Monday check in!

First week of operation get skinny was successful!

I am super excited that I met my goals this week, didn't starve, and had a smile on my face! I cannot wait until I go into my cute sister's closet and can steal her clothing. Ok, I probably will not ever be that small again, but a girl can dream right? 

I've learned that I need to eat ALL my grains (all four servings) and ALL my protein (two servings) or I am going to be totally grumpy, which makes me a mean mommy and wife. I also end up making 'fast' choices instead of 'good' choices. 

My favorite meal this week was: Garden salad with olive oil and salt, and baked lemon garlic Tilapia. But the tequila lime grilled chicken from Whole foods was a very close second!  I also have been downing water like CRAZY. At least 100 oz. everyday. I've been snacking on grapes, green beans, carrots, apples, cheese, almonds, and of course my medifast meal replacements. I have not been hungry at all, as long as I stay on plan! 

I had a goal of working out twice this week, and I danced my way to that goal as well! Yay! 

My milk supply seems to be doing great, Bellamy is a happy girl with great leg fat rolls and kissable cheeks! Yay for boob milk!

I had a goal to loose five pounds in one week, I met that goal!! Wooo Hooo!

So goals for week two: Loose between 3-5 Lbs. work out twice, no soda (even the diet kind).

I didn't do pictures this week, sorry! But here are my measurements.

Weight: 153.6 lbs. (8 weeks PP)

Neck: 12.5 inches

Bust: 33 inches

Waist: 32 3/4 inches 

Hips: 43 inches

Thighs: 25 inches
Dress Size: 12 (but my pants felt loose)

I consider week one a success, on to a great week two! 

"I like 'em big, I like 'em chunky"

In no way is this a blog about self pity or a cry for 'oh no you're not fat' comments. Because ladies and gents, I have gained quite a bit of weight since I started my motherhood journey. But I feel empowered to get back into a healthy wight and size.

When I got pregnant with Sophie I was 103 lbs. and every bit of it was muscle. When Sophie was born I weighted 125 lbs. There was a break of about 7-8 weeks before I got pregnant with Fox, in that time I didn't lose any weight. When I had Fox I weight over 170 lbs. Two more pregnancies later and the smallest I've ever gotten was 129 lbs.

Pregnant with Sophie at 20 weeks.

Pregnant with Fox at 20 weeks.

Pregnant with Ryker (yikes blong hair) 20 weeks.

Pregnant with Bellamy at 20 weeks.

After I had Bellamy I promised myself that I would not only not get pregnant again, but that I would take time to get my body into better shape. Not PERFECT shape, but a healthy weight for my height, and into at least a small size six.

October 2013, at my smallest 129 lbs., I got pregnant two months later with Bellamy.

At about five weeks PP a friend of mine posted a client of hers that lost a lot of weight on Medifast's nursing mother's program. It is a high calorie program that focuses on getting rid of weight by controlling your diet and not killing  yourself in the gym. Like so many moms I will totally lose my milk supply if I start to work out rigorously. So I met with said friend and laid out of POA (plan of attack).

I started said POA today. 

So far I am pretty excited! I had a great day staying 'on plan', and I even got to eat a delicious brownie!! I am hoping to lose about a pound a week with very light (like nonexistent) working out, but mostly staying on plan with my 1800 calories.

Every Monday I will hold myself accountable to you, my reader, with an update!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Weight:  158.3 lbs. (Bellamy is 7 weeks old)

Neck: 12 1/2 inches

Arms: 13 inches

Bust: 34 1/4 inches

Waist: 35 1/4 inches

Hips: 44 inches (OUCH that hurt to type)

Thighs: 25 3/4 inches (Bigger than my waist size when I got married)

Dress Size: 12

7 weeks PP after 4 children

I am looking forward to this journey. I am really grateful that I have a wonderful support team that is cheering me on. I know I can do this for my health, and for my self esteem!

B-B-B-Bell Bell and the Reds a sandy adventure.

Four years people, it has been four years since my family has gone on a vacation that didn't include a trip to North Carolina. 

Not that I wouldn't love to see all my NC family friends, but it felt REALLY awesome to pick a place on the map and just go. Not because we had to be there, but because we wanted to be there. 

