And he just keeps growing.

Nathaniel is growing so fast.  His smile has been melting my heart almost since he was born and the way he would turn his head when he heard my voice would make anyone feel special.  He is moving into 0-3 mths clothing now and is already in size 1 diapers.  He lifts and holds his head and chest up really well now and loves to look around at everything.  He is already starting to bounce using his own leg strength but it doesn't last for very long. His new thing this week has been him trying to push up using his arms. He make the sweetest noises and it's almost as if he's trying to carry on a conversation.  It always amazes me how quickly babies grow and learn.  He is truly miraculous and such a blessing to me.

pregnancy weightloss

Joshua hugged me today and said that he can reach further around me.  Matt came home from work today and hugged me and said that I feel and look thinner.  It seems like every part of me is still shrinking except my belly.  It must be the weights and swimming because I eat almost twice the amount that I used too.  I am still losing weight but not losing as much as I have been.  This last week I only lost .9 pounds.  I had been losing from 1.5 to 2 pounds a week.  So maybe the baby is starting to catch up with me.  My belly is definitely starting to come out more.  My regular pant are getting uncomfortable for sitting in.  Even my favorite pair that stretch a little at the waist.  I've been warned not to wear them to long or they will get stretched all out of whack.  So I am heeding her advice and probably wont be wearing them for much longer.

I don't want any of you to think that I am trying to lose weight because I am most certainly not.  That would be a stupid thing to do.  I'm just continuing on my healthy eating and exercise which I plan to do throughout my entire pregnancy until I can't fit in the machines anymore or it becomes uncomfortable.  I figure I will probably be able to swim the whole time.  I'll be the big buoy in the water. lol

It will be fun to see my doctors reaction when I go to my next appointment which is June 5 and still haven't gained any weight.  She will most likely be fine with it.  I'm just going with the flow.  We will see what the future brings.

My First Trimester in a Nutshell

On the last day of my first trimester I have decided to blog.  My son got on to me yesterday because I haven't written a post in a while.  So here I am.  It will be difficult to write about an entire trimester but I will do my best to without boring you too much.  Of course if you end up getting bored you can always just stop reading and that would take care of that problem.

One can not describe the feelings that have been going through my head these past weeks.  Feelings of utter elation to thoughts about how crazy I must be to start all over again after having one son practically raised and one half way raised.  Alas, here I am and I have come to terms with the fact that I am starting over.  Oh but what a journey it will be and what fun times we all will have.  The boys are so excited about having a little SISTER or brother that they can hardly stand themselves.  Especially Joshua.  He keeps coming up to me and hugging and kissing my belly and saying, "I love you Kaydence".  Yes he is determined that it is a girl.  I keep telling him that it could be a boy and he has even helped me come up with some boy names but he still keeps calling it Kaydence.  Then he will throw in "or Nathan or Ethan or Obadiah".  Like I said, he has been helping to come up with names.  Sean has more of a mellow approach to the whole thing but is still very excited.

As far as how I have been feeling these past few month.  Things haven't been too bad.  I had a few weeks with some nausea but it all went away and now if it wasn't for my increased appetite and exhaustion I wouldn't even think I was pregnant.  Of course I've actually seen the baby and heard it's heartbeat which definitely makes it more real.  I did have a couple of scares with some bleeding but there wasn't any cramping and the baby is still in there.  The doctor just said that it could have been caused by a number of things and that it isn't anything to worry about.  That's nice to know but when you are the person that is pregnant it kind of freaks you out.  Everything is fine though and the baby is very healthy and continuing to grow.

As everyone knows, before I got pregnant I was in the process of losing weight. Well of course with being pregnant losing weight kind of falls on the side burner.  That's what I thought anyway.  I have just continued with eating healthy and exercising as I have been doing with a few minor adjustments.  There are a few weight machines that I no longer do because it is uncomfortable.  I have lowered my weight resistance a little so I don't strain or pull anything.  Two doctors appointments ago after meeting with the doctor we met with this lady who explained to us how I should be eating (LOL) and about exercising.  She said that I shouldn't be lifting anything over 25lbs.  So at my next work out I tried the whole 25lbs thing and decided that If I was going to be in that gym and only lift 25lbs I might as well not go at all.  Can anyone say feather weight?  It was like I wasn't lifting anything.  Especially my legs.  Now my arms were okay with 25 on some of the machines.  I understood what she was saying but that was crazy.  So I am just being careful and still making sure my muscles don't go to mush during these nine months.

