8 Week Weight-Loss Challenge! part 2

9/30:
Today was the final weigh-in. We had to do a video like we did for the first weigh-in so you won't wear a big winter coat (or holding a baby...) and then you "magically" get lighter each week. I have been enjoying getting to the gym as much as the week would allow me (or rather Chris' schedule so he could watch the kids). I have found myself being able to listen to my body better to know when I am full and not to kill myself during my workouts (I had knee surgery about a year and a half ago). I have gone down a full pant size in 3 different cuts of jeans (at Old Navy) and have a good handle on how to keep going in this journey because it is far from over. I am planning what I'm going to eat each day better calorically so I won't be stuck in a bad situation ("bad" being over my allotted calories) especially if I know I'm going to be going out to eat that night or for lunch- I plan my day according to my best knowledge of what I will be doing. I have lost inches from my thighs, neck, chest, waist, and arms: thigh- 2.5 inches, neck- 1.25 inches, chest- 3.5 inches, waist- 2.25 inches, and arms- 1 inch. I have lost a total of 21.8 lbs during this weight loss challenge but over the last 3 years (not including the weight at the end of my pregnancies but the highest I've been after the babies) I have lost almost 40 lbs. This is the lightest my husband has seen me since we've been together the last 5 1/2 years. I had reached my first goal during this challenge, which was the lightest I was after I got home from my mission. I passed that during the last 3 weigh-ins. Now I'm on to my next goal of my weight when I entered the MTC (which is less than 20 lbs away). Here are my before and after pictures:

I hope to continue on this journey but I won't be able to be in the next group due to travel. I am so grateful for my friend to have approached me to be in her first group because I was ready for it. I know it's not going to be easy for me as I soon approach the end of nursing as well (so less extra calories burned) but I know I have a great support here.

8 Week Weight-Loss Challenge! part 1

8/9: The beginning
I have decided to embark in an eight week weight-loss challenge (because I know I need it) with a group online. It was perfect timing because I had just started getting to the gym the week before and knew that I wanted to lose some weight for a variety of reason. Let me share with you my reasons:
1. I'm almost done nursing so my limitations as far as leaving Declan with a sitter are much better.
2. For my birthday present, I asked Chris if he could commit to watching the kids so I could start going to the gym more (more being more than once ever) and he said he would.
3. Chris and I have discussed my knee issues and have a goal weight in mind that I need to be less than before I should have the doctor do an MRI to see if loosing some of this weight will help it or have no impact.
4. Going to the gym makes me feel like I have something of my own to enjoy outside of the home.
5. I've had blood work done and have been told that everything looks great (a little low on vitamin D) and all they really think I need to do is loose some weight.
6. I know I've been successful before in my attempts to loose weight (and then I end up pregnant- which is NOT something we want right now) and I feel like it's a good time.
7. I'll finally be using the gym we've been paying for since just a month before I was pregnant with Declan and out of commission (being sick).
8. Prize money. Oh well. It's motivation :)

9/14: The Middle
WOW! This has been a fun journey so far. There have been some great challenges within the group like drinking 90 fl oz or half your weight in fluid ounces (I opted for the 90 fl oz) and walking or running or biking a 5K (which is SO easy since I've mostly been going on the bike at the gym). We were asked towards the middle (as a reminder) that we should take measurements. I really regret not doing that at the beginning of the challenge only because within the past 3-4 weeks I've seen some AMAZING results. As of tonight, I'm down 14.8lbs, 1 inch off my waist, 1.5 inches off my hips, 2 inches off my thighs, half an inch off my arm, 1 inch off my neck, and 1.5 inches off my chest. It feels amazing. I went to the gym this morning and didn't push myself hard (but still burned 420 calories with the resistance up to 13) and biked 2.3 miles to the park and back with Chris and the kids. Part of that was up hill so Chris kicked my trash on the bike ride even though he had 50 lbs of kids in the trailer plus the trailer. The challenge ends on the 30th of September so we'll see how I finish this bad boy off. I've been using myfitnesspal to track calories I'm eating and burning. Weighing in holds me accountable for each week because I've paid to be in this group and am currently ranking #3 (including the facilitator who can't win the prize money, which would put me at #2 then). I met with a dietician on Tuesday and she was impressed that I've been so consistent with my weight loss each week (about 2lbs a week except week 1 when it was 5). She said the only things to really tweak if I wanted was keeping up on fluids and more non-starchy veggies or carbs. It was so nice to get a pat on the back from someone who helps people work on this for a living. I am 2 lbs away from my lightest weight since dating Chris 5 1/2 years ago. After I hit that goal, my next goal is my reporting to the MTC weight. I feel like I have two end goals- I have a weight goal and a size goal. I know they're attainable and that I'm doing this the smart healthy way to loose this weight for good.

Favorite new family photos!

I hope you enjoy these as much as I do! Our friend, Amanda, has been doing our family pictures these last two times and we love it. She is a joy to work with.

Declan Crawling!

Finally caught on video! He did it for my father in-law yesterday while on FaceTime, which was a great treat since he had heart surgery on Wednesday. We think he's been crawling like Penny did walking- behind our backs when we weren't looking. He's got some interesting motivation as you see in the video. He gets around the room pretty well and fast if he sees something he wants. If there's no motivation, he just sits or is on his tummy and cries/complains.

Do I even need to say he has an obsession with cups and things that may contain anything he thinks he might want? Enjoy. I'll try to post the second video a little later.

Hand Foot Mouth Disease...