Our family on the beach. We stayed at a hotel right on the beach so that the tiny people could take naps as needed during the day without interrupting everyone's beach fun.

When my husband waltzed into our house Thursday after work he told me that he had a long weekend. It had not even dawned on me that Monday was Columbus day! YES! 'We're getting out of Austin', was my first thought, and my original plan was to get cheap Allegiant Air tickets to Las Vegas, but because of the music festival in Austin, and a holiday weekend the tickets were REALLY expensive. 

My purely Joyful child. Ryker loved the sand. 

So we decided to take a drive down to Galveston Beach. It was the first time my husband and kiddos had been, and the first time I have been back there since 2002. We really had a fantastic time, just the five of us. Kyle's mom and step-dad live about 45 minuets from Galveston, so they met us for dinner Saturday night. Our weekend was full of fantastic adventures in the sand, pool, pleasure pier, and a very fun trip to Moody Gardens. Mix all that goodness with a side of sea food and a lot of candy, it made out for a pretty good weekend!

The big brother. Fox just wanted in the water with 'the sharks'. 

I will forever be grateful to my Father in Heaven for the jobs that Kyle and I have, we are very fortunate to be able to provide in abundance.  I am also grateful to have such awesome kiddos. Fox and Ryker keep us laughing 24/7. They're probably not going to remember this last weekend, but I will, and those memories will be cherished for the rest of my life. Bellamy is just a lump (a very cute, precious, special lump... but a lump none the less), so we just adored her the whole time. Not bad for a spur-of-the-moment trip to the beach. 

My heart, soul, and purest joy. #mommyjoy

Their bond extends far before this life and into the great eternities.

My serious princess. 

Went for an hour long boat ride around Galveston. 

It was such and adventure, and I vow to do it a least twice a year!

Snap Shot Saturday.

The War on Breast

Boobs. That is the topic of today's blog... Female breast. 

Not really, kind of, and yet- not.

 We're talking all things the war on breastfeeding and the mommy shaming for choosing not to breastfeed. 

When I started my journey into motherhood I just assumed I would breastfeed. I had watched my mom breastfeed all five of my siblings without an issue, so for me I never even considered that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn't want to, even worse, I never pictured the day that I couldn't breastfeed my child. 

When Fox was born I was really excited to be that awesome crunchy mommy that gave her child 'the best' for a solid year, maybe even longer. I was surrounded by moms who breastfed like it was no big deal, who all hung up their super hero capes on years of nursing careers. So if they could do it, why couldn't I? 

The day Fox was born I latched him on that first time feeling so proud of myself, vowing to never let 'that poison' touch his lips. Forty-eight hours later after my poor sweet baby lost over a pound and a half, and cried himself into a tizzy, I gave him a sample of 'that poison'. 

I felt like I was a failure.

I wasn't giving my child the very best, he deserved the very best. I was going to face being 'that mom' that formula fed her baby instead of giving him liquid gold. I was going to lose friends who saw woman like me as a lazy parent. In the midst of my pity party I failed to recognize that he was content for the first time since his birth. 

I had just assumed that there was something wrong with my milk that the fault was all mine. For the next two weeks I nursed my baby, pumped, fed my baby that pumped milk, and ate WAY to much oatmeal. I continued to stress myself out and totally run myself into the ground, all for the sake of looking like a super hero mommy.

 All so that I wouldn't be mommy judged. 

Weeks later we found out our little guy had been born with a UTI, which prevented him from adequately gaining weight. At this point my milk had dwindled to almost nothing, I couldn't support his needs any longer. So I started to supplement with formula and nurse him to no avail, Fox was still not gaining weight and recovering from his UTI. I had run myself ragged, my fear of being looked down on as a mother, and my sadness that my body had failed me kicked my Postpartum depression into full gear. Everything and everyone around me suffered. 

All because society had made me think that formula feeding was bad. 

Fox at four days old, he was fed from the breast and the bottle and he is now a very smart happy healthy 3 year old.

 Flash forward to now. I've had three children, I've breastfed, formula fed, goats milk fed, and did a combination of feedings. I had to allow myself to set aside the war over motherhood, and the stigma of feeding my infant anything other than human breastmilk, and do what was BEST for my child. Because sometimes, breast isn't best. 

