So long for now CDs

Well it seems our little guy is getting bigger once again.  He's potty trained (both day and night).  This milestone comes with a little break in my chores-- no more Cloth Diaper laundry! Not that I minded it, but hey one or two less loads a week is nice.  Truthfully, I'd hoped I wouldn't have to pack them up for a long time because in my perfect world we'd be welcoming another baby into our home right about the time Josh was done with diapers.  Unfortunately, the path to baby #2 is proving to be a bit more difficult than expected.

But onto the real story here.  We attempted potty training over Christmas break, but Josh just was not ready.  He could hold it a long time but then he would release the flood.  At that point he was not using more than a few words together, so in my humble opinion communication was the biggest obstacle then.

So we thought we'd try again at spring break.  Then I got sick and Josh followed suit, so I just figured we'd save it for summer.  Then one fateful day, (the Thursday before Good Friday) at Target, Josh found the Gup X.  My husband was with me and it was way too expensive.  Then the words came out of my husband's mouth.  "You can have it if you go on the potty."  Ok--we had not discussed that one.  So I got down on eye level with Josh and clarified.  He could have the Gup X  if he gave up his diapers.  Boy, did we sucker him into that deal!

We got home and he immediately wanted to take the Gup-X out of the package.  I stuck to my guns and told him we had to put away his diapers first.  So he did it.  He took them all out of his diaper drawer and put them a bag that we put away in the closet.  We did keep out his Overnight diapers, but really we did not need to because he hadn't been wetting overnight for months, it's just that first go of the morning that got him.

If my son were a puppy up for adoption, you would see the phase "Reward Motivated" on his info sheet.  We started with a sticker chart for pee pee.  Once he got to 5 stickers he got a prize.  Poop was a bit more messy.  After a few accidents and grandma buying some pull ups (we used regular undies and gerber trainers), it was time for another incentive.  We made another star chart for poop.  We have now been a week without a #2 accident, and only one mess the previous week.  Tomorrow I will take him out to get his Bumble Bee Transformer.

We've cleared out two drawers in his dresser, eliminated 2 loads of laundry, and my son is potty trained before age three.  I'm a little sad to say goodbye for now to his cute little BG's and Charlie Bananas, but now we have Thomas the Train underpants.  Oh and a forewarning to other moms, the Thomas underpants do not include Emily.  Josh pointed that out and was quite upset after checking each pair to see if Emily was on them.

T-25 Beta Results

Well I finished Beta, and was quickly met by a virus going through my family.  It was one that liked to hang on.  I missed an entire week of working out, but I'm back in the game now, actually 2 weeks and 2 days into Gamma!

I finally took some pictures, too.  I got sick right when I finished Beta, and then I did not want to do after shots when I hadn't worked out, so I put them off.  I am 10 pounds down and feeling much better about myself.  In fact, I believe in my self and my ability to change my body.  That's huge for me.

Without further ado,

Getting Toned!

My "Skinny" Jeans Fit

With one week left of T-25 Beta, I mustered the courage to try them on.  They've been put into and pulled out of the donation bags at least three times, and worn one time since my son was born.  He was three months old and I was taking him to the zoo with a girlfriend.  I was rocking a muffin top but I blamed most of that on skin that was still recovering from 9 months of stretching.  My mom saw me getting changed and commented about how much flatter my stomach looked.  Filled with new found bravery, I reached into the back of my closet and pulled them out, carefully inserted one leg at a time, pulled them up, did a quick squat, and grabbed that zipper.  And it went up. And the buttons buttoned. While they were still tight--to be fair they are A&E stretch jeans--they were looser than they were when I squeezed into them to go to the zoo, when I was the lightest I've been since J was born.  I'm pretty sure that's how it feels to make it to the top of Mount Everest.

All of this makes me very curious about what the scale will say next week.  I know that my lightest postpartum weight was about 20 lbs lighter than what I was at the beginning of this journey, but  I really don't think that I have lost that much.  I guess we'll see.  A few other pairs were tried on, and while they don't quite fit, I now have hope that they will.

