Today's weigh in....

I've decided not to be frustrated. I really wanted a big weight loss this week. This has been my weight loss the past 4 out of 5 weeks...

2/23 = -0.4
3/9 = -0.8
3/23 = -0.4
3/30 = -0.6

AAHHHH!! I had ONE good week in those 5 weeks where I lost 2.6. If it wasn't for that, I would have little hope to keep going.

I am going to be positive though. Positive thinking.

- I have lost weight every week consistently for 8 weeks now.
- AF is currently here, and I still had a loss this week.

Positive thinking.

Some of my fellow nesties and I are doing a "10 in 10 challenge." Lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks. When I started the challenge, I thought it would be a piece of cake and I would lose that 10 pounds in half the time. Now I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to hit the goal by the deadline! (April 13th)

I guess I need to pump up the cardio this week... we'll see what happens...

Cooper is walking! Thursday he really started becoming daring and trying to walk on his own. Up until now, he's primarily been "crusing" and would occasionally take 2-3 steps on his own and then sit down. Thursday and Friday he really started walking on his own really well. Every day he walks more and more!



He has also been babbling like crazy. More than usual. The word explosion is coming... and I'm scared. This kid is going to be talking non stop.

His new thing is smelling everything. He crinkles up his nose and blows in and out really fast. It's so cute.

Along with the cute things he's doing, comes the crazy toddler things he's doing. He has this new thing about smacking us in the face. I've been giving him timeouts for it, and it seemed to be working... but he's at it again. When he does it, he's just wanting my attention. I wonder if it would just be best to ignore it... ? It's REALLY hard for me to just get smacked in the face and ignore it. He needs to be punished... right? What do you think?

We had a fun family day at the park on Friday. I was really windy, so we didn't stay long. Cooper's favorite thing was crawling UP the slide.

Halfway there!

I finally weigh less than when I got pregnant. 3 pounds less to be exact. It feels AMAZING. I decided to take some 'after' pictures. It seems like anytime I start a weight loss program I take plenty of 'before' pictures.... and then never lose weight. Well... I FINALLY have some 'after' pictures to share!

Unfortunately, all the before pictures I have are in my underwear... hah, so these will have to suffice for the interwebz....

BEFORE

I really like this pic because it was Cooper's first Christmas and it's our little family. What I don't love, is my fat ass. This was 1 month after Cooper was born, about 30 pounds ago


AFTER











I consider these my halfway pictures... I'm a little more than halfway to my goal weight. I can't wait until these are my 'before' pics. :)

Top 10 favorite products

My top favorite WW friendly products right now....


1. Vitamuffins

1 point for a yummy chocolate muffin. Need I say more? I love the Vitatops too. They haven't had these at Target lately, so I'm going to have to search some different grocery stores and possibly start ordering them online. yes. They're THAT GOOD I'd be willing to order them online.



2. Morning Star's Black Bean Burger

These burgers are SO GOOD I eat this at least once a week.




3. OroWheat Sandwich Thins



1 point for bread!? YESSS. I use this bread for lots of things, sandwiches, toast, mini quesadillas and mini pizzas. I love using the black bean burgers on these sandwhich thins. Add some mustard and veggies and you have a very filling burger for 3 points!!




4. Quaker Instant Oatmeal

I love this and eat it every morning. I never get tired of it. 6 points for 2 packets and keeps me full for hours.




5. Smart Ones Vegetable Mini's



These are basically Smart One's version of Bagel Bites, but I love them so much more. The crust is thicker and the ingredients just taste better. There are 4 "minis" for 5 points. Not bad, and it's quite filling.




6. Jolly Time Kettle Corn


I recently discovered this popcorn. It is DELISH. It's 2.5 points for the whole bag (which is a TON) or 1 point per cup. Can't say enough good about it.




7. Fiber One Bars

Oats and Chocolate is the best flavor. These are almost like a dessert, they are so good and sweet. And at 2 pts/each they make a GREAT snack.




8. Sonic Diet Dr. Pepper



This isn't the healthiest of all beverages, but sometimes I have to indulge a little. Diet Dr. Pepper with sugar-free cherry syrup.... not TOO bad of an indulgence.




9. Crystal Light Mix ins



These help me drink my water. They're about 5 calories each and add a lot of flavor. My favorite flavors are Peach Tea and Strawberry Wild (with caffeine)




10. Breyer's No Sugar Added, Double Church Vanilla Ice Cream



1 point for 1/2 cup. It's so much ice cream for such little points! I usually top it with some sugar free chocolate syrup.


There you have it, my top 10 favorite WW snacks/products/foods. You can pretty much guarantee I will have most (if not all) of these products in my house at any given time.

