The Year Is Half Over Check-In

Hi Readers!  I haven't forgotten you!  I have just put you on the way back burner for a long time- don't you feel special?  Ha, no, it's just been a busy few months around here.  I suppose a quickish recap is in order.

Blair completed kindergarten and is now preparing for 1st grade!  Crazy stuff.  I have been kicking around the idea of possibly homeschooling her next year via Classical Conversations.  More on that later, but there is still a chance she will be going to a local Christian school and we will know for sure in about a week or so.  We are waiting to see whether she has been awarded a scholarship and if so, how much she qualifies for.  If she does not receive it or the amount is too great, we will then return to the homeschool plan, much to my discomfort.  Sometimes I see, in my mind's eye, happy days filled with learning around the table and reading on the couch, family field trips to the zoo and museums, vacations on a whim with no need for school permission and close knit relationships between each family member... and then my reality yanks me out of that daydream when a fight breaks out in front of me over a spot on the couch and I look at the clock to see that it is only 8 AM and Daddy won't be home for many more hours.  So am I super excited about the prospect of homeschooling?  No.  I am "open" to it.  If necessary, I will do my best and jump in.  I know I will be uncomfortable.  I know I will be impatient.  I know I will fail way, way more than I wish I would. But I also know that I want what's best for my kids and I just don't feel like public school is best.  Christian school is not in our future for long if at all, sadly.  We cannot afford for more than one child to attend, no matter how well we save.  I have to accept that homeschooling is probably happening sometime in the next couple of years, even if it's not this year.  I'm coming to terms with that plan.  Pray for me!

Mark and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary a little late so we could wait until Blair was done with school.  We planned a 6 day trip that included a stop in Asheville, NC and then a few days on Tybee Island, GA.  It was wonderful!  We were very blessed by my in-laws who kept our kids safe for us at home while we were gone.  Being without those three was certainly strange and I will admit that I really missed them!  I really loved our getaway though!  We went hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains, watched Netflix until late without little voices whining about what we were watching, ate lots of delicious food, took a historical trolley ride in Savannah, explored thrift stores, ran around the marsh, swam in the ocean, laid on the beach and marveled at the past ten years of our life together.  It was a great trip and we would love to share those places with the kids some day!

Blair has been involved in lots of summer activities- Mark coached her spring soccer team and though it was a rocky start, the team gelled and won the last 5 (of 7) games.  She was involved in 3 different VBSs and enjoyed them all!  This week, she is doing a drama camp that will have a final performance on Friday night.  At the end of July, she will begin fall soccer with a new team, again coached by Mark.  She is blossoming into a big girl by the day.

I am thinking about signing up for a half marathon... in September.  And I haven't run more than 3 times this summer.  I know this is crazy talk, but the race is in my home town and I want to get back there this year.  I haven't really talked to Mark about it yet, but the idea is literally running around in my head.  Maybe I will blog about trying to train in 10 weeks from pretty much nothing.  Keep checking back to see the process if I do decide to subject myself to this torture plan.

Okay, I'm off to watch (another!) thunderstorm roll by.  This summer has been a doozy in the rain department.  Peace out!

A Bunch of Sickies

BLEH!

That is how I feel about our family's health this winter.  I have heard so much coughing, sneezing, vomiting, crying, moaning, etc. from my kids and myself ever since fall began changing to winter.  It got really bad when Blair caught some kind of stomach bug that had her vomiting non stop for a day and a half.  I've never seen so much bile.  It was scary!  She slowly recovered and thankfully no one else got exactly that.  Last week Hadley was diagnosed with walking pneumonia after dealing with a hard cough that made her vomit as well as a fever.  As soon as she started her antibiotics, the other two got bad coughs themselves.  We found out today that Emmett has a double ear infection so back to the store we went for more antibiotics.  Blair's cough appears to be viral only so she needs to muscle through it.  Hopefully once all the meds are done, we will enjoy a time of health.  As for now, these long nights of coughing, gagging, vomiting and crying are wearing me down.  I'm going to try to sneak a nap in...

Days 22-24 COMPLETE!!

