JamBerry Nails

Hey guys, just wanted to fill you all in on a product that I just tried this last week and am loving. My sweet friend, Andrea, sent me a set of nails to try last week. I was a little skeptical because I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to doing things like this, so I didn't know how well they'd work for me.

But low and behold, they worked and I love them. It took me about 20 minutes to apply them. I put them on Tuesday and they still look the same 5 days later. Andrea said they usually last about 10 days. Each strip is good for 2-4 mani/pedis, depending on your nail lengths.

Here is a YouTube video on how to apply them.




They have hundreds of super cute patterns and colors. Andrea sent me the pink ombre and they are perfect. Planning on using what I have left to use them on my toes when Hudson takes his afternoon nap today.

Pretty sure I will be ordering some of these awesome patterns this week, too. Thinking I'm into the greens right now!

 

Andrea is hosting a JamBerry online party. If you buy 3 sheets, you get a 4th for free! Anyone who buys 4 sheets will get entered into a drawing for another free sheet. Go check it out! :) And tell me which are your favorite.

JamBerry Nails

Advocare 24 Day Challenge

I've been meaning to write about the struggles I have had losing the baby weight after Hudson. But...I think it was just too frustrating for me. I have been doing all the things I did after I had Hunter and dropped a ton a weight...but with no change to the scale. I was eating Paleo and working out. But, nope. As of the day we got back from Dallas, I was still hanging onto almost 16 pounds.

Granted, I did start the pregnancy at a fairly low weight and I'm not saying that I was at an "unhealthy" weight. But, I just haven't felt confident. My clothes don't fit and I'm just unhappy when I look in the mirror, like I don't recognize myself.

I'd seen people get amazing results doing the 24 Day Challenge. Jesse and I got hooked on Advocare's energy drink, Spark, about 3 months ago. I think seeing how great I felt with drinking Spark made me believe in their products a little bit more and I was ready to commit to 24 days.

The first 10 days are a cleanse period. Eating "clean" and taking some herbal cleanse pills, probiotics, fiber drink, and a OmegaPlex capsule. I lost 6lbs during those 10 days and felt awesome.

I am now on day 5 of the max phase. I feel good, lots of energy, and just overall more healthy. The scale is down a couple more pounds, bringing me to 8lbs lost...in two weeks. This is weight that would not budge. I'm also down an entire pant size.

AdvoCare products work. I am convinced and Jesse is, too. He's going to be taking the challenge soon. We are both using Spark and Catalyst (ah-mazing!!) and I'm taking a series of vitamins and supplements along with it. It's my plan to continue on this routine until I get these last 8lbs off my body.

Here are my 12 day progress pics:

 

 I love this stuff so much that I signed up to sell it. I'd love to help other people reach their goals. On average, people who do the challenge lose between 10 and 20lbs and 10 inches off their body! If you are interested in these products, whether you want to tone up or lose weight, let me know. I also have a plan for pregnant or nursing moms. If you sign up for the challenge with me, I will be right there encouraging you and supporting you along the way. I will make a meal/snack plan specifically adapted to your goals and your food preferences. You also get access to my amazing and very knowledgeable team. 

E-mail me at turnersa@gmail.com and go check out my AdvoCare site

 

Order by October 3rd, in time to drop a "pumpkin" off your body by Halloween, and I'll send ya an extra box of Spark for FREE!

Don't want to do the challenge? There are a lot of great other products. Like I said, Spark is awesome!! It's a sugar-free energy drink full of vitamins. Catalyst is a miracle supplement, especially if you are working out, it protects your muscles and helps get the toned look your are trying for!

Family Pictures

I know I shared the photos of Hudson yesterday, but here are the rest of the pictures from a couple weeks ago. Thanks again to Whitney Broussard who did a great job capturing these!

One Year Photos of Hudson

We had some family photos and Hudson's 1 year photos taken a couple weeks ago and I was so happy with how they turned out and had to share them with the world! :)

Big thanks to Whitney Broussard for taking these great pictures!

Hudson is One!!

Stats:

Height: 31.5" (93%)

Weight: 21lbs 15oz (36%)

Check out Hunter's 1st Birthday

Hunter was 25lbs and 32 inches at 1 year. 

I can't believe my baby is no longer a baby, but I'm also so excited to see him grow up! He's just so sweet and I've noticed that I really do baby him more than I did with Hunter. Hudson still loves his pacifier (which I'm trying to break besides sleeping this week) and uses a bottle. I was not having any of that with Hunter by this age, but things change. Plus...he really isn't showing any interest in learning how to use a straw or a sippy cup. It will come. 

He's gone up the weight curve a bit from his last appointment, which made me happy. Since birth, except at his 9 month appointment, he's steadily been in the 30-40 percentile range, glad to see him back on that. He's a chow hound still! This last weekend he refused to eat raw mushrooms, which was the first food we've seen him show any dislike for. He's strictly eating table food now, no baby food for this big guy. He usually eats whatever we are eating, just cut up in bite sized pieces. And in the last couple weeks we have transitioned him to whole milk.

He's still in size 3 diapers and 6-12 months clothes. I think he'll have to wear 12-18 month pants for length once it's not 100 degrees here everyday. He's still sleeping like a pro. He goes down around 7pm and wakes up between 7-8am each morning. Still liking his two, two hour naps each day. Today he actually took a four hour nap because we were late getting him down due to the doctor appointment. 

