2018 is done and I'm couldn't be happier!

The saying goes, New Year, New You.  Well for 2019 I'm embracing that wholeheartedly!  This is going to take many twists because this post is going to be more of a brain dump than anything else....

2018 overall was a pretty bad year for me.  There were plenty of highlights but the overall tone would be described as sucky.  I spent the majority of the first quarter of the year dealing what was finally diagnosed as walking pneumonia.  I had this awful barking cough that stopped me from doing pretty much anything except laying around because any activity would send me into a tailspin!  

The Spring and Summer were pretty good, I did a trip to Boone for our wedding anniversary in May.  At the end of July I took a trip out to California for the annual Multiples of America convention.  I went with a few of my favorite people from Triangle Parents of Multiples and met up with some amazing women for a few days of fun, food, wine, and sightseeing before the convention began, we had SO much fun!  While at the convention I was again elected to serve Multiples of America as the Research Vice President which I do enjoy!  

In July I had my yearly physical and with how I'd been feeling I knew something had to be up.  When I met with my doctor we discussed my blood work that was 100% awful.  Every number was bad!  I left with a diagnosis of pre-diabetes and a blood sugar monitor.  SAS has a pre-diabetes program that I worked with starting in August.  The program involved meeting with a nutritionist, nurse, trainer, and therapist and working through several appointments to learn the changes I needed to implement to help bring that all down!  I'm happy to say that in October I had repeat blood work and everything was drastically down and I had completed the program.  Based on the numbers I'm still pre-diabetic but everything is trending down and I'm closer to the boarder of normal at this point than I was, so I'll take that win.

August was a whirlwind of travel and craziness of the consignment sale.  While I was gearing up for a well deserved Labor Day vacation at the beach I got some news that shocked me to my core and made me question what I know about everyone close to me.  I don't want to go into all the details here but lets just say the boys got to take a trip to the police station to make a report with me about someone embezzling a lot of money from an organization that means everything to me.  It's felt like a personal attack and I've had some soul searching to do in addition to getting an up close and personal experience with the justice system in Wake county.  It seems like the last few months have been consumed in the situation and what it means for our organization.  This happened from someone in my inner circle and I hate the way it's made me feel.  I am looking over everything in my life and trying to remember that not everyone I know is a lying thief but it's so hard!

The holiday season went wonderfully, I think that with Thanksgiving being earlier it gave me a sense of calm for the season that I don't normally have as I rush around from party to party to activity!

For those that may not know the boys are now completely registered to start kindergarten in the fall!  With that I knew that I'd need to start thinking about returning to work.  I've been thinking about my passions as well as what has made me happy over the last 5 years since I left the world of working outside the house.  Cooking always brings me happiness but I have no desire to do that professionally so I had to think about something that would help me combine my education and passions.  Over the last several years my favorite thing has been working with other moms of twins to help them find their groove with their new little loves.  I started thinking about how I could use my child development background and this new passion.  I decided to look into the idea of being a postpartum doula.  For those that may not know what that is it is someone trained to come in and help support new mothers after birth with learning about breastfeeding and maybe getting a little rest while someone else handles the baby.  They can work during the day or be at your house to support the baby while the family sleeps.  They also help families work through finding routines that work for their family and learn how to embrace the new tiny family member or in the case of multiples members.  I've spent the last few weeks researching stuff needed for that certification as well as gathering books to read for the required reading list.

I'm really excited about what 2019 will hold and can't wait to see!  It's going to be a year of changes for me and our family but they should all be great!  

The boys have embraced the new year too, they decided that new years means "you try new things you've never tried before" so they are switching beds and car seats.  It's really cute to watch them learn all of these new things!

Happy New Year, and if you've made it this far I'm impressed!

Embracing Sensory Play

So at an event the other week the boys played and played with some sensory bins full of corn kernels, black beans and other fun messy things.  Then we went to an open house at the school I use to teach at and one of the classrooms had their sensory table open with corn kernels, once again love.  When you combine all of that with how much they love sand when out at the park I figured it's time to embrace sensory play.

On Sunday morning I decided to make some colored oats, I found the process here.  They are beautiful and since it was a rainy and cloudy weekend there wasn't any sun so they took a few extra days to dry.  

Yesterday I made it my goal to bring in one of our water tables and clean it.  With that taken care of I mixed the pretty oats with some black beans and let the boys play until their hearts were content.  They played for an hour, and would have kept playing if I hadn't needed to clean the kitchen to start dinner!

The best part is that they are in a love to help phase and I recently bought them brooms and dustpans to help sweep.  They gladly helped clean their mess after playing for an hour!

Until Next Time! 

Updates

This last 2.5 months have been INSANE!  Between weddings, travels, car troubles and sickness we have just not had much time at home.  The last time I wrote was my 2 months mark into Herbalife, I am now at 4 and a half months and I can say the last two months of insanity have led to a point of holding on the weight loss, I had been down 20 pounds and over the course of the last two months I had floated between my 20 down and only 14 down.  I am recommitting to my journey and I am at 18 down total!  The good news is starting this time I already know what I have to do so I just need to start!

