Winter

I meant to post this last night but I forgot.  It's back to a normal winter day today.  In fact it's snowing right this minute.  Adam just walked into the kitchen growling, "God, that's all it does is snow!  If I wanted this much snow I'd move to Alaska!"

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We're going a bit stir crazy  in this house.  It's been so cold and I'll be honest, sometimes getting the girls dressed to play outside in this weather, isn't worth it.  I am ready for spring.  Beyond ready.  The girls are too.  I went down to the basement a couple days ago to do laundry and the girls were wearing their water wings and playing with a beach ball. 

So it's been a cold winter. Basically a yuck winter that sucks the life straight out of ya.  It makes me want to pack up everything and move somewhere warmer.  I've brought it up to Adam multiple times this week and was only half joking.  Earlier in the week we had some rain/snow wintery mix that came down and we've been home all week from school because of it.  Today, I'm washing this week's 213th sink full of dishes and I look outside and it's just what I needed to see.  So I had to snap some pictures of it.

 

 

I am no photographer so the pictures don't do it justice, but it was gorgeous.  I'm not a winter person.  It makes me sad and I miss the life that is so visible in the other seasons.  Today, looking at those trees reflecting the bright light of the sun, it made me happy.  While I still crave green grass and warmer weather, this is enough for now, and I am so very grateful for it. 

Body Back

I've been unhappy with my weight for a long time.  It's something I've struggled with and been unhappy about since before I was a teenager.  I was the biggest I had ever been when I got pregnant with Eva and then gained an additional 50 pounds on top of that.  I lost 25 of it almost immediately after she was born but I still had a long way to go. 

About a month after her birth, my brother got married and if I hadn't been motivated before the wedding I definitely was after it.  I couldn't stand to look at myself.  It was horrible.  I became more focused than ever to lose the weight.  I started to count calories and became more active and the weight started falling off.  It wasn't long and not only had I lost the 25 extra pounds of pregnancy weight but an additional 15 pounds.  I still wanted to lose more, but I plateaued.  When Eva was almost a year old, I found out I was pregnant with our second girl, Aubrey. 

My pregnancy with Aubrey was very similar to my pregnancy with Eva. I gained 50 pounds again.  I have to say, this was completely my fault.  I gave in to nearly every craving I had and I paid the price.  The weight didn't come off quite as easy the second time.  In fact, I'm still fighting it.  I had reached my pre pregnancy weight, but I haven't been able to break past that point.  I've actually had a really hard time maintaining it. 

In October of last year a friend contacted me about joining a fitness group on Facebook.  I felt like this was exactly what I needed.  I joined and for the first few weeks, I did pretty well.  I was exercising more and harder than I ever had and I was eating well, but I still wasn't losing anything.  I was starting to get extremely discouraged and then the group fell apart.  Without that accountability and with my frustration at the lack of results, I completely slacked off.  I pretty much quit exercising all together.  I was still trying to watch what I ate, but when the holidays rolled around I allowed myself to splurge more often. 

So here we are at the beginning of the year and I'm still in the same boat.  I have to lose this weight.  I need to be healthier.  The women at the preschool decided to do a "Biggest Loser" contest, so I joined in.  I also had a friend contact me about another Facebook group.  This Body Back group is for moms who are trying to get back in shape.  I joined that also.  To top it all off, Adam and I both joined Weight Watchers Online.  I'm hoping that I start to see some results soon.  I've been working out and eating healthier again, so here's hoping it works this time!

I was going to post some pictures with this post but I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Not yet anyway.  Once I start losing weight/inches (and I will lose it!) then I think I'll be able to post pictures.