9/26/12

{a weighty issue}


In light of my fb post about all of you force feeding my husband I've had several people asking me how I am losing weight.  I thought I would address this because I feel the need to spread the good word, and thank you all so much for your kind words.  Some tips:
  • Read Women, Food and God. This book changed so much for me, and everyone that I've recommended it to who has actually read it has had a good cry and figured some stuff out.  Just about everything I'm going to go over stems from this book. See here and here.
  • Stop dieting.  Now.  Seriously.  If you want to eat a pan of brownies, do it.  If you want to eat ice cream everyday, all day long do it. With that, however, focus on how it makes you feel being overly full and uncomfortable after you do.  You'll stop wanting to overeat yourself to death.
  • Stop eating when you are full.  And I mean the bite that you're full you're done.  Seems easy, but it took me a good 6 months to master....and if the food is SUPER good I still struggle...
  • Start reading food labels.  EVERYTHING has sugar in it.  Peanut Butter, Yogurt (seriously, don't even go near Yoplait), Spaghetti Sauce, Bread, Milk, Cereal.  When I say I quit sugar, I actually stopped eating all of these things (or switched over to a no-sugar version...and I don't mean fake sugar instead, I mean no sweetener added ie plain greek yogurt, natural peanut butter, and organic 9-grain bread).  A lot of them had WAY more sugar in them than the cookies or cupcakes I want to eat.  And if you're worried about whether or not your kids will eat the healthy food-if it's the only option, they will.  I started buying cereal for a bit while I was prego (it stays down) and suddenly Paisley only wanted cereal for every meal and would refuse other food.  As soon as there wasn't cereal in the house this was no longer a problem...  See here.
  • When you quit eating all the sugar they pack into "normal food" (seriously the "lean cusine's" I was eating were 300 calories and 25 grams of sugar!!!) you'll stop craving sugar.  It takes TIME.  And it's not just about calories...it really is about sugar and processed crap.  
  •  Be European.  Enjoy and experience your food.  As soon as I start trying to count calories or get too specific I get really rebellious.  I just enjoy and stop when I'm full.
  • Don't drink calories.  Drink water.  Lots and lots of water.  If you're lips get chapped you're not drinking enough-your body will tell you this stuff if you listen.
  • Eat more veggies.  We started doing bountiful baskets and I love it.  Find something like that that works for you.
  • Find a cardio that you love and do it.  I LOVE zumba.  So much that I don't mind going 4 days a week because I love it.  As soon as Stella is 6 months I'm going to start lifting because I need some sculpting goodness...something I also enjoy doing.  Don't force yourself to do something you hate-you need to love your body and be nice to it.  See here and here.
  • Love your body.  My body and I had to go through some stuff.  It really wasn't until I survived making/birthing/feeding Paisley that I really began to appreciate my body and be grateful that it was doing such a good job housing my spirit.  I stop hating it and started embracing it and loving it for what it was.  How many episodes of Biggest Loser do we have to watch before we all realize that it's emotional damage that keeps us heavy!  See here and here.
  • Be SUPER patient.  I started changing my lifestyle...gradually...2+ years ago.  I am just now really starting to see some results.  I think I've finally gotten to a point where my body is letting go of the fat because it can trust I'm not going to try and starve it, master cleanse it, or work it to death.  (And I'm nursing, which last time didn't work for me, but I think might be working now because I'm eating so much better and taking care of myself) See here.
  • Think of this as a lifestyle!!  I changed my lifestyle...not put myself on a diet.  It was small change after small change after small change.  In the book Women, Food and God she talks about everyone having a "natural weight" that your body will normalize to and I really think it's true.  I think I'm finally heading towards mine.  See here.
  • Don't drink the koolaid.  I don't know why, but women flock together and hate their bodies as a group-don't do this.  You love your body.  Be different and spread the good word.
I'm down almost 40 lbs from my heaviest weight (not pregnant) so the proof is in the pudding..er, uh veggies.  And if you see me eating a cookie it's because my ultimate slogan is "I never want to be so skinny I can't have cake at a birthday party."  and I'm sticking with that...

Oh, and seriously-force feed my husband something if you see him.  He could use a donut.

