I'm Losing It

As I approached the last two weeks in my 20's, I decided to get my mind set right and was determined to get on a lifestyle change that would help me kick this extra weight I've been carrying around. I started off last week trying out the 3 day military diet. I was skeptical to even try it because it claims you can lose 10 pounds in 3 days. Anytime you lose weight THAT fast, chances are you will not keep it off. At first my goal was to lose some weight...not 10 pounds although I do need to lose 10 pounds, but I decided not to make it about weight and make it about decreasing the amount of mello yello's I drink during the day. I struggle the most with this while I am at work. As stress piles on me I tend to get up and get a mello yello to give me that extra humph that I need to make it through the day. I knew this diet was going to be hard and technically I started cheating from the start because your two choices of drink are coffee or tea. I didn't have any tea made and I didn't want coffee. I told myself I would have one mello yello and then drink nothing but water. Here is what the first day looks like:

I also didn't have all the foods I needed so I had to improvise, which also is something you shouldn't do because the foods they have chosen works with the chemical reaction your body has in breaking it down so it won't hold as much fat. I did surprisingly well during the first day. I actually had to break my dinner up because I was so full I could not eat it. Day 1 I only got hungry at one point and that was the stretch from lunch to dinner. Day 2 and Day 3 is where I struggled...no more caffeine, strictly water to drink. I managed to get through day 2 but day 3 I just didn't have it in me. I do think I slimmed a tiny bit from what I did do because I was drinking a lot of water and was only having 1.5 soft drinks a day. I felt like I needed something that let me have the foods and drinks I wanted and when I wanted them. I have done weight watchers in the past...like 8 years ago and it did work. I went ahead and signed up for it online last Wednesday night. It hasn't even been a full week, but I can already tell that I have at least lost some inches. No, I don't mean literally lost inches but I have slimmed down. Pants that were starting to feel tight are no longer feeling that way. I am almost to the point now to where if I could get my stomach toned back up I might actually be able to get back in a two piece. I mean I have a long way to go before that actually happens but it's amazing to me how far I've already come. The best part about it is it is SO hard not to cheat. You get weekly points as well as your daily, so if you go over your daily points you start eating into your weekly points. You won't gain weight if you use your weekly points, you will just maintain your current weight. My first real day on it I ended up eating into my weekly points, but it was only because a silly salad without dressing was 30 points by itself plus my guesstimated amount of dressing I did use cost me 4 points so 34 points. I didn't feel bad about it though because I hadn't eaten very much. I woke up still feeling slimmer and I knew I was going to be happy with this plan. I know this isn't for everybody, but it works so good for me. For the most part I am only having one soft drink a day, however, if I need another one I can but it will cost me 5 points. I don't find myself hungry throughout the day. I have noticed my appetite has already shrunk too because the frozen meals they have I used to still be hungry after I ate, but now I do good to eat a whole one in one sitting. I can eat half a meal and be stuffed. It's all about the choices you make...you can go for that yummy hamburger over there, but it's not going to stay with you for very long and you will use up all your points, or you could go with that baked chicken and vegetables that will not use up a lot of points and keep you full. I am a huge pasta lover and I will go ahead and admit that on my 30th birthday, which is coming up, I will be indulging in some Olive Garden that will send me over my points the entire day plus some of my weekly points. I've already looked up what my points will be for what I eat. Here is the breakdown: The yummy salad is only 2 points. The breadstick is 4 points. The chicken alfredo....30 or 33 points. Plus the coke I will probably drink...a gazillion points lol. A 12 ounce is 4 points. A grand total of 43 points. My daily allowance is 26 points so I will almost use up half of my weekly points. I do have a plan for this day though. I will choose not to eat until I get there and I plan to do portion control and eat maybe a quarter of the alfredo and I hope I can make myself drink water, but I hate ordering water in restaurants because it's tap water and I can taste the chlorine...yuck! Anyways, I think you get the point. I don't know if I've lost weight or not because I don't keep a scale in the house nor do I care to step on one. I'm going off of how I feel and how my clothes fit to tell if it's working or not and it is! Here is how the app looks:

As a little tip I just wanted to point out that I think this go round with weight watchers has been easier for me than it was last time because I started a diet prior to joining. The last time I joined I had a point allowance of 29 and they did not count carbs. Now I only have 26 points and they do count carbs. It does make it harder because I love my carbs, but so far I've been fortunate in not feeling hungry and being able to stick with it. This could all change a month down the road, but in the few days I've been on it it's been great. I love that I get to decide what I want to eat and when I want to eat it. I love that I can still have candy or cake or soft drinks if I really want them, but I have to live with the consequences of possibly being hungry due to having no more points. I hope this time next year I am still feeling good about where I am going with my health and weight and will at least be close to my pre-pregnancy weight/body because I can tell the changes my body has already made in preparation of turning 30 and it just loves to hold on to everything :)

