LtBW Progress. #2

I've hit a rut... Actually, I hit a rut a long time ago. I'm still doing my workouts, as much as I can, but the craving of Pepsi has ruined me. I've made a new deal with Casey, limit one soda per week... FOR BOTH OF US. Lucky him, he can drink beer as a substitute. I don't like beer, so we're pretty much stuck on water for me... which is fine, faster weight loss!

Anyhow. On top of that the Jillian sight is too much work to keep up with. My stepmom has lost 20 pounds on Nutrisystem in about 2 months with NO exercise, so I was just looking over the mealplans and such and it looks like they have enough food for my pickiness to overcome, but it's $300 for every 4 weeks and my husband thinks that I'm not going to like the taste of half the foods I thought looked good. He said I can only do Nutrisystem IF AND ONLY IF I can stick with it, no matter how gross I think it is. You get to customize your meal plans, picking out only foods that you like, but there's still no guarantee I'd like some of it... sooooo... I'm turning it down for the time being.

I'm hoping to do at least one Jillian workout, still, everyday, and some extra workouts as I play and have fun on the KINECT. [: So, we'll see. I don't know what my starting weight was when I started the "LtBW" thing, but I've only got a little under 50 pounds to lose to my ideal weight. [Only about 40-ish to my pre-pregnancy size.] More updates TO COME!

Losing the Baby Weight, Day 1.

I'm going to nickname these "LtBW" in the labels, and in the titles, so for anyone looking to lose weight post-baby... I recommend looking specifically for those.

Today I started my weight loss plan, after having two babies back-to-back... I figure it's about time I get into shape, right? My goal is to be back to my pre-pregnancy size, or smaller, by summer. Fingers crossed, right?

A fellow Army wife, who also happens to be an ex-girlfriend to both of my brothers, had two babies almost 2 years ago now. She just recently got into her pre-pregnancy size 0 [although she says she's not the same weight, but at least her old jeans fit, right?]. I asked how she did it:: "A Jillian Michaels DVD every other day during the girls' nap, on the off days Wii Fit because it's still a workout but it's less intense and fun, so it's like a break. Also, South Beach Diet. For two weeks you have absolutely no carbs, and it may be hard, but it's worth it. After that you slowly introduce carbs back into your diet. Typically people lose about 20 pounds in the first two weeks."

Lucky me, I already had a Jillian DVD, which I did today [30 Day Shred] and it kicked my butt! But... I felt so much better afterwards. I have the Wii Fit, but I feel like I have much more to lose than Mel, so for now I'll stick to kicking my own butt with a Jillian workout every day. As for the South Beach Diet... 20 pounds in 2 weeks would be AWESOME, but almost all I eat is carbs. So... we'll see how that goes.

On my Jillian DVD it came with a code for a 30-day free trial to her website, which I signed up for. I plan on getting all that I can out of those 30 days while I can. I'm also buying her book "Mastering Your Metabolism" [it's much cheaper on Amazon, and there's nothing wrong with buying it used!] and possibly another DVD or two. This along with cutting out soda [I already have a limited amount of food intake] slowly will be my workout routine until Christmas, at which point I will be adding in XBox360's Dance Central for Kinect [I'm so excited!], and in January I'm buying some Reebok Easytone shoes for an extra boost.

I'm going to keep my blog posted on updates, hopefully every day, and we'll see how fast my progress goes. I may not look very heavy, but I feel huge, not to mention my weight is ridiculous in my eyes. Right now... we've got 53 pounds to lose to my goal weight! LET'S GET THIS GOING!

YouTube.

Yes, I have a YouTube channel of my own. Yes, I upload videos on there. Yes, I'd love to have a million views. Yes, I'd love to have a YouTube sensation like "Charlie Bit My Finger" thanks to my kids. No, I don't think it will ever happen. Why?...

First of all, I am dangerously addicted to Facebook. Whenever I want to show all of my friends a new video I stupidly upload it to Facebook first. It takes me a day or so to realize... I need to post this to YouTube instead! By then everyone and their mom has seen and commented on a brand new video, and they have no reason to write things about it on my YouTube channel. Probably one of the rare moments when I curse Facebook.

Second of all, I'm not talented like some other YouTube sensations like Shane Dawson. I don't know how to crop my videos, add multiple clips to one video, take out parts of my video, etc. There are plenty of things I'd love to post but I don't have the patience to figure out how to put different clips together. [I used to want to blog via YouTube, because talking would prevent my ramblings from seeming like they go way off subject than they really do.]

Thirdly, my phone only takes 30 second clips of video, which is my main source of uploading vids. I own a flip video camera, but the changing of file type and all of that fancy stuff you have to do to get it in a good format for YouTube takes a lot of time and patience, neither of which I ever seem to have enough of. I also own a regular camcorder, however... I have no idea where the USB cables and such are hidden to connect it to upload... ]:

Anyway, I'm telling you all of this so that you know... one day... my YouTube channel will be... AWESOMMME. So beware. Haha. Nolan's first birthday is coming up, his first haircut, his 1-year photos, his big/little brother photos, etc. I'm excited for all of this. Can't you tell, it's only 4AM on Sunday the 28th, and I'm up trying to be Super-Mommy...