9/17/12

{life}: is waxing

Did I ever mention how much this baby loves her Daddy?  So much.  She got her first haircut last Saturday night...I can't believe it still.  She really is such a gorgeous baby and has quite the head of hair!  She was getting tangles and snarls in the back so bad that I couldn't get them untangled so we got out the trimmers and trimmed her up!  She had a pretty bad mullet going anyway so I think it was a good thing.
Life is finally feeling more and more normal.  We have so many crazy things coming up I'm getting a little scared to give up our routine we've finally got going!  We're going to Georgia soon for a week and then I'm getting my tonsils out Nov 1st.  Then it's Thanksgiving and then Christmas...I just know it's all going to be a blur so I'm enjoying these last few weeks of winding down the summer.
I've been doing tons of photos lately and I can't wait to share!  I've had the privilege of doing several fun family shoots and I'm excited!
Halloween is coming!!  We scoured DI Saturday so I could get started on my costume!! And yes, you'll have to wait to see what I'm going to be.  It's an iconic woman that I've loved since I can remember...so excited!
MMMmmm fall...can I just tell you how excited I am to experience some of my fall in Georgia!!  With firefly's and southern cooking?!?!  The had caramels next to the apples at the grocery store and Bath & Body has all their fall scents out!  I love it all so much-snuggle weather, warm scents, apples, pumpkin everything, and sweaters!
Paisley is continually telling me new stories and growing so much.  I am the most entertained by her when she's talking to another critter that's her same size-it's crazy!  Mostly because I can hardly believe my critter is so big-seeing other critters that were so small with her and now so big just makes it that much more real!  Yesterday in church we sat next to another family with a girl her same age who was wearing the same dress as hers.  Paisley pointed out that hers was white and the girls was blue-not only recognizing colors but the fact that it was the same dress!  I know that's not a huge deal for a 3 year old, but it's still amazes me.  She and the girl had a full conversation about ABC cookies, crayons, saying thank-you and prayers.  It was really cute.
Life, like all things waxes and wanes...mine is waxing right now.  I am feeling so blessed-to be surrounded by so much love and such sweet little girls!

9/5/12

{time}: little moments

For Labor day we went up to Pine Valley to have a fire and escape the heat and it was gorgeous!  I actually took pictures this time, so they'll be up soon ;)  I hate going to bed smelling like campfire because it sticks to your sheets!  So Stella and I hopped in the shower.

I love showering with my babies.  Especially when they're still so little...she had been upset before we got in but settled into my chest-content and peaceful.  I love having water babies-they're like me.  They love the water.

For a second I was washed over with the memory of her being born.  Her soft skin, her wet hair, her sweet baby smell...we are so blessed and privileged as women to experience birth and motherhood.  It brings tears to my eyes because I feel like you just can't hold on hard enough to all of these little moments before they come and go.

What a difficult time this is..desperately wanting them to stay little and snuggle a little longer but dying of curiosity to see who and what they become.  I can't help but encourage progression while wanting so badly to keep them both small.  Especially Stella.  Seeing the growth day to day in Paisley is too fun..but Stella can stay my squishy little snuggler forever...OOoooo babies.

9/4/12

{storytime}: the car

A funny story for your Tuesday (but really Monday because of the holiday) morning:

Years ago our windshield on the Scion cracked pretty severely.  So severely that we couldn't pass inspection, which meant we couldn't register our car which eventually led to a ticket.  We finally fixed the windshield but unfortunately when they did it they didn't seal it perfectly so when it would rain we would have a waterfall straight into the CD player.  I got pregnant with Paisley around the time we figured this out and the only time they could see us back was at 7-8 AM in the morning to fix it.  Between the exhaustion and extreme morning sickness I kept putting it off, and kept putting it off and it rains so rarely here that I just wouldn't even think of it until we had a storm.  Thankfully the radio and disc player continued to work through all of this once it had dried out...

Anyway, I finally got it fixed (and it still took going back twice!!!  grr.) and the radio would work fine.  Randomly in the last year it has stopped working in cases of extreme temperature.  So whenever its super hot or super cold the radio just doesn't work.  This has been a pain with it being such a hot summer the radio has only worked sometimes....until I figured out this really, really random trick:

I drive up to check the mail at our mail boxes, usually when I'm coming back from errands so I have the kids with me.  I'm really paranoid about leaving the car running and shutting all the doors so I always crack the window and then get out (to keep the AC going and the cold in).  Strangely (and it must be done in this order and all of these things HAVE to happen...I've tried to see if it's just a single action, but it's all of them). If I put the car in neutral, pull up the brake, unlock my door, crack the window and get out and shut the door behind me...the radio will turn back on.  Yep.  Jon didn't believe me until I showed him.  Super random, but I hoped you enjoyed it.