Some Weight loss Inspiration

All around me it seems like people are dropping pounds. Both of my sisters are on a weight loss mission and several friends are too. Kristy is a friend from my high school days. Thanks to my facebook addiction page, I have been able to reconnect with her. She has been on a weigh loss mission of her own lately so I asked her to share some of her tips and how she is doing it. She has made some big changes and I think anyone wanting/needing to lose a little or a lot of weight or someone who is just looking to make some healthy changes, can benefit from what she has to say.
So in the words of Kristy....

After several years of yo yo dieting and never being able to lose anything, I went to my doctor. He had me do a fasting blood test that determined I am Insulin Resistant aka pre diabetic. Scared my to death. He put me on Metaphormin aka Glucophage and from there I consulted a dietitian and got my rear in gear! Here's a website that offers more info on Insulin Resistance:

http://diabetes.webmd.com/guide/insulin-resistance-syndrome
(in a nutshell, my body was producing too much insulin then storing any extra sugar as fat.)

ok, so here's a quick over view of what I'm doing:
Nutrition:
Low carb the healthy way, not the Atkins crash diet. I eat healthy carbs like fresh veggies, fruit, and dairy. I eat a good bit of lean protein and take a fiber supplement. (fiber is your friend lol)

If I do have any sweets, I limit them to once or twice a week. Sweets are not off limits, but just shouldn't be eaten at every meal. I really enjoy fresh strawberries and non fat whipped cream. No sugar added yogurt is also another smart choice.

Peanut butter and apples are a favorite for breakfast or a snack before working out. One of the main things to remember is to pair a protein with a carb to minimize the spike of your blood sugar. I have limited my intake of flour, sugar, and sodas to almost zero. Coke Zero is great as an alternative as well as Powerade Zero to replenish electrolytes. Water is a must. The more you drink the better you feel. Splenda is a good substitute as are whole wheat breads.

As far as exercise, I walked a good bit in the beginning, but if I missed a day I just made up for it by playing in the yard with Ollie or cleaning my house or even a quick boxing video. Now, though, 2 months later, I've joined a gym and I'm going at least 3 times a week.

Typical work out for me at the gym:
5 mins warm up on the treadmill to get the blood pumping and enough to break a sweat.
10 mins weights/own body weight, focusing on 1 group of muscles per day
so example would be doing one of the following: lunges, push ups, chin ups (yea not there yet btw lol) I try for 2 sets of 12. When I am to the point of not being able to do one more, I stop. (muscle fatigue)
30 mins fast walk on the treadmill or elliptical (get the heart rate up here to increase calorie burn)
10 mins of stretching

To switch it up and break the monotony I like taking a class like aerobics or Zumba.

This site has great exercises you can do in your living room: http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_plan_generator.asp

I just have to say that the changes Kristy has made can benefit all of us if we could get motivated and do it too. I also have to say that her facebook status today was this: I am a rock star, people, just without the instruments or vocal ability. I have reached my 1st weight loss goal of 50lbs, 4 weeks early. I cried and did a happy dance :o)

Now for the before and after pictures....
Here is Kristy Before

And here she is after...and still going

I am very proud of you Kristy! You look awesome and you are totally a rock star!

I am anxiously awaiting my sister's story but she is taking her sweet time busy. She has made a huge transformation! Anyone else wanting to share their story or even just some tips to being healthier....I would love to post them, just contact me by leaving a comment!

Random Days...

This post will have no point...not one! It is just some random things going on lately.

Rylee just finished up her CRCT at school and we are so glad that is over. In the months leading up to the test she had TONS more homework than usual and felt the pressure of the standardized test coming her way. The day before the test she was so worried that she tried to go to bed at 4 pm in the afternoon. She said it wasn't nearly as bad as they made it out to be and she thinks she did great....I don't doubt that at all.