Killing Baby Step #3

We're following Dave Ramsey's "baby steps." They are as follows:


Baby Step 1: $1,000 to start an Emergency Fund

An emergency fund is for those unexpected events in life that you can’t plan for: the loss of a job, an unexpected pregnancy, a faulty car transmission, and the list goes on and on.

Baby Step 2: Pay off all debt using the debt snowball

List your debts, excluding the house, in order. The smallest balance should be your number one priority.

Baby Step 3: 3 to 6 months of expenses in savings

This is kind of revisiting #1. Now that your debts are paid off, it's time to build the emergency fund to "fully funded" (3-6 months of expenses)

Baby Step 4: Invest 15% of household income into Roth IRAs and pre-tax retirement

When you reach this step, you’ll have no payments—except the house—and a fully funded emergency fund. Now it’s time to get serious about building wealth.

Baby Step 5: College funding for children

By this point, you should have already started Baby Step 4—investing 15% of your income—before saving for college. Whether you are saving for you or your child to go to college, you need to start now.

Baby Step 6: Pay off home early

Now it’s time to begin chunking all of your extra money toward the mortgage. You are getting closer to realizing the dream of a life with no house payments.

Baby Step 7: Build wealth and give!

It’s time to build wealth and give like never before. Leave an inheritance for future generations, and bless others now with your excess. It's really the only way to live!

We've been slacking the past few months. We've been debt free since November 2009... and don't have a lot to show for it. We have a budget and stick to it, but we always have a surplus at the end of the month which seems to magically disappear before it makes it into our savings account.

We really buckled down the past two months. I'm so proud of us! I created a chart and put it on the front of our refrigerator to keep us motivated...

Do you like my ghetto picture? :P I really like having this chart though. It keeps me motivated wanting to color in more blocks.

We are almost halfway done with baby step #3! Don't tell Dave, but we've been contributing to our IRA since 2007. Which technically isn't until baby step #4.... shhhhhh.

Budgeting is tough and requires a lot of self discipline. It's a constant struggle, but I know in the end it's going to benefit us and our family. Baby steps....

Birth Control

People have often wondered (and asked me) why I choose not to use hormonal birth control. I was on the pill for 6 months after I got married. I stopped taking it because of some side effects it was causing. While I was off of it, I started doing some research about the pill and how it prevents you from getting pregnant.

First - it inhibits ovulation
Next - it thickens your cervical mucus so the sperm cannot reach the egg
Lastly - it alters the uterine wall, keeping the fertilized egg (a.k.a. the baby) from attaching. If the baby doesn't attach it will get flushed out during your normal menses cycle.

This news horrified me. I wondered if I'd ever been pregnant and not known. That knowledge was enough to keep me off hormonal birth control for the rest of my life. Not to mention the fact that it just doesn't seem right to inject my body with hormones to keep it from doing what it's designed to do. I don't know if there is medical evidence to back this up, but it just doesn't seem right to intentionally keep my body from ovulating.

There are millions of women who rely on the pill (or other hormonal birth control) to keep them from getting pregnant. I'm not going to go all Duggar crazy and say every woman should have as many babies as possible. But, I do think it's important to know what you're putting into your body and why. I am far from perfect in this area, but this is one thing I have learned.

Random factoid: Somewhat ironically, today is the date (in 2008) that we conceived Cooper!

Last weekend, Philip and I attended a marriage conference at our church, LifeChurch.tv. Most people assume if you're working on your marriage, there is something wrong with it. With a 50% divorce rate in this country, it seems people are more willing to spend time working on their careers, finances and even their gardens more than they're willing to work on their life long commitment to each other. We have a lot of stress in our lives (as do most people). While we don't have marriage "problems," we have a lot of things in our lives that could easily cause big problems. Philip and I working opposite schedules, him being in school and us having a one year old. All things that are problems waiting to happen... so why not work to avoid issues before there is one?!

I learned a lot that weekend. I almost didn't go....mostly because I was afraid they were going to sit us at a round table and make us talk about our sex life with strangers or something. It wasn't like that at all. It made me realize I need to be waaaay less controlling. Craig Groeschel had an amazing lesson about this topic a few weeks ago. God really spoke to me during this message. How do I expect to have a husband who will lead me, when all I do is beat him down with my words? When I nag and whine at him, I'm only discouraging him and weakening him. I learned I need to make my words helpful and supportive. It's a daily struggle. It's my nature to take control of pretty much every situation and make things how I want them. It's his nature to be passive and give me what I want. Not a good combination. It truly is a power struggle. It's my job to follow him, not control every situation.

Marriage is work, but it's the best work ever. I love knowing I have the best partner in the world to conquer any situation with.