This, That, & The Other

Well, I've been working on getting healthy again by taking baby steps.  First, I needed to cut back on the sugar {to get rid of my sugar baby that I've seemed to gained} and second, I need to start moving more to help make that sugar baby disappear even faster.  It's been a week, but I have cut back a bit on the sugar considerably.  I cut out the candy almost completely - who can eat popcorn without Hot Tamales?  Not I, said the cat!  Anyways,  I was doing perfectly fine until the kids and I decided to make Muddy Buddies and carrot bars in the same week.  Ugh!  Why do I do this to myself?  Especially when I know I'm struggling? Luckily, the in-laws stopped by the day after I made carrot bars.  I was able to send 1/2 with them to take with them to see my sister-in-law.

I have been doing a much better job at tracking my food again with SparkPeople.  I know I've said this before, but it's such an amazing {FREE!!} site that I just have to get back into it.  Some days I don't get my food tracked until the next day.  I've realized something else too.  I eat too much!  LMAO!  I know I said I was serious about this losing weight business, but it's H-A-R-D!  I just figure I'm not going to beat myself up if I'm #1 trying, and #2 I'm at least eating 80% healthy on a daily basis.  The other 20% can be exercised off right!?  I know that's so not true, but at least it sounds good.  ;)  LOL!  Like I said on my Spark Blog that my goal until the end of the year is to at least not gain anymore weight and if I'm lucky I will hopefully lose a few of these unwanted pounds {with the very necessary treadmill workouts I've added back into my days}.

December is just around the corner.  I have a few projects I would like to work on.
                #1 - an advent calendar of some sort.  I've been browsing Pinterest and am hoping to find something perfect for our family.  I don't necessarily want something that we have to eat candy everyday and we definitely don't need more little trinkets hanging around the house for little man to find and decide he wants to eat.  My week is slowly trickling away and still no project started. :(

                #2 - myself. ;)  Project myself is just to get my butt moving more often and eating better - also known as BYE BYE SUGAR BABY!!  Someday I would like to run a 5K {even if it is just on my treadmill} so I'm working on running for more than 3 minutes at a time.  Since I bought my new shoes, I haven't had any foot issues or knee pain.  I'm thinking it helps that I'm taking things much slower this time.  This morning I did run for more than 5 but less than 7 minutes at a speed of 5 and my incline set at 1. I felt great, but who knows....I'm probably just jinxing myself.

                #3 - ransom box.  I'm soooooo tired of constantly nagging the girls to pick up their toys and when I saw this, I thought this might help.  I first saw the idea here, only there weren't really any instructions.  So I just found myself a tote and typed a similar note.  I've been working on explaining it to the girls but I'm not quite sure Talyn understands.  I think she thinks it's going to be fun - she was even willing to pose with the tote.  lol.  I did find some of her stuff to put in there today that she left out last night after I had asked her to put it away so if she wants it back, she'll have some chores to do.  Don't worry, Kinley has some toys in there too since she was being a stinker and wouldn't pick them up this morning.  

I think that's all from me for now.  I forgot to weigh myself this morning so I guess I get a free week.  Ha!  lol.  Yeah right.  Is any time free when you're working on your health?

Just One More Time

Yup, I've resurfaced.  Hehe.  I posted a blog over at SparkPeople on my Spark Page so pop on over there to continue reading.  Here's a snippet:
   
Knock, knock, knock. It's me again. Where in the world have I been? 

Sugar overload pretty much sums up what's happened to me. I'm not quite sure why this previous       habit reignited, I just know that it did -- and I've let it take over my life, giving me what I call a "sugar baby". What is that, you ask?

Go to My Spark Page to read the rest!

Thanks for stopping by!

“My Belly Feels Yucky”

The not-so-fun-part-to-school-starting: Talyn being sick.  I swear since school has started a month ago, we’ve been hit by one bug after the other.  Poor Talyn started throwing up all over herself and Bode’s blanket in the truck on our way home last night.  It lasted a good 3 hours after we got home and finally she fell asleep around 12:30 a.m!! – and let me stay in bed the rest of the night.  This morning though, she said her belly feels yucky so I let her stay home from school.  I gave her a bath to wash the throw-up out of her hair and then she seemed better.  Much to my dismay though, she isn’t.  Other than making her way to the bathroom, she hasn’t left the couch.  She still has diarrhea, chills one minute, roasting hot the next.  She started running a fever around lunchtime.  She hasn’t eaten anything but 3 saltine crackers today.  Wants to drink water like crazy since she’s obviously slightly dehydrated.  Been giving her Sierra Mist & gatorade, though she’s not drinking much.  Poor girl.  I sure hope she gets back to feeling like herself soon as she has a birthday coming up and we’re having our first ever “friend” party. 

