WHATEVER Wednesday!!!!!!!!

Last night I was too tired to update the good old blog. I went to bed by 9pm. Honestly, with how I ate yesterday I would rather not put it on here ;) BUT like I said, I want to be honest with myself and with you!!!! It would be easy to blame it on nerves with knowing I was having an ultrasound in the morning but I know that is just an excuse ;)
Yesterday did start out pretty well as far as eating goes. Had my 3/4cup of honey bunches of oats with just a tiny bit of milk and half of a banana. I tried to keep it small because I knew I would be having brunch at MOPS.

Begin tangent-

What is MOPS you ask? Well.....let me tell you!!!!!!! MOPS stands for Mothers of Preschoolers. It is an organization meant to equip, encourage and strength moms with kids from age 0-5yrs. It is an international organization so there might be a local MOPS group near you!!!! Go to www.mops.org. On the left hand side click on groups, then go to find a group and put in your zip code!!! It has been such an awesome experience for me (and SO many moms I know!!!!). Our local MOPS group meets twice a month. The kids go to age appropriate rooms with supervision while the mommies go to a large meeting room for much needed "mommy time". We have brunch at every meeting, then we either have a speaker on a topic that relates to us as mothers or we do a creative activity, then we break off into small group discussion time. So, if you need a place to connect to other mommies........go to MOPS!!!!!! YAY :)

Back to brunch- Ok, so I knew I would have brunch at MOPS and I tried to make sure to take small portion sizes. It worked out ok. Then, on the way home.......I got Taco Bell. I had been thinking about it for a week or so and finally caved. See, it would not be so bad but everything I ate yesterday added up REAL quick. Do not even ask me about water cause I do not think I could have even told you where my water bottle even was 99% of the time yesterday!!! So, I think that answers your question about that!!!!

Today is going ok so far. I would say it is kind of middle of the road at this point. Not horrible but not wonderful. I AM getting my water in today. I will post all of the stuff from today later on tonight. For not....here is the run down from my "whatever Wednesday" ;)

Breakfast- 3/4 cup honey bunches of oats- 3pts plus, tiny bit of milk 1pts plus, half banana- 0pts plus

Brunch- mini crepe- 2pts plus (guessing), 1 mini blueberry muffin- 2pts plus (guessing), VERY small piece of strussel cake- 2pts plus (guessing some more), Strawberries and grapes- 0pts plus, some kind of chocolate chip & coconut bar- 5pts plus (guessing again)

Lunch- 3 soft tacos- 16pts plus, 2 chicken nuggets that the kids did not eat- 3pts plus, couple of french fries- 2pts plus,

Treat- handful of Almond M&Ms- 3pts plus (guess), 3 little cookies, 4pts plus (guess), 1 root beer- 5pts plus

Snack- Nectarine- 0pts plus......at least I ended the day on a good note ;)

So, yeah, like a 47pts plus kind of day ;)

DRINK IT!!!! Water & Starbucks ;)

