Mommies on a Mission: Week 1

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Ok I admit, knowing I was going to start a weightloss challenge today did not encourage me to eat well and get a head start. In fact I did the opposite. I stopped thinking about what I was eating and rationalized that I would be starving soon enough! All kidding aside, I weighed myself this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see I had dropped 5 more pounds. I was confused as to how that could have happened but while telling my mom about it, it dawned on me that over the past month or so, I have made some changes to my diet. I stopped eating fast food and dining out, I was making all of our food including most snacks, from scratch, and my family was eating alot more fresh fruits and vegetables. I hadn't thought of it before as helping me to lose weight. I just wanted to save money and be healthy.

So here is the rundown:

Goal: I have 9 pounds to lose to get to pre-pregnancy weight. I am realistic with this goal because I am a nursing mommy and my son needs me to be a little chunky!

Plan: My plan to reach my goal is something that has worked for me in the past. Most days I will be eating special k cereal for breakfast. Lunch will be an Arbonne protein shake with either 2% milk or almond milk and almond or peanut butter. Dinner will be a balanced meal. Lots of water, fruits and veggies for snacks! For exercise I will be attempting to do Jillian Michaels dvd "Ripped in 30" 3-5 times a week.

Here is my before, please excuse the picture quality!:

For those of you who want to link up your blogs so we can read your progress here's how:

Post Partum Weight Loss

I am excited to announce that my friend who writes over at Life as a Lake and I, are going to team up for a weekly after-baby weight loss blog. We will be writing every Thursday about trying to shed the baby weight. I have been wanting to lose the last of the weight for awhile so hopefully having to update everyone on my progress each week will help!

If you are interested in joining in on our challenge and weekly updates let me know! Be sure to check back next week for the start of our challenge!

Crunchy AND Crafty...Oh My!

I have recently started looking for an amber necklace for baby boy. A few friends have little ones who wear them and supposedly they are great for teething. While I was looking online for one, I came across lots of mommy necklaces. There are a lot of different styles out there. Some are actually made for teething babies like the ones found on chewbeads. Others are just designed to catch baby's attention while he or she is nursing. You know that age when little nursling's start to get distracted and want to look around, pull mommy's hair or pinch your arm fat? My little guy just got there. I found a few cute designs I liked and decided I would try and make my own! Well I am not crafty in the least but I really wanted one of these necklaces. So off we went to the craft store, where beading supplies were 50% off this week.

Here is what I started with:

Super basic but this is the style I was going for. Plus, I am a beginner and I wasn't ready for a crazy challenge.

Here is the finished project:                                                                                                                

Like i said, totally basic but I love it! I even have enough supplies left over to make a few for friends. The best part? I spent $2.68!

What to do when it's crazy hot outside...

This week it has been stupid hot where I live. I know it could be hotter, but with an infant who sweats like a grown man, we haven't been venturing out unless we must. So what do we do when we are stuck inside? Apparently the same thing we do on cold rainy days. We cook and bake.

On Sunday we made microwave chocolate-peanut-butter-oat-snack-bars. The recipe only makes about 3 bars but its perfect for a quick snack.  

On Monday the girls and I made Baked oatmeal casserole. This is the second time I made this. The first time was to bring to a new mama. It is addicting!

Today we only left the house to get our free slurpees from 7/11! Oh, and we played at a friends for a bit. As if slurpees weren't enough, a few hours later I threw some frozen bananas, hershey's syrup, peanut butter and milk in a blender to make "milkshakes."

Thank goodness for instant netflix because it seems like all we have done this week is watch Hannah Montana and eat! Judge me if you want, but it is H.O.T. and I want to enjoy my children as much as I can before school starts again.

Disappointment and New beginnings

I miss blogging! I took a little break while we moved and got settled in our new house.

Over the past month I have been actively searching for a job, turning in resumes and even going on an interview. Last week, an interview I was scheduled to go on was canceled because they filled the position. I was so disappointed because I felt like this job would be perfect for our family.  It took me a day or so to find the bright side. I realized that I hadn't worked since a month before my baby boy was born. I have been so blessed to be home with my three babies for the past five months. I have gotten crazy good at budgeting and finding cheap or free things to do with the kids. Most of all, it has forced me to come up with creative ways to make money. I have so many ideas floating around in my head and I can't wait to put some in action!

This time has also allowed me to find what I am really passionate about. I love pregnancy and birth. I have always been fascinated with it, even when I was a teenager. Now that I am a mama and I have experienced three very different births, I have a huge respect for the birthing process. A friend of mine recently gave birth at home using the same midwives I delivered baby boy with. She also used a professional photographer to capture her labor and birth. Something clicked for me when I looked at the pictures from her birth.

I have to be involved with birth somehow.

Like I said, this isn't exactly something new to me. Anyone who knows me at all knows I have always wanted to work with pregnant and/or parenting teenagers. It's why I got my B.A. Now I want to take it a step further. My dream is to become certified as a childbirth educator and a birth doula. I watched a documentary today called "Pregnant In America." That sealed the deal!