drew and I could do family dinners with our parents, sometimes I feel left out because we don't live in the same town as our families any more. If we ever get a house, I think I'll have to start hosting family dinner, then everyone will be obligated to visit! ;)
Speaking of dinner, I have no clue what we're eating tonight...I'd better get on that!
Friday, January 20, 2012
setbacks...
...seem to be the norm around here. Meghan's diaper rash is flaring up and I was a bit mystified until I stripped half of our diaper stash yesterday. Before, when we only had cotton prefolds and covers, I would just boil the prefolds for 20-30 minutes and covers for 10 minutes. You're not supposed to boil anything with PUL or snaps, as it can warp or cause leaks, but I haven't had any problem with that technique. Now that we have some microfiber inserts, fleece pocket diapers, etc., we get the stinkies/ammonia sometimes. What started this recent bout of stripping was I put Meghan in a Happy Heineys pocket diaper for overnight. We love this because it's easy to use and easy to stuff with extra inserts for overnight. Meg has turned into a heavy wetter at night time since she started drinking milk, water, and juice. The new routine is: I wash everything on hot with a regular amount of diaper soap, a squirt of Dawn dish soap and 2 splashes of bleach. Then an extra wash with just water, so rinse everything clean. I brought all the diapers upstairs and boiled them. Then I rung everything out by hand and hung it all up to dry. The diapers take overnight to dry thoroughly when doing the everyday diaper laundry. The stripped diapers were still quite wet this afternoon, so they're getting a spin in the dryer right now.
I use Dawn because it is "the grease fighter" or whatever their slogan is, so it helps to remove residue left behind by rash creams. I've been using coconut oil, which works great and washes out of the prefolds well, but not the Happy Heineys. The cover is repelling liquid and so Meghan is just sitting in her wet diaper until the liquid is slowly absorbed by the inserts-resulting in the red, angry rash. I'm using the bleach to keep the yeast away until Meg's bum is completely clear. I'm only going to use the 2 splashes of bleach every other week so that the diapers don't deteriorate too fast. Hopefully. :/
I wash every other day or every 3rd day. Lately, every other day. So our diaper stash is split into 2 loads and I'll be doing the whole stripping routine again tomorrow. Big plans for my Saturday-haha.
The beginning of this week didn't start out so great, as far as the scale goes. I gained instead of losing over the weekend. I did not eat right last weekend or exercise and I paid for it on Monday. In addition to not watching what I was eating, I didn't get a chance to exercise, so on Sunday shovelled out our car so I could use it and get some cardio in. :) Kim (mil) called me on Sunday afternoon to say that I was invited to Drew's cousin Katie's baby shower and that it started in 3 hours! I was excited to go because I love babies and parties and getting to see a bunch of Drew's family and their friends from their church.
As Kim was telling me about the party and that I didn't need to bring a gift because of the short notice, I was racking my brain to think of something to bring or quickly whip up with my crochet hook. But 3 hours just wasn't enough time. Add my "workout", Meg's late nap and getting ready to that...I ended up bringing a card. Kim and I were talking about how it would've been nice if I had the time to make an infant sized Mohawk hat like I did for Drew's brother for Christmas. I wish I had had the time to whip up a hat because that would've been too cute and Kim said Katie's husband would've thought it was a hoot. I might make one and give it to Kim to give to Katie anyway, or mail it to her. I don't know. I started a baby blanket for another relative who is due in April and it's not even 1/4 way finished. I started it right after Christmas and I'm only like 10 rows into it.
So back to the exercise deal. I'm thinking about posting my weight numbers on here. I'm not sure if I want the whole world to know exactly how much I weigh, but it would be nice to keep track. I'll probably just post about the milestones, like every 10 pounds or something. I'm not at 10 pounds yet, but I'm getting there! I did work hard all week, worked out every day and I saw a new number today! Very excited about that, I texted Drew right away. :) I also started the Special K diet, like the cereal. I'm eating a bowl for breakfast with fruit, a Special K protein meal bar for lunch with fruit or vegetables, and "regular" food for dinner. Plus Special K protein water, fruits and vegetables for snacks. I do slip up and catch myself splitting a Slim Jim snack with Meghan or eating Goldfish off of her high chair tray when she's done. Sometimes I have a mental battle with myself. ;)
I also have stopped snacking after dinner. It sort of happened subconsciously, the other night I just wasn't hungry after dinner, so I didn't eat. There's a new concept, eh? ;) Then the next night I just didn't eat anything after dinner. Usually Drew and I will have some sort of snack every night when we watch tv or movies together after Meghan goes to sleep. It's getting easier and easier every day. This is such a relief to me because sometimes it feels like an uphill battle.
I love it when it takes3 4 hours to write a post...
I use Dawn because it is "the grease fighter" or whatever their slogan is, so it helps to remove residue left behind by rash creams. I've been using coconut oil, which works great and washes out of the prefolds well, but not the Happy Heineys. The cover is repelling liquid and so Meghan is just sitting in her wet diaper until the liquid is slowly absorbed by the inserts-resulting in the red, angry rash. I'm using the bleach to keep the yeast away until Meg's bum is completely clear. I'm only going to use the 2 splashes of bleach every other week so that the diapers don't deteriorate too fast. Hopefully. :/
I wash every other day or every 3rd day. Lately, every other day. So our diaper stash is split into 2 loads and I'll be doing the whole stripping routine again tomorrow. Big plans for my Saturday-haha.
The beginning of this week didn't start out so great, as far as the scale goes. I gained instead of losing over the weekend. I did not eat right last weekend or exercise and I paid for it on Monday. In addition to not watching what I was eating, I didn't get a chance to exercise, so on Sunday shovelled out our car so I could use it and get some cardio in. :) Kim (mil) called me on Sunday afternoon to say that I was invited to Drew's cousin Katie's baby shower and that it started in 3 hours! I was excited to go because I love babies and parties and getting to see a bunch of Drew's family and their friends from their church.
As Kim was telling me about the party and that I didn't need to bring a gift because of the short notice, I was racking my brain to think of something to bring or quickly whip up with my crochet hook. But 3 hours just wasn't enough time. Add my "workout", Meg's late nap and getting ready to that...I ended up bringing a card. Kim and I were talking about how it would've been nice if I had the time to make an infant sized Mohawk hat like I did for Drew's brother for Christmas. I wish I had had the time to whip up a hat because that would've been too cute and Kim said Katie's husband would've thought it was a hoot. I might make one and give it to Kim to give to Katie anyway, or mail it to her. I don't know. I started a baby blanket for another relative who is due in April and it's not even 1/4 way finished. I started it right after Christmas and I'm only like 10 rows into it.