Tegan is wild as ever but starting to listen a little more....at least to Paul. I have had to get a hickory switch to make him mind and it is so hard to not laugh at him when he runs away yelling "don't get me with that tree". I have to say, I haven't had to "get" him yet just the sight of the thing is good enough for him. He is still having some hitting issues but we are working on it and when he does hit he will tell me that "boys don't do that". Still no luck with pooping in the potty or peeing in a public restroom. I just hope he catches on to those two things before he is 18 years old! Talk about awkward!

I am still plugging away at procrastinating about school. As a matter of fact I should be studying right now. I didn't do so hot on the last test so I have to do great on Wed. or I will have to just drop the class and the whole quarter will be wasted. The teacher is super hard and he doesn't mind telling us that every 10 seconds in class. It's just a lot of material in a short amount of time.

Every time our kids jump on their trampoline they turn black...what is up with that? I don't ever remember all that black stuff rubbing off on me when I was a kid jumping on a trampoline.

Our warm southern weather has been cool lately during the mornings and evenings.

My new love is a salad at Zaxby's! YUMMY!

My dear hubby bought him a small old Toyota truck to drive to work to save gas money b/c his truck is ridiculous. This will now award me with a small shopping day to buy myself something since he got a truck. I know...he gets a truck and I get shorts from walmart but we take what we can get right:)

I wasn't really in the mood to go to church this past week but I pulled myself together and went. Three minutes in to the sermon the dear lady who teaches Tegan's class during that time, sticks her head out the door and motions for me. I walk through the door to see Little dude standing there soaked from the waste down...Note to self: Little dude still needs to wear pull ups to church:) Can we say the Devil was trying to keep me away!

My 38 year old brother had a heart attack this past week. Not sure why b/c he had no blockages.

And that will conclude my totally random week!

Personalized Burp Cloths

A personalized burp cloth is an awesome addition to any baby gift or get a set and make it the gift. I love doing burp cloths, its probably one of my more favorite things to make. Here are a few pictures of some burp cloths I have done lately but I have had tons of orders for them just forgot to get pictures when I was finished with them.

This one was a cute set for twin boys! Love these fabrics!

So the amount of sewing I have been doing lately has been very overwhelming. I have had tons of orders and keep selling tons of camera strap covers. Every time I feel all caught up more business comes along...I'm not complaining though b/c I love to do it. More pictures of other creations will be posted at random b/c I'm just a random person:)

I Heart Gary Allan

Thursday night the hubby and I had a late anniversary celebration. We stepped outside of our comfort zone and went to our first concert together...not our first one ever but the first one together. We got to have supper at my favorite downtown Athens restaurant and then walked around downtown until time for the concert.

Gary Allan was awesome and if you think he sounds good on the radio, you need to hear him in concert. The Classic Center held the concert and I swear there was a bad seat in the house except if you were in our seats and had a tall skinny old long greasy haired drunk dude standing in front of you. He flipped his hair all night long and it was killing me and Paul. Then he was taking out his cell phone and taking pictures of all the young girls and texting them to someone. It was really very disgusting since he was doing all this with his significant other standing right beside him.

Really...there is nothing like "people watching" at a country music concert. There was a huge age range of people there from young to way to old to be out that late. There was a girl that danced the same dance no matter how fast of slow the song was. There was another dude that danced some sort of airplane dance. There were people at the older end of middle aged dancing as couples and made me throw up in my mouth a little. Lots of young college girls with their dresses and cowboy boots on...this is where I note that the country music singer had on white tennis shoes. There were tons of guys who kept going to the bar and coming back with two cups of beer (just for themselves) instead of just one.