I'm thrilled to report that I made it!  The 24 Day Challenge has been met and I'm proud of how well I stuck with the diet.  There were many times that I just wanted to add cheese to this and dessert after that but I kept my focus on the goal and accomplished it!  I weighed this morning (the day after) and officially have lost 5 pounds!  Still not my 7 pound goal, but pretty good!  I'm happy with it.  I'm sure that continuing to be aware of what I am eating and portion sizes, coupled with more consistent exercise will take off those final 2 pounds and I will be at pre baby weight in no time.  

A few closing thoughts on Advocare... I don't know if I will do the challenge again.  I don't feel like it made enough of a difference for me.  That is not to say that it won't help others, but I don't think I had that much to lose to begin with and my lifestyle wasn't too far off their requirements to start with, save dessert, yogurt and cheese here and there.  As I've said before, I don't believe in a total deprivation diet.  I am much more interested in portion control and enjoying anything I would like to eat.  I am grateful that my body is built so that I can live that way.  We do have a couple boxes of meal replacement shakes left, as well as some watermelon Spark, so I do plan to use them if there are times when coffee or tea doesn't sound good and I need a boost or I don't know what to eat for breakfast or lunch on the run.  I came to kind of enjoy the shakes- that first one may have not been shaken enough or something, because they got better tasting as I was drinking them every day.  

Was it worth it?  I think so.  It was good to see how much food my body doesn't need in order to function well.  I was often guilty of mindless munching, even though it wasn't a lot, it did make an impact on my daily food fuel.  Also, it helped me drop 5 pounds!  In less than a month, too!  I'm pleased with that.  

I'm going to celebrate my freedom to choose my food today by eating a Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich, coffee and donut.  I may not even finish them, but just having the pleasure to eat a bite or two and wash them down with a hot cup of coffee makes this girl smile. :)

Nearing the End- Days 20 & 21

There is a light at the end of the tunnel!  We have finished up days 20 and 21 and some exciting news- I lost another pound!  The tally is now officially at 4 pounds lost.  Not super impressive by any means and certainly not as much as I was hoping to lose (at least 7) in these 24 days but I am happy to have lost something.

On day 20 I went out to lunch with a friend to a local Mexican restaurant and was very pleasantly surprised by how tasty my food was.  Per her suggestion, I got chicken soup, which was a good sized bowl of chicken broth based soup filled with avocado, pico, rice, and chicken breast.  It had some spice, but was filling and quite savory, plus it fit into my food allowance nicely.  I resisted my desire to eat all the chips and salsa I wanted and ate none and I'm glad I did because that is often where I get in trouble at Mexican places.  For dinner I made a favorite of Mark's and mine (notice I didn't say "family favorite" because the girls won't eat it)- lentil salad.  My lifelong childhood best friend introduced me to this recipe over the summer and it's a big hit in my house now, often requested by Mark, especially on hot summer evenings when no one wants to heat up the house with the oven.  We adapted this recipe at bit to fit our needs and to add even more flavors to the mix and it turned out great, as always.  We did not include feta and added a cut up cucumber and several diced mini sweet peppers, which made it nice and crunchy!  I did miss the feta a bit, but we will add it next time after the challenge is done.  We always try to have the lentils and bruscetta on hand so that we can make this simple, quick and filling dish in a pinch.  Yum!

Day 21 was a busy day that left me sipping on my breakfast shake until after noon.  Lunch was left over lentil salad (another bonus of that recipe is that it makes a very large amount and there are always left overs!) and in the afternoon I took a nap because the baby was up a lot the night before.  Instead of eating dinner around dinner time, I went to the Y to meet a friend to walk and talk so I took along a clementine for a snack.  We walked a little over a mile and chatted about schooling options (more on that another day) and then when I got home, I ate some lentil red pepper soup (easy on the lentils, Mandy! You'd think that's all I eat!).

Two days left after today!  I'm really excited to stop being so restrictive.  I will probably post once more about this whole challenge journey and then move on to something new (I know, inside you readers are rejoicing!)  Time to start my day long cleaning fest for house church tonight- getting my exercise in that way!  Happy Wednesday!

Days 15-19

Sorry for the delay in posts lately!  I've been busy with other responsibilities.  Although I haven't found time to post, I have been faithfully sticking with the challenge.  Sadly, I haven't made any progress in my pounds lost, but I'm still somewhat hopeful that things will improve for me by the end of the challenge.  With only 6 days left though, my hope is fading fast. 

