Baby Weight: How I've Lost 12.4 Pounds

Saturdays are my days to weigh in at Weight Watchers. The past two weeks I haven't weighed in because I was having a hard time sticking to my points.

I'm happy to report I am back on track and lost .08 pounds this week. It's not much but considering I gained a couple of pounds last week, I really lost 3.6 pounds. That is a total weight loss of 12.4 pounds in 8 weeks. It's coming off slow but at least it's coming off.

Here's a break down of my weight loss over the past 8 weeks:

Week 1 - Lost 5 pounds
Week 2 - Lost 1.4 pounds
Week 3 - Lost 2.4 pounds
Week 4 - Lost 1 pound
Week 5 - Lost 1.8 pounds
Week 6 - Stayed the same
Week 7 - Gained 2.8 pounds
Week 8 - Lost 3.6 pounds

= Total Weight Loss 12.4 lbs


My body has changed so much since I have children, it's crazy! We will see how I do next Saturday.

Here are some things I been eating to help me feel full and satisfied:

Fruit - I never was a big fruit person, but since I have changed my eating habits my taste buds have changed. For a snack, I love having 1 cup of berries with 1/2 cup of yogurt or cottage cheese for 3 points.

Lean Meat - I used to never dress up sandwiches or burgers, but now I add lots of lettuce, tomatoes, and even some avocado.

Green Veggies - Again, I was never a big veggie person either, but now I learned to cook veggies with a little oil and seasoning and I love them.

Whole Grain Bread - I rarely eat white bread anymore.

Skinny Lattes - I LOVE coffee! My favorite drink is an Grande Iced Nonfat Caramel Macchiato for 4 points. This way I don't feel deprived at all.

Low Fat Desserts - I absolutely love Dreyer's Slow Churned Ice Cream. It's only 1-2 points per 1/2 cup.

Like I said, my taste buds have changed and I crave healthier food now. Don't get me wrong, I still have days when I crave a cupcake or something. Losing weight is super hard, but this blog is helping me become accountable. I'm really excited to see where I will be in the next few months. Hopefully in a smaller body! We'll see!

The Key is:

FIBER

Eat Smarter, Eat less, Move More

Forever and a Day to Go Somewhere

Seriously, why does it take forever to get out of the house when you have children? Yesterday was quite the experience trying to get my girls outside the house to go on a walk with my sister (couldn't imagine getting out of the house with 3 or 4 kids!) Both girls were fussy, our house was hot, and getting them ready was taking forever.

Ellie is obsessed with the toilet. Every chance she gets she wants to play in the toilet and put objects in it. So before we were just about to leave, she put this in the toilet.

Of course this was her only clean sippy cup and we needed to bring it with us to the park. Ellie cracks me up!

We finally made it to the park with my beautiful, pregnant sister.

Here is my awesome double stroller by Graco. We got it on craigslist and it's in awesome shape.

Ellie had fun on the swings and screamed with glee. :)

When trying to get the girls out of the house I think it isn't worth it because it's too much work, but once I get them out, it's totally worth it!!!

Housework or Play in the Sun?

When I woke up yesterday morning I could feel the heat start to rise in our condo. I knew it was going to be another hot day. I had a choice to make. Catch up on housework or play in the sun with my girls. I choose....

The Sun

Ellie

Me with Anna

Ellie with Emily Hamblen


After playing in the sun, I put Anna on her stomach to do some tummy time. Poor thing was so exhausted from all the playing that she couldn't stay awake.

She immediately fell asleep when I put her on her tummy

So exhausted




Then later that night Anna started laughing for the first time.

It was an amazing day! 

Someone's Pregnant!

This is my beautiful sister, Vanessa, and her amazing husband, Nick. They are going to have a baby.


Nick and Vanessa were unable to conceive for two years, but after much prayer, their miracle happened. 


Nick and Vanessa, you are going to be awesome parents! We love you and welcome to Parenthood!

God's Blessing

One of my most favorite songs is "Wonderful Maker" by Jeremy Camp.  Click here to hear Wonderful Maker by Jeremy Camp This song was sung at our wedding because we felt like like we were so blessed to find each other and we knew God had arranged this marriage. Often we forget the blessings God gives us. I changed the name of my blog to "What a Wonderful God." It fits how I view God better.

I absolutely love hydrangeas so therefore I thought they would look amazing in our wedding. I choose blue because it's my very favorite color. Doug's too.

From left to right. Rebekah James (My cousin), Melissa Pennington, Chrissy Martin, Peyton Caviezel (My sweet little niece), Jenni Kaloger, Vanessa Rebo (My sister), Me, Melissa Palicte, Jessie Fritsche, Julie Caviezel (My sister-in-law. Yes, she is related to Jim Caviezel) 

Doug bought a condo a few years before we met so when we got married, I, of course, moved in. I barely went out back of my condo. There was a big bush back there that Doug told me never had bloomed. About a month or so into our marriage, it began to bloom.

Our backyard and our blue hydrangea bush we never knew we had


Doesn't God have quite the sense of humor. These flowers remind me of God's blessings when my kids drive me nuts, I'm not losing weight, and life is just plain hard. So in the summer, I put them in a vase on my mantle so I always remember what He gave me... a beautiful family.