Now, I said that I was not trying to lose weight while pregnant.  Never a good thing to do but since I have continued to eat healthy and exercise and I have a little parasite in me eating up every little morsel that I seem to devour(which is a lot) I am still losing weight.  Actually at a quicker rate now than I was before I was pregnant.  Just since the middle of February I have lost 16lbs and I really don't think that is going to be the end of it.  I eat and eat but it never seems to matter.  The weight keeps going down.  The doctor is actually happy about it.  She knows how I've been eating and all the changes that my family has made over the past year and a half.  She says as long as I'm eating healthy and the baby is growing than there isn't anything to worry about.  So here's to me and getting skinny while being pregnant.  Eventually it will all catch up and I will start gaining some baby weight but honestly I am hoping that all it will be is baby weight.  I am still overweight and health wise can not afford to put on any extra weight.

Since I am overweight that puts me at higher risk of developing gestational diabetes.  So I am being extra careful to keep my sugar intake low.  I really don't want to take any chances.  I opted out of the first glucose screening which Dr. Rutter was fine with but there is another one sometime towards the end of my second trimester or beginning of my third.  I'm not sure she will let me out of that one.  I guess we will see how the pregnancy is going then and how much weight I have lost or gained by then.  Can't really make any assumption on something that is still a ways off and depends on so many factors that have not come to be yet.

I did forget to mention something.  One thing that I found out during this whole thing is that I have failed thyroid.  So I am currently on medication because my thyroid doesn't function.  This could also play a role in my losing weight.  I started taking the medicine around the same time that I found out I was pregnant.  Your thyroid function has some impact on your ability to lose weight.  As much as I hate taking medication this is one instance where I don't see another alternative.  Not something I want to be messing around with while I'm pregnant.

I guess that pretty much sums it all up.  Tomorrow is the beginning of my second trimester.  May it pass as quickly as the first and be better than the first.

Baby update: Week 7

I've decided to do away with the weight loss updates and start a baby update.  How my baby is growing is much more interesting and more important.

I do continue to lose weight.  I believe since I found out I was pregnant I have lost over 5 pounds. I am now at my lowest weight of 194.4 lbs.  After I lose that .4 lbs I will have lost a total of 70 lbs all together. I will keep you informed on my weight, which I am sure will start going up eventually.  But I like to look at it as the babies weight going up, not mine.  With me still being overweight, I will need to watch my weight gain.  I have a good feeling though that with me continuing to eat healthy and exercising I will be able to keep the weight gain to a minimum.

Now, due to the crazy growing that the baby and my uterus has been going through, I have been experiencing abdominal cramping(growing pains).  More than I ever did with the boys.  Matter of fact, I don't remember having any with the boys.  This week it seems to have increased quite a bit.

I was just reading an article about it this morning.  It said and I quote, "Women whose abdominal muscles are tightest will experience these cramps with more frequency than women with more supple abdominals."  I think that's a nice way of saying squishy abdominals, which is what I had when I was pregnant with the boys. That explains a lot.  So basically, the more abdominal muscles you have the more often and worse your cramps could be because of the stretching of the muscles.  Great!  So all those crunches and ab work I've been doing just set me up for cramping?  Well at least they will also help me shrink back down.

The nausea that I was experiencing last week seems to have subsided.  I guess it was traded for growing pains.  I seem to find myself wanting to eat a little more often than usual and the bathroom is visited quite often still.  I know that will continue throughout the entire pregnancy.  We wont go into what my chest feels like on a regular basis(TMI).

All things are normal on the baby front except that a lot of what I am experiencing I did not experience with either of the boys.  I had no nausea, no cramping, no breast soreness(sorry men).  Who knows why I am with this one.  Could be cause I am healthier now and my body is doing what it is suppose to be doing for a change.  Could be cause it is a girl!  Maybe!=)  Or all of the above.

We will see what new adventures this week will bring.

