Challenge Update

The weight loss challenge that I have been doing since April is going sooo well!! I can't thank Tanna enough for starting this. She is so awesome and is genuinely the sweetest person. This challenge has made me change my diet, my eating habits, what i put in my body. I've just been living a lot better and a lot healthier of a lifestyle and I LOVE IT!

To date, I have lost 10 pounds and 6 inches. I don't have my chart with me but I believe it's 6 inches. 10 pounds was my ultimate goal but now that i'm there, I'm gonna keep on going. I haven't been able to work out as hard as I would like to but i've still been getting my workouts in even if it's 10 - 20 minutes here and there. even though i have been eating right and drinking so much water that my eyeballs are floating, it's still been tough for me to get my energy up. i don't think my dosage of thyroid medicine is really helping so i feel like i am back at square one. I go back at the end of August for lab work again and i'm sure my levels are still off and hopefully she will up my dosage again. i'm so ready to feel normal again. but really, what is normal?

so there's the update!

9 months and some pictures

I took Graham to see Dr. this morning for his 9 month check-up. she said that he obviously has no problem eating. stating the obvious, i suppose.

23.25 pounds - 90th percentile
29 inches long - 70th percentile
45.3 cm head circumference - 50th percentile

All is well with G. he is developing as he should be. and he is all over the place. by the time we left her office, i was exhausted. next time, chad better come with me. our child was crawling back and forth on the long table, crinkling up the table paper, throwing toys everywhere. all of this within five minutes. sheez.

We are awaiting a call from AR Children's Hospital to schedule Graham for an ultrasound. He is going to hate me for telling this but he has a testicle that has retracted and won't come down. So we are going to get an ultrasound to see where it is and if it will have to be surgically pulled down. Sorry Graham for telling your business. Please forgive mommy.

Right now, like I said earlier, our child is all over the place.

he is now pulling up to stand.

he makes "clucking" sounds with his tongue.

he throws his arms up in the air all of the time like he's doing the touchdown sign.

he is still dancing away. loves it.

he hates it when mommy gets the big camera out. my happy smiling baby turns into a mad disgrunted child.

he has started throwing fits when we take something away from him that he wants.

we have to wrestle with him when it comes time to change his diaper. he just hates to lay down period unless it's naptime or bedtime.

he knows his name and understands "no". but when you tell him "no" he looks at you and gives you the cutest smile and it's so hard not to smile back because gosh darnit, he's so freakin adorable. but if you don't smile and keep a stern look on your face, then he will stop.

he likes olives. like his daddy. certainly did not get that from me.

i have a hard time getting his pants over his thighs. sorry graham. this is my fault.

here he is waving

i love these New Balance shoes that I got for him...so cute!

prairie dog...we NEVER see these come out of their hole...but it was feeding time and we got lucky

Challenge Update:

The 42 Day Challenge is now over and I lost a total of 7 pounds! YAY!! I'm thrilled!!

But we have now started another challenge and it's 12 weeks long and this time we will be taking body measurements to see how many inches we have lost. I haven't had a chance to work out as much but I think I walked more than enough at the convention center during our conference to count for something. Right now i am trying to get us all back into our routine and get everything back to normal at the house so it hasn't left me for ANY free time. but I am still drinking LOTS of water and eating right.

Wish me luck on Challenge #2.

i will let you know when we will go to Children's for Graham's ultrasound.

Challenge 2 details and some other good stuff

Hey Everyone!

Some of you have asked me to let you know if there is going to be another challenge and I have GREAT NEWS!! YES!!! But you MUST get in touch with Tanna by Wednesday, the 27th of May.

Here are some of the details:

(copied from Tanna's blog)

Challenge 2 Details:
Monday June 1-August 22
SIGN UP BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 27th
12 weeks long
16 cheats (make your coupons)
Take a before picture
Check your weight before it begins
Take your inches (waist, hips, chest, arms)
Record your current size of clothing
No fried foods
No sweets
Only 12 ounces of soda per day
Exercise 3-6 times a week
We will only weigh in every 2 weeks(you will email info on Fridays instead)

Email me the following:
(tctummy@yahoo.com)
Name
12 week "pound" goal

(That is all I need to know this time. I have all the rest. You need to keep up with your weight, inches and all that because we will be seeing how those change)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



We have only one week left of our 42 day challenge and I have to say that I've done pretty good. I've lost 5 pounds so far and I have toned up a little bit because my clothes are fitting really well. For the 2nd challenge, my goal is to lose 10 more pounds...more would be ideal though! :) I haven't been able to work out as much as I wanted to especially this week. I caught food poisoning or the stomach bug one.

