I got a door....

My prize for the weight loss challenge was $500...which to me still seems crazy that John would offer that. He is so not like that and it was a lot of money! Anyways, I am glad he had a moment of insanity because it worked out for me! John knew that I loved an old wooden antique door from Afghanistan that I saw when we were buying our buffet from a store called Anteak Factory. The door was a little more than my prize money but I was hoping John would show spot me the difference. When I left for Abu Dhabi, I told him to go and look and see if it was there when he was running errands one night but he told me he didn't have time and he also told me to go ahead and spend my prize money at the gold souk in Abu Dhabi which led me to believe that he didn't go and look at the door. 


So, when I got home on Monday and that night got a call about a delivery, I was so confused. Since I would have to vouch for whoever was coming at security I called John and he told me Anteak was coming and I immediately knew it was the door! I was pretty excited and then both kids started screaming, it was bath/bed time and the guys were lost and spoke awful English so we couldn't figure out how to get them here and I was alone and tired from traveling so my excitement turned into annoyance. But when it was delivered and I got the kids were asleep I was able to be excited about i!

The door is SO much bigger than I thought and I had a very hard time finding a place for it in the house. Where I originally wanted to put it wouldn't work because it was so tall and the front entry has low ceilings and is dark. We found a corner to put it and I like it there but know it would look even better in our future house. I laugh because now we have to buy a house based off of a place to put a door we bought and growing up my parents would do the same thing for carpets they had and furniture pieces from their travels. 


Another piece to take back from our adventures in the Middle East! I love it!

Weight Loss Challenge

In January I mentioned how I tended to not take care of myself at all and I vowed to do better. 


Shortly after that, John and I decided to do a Biggest Loser style challenge to help keep me motivated to exercise and eat right. We decided that whoever lost the greatest percentage weight loss between then and the beginning of March would win $500! It was a lot of fun and we both lost a good amount of weight and just before I left for Abu Dhabi we did the final weigh and the winner was....ME! 


I lost a total of 6% of my body weight (8.7 lbs)! John lost 5.4% and only lost the contest by a pound. Earlier in the week I had went and got my assessment done at the nutrition center and what made me even more excited than the total weight loss was how many inches I lost in my waist (4.72 inches) and hips (3.14 inches) and that I lowered my Body Fat % by 3%. I am just happy to be feeling great, wearing all of my clothes and back on the track to being healthy and in shape! And I am really glad that I was able to get pretty close (2 lbs off) of my pre Graham pregnancy weight by his first birthday! 


I need to get back into the routine of working out again. We spent three weeks passing germs to each other and then my trip to Abu Dhabi and planning Graham's birthday party has really put a kink into working out but I am planning to make sure that I am set up to be successful next week. I am also hoping to get back started on the meal plan in a couple of weeks to make sure that I am continuing to make smart choices while John is working so much and life is a little more stressful. 


I will do another post in a couple of days with pictures of what I bought with my $500 prize....

Finally able to breathe

Literally....I am finally able to breathe! I finally went to the doctor Thursday afternoon and I was diagnosed with an ear infection and severe upper respiratory infection. I was put on some antibiotics and a decongestant which knocked me out. My parents watched Peyton Friday for me and then Saturday and Sunday I rested. I spent such little time with Peyton last week that I changed a diaper on Friday and couldn't remember the last time I changed one! I was so blessed that I could rest last week and even more important was that we spared Peyton from getting sick!

I did make it out Saturday morning to our church's Valentine Making Party! We had invited Granny and Papa so we all went up to the church and made Valentine's with Peyton. She LOVED the glitter. Now...if Granny and Papa weren't with us I probably would have not shown her the glitter knowing the mess that she would make but they were and they showed her! If anything it reminded me to lighten up and have fun because really did it matter that much that she had glitter in her hair, no! We made four or five Valentines and it was just nice to see her doing such big girl things like using stamps, glitter, stickers. I love it! What was even more cool was that three years ago John and I volunteered at the Valentine Making Party and now here we are with our own little one! Pretty cool!

After the party we went to Lowe's to look around at outdoor stuff since once it finally stops freezing around here we have serious work on our backyard. Our poor plants all look awful from all of the random freezes despite being covered. I think there was one night it dropped down close to freezing and I forgot to cover them and they just had it.

After our trip to Lowe's I was pretty much exhausted so I slept most of Saturday and then Sunday until a Super Bowl party at our friends. I unfortunately didn't get to watch most of the game or the commercials since Peyton really wanted way more attention than normal from her parents so we actually ended up leaving early. I have managed to watch a couple online since but not all of them.

Monday I went and worked out with Fitt Life Fitness and it was a great but a hard workout! I don't know if I mentioned it earlier but I have started with a personal trainer twice a week. I have a gym membership but I hate going because I have no idea what I am doing. So, I ran...but that didn't achieve the toning that I wanted post pregnancy. So, some friends have gone to Fit Life Fitness and have had amazing results. She is very encouraging and provides a detailed diet plan and is helping me tone etc. The only down side is that I am not supposed to be running. In order to build muscle I need to stop running for a little while because essentially I was not eating enough to sustain my running and then my body was storing fat because I didn't eat enough...long and complicated but I trust her opinion. Well, after a month of no runnig I told her I was going crazy so I can run one day a week for a reasonable distance...four miles for now! When I asked to do a 10k in March she didn't think that was reasonable so we will see. Anyways...I am so excited to see my body changing (small changes right now)! Also what makes this even better is that Peyton loves going with me because there is a huge play area for her and she loves to imitate me working out. Since I am the only one in the gym during my time she is allowed to come out and be near me if she wants and she always does the curls or other stuff with this small plastic toy weights while I am doing it. It is amusing!