Ryker was breastfed, formula fed, and then thrived on goats milk (a blog for another time).

There are so many woman who try their very hardest to feed from the breast, and can not. There are woman who have more postpartum issues trying to breastfeed, and end up suffering needlessly because they're afraid to put their mental health needs before 'what is best for their baby'. Some woman just don't want to breastfeed, and that is OK too! 

Bellamy is breastfed right now, but I wouldn't hesitate to give her formula if she needed it. 

There shouldn't be a war on what type of nipple I put in my child's mouth. So the next time you see a woman nursing, bottle feeding, mixing formula, or pumping, give her a smile. Motherhood is stressful enough without society making it harder. No matter what that mommy is feeding her baby, she is sleep deprived, emotional, and just trying to do her best! Support her and love her because she loves that baby, and is simply just trying to do her best. 

Chevron Pink and Grey Ergobaby carrier

I have tried a number of different baby carriers, none have ever fit me very comfortably.

With my first child I was totally a Moby Wrap user. It was comfortable, and fit okay. But in the Texas summer (Fox was a July baby) I was miserable and couldn't ever use it outside. Also, the more children I had the more I needed to be able to quickly pull on a carrier that didn't need a ton of adjusting. For me, I was also constantly having to adjust the wrap to keep it tight. That may have been a user error, but if I couldn't put it on and trust it, what is the purpose in using it? I also could only use the carrier while my babies were little, once they got into the crawling age my kids didn't like being wrapped so tightly to my body.

With our second child I used a less expensive carrier by Infantino. The carrier was also OK, but fit my husband much better than it fit me. With Ryker (born in January) the heat wasn't a major issue, but this particular carrier was far too bulky for my short build. I made it work, but was grateful when our tiny guy didn't want to be carried anymore.

When I found out that I was expecting our third I knew that I would need a carrier that REALLY worked well for my build, the crazy Texas temperature, and how active I am during my daily routine. I waited until Bellamy was born before I invested in another carrier. At about 5 weeks postpartum I went to Babies R Us and tried on several different carriers. I walked around the store with it on, and made sure I was comfortable, and the baby was comfortable. I also needed to be able to get the carrier on correctly without any assistance.

The Ergo won. 

I've used this carrier for the last two weeks and I am totally in love with it! Since Bell is still so tiny we're also using the infant insert, which we also love. She gets into the carrier and instantly falls asleep and stays asleep until she is pulled out again.
 It fits my build so well. I am very short waist-ed and it doesn't feel like it is too big on me. But other members of my family have used it and said that it fit them well too. While we were out at the pumpkin patch my sister carried my 33 lbs. Fox on her back while we went through he Texas maze and I nursed Bellamy. She said it distributed his weight evenly across her back. I also can get into the carrier by myself, in a hurry. 

The only dislike I have is how 'quilted' the infant insert is. I feel like Bellamy gets too hot while she is wearing it. She doesn't seem to mind, so I guess it isn't a huge issue. 

Over all I give this gadget a 4 star rating. 

Pumpkin Patching 2014

Every year our family kicks off the fall season with a trip to Sweet Berry farms. Over the years it has been such a wonderful family event where we take cute fall pictures and pick our year's pumpkins.

2013

2011

2012

2012

The first year we went we went with another family. The next few years we went with just our little family. This year Kyle had to work crazy overtime during the month of September, but luckily my extended family lives close by. So we missed Kyle, but we still made wonderful memories that I will cherish forever!

2014

My Aunt Kathy, a Broher, and Fox 

My Uncle Stan and I hand sanitizing after using the biffy's

My dad, brother, and I after stuffing our scarecrow 

2014

Barrel train, Ryker was not a fan

In the corn maze with my mom, sister, aunt, and the kidlets. Yes, mom and sister help with the baby wearing. 

We picked out pumpkins, jumped on a 'pillow', ate yummy food, went through a Texas size corn maze, and the boys rode a barrel train. It was a lovely day, unseasonably cool, which I was so grateful for. Hopefully next year my hunky husband will be able to join us again.