All in all it was a nice night and Gary put on one heck of a show but I have to say I just like sitting at home and watching tv...such a homebody I am:)

A trampoline isn't for old people

So I will be 30 in less than a month and a half. If you know me, you have heard me say that getting old is a blessing so don't complain about getting older b/c not everyone gets that same chance.
Tonight I will complain just for a tiny second. I haven't gotten on a trampoline in years but my kids asked me to jump with them tonight. I got on and jumped around and quickly realized that after carrying three kids, my bladder isn't what it use to be. I also realized that jumping on a trampoline hurts my knees and my heart. Seriously, I was jumping while holding my chest b/c I am sure I was about to have a heartattack and then I was loudly wincing b/c my knees felt like they were breaking each time I landed. Needless to say I was glad when the kids were ready to swing. So we jump off and it didn't take long for me to have that dizzy headed "I'm floating in the air" kind of feeling. Needless to say my body will ache tomorrow and tonight I feel a little drunk and it has been three hours since I was on that dang trampoline.

Moving On does not mean letting go...

It's been a while since I have sat down and just cried about the lose of my son. Had he been born on his due date, we would have just recently celebrated his 3rd birthday. Instead we grieve/celebrate on October 4th every year for our son. Paul doesn't talk much about losing our son. I guess in some ways that is just how a man deals differently with lose...no talk all distraction. I get weak to my knees when for just a minute I close my eyes and let myself feel what I felt the day after I lost Cohen. The weight in my heart is the heaviest I have ever felt, my arms grow limp and literally ache and the future seems hopeless. I think about that little boy every single day of my life but I don't always let myself feel what my mind is thinking. Recently my husband had to write a paper for school about a few high and low points in his lifeline. He wrote a little about the day we had our son and I have to say that it helped heal a part of me because I have held some resentment toward him for not "talking, crying, screaming, hating and hurting" like I did. But as I read this paragraph about that day I realized that he was hurting for our son but he hurt more because he had to watch me. He wrote that he had to watch me lay there all day, waiting to give birth to a child that I knew was not going to survive and that was very hard for him. I always knew that he was my rock but I never realized that he felt like he had to be in that position. I have moved forward in life and when you lose a child like I did moving forward and having time just keep going is hard b/c the faster time goes by the further away I feel from that precious baby. Recently I have came to terms with time flying and realize that I have no fear of my future...except maybe leaving the two earthly children that I have behind but I have something to look forward to that not everyone gets. One day I will die just like you will die and when I enter through heaven's gates I will have this perfect, whole, healthy and beautiful child waiting for me with my heart in his hands.

I know you have all seen the youtube videos that churches have out there where members of the church walk up on the stage in front of their very own congregation and without fear they hold up a sign that says one thing on one side and then they flip it over to show how God is working in their lives. My sign would read

Front side: I buried my infant son.

Back Side: God works on my heart EVERY SINGLE DAY!

I'm not perfect and sometimes my bitterness gets the best of me but I have placed myself in HIS hands!

Tonight there is another family that shares this heavy heart with me. There are many out there and although it seems that the Lord is taking babies away from some of his most faithful people our hurts still hurt, no matter what we say or how much we learn to laugh again we will never be whole on earth again. Please stop by and visit, leave encouraging words and say a prayer or ten for this FAMILY ....they are faithful but that doesn't exempt them from pain.

Nothing to it but to do it!

If you know me, it is no secret that I put every single thing off until the last minute but in the meantime I stress stress stress over what has to be done instead of just doing it. Being a procrastinator is not for the faint of heart....in fact you must have mad skills to pull off last minute stuff. I wouldn't want to waste my totally awesome skills by doing things ahead of time. In fact, right now the whole reason why I am even writing this off the wall post is because I am in full on procrastination mode and trying to avoid the major amount of studying that I have to do for my Anatomy and Physiology class. We have our first major test on Monday and this is going to take massive amounts of studying to pull off a good grade. Although I have to say that I have been studying tons and it has been paying off with our quizzes. So I guess I better go study...oh but wait, maybe I should lay down and take a nap and then study:)
FOCUS TABATHA!!! In the recent wise words of a friend..."There is nothing to it but to do!" Seriously...that has to be the best words I have ever heard. I think about being a mom and how sometimes having these two little extremely needy things that need me all the time is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life but you know what, I get up every single day and I do it b/c what choice do I have. So what I need to do is just think that I have no choice but to study and do well in this class. In the grand scheme of things it really is not a big deal right....I mean everyone one of you reading this knows exactly what a proton, neutron and electron are, what charge they have and what they are created from....right? Good, now that we have cleared that up, google it!

