McFatty Monday

So, it’s another Monday, lovely. (Can you sense sarcasm?) I’m linking up again with The Heir to Blair for your Monday McFatty Monday post. Today she asked when it “clicked” that we needed and wanted to lose weight.

I was surprised that I knew exactly when it was when it “clicked” with me. It was the November after having Hunter, when I had taken Hunter to New Zealand to visit Jesse for two weeks while he was working over there for a month. I know that I was only 6 weeks postpartum, but I felt like a fatty. All of a sudden I went from feeling alright 6 weeks postpartum in fall clothes to feeling awful about myself at 6 weeks postpartum in summer clothes. At the end of each day, I would look at the pictures we had taken and hated the way I looked. There was a specific picture that Jesse took of me from behind pushing Hunter in his stroller and my ass looked huge, frumpy, and plain unbearable. As one of my best guy friends would say, my ass to thigh ratio is not good!

That’s when I knew it was time. I got back from New Zealand a week and a half before Jesse and started the Paleo diet. I dropped 10lbs in 10 days. I kept looking at that picture; it was my motivation to do something different. Once I lost those 10lbs, it came off slower, but I was determined to be the girl who had a baby and lost all her baby and then some! And guess what? I have!

As I was writing this, I got the guts to share the horribly motivating picture with you all. I called my husband, who is in Charleston, and asked him to see if he could possibly find the described picture on his laptop. He asked “Maybe you could find it from you NZ album on Facebook?” I just laughed, there was no way I would’ve put that picture up on Facebook! But he found the picture and e-mailed it over to me… so here we have a November 2009 (200ish lbs) vs. a February 2011 (161lbs) Stephanie!

Ice Fishing

Last Saturday we went ice fishing with a couple of Jesse's friends in Minnesota. We weren't able to stay very long, but we had a pretty good time... would have been a much better time if we had actually caught a fish! Jesse told me later that night that after we left they caught 17! We missed out!

Grandma Nellie's Service

Here are a couple pictures from Grandma Nellie's funeral service.


This is a painting that Jesse's mom did of a picture she took of Grandma Nellie on the day that her things were being moved from the house she had lived in for 80 years to a nursing home.





Here are three of the cousins (Norah,Gavin, and Hunter) playing after the service.


Jesse and I at his grandparent's house after the service.

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for so much, but today I just have to express that I am extremely grateful that Hunter is such a great sleeper. He sleeps about 11 hours straight at night and usually still takes 2 naps during the day. It makes me a happy momma!

Fun Day in Minnesota!

As I wrote earlier, Jesse's great grandmother, Nellie passed away last week. We flew out to Minnesota on Wednesday night and spent 5 days with Jesse's family. We had a great time spending some quality time with them.

We took the red eye out and bless Jesse's heart for taking over with Hunter since I had been up since before 5am for work, had crossfit, cleaned and then packed that day. He took Hunter up and down the escalator, let him run around, and let him sleep on him during the plane ride.



We got in at 6am and headed right over to the hotel that his parent's had gotten a room at in Minneapolis. His mom, sister, nephew, Hunter and I headed over to Target and then to the Mall of America. I love that mall. :) And I also think that Jesse was grateful to have undisturbed sleep all morning and afternoon!

When we got back we joined Jesse and headed to the water park! The boys had such a great time!











Jesse, Hunter and I later ended the day by going out to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings and staying in the hotel in the cities for one more night! Such a great day!

Wordless-ish Wednesday

I thought I'd use today to catch up on some pictures I've taken in the last week:







Well, Jesse finally got home last last night... or maybe it was early this morning, either way he crawled in bed sometime in the middle of the night. We are taking the red eye out to Minneapolis tonight to attend Grandma Nellie's memorial on Friday and spend some time with Jesse's family until Monday.