Weight loss update

Yeah, I am below 200.  I weighed in at 199.7 this morning.  I have just been on this gradual slide these past couple of weeks.  Could be cause I'm pregnant or it could be because my body just kicked back in gear.  I remember when I was pregnant with Joshua and was exercising the first few month I lost weight.  Maybe this one will be the same way.  I'm certainly not trying to.  My goal now is not to lose weight but to just keep my focus on eating healthy, exercising and to do all I can to have a healthy baby.  If I happen to lose more weight, well, I wont turn down that gift either.

Weight Loss Update: Week 59 1/2

This week has been a constant loss for me except for one little hick-up of a .4 gain one day.  Other than that it has been all down hill.  I think this is one time when down hill is a good thing.  I wont keep you in suspense any longer though.

I have again reached my lowest weight of 200.4.  Not much more and I will be below 200.  If I can keep myself from eating too much pasta at the Teachers Appreciation Dinner tonight then I might actually make it this weekend.  How exciting that will be to weigh under 200 lbs.

There could be a slight catch to my weight loss journey.  Something that will eventually slow it down for a while.  I found our recently that I am pregnant.  Yes you read it right.  I am going to have a BABY!  So you see why I say that eventually my weight loss will stop.  Who know when though.  I am not worried about it at all.  I figure I'll just keep eating healthy like I've been doing and exercising the same until it gets uncomfortable then I will have to do some adjustments. 

I don't think I will have to make many changes when it comes to my exercise.  I already made one change by starting to swim.  That is something that I should be able to continue through out the pregnancy.

I am super excited about the whole thing and look forward to seeing how this will effect my weight loss.  Who knows, I may come out of this whole thing weighing less than I did going in.  You never know, it could happen. With my second pregnancy(Joshua) I lost weight in the first few months and wasn't eating nearly as healthy as I am now.  I did do water aerobic for the first few months but then I had to stop because I no longer had access to the class.

Since I am overweight I am not suppose to gain as much weight as if I was normal weight.  I believe it's somewhere between 15-25lbs.  So I am going to keep doing what I'm doing.  I know one thing.  If people start telling me that I need to eat more because I'm eating for two or being pregnant is an excuse to eat whatever I want.  I think I might scream.

I've been there done that and all it got me was a fat me and big babies.  I want my pregnancy to be healthy. I am so glad that I started this health journey a year ago.  I feel like this past year has been preparing me for the moment.  I am so thankful for that.  I thank God for this wonderful blessing.

Now a new journey begins.

For My Big Brother

Today is a very special day.  My big brother was born 41 years ago today.  He must have been a pretty good big brother.  Either that or I have blocked out a lot of the bad stuff.  It's been a long time since the days of growing up on the farm in Bentonville, AR but I can honestly say that was the best place on earth for us kids to grow up.  What fun and special times we had there.  From romping in the woods to playing in the creek and catching crawdads.  Oh and don't forget about the bouncy bridge.

Now we are grown and David is a missionary in Africa.  He recently finished an 11 year mission to Togo, West Africa and is now preparing to return to Africa to do a new mission work with the people of Rwanda.  I am so proud of my brother and the man that he has become.  He is a wonderful Christian, a good husband to his wife Becky, and father to his 4 kids, Hannah, Elijah, Gabriel, and Caleb.

My prayer for him today is that he will continue to grow and serve the Lord in what ever way he is called.  That he will continue to be a good husband and father.  May the Lord bless him in all areas of his life and my he find peace in such a hectic and hurried world.

“The LORD bless you

and keep you;

the LORD make his face shine upon you

and be gracious to you;

the LORD turn his face toward you

and give you peace.”

Number 6:24-26

Fun With School, Ending Studies and New Adventures

I take it as a good sign when you give your kids an oral quiz over the past three lesson in science and the pretty much remember everything they studied.  Especially considering that each lesson takes two weeks to cover.  So that means they were remembering stuff from over a month ago.  That either means that I am a really good teacher or the curriculum presents the material in a way that is fun and easy to assimilate.  I think it's all of the above.

We have had a lot of fun learning about plants.  But alas that is soon to come to an end.  Our study of Botany only has two more lessons in left and they are mostly wrap up stuff.  I am in the process of planning a couple of field trips to end our study with.  One, I want to take the boys to a botanical garden with an indoor conservatory(due to the season) and two, I am wanting to take them on a nature walk with a field guide to look at and study the trees.  I think these two things would be a lot of fun and would tie up nicely all that we have learned.

