Before & After (so far)

Well, I thought I'd write a little bit about my weight loss journey thus far. I even have a before & after picture, well current picture, I hope to have an even better after picture in the next couple of months. :)

I've been working out and eating better for almost 2 months now. My current work-out schedule consists of getting up EARLY in the morning to get 40-50 minutes of cardio/toning in via work-out videos (turbo jam & zumba). I then meet my momma and we go out for a 2 mile walk. We sometimes are able to get in another 2 miles in the evening with Chad and the kiddos. There is also random dancing in the house throughout the day. ;)

As of "eating better", I've been following weight watchers (kinda-sorta) and mostly just trying to make better choices: portion control, more water, more fruit & veggies (something I still really need to work on).

So far, I've lost about 12-15 pounds or so. I can't remember for sure what my weight was before I initially began, but I know it was much higher than I wanted it to be. ;) I've noticed that logging my food is really helpful for me and I've also been tracking pounds/inches lost every 10 days which is also really helpful because it shows that there is PROGRESS! :)

I've noticed that my energy level is higher and I feel so much better. I don't want to just be a lump on the couch, I want to be up and active and maybe, just maybe, our house is even a little cleaner than it has been in the past, maybe. ;) I'm currently wanting to do a warrior dash or something similar and I'm hoping to start incorporating running into my work-outs more. I've always hated running and I'd really like for that to chance.

Here is the photo... I'm really embarassed of the before picture. I know it's not a great comparison because I'm a little more turned in the before but I think the difference is still a little noticeable. I hope to have another one of these posts in a couple months or so with more pounds lost and an even better after photo.

Before picture was taken June 3rd, After picture was taken July 25th.

Lainee is 2!

Wow! Our Lainee bug is 2 and I can't even believe it. I think her birthday being so close to the 4th of July was meant to be because she is a FIRECRACKER! :) She is so many things and only on her terms, she is feisty, sweet, ornery, silly, funny, beautiful, happy, loveable, etc... the list could go on and on.

Right now, Lainee is learning to say more words. Developmentally, she is a little behind what KJ was at this point. She's has been a quicker developer physically while he was quicker cognitively. Physically, she's our little monkey. :) Like I said, she is learning to say a lot more words and we're trying to teach her to count and some ABC's. I'm really hoping to start doing pre-school again. She really enjoys jumping on the trampoline, playing with her big brother and loving on her little sister. She loves her sibs and they love her, too! Potty training is slowly in the works, not pushing it too hard just yet. And, one of my favorite things right now... Lately, while changing her and getting her dressed, she wraps her arms around my neck and says "Yuv you." Yeah, my heart melts every time. ;)

She is such a joy and I can't believe I've been blessed with such a special girl. Love her to pieces.






Here are some pictures from her birthday parties:

Sawyer's Birth Story (Only about 4 months later...)

I was scheduled to be induced with Sawyer on Friday night (March 11th). I figured I'd go in, they'd start up the pitocin and she'd arrive before midnight. Instead, my doctor decided to try cervadil which ended up being a much slower, but possibly easier (delivery-wise) process. I'm going to do a time-line similar to how I did with Lainee's birth. Since I'm such a terrible writer, it's a little easier to do it that way.

5:00-5:30PM: Arrival/Check-in

7:30- Doctor arrives, cervadil time.

7:30-1:30AM: Nothing was really happening which resulted in me being annoyed and upset that they just didn't do the pitocin so that things would have been moving. They figured I could rest but that is darn near impossible when you are tied up to machines/having to pee every 5 minutes and just extremely UNCOMFORTABLE! My mom also went home around 12:30 because I was pretty sure nothing was going to happen and I wanted to rest (they wouldn't let her in the room with us due to fire hazards :p).

1:30AM: Lo and behold, sending my mom home got the contractions started. ;) About an hour after she left, I definitely started feeling actul contractions kicked in and once they started, they got close and hard pretty quick. I would notice, as I paced the hallway, I would get a contraction as I reached the end of the hall each time. That told me they were pretty close and regular. So, I'd pace the hallway for a while, go back and lay down moaning (trying not to wake Chad but also secretly hoping that he would wake so I'd have company). haha BTW, the kiddos were home with Aunt Keesha during all of this.

3:30-4:00AM: They moved me to a L&D room, we called mom and they prepped me for an epidural. Like I said, once the contractions really got going- I was in PAIN and I always tell myself I'll try to go without an epi, but an all honesty- it feels SO good once that drug travels through my body that I really don't feel all of that guilty getting one. It makes things so much more enjoyable, IMO. Oh, and mom arrived right around the time I got the epidural.

4:00-9:00AM: I was able to rest once I got the epidural, so I tried to do a lot of that while things progressed. All of my nurses were great but that one I got Saturday morning was WONDERFUL! One of the sweetest people I had ever met and I was so thankful that she was there. Did I mention that she stayed beyond her shift to be there while I delivered? She's a traveling nurses so she works at various hospitals around the area- just such a wonderfully sweet lady.

By 9 or 9:30 or so, I was getting pretty close and I think it was around this time that Dr. Kimura came and broke my water- which always really gets things going for me. I want to say I was around a 6 or 7 at this point, but I really don't remember. Like I said, with the cervadil everything progressed much slower than they had in my previous labors.

10AMish: I was getting pretty close but they decided to continue to Sawyer come down on her own. They also thought she was face up because I was having back-to-back/double contractions (I think there may have been another name for it but I don't remember.) Also may have been a contributor to the slow progression. Because of Sawyer's position, we kept losing her heart rate on the monitor so there was a lot of twisting and turning on my part to try to keep her up on the screen.

11AM: Decided it was time to start pushing. I swear there were about 3 extra nurses in there in usual. I just remember laying there seeing a lot of people in the room and wondering why that was. ha Mom & Chad were still there with me and I couldn't have done it without them. I LOVE having mom & ovbiously Chad with me, they've been such a blessing in all three labors. Anyways, I think I pushed once and Sawyer arrived at 11:08 AM on March 12th. :) 7.8 pounds, 19.5 inches. Remember how I said the cervadil may have helped delivery-wise? Well, I think letting everything progess on its own and allowing Sawyer to come down, made it so much easier. I was shocked when she arrived after just one push, I was expecting A LOT more work. ;)

Anyways, that is a poorly written version of Sawyer's birth. I just realized that I'm not sure if I ever wrote KJ's down. I may have to do that before mommy brain takes over completely and I lost my memory altogether. ;) The Lord has sure blessed us with three beautiful, happy, healthy children and I am SO, SO thankful. :)

The one regret I have is that we never got any really good shots from right after Sawyer was born. :( We got plenty with our phones but I wish we would have snapped more with the regular camera like we did with the others. Here are a few pictures from L&D/the hospital.