We have eaten a lot of veggie packed omelets, spaghetti (I made the sauce from tomato paste, diced tomatoes, mushrooms, colorful mini peppers, garlic and spices) and turkey meatballs over quinoa noodles from TJ's, salads, soups, Mexican bowls and of course, meal replacement shakes.  I've run out of my beloved mango strawberry Spark and have had to resort to drinking Mark's favorite watermelon (ew).  I normally like watermelon flavored things, but I feel like the Spark tastes too artificially sweet to me.  If I ever reorder Spark, it will most certainly be mango strawberry.  

We took a family walk the other night for about 2 miles which was pretty nice, until we had to endure Blair's meltdown over the fact that we were going home when we returned to the van instead of playing on the big toys like we had originally promised them.  Before you get in her corner, know that the sun had gone down, it was dinner time, we were all cold and Blair had been complaining about having to pee for the last mile of the walk so lingering at the park was just not the wisest choice at that time.  She made us pay the whole way home though in her very dramatic fashion.

I've been sleeping poorly lately which makes the days more difficult to manage emotionally.  Little mister has been waking a lot in the night and needing to be held for nearly an hour before he will succumb to his bed again.  It's like he is a newborn again.  I hardly have energy to get up for the day and then the chances of me feeling up for a workout are pretty slim.  We've been dealing with some form of sickness in our house since probably the school year started, which is partly to be expected with all of the germs the girls are exposed to there, but terribly frustrating nonetheless.  At this very moment, I just got sneezed and coughed on by Hadley and in turn, I coughed on myself and felt my throat hurt as I swallowed.  We've had virus after virus that includes fever, snot, headaches, sinus pain, coughing, pink eye, sneezing, sore throat, swollen glands and everything else it seems.  I can't wait for spring.  

Tonight we are taking the girls to Awanas and then taking the little guy out on date to be our third wheel.  Better go think of something we are allowed to eat... 

Days 12, 13 & 14-- Over The Hump!

Hi all!

Well, I am officially over the hump!  The first week and some days took some getting used to, but now I'm in a tiny bit of a groove with all of the supplements and food restrictions. Don't get me wrong- it's still a challenge and I do have to fight the urge to steal my kids' Perkins cookies amongst other things, but I'm happy that there is a light at the end of my tunnel and I'm more than half way there!

I've been eating a lot of egg and veggie omelets because they are so quick and easy and they actually taste good.  I have always loved egg bake brunchy type things so thankfully I can eat them every day and stay on diet.  We've also gone to Panera more than once and their avocado cobb salad is pretty good.  We stopped at Chickfila one night and I got their cobb salad with grilled chicken and honey mustard dressing.  That has sugar in it so I used only about 1/4 of the packet.  Next time I might just take it home and put on some TJ's cilantro dressing because it doesn't have much sugar in it at all.

I am down 3 pounds!  I'm happy with that, but I do still have 4 to shed before I return to pre pregnancy weight.  I still have the belly pooch hanging around so that's frustrating but maybe if I get more consistent with exercise too, it will at least get a bit smaller.  Three kids really does a number on your body!

Only 10 more days to go!  Hooray!

Days 10 & 11

Day 10 was an exciting day as it signaled the end of the cleanse part of the 24 Day Challenge.  I managed to get to the gym, although it was a pretty "warm" day and I probably should have run outside.  I was still only really able to run for a mile but I did include some walking so altogether I think I went about 2.25 miles or something.  It was better than nothing.  We decided to eat at Perkins to celebrate.  A note on Perkins-- our family kind of loves it.  I know it's weird and maybe when you hear the word "Perkins" greasy spoons come to mind for you.  I get that.  We started going sometimes on Tuesdays because the kids eat free that day (and Saturdays too!) and now it's like the kids know when it's Tuesday now because they instinctively ask to go almost weekly.  We don't always oblige, but many times we do because a big breakfast meal sounds good!  When I was pregnant I started getting their buffalo chicken wrap and would crave it often.  I think Emmett will like buffalo flavors a lot when he gets older because he "ate" them so often in utero.  But back to day 10, Mark wanted to eat there and I agreed, so we attempted to eat on diet there.  It was hard.  I got a breakfast meal that included scrambled eggs, breakfast potatoes, wheat toast and applewood chicken sausages.  Missing from my meal was the obvious requirement: veggies.  I didn't eat it all but afterwards, I didn't feel really proud of my decision.  Instead, I felt heaviness in my gut.  I don't think we will be going back until the challenge is over.