He got all four first year molars in the last month... yes, 4 molars during his 11th month. So, he's got 12 teeth by his birthday. He's still not walking yet, just keeping a hand on the wall or furniture and cruising around. He's stood for a couple seconds on his own, but that's it. No rush for me!!! 

He's said "mum" a few times, but no words or "ma-ma" or "da-da" yet. To be expected, I suppose. BUT.... he's consistently used FOUR signs this much and I couldn't be more proud. He does "eat", "more", "duck", and "milk" and uses them often.

We had a little birthday party for him at our house last week. It was so much fun to have a couple close friends over to celebrate his big day. A friend from church made his birthday cake, which I loved!! 

The Big 3-0

Yup, it came and went... I turned 30 on Sunday. (Hudson turned 1 on Saturday, post coming.) We celebrated our birthdays by spending four days in Dallas.

Back in April, I made this list of things to accomplish by my birthday:


1. Finish reading the entire bible. I just started a couple weeks ago and am almost through Numbers. Sadly, I did not make it through the whole Bible, not even quite close. I'm about halfway through the Old Testament, but I'm slowly, but consistently still working on it. In Proverbs right now.

2. Lose 15lbs. I have not talked about the baby weight that I have not lost...it's a sore subject. Well, not sore, just depresses me a bit. I'll post about this soon. Another negative. I've probably lost about 5 pounds since April. But this week I'm kicking it into gear! (More on that later)

3. Make a trip to Dallas with the family. Do some shopping, hopefully see a baseball game, go to the aquarium and zoo with the kids. Accomplished!!

4. Start and finish C25K. Sure did! Ran a 5K in 31 minutes. Pretty proud of this accomplishment.

5. Start learning how to quilt. Nope, haven't sewn at all lately. I feel okay about that though.

6. Have straight teeth. Getting Invisalign this next week and it should take about 5 months. Yes! I finished by Invisalign program! But... I'm electing to get some additional trays to refine my teeth and make them even straighter. 

Well...didn't accomplish all my list, but the losing weight thing is the only one I'm that bummed about. I've been reading the Bible quite a bit, but also along with other Bible studies.

Now... here's some pictures of our four days in Dallas.

On my birthday, we started the day at Gateway church in South Lake, Texas. It was awesome, great worship and a great message.

Then we ran around, had lunch, went to Costco...and then ended up at Benihana for dinner.

 

On Monday, we went to the Dallas World Aquarium.

 

 

And on Tuesday, we went to the Dallas Zoo.

And there you have it... pretty much sums up our time in Dallas in pictures! :) 

 

Hudson is 11 Months!

Yup, you read right. My baby is only a month away from not being a baby anymore. The time sure has flown by. To party plan or not to party plan? Right now we are thinking of just getting out of town since his 1st birthday is the day before my 30th birthday. We're thinking either Dallas or Branson for 3 or 4 days. I bet get on that.

Hudson is cruising on the furniture like a wild man, not quite walking yet though. I'm kind of liking that he's not walking yet, trying to keep him more baby-like for as long as possible! But he's still pulling up on everything and crawls over obstacles like nothing is too big for him. If he's on the couch, he easily gets down on his own.

This boy was made to eat and sleep. That's pretty much what he does with the majority of his time. He sleeps 12-13 hours straight at night and then takes 2 two hour naps each day. He's not really on a schedule on what time he goes down for naps and bed, we just kind play it by ear each day. He usually only likes to be up for 2.5-3 hours between each nap/sleep. This kid eats anything and everything still. We have yet to find a food he doesn't like, he just gobbles it all down. I keep meaning to take a video of him eating a whole banana...it somehow only takes about 20 seconds for him to accomplish the task.

He has a completely different temperament than Hunter did at this age. Hunter was more content to do whatever, he would sit on your lap, watch TV, play with whatever toy you put in front of him. Hudson, not so much. Don't get me wrong, he is a very easy baby.... as long as you feed him or put him down for a nap the very minute he wants it. He's not very patient. And he's into everything, never stops moving, and rarely wants to be held. Much more opinionated and independent than Hunter was.

We went to Oklahoma City to take him to see the audiologist for a behavioral hearing test and for a follow up with the ENT to see how the tubes in his ears are doing. They did the test without his hearing aids and his hearing is quite a bit better than what the sedated test showed last month. The audiologist seemed quite puzzled. (Here's a rundown of all the test results we have gotten, which my explain why is this so frustrating. Diagnosed in October with mild-moderate loss, behavorial test in April was mild, sedated test in July was moderate with a small dip into severe, yesterday's behavioral showed mild.) He's always done much better in the behavioral tests than the ones that measure his hearing level with brain waves. Anyways...we are continuing to pray for improvement and healing.

He's still not making any consonant sounds, like ma-ma or da-da. Not stressing too much about it yet. I don't think Hunter did until 10 or 11 months and Hudson's "hearing age" started when he got his aids at 3 months old. So they would expect him to be at least 3 months behind. We'll see...

Hudson still loves playing with his brother and dog all day long. Three little buddies, I love it! He's still easily in 6-12 months clothes and size 3 diapers. I weighed him on our scale today and he's about 20lbs, so that means he's put on over a pound in the last month. Woo-hoo!!