Finally, today I made it back to work and caught up on most everything which was great!

The start of a new decade...January 2010

So far this month has been full of good things!

I ran the Houston Half Marathon on the 17th! And although I did not do an amazing time by far, I finished! The last time I ran a half marathon was two years ago shortly after finding out I was pregnant. This time I wanted to prove to myself that being a mom didn't mean I could do it again. I did not have the time I wanted to train properly but I went out there and finished! It was so emotional seeing Peyton on the side line cheering for me. I couldn't believe that two years ago I was pregnant with her and now here she is a strong and vibrant little girl! I actually had essentially the same time as I did two years ago so far from a PR but a good start and a great experience! Also, this was the completion of my 7th half marathon (plus multiple other races) in 3.5 years! Pretty sweet! Here are some pictures from the day and also you can check out a video here of me running across.

I got the running bug for sure and one of my goals pre- baby #2 is to run an additional 4-5 half marathons by this time next year....but I am not able to keep on the running band wagon for now because....I started training with a personal trainer!

I have been frustrated with getting stronger and healthier since having Peyton and instead of continuing to be frustrated I have decided to train with Fitt Life Fitness who came highly recommended by a fellow mom. I have had an assessment and one session as well as a nutrition consult and am excited about it all! I am really looking forward to learning how to be healthy, how to work out, and how to eat. I am also excited about seeing my body tone up and build muscle. I will be running soon but for now I need to focus on this which I really feel will bring the most important long term success for me!

Other happenings this month was the completion of a Kindermusik class that Peyton and I have been taking for several months now. She didn't enjoy it as much as I thought she would until just the end so maybe now that she is older it is more fun. I don't know. It was fun doing something together and I can see how much she has learned from it. We are going to take a break from classes right now but are looking at doing swimming in the Spring together. So stay tuned!

Finally, John and I decided to take a marriage seminar/class with our church called Dynamic Marriage. It is a eight (or nine) week class and they meet once a week. My parents offered to watch Peyton for us every week on the Monday (and they are actually doing it on Thursday) so it works out great. We are in week 2 and already learning some good tools for strengthening our marriage. It is always good to take every opportunity to grow in marriage so we are blessed that we can do this together. Please pray for continued growth through that!

Phew...I think I am caught up so now on Monday I will post about our amazing weekend and we should be good!

Time to get serious

I have been fortunate to have been able to lose all of my pregnancy weight by watching what I have been eating (cutting out dairy really helped...thanks Peyton), breast feeding, walking, carrying around a 17 lb baby and all of her stuff and honestly....luck. But as any woman who has had a baby will tell you...even though the scale says I am the same weight pre-baby...things do not look the same at all. I am not sure where this weight has come off from because there are some areas that still have some significant weight in my opinion.

Anyways...my hope was to start running again and that would help tone things up. I got a jogging stroller for my birthday in October and so far it has become a nice walking stroller and another object to clutter up our garage. I don't know why it has been so hard to run but it has. Every time I start I feel like my chest is about to explode and my legs are going to fall off. So...it is a little discouraging and I tend to stop pretty early on.

Then I looked into Yoga classes. I figured this would be a great way to get a low impact work out in and also help me relax. I took one class at a studio I found and it was good but it was $15 a class. Well, take a class a week and you are paying around $60...there has to be a cheaper option (besides the free running).

So, I went to LA Fitness (a gym by us) and looked into memberships. It was only $29.99 a month with no contract! Great thing about this is that they have Yoga, other classes, weights and typical gym equipment and even better....A POOL! I love swimming and used to swim at least once a week or so for exercises/fun when I was at the University of Texas! So on Tuesday night for the first time in my life...I joined a gym. When you sign up they offer a free health assessment/training program set up with a trainer so I have that tonight. I am a little nervous because I know I am out of shape and also because I really hate gyms. Yes, I joined a gym and I hate gyms...makes no sense. Well, I don't hate all of the gym...I like classes, swimming, some of the cardio equipment...what I hate is the weights. I don't know how to use them, I feel self conscious and I hate all of the macho muscle guys that are all around them. I know it is bad to stereotype but you know what I am talking about. Anyways, I am meeting with the personal trainer tonight and am going to emphatically state that I do some weights but if he makes a plan that is weight heavy I will quit!

Overall I am excited and nervous. I want to get back to exercising and have more energy, feel stronger and just feel healthy. I have always told John, I would be happy with they way by body is right now if I knew that I was working out and in shape. I don't care how I look if I know that I am strong and healthy. My goal is to make it to the gym at a minimum 3 times a week and start running or walking twice a week. Ultimately I would like to do another half marathon either in October (Koala/Lukes Locker) or November (San Antonio...never done that one before) or December (White Rock...would like to beat my time) or finally January (Houston).