So back to the exercise deal. I'm thinking about posting my weight numbers on here. I'm not sure if I want the whole world to know exactly how much I weigh, but it would be nice to keep track. I'll probably just post about the milestones, like every 10 pounds or something. I'm not at 10 pounds yet, but I'm getting there! I did work hard all week, worked out every day and I saw a new number today! Very excited about that, I texted Drew right away. :) I also started the Special K diet, like the cereal. I'm eating a bowl for breakfast with fruit, a Special K protein meal bar for lunch with fruit or vegetables, and "regular" food for dinner. Plus Special K protein water, fruits and vegetables for snacks. I do slip up and catch myself splitting a Slim Jim snack with Meghan or eating Goldfish off of her high chair tray when she's done. Sometimes I have a mental battle with myself. ;)
I also have stopped snacking after dinner. It sort of happened subconsciously, the other night I just wasn't hungry after dinner, so I didn't eat. There's a new concept, eh? ;) Then the next night I just didn't eat anything after dinner. Usually Drew and I will have some sort of snack every night when we watch tv or movies together after Meghan goes to sleep. It's getting easier and easier every day. This is such a relief to me because sometimes it feels like an uphill battle.
I love it when it takes
Sunday, January 15, 2012
sunday, sunday...
...just another lazy Sunday here in the little apartment. I like to rest on Sundays. Just let the whole week's worth of troubles and chaos slip away as I catch up on some of my blogs that I read! :) Today I read a great post about breastfeeding over at She Breathes Deeply. Mandy is a great, young, Christian momma (just like myself) and I love to read her blog. She has a daughter as well, Lily, who is 10 months old. Anyway, she wrote a post about breastfeeding and all the trouble she had in the beginning and now it's going wonderfully. It really parallels some of the struggles Meghan and I had in the beginning. I was just so unsure of everything and sometimes it felt like giving up would be easiest, but I am so glad we stuck with it. Meg is still a happy nurser at almost 18 months old. :)
Do you ever have to go back read your recent blog posts to make sure you're not repeating repeating yourself? Haha. I just did. I wanted to elaborate on the cloth diaper adventure and I couldn't remember if I had written some things. I hadn't, so now I'm sharing them.
So, I had said Meghan was battling a rash. What I didn't say was that we've been fighting with the rash on and off for at least the last 6 months. :( Side note about our washing routine- I was rinsing every diaper, using 2 scoops of Rockin Green diaper soap (as recommended) in just 1 wash cycle, then line drying.
At first, it was just regular type rashes that would clear right up. Then in August the rash turned into abscesses seemingly overnight. I took Meghan into the Dr where she was prescribed some antibiotics and I was told to use triple antibiotic cream as well. (1st warning sign) It cleared up well and then made a mini appearance right before our family camping trip in September. I was worried about being in the wilderness and her rash getting out of control again, so I called the Dr again. They didn't want to put her on antibiotics again so soon, to avoid her developing an immunity to the medication. I was told to use the Neosporin. I had some bacitracin, so we used that and disposables while camping. Bad. Idea. The abscesses were minuscule, but the red, angry rash flared up like crazy. (2nd warning sign) She was in pain and it hurt me to have to change her diaper.
Since then the rash has been pretty constant. And I am kicking myself for not realizing what it was before now. We could get the rash to go away, but it would almost always start up soon after. (3rd warning sign) I started using coconut oil as a diaper rash cream and it did help more than anything else, but the rash never really went away. It had progressed from a red, angry, raised rash into that plus blisters. :( I was literally crying over it and I wanted so badly to not let it hurt Meghan. I thought I just needed to strip the diapers more. I tried drops of Dawn dish soap in the wash and stripping them by boiling them on the stove. But, again, these were only temporary fixes. Her bum hasn't been completely clear since before August.
Then I saw a blog post from some diaper company or cloth diaper blog about yeast. A light bulb went off and suddenly, everything made sense. CLICK! (hah) It made total sense. The rash that never truly went away, blisters, antibiotics and the fact that I only ran 1 wash cycle. I don't know how many times I've read about extra rinses when washing cloth diapers, but I was/am trying to save money and thought I could cut corners. Turns out I can't.
First thing I did was bleach everything. This is a big no-no in the cloth diaper community because bleach can break down the fibers very fast and ruin the diapers. I always thought I would never bleach and then I realized since I have been drying the diapers inside because of the weather, they weren't getting bleached by the sun! It was like everything aligned at once! So, I bleached every diaper, wipe and cover in our "stash" and washed them a 2nd time with NO SOAP. Then I dried the 100% cotton wipes, prefolds, and fitteds the dryer and everything else (anything with PUL in it) on the drying rack so it wouldn't melt. I noticed an improvement almost immediately. We went through the rest of our disposables that we had leftover from the camping diaper disaster and switched entirely to the bleached cloth and coconut oil (which is safe for cloth diapers because of it's super low melting point).
Her beautiful booty is getting clearer and clearer everyday. No more red, just a few spots of pink skin and the bigger blisters are almost healed. I am beyond happy that I finally figured it out! I am still kicking myself that it took so long for me to get it. I was almost to the point of quitting the cloth. I was hoping Meg would take to potty learning as she showed some interest and then we would only have to deal with diapers at nap time and overnight. But, she's not really interested in the potty. She has peed on it a few times, but that's it. It was really hard to look at her cute, bare bum during the day covered in an angry rash, but it's looking good now!
On to other things...we are still ttc. I got AF again this month, but I had started charting my temperature orally on fertilityfriend.com. I really think we can conceive if I know what is going on with my body. And I started charting, not just to ttc. I have been interested in temping for awhile and I'm pretty "crunchy" and I want to be in tune with my body. Speaking of, I had the strangest dream last night. I was VBACing in a hospital (hah) and Meg's pediatrician was my OB but he was fatter (very strange) and some girls I knew in high school were my L&D nurses. I dreamt that I stopped labor and made all the drs and nurses look at me and listen to my "demands" for the birth, like holding the baby right away, nursing right away, leaving the cord attached until all the blood was in the baby, etc. I did have 2 IV's, 1 in each arm, which was weird. Drew wasn't there though, I was all by myself with the hospital staff. We had a boy, but I don't know the name.
Weird.
My diet and exercising is going pretty good. I've lost 3.3 pounds according to the Wii! I don't know how accurate it is, but it's too small for me to notice a difference yet. Which is ok with me. The WiiFit makes you weigh yourself everyday, which I don't think is effective as far as mentally trying to lose weight, but it's how you "check in" each day, so if you just exercise, it doesn't record that you did anything that day. Not effective. I would say dieting is only going fair. It is really hard for me to not snack throughout the day especially when Dylan and Meghan are both here, because someone is always hungry! We got some super delicious grapefruit at BJ's last weekend so I've been enjoying those at breakfast almost every day ;) I also tried oatmeal with peanut butter and blueberries for the first time and it was strangely good. It's hard to not put sugar and milk on it! I had tried a while ago with just crunchy peanut butter and I didn't like it. But with creamy peanut butter and some frozen blueberries...yum!
My confession today is that I didn't exercise yesterday or today at all, so I'm off to shovel the car out of all the snow we've gotten in the last couple days!