My Neglected Blog

Here I am again, telling you I've been MIA - for well over a month!  We have had a crazy busy month, that's for sure.  Starting with the girls being in swim lessons for the entire month of July.  Then, there's my little man, Bode.  I know I said he's beginning to bear weight on his legs, but it's very minimal.  Basically, stands for a few seconds, then pulls his legs up if he can, or just gets on his belly and army crawls around.  After his MRI last month, his neurologist declared him as having hypotonia, which is low muscle tone.  That makes for him being developmentally delayed in one area (not standing/pulling to a stand by himself) and cause for concern.  With the neurologist and pediatrician both agreeing he needs a bit of help, we have started him in an Early Intervention program.  Therapists (occupational/physical) will be coming into our home so they can work with him.  I am so thankful for this program and hope that they will be able to help my little man so he can learn to use those little legs like he should be.

after MRI

After we started the therapy and did the MRI, we headed to Blackduck, MN for my big brother's wedding. Where in the world is Blackduck, you ask?  Northern MN, about 30 miles north of Bemidji.  Our girls were their flower girls in the wedding -- for sure the most adorable flower girls ever, don't ya think?

flower girls!

I loved spending the whole weekend with all of my extended family as we usually see them once a year or so.  We were there from Thursday until Sunday, when we left Blackduck and headed to Minneapolis.  The girls absolutely loved it there last December, so we'd knew they'd enjoy it again.  Bonus - outlet shopping in Albertville!  I got Talyn a few clothes for school and I picked up a few new tops for myself. ;)  After shopping at the outlets, we headed to the big city so we could find a hotel.  My parents and sister, along with her two kids were joining us so I found us rooms at the Country Inn & Suites, right across from the Mall of America.  While waiting for them to arrive, we found ourselves here:

Hubby's FAVORITE - limeades!!

We spent a majority of our day on Monday there...the first couple hours just on the rides and lunch.  lol.  Did some more shopping, enjoyed a pedicure while the grandparents entertained the kids, and did some more shopping.  We left the mall around 6:30 so we could get our vehicles from the hotel and drive to my cousin's house in the city.  Her husband is part owner of Gingerhop, so we wanted to eat with them there since we had never been to it before.  Food was delish!

The girls, with Dora, at Mall of America's
Nickelodeon Universe.

Mine & hubby's first pedicure (ever) enjoyed with my sister!

While we were gone, Talyn lost another tooth.  We made it home Tuesday night, August 7, and she lost another tooth within that week after we came home.  Throw in Bode having an ear infection, more appointments with the Early Intervention, and then school starting, no wonder the whole month disappeared. I'm a bit ready to relax already!  Another pedicure would be fabulous!!

Tooth #5 - gone!!

School started on Thursday.  Did I mention that already?  LMAO!  Can you tell I'm a bit excited?  Talyn has been ready to go to school for quite some time.  We just weren't ready to shell out money for preschool so we never sent her.  Anyways, she's loving it so far.  I know it's only the first few days, but I hope she always has this good of an attitude about it.  I was hoping that it would make a difference in the way Talyn and Kinley are constantly fighting, but it hasn't.  Every effing day is a battle with those two and quite frankly, I can't stand it.  The fighting drives me nuts!  My favorite part about school starting - routine.  Not that we have an hour by hour routine - but at least I know that the kids will be in bed earlier than they have been EVER...which means I will be in bed earlier than I have been...EVER!  I've always been such a night owl and have been wanting to change my ways.  This is the perfect excuse to go to bed early - and by early, I mean 11 at the latest!  I've done pretty good with it too.  I am usually up by 7:15.  My goal is 7, but I just can't do it yet.  I'm working on it.

Seem so innocent together don't they?!

I've also started adding exercise back into my days.  I have been walking a few minutes, then running a few minutes on my treadmill since the middle of August.  I use that time as my time to catch up on blogs in my feed reader on my Kindle.  I decided last week on Tuesday that I was going to run a whole mile.  I didn't care how long it took me, I was going to just run slow.  And I did.  I covered up my clock display and set my speed to 4.2, increasing and decreasing between 4.2 and 4.6  I finished my 1st mile in 14:08 or something like that.  Then I walked till my time was up.  I ran another mile again on Thursday in 13:28 because I increased my speed a bit, started at 4.2, went to 4.5, 4.7, 5, and then back down to 4.2 gradually.  I ran a mile again today, this time I set my speed at 4.5 to begin with and then increased it to 5 at 1/2 mile.  I like having my clock covered up or else I would feel like I have to increase my speed to run a mile by a certain time.

