Weekly Weigh-In

Last night completed my first week of Weight Watchers.

So, first.... the stats:   -2.8 lbs

That's right... I lost just shy of 3 pounds in my first week of Weight Watchers. I guess there was a reason I was feeling hungry all of the time and I guess it was not for nothing.

I am impressed. In the one week and one day that I have been doing this, it has radically changed my thoughts on food, exercise and living a healthier lifestyle for myself and for my family.

I do wish it was not so expensive, though.  There is a weekly meeting fee, a fee for the books (like the 3-month food tracker, the eating out guide, etc.), a fee for the calculator to calculate your points when what you are eating is not found in the little pocket book they give you, and then they sell their own foods and starter bundles and all of that fun stuff.  SO, it can be expensive.

I am currently using the 2 week free trial of their e-tools online and I really like that, but it would be an additional $15/month ...  so I probably will not continue using the e-tools after my 2 week trial is up... that will be a bummer. I do not own a smart phone so even though I downloaded the apps on Chris's phone, it does me no good when he is not by my side.  Oh well! We'll get it all figured out :)

My first impressions are:  Better than I expected. I'm enjoying it. It is challenging me. I was once a skeptic but am no longer. We'll see what week #2 brings!

With these hands...

With These Hands

Your tiny hands hold so much promise

A love that cannot be explained

These tiny hands so unexpected

I'm so glad they came

God closed the door and we said goodbye

And then He sent us you

Your tiny hands remind me 

That His love is always true

The silver lining in our cloud

The joy we needed to get through

The laughter to cover the tears

The fun to replace the subdued

Your tiny hands create and explore

This world that has to us been made new

And as I watch you follow my lead

I am so thankful for you

As you sing your song  and your fingers play

As you try to do as I do

May you always know our love 

Our sweet, sweet Emma Sue

Happy Valentine's Day!

From our house to yours and a couple days late, as is custom for most things in our home.

Valentine's Day is always an interesting day. In the past, we had surprise visits with our parents, heavy snows that left us stuck inside the house, romantic dinners out as a couple, big gifts, small gifts, no gifts, lots of cards.

This year was simple, totally different, but fun!

This year we have Emma and she is old enough to participate a little bit with Valentine's Day. This year I was reminded of how blessed I am to have the husband that I do. I don't brag on him nearly enough. My.Husband.Rocks.  We were made to be with each other and we have been one since the day we were married 8 1/2 years ago. He makes me laugh. He encourages me. He pushes me to be better and to do better. He knows me better than any other person on this planet. He loves me when I am weak and when I fail. He loves me when I try to conquer the world over and over again. He loves me. His love is truly an example of how Christ loves the church. He is dedicated to me, to our marriage and to our family. I am truly blessed to have this man.

The hard part is sharing him with this cute little blond that moved in 20 months ago ;)

I pray that everyone's Valentine's Day was as special and filled with love as ours!

What have I done...

I remember as a teenager, my mom talked about doing Weight Watchers and I remember saying "you don't need that, you just need to exercise and not eat as much."   How's that for compassion?

Now, I know what my Mom battled, because I battle it myself and have for almost 6 years now... I have steadily increased in weight and am now at my all-time high. I have had a couple of friends share their success with this program and finally, after a young lady in our church asked me to accompany her to her first meeting, I agreed to go.... for her sake, of course. What I found, was that this might be the perfect fit for me and that I needed to at least give it a try. After all, I have 7-days worth of materials and no reason not to try it.

I am on Day 1.

I. Am. Starving.

I had no idea how much smaller my portion sizes should be until I had to measure my food today. I have only had two meals and I feel the need to stuff my face with peanut m&m's or bake some fresh chocolate chip cookies.

I am slowly realizing how addicted I have become to food, namely sweets, but I am not prejudice... all foods lure me in with their fat and yumminess.

So, maybe this will really work for me and get me on the right track to eating better. The good news with this plan, is that I can have those fresh baked cookies, I just have to work out to earn them ...  good motivation for working out I'd say.

We shall see how this goes!

My First Printable

Created my first printable this morning. I'm excited about it! I have it printed and just need to mount it onto my kitchen cabinet! Woohoo!

Pinterest Project - VDay!

Well, I did it. My first real pinterest project brought to life. Not nearly as cool as the one I pinned but I can't sprinkle candy hearts around the frames because I have a 20-month old daughter and a German Shepherd that would take care of that.

I like that it brings Valentine's Day into our house though... this is the first thing you would see when you walk into our front door... and hopefully it will be distracting enough to keep you from looking up into our mess of a play room :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Travelling

One thing that is slowly becoming painfully obvious is to me, is that I am a terrible packer. The last couple of months have had a lot of travelling involved in them and I have left things behind, forgotten to pack things, packed the wrong things, packed too much and not packed enough.

It is ten times more difficult to pack with a baby/toddler. Did I remember clothes? How about extra clothes for accidents? Did I remember lamby? blanket? baby doll? music cd? fan? Do I have sippy cups, snacks, forks and spoons, bibs, toys for the car, toys for our destination, books for bed time reading, socks, diapers, wipes, butt cream, shampoo? Oh and don't forget the baby monitor...again! And the list goes on... and that's just for Emma!

So, I am changing the way we do things from now on. We have so many travel bags that we have collected over the years that I have decided I will have certain things packed in certain bags for certain trips. We will see if this helps. I will also create a master packing list for each of our bags based on whether it is a business trip, a trip to Grampa's, a trip out of state, etc.  I expect my lists to look something like this:

 So hopefully this will enable me to pack more efficiently and less like a chicken with its head cut off about 3 hours before we are supposed to leave.