Do you ever have to go back read your recent blog posts to make sure you're not repeating repeating yourself? Haha. I just did. I wanted to elaborate on the cloth diaper adventure and I couldn't remember if I had written some things. I hadn't, so now I'm sharing them.
So, I had said Meghan was battling a rash. What I didn't say was that we've been fighting with the rash on and off for at least the last 6 months. :( Side note about our washing routine- I was rinsing every diaper, using 2 scoops of Rockin Green diaper soap (as recommended) in just 1 wash cycle, then line drying.
At first, it was just regular type rashes that would clear right up. Then in August the rash turned into abscesses seemingly overnight. I took Meghan into the Dr where she was prescribed some antibiotics and I was told to use triple antibiotic cream as well. (1st warning sign) It cleared up well and then made a mini appearance right before our family camping trip in September. I was worried about being in the wilderness and her rash getting out of control again, so I called the Dr again. They didn't want to put her on antibiotics again so soon, to avoid her developing an immunity to the medication. I was told to use the Neosporin. I had some bacitracin, so we used that and disposables while camping. Bad. Idea. The abscesses were minuscule, but the red, angry rash flared up like crazy. (2nd warning sign) She was in pain and it hurt me to have to change her diaper.
Since then the rash has been pretty constant. And I am kicking myself for not realizing what it was before now. We could get the rash to go away, but it would almost always start up soon after. (3rd warning sign) I started using coconut oil as a diaper rash cream and it did help more than anything else, but the rash never really went away. It had progressed from a red, angry, raised rash into that plus blisters. :( I was literally crying over it and I wanted so badly to not let it hurt Meghan. I thought I just needed to strip the diapers more. I tried drops of Dawn dish soap in the wash and stripping them by boiling them on the stove. But, again, these were only temporary fixes. Her bum hasn't been completely clear since before August.
Then I saw a blog post from some diaper company or cloth diaper blog about yeast. A light bulb went off and suddenly, everything made sense. CLICK! (hah) It made total sense. The rash that never truly went away, blisters, antibiotics and the fact that I only ran 1 wash cycle. I don't know how many times I've read about extra rinses when washing cloth diapers, but I was/am trying to save money and thought I could cut corners. Turns out I can't.
First thing I did was bleach everything. This is a big no-no in the cloth diaper community because bleach can break down the fibers very fast and ruin the diapers. I always thought I would never bleach and then I realized since I have been drying the diapers inside because of the weather, they weren't getting bleached by the sun! It was like everything aligned at once! So, I bleached every diaper, wipe and cover in our "stash" and washed them a 2nd time with NO SOAP. Then I dried the 100% cotton wipes, prefolds, and fitteds the dryer and everything else (anything with PUL in it) on the drying rack so it wouldn't melt. I noticed an improvement almost immediately. We went through the rest of our disposables that we had leftover from the camping diaper disaster and switched entirely to the bleached cloth and coconut oil (which is safe for cloth diapers because of it's super low melting point).
Her beautiful booty is getting clearer and clearer everyday. No more red, just a few spots of pink skin and the bigger blisters are almost healed. I am beyond happy that I finally figured it out! I am still kicking myself that it took so long for me to get it. I was almost to the point of quitting the cloth. I was hoping Meg would take to potty learning as she showed some interest and then we would only have to deal with diapers at nap time and overnight. But, she's not really interested in the potty. She has peed on it a few times, but that's it. It was really hard to look at her cute, bare bum during the day covered in an angry rash, but it's looking good now!
On to other things...we are still ttc. I got AF again this month, but I had started charting my temperature orally on fertilityfriend.com. I really think we can conceive if I know what is going on with my body. And I started charting, not just to ttc. I have been interested in temping for awhile and I'm pretty "crunchy" and I want to be in tune with my body. Speaking of, I had the strangest dream last night. I was VBACing in a hospital (hah) and Meg's pediatrician was my OB but he was fatter (very strange) and some girls I knew in high school were my L&D nurses. I dreamt that I stopped labor and made all the drs and nurses look at me and listen to my "demands" for the birth, like holding the baby right away, nursing right away, leaving the cord attached until all the blood was in the baby, etc. I did have 2 IV's, 1 in each arm, which was weird. Drew wasn't there though, I was all by myself with the hospital staff. We had a boy, but I don't know the name.
Weird.
My diet and exercising is going pretty good. I've lost 3.3 pounds according to the Wii! I don't know how accurate it is, but it's too small for me to notice a difference yet. Which is ok with me. The WiiFit makes you weigh yourself everyday, which I don't think is effective as far as mentally trying to lose weight, but it's how you "check in" each day, so if you just exercise, it doesn't record that you did anything that day. Not effective. I would say dieting is only going fair. It is really hard for me to not snack throughout the day especially when Dylan and Meghan are both here, because someone is always hungry! We got some super delicious grapefruit at BJ's last weekend so I've been enjoying those at breakfast almost every day ;) I also tried oatmeal with peanut butter and blueberries for the first time and it was strangely good. It's hard to not put sugar and milk on it! I had tried a while ago with just crunchy peanut butter and I didn't like it. But with creamy peanut butter and some frozen blueberries...yum!
My confession today is that I didn't exercise yesterday or today at all, so I'm off to shovel the car out of all the snow we've gotten in the last couple days!
Friday, January 6, 2012
so now...
...it's back, from outer space. The tv is fixed! Drew's been building his own computer-buying the parts individually and then he assembled it a few weeks ago before Christmas. The weekend before Christmas, he and Joey were playing around with the computer using the 60in projection tv in the living room as a monitor and I was in the kitchen baking up some cinnamon roasted almonds for yummy gifts, when I heard a loud POP! The lamp had blown! Now, I was surprised how long the lamp lasted being that we didn't know how many hours were on it when we got the tv 1 1/2 years ago, most lamps last about 5-7 years depending on how often the tv is used. And I use it. A lot. hah.
Well, we finally got a lamp ordered from Amazon, using one of our Christmas gifts-an Amazon gift card :), and it arrived yesterday. In fact, our mail person threw it at the door. And this isn't the first time it's happened (the packages being thrown at the door, not the lamp going) I don't think it's our usual mail lady because she has been bringing the packages to the door (we ordered a bunch of gifts online this year, so we were getting packages almost every day), knocking and then giving me the package and whatever letters would have gone in the box downstairs. I think she knows that I'm a stay-at-home-momma and always seems very nice. That makes me think it was someone else. I heard the "thump" against the door and I jumped up to get it (since we were anxiously waiting the arrival of the lamp). When I opened the door, the person was already out the door. We live on the 2nd floor and it's 3 flights from the mailboxes to our landing, so whomever it was didn't walk all the way up to throw it against the door. I think they only went up 2 flights and threw it, or maybe one flight and then flipped/threw it up and over the railing? I don't know.