Life with my little maniacs is crazy, busy and we are always on the Go Go Go!  They are really starting to talk and make their needs and desires known.  Their little personalities are really coming out too which is awesome!  However, we have entered the world of temper tantrums.

I have experience with this age and have experienced these temper tantrums before but I tell you experiencing it with your own children is really and truly another world!  Take yesterday for example, as a teacher I knew weeks where there is a lot of rain will drive everyone insane.  As mommy yesterday's tantrum at breakfast because he couldn't have more banana because there were no more bananas threw me for a loop!  Thankfully we were able to break out yesterday for a walk and again this morning for a trip to the children's museum so everyone seems to have gotten over their cabin fever!  I will be putting some effort into making some awesome rainy day materials to pull out the next time it becomes  needed!

2 months of a Healthier Me

So I started two months ago today on my Herbalife 3 day trial, I lost 6 pounds in that first three days and was hooked!  Since my last entry I have had a lot happening.  Every weekend it seemed like there was something that was determined to derail my progress through the week so I made it my goal to just not gain any pounds over the weekends.  Well then our week at the beach hit and of course it is vacation and I let myself enjoy it, I gained back 2 pounds as of my weigh in on Monday (7/13).  I have been slightly bummed all week about that but didn't let it change my plan to jump back in full force!  I just did my 2 month weigh in here at home and have lost a total of.....drumroll.....20 pounds since May 18th!

I am over the moon excited!  I absolutely 100% believe in the Herbalife products and want everyone who reads this to know I am literally only doing the shakes and vitamins.  I walk occasionally with the boys but I have not drastically changed and become some workout guru.  I feel amazing and have more energy than I have ever had before!  I have total 100% control over my appetite which is amazing because I can usually control my portions because I am just not craving as large of portions as I use to!

The best part for me is that I am I have the energy to keep up with my two adorable maniacs!

The road to a healthier me!

So if you have noticed some random pictures of me over the last few weeks posted by my friend Brook you will know I have stared a journey to a healthier me.  This all started last September, I had my yearly physical and my thyroid number was a 6, below 5 is good, 10 is bad so 6 was a slight concern but nothing too worrisome.  We set to have my numbers done again in March which we did and that time it was a 7.5 and all my other numbers were terrible too and our family dr who I adore said, "Olivia it is time to make DRASTIC changes."  Not something I ever had heard or ever wanted to hear again....so she sent me for a thyroid appointment with a new dr who also used that word drastic.  So I started processing and thinking and deciding what to do.  In the midst of all this processing I attended a menu planning night at a local nutrition club called Nourish.  I had a great time and Brook made samples of the smoothies they offer at their club.  I hate green smoothies, like seriously hate them.  One of the samples she made was their green smoothie, it was AMAZING.  It is made with spinach not kale which I think is why it is the winner.  I went home and did some research and decided to contact Brook for more information on the program they offer.

I love food.  As a lover of all food I was finding it very hard to limit portions and I frankly lacked the willpower or motivation to even care about moderation or any of that.  She sent me home with a 3 day trial of Herbalife on a Friday.  Well I didn't start it that day but I did start it the following Monday.  She weighed me on Monday morning and again on Thursday morning.  I lost 6 pounds in 3 days.  I was amazed and shocked and HOOKED!  I HAVE NEVER FELT BETTER IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!  I am doing a weight loss regime of 2 shakes a day, 2 protein snacks a day and a meal for dinner.  I am tracking calorie intake as well as walking and getting out and going with these two crazy babies.  

I have never dietied in my life because I never had a reason to.  My numbers were always in check and good except my weight but I didn't care as long as everything else rocked.  I started this journey at 235 pounds and I have a few different goals, my first is under 200 and I will allow myself to start trying for another baby, for those around me you know how motivating that is because I have got the baby fever!

I am looking forward to updating on my success as this moves forward.  If anyone wants any information on Herbalife let me know and I will get you connected!  

Appendix and Other Adventures

As everyone else is we are coming off another CRAZY Christmas season!  Between birthday's the first week and Christmas parties every weekend I just feel like the month of December lasts FOREVER!  We spent the first few days of the spousal units vacation traveling to Asheville, NC to have a little break just the four of us.  The boys LOVE the hotel rooms and did great overall with our first vacation as just us.  We went to the Grovepark Inn on Sunday night with some of my family to see the Gingerbread Houses.  I say Gingerbread Houses because that's what they are called but honestly I would say they are more Gingerbread Structures.  They were beautiful and awesome to see but out of the 41 we saw there weren't that many houses.  We did have a wonderful time and then had a great time at dinner together too because all 4 children were so well behaved.  Then on Monday we went to the Biltmore House and spent the day touring and exploring the grounds.  We wore the boys in our carriers since there are so many stairs and we knew strollers would be a pain which worked out great because Child Unit 1 slept on me for the first half of the house and Child Unit 2 slept on the Spousal Unit for the second half of the house!  We had lunch there and then ventured out to the Winery and village they have set up on some of the land.  Once we had done all there was to do Biltmore we then headed to our hotel for a rest before dinner with some of the Spousal Unit's family.  We had a blast despite the boys deciding they were not going to eat anything served.  So they loaded up on snacks that I had brought and that was fine.  