Week 5 of McFatty Monday

I have had my ups and downs throughout the last 5 weeks. I finally feel ready to make a lifestyle change that includes eating healthy AND exercise. I started Crossfit last Monday and have surprisingly fallen in love with it. The OnRamp class is held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and I have to admit that I missed it on Tuesday and Thursday. I felt like I was missing out on something on those days.

Last Monday – 163.8
Today – 160.4
Loss of: 3.4lbs

I have to admit that I am only down about a pound from where I was a couple weeks ago, but I lost all the weight gained plus an extra pound! I rarely weighed myself through college, but I’m guessing that I’m back down to early college weight now. Yay!

Yesterday morning I was really antsy to get a good workout in, so I decided to begin the C25K program. The first week consists of a 5 minute brisk walk and then for the next 20 minutes you alternate 60 seconds of running with 90 seconds of walking.

Let me tell you, it was quite the experience! To understand this story better, you need to know that we live in a new development that is located in a not so nice small town. I feel very safe in our neighborhood and the development right outside of ours… but you get outside of there, and not so nice.

But… I decided that it was a bright sunny day and it was safe to jog through the older neighborhoods to get to the Interurban trail. So I bundled Hunter up and got him set in the jogger stroller and I did my five minute walk. I got to the outskirts of the “safe zone” and then proceeded to start jogging into the “danger zone”.

A nice lady was gardening in her yard at the edge of the zones and gave me a big smile. I got down the street and got a few hoots and hollers from some interesting group of men that were drinking beer in their yard. I finished my 20 minutes of intervals on the trail and then headed back through the danger zone. I passed a couple that was getting out of the car and the woman told me that she hoped I had my pepper spray. I lied and said I did.

I then made it a little bit farther only to be greeted by a man that looked like was strung out on drugs sitting on his front porch. To top it off, while on my last stretch through the danger zone, I glanced across the street to see a man sitting in his parked truck watching me. I then felt like I made a big mistake to trek outside of our neighborhood. I immediately wondered if he was some sex offender who had seen me running before and was waiting for me to make my way back. Creepy!

As I got back to the developments, I felt like I was hugged by the security and safety that it brought. The woman gardening said that she hoped I had a nice jog in the beautiful weather and a little boy playing outside said “Hey lady, I love your baby!” as he pointed at Hunter.
I think I will have to continue my C25K program running laps around the two developments instead of spending my time wondering where I should keep pepper spray and a handgun while I am running.

You Are Missed

Jesse's great grandmother, Nellie, passed away last night. Nellie was 96 years old and an incredible woman. She had lived in the same house for 80+ years in Amboy, Minnesota. There was something very special about her, I don't know if I can quite put my finger on it. She always seemed to be in such control and have such trust in God's plan for her. She was realistic and friendly and with a wonderful sense of humor. I am so blessed to have known her and for Hunter to have met her.

Grandma Nellie, we will miss you so very much! We know that you are in heaven now, a beautiful and perfect home!

The Better To Eat You With

I don't know if I am imagining it, but Hunter's teeth have seemed to double in size the last week! He has not gotten any new teeth since the week of his birthday, so he has 4 top, 4 bottom, and 4 molars... but they are growing at a rapid pace.

Here are a couple of pictures I've taken in the last couple days that show his huge teeth clearly.

I Am Alive

I have been a pretty lazy blogger this week. The reason: I've been really busy! It has been somewhat of a hectic week at work, Jesse left for an 8 day trip on Monday night, and I starting OnRamp at Rainier CrossFit on Monday. I have also been making my relationship with God a priority. Instead of running straight to blogging or watching my TV shows, I've been spending some time in the Word, Parenting By the Book, Keep a Quiet Heart, or Love Languages. Wow, I've got quite the extensive list of books going right now!

Jesse is gone to North Carolina for a work trip until next Wednesday. It's always a bit hectic when he is gone, but we are holding up just fine. Jesse surprised me with a Valentine's Day gift that came in the mail yesterday. He had ordered it from Lululemon (one of my favorite places to shop!), it was 6 pairs of socks and a new workout tank top. It was super thoughtful of him especially because I started CrossFit this week and all girls love to have cute clothes to wear to the gym, right?