Either way, it doesn't matter because the lamp wasn't damaged and it's in the tv. Working wonderfully. So glad to have the tv back, and the Wii. I can't wait to get going again with my diet and exercise in this new year. I know I need to be the change I want to see in the world and I need to get my booty up and going...bye!
Well, we finally got a lamp ordered from Amazon, using one of our Christmas gifts-an Amazon gift card :), and it arrived yesterday. In fact, our mail person threw it at the door. And this isn't the first time it's happened (the packages being thrown at the door, not the lamp going) I don't think it's our usual mail lady because she has been bringing the packages to the door (we ordered a bunch of gifts online this year, so we were getting packages almost every day), knocking and then giving me the package and whatever letters would have gone in the box downstairs. I think she knows that I'm a stay-at-home-momma and always seems very nice. That makes me think it was someone else. I heard the "thump" against the door and I jumped up to get it (since we were anxiously waiting the arrival of the lamp). When I opened the door, the person was already out the door. We live on the 2nd floor and it's 3 flights from the mailboxes to our landing, so whomever it was didn't walk all the way up to throw it against the door. I think they only went up 2 flights and threw it, or maybe one flight and then flipped/threw it up and over the railing? I don't know.
Either way, it doesn't matter because the lamp wasn't damaged and it's in the tv. Working wonderfully. So glad to have the tv back, and the Wii. I can't wait to get going again with my diet and exercise in this new year. I know I need to be the change I want to see in the world and I need to get my booty up and going...bye!
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
untitled...
...simply because I haven't written in so long! It really makes me feel terrible and I know writing is a great stress reliever and stress is something we are never short on here!
I'm thinking I need to carve out a chunk of time everyday for writing. But I barely take the time to check my email everyday, so how will I manage that? I've thought about getting up earlier, I've started getting up at the same time everyday-or at least waking up at the same time (more on this later) so if I actually force myself to get up and write before Meghan wakes up then I can start the day fresh. Hmmmmm, I'm liking this!
Meg went through this weird sleep pattern over the last weekish. She usually wakes at 7-730am, naps after lunch from noon-2pmish and then goes right to sleep at 7pmish and sleeps through the night without waking up. Well, her vampire teeth (I don't know the right name for them, I should probably look it up) started coming in and seemed to bother her more than any of her other teeth-including her molars. She got the most ridiculous diaper rash that we are still battling and her sleep went all wacky. She stopped napping all together and refused to go down at night without a fight, an-I-think-the-neighbors-are-calling-cps-right-now fight. She would scream bloody murder. And it didn't matter if I went in there to comfort her, nurse her or rock her. She would not sleep and she would not be consoled. So she would cry for a bit, fall asleep and then wake every hour for hours into the night and cry for a bit and then go back to sleep. On New Year's Eve, she went down with a fight at 730pm, woke up every hour after that until 1230am, was awake a solid 2 hours until 230am, when I got her up and changed her diaper-thinking that maybe she couldn't sleep through a soaked diaper, nursed her again and even let her come in my bed in an attempt for her to get some sleep. DID. NOT. WORK. She just laid there and played with my face until I put her back in her bed where she promptly fell asleep at 430am and slept until 1130am and then was wide awake for New Year's Day! It was nuts!
But, I think it's finally getting back to normal, She went down asleep last night at 730 and slept through until this morning around 8. Still not napping though, I do put her down like a nap and she cries a bit, but then settles down and rests in there I guess. I hear her talking to someone right now ;) She babbles or lays down until I go in and get her after an hour or so. At least she's resting, these types of nap-less days are the ones she goes down easily at night-I don't know how I feel about the trade-off!
As you may or may not know, we've been using cloth diapers since Meghan was 9 months old and I love most of it. This latest rash is really testing my patience. Meghan got a potty seat for Christmas, so we've been making good use of that! Most of the time we get to the bathroom before she has a major accident. #1 only though, #2 she is failing at miserably :)
I try and keep her bottom half naked as we battle the rash of the year. The best part is that I know the teething set it off and the cloth just seems to blow it out of control. One morning we wake up and her ENTIRE booty is red and angry. Makes me sad that she has to deal with all this pain, but she doesn't mind being semi-naked, she refused to put on a diaper for naptime today! We've been using coconut oil when she has cloth on (best discovery ever) and the oil makes a noticeable difference. I was using Boudreaux's butt paste when we were using disposables and I literally coated her diaper area with it until it looked like I painted her booty with cream paint and it made no difference with this rash. I've been putting Meg in dresses and tunics during this rash to keep her modest, but her feet and legs get cold, so I add socks, leg warmers and use tights when she has a diaper on. She also has some slippers that a mite too big, but fit ok when she has thick socks or tights on.
It always seems chilly in here now that we finally have SNOW! Yup, I live in the snowbelt of central New York and we barely had snow for Christmas. No snow on Christmas just makes the whole day sad.
Speaking of the Christmas season, I ate too much, drank too much and generally failed in the weight loss/lifestyle change area of my life. I stopped doing c25k and I'm upset about it. I know I'm only human, but I really wanted to finish it. I might start it back up, but my friend Angie in Massachusetts mentioned doing p90x over skype. She's dealing with her own craziness, so it wouldn't be for awhile. I'm hoping to go visit her in February! (super excited for that!) I tried to eat well in December, I even skipped mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving! December just felt really rushed, so we ate a lot of quick meals which included a bunch of processed junk and I baked like a mad woman for Christmas. I can say that I did not eat a lot of the Christmas goodies I made, so that's one small victory! Drew thinks we should only eat chicken and rice or steak and rice for dinner. Sometimes a vegetable. When he told me that, I just looked at him sideways and laughed. I did get a George Foreman grill for Christmas from my Dad and a duplicate from my Grandma. We have used it a few times, I grilled up some leftover pot roast with Montreal steak seasoning on it-yum! Needless to say, I don't think I'll be doing the crazy crash diet. I'll just watch what I eat and make good choices and eat more fresh than boxed food. Our projection tv blew a lamp, so I haven't been able to do WiiFit, but that was only a couple weeks ago-there's no excuse for not doing it in December. I'm going to get back on the exercise bandwagon as soon as the tv's fixed, replacement lamp should be here any day ;)
I have some great motivators for wanting/needing to get in shape. Firstly, we are still trying to conceive our second child. I just assumed too much when I thought we would get pregnant right away after my period returned. And you know what happens when you assume ;) We've been actively trying since August and my period's been fairly regular since then so everything is working right, I assume. (look where that got me, ha) I started taking my temperature orally and charting it over at fertility friend. Hopefully I'll be able to tell when I'm ovulating and then up our chances for conception. Secondly, my friend Angie is also very overweight and she has PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) She has been working on her diet and exercise as well. Now that I sort-of have a partner, it's definitely easier as I can text her whenever I need to, plus we skype on most Fridays. Thirdly, my 5 year college reunion is in June. If that's not a motivator, I don't know what is. I do not want to look the same as I did in college. I already weigh more now than I did then, I think. I didn't really weigh myself in college and gained a ton of weight in 4 years. Guesstimate about 40 pounds. ick. Not that I really care what any of my classmates think, but it'll be a great bonus if someone notices ;) So, I've got about 6 months to get my booty in gear, no problem!