YAY :) I drank my water today like I said I would :) WOO HOO!!!! I also...had two piece of that cursed Harry Potter cake!!! Ooooppppsss.... he he he ;) One of them was pretty small though ;) He he he ;) It is amazing how that cake can seem to throw off the rest of your good efforts, ya know? I look at my log for the day and instead of seeing the water I drank, the fruits and veggies that I ate and all of the wise choices, I see the cake staring at me!!!!! Well you know what? The cake is now gone and out of the house (husband took the last piece to work tonight!), so whatever!!!!! It is one of those things where, we do not usually buy that so, when you do, you have to eat at least one piece each day until it is gone, right? Riiiiiiiiiiiight ;)
Thinking about breakfast today I pondered peanut butter. Not that I was going to eat it all by itself. I struggled with the idea of using points on 2 TBS of peanut butter on toast. I know it is high in protein and all that but.....5pts plus, really? For 2 TBS? Ugh. I was convinced that it would not fill me up enough but I was also convinced that it HAD to be part of my breakfast ;) So, two pieces of toast, 2TBS of PB and banana slices on top. Do you know what? I was FULL for a very long time. Not to mention I made sure to get one of my 20oz bottles of water in me before 8am. I think that probably helped too. I was all like "YAY!" and stuff ;)
One helpful thing I am thankful for today is leftovers....when it is a "healthy" thing that is left over!!! I had me some more of that potato chowder for lunch and DANG, it was good, filling AND healthy :) Rock on!!! Made me feel all warm inside.....literally ;)
Once again I ventured out to Starbucks to have some girlie time with friends :) It was much needed!!!!! I researched the beverages online before hand (always helpful when going out to eat or for coffee!!!!! PLAN AHEAD!!!!). Two of the drinks I looked at were OK in protein (one had 7grams and the other had 14grams) but had no fiber at all. They were each 7pts plus. Then I found one that was 8pts plus but it had like 17 grams of protein AND 2 grams of fiber. Now, I know that may not seem like a big deal but I figured to get even just a little more fiber in, that I should go for the one that was one point higher! You pregnant girls KNOW how important fiber is to keep things movin ;) I enjoyed it very much. Plus, laughing a lot made it all that much more enjoyable. Another suggestion I have for anyone reading this is to ENJOY the little things in life!!! Go out for coffee with the girls!!! If you are married....GO ON A DATE with your husband!!!! So many times we get so consumed with all of our responsibilities that we forget to stop, breath and make time to enjoy our lives and who we are as individuals. The title of mommy, wife, teacher, bank teller or whatever other title you may have get in the way sometimes. If you are totally stressed with everything and never give yourself a little grace and take a break.......let me tell you, this whole "eating right" thing will become just another annoyance factor. It will be just one more thing that you feel you cannot attain and live up to. The truth is, you CAN do this!!!! So......take time to just chill ;) I know, it sounds so easy, right? Do me a favor....I want some of you to drop me a line and tell me what you have done recently to refresh yourself. I would like to share it on the blog ;) I want people to be encouraged that it can be done ;) When you make time to hit the pause button it will help you refocus and hit the play button on your healthy goals!!!
On to the run down....you ready? Let's go!!!

Breakfast- Two pieces Healthy Life toast- 2pts plus, 2TBS peanut butter- 5pts plus, 1 banana- 0pts plus

Snack- Nectarine- 0pts plus

Lunch- left over potato chowder- 6pts plus, salad with fat free dressing- 0pts plus

Treat- CAKE- smaller piece than the other day so.....-9pts plus? He he he ;)

Snack- 2 orange essence prunes- 1pts plus, apple- 0pts plus

While prepping to make dinner- I had the urge to stuff something in my face....MADE myself choose a banana-0pts plus

Dinner- Chicken w/apples & cider- 9pts plus, peas- 0pts plus

OOopppssss- MORE cake- this piece was even smaller than earlier in the day- 6pts plus? I may be kidding myself here ;)

Girls night out- Starbucks Toffee Mocha- grande w/skim milk- 8pts plus

Not figured in- I also had a handful of goldfish crackers at some point and a bite of a doughnut at Starbucks cause they were bringing around samples- I have no idea on points but I wanted to make sure to admit that I ate them ;)

Water we gonna do better tomorrow?

Get it? Water we gonna do better tomorrow? Like...what are we gonna do better tomorrow? The answer is.....DRINK MORE WATER!!!! The last two days I have not been drinking nearly enough water. My goal for tomorrow is to fix that!!!! If you have been having trouble getting your water in, take my challenge and get it in this week and let me know how it goes!!! See if you can tell a difference in how you feel.
Speaking of being able to tell the difference in how you feel....I was TOTALLY feeling that cake from yesterday ;) He he he ;) I ended up having another piece today (a smaller one). It was just SO good ;) The husband had the night off last night so I had him home and awake with me all day today :) We dropped off the big guy at school, took the babies to a friends house and then went on a breakfast date!!!! YAY :) I ordered pancakes....3 pretty darn good sized pancakes. They were super yummy. I felt those all day too!!!! All in all, I did ok as far as eating goes today. Not great, but not totally horrible either! I hope you find my imperfection to be encouraging ;) I want to be real with myself and with you ;)
Dinner was SUPER yummy :) I made a potato chowder and it rocked this pregnant girl's world :) Maybe I will even share the recipe if you are lucky ;) However, it is currently 8pm and I am TOTALLY beat. I will type up the recipe tomorrow ;) For now, I will fill you in on what filled me today and then I will hit the hay before I put more food in my face ;)