Night Sky

If you've been reading my blog, you know Maddy has woken up many times in the middle of the night letting out blood curdling screams. If you've been reading my blog you know Maddy, like most toddlers, despise bed time. The older she gets the worse her fear/anxiety gets. Here lately she has been wanting her door open and the hall light on. In her defense I will say her room is extra dark and as an adult I myself want some kind of light in there. I meant to grab a night light at the store but totally forgot. In the mean time I had been giving her my flashlight, which she loved, but she keeps it on all night so by morning there is no battery left. I don't know about you all but I certainly can't afford to buy two batteries for 365 days. I decided to look on Amazon to see what they had because I knew they could ship it faster than if I waited for the weekend. I had planned on going with the kind you plug in the wall and even started preparing her for it. I stumbled across one that caught my eye. It's a Kinderglo portable night light and comes in different animals. It is SO neat! I got it today and she is LOVING her new light.

These are the different kinds. We got the moon one...it's actually called "Quarter Moon." I chose that one because she could easily carry it or hold it. It also changes different colors, but it isn't too bright. I was actually worried it wouldn't be bright enough but it's just perfect. I just went to go check on her and she was all kicked back in her bed with her light right beside her.

Not a great picture I know but you get the point. She calls it her night sky and I thought that was adorable :)

Birthday Fun

My niece's birthday is February 1. I felt so bad for her because with my other niece she had to wait over a month to celebrate her birthday due to sickness in the family. I joked with my older niece and asked her if she was sure she didn't want to postpone her party. She laughed but quickly said NO! Well, her original party did get delayed due to more sickness in the family. We finally had her party today and it was a blast! We used our church's indoor play area. All the kids had a blast.

After our time was up the whole family packed up and headed to Ichiban, a Japanese restaurant. I guess I should have added that I chose to start the military 3 day diet today because I didn't realize we were going to eat. I had done so good all day until dinner. Looks like I will be starting my day 1 again on Monday :)

Maddy is so scared of the fire when the get the grill going. I was hoping she had grown out of that, but it petrifies her. Now all she is talking about is the fire lol. She seemed to like all her food. She even made her own concoction that was disgusting! She poured the white sauce into the soup and actually ate it saying it was yummy. Yuck!

What you can't tell from this picture is the meltdown we had prior to this. She has had no nap today on top of playing her heart out for two straight hours on top of waiting 20-30 minutes before we could even sit down. She kept telling me she was ready to go eat. All I had on me was candy and she was starving and tired. She was banging her fork on her plate, on the table, on the menu, and then ended up poking me. I did not let her keep banging her fork due to germs and her possibly breaking the plate. She then wouldn't sit down in her seat and then she just lost it. My uncle had an extra pack of goldfish on him and that got her to eventually calm down. I told her she could pour them out on her plate and use her fork to eat them because the whole fit stemmed from her not being able to have her fork. It was rather interesting and felt like all eyes were on us.

She liked the soup, but it was a bit spicy for her. She wanted to eat it though. She also tried the salad, but she got a big glob of ginger dressing and I'm sure it didn't taste too good.

This happened soon after the fire. She sat like that for the longest time. She then watched a little more as the chef caught an egg in his pocket and then cooked. She wanted to get down because she was so tired, so my step dad cuddled with her.

Once it was time to leave she decided she wanted to climb back in her seat and eat. I finally was able to convince her to put the rest in a box to take home. Yes, I did let her eat lol. She was playing with her soup concoction but did not want to put her food up. Needless to say when we got home she went straight to bed. I let her play computer in bed on Friday and Saturday nights. Tonight she played only a few minutes before I heard it turn off and all has been quiet. Now it's time for me to clean and hopefully get some decent sleep :)

A Day In My Life

I actually did this last year. It was a lot more awkward to do than I thought lol. I was still living at home with my mom and step dad, so that made it even more awkward. Me and Maddy now have our own place and our lives are different. I'm going to write out a normal week day schedule, then post the video I made last year to help make this post not so boring.