My latest crochet project is calling name and my tummy is a-rumblin', I hope to not be so much of stranger.
I'm thinking I need to carve out a chunk of time everyday for writing. But I barely take the time to check my email everyday, so how will I manage that? I've thought about getting up earlier, I've started getting up at the same time everyday-or at least waking up at the same time (more on this later) so if I actually force myself to get up and write before Meghan wakes up then I can start the day fresh. Hmmmmm, I'm liking this!
Meg went through this weird sleep pattern over the last weekish. She usually wakes at 7-730am, naps after lunch from noon-2pmish and then goes right to sleep at 7pmish and sleeps through the night without waking up. Well, her vampire teeth (I don't know the right name for them, I should probably look it up) started coming in and seemed to bother her more than any of her other teeth-including her molars. She got the most ridiculous diaper rash that we are still battling and her sleep went all wacky. She stopped napping all together and refused to go down at night without a fight, an-I-think-the-neighbors-are-calling-cps-right-now fight. She would scream bloody murder. And it didn't matter if I went in there to comfort her, nurse her or rock her. She would not sleep and she would not be consoled. So she would cry for a bit, fall asleep and then wake every hour for hours into the night and cry for a bit and then go back to sleep. On New Year's Eve, she went down with a fight at 730pm, woke up every hour after that until 1230am, was awake a solid 2 hours until 230am, when I got her up and changed her diaper-thinking that maybe she couldn't sleep through a soaked diaper, nursed her again and even let her come in my bed in an attempt for her to get some sleep. DID. NOT. WORK. She just laid there and played with my face until I put her back in her bed where she promptly fell asleep at 430am and slept until 1130am and then was wide awake for New Year's Day! It was nuts!
But, I think it's finally getting back to normal, She went down asleep last night at 730 and slept through until this morning around 8. Still not napping though, I do put her down like a nap and she cries a bit, but then settles down and rests in there I guess. I hear her talking to someone right now ;) She babbles or lays down until I go in and get her after an hour or so. At least she's resting, these types of nap-less days are the ones she goes down easily at night-I don't know how I feel about the trade-off!
As you may or may not know, we've been using cloth diapers since Meghan was 9 months old and I love most of it. This latest rash is really testing my patience. Meghan got a potty seat for Christmas, so we've been making good use of that! Most of the time we get to the bathroom before she has a major accident. #1 only though, #2 she is failing at miserably :)
I try and keep her bottom half naked as we battle the rash of the year. The best part is that I know the teething set it off and the cloth just seems to blow it out of control. One morning we wake up and her ENTIRE booty is red and angry. Makes me sad that she has to deal with all this pain, but she doesn't mind being semi-naked, she refused to put on a diaper for naptime today! We've been using coconut oil when she has cloth on (best discovery ever) and the oil makes a noticeable difference. I was using Boudreaux's butt paste when we were using disposables and I literally coated her diaper area with it until it looked like I painted her booty with cream paint and it made no difference with this rash. I've been putting Meg in dresses and tunics during this rash to keep her modest, but her feet and legs get cold, so I add socks, leg warmers and use tights when she has a diaper on. She also has some slippers that a mite too big, but fit ok when she has thick socks or tights on.
It always seems chilly in here now that we finally have SNOW! Yup, I live in the snowbelt of central New York and we barely had snow for Christmas. No snow on Christmas just makes the whole day sad.
Speaking of the Christmas season, I ate too much, drank too much and generally failed in the weight loss/lifestyle change area of my life. I stopped doing c25k and I'm upset about it. I know I'm only human, but I really wanted to finish it. I might start it back up, but my friend Angie in Massachusetts mentioned doing p90x over skype. She's dealing with her own craziness, so it wouldn't be for awhile. I'm hoping to go visit her in February! (super excited for that!) I tried to eat well in December, I even skipped mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving! December just felt really rushed, so we ate a lot of quick meals which included a bunch of processed junk and I baked like a mad woman for Christmas. I can say that I did not eat a lot of the Christmas goodies I made, so that's one small victory! Drew thinks we should only eat chicken and rice or steak and rice for dinner. Sometimes a vegetable. When he told me that, I just looked at him sideways and laughed. I did get a George Foreman grill for Christmas from my Dad and a duplicate from my Grandma. We have used it a few times, I grilled up some leftover pot roast with Montreal steak seasoning on it-yum! Needless to say, I don't think I'll be doing the crazy crash diet. I'll just watch what I eat and make good choices and eat more fresh than boxed food. Our projection tv blew a lamp, so I haven't been able to do WiiFit, but that was only a couple weeks ago-there's no excuse for not doing it in December. I'm going to get back on the exercise bandwagon as soon as the tv's fixed, replacement lamp should be here any day ;)
I have some great motivators for wanting/needing to get in shape. Firstly, we are still trying to conceive our second child. I just assumed too much when I thought we would get pregnant right away after my period returned. And you know what happens when you assume ;) We've been actively trying since August and my period's been fairly regular since then so everything is working right, I assume. (look where that got me, ha) I started taking my temperature orally and charting it over at fertility friend. Hopefully I'll be able to tell when I'm ovulating and then up our chances for conception. Secondly, my friend Angie is also very overweight and she has PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) She has been working on her diet and exercise as well. Now that I sort-of have a partner, it's definitely easier as I can text her whenever I need to, plus we skype on most Fridays. Thirdly, my 5 year college reunion is in June. If that's not a motivator, I don't know what is. I do not want to look the same as I did in college. I already weigh more now than I did then, I think. I didn't really weigh myself in college and gained a ton of weight in 4 years. Guesstimate about 40 pounds. ick. Not that I really care what any of my classmates think, but it'll be a great bonus if someone notices ;) So, I've got about 6 months to get my booty in gear, no problem!
My latest crochet project is calling name and my tummy is a-rumblin', I hope to not be so much of stranger.
Monday, November 7, 2011
way back...
...on October 20th, I started this post with just the following list: c25k diet museum formspring giveaway list free weekend alero...all the things I wanted to write about and figured that I would get to before too long. Yet, here we are on November 7th and I never even started writing full sentences, let alone the whole post! Hahaha. Silly me for thinking I would have time to do so in the last few days before Halloween. Let me begin...
C25k: Is going pretty well. I've started doing it inside (much to the dismay of my neighbors downstairs, I'm sure...but what am I going to do? I was failing miserably outside and I try not to make too much noise!) I use my Wii Fit game/balance board to time myself on the "Free Run" mini game-thinger and so far it's working out. I did notice that I make less stomping noise when I wear my sneakers. I thought I would be quieter without shoes, but I was wrong! Plus, I do it during the babies' nap time so it's midday and I'm sure the ladies downstairs would let me know if I was driving them wild. I did Day 1 of Week 4 today:
Walk Briskly-5 minutes
Jog-3 minutes
Walk-90 seconds
Jog-5 minutes (!)
