Extreme Makeover: Me Edition, Week 9

It's hard to believe I'm starting my ninth week of this journey. For those of you who are new here, and have never heard of EM:ME, skip on over to Amber's for details, and to sign up. It's great fun!

I'm all about honesty. I always want people to be honest with me, so I will give y'all that same courtesy. This has been a hard week. I wasn't feeling well, I'm tired, Kameryn has been more than a little cranky {could this be the antibiotics I'm on????} and, truthfully, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with the next few weeks to come. We just started swimming lessons last night, Makenna has one more dance lesson before rehersal and recital (which happens to be the same night as Sierra's swimming lesson), Sierra will continue to have dance lessons throughout June, along with her swimming lessons, and there are more events coming up {Graduation, BBQs, Birthday parties, Recitals, Performances, etc.} than I can count. Now, don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to all of it. Every single bit. And I do love keeping busy. It's just that sometimes, {when I'm already feeling a little rundown}, I take a look at the calendar and I think "whoa". Sooooo, what does this have to do with EM:ME? I'm just not feeling motivated. I guess I'm too busy thinking about everything else that's going on to really want to make a plan and goals for exercise. Annnnnnd, I think I've hit a bit of a plateau. The weight doesn't want to come off as easily as it had, and I don't want to work harder. That's not a good combo. In fact, I'm finding that not only is the scale not moving to the left . . . it's actually fluctuating to the right a little {gasp!}.

Of course, if I were to try to look for the positives, I could certainly find a few. I think the main reason that the weight isn't continuing to come of is because I'm pretty dang close to my pre-pregnancy weight. Within about 3-5 pounds. That's a plus. And, yes, I'm still nursing, so I know that that can keep an extra few on. I guess it was just so exciting to see the scale moving, that it's a let-down when it doesn't.

I'm not sure the results are worth posting {Look at me, Negative Nancy, sheesh!}. There really isn't much change since last Wednesday. I lost about a half pound, and then I put it right back on, now I'm down a half pound again. Can you say, yo-yo?

That's that. I just got through reading Amber's post. She's had quite the week with having her wisdom teeth out. She's battled the yo-yo weight this week too, and was feeling miserable, and guess what, she's staying super-duper positive {not to mention walking 1.5 hours each night!}. Guess I could learn a thing or two from her, huh?

Until next week ladies ~ at which time I promise to put on a smile :)

Wordless Wednesday

Aaaahhhhhhhh, That's Better . . .

Whew, it's been a little while. Only a few days, I guess, but it seems like much longer. I've been a little under the weather the last few days due to an infection that just knocked me right on my boot.

******* Warning: The following may contain too much information for your liking *******

A couple of weeks ago I started to feel run-down. Not the typical "mommy tired". More like exhausted. And I had been having some trouble nursing on my left side. Just a bit of pain off and on. By Friday night, I was sure I had the flu. My skin actually hurt. You know when your skin just hurts to touch? That's never a good sign. I went to bed, thinking that all I needed was a little sleep. Surely I'd feel better in the morning. No such luck. Morning came and it hurt to open my eyes. Now, that's just plain weird. And before you start calling me a baby, you have to know that I really am a pretty tough girl. {cough, three natural childbirths, cough}.

I did make it out of bed long enough to pop an ibuprofen. Then I called my mom. "Uh, mom? How are you feeling? You don't feel like you've just been ran over by a truck? That's just me? Hmmmm".

A couple hours later, I was nursing Kam. I looked down, and the whole left side of my chest was red. Now, wait a minute, I had enjoyed the sunshine the day before, but I didn't think the sun shined there. It was hot to the touch and hurt pretty badly. I got on the phone to my dr.'s office. They were closed, and would be through Tuesday. Bummer. Luckily, the doctor on call got back to me quickly and we diagnosed the problem ~ Mastitis. She called in a prescription, ordered me to get plenty of rest (psshhhttt, yeah right), and proceeded to explain that the number one cause was sleep deprivation. Whoopsies.

Now on day four of antibiotics, I am feeling so much better. My skin doesn't hurt anymore, no more fever, and I can move my neck without almost crying. Woohoo! I am a new woman. It's so good to be back! Hope y'all had a fantabulous holiday weekend!

