Blog On Explanation

I constantly have the need recently to explain myself.  I'm not sure why I do but since I'm a stay at home mom of a one month old and three year old I don't have ANY time plus I wish I could say I'm running on fumes but it is more like vapors however I do this blog so I guess perception is I do have time.

Let me explain, since a lot of my normal stress relievers are on hold for a while I do this blog to discuss certain topics and  motivate my brain to keep active on adult type topics.  However, I do not have time nor am I ignoring my sweet babies to post this blog due to the fact I always have both children asleep normally with at least one on top of me which means I cannot sleep so to keep from dropping said child off into the floor I type with one hand and keep myself awake by blogging.  The other situation I get a chance to blog is when my three year old is eating and I have finished feeding or in process of feeding the one month old.

Lots of moms have e-mailed, texted, and sent me Facebook messages they would  love to blog but they feel like they do not have time how do I do it.  Very simply put I don't have time either if I didn't have my trusty iPod and one hand free plus the need to be awake during a very sleepy moment I wouldn't be blogging either.  

So now that I've explained you know you can do this too!!!  Blog it out y'all!!!!  

Here is a pic of when I cannot blog but you get the picture it is almost nap time here:

Witness my fitness - post #3

Today my sweet one month old woke me up after a long night in a long line of consecutive long nights at 2AM then finally 5AM to nurse again.  Not unusual morning for me but while my sweet boy is still asleep and after nursing so is my sweet girl I'm heading to the bathroom to get a few minutes of Mommy time.  I even got fifteen whole minutes which is a lot!

During Mommy time at least two mornings a week (or as much as possible) I'm measuring my waist and getting on the scale to see what if any change my fitness plan has caused.  Taking measurements a little less often would show bigger change but I already have a large amount of change to hold in my mind because right now I've lost 33lbs and 10 inches from my waist which sounds like a lot in just 6 weeks but I still would like to go 30 more pounds and 10 more inches over the next 6 months to a year.  A lot of articles I have read states jumping on the scales plus measuring your waist area are keys to a successful weight loss program to keep you motivated.  It certainly does keep me on my toes especially last post pregnancy workout if I started to see my numbers climb I started to try to pin point reasons the scale might be tipping in the wrong direction so I could change what I was doing!  However I do find once I really start working out harder and muscle tone starts appearing again the scale number does go up a few pounds which I do not worry about because I know that is my body saying I'm really on the right track.  One of my personal trainers explained since muscle weighs more than fat that will happen when good muscle tone starts to develop!

Again weight is just a number but it is a good tool to show progress!  Last post pregnancy numbers held almost to the exact weight loss numbers as this time and I was back to pre pregnancy weight by 4 months however this time I started out 18 pounds heavier due to 6 months of hormone therapy with 6 months of fertility treatments to get pregnant plus all the stress that goes along with all of that.  Also last time by about 8-9 months out I had even shattered my pre pregnancy weight and got down to college weight which actually didn't look good on me anymore see the photo below. Therefore this time I'm going to try to maintain what I call wedding weight because it was just right and in line with a more healthy look plus feel for me!!  

Here you can tell I was too thin at 110lbs as we prepared to hike:

Witness my fitness - Post #2

Happy National Running Day!!!  I am really ready to start running badly but I am not cleared for training even though it has been 6 weeks (as of today) since my girl was born via c-section.  I'm still waiting on June 18th where hopefully I will be cleared.

In honor of running day I did  take my two babies on a good slow walk around the neighborhood.  Love the little things I feel I can easily work in with two babies and walking is one of them!  I also let my 3 year old make "trails" for us to skip, jump, walk, and dance on with sidewalk chalk on the driveway.  Even holding my one month old I can in slow motion do all of that because she thinks those motions are calming!  

Speaking of calming since I cannot do a lot of the things I do to relax my fitness plan has to include something's to reduce stress.  Stress is very toxic and I'm working really hard to be more relaxed.  I started researching ways to relax and lots of information pointed to some things I already do.  

Here are my normal stress busters:

-Prayer is very relaxing because I know that is the only way to truly be heard and get results God is awesome!