Walk-2 1/2 minutes
Jog-3 minutes
Walk-90 seconds
Jog-5 minutes
Dylan did it right alongside me for most of it. The "(!)" next to "jog 5 minutes" is because it's a bit of a milestone, I couldn't tell you the last time I jogged for 5 minutes straight, which is sad but true. I feel so much better today after taking a (short, but needed) break during the Halloween week and weekend. I'm also glad I figured out the whole where-to-exercise deal because soon it will be snowing!
Diet-Has it's ups and downs like anything. Mostly downs lately, but I feel like I'm getting back into the groove of things and I hope to keep up the momentum during the holiday season. I do not have that voice that all the skinny people must have in their heads that tell them to not eat this and that...ha. :)
Museum-We went to the Museum of Play in Rochester on October 21st! It is super fun and Meghan, Dylan and I had a great time! Kim (mil) has a season family pass and had some extra guest passes so 15 of us went! It was a lot of fun and Meghan really enjoyed it. I thought she might be too young to get it, but she had a blast! There were lots of different things for her to do and see. I think the strawberry milkshake at lunch was her favorite! :)
Formspring-I made a formspring, check it out to the right--->
You can ask me anything-anonymously if you like! So, get asking! :)
Giveaway List-I thought about making a list of all the things I've won since I started entering giveaways online a few months ago, but not I'm just meh about it. I do think it's totally worth it, sort of like a part time job ;)
Free Weekend-I wrote this on my list of things to write about, but now I can't remember why! Maybe I had nothing planned for the weekend, except working on our Halloween costumes? I just don't know!
Alero-This really ought to be 'Alero/88'...Way back when we went camping in September, the Alero's exhaust separated from the car and was sort of hanging precariously and was just ridiculously loud, so we took it to a family friend's repair shop to have it replaced. We dropped it off on a Wednesday and on Saturday, Drew went off the road and totaled the 88! We went from 2 cars to none in less than a week! Thankfully, Drew was perfectly fine, but the 88 is not. :) We've been borrowing my Dad's giant Buick since then. I've been seeing losing the 88 as a blessing, even though it was our 2nd car, it didn't have any heat, no shocks, one of the windows didn't work right...the list goes on! I'm thankful that it wasn't our only car. Now the Alero is back in the shop for another reason. When I picked it up after having the exhaust repaired (note: repaired not replaced-the mechanic said he had the parts to replace it but ended up repairing it, my Dad said it would be stronger this way anyway) it started shutting itself off! Long story short, it was billowing white smoke and still shutting itself off, so back to the shop it went! It's still there and we've been using my Dad's car since then.
Well, I wrote about everything I wanted to write about weeks ago... :) Maybe one more post tonight-later that is!
C25k: Is going pretty well. I've started doing it inside (much to the dismay of my neighbors downstairs, I'm sure...but what am I going to do? I was failing miserably outside and I try not to make too much noise!) I use my Wii Fit game/balance board to time myself on the "Free Run" mini game-thinger and so far it's working out. I did notice that I make less stomping noise when I wear my sneakers. I thought I would be quieter without shoes, but I was wrong! Plus, I do it during the babies' nap time so it's midday and I'm sure the ladies downstairs would let me know if I was driving them wild. I did Day 1 of Week 4 today:
Walk Briskly-5 minutes
Jog-3 minutes
Walk-90 seconds
Jog-5 minutes (!)
Walk-2 1/2 minutes
Jog-3 minutes
Walk-90 seconds
Jog-5 minutes
Dylan did it right alongside me for most of it. The "(!)" next to "jog 5 minutes" is because it's a bit of a milestone, I couldn't tell you the last time I jogged for 5 minutes straight, which is sad but true. I feel so much better today after taking a (short, but needed) break during the Halloween week and weekend. I'm also glad I figured out the whole where-to-exercise deal because soon it will be snowing!
Diet-Has it's ups and downs like anything. Mostly downs lately, but I feel like I'm getting back into the groove of things and I hope to keep up the momentum during the holiday season. I do not have that voice that all the skinny people must have in their heads that tell them to not eat this and that...ha. :)
Museum-We went to the Museum of Play in Rochester on October 21st! It is super fun and Meghan, Dylan and I had a great time! Kim (mil) has a season family pass and had some extra guest passes so 15 of us went! It was a lot of fun and Meghan really enjoyed it. I thought she might be too young to get it, but she had a blast! There were lots of different things for her to do and see. I think the strawberry milkshake at lunch was her favorite! :)
Formspring-I made a formspring, check it out to the right--->
You can ask me anything-anonymously if you like! So, get asking! :)
Giveaway List-I thought about making a list of all the things I've won since I started entering giveaways online a few months ago, but not I'm just meh about it. I do think it's totally worth it, sort of like a part time job ;)
Free Weekend-I wrote this on my list of things to write about, but now I can't remember why! Maybe I had nothing planned for the weekend, except working on our Halloween costumes? I just don't know!
Alero-This really ought to be 'Alero/88'...Way back when we went camping in September, the Alero's exhaust separated from the car and was sort of hanging precariously and was just ridiculously loud, so we took it to a family friend's repair shop to have it replaced. We dropped it off on a Wednesday and on Saturday, Drew went off the road and totaled the 88! We went from 2 cars to none in less than a week! Thankfully, Drew was perfectly fine, but the 88 is not. :) We've been borrowing my Dad's giant Buick since then. I've been seeing losing the 88 as a blessing, even though it was our 2nd car, it didn't have any heat, no shocks, one of the windows didn't work right...the list goes on! I'm thankful that it wasn't our only car. Now the Alero is back in the shop for another reason. When I picked it up after having the exhaust repaired (note: repaired not replaced-the mechanic said he had the parts to replace it but ended up repairing it, my Dad said it would be stronger this way anyway) it started shutting itself off! Long story short, it was billowing white smoke and still shutting itself off, so back to the shop it went! It's still there and we've been using my Dad's car since then.
Well, I wrote about everything I wanted to write about weeks ago... :) Maybe one more post tonight-later that is!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
onto...
...week 2 of C25k! I have to say, I'm a little proud of myself! Last week was hard and I thought for sure that I would either have to repeat week 1 or take it easy today. But, as I got into the groove earlier, I found it was actually easier than last week! My knees were still clicking like crazy, but the calves feel great and I didn't have to stop at all during the jogging sets. The program for week 2 is:
1 minute stretch
5 minutes brisk walk warm up
alternate 90 seconds of jogging and 2 minutes of walking for 20 minutes
5 minute walk cool down
I'm already noticing physical changes. I did not get as winded while working out like I did last week. The scale even went down a couple of pounds and I was pleasantly surprised at that! I was not expecting any change there and I know there will come a time when I plateau, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I weighed myself on Monday night, which I thought was a bad idea at the time, because I did not eat as well as I should/could have over the weekend, but then I got that nice surprise! :) This week will definitely be different, I went grocery shopping on Sunday, so now I'm a bit more prepared this week than I was last.