"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

Teething, Migraine, and Rocky Road

I had another rough night. Poor little Annabelle was up all night and I didn't get much sleep and either did she.

Later, I took Annabelle to her Well Child Check and the doctor told me she is teething. Okay, now everything makes sense. The low grade temp, the major drool, and all that fussiness was for a reason.

Here's a picture of us at the doctor's office. Ellie stayed with Grandma Shar.

Anna weighs 14lb 3oz now and is super tall (26 inches).

It's been a hard past few days. Ellie is going to need to go back to Children's because her bowel issue isn't resolving so Ellie was crying a lot today. Also, Annabelle has been little miss fussy pants with her teething and to top it off I got a lovely migraine. 

So I cheated.

I had a big bowl of rocky road ice cream. Was it worth it? Not so much. I'm disappointed, but I am just going to get back on the wagon.

I went to Fred Meyer tonight to get a little break. I came across a book and almost burst into tears. Its called:

That's exactly how I been feeling lately...drained. This book is by the president of the Proverb 31 Ministries. I'll let you know if it's good.

Tomorrow's a new day. :) Time for bed. 

I Want to Cheat

I've been thinking about you, Mr. Cake.

I've been on Weight Watchers for 7 weeks now and I have lost a whole whopping 11.6 pounds. Some would say that's awesome, but I say it's not enough. If I lost 30 pounds in 7 weeks maybe I would be feeling better. This weight is coming off so slow and it's been easy to get discouraged. "Congrats, you lost 1 pounds this week." My Weight Watcher leader told me a few weeks ago.  "Yeah, what are you congratulating me about?" is really what I am thinking. 

Tonight I felt weak so instead of cheating, I'm blogging. 

Actually, now that I think about it, I have lost a pant size. Which is good. 

....Oh, and I feel so much more healthier. 

....Well, I am fitting in my clothes better. 

....Not to mention I'm getting around with the kids easier. 

....Actually, I am being a good example for my girls by eating better. 

Oh, and.....WAIT A MINUTE.....

I don't want you, Mr. Cake!!!! 

Short Sell and Our Semi Remodeled Home

I'm back in action! I'm feeling so much better today so I caught up on housework. I'm tellin ya, it feels great to have a clean house when you been looking at a dirty one for the past few days. 

Doug and I are in the process of selling our condo by short sell. We have a lovely 80/20, interest only, balloon mortgage.  Are only option right now is to sell it, Lord willing. We have done numerous things to our home to make it more appealing to potential buyers. Our condo used to look VERY 70's so we have worked hard to make it look better. 

The most recent thing we have done is ordered the rest of the blinds we need for the other rooms. Our bedroom has new blinds, but the girls room and the dining room does not. We used www.blinds.com. This has been a very slow process because we do not use credit cards and pay cash for everything. (This is something we learned in our Dave Ramsey Financial Peace 13 week course)

Here are the blinds we ordered: 

Below are some pictures of some changes we have made.

New flooring in hallway:

New trim throughout home:

Newly remodeled bathroom:

New lighting:

Painted all doors white:

New stone on fireplace:

Painted cupboards and added hardware: 

We also replaced all doorknobs, light switches, and repainted entire home inside. It may not look like much, but you should of saw it before. Yuck!

-Jess

Down and Out

It's such a beautiful day outside. I wish I could go out with my girls and play, but I'm down and out. Trying to recover from my little adventure yesterday. I been working on my postpartum story all day today. I'm really nervous to post it, but I think I will. Do you think I should share it to help others who have or had expereinced it?

I'm selling my stroller because I use a double now. Let me know if you are interested. Here's the link: http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/bab/1848597435.html

Peace out. Time to rest.

Oh, how I love you IV fluids!

Interesting day today. Woke up and pretty much hemorraged. Then, it was off to the walk-in.

After two IV bags of fluid, I am feeling much better. Though I do feel like I got hit by a train. Thank God my parents watched the girls while Doug took me in. This is going to be short because I need to rest. :)

Meet My Family

Meet Doug

This is my amazing husband. Yes, he is handsome. I know this. 

Meet Ellie

This is my first, beautiful daughter. Ellie is currently 17 months old and weighs a whopping 20 pounds. She is a tiny thing, but boy is she full of personality. 

Meet Annabelle

Annabelle is my little chunky monkey and my last baby as a matter of fact. She is 4 months old and only needs to gain a whole 4 pounds to catch up with her sister. She is such a sensitive little thing.

Meet Jessica (Me)

This is me before the baby weight and before my husband. For those of you that don't know me, I don't look like this right now. My current goal is to look like this again and lose this weight. 

It's 5:32pm and I haven't brushed my teeth or taken a shower. Pretty gross, I know. This day has flown by, but I made it through...yet again. My husband is on his way home and when he runs through the door, I will say the same thing I say most of the days of the week, "I'm sorry I look so crappy, the girls were a lot today." Then, he will say the same thing he always says, "It's okay! You look fine."

Someday I will get these kids on a schedule and put a shower as a priority, but for today, I'm just going to just get through this day and oh yeah, create this blog. :)