Excitement and fear....all at the same time!!!

Alright, so we are beginning another chapter in our lives. Food has been on the table (so to speak) for almost two years now. However, taking drastic measures to make sure our finances are in order as been on the back burner (I am full of them today!). That is until now!!!!!!

Husband and I have decided to go to a cash only system. Now, all you thieves out there, do not come and break into my house expecting to find some mad cash ;) We do not have "lots" of money by any means. What we are attempting to do is to cut out spending that is not needed. So we are looking at each pay period and trying to figure out what things we NEED. Then we divide the cash up into labeled envelopes. We make sure to have all our NEEDS counted out before we even thinking about having an envelope for things like going out for coffee, etc. Here is where the fear and excitement come in ;)

I am totally geeked to finally say "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!" and REALLY try to get out of debt and be good stewards of the financial blessings God has given to us!!!! I am also scared because it is just so foreign to us. I think of things we will have to sacrifice. There will be things that have to be given up here and there. When I stop and really think about it though, it is not like I "deserve" any of the extras that I blow my money on, ya know? Those things are a privilege, not a right.

How does this relate to me being healthy? WELL......If we do not have have the cash then I cannot buy the crap!!!!!!!!! He he he ;) Using that little plastic thing we call a debit card has really enabled me in my journey to health. I swing through McDs whenever I have "a craving" or whatever. Now, like I said....not having cash set aside for that will make me think twice!!!!

I had a little bit of "my cash" left in my wallet so I intentionally blew it yesterday and today on fast food items. I felt as if it were my last rebellious act or something ;) Now, if fast food is going to happen, it has to be planned for in advance. There's an idea ;) He he he ;)

Prayers in this area of our lives would be much appreciated!!!! I hope that each of you are doing well and making wise choices in all areas of your life....not JUST food ;) Until the next post .......

PEACE OUT ;)

OW!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pregnancy is usually my friend. I LOVE being pregnant! I do experience the occasional sciatic nerve flare up, swollen appendages near the end and sore back. However, this time around the lower back ache has kicked in super early!!!!!!!!!! The past few days I have been so uncomfortable!! I do not want to be a whiner but DANG!!!! He he he ;) I have tried tylenol and applying heat. Neither seem to touch it. If I lay down it eases up but as soon as I stand it is killing me again!!! I would not be so concerned about it is I did not have 4 1/2 stinkin months left!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

The thought occurred to me that maybe it did not start this early with the other pregnancies because I had so much junk in the trunk so it kind of balanced out the big belly ;) So this time, the belly being as big as it is already might be putting a lot of stress on the lower back. Ugh.....not too sure. I will probably be going back to my chiropractor very soon. That always helped with the other pregnancies.

Food wise, well....good one day, not so good the next. So, today is supposed to be a good day ;) I had a good breakfast (honey bunches of oats w/slices of banana and strawberries, 1cup skim milk). Now to keep it up throughout the day. Oh and of course....DRINKING MY WATER!!!!!!!!! I ate poorly yesterday and I did not get my water in....guess what? I felt totally icky!!!! I am sure you can tell the difference on the days when you fill up with what is good for your body versus the days that you don't right? You would think that would be enough motivation to keep us filling up with the right stuff!!! He he he ;)

Alright folks.....push on through this weekend with a positive attitude and wise food/drink choices!!! Do not let the weekend be an excuse to go totally crazy!!! Have a little popcorn or ice cream but make sure you are not eating an entire Ben & Jerry's carton all by yourself !!!!

Much love, my peeps!

Middle of the road?