Now, if I could just get back to eating healthy again.  I mean, for the most part I make fairly good choices.  But I do allow myself to indulge.  I know it's okay to do so, it's just not okay to do it every.single.day.  So until I get back to that, I'm not even going to start the whole goal weight, weigh-in chart that I keep failing at anyways.

Anybody else find themselves excited for school to start, if it hasn't already?  Tips for me to find my way back to eating healthy again?

Before I close, one last adorable picture of my Bode's new haircut. ;)

Little Dude!

All about Bode!

Bode’s 9-Month Milestones


Height:  27" (15%)
Weight:  19 lb., 2 oz. (25%)
Head:  18.5" (90%)

9-months!

Sleeping Patterns:  Well, since you share a room with your wild sisters, we let you fall asleep on mom & dad's bed and then move you to your crib once the girls are 100% asleep.  You then sleep until around 8 a.m.  Big change from the early bird you used to be at 6:30-7 a.m. ;)

Eating Habits:  A 6-oz bottle every 4 hours.  Also, get baby oatmeal with a fruit in the morning and baby rice cereal and a veggie at night.  Also snacks throughout the day like Cheerios, baby puffs, crackers.  You love crackers, especially graham crackers!

New Foods I Like:  Mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, bratwurst, Salisbury steak {meats obviously super tiny pieces)

New Discoveries I Made:  You've realized your teething toys don't quite work as well as your fingers do!  Also, you love your toy basket!  Your favorite thing to play is dump over the basket of toys.

You love this basket!

My Accomplishments: You are finally beginning to bear weight on your legs and standing while being held.  When on your belly you make yourself go around in circles until you get to where you want to be.  You also "crawl" backwards as we've found you with your bottom half under the couch a few times.   

Places I Went: Grand Forks to see Uncle Jeremy & Katie, as well as mommy's friend from CA who was there visiting her mom.

Special Friends I Made:  Emily, in Grand Forks.  You loved her and she loved you!  I told her to come stay with us anytime to get her Bode fix!  :)

I Learned Some Baby Babbles This Month:  Talyn & I both swear you have said "ma-ma".  But, then when I keep repeating it to you, you just giggle at me rather than saying it again.  You are also really starting to do the whole "ba-ba-ba-da-da-da" thing.  Super cute.

Weigh-In; Daily Eats

Whoa, Nelly!  I about fell over this morning when I stepped on the scale.  I know, it's not Tuesday...what in the world am I doing stepping on the scale today?  Well, I forgot yesterday.  160.5 first thing this morning.  That's a 2 lb loss from my last weigh-in.  Woot!  Woot!  This part may be TMI, but after doing my business in the bathroom, I snuck another peak at the scale.  Sometimes it stays the same and lots of the time it goes down a bit.  Today though, it went down to 158.5!!  Another 2 lb loss!  I'm sure it's a total fluke and next week I'll be back to at least 160.  Alls I know is that these past three weeks I've had Aunt Flo visiting (I'm back on the birth control pill to regulate my periods and let's just say it's not doing it's job yet)so that could also have a lot to do with my weight fluctuations. Or I'm sure it's the fact that I'm choosing to be lazy about my health rather than be healthy and make good choices. Right!?  Jeesh, you'd think I'd just quit already. See, I have determination.  Now, if I could just find my motivation!

5/15/12 GW: 165.5 WI: 165.5 (-2)
5/22/12 GW:  164  WI:  162.5 (-3)
5/29/12 GW: 162.5  WI:  163.5 (+1)
6/5/12  GW:161  WI:  161 (-2.5!)
6/12/12  GW: 159.5  WI: 160 (-1)
6/19/12  GW:  158  WI:  160.5 (+.5)
6/26/12  GW:  156.5  WI:  161 (+.5)
7/3/12  GW:  154 --- oops, no weigh-in input on SparkPeople.
7/10/12  GW:  152 WI:  162.5 :(+1.5)
7/18/12 GW:  161  WI:  160.5 (-2!!)  ----  changing weigh-ins to Wednesdays
7/25/12 GW:  159
8/1/12  GW:  157.5
8/8/12  GW:  156
8/15/12  GW: 154.5
8/22/12  GW: 153
8/29/12  GW:  151.5
9/5/12  GW:  150


Hopefully I can finally get these last few pounds gone for good!  Here are my daily eats for today:

Breakfast:  Cheerios, banana, coffee

Lunch:  oversized taco salad (lots of lettuce, taco meat, pinto beans,
crushed doritos, and diced tomato), cherries, water

The purrrty watermelon I cut up today (of course I had
to eat a few chunks while cutting it!)

Dinner:  Hobo and a glass of milk!