Breakfast- 3 good sized pancakes with syrup- 14pts plus, 1 small glass of OJ- 3pts plus, 2 bites of spicy sausage- 2pts plus

Snack- Nectarine- 0pts plus

Treat- CAKE!!!!!!!!!! 10pts plus

Dinner- Potato Chowder- 6pts plus, salad with fat free dressing- 0pts plus

Snack- 1 sheet of graham cracker- 2pts plus......NOT HAPPY about that!!!, tiny bit of peanut butter- 1pts plus (I think), apple-0pts plus

Bedtime snack- Strawberry cheesecake yogurt 4pts plus

11 weeks :)

Reaching the end of the 1st trimester!!! Praise the Lord :) He he he ;) It has been a rough ride so far. I would not change it for the world!!!! I have been learning a lot!!! It is funny to me how each time I am pregnant it feels like I am starting all over again!!! Counting down the days till the ultrasound on Thursday!

Sunday mornings can be a time of utter chaos in the Mosher home as we try to get two adults and three children up, showered (children are usually the night before), dressed, fed and out the door for church. I TOTALLY understand why Sunday can sometimes be a hard day for people as far as eating well is concerned. You may be rushed in the morning and just grab whatever is in front of you. That may be sugary cereal, a bagel, a doughnut (with sprinkles, of course!!!), or if you are lucky a piece of fruit and maybe a cheese stick. I suppose even if you are not rushing out the door you still face this dilemma. It may be more of a "lazy day" dilemma for you. You are in your PJs and you just wanna chill. Who wants to "make" a healthy breakfast on a morning like that? For us, it is most definitely the chaos scenario ;) Then you have to think about lunch. If you do not plan it ahead of time (which I usually don't), then fast food becomes your friend/enemy once again ;) Please, do not even get me started on dinner!! He he he ;)
This morning as the chaos ensued, I was able to throw a few chicken breasts in the crock pot and dump some BBQ sauce on them. There. I knew that at least dinner was taken care of!!!

Off we went to church. Do you know what? Remember my post from yesterday? The choices we face each day? How is your attitude? All of that stuff? That pretty much sums up what the pastor spoke on today!!!! He talked about how if you leave God out of the equation in your every day responsibilities you are going to labor in vain and be frustrated. Can I get a witness up in here? How many times have I tried to do EVERYTHING in a day in my own strength, only to find myself defeated and let down? All that to say, I am so thankful that I serve a God who is eager to walk with me in every part of my life, giving me grace upon grace to accomplish what needs to get done. If I leave Him out of the equation....I will most likely have that poor attitude that we discussed yesterday.

Oh, you wanna know about food? Is that why you are here? He he he ;) I started the day off with a pretty big breakfast. Which had me scared about what the rest of the day might look like. So I took a few minutes to plot out the rest of my day to make sure I would not go over board. This was just kind of a rough draft, nothing set in stone. It did seem to help as the day went on. Late this afternoon, Brendan came home from a friends house. He was going to have cake there but apparently the cake was not ready to be eaten by the time he had to come home for dinner. He was so upset by it. I am not talking spoiled kid throwing a fit. For some reason he was actually hurting in his poor little heart about it. We asked him if he got to have cake. "No." He answered "It was not ready. So.....I did not get any." and he proceeded to burst into real honest to goodness tears!!!!! Poor guy. So, what do awesome parents like us do? We take him to Walmart to pick out his very own cake and ice cream (Oi!!!). Together we picked out a scrumptious chocolate cake decorated with none other than Harry Potter himself!!! Delicious ;) The 5yr old was happy.....and so were my taste buds ;) So, what did I end up putting in my face today, you ask? Well my lovelies, let me enlighten you ;)

Breakfast- Egg sandwich (1 egg, 2 pieces canadian bacon, 1 piece American cheese, 1 Arnold Sandwich Thin and a dab of mustard)- 8pts plus, nectarine- 0pts plus