Thursday night I woke up at midnight and was up til 4am in sheer misery. Oh it was terrible. I don't wish that on anyone. I won't give you TMI but I certainly would rather go through labor a million times than go through that mess. I think that it could have been the stomach bug though because Saturday it seemed like maybe Graham had gotten it too because he was pooing it up. But he never threw up. I, in a way, envied him (not really. I felt so sorry for the poor thing) because I would much rather just be pooing than pooing AND throwing up. I hate throwing up more than anything. ugh. I honestly don't see how people can make themselves throw up cause it just makes me cry like a little baby. Back to Graham pooing. Oh, it was so baddddddd. He had pooped all over himself, his highchair, me. I stood in the kitchen for a good minute, holding him up in the air with poop dripping off of him and not knowing what in the world to do with him. I didn't know where to put him and undress him without getting poop everywhere. So I threw gently sat him in the tub, fully clothed and diapered and just washed away. Poop had dripped all the way from the kitchen to the bathroom. I was so disgusted. and the smell. oh dear Lord. it was the worst I have ever smelled. I felt like I was never going to get the house disinfected. I kept shaking my whole body thinking that it would make all of the germs go away. shaking now just thinking about it. All of this before 730am. It made for a longggg Saturday because that happened two more times before the end of the day. I ended up giving both Graham and myself 3 baths in all.

But we are all fine and dandy now, thank Goodness. and where was Chad during all of this fun?? working. what a lucky fellow. but you better believe he has had to change every single poopie diaper since. I may just make him change all of the poopie diapers for the next month after all of the trauma that I experienced. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

good night and happy pooping.

Lunch Date at Boston's

Friday, my friend Jenn and I met up with some of the Little Rock "beauties" and Tanna aka "the beast" for lunch at Boston's. Tanna was in town so it was nice to FINALLY meet her and a couple of the other beauties from our 42 Day Challenge. I picked Graham up from daycare so he could meet everyone and that wasn't really the best idea. Poor thing didn't have his morning nap so he was MAD!!! He was okay for a little while and then all hell broke loose. And it was just my luck really. Graham is usually the best baby everywhere we go and that just was not the case. He was REALLY showing out for our new friends. ha! But it was still so awesome to get to meet everyone and hang out.

Whitney and Blakely, Tanna and Brylee, Graham and Me, & Pratt and Hannah (can you tell that Graham isn't too thrilled???)

Me and Graham and Tanna and Brylee

Alyssa (Whitney's other lil girl)
Whitney and Blakely

Tanna and Brylee

Pratt and Graham (exactly one week apart)

Updates...but Sadly, No Pictures

This exhausted family no longer has baggy saggy eyes!!! YAY!!! We all got much needed rest last night and it was sooo nice...actually I didn't sleep as HARD as I would have like to but I just have a habit of waking up in the middle of the night to check up on Graham. So I guess I never really get a full night of sleep uninterrupted. But at least I was only up for minutes at a time (compared to hours) and then was right back to sleep. Graham was soooo exhausted. He slept most of the day yesterday as well. He was making up for lost time. I could just tell in his eyes yesterday morning that he was exhausted and not feeling well. But this morning he had HAPPY EYES!!! Okay, and let me just be honest, Chad said he didn't really sleep well last night. Yesterday evening, he started telling me that he wasn't feeling well again...he's feeling like he felt when that dumb doctor that he went to said he had rotavirus. But he's calling GIL FOSTER (the dr. that I told him to go to in the first place but instead they made him see some lady doctor there that apparently has no idea what she's talking about...where did she get her MD anyway) to get an appt with him for tomorrow at 4pm. So let me just rephrase. hmmmm...GRAHAM GOT SOME GOOD SLEEP LAST NIGHT. I got good sleep when I did sleep. and Chad did not. so it is chad that still has the saggy baggy eyes. but still so handsome. :)

So...(I say So a lot and this annoys me)....SOOOOOOOOO.....Last night, we were playing on the floor in Graham's room and he LOVES getting on his hands and knees now and rocking back and forth. LOVES IT. LIVES FOR IT. Okay, I'm going overboard but yes, he seems to fancy it quite SO. Yes, I just had to throw that SO in there. he's getting the hang of crawling backwards and is trying SOOOOO hard to go forward. Chad and I were getting so stinkin excited! But then when I would get excited, he would position himself back on his hiney and just look at me and smile...so I had to stop outwardly expressing my excitement so he would keep on trying.