They are also getting close to finishing their study of U.S. Geography and I will soon be looking for a new curriculum.  Not sure exactly where we will go from here but where every it is I know it will be a journey.

This is the boys last week of there Bible study of Revelation.  They have really enjoyed it and had lots of fun learning about all the seals, the horsemen and the woman and the beast etc...  They probably know more about Revelation than most kids, maybe even adults now.   We have picked out and ordered our next Bible study.  It is the same curriculum study, Discover 4 Yourself but it is titled Amazing Adventures with God.  It is a study on Issac, Jacob and Esau.  It should be very good and we are looking forward to it.

They are continuing on with their language arts and math.  It is a full year curriculum and will be done with it sometime in May.  Then we will probably continue with the curriculum we have been using.  The kids really like it and it is very easy to use and teach with.

Joshua has really been enjoying his Art class and we will definitely continue that for him.  Sean is about to complete his season of basketball.  What started out as me just signing him up even though he was very adamant about the whole idea.  Needless to say he is now in love with the sport and we will be looking for another way for him to play because the Y only offers it during the winter.  Joshua will be starting soccer at the end of March and is not too excited about it.  He would rather play kick ball but I haven't been able to find a kids kickball league.  You can find adult leagues but not kids.  Maybe I should mention starting one at the Y.

The only thing left to talk about is their PE class.  It is two days a week on Monday and Wednesdays stating at 7:30am which gets us all up at 6:00 on those days.  They have really enjoyed their PE class and will not be very happy when it ends the end of May.  It follows the public school schedule so when public school is over, it will be too.  I will have to plan something else for them over the summer because we pretty much continue school through the summer with a little more flexible schedule.

Well, I think that covers all that is going on with the kids school right now.  This next year will bring about many changes as Sean enters 7th grade and I have to start keeping more permanent records of his grades and school work.  Should be interesting for me.  I'm really not looking forward to that part and am not sure were to start.  I am sure I will figure it out.

That's it.  I hope this has not bored you too much.  Just my teacher ramblings.

DIFFERENT DRUG PROBLEM

The other day, someone at a store in our town 

read that a meth lab had been found in an old farm

house and he asked me a rhetorical question,

"Why didn't we have a drug problem when you and I

were growing up?"

  I replied, I had a drug problem when I was young:

I was drug to church on Sunday morning.  I was drug

to church for weddings and funerals.  I was drug

to family reunions and community socials no matter

the weather.

   I was drug by my ears when I was disrespectful

to adults. I was also drug to the woodshed when I

disobeyed my parents, told a lie, brought home

a bad report card, did not speak with respect, spoke

ill of the teacher or the preacher, or if I didn't

put forth my best effort in everything that was

asked of me.

   I was drug to the kitchen sink to have my mouth

washed out with soap if I uttered profanity.  I was

drug out to pull weed in mom's garden and flower

beds and cockleburs out of dad's fields.  I was drug

to the homes of family, friends and neighbors to

help out some poor soul who had no one to mow the

yard, repair the clothesline, or chop some firewood,

and, if my mother had ever known that I took a single

dime as a tip for this kindness, she would have drug

me back to the woodshed.

    Those drugs are still in my veins and they affect

my behavior in everything I do,say, or think.  They

are stronger than cocaine, crack, or heroin; and,

If today's children had this kind of drug problem,

America would be a better place.

   GOD BLESS THE PARENTS WHO DRUGGED US.

This article was sent to me by my Aunt Susie.  It did not have a name attached to it as to who wrote it.   I agree with it.  Just wanted to share.

Weight loss update: Week 56

Last week was not a good week for me.  I'm not sure what the reason was but last week I gained 1.6 lbs.  I was at my lowest of 203 and that put me back up to 204.6.  This weight gain could have occurred for a number of reasons.  Could have been from all the chocolate I ate and the delicious dinner we had for Valentines day.  Or it could have been from my increase in weights at the gym and my body was just slapping on some more muscle.  Whatever the reason I gained weight.

Here's the kicker though.  My last weigh in was Friday and then this morning I weighed and now again I am at my lowest weight of 202.4.  So that means that over the weekend I lost 2.4 lbs which is more than I gained last week.  So there you have it.  I was afraid that I had ruined my chances of reaching my end of the month goal of getting below 200.  Now I have only 2.5 lbs to lose by the end of the month which only gives me 1 week.  Not sure if I will make it but I am going to give my best shot.