Snack- Coffee flavored Yoplait yogurt- 4pts plus (I had not had that flavor, it was interesting)

Lunch- Smart Ones- Chicken Marsala- 4pts plus, 10 baby carrots- 0pts plus, 1Tbs light ranch- 1pts plus, 1 clementine- 0pts plus

Mini Snack- 2 dried plums (a.k.a. PRUNES!!! I have never tried them before but another pregnant friend suggested them. They were cherry essence prunes so besides the texture they tasted really good!)- 1pts plus

Dinner- BBQ chicken sandwich (2 slices healthy life bread, 3oz chicken breast, a bit of BBQ sauce)- 6pts plus, Baked Tostidos tortilla chips 3pts plus, a good size portion of salsa- 0pts plus

Dessert- 1/2 cup Blue Bunny- Bunny tracks ice cream- 5pts plus, good sized piece of chocolate Harry Potter cake- somewhere between 9 and 12pts plus....I mean, really, how do you figure that out ;) He he he :)

Beverage- 12oz sparkling juice while watching a movie- 3pts plus

Not sure if I have mentioned this before or not, but feel free to PLEASE leave comments, suggestions, ask questions or send an e-mail !!! I would love nothing more than to get to know my readers!!! THANKS!!!!!!!!!

A day is what you make it......

At the risk of sounding like a total Pollyanna, I realized once again today that the choices you make will determine how your day will go. I am not talking strictly about food here. I am talking more about attitude in general. I woke up this morning and decided right away to be in a foul mood. Husband had small group this morning at 8am.......which meant I would be with all three kids by myself until around 10:30am. If it were not a Saturday I do not think I would have let it upset me. However, it was a Saturday!!!! How could my husband DARE go away so early in the morning when his poor pregnant wife DESPERATELY needed some extra rest? Oh please, girl !! Give it up!!!!!!!!!!! He he he ;) I really wanted to believe I could justify my feelings of bitterness toward him but, as the morning unfolded I surrendered to the fact that I was being a drama queen ;) Sometimes it is fun to do ;) It does not usually prove to be very fruitful though ;)
The kitchen was a crazy mess. "Do the dishes." a little voice told me. "Shut up!!!" I told the voice ;) *sigh* I did the dishes ;) As I began cleaning the kitchen, I thought about how nice it would be for my hubby to come home to a clean kitchen (I am lucky I got one thing cleaned in the house!!!). That helped me to have a better attitude. I mean seriously, did I REALLY want to ruin our entire Saturday? The answer to that, of course, is no. My hormones however, had a different plan.
Once the husband got home things were ok for a little while.....like for a few minutes. Then he and I started bickering about little insignificant things (what fun!!!). I decided to eat some lunch and lay down for a short nap and see if my pregzilla self would calm down. The nap helped a bit. When I got up husband took the big 5 yr old to the bank to open up a savings account. I was once again left alone with little children.....GASP!!!! Faced with choices every second. Do I eat 500 hershey kisses? Do I spend quality time with the kids? Do I drink my water? Do I eat my fruit? Do I have my God time? How do I choose to respond to life today? Let's just say that as the day progressed I made wiser choices in how I reacted to things. Please do not misunderstand me, there are things that will happen in your day sometimes and no matter how much you try, the day still stinks. I know that bad days happen. Bummer. My point is that for the most part, how we choose to deal with the things that happen in our day are what determine what kind of day it ends up being, make sense? Hope so ;)
Thankfully, today has been a good day as far as food choices go. I even got in my light java chip frappuccino from Starbucks :) YAY :) I drank that while grocery shopping all by myself :) Somehow that proves to be therapeutic. I made sure to meal plan (through next Sat. only) before I left for the store. This is SUPER SUPER SUPER important if you want to stay on track with eating right !!! If you go to the store without a list.....you're sunk!!!!! Heck, sometimes when I have a list I still throw a couple of "treats" in the cart that were not on the list. My advice is to ALWAYS have a list !!!
Without further delay.....the part of my blog you have all been eagerly waiting for.....my run down of what I ate today :) I have also decided to include the Weight Watchers Point Plus Values just for kicks ;) Cannot hurt to know my stuff in that department so that way after I pop this kid out I can jump back into tracking right away ;) ENJOY :)

Breakfast- 3/4 cup honey bunches of oats (off brand)- 3pts plus, 1 cup skim milk- 2pts plus

Snack- apple- 0pts plus (Yay for zero point fruit!!!)