Graham is giving "kisses" now too! :) He learns quick. I tell him to "give me kisses" and he pokes his lips out! It's the best!! Mommy can NEVER get enough kisses.

Challenge Update: As of this morning, I have lost 4 pounds which doesn't seem like a whole lot to me but I can definitely tell that my clothes are fitting so much better. I'm also getting my ab definition back and LOVE IT!! Chad even said yesterday morning that they are looking great! Chad used to be a personal trainer so I love it when we can both get out in the garage/gym and he can work me out (that doesn't sound nice). He has had me doing these "jack knives" for my abs and it's my favorite!!! But my biggest problem areas are my arms and thighs. Boy, do I have some big ol' thighs on me! But I'm working on it people.
I'm meeting Tanna aka "the beast" (she started the challenge and lives in the Dallas area) for lunch on Friday and I cannot wait!!! I am going to give her a HUGE HUG!!! I would give her a big kiss too but she may find that a lil weird. ha! I hope that a lot of the other "beauties" that are in the LR area will be able to meet up with us too!

If you are in the LR area, what church do you attend??

We have tried several different churches now and just haven't found a church that we felt was THE ONE. We are going to try Fellowship on Sunday but for some reason, BIG HUGE churches intimidate me. I don't know why. I think it's sort of a phobia. But I want Graham to grow up in a good church. Chad and I weren't raised in families that regularly attended church. We had to do it on our own. I grew up and was baptised at Beech Street Baptist Church in Texarkana. Those were some of the best times of my life. Doug Porter was the best youth minister EVER and when he left, I was devastated and heartbroken. I miss having a church family. Please send suggestions!! :)

Well, I'm on company time so I better get back to planning this conference. I will be soooo happy when June 2nd gets here. Then I can breathe and not stress so much about it. Do you know how hard it is to plan a conference for over 600 people including legislators and the Governor??? not an easy task but I do enjoy doing it as tedious as it may be. I'm chatty Patty (or is it chatty Kathy?) today, can you tell? Must have been the Diet Coke that I had at lunch. I was going to order a water but Jenn ordered a Diet Coke and well, I just couldn't resist. Plus I had already drank 3 bottles of water so why not?? Oh, I also used another cheat today (that's four in all...and two within 4 days!!) when we ate at Canon Grill. I love their beef nachos. But I have some SERIOUS indigestion now. Okay, NOW I am outta here.

42 Day Challenge

My blog friend, Melissa, asked me how the challenge was going and I realized that I hadn't written an update in quite some time. So here goes:

So far it's going pretty good! I'm not going to say GREAT because I haven't been able to work out as much as I would like to. I've lost a total of two pounds (I think I've lost a couple of more pounds though but it's THAT time of the month and I am so unbelieveably bloated) and used two cheats (which by the way were pretty awesome and totally took my cravings of sweet things away!). I've started working out to Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and I can already tell you that I LOVE IT! It's such an awesome workout and is ONLY 20 MINUTES LONG!!! You cannot BEAT THAT!!! I ordered the DVD on ebay and it took 14 days (grrrrrr..bad seller) for me to FINALLY get it...only to realize that I had it on our U-Verse On Demand this whole time...FOR FREE. Oh well. I'm pretty sore but I love being sore after a workout.

"Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body."

I got that quote from one of my fellow "beauties" and I always recite this quote in my head when my legs, arms, abs, muscles that I don't even know the name of, are killing me.

I haven't had any problems with drinking all of the water that is required of me, or not eating sweets and fried foods. I pretty much stopped eating a lot of fried foods after I had Graham. I was constantly eating salads but pretty much realized that I can't eat salads EVERY DAY either. It does a number on my poor belly.

I pray that my thyroid medication is really helping my metabolism. I will go back to the doctor at the end of the month to have my levels tested again. My doctor told me not to get discouraged if I worked out and ate right but didn't see many results...she said it will take time and lots and lots of hard work. I have to keep telling myself that this is a whole new thing for me and I can't just have the pounds fall off or get toned as easy as I did before the hypothyroidism.

Please pray that I can continue this challenge without getting discouraged. To be honest with you, a lot of times I do get discouraged because it's just NOT as easy as it used to be. I need your prayers. I need your encouragement, your advice. I can't let the devil get into my head and fill it with all of the pessimistic thoughts.

I'm blessed to have all of my "Beauties" and the "Beast". What a great group of people! I only wish I knew them in person!

Country Roads, Take Me Home...

