Mother

My mother came for a visit to celebrate my Lil' Squirt's second birthday! Tomorrow we're running errands and hopefully I can go for a walk with her and her dogs. It will probably be a much slower pace than I'm used to with the dogs, but at least it will be something.

Speaking of her dogs, this time I have a giant fenced in back yard for them to run and play in! I also have a kennel in the basement for when we need to leave them here. Oh what joy that brings me!

Tomorrow I will share my delicious veggie burrito recipe that I tried today. So yummy!

Motivation

I wish I could say my motivation to lose weight was just because I want to be healthy. While I DO want to just be healthy, I have many more reasons. Of course, I want my son to learn to have a healthier lifestyle than I did growing up. I'm having a hard time now because I have to break 26 years worth of bad habits. Those things don't just change overnight! I know that if I start young with my Lil' Squirt, it will be easier for him when he is growing up. My other reason is because I want another baby!

We started trying over a year ago. I got pregnant right away but miscarried at 7 or 8 weeks. After taking about 6 weeks to heal both physically and emotionally, we started trying again but it just hasn't happened for us. After the miscarriage I started putting on weight, which at first I thought was perfectly fine and normal because I was somewhat depressed and it was also in the midst of the holiday season so there was lots of delicious grub to munch on, but I continued to put on weight for months. My lifestyle hadn't changed though. I wasn't eating more than I had been or eating any less healthy. If anything, I should have gained a few pounds at first then stayed the same with the small amount of physical activity I got at the time. But the weight just kept coming. I was also EXHAUSTED all the time. And I don't just mean work made me tired. It didn't matter how much sleep I got, 8 hours or 4 hours, I was always so tired! Any physical activity knocked me out for days. I thought it was just because I was overweight and I would try to ignore it and just go on about my business but it really started to bring me down. I was getting headaches almost daily and I was also getting more and more forgetful and finding it difficult for things to compute in my mind. I remember asking Sonny if it was possible that I was showing early signs of Alzheimer's. I finally went to the doctor when my cycle suddenly changed and went from a long 40 days and extremely heavy to 26 days and light enough to be considered spotting. I had a myriad of tests done and it turned out that my thyroid was low.

For those who don't know, the thyroid gland is, "a two-lobed endocrine gland, located at the base of the neck that secretes two hormones that regulate the rates of metabolism, growth, and development," according to Dictionary.com. It just so happens that any problem with the thyroid gland affects almost all parts of the body in some way. It makes you tired, gain weight, causes depression, the inability to think clearly, forgetfulness, and many other things that seem unrelated, including difficulty getting pregnant.

There are a lot of women at my old church in Blacksburg who were also having thyroid issues and they all seemed to deal with it in different ways. Some did exactly what the doctor prescribed while some went a more natural route. After receiving a lot of advice and seeking out a lot of information from both sides, I decided that I fell somewhere in the middle and that I would start taking Synthroid and see how my body reacted and if I would start to notice a difference then try some herbs and special diets if it didn't seem to be working. So far I have definitely seen a difference in how much more energy I have in general (although I still have REALLY sluggish days but they don't happen as often) and I have had far fewer headaches. I will be getting tested again in a few weeks and we'll see where I stand.

One of the ways that I know I can help myself along is by eating better and getting more exercise. I feel that if I can lose some weight and get into a better, healthier lifestyle, it will be easier to get pregnant. It was so easy to get pregnant the first two times but now I feel like I'm having this epic battle with my body and I am losing. I know that God is sovereign and only He decides when it is time for us to have another child, but my desire is so strong and perhaps the reason it is so strong is to give me motivation to get myself healthy. God will give us another baby in His timing and I must be patient (which is so hard, especially when everyone around me is having babies) but He knows what is best for me and for my family. All I can do for my part is to pray the prayer that never fails: "Lord, Your will be done," and to prepare my body to receive the precious gift that I hope someday God will give us.

Speaking of precious gifts, my sister-in-law had her baby today! She is a healthy 5 lb 10 oz and 18 3/4 inches long. Congratulations Eleanor and Peter!