Day 11 was another interesting day.  I weighed in the morning and am down 2 pounds.  Of course I had hoped for more progress by this point, but 2 pounds is better than no pounds and especially weight gain!  We spent the day in Columbus visiting friends so we wound up eating both lunch and dinner out.  Lunch was Panera's avocado cobb salad.  I didn't realize there would be blue cheese in it (I'm not sure why, I know what in typically included in cobb salads) but it was too hard to pick it out so I just ate it.  Dinner was about 1/3 of a Chipotle bowl that had the same things in it that the bowl I had a few days ago from Qdoba had.  I enjoyed both meals but felt guilty for eating out twice in one day.  What was different about the meal plan for today and from now on is that we don't have any more cleansing products to take and instead there are tons of supplement pills.  It's a little overwhelming just how many there are and how often throughout the day, especially in the morning, I find myself taking them.  I'm going to be glad when this is all over...

Days 8 & 9

I decided to combine days because not much was different between the two days other than food choices.  Both days I did the meal replacement shake for breakfast and ate some kind of leftover for lunch.  If I had a snack, it was fruit.  On day 8, we went to Qdoba for dinner.  It was hard to not take a bite of the girls' quesadillas but we resisted.  Mark and I each got bowls with brown rice, black beans, chicken, tomato salsa, corn salsa, green sauce, lettuce and guac.  I ate about half of mine and chose to save the rest for lunch on day 9.  It was really good... I love Mexican food when I'm in the mood for it.  Mark is basically always in the mood for it.  For dinner on day 9, I made the egg omelet/frittata thing I made the other day and added some skillet cooked red potatoes.  They were really good and I had to restrain from taking another helping of them because we are supposed to eat more veggies than both protein and complex carbs.  For the girls I made one of their favorites (and normally mine too), a cheese omelet.  That and the potatoes was a great meal for them.  Only one more day of the cleanse portion of the diet.  Hopefully some more weight will start falling off soon!

Day 7- A Full Week Complete!

I'm proud to say that Mark and I have completed a week of the 24 Day Challenge!  It was relatively easy except on days I couldn't come up with tasty meals or had sugar cravings.  I didn't miss coffee really, but I do enjoy hot herbal tea, particularly on very cold days, which we have had quite frequently lately, so I am looking forward to being able to drink that again.  I don't know if it's not allowed, especially if it isn't doctored up with cream and sugar (I drink tea straight), but it isn't listed in the suggested foods so I have decided not to drink it.

So day 7 went pretty well- I did the shake for breakfast and ate a leftover pepper for lunch.  I was tired again because little mister was up a lot in the night so I took an afternoon nap.  Dinner was a serving of Organic Vegetable Lentil and Roasted Red Pepper soup we found at Costco yesterday.  It pretty good, but took a few bites to get used to.  I liked the broth more than the things in it.  The challenge allows for three snacks throughout the day and I ate a banana between breakfast and lunch and then since I napped in the afternoon, I didn't eat that snack, but I did eat an apple with almond butter for an after dinner dessert.  I didn't exercise and I need to increase my water intake.  Tomorrow we add the morning fiber drink back into the mix and do that for three more days thus completing the 10 day "cleanse" phase of the program.  I will weigh then and let you know those results.

Until tomorrow!

Day 6 Down

Hi there!  Today was a better day, mainly because I enjoyed my meals much more.  I had the meal replacement shake for breakfast and then for lunch, I made an omelette/frittata thing with stuff I had in my fridge.  First I wilted some spinach and kale and then added some more of the healthy 8 veggies, halved grape tomatoes and five eggs into the skillet.  It was such a pretty combination of greens, reds, yellows and purples (from the radish in the healthy 8 mix).  I missed the cheese I would have added had I not been on the diet, but all of the veggies added enough flavor to make it taste good.  I will definitely make that meal again!  For dinner, I found this recipe, but I changed a few things.  I used the last of my frozen lean beef instead of turkey, mixed in more of the healthy 8 mix (I am getting a lot of use out of it!) and added half a jar of TJ's spaghetti sauce (it was left over from the night before so I wanted to use it up).  I really enjoyed again, all the colors and added flavors that the healthy 8 mix brought to it, and I thought that some spaghetti sauce would give it some needed moisture, which is did just a bit.  I had to force the girls to eat their dinner, but Mark got seconds and I thought it tasted pretty good for being so healthy.  Luckily there were two peppers leftover, so I will be eating one for lunch again tomorrow.  I really think putting effort into meals instead of just grabbing a chicken breast and a salad (those things get really old to me very quickly) helps me not to get down about the dessert or whatever it is that I can't have.  I may make stuffed peppers this way again in the future- I would definitely make them again if my kids didn't dislike them so much.  It's hard to make healthy food and then listen to complaining the entire time you sit down at the table to eat it.  But parenting struggles are for another post.  As for now, I'm saying goodbye to day 6!