-Journaling is an amazing stress relief because I can write every feeling down let it all out and lock it up. Only problem with this is that I had to instruct family members to burn them if something happens to me :) plus right now especially if I cannot do something with one hand it isn't going to get done so I'm missing my journal

-Running and excercising which at this time isn't relaxing because I cannot get a good workout in due to some pain I'm having 

-Taking a nice hot jacuzzi bath with jets then adding my favorite LUSH bath bomb for a nice soak.  Again sadly I cannot do this till I know my incision is good to go in for a good soak.

-Going to the spa to get ... hmm ANY service I'm crazy about the spa.  Nursing schedule right now is blocking this because anyone that's ever been to a spa knows you should expect to be there for a few hours.

--Going on a trip to just get away.  Logistics on traveling right now are a nightmare and due to my baby girl being a month early we have tried to keep her away from public places.

-Cleaning the house for me is very therapeutic because a clean house clears my mind.

-Watching my kids sleep in my arms BEST feeling in the world to watch them sleep while I hold them ahh doing this right now as I type :)

-Cry it out!  Yes big girls do cry!

-Have one nice glass of vino tinto with some tasty Italian food. Not happening for a long time because I don't have even one drink while nursing.

-Make someone else happy feels SO good and calming

-Also I just found this on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/pin/151503974937348819/ it has some good tips too

So day two of fitness plan get rid of STRESS no more drama for this momma :-)

Witness my fitness - post #1

Since I will most likely be cleared by the Doctor on June 18th to start working my stomach muscles again I thought I would begin documenting my journey to get back in shape after baby number two.  In doing this type of post I thought it might gain me extra support since this time healing has been a more difficult process.

Backstory: Not only did I have emergency csection with number two but I also had internal repair work done as well plus where this pregnancy was more difficult I was a lot less active causing me to start off with fifteen pounds to get back to pre-pregnancy weight and thirty-five pounds to get to pre-fertility struggle weight.  It will be hard because I am a firm believer that the only way to lose real weight is to work extremely hard meaning I do not buy into the quick fix programs!  Since I am and hopefully will be for at least 23 more months nursing diet and exercise also must be geared toward maintaing that as well.  I do have one excellent motivating person in my life - my 3 year old boy keeps me on my toes so that will help add "fun" workouts in!

Here are some of the things I have already started to do:

1. I drink (or try very hard) a lot of water everyday and really this I always have done so just trying to get more in is what I'm really doing new

2. Use fit throwing as a great leg/butt workout.  During the times in the day the baby or my three year old has serious meltdowns I obviously check to see what might be going on and take care if the issue first but if no real issue is present normally my babies just need a nap so ensues the flight to the sleep.  I start off by picking up the baby and on my tiptoes bounce, then when that gets boring I switch legs and step side to side, after that I do some butt crunches by tightening up my tush muscles, and I just keep rotating between those till the baby is asleep.  It sounds nuts but it really is a good workout!

3. Eat as much real food as possible.  Who eats fake food right?!?!  Honestly I do not remember who wrote the article but I read somewhere "if it comes from a plant eat it but if a plant made it leave it alone" and I love that slogan.  Granted I do have freezer foods and we are not perfect with this especially since my husband hasn't gained an oz since high school but I do make an effort.

4. I just started logging my weight, measurements, and food again into a health journal app called MyFitnessPal.  It is a great tool to keep me motivate and if I remember correctly it was either free when I got it years ago or cost VERY little

Next step I'm going to get cleared by the doctor and hope to start doing some exercise routine that I am currently researching that would be best for my body type.  When the baby gets a little older and can go longer without nursing or if she actually will even take a bottle I might go back to a gym personal trainer again so I have extra professional support.  My thought is investing in health and well being is the best investment you can make especially when you have children.  Also to make it super clear a number on the scale doesn't mean anything it is only one piece of data that helps get to a healthy point.  

Please post any comments of motivation or suggestions on what has worked for you!

12 Years

This post is a jumble bumble of thoughts and emotion so I will warn you before reading it might be hard to get where I'm going, but here goes!!!

Twelve years TODAY my husband and I will celebrate being together as a couple for what seems to be a short time! At first when I realized that TODAY is the anniversary of that life milestone I wasn't too interested because after all we are at a 5 hour time difference plus in different countries at the moment, but now it hits me! Call it pregnancy hormones or whatever but my mind was flooded with memories over those 12 years not just of my Husband and I but of all the people that we made incredible connections with during that time.