Every time I go back to my mom's house in Texarkana, I never want to come back to Little Rock. I have so many wonderful memories living out in the country. There is nothing better than listening to the crickets chirping, birds singing, catching turtles, frogs and lizards, smelling the brush burning, and hearing NO TRAFFIC. As I got older and got into high school and college, I absolutely HATED living 15 minutes away because it was soooooo far from my friends. But now that we live in the city, I appreciate the country life so much more. It's Heaven. Simply Heaven. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love our house in WLR. I love that it was the first home that I'd purchased and I love that it's not even a mile from Target, yes, the location you just can't beat. I love our neighborhood too. But we have a small yard. that is infested with crab grass and as soon as you walk outside, you hear traffic EVERYWHERE. Non-STOP. our dream is to find about three acres of land right outside of Little Rock. I want Graham to be able to run around outside like a wild child who's been locked up for days. with his shoes off. barefoot. like I did as a kid. and run through the woods without a worry in the world. ahhhhh, i loved growing up in the country. you could run around naked in your yard and not have to worry about any neighbors seeing you. not that i did. but i could have if i wanted to.

We had so much fun taking the boat and jet ski's out on the lake and finding our lil fishing spots throughout the day. We got out on the lake Saturday around 11am and didn't come in until 9pm. graham absolutely LOVED being on the boat! We didn't catch a whole lot of fish but I do have to brag and say that I caught the first fish of the day. Certainly not a keeper but the first one at that. :) If you know me, you know that I LOVE to fish and that I'm pretty good at it too. Yes, I had to toot my own horn. toot. toot.

Sunday afternoon, the guys went back out fishing but they went to the ponds around the house. Chad caught a HUGE catfish but didn't want to worry about cleaning it so he threw it back...Mimi was quiet upset about it. She wanted that fish! ha!

It was such a great weekend and we can't wait to do it again!

The 42 day challenge is going well! By Saturday morning, I had lost two pounds. I worked out while I was at mom's. She has an awesome treadmill...I love it. I would try to talk my husband into letting me buy one but I don't think he's going to go for it since we already have an elliptical and a bike. I get so bored with those. That is where my ADHD kicks in.

Graham started talking A LOT more this past weekend. He had us all laughing til we almost peed our pants. He is saying "va va va", "gu gu gu", "ba ba ba", "fa fa fa" ALL OF THE TIME.

42 Day Challenge: Day 3

Today is day 3 of our 42 day challenge and so far so good...i haven't cheated yet although I have been SOOOOO tempted. I had a Reese's Peanut Butter egg in my desk drawer and it's been staring at me and begging for me to eat it...so I gave it to my co-worker. It was really hard to do because let me tell ya, I DON'T give away Reese's!! But I did. Yay for me. I have also REALLY REALLY REALLY been wanting some french fries too. But I am not going to do it. Nope, I refuse. I am NOT going to cheat. I haven't been able to exercise as HARD as I want to but at least I am still exercising. also, my eye balls are floating from all of the water that I consume all day. and any day now I should turn into a rabbit from all of the salads that I'm eating. Saturday we are to email or text Tanna and let her know how much weight we have lost and if we have used any cheats. I think our weight loss goal as a group is 365 pounds. I'm so happy to be a part of this group cause everyone is awesome!!

I'll try to post tonight with pictures of Graham and his latest happenings...he's such a doll. Man, do I love him!

ahhhh-kay

every night I call and talk to mimi and I put her on speakerphone so I can let graham hear her voice. so saturday while it was rainy and yucky, I made several calls to mimi because...well....because quite frankly, we were pretty darn bored. we had outplayed ourselves on the floor, in the jumparoo, in his walker, in his excersaucer, on the bed...we had played with everything that we have for Graham to play with...so on one of the SEVERAL calls to Mimi, she was talking to Graham and telling him how excited she is to see him this coming weekend and she can't wait to take him out on the boat and take him fishing...and she said (in her broken English that we all just absolutely love...the way my mom talks...it just makes my mom, my mom), "Graham, you be good this week and I see you this weekend." and as if he REALLY DID UNDERSTAND WHAT SHE WAS SAYING, he responded right back, "ahhhh-kay." Mom and I both heard it and I about did a back flip off of our couch. It was the cutest thing in the world. I really do think he was seriously talking back to his Mimi. :)

This little boy talks all of the time. Honestly, I don't know where he got this from...I CAN be a talker if I want to be but for the most part, I am pretty quiet...and Chad is the exact same way. graham likes to say "ka" a lot. that's his favorite. So we "ka" like birds...a lot. ka ka ka...ka ka ka...

he is now sitting up on his own without having to hold himself up with his arms...and then I see his chubby lil legs turn purple and it really freaks me out. does this happen to anyone else's kiddos??