Lunch- Smart One- Broccoli and Fettuccine Alfredo- 6pts plus, 12 cool ranch doritos- 4pts plus and worth every point :), clementine- 0pts plus

Treat- 2 hershey kisses- 2pts plus (when I figured it out it was like 1.3333 or something so I rounded up!!!)

Snack- 1 cup grapes- 0pts plus

Treat- Light java chip frappuccino- 6pts plus

Dinner- Parmesan Turkey Meatloaf- 5pt plus, 1 1/4 cup Broccoli & Carrots in herb sauce (Jolly Green Giant Steamables)- 1pts plus, 2 slices of Healthy Life 100% Wheat bread- 2pts plus

Evening snack- 1- 12oz bottle of sparkling juice- 3pts plus, popcorn (not sure how many points, we are doing it on the stove and I am being lazy and not figuring out the points value ;) He he he!!)

Stress on the brain...and the bean....

As I mentioned in my first post, I am currently on restriction from some things that would be very helpful in keeping me fit and healthy during this pregnancy. Let me give you a little bit of history. We have had three miscarriages. We lost our first pregnancy at 10 weeks. We then had our son Brendan :) YAY :) Lost another one after him at 12 weeks but the baby had stopped growing at 9 weeks :( Boo :( The we had Lainey :) YAY :) 8 weeks after we had her, we got pregnant again. Viola!!! There is Zach :) YAY :) In Nov. 2009 we lost another little one. The last miscarriage I was only about 6 weeks along. So, fast forward to Nov. 2010....we are pregnant again :) YAY :) Had an ultrasound at 7 weeks 2 days. Saw the heartbeat and the bean looked fine. However, there was evidence that there had been a bleed. It was (and is not) active but I would have to be put on restrictions. So, Dec. 21st 2010, I was told I could not work out, lift anything more than 10lbs (yeah right...I have a 2yr old and a 1yr old) and.....oh, yeah....no "husband-wife time".
The next ultrasound is scheduled for next Thursday, Jan. 20th at 9:30am. My tendency is to stress and worry, wondering what we will see that day. It is hard when you are still in the "danger zone". When I stress....I tend to eat ;) I know a couple of things to be true....stress is not good for me or the bean!!!! I am praying that God will give me strength and help me to chill out and trust Him during this week leading up to the ultrasound. I am so glad I am blogging about all of this because I think it really will help me to not go totally crazy and stress eat as much as I normally would ;) I may still freak out here and there and eat too much Butterfinger ice cream (SUPER YUM!!!!), but I KNOW I have another outlet. Thank you for allowing me to share my life with you!!!!
Here is a recap of today. Overall, I would say the day went pretty well food wise. I have noticed, that I usually do really well in the morning and then as the evening approaches I do not choose as wisely or I do not watch my portions as much. I went to lunch at my son's school, which is always the highlight of my Friday :) We had happy meals together :) I opted for the 4 piece chicken nuggets and fries (less points WW wise than the cheeseburger and fries). So, see, I am not being too strict but I am still trying to make choices based on which item is better ;) I also wrote everything down again today!!! WOO HOO!!! So...here is my running tally of food for the day:

Breakfast- 1 cup natural vanilla yogurt, 3/4 cup go lean cereal (husband says it tastes like tree bark ;) He he he ;) But I find if I add it to my yogurt it is super yummy :) It gives the crunch without as many points as some of the granola that is out there).

Snack- Nectarine

Lunch- 4 piece chicken nugget Happy Meal with fries :) YAY :)

Snack- 3 dill pickles (0 calories, 0 fat....pretty much 0 everything except sodium)

Additional Snack ;) WW ice cream bar- I was really wanting something sweet !!!!

Dinner- Lasagna, small bread stick, banana

Kids' snack- I ate a handful of their cheese it crackers!!! Those little handfuls of their stuff can really add up...so be aware of that!!!