I feel honored and blessed to have so many heaven on Earth moments! The best, greatest, most wonderful, and the hardest work would actually be this phase of life right now. I absolutely LOVE being a Mother and a wife in our growing family! Every moment is a miracle and each day teaches me something new about myself. The only sadness I really have is that I am horrible as a friend to all the good people I call my friends because honestly I only do things with family now. Those wonderful people I made friend connections with (no not just Facebook) but real amazing connections with over the years I've completely dropped and put 100% of my time now into my family where I feel it should be. I still however think about those good times plus I still very much so care about all of those people or YOU if you are one of them!!

My husband and I were teens when we met in college and we REALLY lived the college life to the fullest going to social events on campus, sporting events, and even went with tons of friends to the OBX once a year as well! After college we still kept connected with a bunch of college buddies still went to games plus the beach then added a new group of friends through our neighborhood, church, work, and even in my hobby of pageantry! We also got an amazing opportunity to live in Spain where we made more friends plus traveled all over Europe as well! Life was good and we could be very selfish with the time we had! When we entered our current phase if our 12 years together at first before we had children we planned (as we always do with everything) for the changes we knew we had to make including getting a bigger house, saving more money by not going out as much, quitting some volunteer programs we were doing to make more time to take on the responsibilities, and we started getting very excited that we were going to grow our family of two into a family of however many blessings we were given! Finally we did have our first sweet baby in 2009 after praying very hard we could even have children and that is the moment nothing in the world could be better than being parents! Now God has given us our second child who is expected to arrive in around 5 weeks so we are still building our family and feel very thankful that we are continuing this phase of life!!

Cannot wait to see what the next 12 years will hold so thankful for everyone placed in our life over the last 12 especially thankful for our children! I love you bunny ;-) and thank you for being with me for 12 years working through all that life has thrown our way! Miss you and cannot wait till you are home guess it is already about time for you to wake up in Germany while I'm heading for bed here!!

Here we are just a few weeks ago and remember my round face is due to pregnancy :-)

Gender Reveal Party

I love planning parties and especially love having parties! I think now that I am a stay at home mother I love them even more because I do miss being around people everyday therefore any chance I can get to plan and have a party I do it! This Saturday we are going to tell friends and family members the gender of our second baby during a gender reveal party. Honestly I do not care what the gender of this sweet baby is because no matter what I wanted him or her to be healthy plus I love it so very much from even before God blessed us with this pregnancy! In the spirit of celebrating this child's life plus having our first born be involved with something attached with the new arrival we decided to do this party!

Here are some photos from the even which was tons of fun! 

 

Above centerpieces my awesome Mother made from roses and a hydranga plus the vase was purchased at the dollarstore then we sprinkled it's a boy it's a girl confetti around it :)

 

Cake above was a cute idea carried out by a friend of mine that I worked with she does great work!

 

Food table had all kids of pink and blue all over it especially these cute mints my Mother-in-law and the baby's Great Grandmother made!

 

This is the box wrapped in wrapping paper that holds all the pink balloons that were attached to a balloon weight at the bottom so the balloons wouldn't go everywhere plus so they would come out in a cute pattern! 

 

Balloons YAY!! IT'S A GIRL!!!

Above is the invite I made and had printed myself then the image I quickly made just to put on facebook so I could invite most of the people we wanted to invite that way.  Invites are so expensive using publisher or something like that to create your own can save you tons of money that literally will be landing in the trash!

Thank you to everyone that helped make that day special for our sweet baby girl and for our family!  Lots of food and lots of fun times!

Big Sibling Gift

Since we are expecting our second child I have been researching the best way to prepare your first child for the new arrival.  I love our sweet boy so much I want to try as best as I can to get him excited and not feel like he is left out.  In doing do I found several different ways to do this and one way was to get him a big sibling gift.  Choice of presentation and the items included are geared toward your child so I thought I would post what I did for ours:

 

I got all of these things from target, snapfish, and amazon!  The big photo is actually a book showing how much we love him and how he was born and first year photos of his firsts and such!  The items we got him where fun bath soap, recorders, organic granola bars, fun little light up ball toy, the cat in the hat movie, forget me not planting flower kit, stickers, notebook and big fun pens, serpentine blow out party favors, chewing gum, coloring book set, and some clothing for him!!  The bucket was $1 from target's what I call come through the door and spend instant money section! 

 

Hope you enjoyed reading about our big sibling kit!!  If you have any more suggestions on how to prep first children we are all ears please post!!