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!

I became a mother last night...

So I am sure some of you just read the title and thought Umm, Olivia you became a mother in April last year when you took that test to say you were pregnant or even in December when those two adorable boys were born.  And sure you are correct in the fact that yes technically that is when I became a mother however, this morning at 3 when I was awake rocking a baby that had been awake off and on since 11 because he is sick and so snotty he cant breath and wants his pacifier to sleep but can't breath if he has his pacifier.  He kept tossing and turning covering me in snot no matter how many times I used the Nose Frida to suck his nose dry I thought this is love, this is what being a mother is really about.  Loving your child so much that you just want them to feel better and not suffer is all you care about dispite that hands down this and last night are the worst two nights since bringing these boys home, even worse than the every three hour feeding nights by far.

Now I sit here sipping my second cup of coffee of the morning wishing that I had actually gotten a decent nights sleep but knowing that these babies are everything and hoping that tonight they sleep so I can sleep because mommy never goes off duty!  The bad thing is my throat is now scratchie and I have a runny nose.  Oh don't we love when they share!

Until next time when I am feeling better and have slept more!

My World is Being OVERTAKEN!

So I always thought that I would be one of those people who could/would keep all baby related items secluded to their room.  UMMMMM I currently have 1 room in my house that doesn't have something baby related in it and that's the dining room and high chairs do and can go in there when they are needed.

I kid you not, in our bedroom currently there is a pack n play set up, toys on my floor and one of the boys lovies just hanging out, in our bathroom we have baby wash, a tub faucet protector that looks like a duck and a walker.  Yesterday there was a Johnny Jump Up on the door there too.  I'm sure some people are thinking, "really a walker in the bathroom, seriously WTF?"  Well let me help you, if you have something you have to do that requires you to shower and you have two babies there isn't much option for a shower unless one or both is in the bathroom with you.  Mine cat nap and during those sweet glorious 30-45 minutes that they actually sleep at the same time I have dishes, laundry and other important household things that I have to do.  Which means playtime in mommy's bathroom while she showers and gets ready.  

Back to my issue at hand they are seriously taking over my world which I suppose I should just accept since they took over my body and mind a while ago.  Seriously, it's amazing that now if I have some "extra" money I would rather just spend it on them and not myself.....another lesson learned as a mother.

An update on the sleep training: naptimes are getting better.  They will now sleep in their own cribs at naptime without screaming as though they are being poked by thousands of nails!  WIN!  However, nights are still hard because let's be honest here, my sleep is the most important thing to me between the hours of 11 PM and 6 AM and if I can quiet the baby down by bringing him to bed with me rather than sit up with him screaming you can better believe what I'll be choosing!

Until Next Time...