The next day we headed down the mountain to spend some family time with my family where we did all the Christmas festivities.  We woke up on Christmas morning and got back on the road to be able to do Christmas with the Spousal Unit's family.  We truly had a wonderful time but were very grateful to return home and have a week to ourselves at home.....or so we thought......

We got home on Thursday (Christmas) night and I spent all day on Friday unpacking, washing clothes and just getting us settled back into our normal.  Well we went to bed on Friday night and the Spousal Unit looked over at me and said, "I hope it's a good night."  I said, "For who, us or the boys?"  He replied with, "The Boys..."  This may have been where my body started to rear up.  At 3 AM Saturday morning I woke up because Child Unit #2 woke up crying, he fell back asleep before I could really register that anyone needed me.  I however was awake and in pain.  I tried everything I could think of to make it better and nothing worked.  I decided that by 8 I would drive myself to Urgent Care while Spousal Unit stayed with the boys.  By 7:45 that was a no go because I couldn't even put on my shoes without cringing so driving was not happening.  So he loaded up the boys and drove me to urgent care where I got out and went on in while he got the boys into the stroller.  Once I registered and noticed "Oh there are TONS of people in here with Flu like symptoms" I met him at the door and said, take them home and wait for your parents who were thankfully on their way to keep the boys.  By the time he got back I had seen the doctor who informed me that whatever was wrong I needed to be at the ER so off he took me to the hospital where I was immediately seen to determine my level of "emergency" they took blood and urine to go ahead and get worked up and then sent me to the waiting room where I spent about 2 hours in pain.  Once back the doctor got me started on a wonderful cocktail of medicine and a drink for my CT Scan.  The entire morning my speculation had been that it was my gallbladder causing all the pain but once the pain settled into one location it seemed it was my appendix.  The scan proved that low and behold the appendix was the culprit and I was put on prep for surgery.  It went well and I spent a night in the hospital before coming home on Sunday afternoon.  The spousal unit's mom stayed the majority of the last week helping out since I was down and not allowed to lift babies.   I seem to be to the point where I'm mostly back to normal and just keeping the lifting down to a very minimal.  

I hope 2015 is a year without abdominal surgery because with a C-Section last December and Appendix this one I AM DONE for now!

I wish everyone a Happy New Year!

What's Cooking?

I love to cook, always have and seeing as my dad is a chef and my mom is no stranger to the kitchen either I get it rather naturally.  I never really questioned if I would make the boys their baby food I just assumed that's what I would do.  Once I made the choice to stay home with them it became another thing I could do to help save us some money.  The first time I undertook making food for the boys I was 100% overwhelmed.  That night I chose to make sweet potatoes, pears, apples, butternut squash and something else I think that is skipping my mind.  It was WAY TO MUCH at once.  Now looking back on things and working through this after 6ish months I have come up with a system that worked great for me and I figured I would share in case anyone else could benefit.  Make one food at a time!  I did a food a day and that worked out great for me!

When we got married I was super excited for my crock pot, bread maker and immersion blender.  I know little things.  My hours when I worked allowed me to be able to get home at a decent hour to fully cook a meal every night so my crockpot was something I used rather rarely.  Now I use it at least once or twice a week and it's not for the family meals like I'm sure most people use theirs for I am using it to cook veggies and fruits for the boys.  I take the morning nap time after starting a load of laundry and prep whatever I'm cooking that day, today it was strawberries, pineapple, kiwi and spinach.  Toss it all into the crock pot, put the lid on and turn it on for a few hours.  When it was hard veggies like carrots, sweet potatoes or similar I would let it go closer to 5 or 6 but with fruits right around 2 works.  Then I scoop it out with a slotted spoon and then use the immersion blender and just puree the mess out of it.  Once pureed I just put it in my little freezer containers and go from there.  Now that they boys are doing more finger foods I cook it but skip the puree part for the vegetables.  The mixture today was pureed and then frozen to be used for yogurt and oatmeal mix ins.

When I was making things I didn't start doing mixes until maybe a month or so ago because I could just have a bag of carrot cubes and a bag of apple cubes then I would give each baby two cubes for their meal.  Now that they primarily feed themselves I am only using the frozen stuff for breakfast as oatmeal and a fruit mix and snack as yogurt and a fruit mix.  I've gotten kinda crazy with them all depending what I have currently in my freezer.  Some people think I'm crazy but the boys have had rhubarb already mixed with peaches and then again with blueberries and banana as well as with strawberries and bananas.  Why not expose them to things that I serve on a regular basis!

I just really want to express how happy I am that they have moved to feeding themselves more because it is SO much easier to put them in their highchairs and work on stuff in the kitchen with them while they are eating! 

Until next time!