Tater Tot Casserole

I know I just posted about accountability and losing weight and eating better, but for one last hoorah I have decided to make tater tot casserole for supper tonight. We have half a can of cream of mushroom soup sitting in the fridge as well as half a pound of country sausage that needs to be used. Those things combined just beg for our favorite casserole and once its out of the way, there won't be any other incredibly fattening items in the fridge. So here is the recipe for this epic, out of this world meal:

If you recall from previous posts, I don't use measurements for my own recipes that I make up so nothing is exact. Sorry about that!

Tater Tot Casserole

Brown 1/2 to 1 lb hamburger or country sausage with chopped onions (we prefer sausage but it depends on what you have on hand...we also use smaller amounts of meat to help save some moola).

Mix 1 can cream of mushroom soup or cream of chicken soup with 1/4 cup milk, a few scoops of sour cream, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, salt, and pepper.

Mix strained hamburger or sausage with the creamy mixture then dump into a casserole dish.

Cover with a layer of tater tots then sprinkle with more cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until tater tots are slightly brown and cooked thoroughly.

Revamp

So I did it again. I stopped blogging. There are times and seasons of life where you have time to write blogs and then there aren't. Since my last post Sonny has gotten a new job and we have moved an hour away to the same city as my in-laws! We love it here and couldn't be happier. Actually, the only thing that would make me happier is if my church and all the people in it could just pack up and move here too, although I have greatly enjoyed meeting the people at Trinity and look forward to getting to know them even better.

I haven't exactly accomplished all of my goals in the past months since writing them down, but I am certainly on my way. I will write another post with my new goals, showing what I have accomplished and what I still need to work on. I am also going to get back on my diet, which took a hiatus while I was on vacation with the family in August but I could never bring myself to get back on. I had a good stint for about a month where I stuck to my diet and walked almost every day, losing about 15 lbs and it was amazing! I have many reasons why weight loss is one of my top goals in the upcoming months which I will outline to you soon.

I changed the look of my blog because I am going to change the whole premise of my blog. Now I am going to use it to hold myself accountable for losing weight and getting healthy. I know that not many people read it, if any, but maybe just putting something out there will give me motivation. I have been inspired from many different sources but my current source is my brother, who is overweight as well. He lives on the opposite side of the country from me but is still inspiring me every day. He told me yesterday that he has lost 13 lbs by walking and eating better. It is such a great start and I am inspired by him because he doesn't seem to have much support and he has to make DRASTIC lifestyle changes in order to continue losing weight. I have faith in him and know that he can do it. He started going to church again, which is something I have been praying about for ages, and he is learning a lot about the Lord and the way to live in order to honor God. Please pray for him through this transformation, as well as for me as I start getting myself healthy as well.

So for now, I will leave you this: a few pictures of our new house!

Our beautiful house, minus the landscaping. I need to learn how to tend to a yard and garden.

A huge fenced in back yard. Perfect for running and playing!

Our little boy has his very own play room!

Okay, so this isn't part of the house but I want you to meet the newest addition to our family. Isabella, aka Izzy, aka Matt.

A Day of Rest

I love that God commands us to take a day of rest. Sunday is truly our day of rest and relaxation. Sonny works almost twelve hours four days a week, three and a half hours one day, and eight hours another day, leaving Sunday his only full day off. He is exhausted by the time Sunday comes around so we relish in the fact that it is a day of rest. Many times we go to his parent's house after church and spend the day with family, sometimes we have lunch at other people's houses, but our favorite activity to do on Sunday is to sit around at home and play together as a family. We try to make something delicious for dinner that we don't normally have during the week, we like to play games, we play with Lil' Squirt, and many times we watch movies. It makes for a great day and lets us relax before entering another full week.

