Starting OVER

Life has truly been a whirlwind lately. I haven't even had a chance to sit down for two seconds let alone compose myself long enough to complete a thought. My husband got a job offer that moved us across the country to South Carolina. At first I was completely excited. We get a raise enough to move us into a bigger home, more space for the kids and a possible studio for my photography business. All of the possibilities of traveling to the beach. Seeing my old college buddy because she's so close now.

Then there was leaving our family for the first time. I rationalized during the moving process my emotions away because after all, I can always visit and come back. I didn't realize how big of a part my family was in my daily routine with the boys. We would go to lunch, just hang out at their homes, or grandma would take Lex for a few hours during the day. Evening dates were no longer an option unless we wanted to fork over some money and that used to be free. It's all different.

Another point is starting all over with my entire support circle. No one knows me. When I walk into a church now to visit and see if it's for us, there is no deep unsaid connection because of our long talks. There is no appreciation for the last five years we dedicated to our youth and music in our church. It's all starting over. And that's emotional for me as well. I'm a stranger. But not for long!

Finally my business. I started my photography biz a few years ago and it was very exciting. Things took off fast for me and grew in a few short months. I learned a lot of things and now that is got to start all over again. That's ok though.

In the first two weeks I was greeted so warmly by my new group I joined in my MOPS group here. Mother's of preschoolers. Very nice.

We are going to be traveling home soon and the excitement is so fun! An entire week to see the ones I left behind. The beach can wait.

I'm looking forward to this new beginning in our life. To establish ourselves again and form new blessed relationships.

Run Forest Run

I had a funny conversation with a friend today. While I was dropping Lex off this morning, I DRAGGED myself to the Y to get on the treadmill. There is a whole process in my head that I have to defeat to keep myself motivated.

Just had to wipe my son after going to the bathroom. Back to basics.

The first thing I do is I get it in my head that I have to find a time to workout. Sweat some as my instructor would say. I can really rationalize away my workouts if I am not careful. So to beat this, I get my sports bra on and get dressed to go to the gym first of all. That's half the battle.

Once I've got that accomplished I actually have to veer away from Chik Fil A, Walmart, or shopping, and head to the gym. When I'm in, I step on the treadmill and start walking and have to push myself to say we're not going to waste our time here, if we are walking it's going to be up a hill.

And Fast.

So today I had a friend that walked in and ended up running right next to me and my competitive nature kicked in and I ended up running for most of the time and really sweating it out. I'm so proud of myself. We had a good time talking and I ran without really having to make myself do so.

The thing about running is it hurts at first for me. But once I get going, it's like in Forest Gump when he was running with the braces on his legs. That had to be awkward and hurt. But he busted them off and he was off. That is how it is for me. Once I get past the couple creaks and aches, I'm home free. I get my music added to the mix and I'm a happy lady. And before long hopefully if I can get my stubborness out of my system, and my hubs will be happIER. Lol.

Eating Healthy for My INSIDE

I just wanted to say something today. I went to my doctor today for a yearly physical. He did blood work to test my lipids. My bad cholesterol was down by 30 points and my good cholesterol was where it needed to be.. I have been working out and eating "SUPER FOODS" I'll put a list under for you to see.

He said this is the simple things to keep us from having strokes, heart attacks, and diabetes. All run in my family.

It reminded me that whether or not the scale is going up or down, my inside body and choices are making me live longer for my boys. Please remember this when you get discouraged. Even though you might not see a difference outside, you are making a HUGe impact on the inside. The list below we use each week when we are making up our grocery list. Just having these foods in any way in our diet, has made a great difference.