Evening Enjoyment- Popcorn!!!! Husband and the big boy are at school for a movie night, babies are now in bed, so....as soon as I am done with this post....it is chick flick and popcorn time!!!!!!

*edited to add- 8oz can of orange soda and a small bowl of ice cream when husband came home ;) Oh well ;) He he he ;)

The past two days I have also made sure to drink my water!!!!!!!! Ladies (or anyone else who is reading!!), this is HUGE!!! You NEED to drink your water!!! It does so many good things for you!!! Not to mention, it can help fill you up in between the times you eat meals and snacks!!!

What is that? Oh yes, it is that chick flick I mentioned....it is calling my name!!! So, until tomorrow!!! Toodles!!!!

SCORE!!!!!!

YAY :) So, day #1 of my "Pregnant, NOT Fat" challenge to myself was pretty much a success :) I wrote down everything I ate. Which, after doing Weight Watchers for so long....I KNOW is a helpful thing to do ;) I just seem to have this compulsive urge to constantly put food in my face right now even if I am not really hungry. It is almost like my brain is messing with me and trying to convince me of what people keep trying to tell me "You're pregnant, it's ok to eat whatever you want." My heart, however, knows better!!!!
Let me be VERY clear here....I was going down a BAD BAD road this past weekend and I knew it HAD TO STOP!!! I will give you a little run down of what that looked like, followed by the kind of day I had today :) Here goes:
Friday: Jimmy John's for lunch, complete with chips and soda
Saturday: I knew my hubby would be at church for a pancake breakfast so I made sure to get doughnuts the night before for the kids and I to have. I then ordered Pizza Hut for lunch
Sunday: Grocery shopping day, so Jay and I picked up Fazoli's on the way home (at least I had a salad with it)
Monday: Had a piece of leftover pizza and a little bit of left over spaghetti for dinner, then on my way to a meeting at 7pm I started to feel queasy and hungry at the same time, so I picked up KFC on my way to the meeting.

Keep in mind that I was also eating leftover pizza in between all of that AND a bunch of cookies I had picked up on a whim from Sam's Club. Like I mentioned before....having fast food is not "wrong" but eating like I did for that many days in a row is just not a good thing!!!!!!

That is where I finally lost my mind and decided I HAD to do something!!!! So yesterday, I started this lovely little blog ;) Today, I started my journey to a healthy pregnancy!!!! Here is what I ate today:

Breakfast: 1 banana, 3/4 cup honey bunches of oats, 1 cup skim milk
Snack: Nectarine
Lunch: Burrito (lots of fiber), 1 slice of cheese, 10 baby carrots w/1TBS light ranch
Snack: Treated myself to a Weight Watchers Ice Cream Sandwich :) YUM!!!!
Snack (again): Started freaking myself out....grabbed another banana
Dinner: 1 cup mac n cheese (this was the one thing not "planned" in for the day, I was SO hungry when I was making it for the kids I could not wait until 7pm when we were going out to dinner with friends)
Dinner #2 ;) he he he: HuHot- 2 plates- 1 with chick, pad thai noodles and veggies. 1 with just veggies. Also had a salad and two cups of soda.

Dinner at HuHot had been on the calendar for a while and was something I was really looking forward to. So, I enjoyed it and let myself have what I wanted while there :)

Now to tie in the title of this post ;) What I have been thinking a LOT about today as I begin this journey is that I need to set goals. One of the numerous things I have learned from Weight Watchers is to set mini-goals. This is SO important. If you just look at the final goal you can get really overwhelmed. There are LOTS of things to celebrate along the way which actually KEEP you reaching for that final goal. What kept running through my mind is that yes, the baby is due in August......but August really starts today!!!!! So, I set a goal for today. I decided I would write down everything I ate and try to make wise food choices...today. Guess what? Goal !!! Score!!! I did what I said I was gonna do!!!! I am gonna take this thing day by day. I am going to try not to look too far ahead. I am going to trust that God will sustain me each day and give me the strength to make the choices that are right for me and this precious little bean!!!!

Once again, I invite you (pregnant or not), to walk alongside me in this journey :) BRING IT ON!!!!!!