Yesterday was one of those Sundays. We knew that we had a lot to do: weather proof the house (I know, it's STILL not done and it's January), fix the dryer, clean (which always needs to be done), take down the Christmas decorations, laundry, and a number of other things. However, after every single day off for the past month has been full of car fixing (which is finally done), we decided to do none of them. We watched a couple episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos (one of my all time faves) and spent the day lounging around in pajamas. Sonny even made pudding, which we ate in bed as we watched a movie. The day would have been a lot more fun had Lil' Squirt been in a better mood though. He threw the biggest fits he's ever thrown, which included bawling, screaming, stomping, kicking, arm flailing, and throwing himself on the floor. Whoah. Between those fits and fussiness, he was still the sweetest, cutest little boy imaginable. Sonny got to enjoy a little walk with him outside while I took a delightful nap. It was a perfect day.

Now today the work begins. After a weekend of no housework, a lot needs to be done. I can just look forward to next Sunday, when we get to see the family and a friend whom we haven't seen in ages! At least I don't have to wait all week to see my sis-in-law! She's coming over tonight for dinner and to see her nephew. Yay!

Question of the day: Does anyone have any healthy, frugally delicious meal ideas for the week? Let me know! I'd love to try some new recipes!

Irene Does Life

This one is long, bear with me.

Have you ever heard of the blog, "Ben Does Life"? Is that grammatically correct? Oh well. Ben Does Life is about a 24 year old guy who was very overweight and decided to do something about it. He started changing his eating habits and began running. Only a couple weeks after he started his new lifestyle, he participated in a 5K and fell in love with running. He has lost a total of 120 lbs and he's not done yet! He not only got healthier physically, but mentally as well. He was very depressed and had lost his girlfriend of four years to that depression. After changing his life for the better, he was happy! One of the things he says repeatedly throughout his blog is that when you want to start living life, just do it! Get up and go.

I first read about Ben in a Yahoo article featuring 8 outstanding people who lost an amazing amount of weight and blogged about it. I have been hooked to Ben Does Life for the last couple of days. I have felt so inspired to just get up and change my life, to stop being lazy and do it! Laziness has taken control of my life and I intend to fight it!

Ever since I stopped working in daycare, there hasn't been much of a physical aspect to my life. I do housework and take care of my one-year-old, but that's pretty much it. Last spring I spent a lot of time outside, hanging up laundry and going for walks, but many of the old habits started to return slowly and have now gotten out of hand! That type of lifestyle (sitting around watching TV or movies much of the day, staying home 24/7, slacking on the chores, etc.) is the beginning of a long downward spiral of depression for me. However, I'm going to stop it in its tracks right now, before it gets to a really bad place.

Now, I don't plan on being as radical as Ben and making my entire life about running, but I do want to get healthy and be a more productive housewife. I would like for my husband to come home to a beautiful, cozy home at night and not have to tell him tearfully, "I lost track of time," or "I was so tired!" I'm not going to devote a whole blog to it, but I will give updates now and then as to how I'm doing. Ben talks so much about being held accountable by his blog and I know how important accountability is so I'm going to be sure to document my successes AND my failures.

I found out that the loop around the trailer park is one half mile, so I plan to walk it 2-4 times a day (depending on the weather since I have to take my precious Lil' Squirt with me) at first, working up as I gain more strength. When the weather gets nicer, there is a pond just a couple miles from my house where I can walk that is also a half mile and gorgeous to boot!

So stay in touch to find out how things go! I don't want to disappoint you, but more than that, I don't want to disappoint myself. Please pray for the ability to rely on God in ALL things and for the strength to keep moving forward. Thanks, friends!

Lil' Squirt

The Lil' Squirt's pants have been falling down all morning. They are so pesky because they barely go up over his thighs, but they sure do come down easily! He's my little tiny waisted boy. A few minutes ago I noticed a flash of bare skin out of the corner of my eyes and turned to see Lil' Squirt standing next to the coffee table with no pants on. I said, "What happened to your pants?" He looked down, smiled, then picked them up and brought them to me. What a sweet and intelligent little boy I have!

Note: Right after I posted this, I realized that I hadn't heard anything from Lil' Squirt in a minute or so. I walked into his bedroom (usually I can hear him playing with his toys in his room) and saw cloth diapers strewn about the room along with every pair of pants from his dresser. I'm sure he was on his way to pulling out all of his shirts as well, but I caught him. How can he make such a huge mess in such a short amount of time? 1-2 minutes, tops.