Made more of an effort today to not stuff my face with junk :) The one thing that threw me for a loop was the awesome oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at my friends house ;) I ate 4 of them!!! They were SO good!!!! Since I am already talking about what I ate today here is my daily run down, I will blabber on some more after that ;) I am thinking today would be classified as middle of the road. It did not rock but it did not totally suck either ;)

Breakfast- 3/4 cup honey bunches of oats, 1cup skim milk

Treat- 4 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Lunch- Turkey medal ions Smart One, 1 cup grapes, strawberry yogurt

Treat- about 6 cadbury mini eggs

Snack- 2 pieces whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread

Dinner- Slow cooker lasagna, salad, 1 piece garlic bread

Snack- Popcorn, 1 cup orange juice

Oh....and some jelly bellys thrown in there somewhere ;) He he he ;)

So here is my exciting news.....I MADE IT TO JAZZERCISE TONIGHT!!!!!!!!!! Yay :) So...like I said, even though my food choices were not 100% where I would like to see them, they improved AND I worked out :) SO...GO ME :)

Working out almost did not happen tonight though. I could not find my work out pants to save my stinkin life!!! I was SO irritated. I looked everywhere. Honestly, this whole afternoon I felt like my brain was not even in my head!!! Could not find Brendan's book for sparks, lost my work out pants, put clothes in the dryer but did not start it, put clothes in the washer but did not start it....AAAHHH!!!!!!! He he he ;) It was nuts!!!!

I was NOT looking forward to going to target and trying to find the same pants! I went and looked for quite awhile. No luck. I looked on the clearance rack and there was one pair of them on sale for $5, down from $20!!! YES!!!! They are actually a size bigger than the ones I lost but since I am getting bigger it may prove to be for the best ;) I am still hoping the ones that are MIA will show up at some point !!!!

I have gotten some great encouragement over the past few days from people about this little blog. THANK YOU!!!!!!!! It means a lot to me to know that people are reading this and that you are being inspired to fight the good fight !!! Keep up the hard work!! We CAN succeed at living a life that is healthy!!!!!! I will try to check in with you all very soon!! Love you and goodnight :)

3:30am.....

Ok kiddos....I have had people asking where my newest post is.....well...it is right here!!!!! I have been meaning to write one for a few days but days just get away from me SO fast !!!! In my head it makes sense to blog at night cause then I can recap that particular day rather than posting in the middle of the day. However, since I have not been consistently typing out everything I have eaten in a day I suppose an afternoon post may be ideal since I usually have a little bit of energy to spare that point vs. the evening when I am exhausted ;) The pic you see here was taken over the weekend. I am 20 weeks 4 days in the pic :)

As you know, I have been feeling discouraged lately. That just will not cut it !!!! I am choosing to not let myself feel condemned for a bad day (or week). I KNOW that I need to press onward!!! I think for the most part I am still doing a pretty good job at getting in my fruits and veggies. I have been drinking a bit more water (oh and SoBe Life Water...YUM!!!!). I need to focus on those things that I am doing well !!!! I even made a menu plan for this week for dinners and I am sticking to it for the most part :) YAY :)

The other element I NEED to keep in place is remaining active!!! I have not been able to make it to Jazzercise for about a week. I was supposed to go at one point last week but had a headache that morning and chose a nap instead of working out. Then tonight (er, uh, yesterday) I was all set to go and guess what? Flat tire on the van!!!! UGH!!!! I think it worked out ok though cause I ended up going to bed by 8pm. Well, except now I am up at 3:30am writing a blog ;) He he he ;) Oh well ;)

My husband has been awesome through all of this! Poor guy, I cannot imagine how hard it is to be a husband ;) Us women are so back and forth emotionally when we are not pregnant.......so when we are pregnant I am sure it is even more difficult to deal with us ;) This morning I told hubby flat out that I am struggling and that I need his help. I think I have been keeping this struggle with food too quiet. When I was talking to him about it he even commented that it did not seem like I was having that hard of a time. I told him that it is because I have been doing it in secret. It is the drive through at McDs on my way to work (and I work for WW of all places!!! Sheesh!!! He he he!) and things like that which he may not even know I did. He was so gracious to me. He actually stopped and prayed for me right there!!!! Huge blessing!