Unfortunately I do not have the privilege to be a stay at home mom. That has been THE hardest thing for me to let go of. I am, however, so very thankful God has provided a job for me and He has continued to provide for our needs along the way. I generally keep my alarm set for 6:45 a.m. I am a work at home employee, so I am able to start my day later than if I had to work in the office. I am also very thankful for this  opportunity. I rarely actually make it up at 6:45 a.m. I tend to get up anywhere from 7:30-7:50 a.m. I always run myself late because we really need to be out the door by 8:30 a.m. I wake Maddy up the second I get up. I always tell her good morning and give her hugs. I then get her clothes ready for the day while she goes potty. She is very talkative once she is fully awake and talks nonstop. Once she is dressed we go into the living room and turn on the tv. She loves having waffles for breakfast, so that is what we stick with. Once her waffles are done I get her chocolate milk and brush her hair. By this time it's around 8:10 a.m. Once she is all ready I get myself ready and Maddy gets her an animal to sleep with. I do not worry with make up because I am not a morning person and would rather have my sleep as opposed to getting all dressed up for nothing lol. I brush my teeth and my hair and then throw on some comfy clothes. We do pretty good to get out the door by 8:25 a.m. It takes roughly 25-30 minutes to get to her daycare. I always dread dropping her off because here lately she has THE worst separation anxiety. She will take my keys and not give them back, or she won't take off her jacket, or she won't put her animal in her cubby because she knows if she doesn't do that I can't leave. The routine at school is they put their stuff up and the parents help them wash their hands and then say their goodbyes. Here lately I am unable to get her to wash her hands and her teacher has to get her off me and let me leave before they can get her hands washed. It is so hard leaving like that, but I know she is ok once I leave. After I drop her off I go back to work. I generally log in around 9:30 a.m. I am an hourly employee so I have time to get in. I am also on year round overtime usually so my work week ends up being 48-50 hours year round. I am thankful for the money, but it is so exhausting! I don't get to take a normal lunch because I spend my lunch time taking Maddy to daycare. I work until 5:15 p.m. and then fix her a snack and drink and go pick her up. I usually arrive at her daycare around 5:45 p.m. and she is SO excited to see me. She always asks what I brought her to eat in the car. I've learned not to tell her until she is buckled in her car seat because there have been times I told her inside daycare and she just pitched a fit because it wasn't what she wanted. We get home around 6:15 p.m. and I fix her dinner and she watches tv. Once she eats I go back to work. When she gets done eating she usually plays until time for bed. Her bed time is 7:30 p.m. We read a book and rock and then she hops into bed. I generally start working again by 8:00 p.m. depending on how long it takes to get her in bed. I work from 8-10 p.m. I either clean or work out or do nothing when I am done with work. I typically don't get into bed until midnight.

Reward Day

I'm still trying to figure out this whole "spirited child" thing. Whether you have a spirited kid or not I firmly believe in positive reinforcement. That's where the whole pinterest idea comes into play. I started the coin system with Maddy on Monday night. The problem I had is I knew if she had to wait until the whole bag filled up she would lose interest. I remembered the system we had in place with the student I used to work with. His mom brought in a lot of prizes to put in a chest and we called it his treasure chest. If he earned a sticker everyday during the week he could get a prize. I have decided for now that is what Maddy needs. It's attainable and she loves earning her coins. Instead of waiting for the bag to fill up or for part of the bag to fill up I decided if she got at least one coin a day she could earn a prize. I'm not made of money and I can't afford to go buy up a bunch of toys at once to stick in a chest. I'm going to look in consignment sales and my mom is going to help out some. Then at the end of the month if she has at least 31 coins I will take her to the toy store and let her pick out something there...within budget of coarse lol.

She did so well this week! I was amazed at how different she was being. I still have a lot to learn but what I've learned so far has been working. She even stayed home one day this past week and she was borderline going into melt down mode, but I was able to pull her out of it before she began. I told her if she earned her coin on Friday that she could go to the toy store to get her surprise. She did earn her coin, so when I picked her up we headed straight to Toys R Us. I gave her some choices in the car and at first she said play dough then she changed her mind and wanted a Donald movie. I really didn't want her to choose a movie so once we got in the store I tried pointing out things and she decided she wanted a new game for her "computer" (leap pad 2). She looked at all the games and then chose a Dora one.

I really wanted her to choose play dough because it's a good calming activity for when she starts to boil up, but it was her decision and this is what she chose. She needed a new game for her computer. It was starting to get boring lol. This game is a bit difficult for her and I figured it would because it's for ages 4-7. She picked up on it pretty fast, but still needed help navigating a little bit.

The book that I'm reading helps parents have a different mind set and really helps them understand what is going on. I did a pretty good job this week myself and decided I should reward myself too lol. I'm an avid movie lover. Have been for a long time. I fell in love with Lady and the Tramp (so did Maddy) that I wanted to start building up my Disney collection. I researched what Disney movies are best for Toddlers because I know most of them have scary scenes. The next movie I was going to buy was Cars. I love that movie. Toys R Us has really dwindled down their movie selection and Blu-Ray was even worse. I really like getting the Blu-Ray/DVD combo. I had to rethink what movie I would get. I have yet to see Horton Hears a Who and they had that on DVD. I had it in my hand until I found the Disney collection. I had such a hard time deciding...there was Mary Poppins, Toy Story, Cars, Fox and the Hound, and others. I had Maddy help me decide. She chose Fox and the Hound. I started to get a second movie, but decided I really wanted to wait to get the Blu-Ray combo. The Fox and the Hound was a good decision because it included the first movie and the second movie for the same price as one movie cost. Sure, I'd rather have it on Blu-Ray combo but it's such a sad movie to me that I'm okay only having a DVD copy lol. I love Todd and Copper and the message behind it is great. I just don't like that Todd's mother gets killed :( Then there's the scene where Tweed decides to release Todd into the forest and he's all alone once again. I seriously feel so sad.