Um, yeah, pretty sure I went over on the calories today!  Precisely what happens when my eyes are bigger than my stomach.  Portion Distortion.  I have to get better about my portions...making them smaller, obviously!  No wonder the weight is staying pretty steady.  I need to shrink my portions a tad bit more!  Note to self - work on portion sizes, smaller is better!

Excuses, Excuses and my Daily Eats.

Well, I did much better about taking food pictures today.  But, you'll have to forgive me as I didn't make time for a workout.   I'm not quite sure what it's going to take for me to get that determination back that I once had.  It's G.O.N.E.  Wanna hear my excuses for no exercise?  #1 - it rained {most of} today, so no walking.  #2 - when it did finally stop raining it was so awful muggy, organizing the girls' toys while in my freezing cold basement actually sounded exciting!  #3 - I was trying to repair our desktop.  Not exactly sure what happened...I'm guessing one of the kiddos clicked on something they shouldn't have or maybe it's just time for the thing to die - it's 5 years old, which in computer terms, that's ancient.   Anyways, onto today's eats...

Breakfast: Corn chex, leftover green smoothie from the girls, coffee.

Lunch: Beef Pepper Stir Fry - this picture is actually supper from a couple nights
ago.  Today's lunch was the leftovers, which I forgot to take a picture of. ;)

Treat:  2 Nutter Butter cookies {YUM!} and iced coffee while
working on the desktop :-/

Dinner:  2 Tacos, Spanish Rice, Pinto Beans, milk.  Yes, I drink from my kids' cups.  :P

And yes, TREAT #2!  A butterscotch dilly bar.  Even though I told
hubby I didn't want anything.  Sabotage, I tell ya.

Obviously, not a fantastic food day.  Not entirely crappy, but I could have done much better.  ;)  I haven't even tracked it yet so I'm guessing I was not in my calorie range for the day.  Oh well.  I will try harder tomorrow.

What about you?  Do you keep making excuses to avoid doing stuff that should be done?  Or, do you avoid making excuses and just do what needs to be done?

Totally Blew It!

Um, yeah. The weekend came and I completely blew the whole “I’m going to hold myself accountable for what I eat by taking pictures of my food” process. Ooops! I started out great and then fizzled by Saturday at lunch.  I did the same thing on Sunday so I will spare you those few pictures.  Hopefully I can start fresh tomorrow, maybe even get a workout DVD in if I'm lucky.  I really would like to get my head in the game so I can lose these last 10 pounds rather than gain, gain, gain it all back.  Ugh, I am just not happy with this belly that still looks like I'm at least 4 months pregnant.

Wish me better luck for tomorrow!

Friday Eats

Breakfast:  Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal (homemade) with a sprinkle of cinnamon,
1 egg white with pepper, coffee, vitamins

Morning Snack: Banana on our way to swim lessons

Lunch: PB&Jelly, celery w/PB, Diet Lipton Green Tea Citrus.

Afternoon Snack:  15 cherries, 14 almonds,
and my iced coffee treat.

Dinner:  Chicken Fajitas (2), Zatarain's Spanish Rice, Pinto Beans, milk

Tonight I tried a new recipe that I found via Chef In Training for Baked Chicken Fajitas.  I've never made fajitas before so I thought this recipe seemed easy enough I couldn't mess it up.  They turned out pretty good.  It was a very flavorful recipe.  Only thing I didn't like was that they were kind of really drippy wet.  I mean, it made for very moist chicken, but it was really quite messy.  The husband even said they were pretty good.  He just didn't like the tortillas I picked up because they are too thick.  Let's just say he frequents the many Mexican restaurants in town for lunch where they make the thin homemade tortillas.  So, will I make this recipe again?  Most likely.  Hubby said he'd like to maybe try stir-frying it all together next time.

Looks like that is it from me.  Have a great weekend!!

Thursday Eats

Breakfast: 1 egg, 2 whites, cantaloupe, 1/2 banana
(other 1/2 went to baby boy), coffee

Lunch: McD's McChicken Sandwich (minus mayo), value fries.  And look -
I didn't eat all my fries!!  Bonus!

daily H20 + vitamins

Afternoon Snack: Big bowl of watermelon and homemade iced coffee -
all while catching up with the Kardashians ;)

Dinner: Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, and skim milk.  Mmmmm ;)

The only thing I didn't get a picture of is a homemade oats/caramel bar and two pieces of licorice I had while the kids and I were at a play date today.  Other than that, I think I did fairly well.  I stayed within my calorie range, and met my protein for the day.  Woot! Woot!

There you have it.  My daily eats.  Want to join me?  Leave a comment for me to come check out your food blog!  Thanks for stopping by!