It's late and I've got hubby's lunch to make, good night!
1 minute stretch
5 minutes brisk walk warm up
alternate 90 seconds of jogging and 2 minutes of walking for 20 minutes
5 minute walk cool down
I'm already noticing physical changes. I did not get as winded while working out like I did last week. The scale even went down a couple of pounds and I was pleasantly surprised at that! I was not expecting any change there and I know there will come a time when I plateau, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. I weighed myself on Monday night, which I thought was a bad idea at the time, because I did not eat as well as I should/could have over the weekend, but then I got that nice surprise! :) This week will definitely be different, I went grocery shopping on Sunday, so now I'm a bit more prepared this week than I was last.
It's late and I've got hubby's lunch to make, good night!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
whew...
...this is tough! :) I knew it was going to be hard to change so many bad habits and so far, I have to say it's going...ok. This addiction I have to sweets-mostly chocolate-is crippling to say the least. We don't usually have candy or pre-packaged sweets on hand, so only things that I bake. On Monday, the first day, I had to make Drew eat the rest of the Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies because I was having evil thoughts about how one little slice wouldn't hurt...well it does! I've noticed that after one such taste of anything (not necessarily sweet-last night it was garlic knots) I start to crave more and more until it's all I can think about and I just don't want to live with food constantly on my mind.
I'm doing pretty well with eating better. I have a least 1 salad a day, usually lunch. Breakfast has been either eggs or oatmeal, dinner is whatever I would usually make, but less carbs. I try to not eat carbs after 7pm and that works out ok usually. Last night we ate a late dinner so I didn't really snack at all before bed. Today I had oatmeal with peanut butter, honey and banana-it was divine! :) Lunch was 2 Biscuit Pizzas and a huge salad with hard-boiled egg, cheese and ham. Animal crackers for a snack with the kids (not so good) and then a crazy leftover dinner-spaghetti and a meatball, a hot dog, a couple bites of imitation crab, some pineapple...odd, I know!
Now for the fun part-exercise, ha! So I am 2 days into the C25k program and it's going pretty well. I have completed both days as instructed:
stretch 1 minute
warm up-walk briskly 5 minutes
jog 60 seconds
walk 90 seconds
continue jog/walk intervals for 20 minutes
cool down-walk 5 minutes
The first day (Monday) I waited to go until Meghan was in bed, so it was dark out. I don't really like exercising at night, even though we live in a town and there are street lamps, but it makes me uneasy-I don't like walking the dog after dark either. I did really well for being so sedentary and my only daily exercise was walking the dog around the block. I had to stop during the last jogging interval, but just for a second to check the time and then I pushed on. The second day, Wednesday was a little bit harder-especially when I expected it to be easier or just as hard. My calves were sore from so much activity, they're still sore now, but I've been conscientiously stretching them periodically throughout the day.
Now I just want to see some results! Ha-I'm not expecting too much, too soon, but a new number on the scale would be nice. I weighed myself Monday night and though that number is around the same I've been seeing for some time, I cannot wait for it to be the last time I ever see that number!
I'm doing pretty well with eating better. I have a least 1 salad a day, usually lunch. Breakfast has been either eggs or oatmeal, dinner is whatever I would usually make, but less carbs. I try to not eat carbs after 7pm and that works out ok usually. Last night we ate a late dinner so I didn't really snack at all before bed. Today I had oatmeal with peanut butter, honey and banana-it was divine! :) Lunch was 2 Biscuit Pizzas and a huge salad with hard-boiled egg, cheese and ham. Animal crackers for a snack with the kids (not so good) and then a crazy leftover dinner-spaghetti and a meatball, a hot dog, a couple bites of imitation crab, some pineapple...odd, I know!
Now for the fun part-exercise, ha! So I am 2 days into the C25k program and it's going pretty well. I have completed both days as instructed:
stretch 1 minute
warm up-walk briskly 5 minutes
jog 60 seconds
walk 90 seconds
continue jog/walk intervals for 20 minutes
cool down-walk 5 minutes
The first day (Monday) I waited to go until Meghan was in bed, so it was dark out. I don't really like exercising at night, even though we live in a town and there are street lamps, but it makes me uneasy-I don't like walking the dog after dark either. I did really well for being so sedentary and my only daily exercise was walking the dog around the block. I had to stop during the last jogging interval, but just for a second to check the time and then I pushed on. The second day, Wednesday was a little bit harder-especially when I expected it to be easier or just as hard. My calves were sore from so much activity, they're still sore now, but I've been conscientiously stretching them periodically throughout the day.
Now I just want to see some results! Ha-I'm not expecting too much, too soon, but a new number on the scale would be nice. I weighed myself Monday night and though that number is around the same I've been seeing for some time, I cannot wait for it to be the last time I ever see that number!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
i like to...
...move it, move it. Blast from the past for any of my readers? :) I don't really know where to start this post, but I've got to start somewhere, right? I am fat. (whew! There I said it!) You may or may not be able to tell from my profile picture, I am beyond fat, if there is such a thing. I'm not going to write a specific number, but I've never hit 300 pounds, even while swollen with fluids post partum (I lost 30 pounds in the first few weeks after Meghan was born).
I am at the heaviest I've ever been (besides pp) and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of getting winded just walking up the stairs. I dread letting Meg run around when we're out anywhere because I then have to run after her and I can just feel how clumsy I am. I'm sick of eating like I'm a scrawny 12 year old boy and thinking that nothing can touch me-because clearly it does. I'm sick of being tired. All. The. Time. Seriously, it doesn't matter how many or few hours of sleep I get, I am always feeling lethargic. Often cranky as well. And that's just not fun for anyone.
I've always been bigger than everyone else. For as long as I can remember, I've been one of the fat kids. I don't know how I got here. My mother and older sister are (relatively) healthy (they both smoke), but my father and younger sister are both overweight/obese like me. I can't speak for my sisters, but I know that I was never taught how to eat balanced and properly proportioned meals and snacks. And I don't mean to say that I had bad parents or we sat around eating crap all day, because we didn't. My parents are great and I love them. And I place no blame on them. Because by the time that I was old enough to know better, I just didn't do what I needed to. I've been neglecting myself and I've short-changed my life.
I want to get healthy and lose weight for so many reasons. Primarily, for myself. I want to look at myself in the mirror and smile knowing that I am healthy and happy. I want to be a great wife and have more energy. Drew is really outdoorsy and active-and would be more so if I was his physical equal. I love the outdoors as well and I would love to be outside as much as possible, but I am not able to. I also want more kids, and really it's not safe for me being as big as I am. When I was pregnant with Meghan, I was obese, but only gained 13 lbs, and I had gestational diabetes. Luckily, I was able to control it with diet, but I may not continue to be so lucky. Diabetes also runs rampant in my family on both sides and heart disease as well. I'm really putting myself on the fast track to both by being overweight. Lastly, I want to get healthy for Meghan (and the future babes). I want to be here for her in the future, I want to inspire her and I want to be able to chase her around with going into cardiac arrest.