I am going to start swimming laps today at the gym for my cardio instead of the bike.  Just to change things up and see if that will help me along the way.  I have always liked to swim so it should be enjoyable.  I always tell everyone to pick an exercise that they enjoy otherwise they will end up quiting.  That is what I have done over the past year and it seems to work for me.  Plus it is nice to change things up a bit from time to time just to make things more interesting and not get bored with it all.

Not to mention that if you keep doing the same thing over and over again your body will get use to it.  That is why walking is really not the best exercise for losing weight because it is something that most people do on a regular basis.  Now if you are at a point where walking is the only exercise you can do and if that is where you are than that is what you need to do to start off plus some weights of course.

You have to do weights.  Building muscle is one of the best ways to get your metabolism started up and keep it going.  I do more weights than I do cardio.  The lbs may come of slower but you will find the inches come off quickly because you will be exchanging fat for muscle.  I have said this before but pound for pound muscle weighs the same as fat but muscle takes up less space.  So you will have a constant loss of inches with bursts of weight loss.

Slow and steady wins the race.

The Right Stuff

My sick boy wanted chicken broth for lunch.  He's not very hungry right now.  I thought I would make it quick so I grabbed my emergency ration of store bought organic free range chicken broth off the shelf.  The real stuff was frozen in the freezer.  I got it all warmed up in the pan.  Then I decided to taste it.  Yuck!  It tasted like water.  Literally.  I called Sean in to taste it.  I asked him what it tasted like.  He said, "Water!".

We looked at the ingredients.  It read, Organic chicken broth....Okay so the first ingredient is actually chicken broth.  Or is it?  We went to read the rest of the ingredients.  After the "first" ingredient in parentheses it read (filtered water, organic chicken)....Now I know in order to make chicken broth you have to use water but I guarantee there was more water in there than chicken.  To make it worse, this was the low sodium kind so there wasn't even enough salt in it to even make it taste better.

Needless to say, I got in the freezer and now the frozen homemade broth is sitting in a sink full of hot water thawing out.  I am not feeding my sick boy that...  It has no flavor what so ever plus I don't know what I was thinking anyway.  The homemade stuff is much better for him.

Now for a little cooking lesson:

It is so easy to make your own healthy chicken broth.  All you do its take the left over carcases of two chickens or one whole organic chicken.  Add three quarts of water, onion, 2 carrots, celery, 2 Tbls. of apple cider vinegar.  Let it set for 30 min to an hour.  Then bring it to a boil.  Lower to simmer for 6-12 hours.  The longer it simmers the better the broth.  As it simmers at first remove any scum that comes to the top.  When it is done strain it into a bowl and refrigerate it until it cools and the fat comes to the top, then you just scoop the fat of, put the broth in glass jars and freeze it.  Best tasting broth you will ever have.  Oh I almost forgot.  If you use a whole chicken, don't forget to pick all the chicken out of the bones.

Nothing goes to waste either.  I have figured out that from cooking so long all the bones from the chicken have gotten so soft that you can squish them.  So I take all the scraps(bones, skin, veggies) that were strained out and put them in my Vitamix and puree them into what we have affectionately come to call, "puppy pate'".  We save this back and add it to our dogs dried dog food for extra nutrients.  She loves it.

That's it.  I hope you all enjoy making your own broth and stop buying that horrible store bought stuff.

Plan to Succeed

"If you fail to plan, you plan to fail."  

I don't know who said that quote first but it is so true.  I don't know about you but there are so many times in my life that I have failed at something because I didn't have a plan.  I can think of a couple of biggies right off the top of my head.

Our family failed with our finances because we didn't have a plan.  We just went day to day spending our money until it was gone and then once it was gone we would turn to our credit cards.  We were spending almost $1000 a month eating out all because I didn't have a plan at home for fixing dinner.  If I did have a "plan" we wouldn't always stick to it.  We ended up $75000 in debt with no idea how to get out.  We had planned to fail because we didn't make a plan to succeed.

Finally we did make a plan to succeed in our finances.  We started planning where our money was going to go.  We made a budget and stuck to it.  We made a plan to get out of debt and spent 2 1/2 years paying that debt off.  We are now debt free all because we made a plan.  All because we made a plan to succeed.