Also, to my dearest, wonderful, magnificent husband... happy 18 month wedding anniversary! <3 I love you.

Moving with two babies...

So my husband and I have been living in our condo/townhouse for a year now, and our lease has expired. In the DC metro area a 2-bedroom place is pretty pricy, and we lucked out with a $1250 rent per month expense. [Compared to back home in Indiana, this is exceptionally HIGH.] We had the option to renew our lease for another year, do month-to-month, or move out. Well, for reasons I'm about to explain to you, we decided to move...

1) Renew for another year - We couldn't choose this option because a) Casey hadn't gotten word whether or not he'd be deploying in June, meaning we MIGHT have to break the lease for that and b) if not deploying, when Casey re-enlists in October 2011 he can get stationed in Kentucky [it's a sure thing for him, he's got hook-ups] because the end of next year, meaning we could break it for that, too. Breaking a lease would definitely NOT be beneficial to our growing family...

2) Month-to-month - To do month-to-month we would have to increase our rent by $50, making it $1300. There are places out here with the same [or close to it] amount of space for less, and I wasn't comfortable having to pay much more for a place to live, not to mention the fridge drives me crazy because it leaks and the ice maker doesn't make ice [the landlord won't fix it because it was that way when we moved in], one of the burners on the stove is out [and a big one at that!] and Casey can't fix it, the sink is in the corner of the kitchen and has weird proportions, etc. Yeah, definitely not doing that.

3) Move out - Where we moved to is... well... pretty much free. So we're banking all of that BAH, plus the money for cable and electricity, and saving it for things our little family needs. The sink is bigger and not stuck in the corner. The fridge is HUGE, does NOT leak, and DOES make ice. All of the burners work. It's pretty much the best idea ever.

Anyway, so we decided to move, as you've probably figured out by now. The problem is that with two babies on our hands it's hard to pack stuff up, let alone move it. I did pretty much ALL of the packing, and I did it while my oldest was in bed at night, and my youngest was getting attended to by his father. This means after 9PM until about 1AM I worked on packing stuff up. After I got a lot of stuff up I moved it to our new place, if that's where it was going, in small quantities at a time. But I always had to work at night. We couldn't get anything done during the day. For things that required two people my husband had to call in a few work buddies to help. In all reality the two of us probably could have knocked it out ourselves... if only someone could watch the boys. But that didn't happen...

On Wednesday Casey had two guys from work come home with him; we bought pizza and beer, and later Taco Bell; they moved most of the big stuff to our new place. Today [speaking as if it were still Saturday, and not 3:40AM on Sunday] my husband called one of those guys back up to move some bigger things to storage with him in exchange for BK lunch and KFC dinner, plus beer.

It's just hard having so many things to do while moving and knowing that you can't do it alone. All weekend we've been travelling back and forth getting little things we forgot to pack and bring already. I couldn't help moving any of the big items, or tell them how to stack it in storage properly, because I was tending to the boys.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about having babies. I'm just complaining about moving with the babies. A year from now, when we move to Kentucky, I'm hoping my oldest will be nice enough to help me out, and my youngest will just be following his brother around everywhere. Also, because this trip is 8+ hours away, we'll need to pack it all in and unload it all out at once. No multiple trips next year!

Tomorrow I intend on stranding my husband with both boys while he watches some quality football [Colts aren't on until 8:20, so he can't get mad until them!] so that I can go back to our old place and pack up the remaining few things we have all over the house, and vacuum the place up. Next weekend, before and after my son's first birthday party, will be some heavy cleaning and patching up of the old place. I'm determined to get that $1250 security deposit back if it kills me!

A word of advice for you fellow moms and families with babies, especially multiples!... Have someone watch your kids while you pack up and move things. It will definitely stress you out less! Haha.

Following...

I was browsing through the few blogs that I follow and I realized something... Three of them are people I know, the other three are blogs that had at least one interesting thing initially that I enjoyed, therefore I clicked the follow button. After reviewing the three people's blogs I do NOT know I decided... I don't like most of these posts, therefore... DELETE. So as of this very second I am following my friend, my cousin and a fellow MHS '09 graduate whom I haven't spoken to in... a very long time, actually.

If you're wondering why I'm telling you, it's simply because I felt the need arise. I'm going to follow more people... eventually... but they will be blogs of similar interests all-in-all, not just one post that struck me with awe. Anywho... ONWARD!

Steve Erwin, part 2.

I don't recall ever posting an update for the baby gender situation, and even if I did... it's long gone now, thanks to my "refurbishing". Therefore, I'm going to give the details for curious people on what happened.

