I Am Still Here....

Hello blogging world. Once in a while I still get on here. It has just been hard with life getting so busy. The rest of the time I want to sleep. Ha! I haven't blogged in a SUPER long time. Shame on me. I want to get back to it. It really is so helpful for me.

I now have 2 fabulous, awesome, busy children. My daughter is now 4 and she has a 1 year old brother. He is crawling all over me now as I type this.

As for weight loss. Well....I originally lost 115 pounds so that I could have healthy pregnancies. It worked. I had my daughter and then started losing that weight and getting healthy again. I was 25 pounds from goal when I got pregnant again and miscarried. That was depressing and I packed on some pounds (about 20). A few months later I got pregnant again and that turned out quite well. It gave me my son. I had some scary moments after he was born with blood pressure which took a while to get under control. All is well now!

I am finished having kids so I can really work on getting life to where I want it to be. I have lost all the weight from my son's pregnancy. I am working on the weight gained after miscarriage and my daughter. I am still down 70 of the pounds I originally lost. But I would like to lose 50 more.

Here are a few pics from the past year.

I look forward to catching up on blogs and sharing my journey with you all again.

Pictures

She's on a boat!! This was Mexico.

Texas bluebonnets. Tradition.

Easter (obviously). "What? Where is the chocolate?"

Michigan in March. Yup it snows a lot. 

First dentist appointment. She loved it.

We took Evie to Disney on Ice. 

Michigan ready.

 Cooking time.

A visit to ICE.

Hooray for SUMMER!!

#1 - I apologize for being gone for a year. So rude. I have missed reading all the blogs. I am so behind the times.

Let me see if I can catch you up quickly. Last sumer (after my last post) I found myself pregnant again (something we wanted and planned) but the Friday before school started (I am a teacher) I miscarried. It did not go as anticipated which made the year start roughly for me. I knew something was wrong all summer but I tried so hard to do things right hoping it could work out. But it didn't.

Here is the thing about miscarriage. Even if you anticipate it, you are not ready for it. My mind was filled with all kinds of thoughts day and night that I could not control. I felt so robbed. I went through waves of emotion. Sometimes I was bitter. But not many people knew (especially at work) so I had to keep that roller coaster to myself a lot of times. I ate more. I put on some pounds.

I decided to enjoy my daughter Evie (who is now 2 and a half) and if we had another okay, if not that was fine too. I worked hard at school. I was put on too many committees but my classroom was awesome. I had a good group of kids. No one was defiant for the first time in a long time. I was even named teacher of the year for my campus. A great honor.

Late in 2012 I discovered I was pregnant again. We didn't tell anyone. Nothing is worse than telling people you aren't pregnant anymore. The holidays were hard. There were things I couldn't do and couldn't say why. But then that ultrasound day came. All day I wanted to throw up. Scariest moment of the year. And then....a heart beat. Sigh of relief.

This pregnancy has been just like the first in the way of being uneventful (the way we like it). I am currently 32 weeks with a baby boy. Evie seems like she is ready and kind of excited but we will see what happens when he gets here.

This year has been super busy with work and I have wanted to spend every other moment with Evie. She has kept me busy with swim lessons and her little gym classes. We have also traveled a bit. We have been to Michigan 3 times (my home state), Kansas twice (husband's home state) and took Evie on her first trip to Mexico (my husband turned 40 and we wanted to do something big). We have also gotten big girl furniture, put together a new baby room and gotten potty trained.

It's been eventful. It's been hard. I've cried (which is rare for me). I've laughed. I've worked out a little but not much. These hormones are messing me up. But that is my new goal for after the baby - return to fitness. For now I am exhausted.

I hope all is well with everyone. I will post some more recent pics. I just need to find them....

Picture Time

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past 6 months.

 Christmas morning.

 Learning to climb in the chair by herself.

 Spring break in style.

 Fun at home in March.

 Backyard fun in March. Can you tell we live in Texas?

 Easter egg hunt in April.