Another area in my life that I failed to make a plan was with my health.  I reached a maximum weight of 279lbs all because I didn't make a plan to succeed.  I went day by day eating whatever I felt like eating.  If it sounded good I ate it.  Sure I did the watch your fat, watch your calories, watch your salt etc...and I just ended up fatter.  I tried exercising but never really stuck to anything.  I had planned to fail because I didn't make a plan to succeed.

It wasn't until I made a plan to take charge of my own health and stop listening to all the stupid low fat diets and start studying about and learning about health and nutrition did I started to lose weight.  I made a plan to workout when my kids went to PE at the YMCA.  I was there.  Might as well, right?  Now I can't imagine not working out.  I plan out our menu for eating at home instead of dining out all the time because most restaurants aren't very healthy.  Over the past year I have lost 60lbs all because I made a plan to succeed with my health.

These are two areas in my life that I was weak at and now I am strong.  Satan took advantage of those weaknesses.  He used our lack of planning with our finances to cause strife in our marriage because we had so much debt because we wouldn't control our spending.  He used my lack of planning when it came to what I put in my body to get me to a point where I was obese and unhealthy.

Satan uses these things to get us down.  He wants us to feel helpless.  He want us to believe that these are not important areas but they are.  Did you know that money fights are the number one cause of divorce in America.  Problems with money are tearing our families apart.  How much harder is it to serve God and do work for the Lord when you are overweight and tired all the time?  I know from experience how much more difficult it makes things.  This is what Satan wants.  He wants us to not plan.

Now, how many of you have a plan to succeed spiritually?

"If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail."

1# of Fat for 1# of Muscle

Many of you have heard that muscle weighs more than fat.  Well I am pleased to say that that is not true.  A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat.  What is true is that muscle takes up less space than fat.  Think about it.  Muscle clings to your bones and fat hangs out.  It just does.   Also the more muscle you build the more fat you burn because your metabolism increases.  So as you build muscle you may not necessarily lose any weight but you will lose inches because you are burning fat.  So basically you are swapping fat for muscle.  Not a bad trade off if you ask me.

So it is very important if you want to be nice and toned after all that fat goes away to work your muscles on a daily basis.  Also, if you are not building muscle while you are losing weight, you could be losing muscle too along with the fat and that isn't good at all.

In nutshell.  If you want to lose weight and keep your body toned as you go along, you have got to hit the weights.  Lifting weights has become one of my favorite things to do.  Give it a try.

My Mother

Today is a special day.  A day to celebrate someone who has been a part of my life since the beginning of it.  Without this person I would not be who I am today.  I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for her. My mother is strong, beautiful, committed, loving and supportive.  

My mother taught me to love unconditionally.  She showed me what it meant to be committed and to always lean on God in every circumstance.  I am so grateful that she chose to stay home and be a mother to me and my brother and sisters.  She has always been such a great example to me in so many ways.

If it wasn't for my mom, I would not be the person I am today.  Thank you Mom for being so selfless and for loving me unconditionally.  Thank you for teaching me what it means to be a mom.  I appreciate you so much.  I love you.

Happy Birthday Mom!

      

Being Responsible

Matt and I had the opportunity to go out shopping and to dinner tonight without our children.  This is not a new thing, our kids staying home alone.  We started letting them stay home alone quit a while back.  Tonight was different though for one reason and one reason only.

We had a nice late afternoon of shopping at the Outlet Mall.  Matt found two new pair of tennis shoes.  One for working out/running and one for everyday wear.  I found a cute casual pair of sketchers that I had been wanting to get that just slip on with a strap across the top.  Matt also found a pair of casual pants that he really needed because his pants are starting to fall off.  Wouldn't want that to happen now would we?

After shopping we went to a place called the Cool Mint Cafe but they were full so we ended up at this new Thai place.  I forget the name.  When we finally finished dinner we headed home.  Now, when we left the house we had told the boys to be in bed by 8:00.  We do this every time we go out but they never seem to make it.  Matter of fact they are usually late by an hour.  So we were expecting to show up at home at 8:45 and find them still up.  We didn't stay out very late because of church the next day.