Apples

Avocado

Beans

Blueberries

Broccoli

Cinnamon

Dark Chocolate

Dried SuperFruits

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Garlic

Honey

Kiwi

Low Fat Yogurt

Oats

Onions

Oranges

Pomegranates

Pumpkin

Soy

Spinach

Tea

Tomatoes

Turkey

Walnuts

Wild Salmon

My son's first Halloween

My four year old is now going to preschool three days a week and he had his first halloween party this week. I brought my one year old and his brother with me to his party and he crawled right over to jump into the action here. It was adorable. Lex is learning so much in his class, just socially. This morning when I picked him up he had a made a new friend last week that he was really excited about. She dressed up as Jesse and he of course was Buzz, so that made them instant friends. Well he let me know today that she didn't have room for him to be his friend anymore because she had a new friend. I didn't know what to say. This is my little boy growing up and actually having issues that he is sharing with me that hurt his feelings and really I can't do anything about except maybe encourage him. Aww. I hope she's friends with him tomorrow.

He did have a great Halloween. Got the hang of going door to door pretty fast and this was his little costume here with his buddies in his class. He was soo pumped that his teacher was the Cat in the Hat. These are the days that I'm going to document because they will go by so fast.

Healthy Train

*SHUDDER* Today was interesting. Last night I fasted from midnight to this morning late because I had to get blood work done for my doc exam on Thursday.

I drank water all morning. My sweet mom in law is a nurse who took my blood for me b/c my veins are tiny. She came to my home so I wouldn't have to go to the lab and get stuck a whole bunch, and, being sweet, brought me a Mcdonalds breakfast sandwich. The grease was dripping off it was so amazing. I ate it of course b/c how could I not?
Then we had a MoPs playdate at Mcdonalds on the WestSide.

Do you see where this day is going?

I thought it was so cute b/c Laura came over to me with a big thing of french fries with a funny look on her face and I started laughing because she was thinking the same thing. Her and I both participate on our Biggest Loser group on Facebook, we are at mcdonalds, and she's offering me french fries. Hilarious. I had to run intervention so I let Zach have some. Then I ate a couple. Then I went and bought the boys a happy meal that they shared and I got a "snack wrap" mushroom and swiss. I was pretty proud of myself.
So for dinner..Not sure. lol. So moral of the story. Some days are going to be not as great as other days, but I'm still making good choices inside of that. And that makes me happy. Here are two pictures to show a little progress. I go by the roundness of my face. The skinnier I am, the less round. I'm down from 176 to 171.5. Let us just see if I can maintain or get better.

Walking

Where did my writing knome go? The little man that pops in my head with a great charismatic story to tell. He took a leave of absence and didn't ever return. Hope he comes back. I figure if I just write, eventually something will come to me. Anyway as far as life is concerned, my little man is almost four. I updated that on the sidebar thanks to my buddy who read my last post since JUNE.

My other little buddy is just turned one. And who just walked across the floor by himself tonight? HE did!! It was the cutest thing. He was so proud of himself. But just the once. It must've been the Kentucky Fried chicken he had for dinner.

I'm on a journey now. To begin this looking better goal. Taking care of myself.
I keep talking about it, but I'm still eating all the extras. I'm excercising but since I do that, I still sneak the extra piece of cheese. Even the little crunchies I get for my little guy. It's embarrassing. But I'm sharing it so I'm not hiding it anymore. I'm tired of being this size. A middle 14-16. When I can't believe that is reality. But it is. I have wavered between the 12-16 range over the last couple of months.

When the kids get sick, I'm home, but that doesn't mean I can't still focus on my diet. That's what I ultimately need to work on. I have a grocery list. We'll see what happens. This is me from my vacation in September, when I was really deciding to tackle this once and for all.

100th POST

Everyone has surpassed me I know. I have been waiting on this moment for a long time and now I'm thinking I just need to get this over with. It's a great accomplishment. I can't wait half a year to get it over with. LOL. I have a photography business now. I'm going great with it. My boys are my life. They are absolutely amazing. Very intense, but amazing. I'm starting a book club with my MOPS group. It's John Baker's "Life's Healing Choices". The chance to work on moving forward and not getting HUNG up.

Everything is going very smoothly in my life right now. My grandma just turned 80 years old today. Seeing her grace and love and passion for life, just made me smile. Here are some pics of that.