A little acccountability...

I am writing this post as sort of an accountability post.

Before kids I was a decent normal weight, size, etc.

post kids...Its just not that way.

permanent stretch marks on my belly (and thighs).

A little more "junk in the trunk" (ive heard that term a lot recently)

back pain

wider hips

bags under the eyes

etc

however, I do feel so sad that I am not as healthy as I could be.

My body is interesting because after each baby...I lost all the weight I gained within four weeks.

Im talking 52 lbs with Natalie

35 lbs with Nathan

(With Brooklyn I never wanted to know the lb number)

My metabolism kicks into high gear postpartum...its nuts.

Since losing my weight with Nathan...I have gained 7 lbs back.

Thats 7 pounds above PRE pregnancy weight.

How can this be??
Im nursing and burning crazy amount of calories that way.

Ive been running for a couple of months now.

(I am now more consistent)

The scale is not budging.

I have thyroid issues but according to the Dr...my hormone levels are not easy to read because I am nursing and still in the postpartum stage.

(Nathan is only 4 months old)

So my thyroid problems are still up in the air...

and apparently I have to wait 6 months longer to see what direction (treatment)

the Dr wants to take.

Still not sure about that whole thing.

Anyways...
I am super excited and motivated to get into the best shape possible for ME.

I am not interested in being model thin or superbody builder.

I want to be healthy.

For myself

for my kids

for my husband

and mostly because God gave me this body to take care of and

I feel sooo thankful that I have the resources to make it healthy!

What are you doing to keep yourself healthy?
I would love to hear...maybe you can think of something I am not thinking of.

the only thing I can think that I am lacking...and out of my control...is sleep.

I know I do not get enough sleep.

Maybe one day :)

Groceries...

Well yesterday I said I was going to tell you the cost of each item we bought.

I lost the receipt.

Actually I probably threw it away with other miscellaneous paper.

(I am annoyed with any clutter...so I dont keep anything paper that I do not need)

At Whole Foods total we spent 85.49

Reasors I spent 37.00

The pic of Whole Foods products is below.

I didnt take a pic of the reasors trip

Normally I would spend about 80$ in a week on groceries.

I dont usually buy meat but I am trying to include salmon in our diet at least once a week.

Its not cheap!

Reasors:

One whole chicken $11.00

wild caught alaskan salmon $11.27

one organic Bell pepper, half gallon of organic milk, pkg 6 whole wheat organic bagels

one organic tomato

Whole Foods:

All organic foods below and I dont remember everything because I dont have the receipt and I dont really want to squint and figure out the picture! ha!

We also made two more trips and bought a few things...I just cant remember what!

yes there is bacon in there.

Philip loves bacon.

So...it had less than 5 ingredients and was organic...so he bought it.

It has been fun cooking this week.

I have a lot going on right now

So I will share the menu and recipes I used on the next post.

HOWEVER...we made it the first week and today is grocery day already.

Ive gotta get busy figuring out what we will need the next 6 days!

have a WONDERFUL weekend!

(If you look closely towards the front I did buy a $3 bar of goats milk soap...it smelled so good!)

Tiny Dancers...

A few weeks ago my little princesses began dance lessons.

Natalie is in beginner ballet...

Brooklyn is in 3 year old ballet/tap

They absolutely love it.

Natalie was a little shy at first.

On her first day she was frozen the entire class.

The teacher had to physically move her body to do a somersault (sp??)

She is now a little more relaxed and is enjoying it more.

Brooklyn walked into class and was such a good student.

She kept her eyes on the teacher and followed every step she showed.

I am so proud of her for following directions, disciplining herself, and having fun at the same time.

its definately a lot of work taking them.

Natalie's class is first for 40 minutes.

Brooklyns class is second for an hour.

So we are all there for about 2 hours.

I entertain Nathan the whole time.

I am sure that will get easier too.

Below are some pics from the first day.

Look how TINY Natalie is!

She is 2 1/2 years old and wears the same size diapers as my almost 5 month old.

nope...she is not interested in potty training at all.

Fine with me :)

 Love it love it love it

As for my food challenge: Its going well!
I have been making some great recipes and the entire family has loved them all.
It has been hard sometimes not to want to grab a starbucks drive thru drink but I have prevailed.

It is nice to know that all our food is healthy and whole.
I will admit our grocery bill was about 25$ more. But I think some of that was because of my bad menu planning. I bought some things we didnt really need. I also spent more in gas going to Whole Foods three times last week. Also because of bad planning. Ill do better this week :)
Tomorrow...Ill share my past weeks menu-grocery bill (yes I will tell you the cost lol!)and a list of all I bought. If you want the recipes you can message me.
I am getting most of them off of 100daysofrealfood.com

Anyways....have a great Thursday!

Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Labor Day Weekend

Our weekend was not so labor intensive.

Philip and I had two dates.
Friday my mom stopped by after work-so Philip and I took a "date" to Whole Foods.
(seriously it is a date. it is not fun taking my kids there...they love going but I need to concentrate!)

Saturday I took the girlies to dance class.
I love them so much...my girls are definately born dancers.
Brooklyn has amazing rythym!!!

Sunday I got to help teach/lead the two year old class at church.
It was caraaaaazy for me.
The other teacher was amazing. She is really gifted.
The hard part about that is I am beginning to teach that class starting this coming Sunday!
I admit I was overwhelmed and scared, but I am praying..and slowly that fear is fading.
I was super tired though :)

Sunday night Philips parents came over so we could have another date night!
We went to a new restaurant and sat outside in the LOVELY weather.
We walked around utica square and had coffee.
We love our date nights (Which always end up in a trip to Target to get wipes or diapers)

My food journey is going awesome!
I have discovered that we eat really well anyways...so this transition isnt life changing horrible.
I have come up with creative ways to sweeten things and have had fun researching new recipes.

I will post pics of our refreshed fridge and pantry tomorrow.

Thats about it today...sorry its so boring. I just needed to do a weekend "report" for myself!

My pantry...yikes!!!

If you didnt read yesterdays post ... todays will make more sense if you do. :)
But you dont have to.

Well last night I stayed up way too late.
Researching recipes.
Printing off my meal plans for the week.

I think this will take a little longer than I thought.

I dont want to rush into this whole thing because then...I am sure I will fail!
I need to be organized.

My goal for today is to make my grocery list and post my menu for next week on the fridge.
If I post my menu then at least we will know what meals are coming up.
I used to do this before I had Nathan...so I am sure this wont be a hard thing to pick back up.

My girls are extra "needy" today...not sure why.
Usually they have periods during the day where they play together well without me.
Not so much today.
So that will determine how far I get.


So here is my before picture of my pantry and fridge. I took the pics far away so you couldnt study and see what I have in there :) Smart huh?
I have a lot of items in my pantry that I never ever use and do not remember buying. unopened canned foods, salad dressings, crackers, etc. I even found 5 hershey bars! Where did those come from and how did they survive??? ha!
My fridge looks horrible...its full of condiments that we never use.
I cant WAIT to clean it all out!

dont judge friends....dont judge :)



Food for thought...

I am thinking about doing something brave.

I have an unhealthy obsession with health.

Especially food.

I LOVE healthy delicious whole food.

Philip and I talk alot about how we would totally live on a farm and sustain ourselves with homegrown food. Lots of gardens with a huge variety of fruits and veggies. Raise chickens for eggs...and maybe for chicken as food. I am sure we would have to have cattle....so Philip could have his weekly steak. (we would take it to a butcher of course. gross!!) We would have goats for milk. Fruit trees.
I would have the best herb garden and always have fresh herbs to season our handpicked veggies.

That is our dream.

Will it come true? Probably not completely.

I do not see myself or Philip riding horses and herding the cattle.
(I would like to see Philip in chaps and a cowboy hat though...just out of curiosity)

Anyways...I strive to buy and feed my family the freshest most healthy food I can find within our budget.

I am SERIOUSLY thinking about going through my pantry and fridge and taking out every food that is processed. Even if its organic. If it has FIVE ingredients or less...it goes.

I really want to do this. I admit...I am TERRIFIED!!!

As hard as I try to buy whole real foods....I am sure there are more foods than I think that have more than 5 ingredients.

SO .... I am asking for help.

I want 2 more people to do this with me...

At first I was going to say 5.

But thats a LOT to ask.

I am going to do this in three steps.

1) Plan meals and snacks for the next week. (using no processed foods or ingredients...whole real fresh foods are priority.)
2) Go grocery shopping and buy everything on the list.
3) Go through my pantry, fridge, and freezer and remove EVERYTHING (yes including ketchup, salad dressings etc) that is processed. yikes!!!

for the record...i am not going to throw it away.
My plan is to box up anything that does not need to be refrigerated and put it in another room of the house.
Anything frozen will go into my deep freezer in the garage.
Anything refrigerated will be placed in the back of the fridge...in a paper sack so there is no temptation.

Who wants to try this with me???

Anybody???

Pleeeease pretty pretty pleaseeeeeee dont make me do this alone!!!!!
there is strength in numbers!!!!

This idea has been in the back of my mind for quite some time.
This lady ( 100daysofrealfood.com ) made it reality for her family.

Join me...Ill update.

My goal is to have the three steps done by Sunday.
I have three kids...simple things take a long time around here :)