I told my mom which movie I got and that I would be crying all night cause it makes me so sad. She told me to watch a video I had shown her that is HILARIOUS!

I'm sure most of you have seen this by now, but I think it's just hilarious. I had to watch it in the middle of the movie and it instantly made me forget about the movie. I know...why get the movie if it makes me sad? I love the movie and I want Maddy to enjoy it. She had already seen it at church. There is a scary part in it, but Lady and the Tramp has a scary part too and she does ok. I just know I can't get The Little Mermaid for a while because Ursula might look like a monster to Maddy. I cannot WAIT to get more Disney movies...they are classic!

Dreams In the Making

This is a post for me to have to look back on. It has to do with my dream of going in the daycare business. It's amazing how God works everything out. Never in a million years would I think it would go in the direction it was going. I won't be too specific just yet for a couple of reasons. I met a good friend roughly 9 years ago...I can't remember when I started working as a paraprofessional. She had worked in a daycare setting before, but she said it wasn't really for her. As life happens we ended up going our separate ways. We didn't stop being friends, but when I left my job we just didn't couldn't get our schedules together to hang out. She was newly married and we were just on different paths. I found out November 2008 that she was finally expecting her first child. I remember that phone conversation as if it were yesterday. I don't remember everything that was said, but I remember being in the front bedroom of the house I was renting pacing back and forth. I remember telling her it's a shame we couldn't be pregnant together. Little did I know just two to three months later I would find out I was pregnant with my first. Our lives got back on the same track and we kept in touch and talked pregnancy and baby talk. We met up a time or two after the kids were born but our lives got so hectic talking was so far and in between. I don't remember the date although if I would take the time to look back through my blog I could figure it out because I went home and blogged about it without saying out right what I was talking about. It was sometime last year we met at Chili's and she told me she was pregnant with twins. I was an emotional wreck that day and just lost it. I could not stop crying. I felt so bad because her huge smile quickly turned into worry thinking she had upset me. I remember leaving that day and immediately called my mom on the way home and lost it with her too. She talked to me and pointed out that somehow my friend was going to play a part in my daycare dream. I agreed in the moment, but as months went on I dismissed it because nothing was happening. Out of nowhere I get a text from her this past Friday ( February 15) asking about daycare stuff. Once again the tears started to come, but I held them back. I was so excited to have gotten that text that I was bouncing off the walls. Yeah, if you read my "Spirit" post you will understand when I say I think I may have been a "spirited" child myself lol. I really don't know what God has planned as far as this goes, but right now I am being taken down a path. I see hope for my dream turning into a reality and honestly going into business with my friend would a blessing. It's not something that will happen this year and there are definitely some concerns with finances but it's like I told her if this is what God wants the finances will be taken care of. God works in mysterious ways for sure and I'm excited to see how this story plays out :)

Valentine's Day 2013

Maddy had a great Valentine's Day. I woke her up and immediately handed her her presents. I felt so bad for her because she had stayed up real late the night before and was still so sleepy. I walked in and was a bit surprised at how I found her.

She was completely sideways with her legs hanging off. It was quite cute, although I'm sure as she gets older she will be quite embarrassed of this picture lol. She also had some serious bed head...

She loves to turn the light on and put it up against her ear. It makes a vibrating sound. She is having a hard time hearing. She's not deaf, but you have to talk kind of loud for her to hear you. I've tested it out and my normal talking voice she can not hear. There are times she will ask me to tell her in her ear. Yeah, I'm calling the doctor for an appointment soon. 

I thought this cup was so neat. I really wanted it to be Mickey Mouse but beggar's can't be choosers :)

This little guy sings a song...I can't remember the name of it but the word higher is in there lol. As the song sings the giraffe goes up to show the "I love you" hearts then goes back down. It's pretty cute!

Of coarse Valentine's Day is not complete without a heart full of chocolates.

 This is her school Valentine's box. Last year we had to make the box at home. This year we just had to supply the box and then they decorated it in class. It was cute and I love the idea of making the hole bigger.

 As you can see she racked up on Valentine's.

 That was a clever one that I thought was neat.

 I couldn't leave Manny out. Poor buddy just got extra lovin since he can't really have any treats. I think he was ok with the extra love though :)