So here we come driving up to the house and it's dark inside.  No lights at all except for a nice glow from  Joshua's room from his night light.  We go inside and both of the boys are in bed with lights out.  I was so proud of them both.  But that is not all that happened tonight.  While we were at the restaurant eating, I think it was around 7:30 Sean called to ask if they could watch some Star Wars Clone Wars the TV show on the computer.  He could have just as easily of just done it but no.  He called and asked for permission.

What a night.  Our kids are becoming more responsible and I am so proud of them.  It is so nice to be able to trust them to do what they are suppose to do when we are away.  Way to go boys.

Health Nut

With all the changes that have come to our family these past three years I believe the most recent has been the most fun. I think I have officially been labelled a health nut. I am by no means perfect nor will I ever be but the physical health of my family has become a priority in my life.  Of course their spiritual health will always be at the top but that is not what we are talking about now.

One of the greatest things has recently come about.  My oldest son Sean has always dabbled with the idea of liking salad over the past year.  He would eat a little here and there.  Lately though he has become an all out salad lover.  His favorite salad is a mixed up nutty salad.  They serve it at Jason's Deli but is easy to create at home.  What it has in it is Romaine lettuce, some other mixed greens, grapes, raisins, cranberry's, sliced apple, walnuts, tomatoes, feta cheese and all drizzled with a balsamic vinaigrette.  We can fix him a huge plate of this salad and he will devour the whole thing.  It is rather delicious and Matt and I enjoy it too.

I am really proud of Sean and how he had adopted our new way of healthy living.  It just goes to show that even older kids can learn to like healthy foods.  If you have young kids start now with the healthy eating so they will learn as they grow and it will just be a normal part of their life when they are older.

Here's to yours and your kids health.

New Role

I've taken on a new role as speech therapist in our house. Joshua has been having problems with pronouncing the /th/ sound for quite a while.  I was hoping it might correct itself over time but it has not.  So now on a daily basis we will be having speech therapy.

One of the first things I need to do is determine which sound he is not articulating.  The voiced /th/ as in the word the or the unvoiced /th/ sound as in the word thanks.  Also, I need to determine if he is having problems with /th/ initial words, /th/ medial words, or /th/ final words.

Now, whether or not I can do this on my own without enlisting the help of a professional is yet to be determined.  I remember going to speech therapy in elementary for not being able to pronounce the \r\ sound.  So, I know the routine a little and there is tons of information on-line and some great books out there.  We will see what happens.

Consistency

I think one of the hardest things about being a parent is being consistent with your children.  I know for me it's like I go through these stages where I'm really consistent for a while and then gradually I slide right back into lazy parenting.  Parenting takes work and lots of it.  It's not a part time job that you can do sometimes and then other times you just checkout.  It is a total mind, body and soul, 24/7 job.  Throw into that the rest of your life and it can get pretty hectic.

Not only am I a parent but I have also taken on the role of teacher, among other things.  I homeschool our two boys which has turned out to be a true joy and a challenge at times.  One of my biggest challenges lately has been getting them to focus on their work and not want to talk to each other constantly about other things, like computer games for example.  So this week I have really been trying hard to be consistent with them on their punishment if they don't stay focused.  One thing I have done is remind them that school time is school time.  When they enter the "classroom" the rest of the world stays outside.  If they start talking about, say Starcraft, then they lose Starcraft for the day.  Now normally after school is all done and they have completed their daily chores they would get to have one hour of EPT(electronic playtime).  So you see how this is a good incentive.  This seems to be working well and I am hoping I can stick with it.

When it comes to parenting and teaching it is important to be organized and have a routine.  However, the most important part is to be flexible, have a tremendous amount of patience and pray a lot.

Weight loss update: Week 53

I have been loosing weight now for a year.  I have lost a total of 59.2 pounds as of today.  There have been times when I wonder if I will ever get to that end point.  Not sure exactly what that end point will be yet.  I've made small goals to reach and have reached all of them at a fairly good speed.

For the past few months things had slowed quite a bit.  Partly because of holidays and partly because I have not been putting as much effort into keeping my self on track as far as eating goes.  Not that I have gone back to eating all that processed garbage but have not been eating nearly as many vegetables as I used too.  