Day 5 In The Books

Day 5 is done!  Only 19 more days to go!  I have been slacking on my exercise for the past couple of days and day 5 was no different, unfortunately.  I will try to get to the Y for day 6.  I would like to sign up the girls for swimming lessons there anyway, so hopefully that will motivate me enough to go... ha.

Mark was home in the morning again so he made scrambled eggs for breakfast.  I snacked on a banana and for lunch I had a grilled chicken breast and some Healthy 8 Chopped Veggie Mix from Trader Joe's on the side with Cilantro Dressing, also from TJ's.  It was decent, but since I ate the veggies raw, all the chewing got old.  What a thing to complain about, I know, but my jaw was tired by the end.  Just writing that makes me laugh at how silly it sounds.  I needed the after lunch Spark pick me up after being up several times tending to my sweet, but fevering baby.  It helped perk me up until dinner time, which was also almost entirely from TJ's- spaghetti with red meat sauce.  I used local lean beef that we had in the freezer (a couple of years ago I bought 1/4 a cow with some friends and I'm finally nearing the end of my deep freezer stash).  I added the beef to TJ's organic mushroom spaghetti sauce and then for good measure, I threw in a handful or two of the veggie mix I had for lunch.  Instead of regular spaghetti noodles, I used TJ's brown rice quinoa noodles.  The kids didn't know the difference and it was good to have those extra veggies in the sauce.  We ate dinner at around 6:30 and I didn't even feel hungry by the time bedtime rolled around at 11.  It was a successful day!  Thanks for reading!

Time for Day 4

I'm just going to write a quick update today.  I will be honest- I struggled a bit today.  I ate an abysmal dinner- tuna mixed with avocado and grape tomatoes.  It was healthy, but so gross I couldn't finish it.  The last bite I ate took a long time to chew and I came very close to gagging.  Normally, I really like tuna.  Occasionally, I even crave it.  I typically make it like most people- with mayo and relish, eaten with crackers or on bread.  This time I avoided mayo in order to stick with the diet guidelines and I used canned tuna because that's what I had, as opposed to a packet, which is what we normally keep stocked.  I'm not sure if it was the can vs. the packet or the avocado vs. the mayo, but it was much fishier than I like and I think that's what made it hard to eat.  Blah.  It left me feeling frustrated and annoyed that I have to eat this way for 20 more days.  Like a good girl that follows the rules, though, I made it through the day again without cheating.  So far, I'm only down a pound.  Here's hoping for a few more!

Day 3 Recap

By now I am sure you are really excited to read 21 more of these posts, ha ha.  Let's get to today's info...

I decided on a meal replacement shake for breakfast after my mango strawberry Spark and peaches and cream cleanse drink.  It was better this time around because my expectations were not at high.  I ate a banana for my snack and then ate the grilled chicken and salad from the night before for lunch.  I had to get up earlier than normal to take Blair to school so I was feeling tired after lunch.  Another dose of Spark and my energy levels went back up.  My snack was some blueberries and a clementine.  For dinner, I made one pot Mexican quinoa, which turned out pretty good!  I didn't have cilantro, lime juice or jalapeños, so I added yellow and orange mini sweet peppers instead and it was still tasty!  I'm happy there was some left over so that we can eat it again for lunch!  Also with dinner I took the Omegaplex pills included in the challenge kit.  Mark thinks they give him a fishy, oily taste when he burps, but I didn't notice that at all, which was a relief as I'm not really into fish.  I decided to eat a kiwi for dessert/snack and finished off the day with my cleanse pills.  I should probably do a better job of drinking water- I am supposed to be getting half of my body weight in ounces of water and I'm pretty sure I'm not quite meeting that goal.  I've felt really good without my coffee, probably because of the caffeine in the Spark.  I usually get migraines every week or two but so far none!  Part of that might also be because I got a new pillow that has been very nice for my neck!  I would recommend it!