CrossFit is going really great. It's hard, but in a good way. On Monday we worked on squats, sit ups, push ups and pull-ups. The workout was called Baseline which involved a 400 meter run, 40 air squats, 30 sit ups, 20 push ups, and 10 pull ups. No, I cannot do pull ups (yet!) so some of us used gymnastic type rings to sort of do assisted pull ups. On Wednesday, we worked on dip presses and dead lifts. The main workout involved doing 10 medicine ball dead lifts and 10 dip presses as many reps as possible in 8 minutes. So far so good! Can't wait to go back tonight.

I've been doing a great job with my eating this week and have almost successfully lost all the weight I put back on last week. Woo-hoo!

So yes, I am alive, but just keeping busy with all the other things going on in my life right now. :)

I Failed.

I avoided the scale most of this week, the only time I do that is when I don’t want to face what it has to tell me. If I would’ve been brave and faced the scale throughout the week, it would’ve said “Slow down, you are not taking care of yourself!” and then maybe a couple of “What the heck are you doing?!”

I had an extremely busy week that was full of activities, events, and emotions. For me, that’s when I break down and don’t care about diet and fitness. And in the back of my head, I knew I would be starting the OnRamp course at Crossfit on Monday (today) and that I would redeem myself then. (Very bad idea!)

I might have indulged in fast food a couple times over the weekend and topped it off with eating horribly at a Super Bowl party. All my bad decisions caught up to me when I stepped on the scale this morning to see that I had gained 2.5lbs this week.
I’ve learned from my mistake, though. I can’t change the past, but I’m ready to start on the right path again. My workouts start tonight. My diet is always better when Jesse is gone and he’s leaving for 8 days tonight. I have no more excuses.

Hope you all did better than I did this week!

Seattle Children's Museum

Last Sunday, Hunter and I met up with some friends at Seattle Center to go to the Seattle Children's museum. I couldn't believe how big it was! It was really cool and the kids had a great time exploring all the cool rooms.

Hunter loved playing with the water and toys!




Poor guy, this is what he's gotten used to, his mom always taking his picture.


Adrian, Allie, and Hunter ready to go down the slide!




It looks like I'm having more fun than Hunter and Allie!


Tera and Allie are ready to set sail!


Let me have the sushi!!!

Saturday

Hunter and I had a pretty good day together on Saturday, it has some ups and downs, but overall it was pretty good!

Hunter had his last Little Gym class in the morning. We have decided to take a break from The Little Gym and look into starting up on some swim lessons. I've been taking Hunter to The Little Gym since we was about 8 months old. He really likes playing with all the kids and playing on all the equipment.



Later in the afternoon we went to my friend's baby shower. Sarah is due with a little girl late February. We are so excited for them!



After the shower I met up with my friend, Shyla, and we went to Chevy's for dinner and then headed to Saturday night church. It was a great service that really renewed my committment to the Lord. One of the things the pastor brought up that has stuck with me was about where we go to get refreshed. He said that most people go and sit in front of the tv when they are tired and need a break, but we should be running to God's word to get replenished. So true and I am so guilty of this. I have made a conscious effort since then to spend time in the Word when I want a break instead of heading straight for the TV.

I Am Happy to Say...

That hunting season is officially over! Jesse got home from a 3 day trip to Eastern Washington on Sunday night. This a real conversation that went on in our house:

Jesse: So, hunting season is officially over.

Stephanie: Yeah, I know.

Jesse: Hi, I'm Jesse. Can't wait to get reacquainted.

Grrrr, I can say that I really do not like October through January. I feel like a mostly singe parent during those months. But I am looking forward for February, March and April. I am planning on not sharing my husband during that time if at all possible. Jesse is leaving for a 4 month deployment at the end of April and I'm going to get as much husband time as possible!