It is amazing the difference eating vegetable can make when you are trying to lose weight.  There is an actual pattern that I can follow.  The times when I have been very conscious about eating vegetables, the weight just falls off.  There are other times when I notice my vegetable eating has declined and I will either not lose anything or actually gain a little.  The funny part is that when I pick back up on the greens I lose it all back plus more.

This week for example what I call an up down week.  Lose a little, gain a little, lose a lot gain a little.  The past couple of days I have made a really good effort of eating more veggies and today it all paid off with a lose of 1.5 pounds which put me at my lowest weight.  I have to say right now that never at any time over the past year have I gained a lot of weight back.  Maybe a pound or a few ounces but only to lose it all back plus more.  Of course (sorry guys) some of those gains have been during that time of the month.  So most likely they were more water gain than anything.

I have noticed also over the year that when I haven't had much weight loss I have still been losing inches.  Since last January I have gone from a size 24W (plus size) to a size 16 ladies.  I no longer shop for clothes in the Women's (plus size) section.  Did you know that some stores don't even carry clothes over a size 16?  Just a little added trivia.

I set a goal to be at 199 by new years.  I am sad to say that I did not reach that goal.  However, I am currently at my lowest weight in I think 10 years.  I now way 204.8 pounds and I am hoping to reach that 199lb goal my the end of this month.

That is how things are going in a nutshell.  I hope someone finds this encouraging.  If you want to know what I am doing to lose weight and become a healthier me, just leave a comment and I will be happy to share that in another post.

Have a good day and God bless you all!

Practice What You Preach

Something has been bugging me lately.  I hear Christians all the time complain about how horrible media is and how it has just infiltrated our homes.  They make it sound like they have no say in whether or not those things are in there homes or not.  You see the thing is you do have a choice.  You could not watch them.  Or better yet just cut cable out of your life completely.

So, here's the question.  If this is how Christians feel, then why don't they do something about it instead of just continually complaining.  Why let your kids watch too much TV or spend too much time on the computer?  Why do we as adults come home from work and sit ourselves down in front of the TV and remain there for the rest of the night with the exception of eating?  Oh wait.  I forgot.  We eat in front of the TV too.

When was the last time you ate dinner at the table together as a family?  Do you eat dinner in front of the TV more than one night a week?  I can understand special Friday night movie nights.  But come on.  What ever happened to the good old family style meals where the family gathers around the dinner table and shares a meal together?  I'll tell you what happened to it.  We let the media and the world take it away from us.  Did you notice how I said let.

That's right.  We let the media fill our homes with all that garbage.  We are letting the media take family from us.  We are letting media influence us and our children.  If you don't like it then do something about it.  Everyone has heard the saying, "practice what you preach".  In other words if you are going to get on your soap box and gripe and complain about media and how horrible it is, then you better be willing to back those words up and actually take action.  Otherwise what you are saying doesn't mean a thing.

My challenge to you all is that if you feel this way about media, then do something about it.  Don't just preach about it.

Is God Stupid

I recently watched a youtube video by Sean Croxton titled Is God Stupid:  Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Chicken Skin. Basically the premise of this video was the thought that when God created all this food for us to eat he must have been stupid because the FDA, CDC, and most doctors and nutritionalist tell us to stay away from things that are naturally occurring in some foods, ie. saturated fat.  So what they are saying is that they know better than God.  He also made a great point when he stated that with all the processed foods, medicines etc. people just keep getting more sick.  All the foods that man has created are just making people sicker.  The medicines aren't helping people live longer, they are just keeping them alive longer.


Why do we continue listening to these people when what they are telling us to do isn't making things better but making things worse.  I encourage you to watch the video and make up your own mind.  Is God stupid?  Do we really know better than God?  Or are we just being fed a bunch of bull to get us to spend more money?

New Blog

Our church congregation has started a new ladies blog, Unveiled Before Christ that I am really excited about. Right now we have seven writers that write once a month on a Monday or Thursday. Yours truly is one of those writers. We hope to have some guest writers on at some point. Who knows maybe we might even occasionally have a special male guest writer.  They'd have to be pretty special though.;)

We have gotten off to a really good start with three wonderful posts that have been very encouraging. I can't wait to see where this will go. It has so much potential to be such an encouragement to so many. I hope that you will all visit us there and leave comments.

That's really all I have to say right now. Keep striving to be the best Christian you can be. Remember that the spirit of the Lord is always with you to guide you if you will let him.