The Loooong Zoo Trip

{Alternately Titled: A Test of Mom's Patience}

Warning: If you're looking for a sugary sweet, light as air, fluffy, recap of our Zoo Trip yesterday, read no further. You will not find that here. All you will find is the brutal truth. Read ahead if you can handle it.

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When Stephanie {our trusted, and may I say, super cute, weather girl } assured us last week that we were {finally} in for some nice, sunny weather, I decided a trip to the zoo was in order. We typically try to visit once a year, and we were due. With school getting out in a couple short weeks, now was the time. I'm not too interested in battling enormous summer crowds, so I took a look at the calendar and found yesterday to be our best bet. 77 degrees, a week day, close enough to Memorial Day that hopefully everyone was heading out of town instead of to the zoo.

I won't go into detail, but let's just say that our Wednesday evening was less than perfect. After questionable behavior all day, I was on the verge of taking away the "Zoo Privilege" for the following day. But, truth be told, I really wanted to take the girls. I had been looking forward to it all week. So, we woke up bright and early Thursday morning, and got ready to go.

I had planned to leave around 9am. The Zoo is a good hour drive, and 10 am seemed a great start time. Fast forward to 11am. That was the time we actually left. Let's just say it was an eventful morning. We picked up my mom and away we went. We made it halfway down the driveway before Kam started screaming, and Mom took over the job of chauffeur, while I hopped in back, beside Kam.

Wow, there is an awful lot of traffic. Ohhh yeahhh, it is getting close to Memorial Day weekend, maybe everyone is headed out of town. We proceed to the freeway . . . that's when we encountered our first near-accident of the day. Apparently everyone is in such a hurry, that they cannot be bothered waiting their turn to merge onto the freeway. Heck, why don't we {not we, but the lovely gal behind us} just cut right in front of a semi. That sounds like a fabulous idea. Horns honking everywhere, and a narrow pile-up escape. Whew. That was a little much for this country gal. Already I'm remembering why we only make one trip to the zoo each year.

Traffic is a little thick, but we manage to make it over to the west side and closer to the zoo. We pulled in to the parking lot about noon. Now, let's find a parking spot and head on in. Not so fast. Hmmm, there doesn't seem to be one single spot left. Okay, not a problem, we'll just circle for a few minutes and see what we find. What's that? Oh, no one's going anywhere? Well, I think there are a couple of overflow parking lots. It'll be a hike, but that's alright, we'll just find a spot there. Second parking lot, nope no spaces here {but there are about 200 cars circling waiting for a spot}. Okay, fine, on to the third, and final lot. Now we'll really have a hike, but I've been needing the exercise anyway. Do you see a pattern here? Yeah, you guessed it, no spots in that lot either. We notice some security/crossing guards milling about. Mom rolls down the window and asks where we might find additional parking. The response: "Oh, parking is pretty much going to be a free for all today. Good luck!" Uhhhhhhh, thanks. You've been ever so helpful.

We proceed to circle and stalk unsuspecting people who look like they might be heading to their car to leave, for FORTY-FIVE minutes. That's when it crosses my mind that we may have just driven an hour to the zoo, only to have to leave. I shot a quick prayer up (God, if you'd like us to visit the zoo today, do you think you could provide a parking spot for us?), and proceeded to make other plans. Hmmm, Enchanted Forest {a small nursery-rhyme themed amusement park} is about an hour and a half from here. We could be there by 2:30. Just as we were circling one.last.time we found a lady who looked like she was packing up to leave. YAY, we're in!

By this time it is after 1 o'clock and the girls are hungry. I'm hungry. We decide to visit a couple animals and then head over to find food. Lucky for us there is construction going on everywhere, many routes are closed. It took us close to an hour to find the cafe. Ugh.

Kam slept right through lunch

Sharing chicken strips, yum

We sit down to enjoy our "healthy zoo food", and continue on our way. After all, we still have lots of animals to see. The zoo makes me a little sad. All those animals in such small spaces. The elephants seem to mosey around in a circle because there is nowhere else to go.

making animal friends

the perfect hiding spot, found ya!