Well, by the title of this post you may gather that it's going to be about our adventures with this wonderful disease (I hope you sense my sarcasm). On the week of the fourth of July we received an email from nursery about another child who had just gotten hand foot mouth disease. At first, we felt a little lucky that she was in the younger nursery and thought nothing more of it but reviewed the information about it. Penny first showed symptoms after church on the 7th, having a fever of 102.5 after her nap. We gave her some tylenol (not a full dose hoping that it was just a random fever) and thought nothing of it. We then went to the park on Monday and Tuesday with friends and came home early after the Tuesday park day due to Penny's potty training and a lack of bathroom at the park. Wednesday morning, we noticed some bumps on her legs and initially thought that maybe they were zits and she just needed a bath. As I put her in the bath and Chris went to work, I noticed they weren't just on her legs. There were quite a few on her bum and a couple on the heel of her foot and two on her fingers. We knew at that point we wanted a doctor to take a look and confirm what we already knew. Penny had gotten it one way or another. I then sent out a follow-up email to let everyone know in the nursery that Penny had gotten it even though she was not in the same nursery as the one who had sent the initial email. I am grateful that it hasn't effected her potty training except for the lack of knowledge to see if she'll be potty trained if we leave the house. We've been stuck in the house for a week now. I went ahead to Church on Sunday without Chris or Penny but took Declan with me and a thing of hand sanitizer. Chris at that point had only had a fever that spiked up Saturday night into Sunday morning but had broken before I left so I felt okay about the two of them staying at home together. Sunday afternoon and into the early evening, Chris' fever spiked again and we called our home teacher and a friend over to give Chris a blessing. We warned them before hand that Penny was still contagious, which is why we chose them as they both do not have any kids at this time, and told them to both use the hand sanitizer we had on hand afterwards so they wouldn't spread any germs. Chris' fever finally broke on Monday during the day but we had already decided that he wasn't going to work (fever at 99 degrees still). Then Tuesday came (yes, a day later), and he noticed right away the spots on his hands and sores on his mouth. I did a big grocery run on Monday without the kids to stock up on things we needed and then on Tuesday for some medicine for Chris. Thankfully, Declan and I haven't gotten this annoying disease. We were waiting for Penny's sores to just scab over so that she's not contagious anymore but she has a picking problem (like her mom as Chris would say) but they got much better on her bottom. I think the most annoying part is waiting it out (in the house for the most part) and being a bit frustrated that we had only heard about the one case of it going around in nursery and then finding out there were more kids than we knew that had gotten in within the last two months. This isn't the first thing Penny had caught being in nursery and I'm sure it won't be the last (although I would hope as she moves on from nursery at the end of the year). The pediatrician was hopeful that Declan won't get it because I'm still nursing and have been around Penny this whole time (and are truly amazed he hasn't because of how much he's been drooling). It was amazing to find out how this effects young kids, older kids, adults, and pregnant women. Younger kids tend to have more bumps from the waist down but still get some on their hands, older kids may not get all the symptoms (either having a fever or getting the spots), some adults can have the same full on symptoms as young kids (like Chris did/does with fever and spots), and pregnant women are more likely to have a miscarriage if they are exposed to anyone with this disease. Now that it's passed, I feel relieved with no more sickies in the house. Be warned of this crazy disease that swoops around with no warning.

Penny's first haircut/bangs

Well, we finally did it. She has bangs now. It's been hard to keep her hair out of her face (even ask the nursery workers that do her hair after we drop her off). It was interesting to get some hair perspective about her hair because her hair sweeps to one side but it doesn't fall to the sides like normal. From the middle to the front, the hair just falls to the front/forward so the friend who cut it told me how we can start training her hair to fall normally and that she has a daughter whose hair does the exact same thing still. It was great! Penny didn't freak out or anything like that. It was just hard to keep Penny still during the hair cut and to take these photos of her bangs. I had to crop them because while at home we just keep her naked for potty training purposes. So, without further ado, Penny's bangs!

 

 

 

Potty Training

Day 1- Well, I think we thoroughly scared her. Not completely though. I never realized how much learning about bodily functions would scare a two year old. She's getting the hang of it (kind of). After the first part of the morning, she didn't like just sitting on the potty watching movies. We checked on a friend's pet while they're away and she stayed dry the whole time. She did have some accidents, which is to be expected. We let her be outside for part of the day so if she didn't make it at least it wouldn't happen on the carpet. She wore panties for her nap and slept in Chris' chair and didn't have an accident at all! Penny's success rate was about 60-70%. No poop at all.

Day 2- Penny is not freaking out so much now. We put her on the potty first thing after she was up and here's what the conversation was: "What am I doing?" "Are you peeing?" "I'm doing it on my own. Dump it out!". What a great start to the morning. She had a better success rate and pooped twice in the potty. She is starting to enjoy flushing the big toilet when we dump it out.

Day 3- We made her go potty before Church and put a pull-up on her durning Church. During Church, she asked 2 times to go potty. She'd never been on a big potty before so she was a bit scared to say the least. I had to hold her with a big hug. She went 2 times on the potty at Church and then didn't make it once. We don't know if she needed to go during nursery because no one got us. I think we'll have to just pull her out every 30 mins or so until she can tell someone besides us. She LOVES flushing the potty. After Church, she went on the potty a few times without prompting from us and went. Sometimes she had gone and we didn't know until she would say "Dump it out". No poop today. I hope she doesn't get constipated. She did have a little fever after her nap but was still able to get up from laying on the floor to sit on the potty and go. Little accomplishments!

Day 4- She had 2 accidents but was aware that she needed to get to the potty and just didn't get there fast enough. Penny stayed dry for her nap again in panties, which is amazing to me because she takes one LONG nap (2-3 hours). Talked to the pediatrician today to see how long it's ok for her to go without a bowel movement- Kids have resilient bodies; I was told it can be up to a week and that's "normal" unless you can tell the child is in pain. All the fun things you learn when having a little one learning about themselves.