Overall, I'm not hating the 24 day challenge at all!  I feel very confident that I can complete it with relative ease and I am excited to see what my results will be!

Thanks for reading!

24 Day Challenge- Day 2

Today was a snow day for my oldest- more like a cold day.  It's been in the negative temperatures around here lately and that must be a good reason to cancel school.  Ah well, Advocare was still in session even if school wasn't.

I went to bed last night feeling a little hungry.  I didn't cheat, though, and decided the challenge is definitely doable in the diet sense.  Exercise is also encouraged, so I am going to try to carve out time for that as much as I am able.  Since I didn't have much free time for it yesterday, I counted the time I cleaned the house for our company as my workout.  Lame, I know, but there were points where I was scrubbing floors on my hands and knees so that justifies that.

This morning, I got up feeling pretty good and began my new routine of Spark followed up 30 minutes later with the cleanse drink (still tolerable, but truthfully the last swig was a tad gross) and breakfast, which was a scrambled egg and a piece of bacon- clearly not the typical diet food.  I probably wouldn't have included bacon with an egg normally but Mark was home this morning and cooked it for me that way- what a guy!

A little while later, I "cleansed" (TMI?) and went about my day.  One note on the cleanse portion- it's very mild!  In the evenings you take three horse pills that must be gentle laxatives or something and then in the morning you drink the cleanse drink and about 20 minutes and one trip to the bathroom later everything is taken care of and life is good.  No stomach wrenching pain or multiple bathroom trips, completely opposite of the lemonade master cleanse, which I (very stupidly) attempted while teaching high school English many years ago.  What a NIGHTMARE that was- running to the bathroom between every class if I made it the whole way through the class at all, painful burning each time- I swear it was the cayenne pepper- feeling starved and sluggish, ugh.  It was truly so horrible and I only lasted 3 days before calling it quits and going out for Mexican.  Maybe the cayenne wasn't enough and I am a glutton for pain.  Anyway, if you haven't experienced TMI by now... well, wow.

So back to Advocare and today!  I snacked on a banana and then ate some leftover vegan chili from last night for lunch.  If you are ever looking for a good meatless recipe that has a good kick and flavor that will fill you up, check out that recipe.  Very good and healthy!

This afternoon I didn't eat anything else and went to the YMCA to see how far I could run.  It was ugly.  I managed a mile on the treadmill in a relatively slow jog pace (5.3 mph).  That's all I could run.  I walked another mile at an incline of around 5 and that's all she wrote.  I have a long way to go before I am ready for the half marathon I want to run in May.  Official training for that doesn't start until February sometime, but I need to get comfortable running 3 miles before I begin the training schedule.  One day at a time.

When I got home from the gym, Mark had made dinner- roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, salad and whole wheat pasta.  I only managed to eat about 4 bites of pasta, the portion of vegetables and half of the chicken breast before feeling full.  I put the rest of the chicken onto the salad and will eat that for lunch tomorrow.  I feel good about my meal, but I will probably take advantage of the last snack allotted and have some fruit because I'm craving a sweet treat like I typically would eat after dinner.

So there you have it!  I was down .5 lb this morning, but I'm sure that will fluctuate here and there over the course of the challenge.  Day 2 is almost in the books and so far, so good!

Advocare 24 Day Challenge- Day 1

I'm sure many of you have heard about Advocare by now.  In my area of the country, Advocare reps have exploded in number within the past year.  The notoriety of the products has expanded greatly with the addition of many well known athletes touting their success.  Normally, taking a bunch of pills and drinking meal replacement shakes isn't something I buy into or get excited about.  Honestly, I am not quite sure I will say that I am "excited" about them still, but as I mentioned yesterday, I do have some weight I would like to lose and the timing seems good with the new year and freedom from my pump (that is a long story for another day, believe me!) so I decided to go for it.  A while back Mark was talked into trying the 24 Day Challenge by a friend of his that had just begun to sell Advocare.  Although I thought it was a little expensive and ridiculous (I think I may have been pregnant at the time so there was no way I would join in limiting my tasty food intake- Hello!  That's the best time to enjoy food guilt free if you can stomach it!), I didn't discourage him too much and he went for it.  He ended up losing about 10 lbs and looked noticeably healthier, especially in his face.  He claimed that he felt more energy than he had before and better overall.  I kind of thought maybe it was just because he had been eating healthier and smaller portions- the 24 Day Challenge comes with optional meal replacement shakes, supplements, cleansing drinks and Spark, an energy drink that is meant to replace coffee and pop.  It has directions about what to take/eat when and suggestions for types of food to eat and avoid.  Whether the products have much to do with the transformation was questionable to me.  I thought maybe he would do it once and be done... but no, not so.  A few months later, I pulled up to my house to find a box on the doorstep.  It turned out that his friend had convinced him to become a rep himself so that he would get a discount on the products whenever he wanted to reorder.  So fast forward to now.  Though still a little skeptical of it's effectiveness, I decided to take advantage of Mark's discount and join 80,000 people around the nation that have begun the 24 Day Challenge today.  Here is my take so far.