By 5 o'clock we'd seen it all, and started to head for home. Surely we'd be missing a good deal of rush hour traffic. Um, no, no we wouldn't be. We creeped along at about 6 miles an hour for a half hour or so. Kam had done so well, but was getting antsy with the slow movin'. She starts to scream. We managed to make it a few miles in that half hour, and then stop completely. The screaming continues. I look at Mom. I wonder if we could swap places and she could drive home so that I could jump in the back with Kam. We are stopped, after all. I put the car in park, and hop in the back, mom jumps over the console and takes her place in the driver's seat. All the while I'm praying that no cops see our shenanigans (NOR the big "nursing flop-over the carseat" Ya'all know the one? Haven't ever attempted to nurse a baby while they are in their car seat? That's just me and my crazy self, you say? Oh.)

Kenners' look just sums it up, doesn't it?

It took us just over two hours to get home. Luckily, once we made it over to the East side, traffic really got movin'. {Mom was a speed demon at over 40 mph!}.

And that, my friends was our first and last trip to the zoo of 2009.

Anyone know much it costs to hire a personal chauffeur?

{Edited to note that the girls had a great day! Luckily children don't often take note of the smallish, yet annoying trials in life. }

And Now I'm Goin' To Bed.

We went to the Zoo today.

I had the best intentions.

Let's just say it was a LOOOOONG day.

Extreme Makeover: Me Edition, Week 8

Here we are, it's Wednesday once again! You know what that means . . . the walk of {weigh-in} shame. No, really, are you wanting to feel better about yourself? Get healthy? Tone that unsightly flabbity flab flab? If you answered, YES, you're going to want to skip on over to Amber's {skipping is known to burn more calories than plain ol' walking don'tcha know}, and read all about other inspiring ladies who are making over themselves. Then, join our lovely group, write a post of your own, and link up! It's easy as pie {er, celery sticks!}

I'm feeling okay about last week. I dusted off the ol' Pilates DVD. In all honesty, it's not my favorite form of exercise, but I did feel good about doing it. I also tried to get myself back on track after a lot of indulging on our Sunriver trip {not to mention all the Mother's Day chocolate, etc.}. So . . . I'm slowly getting there. Back on track, I mean. It's a process, people. I cannot eat 4200 pieces of chocolate one day and deprive myself of any, the next. That's not how I roll. Slowly, but surely, I am saying no to the chocolate and yes to healthier options.

This Week's Question:

Name your guilty pleasure. Think of a healthier choice you could use as a substitute.

Hmmm... I don't like to substitute (just kidding. But, actually, I'm not). I guess, if anything, I try to eat a little less of my guilty pleasure. I'm finding that I'm not actually an ice cream gal. I mean, I'll take it, but it's not my favorite sweet. So, I'll try to remind myself that if I don't LOOOOVE it anyway, why spend the extra calories on it. If I'm eating a salad, maybe I'll try to put less dressing on it. As for the chocolates that I've been inundated with. They are good. Really good. Well, it seems my daughters (and husband!) think so too. So instead of eating them all myself, I go the "Of course you can have a chocolate" route. That way I'm being a good, sharing, mom, AND I'm not consuming all of those calories on my own. Win-win :)

Results: I lost allllllmost a pound. .8 lb., I guess. And I'll take it. Now that I'm getting much closer to my pre-pregnancy weight, my goal weight, the weight is a little slower in coming off. I'm still nursing (and will continue for a long time, I imagine), so that will probably keep an extra pound or two on. For me, it's not all about pounds lost. I'm eating better, making wiser choices, and exercising more. That is far more important, to me, than 1/2 pound here and there.

Go on over to Amber's (skipping is optional), and join in on the fun!

Until next week . . .

I WON!!!

I never win anything! Well, I've never won a giveaway, anyway {giggle}! This was my first ever. And I want to say a BIG thank you to my good friend, Amber, for hosting the giveaway ~ a darling kit (in Cerise!) from Flashy Ashley's. YAY! I'm so excited to receive it and create some adorable shoes for one of my little Sugarplums. Thanks so much to you both!!!

In Search

We are looking for a new church. The church I called home for close to 8 years isn't really an option anymore. I mean, it is. It's not like the church up and moved or vanished into thin air, or anything. I could choose to continue to go there. That would be the "easy" choice, really. I taught Makenna's Sunday School class at that church, my Mother-in-law taught Sierra's class. Much of our family go there. The girls' friends are there. It's the "comfortable" choice. But after a lot of praying for, years really, over whether or not we should stay, I heard God loud and clear when I was in the hospital on bedrest with Kameryn. We were to find a new home. There have been signs all along. I just didn't want to pay attention. Searching for a new church is hard. And it's not all that comfortable. But, finally, after four months we are officially searching.