Wordless....oh who cares what day it is

Small reminder

The past couple of weeks have been pretty frustrating for me. Tegan has been very difficult and with Rylee at home on spring break this past week, there has been lots of sibling fighting. Tegan seems to take advantage of me and I take complete responsibility for that. He is rough, fast, wild and when he gets bored...something big and usually bad will happen. Just to give you an example, this morning I had made me, Teg and Ry some toast for breakfast, I got them settled down at the table eating their breakfast and walked back to the oven to get mine. I turn around just in time to watch Tegan pick up Rylee's FULL cup of orange juice, look at me, smile and in slow motion he proceeded to pour all the orange juice out on the table, in Ry's plate and on the floor.
I have been frustrated and losing my cool with both children a lot lately. I have had to put myself in time out by just walking away and stepping out on the porch while holding the door closed to prevent the screaming two year old from following me. I'm tired.

But then there was a moment today where things were calm. We had been outside most of the afternoon and decided to run and get a hamburger. I ran in to a store and passed by a small artificial potted flower that caught my eye so I picked it up and purchased it. On the way home we pulled in to the cemetery where our second born is buried. I got back in the car and for just a brief moment the kids were happy and not fighting and my mind remembered that Rylee is what kept me going when I lost Cohen and having Tegan less than a year later was what saved me. Both of my children healed me in their own way...not that I think I am fully healed yet and nor do I expect to be anytime soon.

The point is that my children are wild, EXTREMELY needy and sometimes fight but they are here with me and I get to love on them and touch them everyday...nothing else matters!

The end of the day....

The end of the day for my parenting skills comes around 8:00 or 8:30 every night. Most days, that time cannot come soon enough. lately Rylee and Tegan have been going through a stage of fighting. She wants to watch tv, read or draw but Tegan doesn't like when she isn't playing with him so this whole episode blows up right in front of my face over and over again. Last week was much more pleasant b/c we would go outside and play until bath and bedtime but this week has been horrible, the pollen is so bad and has Tegan in pretty bad shape so even though it is beautiful outside, we are only enjoying it by looking out the windows. So they fight...isn't that just what kids do?? I've been very on edge lately...first there is this really hard class that I just can't seem to study enough for, then sewing, then photography and let's not forget all the other duties of a mother and wife. So When 8:30 comes and both children are finally in bed I don't want to talk....not to anyone! I just want to hear silence and not have anyone asking me for something or hitting each other. There is that last ten minutes before bedtime when I can feel myself ready to explode but I hold it in, put them to bed and have a huge sigh of relief. The end of my day is what I look forward to from the moment that I crawl out of bed in the morning, there is just something not right about that!

Easter Pictures

Easter was an ok kind of day. It was beautiful in Georgia and just happen to be right before the yellow snow fall pollen hit the very next day. We got up to see what the Easter bunny brought....once again he forgot all about me, growing up sucks! Anyways, then we headed out to church in our Sunday best. It was a great service! Then we went to lunch at my hubbies mother's house and had a quick and easy lunch of sub sandwiches. The kids did a quick Easter egg hunt and then we headed home where I proceeded to study Anatomy and Physiology for the rest of the day....I guess it paid off b/c I did really great on my quiz the next day at school:) So here are just a few of the pictures I took that day. Tegan was in rare form that morning but of course when it came family picture time, he was over the whole picture taking thing!

Me and my little lady

a semi decent family picture

Me with my babies

Telling secrets!

LOVE THIS PICTURE!

This one too....I think they look a lot alike here.

Ready to open their Easter loot before church.

Little man...

