New Day!

So the last few days, months I dare say even years, the Lord has really been impressing on my heart to loose this weight.   I have a million excuses as to why I'm this way. 
As a child I was told I was chunky.  Looking back at those photos... not so much.  I was a tall girl.  Two years younger than those in my class and I was still measuring in the middle of the group, some years I was toward the top.  At 18 I was 5 ft. 9 1/2 in. and weighed in at 156 pounds.  That is actually what I'm supposed to weigh.  
I went off to college and gained the college 15.  Then after a year of not so good choices found myself relying more on food for comfort. A few years later and after getting married I gained another 10, then six months later became prego with baby #1. I gained 30 pounds. Nine months after he was born prego again with #2. Gained a few more. Less than a year later I was prego again with #3 and a year and a half later prego with #4.  Needless to say I've gained a few pounds and have not lost much. Nursing was supposed to be my quick fix... Not so much. I actually gained most of my weight while nursing. I took those added 500 calories to heart I guess.
The last year has been really rough on my body as I've had 3 miscarriages since December of 2011. (as of writing this it is Aug 2012)  One was a mid term miscarriage that took its toll on my hormones and body after loosing twin a only two months prior. 
After 3 months of working to stabilize my hormones, God has impressed on me it is time to work on the weight.  This is a very daunting thing for me.  I don't want to be fat.  But I'm lazy by nature.  So after trying to ignore, push back and even reason with God...its time.  I want to be healthy for my kids, be a good example and honestly I'm tired of not being able to play with them.
So once a month I am going to give a Mommy Weigh Down up-date.  I will be trying to eat healthy. Which means more raw foods.  I plan not to eat out more than once or twice a month. I have off and on over the last couple of years used myfitnesspal.com to count my calories and exercise. So I will again use this to keep track.  I will be walking/running in the mornings and doing a workout dvd with my hubby in the evenings.  
I'm giving this all to the Lord as He knows I do not have the strength in myself to do this.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! Phil 4:13. 
I hope to update you next month with happy results.  
Here are the beginning stats:

                              *UPDATE  after one week*
Weight:  255 lbs.     Weight:  252
Waist: 46 inches      Waist: 43
Thigh: 32 inches      Thigh:  31
Hips: 52 inches        Hips:  51 1/2
Arm: 17 inches        Arm:  16 1/2
 

My Love Language

I have know for years that my love language is "Gifts".  I love to shop for, make and think about how I'm going to give the next gift.  It may be something huge for a wedding or a birthday or little like an eraser after a huge mistake.  I'm constantly thinking about what gift I could give someone when I'm talking to them.  Yes, its weird but that is how I roll.  

We are attending CC orientation today and I've been working all summer gathering as much information on my kids' teachers and our CC director so I could come up with a cost effective beginning of the year gift for them.  After much thought and perusing of Pinterest, I have come up with these.  

The pencil set is a set of three pencils, a pencil sharpener and a note saying you're so sharp.  These I'm going to give to each of the students in my class.  The can of M & M's is for my older two children's tutor.  She loves chocolate and she her language is "Words of Encouragement".  This gift fits both bills.  

I also made a school tree.  This tree has the fingerprint of all the students and moms for our CC community this year.  This gift is for our director.  It is her first year as a director and I just wanted to give her something to remember the year by. 

Can't wait to share the love!

First Day of School

Today we started school.  We were all so very excited to begin.  The boredom of Summer had set in and we were missing the structure that school provides.  I have spent the last several weeks pouring over curriculum, blogs, and pinterest to gather all the information that would be useful for this years goals. 

Last night we all went to bed with smiles on our faces in anticipation for the very first day of school.  For two of the kids it was old hat,  gonna just start another year but they were excited to use their new supplies that had been set aside just for today.  One started Kindergarten today and his excitement was overflowing.  He told everyone for the past week that he saw that he was starting Kindergarten.  The youngest was just excited as everyone else was excited so something cool must be going on right?!?

With all this anticipation there was bound to be a mishap somewhere.  We all slept in!!!! That's right, every single one of us (including the hubby who needed to be at work) slept in.  My daughter who is our late sleeper woke to a quiet house and began to freak out.  She ran from room to room waking everyone to make sure they were all okay.  Once everyone was awake, we began to flutter around so that we could begin a day that really should have started two hours earlier. 



Once school began we flowed from one subject to another with ease and everyone had a great day.  We stayed on schedule (well, the altered schedule) and finished by nap time. 






I was so blessed when my husband asked the kids what they learned that they reiterated almost every point we had studied today.  I accomplished my goal today.  YEAH!!!! Now if the rest of the year will go this well we will have a marvelous year!

Seven

I can't believe she is seven today.  Not so long ago I was dressing a little baby in pink and white lace preemie outfits wondering if she would ever be big enough to fill a newborn dress.  Today, she is a tall, skinny girl who is always growing out of her clothes too fast.  

Rach loves butterflies so when we saw the chocolate butterflies in one of our idea books we knew that was the cake we had to make.  Her and I got all the supplies and made tons of chocolate butterflies.

She also requested Strawberry Stuffed French Toast.  Her brother had blueberry stuffed french toast for his birthday so she had decided that she wanted strawberry.  

We had a great time together making her every wish come true today.  I am so very blessed by this little girl God gave me I can't even imagine life without her.   Happy Birthday to my little angel!

First CC Meet n Greet

Today was very exciting.  It started with news that I am an aunt again.  YEAH!! Asher Jacob was born at 1:03 a.m. weighing in at 8lbs 2 oz.  Mommy and baby are doing well.  Daddy sounded a bit tired when I talked to him this afternoon though.  I was hoping to have a picture to share but unfortunately living so far away I don't have any yet.
After a long day at Six Flags Over Georgia yesterday with my family we slept in this morning.  Which wouldn't normally be a bad thing.  In fact I would embrace it wholeheartedly.  But, today would have it that we were to meet our new friends in our new community of Classical Conversations.  So as any "good" mommy would I sat the kids down in front of the television for a 20 minute show while I shower and then we all jump in the van and hit drive through on our way to the meet n greet.  Gosh, I wish I were more organized so that I could have had a healthy breakfast ready to serve the kids this morning instead of the deep fried, grease dripping, calorie laden breakfast sandwich they received from a certain fast food place.   Oh, well, I rest in the knowledge that my kids eat healthy most days and I have grace for the days they don't.
At 10 o'clock this morning we arrived at a church that had a nice playground in the back.  My kids were so excited to see this playground.  Our last community met at a church that had a very small young child play area.  When we jumped out of the van my kids were off to see old friends and make new ones.  This just assured me that our decision to move communities was the right one.
Our new director Shannon gave us a lovely tour of the church which has all the facilities we could ask for.
My new room has many windows so I won't feel claustrophobic and it overlooks the gym.  I think this will be a perfect room for the ABC class.  My class is full a month before school starts which is really neat.  I will have a couple of four year olds and a handful of Kindergarteners. An active bunch to say the least.
My older two are going to be in the same class this year.  My Rach will be the only girl in her class but as the only girl here at home, I think she will do just fine.  They will both have the same tutor James had last year which is really cool as James just adored her.
This year is going to be so much fun.  I am excited for the possibilities that are in front of us.

Here is to a fabulous year!