I took the at-home pregnancy tests for baby #2 in the middle of March, having had a few nausea spells from strong odors. At the time I was thinking, if I truly were pregnant, I'd be about 4-ish weeks. I had my appointment at the beginning of April [about 2.5 weeks later] and found out that I was actually 13 and a half weeks pregnant. Instead of conceiving sometime in February, like I thought I had, we had actually conceived about December 23rd...

That's not a biggie, right? Well, actually... December 23rd is 3 weeks after Nolan was born. I gave birth to him vaginally, got stitched up from tearing, was supposed to wait 6 weeks before resuming "relations"... but after about two and a half weeks my stitches had healed, I was no longer bleeding, etc. So... we resumed early.

How does this effect the Steve Erwin theory? Well... because my stitches had just recently healed I was deathly afraid of ripping them back open, so I told my husband to take it slow. We probably didn't pick up the pace until a week or so after the new year. So far, for us at least, the Steve Erwin theory still holds true!

We're going to use this theory when we try for our baby girl. Don't worry, that won't be for awhile. Liam will be about a year before we start trying again, so look for a baby announcement sometime in October-November of 2011!

Refurbishing...

The next month is filled with a bunch of changes for my little family here, and because of those changes I have made a decision to "refurbish" some of my online stuff. My Facebook will remain the same, as always, but my youtube is getting some info updated and some new videos posted, along with more frequent updates. As for this particular blog...

I deleted every post from before, although some of them I realize I didn't have to, except for one. Obviously, if you look, it's about the Steve Erwin theory. I decided to make this blog about family: dealing with my parents as an adult, being a wife, being a mother, etc. I already know what you're asking. "How the hell does Steve Erwin involve YOUR family?" Read the story and you'll understand that it pertains to conceiving babies. Seeing as I have two babies, and plan to have a girl EVENTUALLY... I hold onto my Steve Erwin policies. Hopefully he was right, and the next one [in a year or so from now] will be a girl!

Anyhow, so that is a short update to prepare you, whoever you may be [besides Kelsey, haha] for more updates. [: ONWARD!

Steve Erwin's Baby Gender Theory.

A few years ago, prior to becoming one of the deceased, Steve Erwin [Crocodile Dundee] made an appearance on Jay Leno about the birth of his second child... A few months ago, while I was pregnant and read everything about pregnancy online, I read an article on BabyCenter about how attractive, or "beautiful", girls are all having girls, and there was speculation about whether pretty women were more likely to make girls than boys. As we all know, it's the man's sperm that decides the sex of the baby, not to mention that I've seen tons of ugly women with a lot of little girls. [No offense to anyone, really.] So, remembering Steve Erwin's theory, I commented on the article my response. Now, I can't seem to find the article, no matter how hard I look for it, but I personally believe in this Dundee's baby making theory. Want the details? Here we go...

Baby Girl:: To have a girl, the time of conception would be fast-paced, hurried. In my own amateur words: "Get on me NOW!" or "OMG, I want you so bad!"

Baby Boy:: To have a boy, the time of conception would be slow and sensual. Again, own words: "Making love."

This explains two things to me. The theory on pretty women conceiving girls, and the making of my son. Let's start with the girls... Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? So someone who is beautiful to you is not necessarily beautiful to me. Penelope Cruz sometimes look like a duck to me, but she's probably gorgeous to you. Johnny Depp is one of the most gorgeous men alive, but depending on what generation you're from it could be Chad Michael Murray, Sterling Knight, Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, etc. You see? So someone we, as society, may find completely hideous may be the most gorgeous person to someone else, therefore putting them mostly in the first situation when it comes to sex. That or the man has been in desperate need of sex recently and just got so excited that he was finally getting some, he was put in the first baby scenario.

Now, the conception of my son. My husband [then, merely my boyfriend/kinda-fiance-without-the-ring] and I had just gotten in a huge fight, spent a whole weekend and a few days apart, "broken up", to think about things and what we both really wanted out of our lives. In the end, we both decided we needed each other, because the break-up was heartwrenching for the both of us, and neither could really deal with it. So when we finally got to see each other, after talking, crying, laughing, smiling... we topped off the make-up with "love-making" [I had to say it that way, because of the baby boy theory above]. It was slow and sensual and beautiful, and we [actually, just me] cried, and he was so cautious. Afterwards we were talking about our thoughts during and we both found out that the other was wishing that we had made a baby, because it was something that would complete our lives, and something we knew God would give us if we were meant to be together. Needless to say, 24 weeks later when I found out that we were expecting a baby boy my beliefs in Steve Erwin's theories were confirmed.

Now, you may be even more doubtful, but don't worry. I will fix this! In about 20 more weeks [after we double check to make sure the at-home tests weren't crap] we'll find out just exactly how right Steve Erwin is when we find the sex of our NEW bundle of joy. We're expecting a girl, because my husband no longer gets sex all the time, and he's always anxious to get to it. So... if it's another boy, then Steve Erwin was wrong... and we'll need to find another way to make the babies we want, the cheap way...

Until then...