So, how am I going to achieve this awesomeness? I am going to exercise and eat right. Sounds simple, no? You would think if it was so simple, then I'd be a skinny-minnie in no time. I am going to make small changes in my diet. I'm going to stop drinking soda (not that I drink a lot, but when we go out I always opt for the caffeine free soda when I should be drinking water), I'm going to drink at least 32 oz (or more) of water a day. I did this for awhile, and I stayed really well hydrated and it leaves little room for drinking crap! I'm going to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. Right now, I/we eat a lot of processed convenience foods, but it's not benefiting any of us. I'm also going to try and eat less white flour and white sugar. Also, less sweets. Now, sweets are my kryptonite. I have noticed lately that if I let myself have a small treat, then I start craving more and more until I'm full of refined sugar and simple carbs. I don't want to deny myself, but I will have to have some restraint.
As far as exercise, I've tried seemingly easy things like Wii Fit, which is fun but I find it mundane, repetitive and I find myself standing around a lot as the screens load in between workouts. I might still use it for yoga, since I have zero flexibility. I'm going to start the Couch to 5k running program. (more helpful links here) And I use the term "running" loosely, because, let's be honest, I won't be running anywhere for quite a while. C25k is a program that gradually builds up your ability to run a 5k in about 9 weeks. You start out slow, alternating walking and jogging for 20-30 minutes, 3 times a week. Eventually, I'll be able to jog/run a 5k in 20-30 minutes with no walking.
I'm going to start on Monday, I think. I haven't fully discussed this idea with Drew yet, as far as finding the time for me to get outside. I don't have a jogging stroller, so I won't be able to take the babes with me during the day. That leaves me with either getting up super early in the morning and going out before Drew leaves for work at 630am, or going out at night after Meghan goes to sleep which is usually around 730pm. That means someone (Drew) has to be here while Meghan is here so that I can exercise. This plan is 3 days a week and Drew is usually here at least that much during the week. We're/He's pretty busy on the weekends with band stuff, so I'm shooting for Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays/Saturdays as my C25k days. I plan to always rest on Sundays, and then do yoga on my "off days" which will help with flexibility and stretching.
I'm really excited and I know my biggest enemy is myself. I just have trouble motivating myself to get my life together. Hopefully this whole life change/plan will affect other areas of my life as well. :)
Might write more on this tomorrow, but I've got to stop this for now, Meghan will be up before I know it! :D
I am at the heaviest I've ever been (besides pp) and I'm sick of it. I'm sick of getting winded just walking up the stairs. I dread letting Meg run around when we're out anywhere because I then have to run after her and I can just feel how clumsy I am. I'm sick of eating like I'm a scrawny 12 year old boy and thinking that nothing can touch me-because clearly it does. I'm sick of being tired. All. The. Time. Seriously, it doesn't matter how many or few hours of sleep I get, I am always feeling lethargic. Often cranky as well. And that's just not fun for anyone.
I've always been bigger than everyone else. For as long as I can remember, I've been one of the fat kids. I don't know how I got here. My mother and older sister are (relatively) healthy (they both smoke), but my father and younger sister are both overweight/obese like me. I can't speak for my sisters, but I know that I was never taught how to eat balanced and properly proportioned meals and snacks. And I don't mean to say that I had bad parents or we sat around eating crap all day, because we didn't. My parents are great and I love them. And I place no blame on them. Because by the time that I was old enough to know better, I just didn't do what I needed to. I've been neglecting myself and I've short-changed my life.
I want to get healthy and lose weight for so many reasons. Primarily, for myself. I want to look at myself in the mirror and smile knowing that I am healthy and happy. I want to be a great wife and have more energy. Drew is really outdoorsy and active-and would be more so if I was his physical equal. I love the outdoors as well and I would love to be outside as much as possible, but I am not able to. I also want more kids, and really it's not safe for me being as big as I am. When I was pregnant with Meghan, I was obese, but only gained 13 lbs, and I had gestational diabetes. Luckily, I was able to control it with diet, but I may not continue to be so lucky. Diabetes also runs rampant in my family on both sides and heart disease as well. I'm really putting myself on the fast track to both by being overweight. Lastly, I want to get healthy for Meghan (and the future babes). I want to be here for her in the future, I want to inspire her and I want to be able to chase her around with going into cardiac arrest.
So, how am I going to achieve this awesomeness? I am going to exercise and eat right. Sounds simple, no? You would think if it was so simple, then I'd be a skinny-minnie in no time. I am going to make small changes in my diet. I'm going to stop drinking soda (not that I drink a lot, but when we go out I always opt for the caffeine free soda when I should be drinking water), I'm going to drink at least 32 oz (or more) of water a day. I did this for awhile, and I stayed really well hydrated and it leaves little room for drinking crap! I'm going to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. Right now, I/we eat a lot of processed convenience foods, but it's not benefiting any of us. I'm also going to try and eat less white flour and white sugar. Also, less sweets. Now, sweets are my kryptonite. I have noticed lately that if I let myself have a small treat, then I start craving more and more until I'm full of refined sugar and simple carbs. I don't want to deny myself, but I will have to have some restraint.
As far as exercise, I've tried seemingly easy things like Wii Fit, which is fun but I find it mundane, repetitive and I find myself standing around a lot as the screens load in between workouts. I might still use it for yoga, since I have zero flexibility. I'm going to start the Couch to 5k running program. (more helpful links here) And I use the term "running" loosely, because, let's be honest, I won't be running anywhere for quite a while. C25k is a program that gradually builds up your ability to run a 5k in about 9 weeks. You start out slow, alternating walking and jogging for 20-30 minutes, 3 times a week. Eventually, I'll be able to jog/run a 5k in 20-30 minutes with no walking.
I'm going to start on Monday, I think. I haven't fully discussed this idea with Drew yet, as far as finding the time for me to get outside. I don't have a jogging stroller, so I won't be able to take the babes with me during the day. That leaves me with either getting up super early in the morning and going out before Drew leaves for work at 630am, or going out at night after Meghan goes to sleep which is usually around 730pm. That means someone (Drew) has to be here while Meghan is here so that I can exercise. This plan is 3 days a week and Drew is usually here at least that much during the week. We're/He's pretty busy on the weekends with band stuff, so I'm shooting for Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays/Saturdays as my C25k days. I plan to always rest on Sundays, and then do yoga on my "off days" which will help with flexibility and stretching.
I'm really excited and I know my biggest enemy is myself. I just have trouble motivating myself to get my life together. Hopefully this whole life change/plan will affect other areas of my life as well. :)
Might write more on this tomorrow, but I've got to stop this for now, Meghan will be up before I know it! :D
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