Yesterday we attended services at a local church. There are many to choose from in our small community. Not even a stop light in this little town, but there are many, many churches. We chose the Community Church. It was a nice service with friendly people. I think we'll go back.

It got Sierra's approval. As we were getting in the car to go home, she said "I like that church!" As usual, I'm not sure how Makenna felt about the whole thing. In typical four year old fashion, she was a constant ball of energy. Legs flailing, princess underwear-flashing, and lots of chatting through.the.entire.service. I did the "shhhh" sign several times, but I'm not sure her whispering is any quieter than her normal voice. You know the whisper-shout, right? That was totally Makenna. "NANA! WHO'S YOUR FAVORITE PRINCESS??" Yep, apparently it was absolutely essential that Makenna knew who my mom's favorite princess was right smack dab in the middle of prayer.

As for Kam, she did great. For the first fifteen minutes she tried to eat her hands {is it possible that we're teething already???}, after that I had to move to the "cry room" to feed her, then she was out like a light for the rest of the service. All in all, it was a good day. Wish us luck in our search for a church :)

She's Walkin' On Sunshine

Makenna's dance class was invited to perform at the Spring Fling yesterday . . .

Look at that stage presence! ;)

Makenna is a really good little dancer.

And I'm not just saying that because she is my sweet, precious, adorable ...(ahem, anyway)

She loves to dance and twirl, and she looks pretty cute doin' it, if I do say so.

Random Picture Challenge ~ A Day at the Beach!

This week's Random Picture Challenge:

{hosted by the fabulous Brittany of 4 little men & girly twins, and was actually chosen by Brandi at Ramblings of a Tired Mama}

9th picture folder or September 2008

18th picture

Girls ONLY Beach Trip!

Last September my mother-in-law {who also happens to be my dear friend} and I packed up the girls and headed to the beach. It was just us girls, and we had so much fun! We went with expectations of getting some scrapbooking done (Sierra loves to scrapbook), but the weather was so beautiful, we stayed on the sand ~ and in the water ~ the entire time! It's hard to believe that was 8 months ago. I was 16 weeks pregnant with Kameryn, but we didn't even know, at the time, we were blessed with another baby girl.

I've always loved this picture of Makenna. She was having so much fun splashing in the water, filling up her pail, pretty much getting soaked ;) Full of fun and energy, she is!

So . . . it's your turn! Go visit 4 little men and girly twins to check out other's great pictures from the past. Then post one for yourself, and link up! It's fun, I promise :)

Hugs!

Liz

It's Just Sad . . .

How excited I get about cloth diapers.

So . . . I did it. I purchased them. After many an hour spent drooling over them online, and trying to convince hubby that we should cloth diaper, I prayed about it.

{That's right, God cares about diapering dilemmas too. }

And guess what, the next day I received a check in the mail. A check we weren't expecting. A check that totaled almost exactly the dollar amount I had planned to spend on cloth diapers. I took it as a sign, and I ordered.

Kameryn's little bum has spent the last 4 days in cloth diapers. I was going to post about them earlier, but honestly? I was afraid to. After weeks of trying to convince my husband that we should fork out the money for them, I was afraid I'd use them and maybe I wouldn't love them. It's been known to happen. I just have to have something, only to find out that I don't use it like I should, or maybe I (gasp) don't love it. But good news, people, I am in LOVE!

For inquiring minds out there, I purchased from Cotton Babies.

I started with 12 Indian Pre-folds.

I thought these might be difficult to use, but they are super easy! I use a snappi with them, so no pins, yay!

I also bought 3 Bum Genius One Size AIO diapers

6 Bum Genius Bamboo Fitted Diapers

4 Bummis Super Whisper Wraps

2 Thirsties Covers

My favorites? I love, love, love, the bamboo fitted diapers. Last night I put Kam in a bamboo fitted diaper (no doubler or anything), she went all night without a change, and she didn't leak at all. In fact, we haven't had one leak since we started. As for covers, I couldn't be happier with the Thirsties wraps. The Bummis are nice too, but I just love the Thirsties.

So there you have it. If you are considering cloth diapering but are afraid you don't have the time, or that it's difficult, or even costly. Don't fear. Try it. I just know you'll love it!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Fashion Plate