My little dude is a little over 2 1/2 now and doing great! He is wild as ever and sometimes makes me want to scream...OK he actually makes me scream...but he is a lovable little guy that loves his sister and loves to be outside. He is in his element when he is outside running and playing. I literally have to chase him down and drag him to get him inside. He drinks all the time but doesn't eat a whole lot unless it is skittles or m&m's:)

His vision does not seem to be affected by his Nystagmus but he does have to do certain things to adjust. He tilts his head to the side to slow his eyes down and he does seem to have some problem seeing things that are off in the distance. He still has some issues with his eyes when he is in loud places, when he is anxious and when he is tired. They move more during those times and when most children would cover their ears b/c of loud sounds, he covers his eyes. Seems like he is already figuring out how to handle his nystagmus. He is due to go back to Emory this summer but I don't suspect getting any bad news or anything.

He talks...a lot. In that way, he is just like his sister! Some of the cutest things he says is:

"I got this"

"You better not mommy" this is when I threaten to do something to him or throw out his food b/c he won't set down to eat.

"Hey....How U?"

"Rylee Bug" he yells that when he can't get her to answer him...somehow it always works.

"Go Shuck E Cheese and get prite (aka sprite)"

"Get up boy" this is when he is talking to himself!

"Boys not do that" this is when I am getting ready in the mornings and he points at all the girl stuff on the bathroom counter and says "boys not do that".

"Mama gone put my butt to bed"...I can't imagine where he has heard this at before:)

The sweetest and best thing is "it be alright mama". He uses this when you try to get him to put on a coat and he doesn't want to or you try to get him to eat something he doesn't want. It is very cute!

He still continues to call his daddy by his first name. You hardly ever hear Tegan say "daddy" it is always "Paul". It is very cute but I think people in public don't think Tegan is his kid")

There are so many other cute things he says but I can't remember them right now.

We are still in potty training mode but he is doing pretty good. Still won't do the #2 on the potty and doesn't want to potty out in public but we are working on it daily. Actually today I had to take him to the Dr. for a sinus infection, we dropped through the drive-thru at Burger King and he had to potty but was refusing to go inside. So I asked would he pee outside and he said yes. He got out and insisted that I take off his shorts and pull up completely and he peed! That works for me!

He will start to preschool in Aug and I am having TONS of anxiety about it as I'm sure he will too when the time comes.

He is my little wild man and can be very difficult at times but he is such a blessing to me and I would not survive without him.

In the words of Rosie...

I think I totally forgot to mention that Paul and I just celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary...hold your applause:) So let's see...I'm 29 and we have been married nine years. We were 20 and 21 when we tied the knot so I guess you could say we did a lot of our "growing up" after we got married. The other day I was watching a re-run of Rosie O'Donnell on Oprah. They were talking about her relationship with her previous partner and why they split after over 20 years together. Rosie's answer to that was that they got together when they were 30 and they just weren't the same people at 50 as they were in their 30's....WELL DUH!!! I mean don't we all change constantly. I know for sure that me and Paul are nothing like we were when we got married. To say that marriage has been a dream would be a flat out lie but I have him and he has me...what else matters. Of course we are not the same people we were 9 years ago, in 9 years time we have lost my aunt, my cousin, both of Paul's grandmothers, Paul's dad and our baby Cohen. We have buried all those people and that is something that changes you with each one. Paul has had 7 different jobs and I have had 6 different jobs. We have had three beautiful children...two that are here with us and one in heaven and we also suffered an early miscarriage. We have had our angry moments and our happy moments with every situation that life has thrown at us. So NO...no one remains the same but does that mean that you split, I don't believe so I believe you adjust and you allow each other to change but eventually it cycles back around. I won't ever forget that one night I was watching a 20/20 episode about what makes a marriage survive for 50 years and this one little old lady said this "we weren't always IN LOVE with each other but we survived because we never fell out of love at the same time."

She loves Spring

Wordless weekend...

wordless for today atleast!