Today at Mayfest, wanting to bury herself in the sand.

Wondering Why I Disappeared?

Hello blog friends! I am still around. Why did I disappear? Am I super fat again? Actually, no. Just SUPER busy. This has been a very challenging year teaching first grade. Rough group, special needs, teammate issues (hello more work for me). Then there is my precious baby (the reason I lost weight). Just not enough hours in the day. I am still loving exercise. I have been teaching Zumba about 2 - 3 days per week since September. Plus my other workouts. I am Zumba-Ed out. Ready to do something else. Still love body attack. The plan is to start crossfit in July. That is some hardcore stuff. Since November I have lost 32 pounds. I would like to lose 25 more. But just enjoying life as it goes right now. I feel better. Wearing smaller clothes. I am pretty active. Evie is now 18 months. Super happy and healthy. She is enrolled in a gym class and swim lessons and recently added gymnastics. I will try to post updated pics later. Curly blonde hair, blue eyes and a smile that rules my world. Please forgive my absence. I will try to be back and do better! Hope and happiness to all!

In the Summer, Summer Time....

School is out!! YAHOO!!! Actually it has been out since June 4th but we have been busy. Good and bad. I will bullet point it for you:

• the last day of school I found out that I won the biggest loser with 4.1% of my body weight (I beat out the girl who had lap band - barely!!)


• took a trip to Kansas City with the in-laws


• my grandfather passed away from multiple brain tumors (the greatest man, Evie's middle name is because of him) - this is the 2nd grandfather I have lost this year


• I have worked out a lot and introduced Evie to the gym daycare - she would rather be home with Dad but sometimes that is not an option


• I have Evie enrolled in little gym class, music class and she is going to story time at the library - her first time socializing with babies instead of older kids - so cute!!


• I got my group fitness certification - easier than I thought it would be


• this weekend I will be taking the class to become a certified turbo kickboxing instructor


• in August I will be taking the class to become a certified zumba instructor - man I need to practice because I am not so great at this


• I am filling out my new hire paperwork for the gym today so I can stop paying my gym membership - YAHOO!!! - oh and they also want me to start teaching a class in August - NERVOUS!!

I think that is about it. But here is the best part of blogging.....pictures!!

I decided to feed Evie to a frog, he spit her out!
I totally heart the Great Wolf Lodge!

Evie eating instruments in music class.

Man she loves her little gym class.

We are in the pool everyday. She actually practices kicking and trying to get things in the water.

We got her a wagon!

Just looking cute in the hotel waiting to swim.

Evie is 8 months old today! She has 1 tooth (and another one coming). She crawls everywhere, loves to read and is standing up on everything. She likes to try to climb things and LOVES people. We are very happy and blessed and hope your summer is great too!!

By the way, this is my 299th post. Maybe I can come up with something good for 300.

I am still alive!!!

I have been absent from blogging fo sho! Sorry!! I never have my computer on. I do everything from my phone. School is almost out so I will probably be back more often. 4 more weeks. Yahoo!!

I am still fat. But working on it. It has taken me about 6 weeks to lose 10 pounds. I think sleep deprivation is to blame. I am counting calories. I am working out. I am competing at the gym in a biggest loser contest. 1st place is $1000. I have a LONG way to go!!

I am working out at home in the mornings for 30 minutes and at the gym at night 3 days per week. The other days I do at home. Saturdays I have started pilates. Real pilates with machines - so flippin cool!! Which is weird for me because I love spazzy, high-intensity cardio. Sundays I do personal training. So I am working hard - I just suck at blogging about it.

I do need to work on diet. Will probably change something this summer.

I leave you with pictures of the love of my life (and I am in them - sorry).

Evie's 3rd 5K which was at the zoo.

Our 1st Easter egg hunt. Yes, I helped grab them up before the other kids took them all.

Easter Day picture.

This past weekend at Mayfest. See the funnel cake cart in the background? Yup, the hubs and I ate one. Along with something called spudzilla. Like I said, the diet could use some work (although this was cheat meal).