I've talked about T-25 here but not too much about the diet changes I've made.  Since my beachbody coach made us take some pictures of the food we ate sometime for our challenge, I figured I'd share some.  I'm not the most committed dieter, and I allow myself to cheat on the weekends, but this challenge has definitely cleansed my palate.  Mainly I've been swapping processed foods for more whole food options, eating more small meals, eating more veggies, and I started to eat nuts as a snack--who knew!

My favorite mid-morning snack, craisins and almonds.  I put 1/4 cup of each in a container almost everyday and snack when hunger strikes.  If I eat it all, that's about 300 calories.  

 This I do as lunch or a snack.  Snap peas and hummus.  I like to have carrots with them too.  Carrots and Snap peas, practically no calories.  I measure out a serving of hummus which is about 130 calories.  If I pack that for lunch I usually add a Greek yogurt and an apple.  Both of these snacks take a long time to eat for a relatively small amount of calories, which is what really helps me, because I can house like 10 cookies in them amount of time it would take me to eat either of these and possibly not even feel full.

 Finally here's a dinner I cooked.  What's missing?  That's right, carbs.  I have tried to minimize the amount of carbs I eat after my workout.  Can you believe as a kid I refused to try things like asparagus!?!?  I'm so ashamed of myself.  I really just started to cook it this year thanks to pinterest, and I'm sort of obsessed.  Mix 1.5 TBSP of olive oil with one clove of grated garlic, some salt and pepper.  Roast in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes.  SO GOOD!!  Soon we will be grilling it! I can't wait

If I'm hungry after a workout I'll often have a rice cake with peanut butter and a small cup of milk  to hold me over until dinner.  Finally, I take this drink to get some apple cider vinegar goodness in which, among other things, helps your body break down fat and get it off your belly.




See ya in one week  with my T-25 10 week results!

Thanks Coach

Today marks the end of the 60 Day Challenge I've been doing with Coach Bendel.  She created a facebook group to keep us accountable, and that really helped me stick to my commitments.  It was fun to participate, and of course Steph had some *creative* assignments. I lost one more pound this week.  Clearly, I have not yet mastered the art of the selfie, but I think you may be able to see some progress!  Working out and eating better will continue to be a part of my EVERYDAY life.  Thanks for helping me to make this change!

T-25 Progress

Here are my progress pictures as promised in my previous post.  The first one is from this summer because I did not take a before picture.  At then end of Alpha I am down 8 pounds and feeling a lot better.   The scale has wobbled back and forth a little which I attribute to muscle gain; I feel much stronger. Beta is fun so far and I feel a lot more sore on the day we use weights.  I have some more revealing pictures, but I'm not comfortable sharing that with the world wide web at this time. 

In addition to exercise , eating cleaner has been another priority.  I've been trying to focus on getting a protein and veggies at lunch and dinner (breakfast is on the go in my car, usually toast, a banana, and coffee), reducing my carb intake, and eating more small meals through out the day.  I definitely have and enjoy a cheat sometimes, but it has really helped to cut out the overindulging I would do.  

I am proud of myself for sticking to this and thankful for friends who encourage me and keep me accountable.  

Go, Dogs. GO!

This post in in honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, one of my son's current favorite books (though it's actually P.D. Eastman and not Dr. Seuss), some recently received client pictures, and the fact there was not another catchy snood blog post title in me.

See Dog.
     Dog has big ears.  
          See Hat.
               Hat has big ears
                    See Dog in Hat with big ears.

Dog sitting and wearing a tan reindeer snood.

A grey reindeer snood on a small Dog.

Dogs like snoods from Erma's Inspiration.

Not the Usual Post

Recently I've resumed trying to read a devotional everyday--much easier to do now with an app on my i-phone.  Today's really touched me. It was a reminder to slow down and observe life and its beauty, even in the everyday things like sunrise.  So I thought I'd share this. Here's the link http://odb.org/2014/03/01/sunrise/