I began the day with a cup of Spark.  Mark had only been buying the watermelon flavored Spark and while I do like watermelon flavored things, I ordered the mango strawberry Spark to give it a try.  I liked it!  It tasted pretty good!  I miss the warmth and coziness of my morning coffee and evening herbal tea, but I guess for 24 days I will be okay without them.  The next step is to wait 30 minutes before drinking the cleanse drink and eating breakfast.  As per Mark's suggestion, I chose the peaches and cream cleanse and I was expecting to gag or choke it down, but actually it wasn't too hateful!  I was pleasantly surprised.  I decided to try a meal replacement shake for breakfast.  Again, upon Mark's suggestion, I tried the mocha chocolate flavor.  I think next time I should mix it with almond milk or something because mixed with water was not very good.  I was disappointed.  An hour or two later I was feeling a little shaky from the caffeine in the Spark so I ate a snack- half a banana and a kiwi- which seemed to help.  For lunch I ate a salad with some chicken on top.  We have company coming this evening and I needed to get the house cleaned so I went to work on that after lunch.  I was feeling a little sleepy again about 2 PM so I drank another glass of Spark and felt reenergized.  It's snack time now so I am having a clementine and a handful of carrot sticks.  Dinner tonight will be sweet potato black bean chili which will be great for our vegan guests.  The last thing to take for the day is a supplement before bed.

So far, I feel like the 24 days should go pretty well, but I might get bored with the rules.  I am hoping to shed all of my baby weight and start feeling refreshed and ready for the year.  Wish me luck!

A Year Off, Three Kids and Resolutions

Hello Readers!

I DO still exist!  Last year I dropped the blogger ball choosing instead to attempt to survive and adjust to my new life with three kids.  We welcomed baby boy into our family in early November 2013 and he has been a complete joy.  There have certainly been challenges, namely emotional highs and lows due to breastfeeding issues, lack of sleep (baby boy still doesn't consistently sleep through the night 14 months later), and feeling completely overwhelmed with every day responsibilities of a stay-at-home mom of three children.  Despite these things, we know how very blessed we are to have the family we do- in the birth order they are- and wouldn't trade any of our sweet pumpkins for anything.  And baby boy is SUCH a happy, easy going little guy!  We've been enjoying him and his sisters as much as we can and we are so grateful to God for allowing us to care for them!

I have decided to give my meager blog another go this year, now that life is a little less chaotic with Blair in kindergarten and I am no longer pumping full time.  I'm not sure what direction the blog will take but hopefully I will be able to find some extra time to devote to it to find out.  I will try to fill in the blanks of last year throughout this year if I can.

One of my many New Years resolutions is of course to get back into shape.  After Hadley was born, I somehow managed to start running after about 5 months.  This time, I couldn't.  I couldn't find any motivation, I couldn't imagine how we could logistically manage it, I couldn't find the time.  I just couldn't.  I decided to give up the hope for exercise and put it off until some things could get off my plate.  Now is finally the time for me to take health seriously again so I will be trying something new- Advocare.  Mark and I will begin the 24 Day Challenge tomorrow along with many people around the nation.  I'm hoping it will help me lose the rest of my baby weight and catapult me into a healthier lifestyle overall.  Another goal of mine for this year is to run the local half marathon in my hometown.  I've wanted to run it for a few years but timing has never worked out.  I will keep you updated.

Well, I need to run (not literally)- it's a snow day here so all three kids are home and are getting stir crazy.  Thanks for checking in!