So......let's keep moving!!!! This is week 21 of pregnancy and I want this second half to be a good one!!!!!!!!!!!! If you are struggling, take a deep breath, be honest with yourself and then take the next step you need to take to make a healthy choice TODAY!!!!!!! Do not beat yourself up for yesterday!!! Honestly, it just makes it more likely that you will repeat that pattern. So....TODAY IS A NEW DAY!!!!!!!!! Let's get it !!!!!!!!!

Feelin Lucky?

Feeling lucky today on St. Patty's day? I would not call it lucky...I would call it blessed! I was SUPER sick with sinus stuff last week so there was no bloggin to be done. Today, I can say I am starting to feel a lot more like myself!!!!! This also means that I am becoming a lot more positive about my ability to be successful at being a healthy pregnant woman!!! YAY :) Just looking around my house today at my kiddos, I just had so much joy in my heart because I am blessed with such great monkeys!!!!

Speaking of monkeys......guess what.......we know the gender of the new little one!!!! We are having a little GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY :) Two and two and we are done ;) At least I think we are done ;) God may have a different plan that we do ;) He he he ;) I am glad I do not have to stuff three boys into one bedroom!!! I think the whole family was hoping for another little girl :) The hubby was for sure, which I think is SUPER cute ;) I love that guy :)

I tackled menu planning and grocery shopping today :) Feels so good to get the "good" stuff in the house!!!! Only down side was when I went to eat some strawberries and found a little spider inside one of them because it was hallow!!!! EW!!!!!!!!! Made me want to throw out the entire container!!!! Ok, so after weeks and weeks of not telling you what I have been eating, here is what I ate today:

Breakfast- 1cup go lean crunch, 1/2 cup of 2% milk (would have been a whole cup but we only had 1/2 cup left!!!), banana

Lunch- Ham and cheese lunchable- reduced fat version with chocolate pudding, then I finished a little of the kids' crackers from their lunchables ;)

Treat- 3 cookies (small ones), 2tbs ice cream, 1/3 cup crasins

Dinner- 1 slice Parmesan Turkey Meatloaf, 1/2 cup peas, 1/2 cup potatoes (sliced 'em, drizzled with olive oil and spices and then baked them), 1 cup milk

Treat- medium SHAMROCK SHAKE BABY!!!!! Hey, it is St. Patty's day!!!! Had to have one ;)

1 Eddy's frozen fruit bar :) YUM :)

P.S. On a side note, I have given up my Starbucks Java Chip Frappacino for lent ;) Doing fine with it so far!!!

#4

Ha, number four.....yeah......I am NOT talking about baby number four. Unfortunately, I am talking about McDonald's #4. Two cheeseburgers, medium fry and a medium coke. I have fallen victim to lack of self control several times with this little number :(

I have neglected the blog for several reasons. I have been CRAZY busy and well, I have just not been trying very hard to make healthy food choices. This is a really hard deal while being pregnant !! I know a lot of it is the fact that I am making the excuse that since I am pregnant I can go ahead and do it. I also know that it is due to the fact that it IS hard to do while pregnant (and when not pregnant).

Honestly, I just feel so alone in this. I started the blog so I could hold myself accountable and so I could encourage other people along the way. However, I still do not feel like I have anyone who is checking in on ME, ya know? I mean, people tell me the blog is encouraging them and that helps me to want to keep going with it. But, in reality I feel alone in this fight. I am not saying that anyone else is at fault for me making poor choices. I just wish I had people who would ask me how I am doing with my eating and challenge and encourage me, ya know?

The fact that we are so busy makes it really easy for me to make excuses. On top of the busyness, my sinuses have decided to act up yet again!!!! Also, our almost 6yr old has been having strange things going on with his heart. So, we will be getting a heart monitor that he needs to wear for a whole week. We are hoping he has one of his episodes while wearing it so we can figure out what is going on! So, yeah.....stress is a big factor too.

I NEED HELP!!!!! Not sure what I think that would look like, but I need something to help me move forward and not get stuck where I am at !!!!!