Graham is also starting to rock back and forth on his knees so I guess this means he is going to start crawling soon. He already rolls everywhere he needs to go...he also likes to spin himself in circles while he is on his belly. silly boy.

So, this morning was Day 1 of the 42 Day Challenge and so far so good. Woke up (well, didn't really WAKE up since I pretty much stayed up all night and I guess it was from anxiety about today so let's say that I GOT OUT OF BED) at 5am and did 30 minutes on the elliptical and a few arm exercises. This evening Chad and I will do the rest of our strength training. I've already had three bottles of water and I am getting a great workout just from walking to and from the bathroom.

For breakfast I had a bowl of Kashi GoLean Crunch (an awesome cereal if you don't like yours to be soggy).

For Lunch, I had a small salad.

My snacks for later on will be grapes, fat free yogurt, and a plum.

For dinner, I am cooking a YUMMMMMYYYYY Chicken Gumbo Soup...it's low fat and super good. I got it off of Baptist Health's website. It's one of our faves and SUPER EASY to make...

Chicken Gumbo Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast, Diced

3 cups Reduced-Sodium, Reduced-Fat Chicken Broth

3 cups Water

1 cup Chopped Onion

1 clove Minced Garlic

1 tsp Salt

½ tsp Pepper

1 Bay Leaf

1/8 tsp Sage

¼ tsp Red Pepper Flakes

¼ tsp Thyme

1 cup Chopped Fresh Tomatoes

1 cup Corn Kernels, Frozen or Fresh

1 cup Okra, Frozen or Fresh

2 Tbsp Canola Oil

¼ cup Whole Wheat Flour

2 cups Cooked Brown Rice

Directions:

Place chicken in a large stockpot with 1 cup broth and bring to a boil. Add additional broth, water, onion, garlic and seasonings and simmer for 20 minutes. Add tomatoes, corn and okra and simmer for 15 minutes. In a separate pan, heat oil, add flour, and whisk until the mixture is golden brown and bubbly. Add 1 cup of the soup broth to the flour mixture and whisk until smooth. Add mixture back to the soup pot and whisk until dissolved. Simmer 30 minutes. Stir in rice the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 cup)

NUTRITION PER SERVING

Calories 271, Fat 7g, Saturated Fat 1g, Cholesterol 44mg, Sodium 480mg, Fiber 4g

Watery Weekend & a Challenge

This is the first time Graham has EVER napped on his belly

The flash woke him up...oops...I really did feel terrible...i did...really

Mom, seriously. Stop. these flashes are killin me.

LOL

Okay, my eyes are adjusted

I'm happy again! :)

Poor lil G-man is sick again. We made it over a month without a cold and then Monday rolls around and BAM...He has a runny nose, sneezing and a hacking cough. And all...I mean ALL of his nursery mates are sick too. And then Mommy got sick. But we are hanging in there. We kept Graham inside all weekend because it rained ALL DAY SATURDAY and a lil bit today. I made my way to Sam's and to Kroger for our groceries for the week...plus, I needed a lot of healthy food for the 42 day Challenge that I am starting tomorrow.

You can read all about it here:

http://tcpreciousmoments.blogspot.com/

I am so excited and so pumped that I have all of these ladies and fella as a support and motivation group. I really need this because ever since I was diagnosed with thyroid disease, I've just been down in the dumps and my energy levels have been down so I really haven't been working out and I can definitely tell. So this is great motivation to get back to it. I cannot and WILL NOT let my group down. :) Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life and I am going to make the best of it. I want to be healthy and strong for my lil boy. And I also wanna feel sexy for my hubby again too. ;)

Well, no time to chat...need to get Graham in the bath and ready for bed. We are all going to bed super early tonight because Chad and I are getting up at 5am so we can work out. I will probably be a zombie tomorrow but it will all be worth it...right?

BTW, I forgot to mention that Graham is sitting in a shopping cart like a big boy! I will have to take a pic next time. Chad and I both have pictures on our phones but I have NO CLUE how to transfer them from phone to computer. yeah yeah yeah...i'm probably the only person who doesn't...it's so cute though! This makes shopping so much easier for me now. Now I can go to the grocery store or go strolling around Target without worrying about carrying him in his carseat (which by the way, is IMPOSSIBLE now since he weighs 20 lbs.). We went to Hobby Lobby Friday and we had so much fun! It's a whole new world for Graham. And the beginning of so much fun shopping with Mommy. :)