Conversations with a Toddler

Some of the conversations Kendall and I have just make me say "What?" 

She LOVES my phone. First it just started out as her taking and looking at pictures. Next thing i know she is texting and calling people. Come to find out she also knows how to use Snapchat.

The kid is too smart.

The other day she wanted to watch a movie in her room but also wanted to look at pictures. So i let her take my phone down the hall. Before she left the room our convo went like this:

K: "Mom can i look at pictures in my room?"

Me: "Sure."

K: "But not calling and texting right?"

Me (sitting there in aww): "Yes, please do not call or text anyone."

K: "Ok. What about snapchat?"

Me (I think my mouth was hanging open at this point, and i looked at my sister who was in the room with me): Correct, no snapchatting people either."

K: "Ok" 

And off she ran down to her room. I sat there thinking to myself. Did i really just have that conversation with a 3 year old?

We have this conversation almost every day now it seems. She loves looking at and taking pictures. She also loves Snapchat cause then she gets lots of videos of Hunter from Auntie.

She also gets to play with the Kindle. Which I don't encourage, but when i need to get stuff done and she is being whiny and clingy i will get it out and let her watch cartoons or games. All i have to do is hand it to her and she knows where everything. Since getting a tablet the only thing on the Kindle is her games and a few cartoons. She can navigate that thing very well. She can't read what any of it says but she knows exactly where to push to get to the movies or the games. She is slowly loosing interest in it, which is fine with me, i would rather her play with her toys.

We had a rather rough last few days with her attitude. It has been bad. Lots of timeouts, time spent in her room and even a couple spankings ( I don't like to spank her but it really does work for her and the only time i do it is if i have exhausted all my other options).

I think she is adjusting to her new schedule now that she is not in school. But in all her 3 years her attitude has never gotten her in this much trouble or lasted this many days for that matter. There was lots of wine consumed in the evenings. She started today off pretty well so i am hoping she is getting out of it. I don't know if i would be able to handle anymore days that are as bad as this weekend was.

Happy Monday Friends!

Fit Friday

During the challenge I decided i will do a Fit Friday post. To explain what i am doing and how i did that week. Almost like a journal entry.

Friday is going to be my one day a week where i do not workout. I am usually pretty busy Friday after work cause we go to Jason's and cook dinner there which means i have to go to the store right after work and brave being around all the crazy after work people.

I went and weighed in last night for the challenge. I was right where i knew i was so my weight wasn't a surprise. I weigh myself daily. I know you aren't supposed to but it find that it helps to keep me on track better.

On Monday I had my best Fitbit day. Kendall had her 3yr check up so we were home earlier then normal and she had a cold and needed a good nap. So i laid her down to sleep and hopped on my elliptical, turned the tv on to Food Network and spent the next hour watching Chopped and working up a good sweat.

Today i will be perusing Pinterest for some good clean eating recipes. My sister is on my team for the Challenge and she started this clean 3 day eating thing a few days ago. It has some good recipes. But basically the guideline for it is if you can't pronounce the ingredient and have no idea what it is you shouldn't eat it. I am going to stick somewhat to that. I will eat a lot of fresh food and lean meats. But there are a couple things i won't give up. I will still drink my protein shake (with almond milk) and i will still drink my coffee with creamer(although i will switch to an all natural creamer). Other then that i am going to try to focus on the if you don't know whats in it don't eat it. 

Tomorrow will be my first Saturday workout and it is Zumba, its been so long since i have been, I am hoping the moves come back easy. I am curious to see how many steps and calories the Fitbit will track for the whole hour.

Happy Friday and Happy Valentines (someone brought cupcakes to work ugh)!

A big' step for me

Posting this picture is a big step for me. I was so hesitant to do it although i took it weeks ago, my body has transformed some since i took this. 

In this pic i weigh 155lbs, i only want to lose those last 5 lbs.

I needed a before picture and have been meaning to take one forever but never did it.

We are our own worst critics is what i keep telling myself.

This is right after a workout at the gym....yes a gym selfie.

I decided to share this picture with everyone because as of Saturday i am starting the weightloss challenge again (i did it last year). This go around i am not doing it to lose the weight. If I am honest i still have struggled with those last 5 lbs, they just don't want to go away. But i am doing it because i need to keep myself on track. I have been so lazy about my diet. I stick to it for about a week and then get busy lazy. So I joined the challenge. Jason's mom is doing it again and i wasn't going to do it cause i have managed to keep all last years weight off. After lots of consideration and having a bad day on the scale i called her up and asked to be on her team. 

So tomorrow evening i am going to go weigh in and then it all begins. An 8 week journey to help me form better eating habits. I will try to work out 6 days a week with Friday being my only day off. I am going to go to the gym 4 days a week, do Zumba 1 day and cardio only one other day. I am very determined. 

I know my body won't lose much more weight but i am looking for more transformation. I want to have greater muscle definition. 

I was given some great advise from a personal trainer friend and i have been doing lots of research about lifting weights vs doing cardio.

The best result i have found is to do an equal amount of both. So i generally get about 30 minutes of cardio a day and it takes me a little longer to do my weight lifting routine but its about the same ratio.

A post I read that made perfect sense to me (it was a DUH moment) said in order to receive maximum results you need to lift weights as heavy as possible and do between 8-12 reps per set. If you aren't tired or struggling towards the end of each set then your weights aren't heavy enough. I totally agree with this. Its not about quantity of reps its about pushing your body to its limit to achieve the results you want. If you don't push your limits how are you ever going to get to where you want to be?

So these next 8 weeks for me are going to be about pushing my limits. My team is counting on me and i am going to prove to myself that i can do it and focus on my goal and finally reach it.

Happy Thursday Friends!

Birthday Girl

 Last Friday was Kendall's 3rd Birthday. Since she turned 3 she graduated out of the early head-start program. They were closed on Friday so her last day was Thursday and she spent Friday with my sister. Currently they do not have any spots open at the next level of head-start so she will be going to the sitter full-time until a spot opens up and then she will go part time to head-start and part time to the sitters.

On her day spent at home with Auntie they baked cookies and watched cartoons. Then went and got ice cream and happy meals and came and visited me at work. She has a really great time and wanted to dress up like a princess. She had a tiara but didn't want to wear it.

She requested that we to go the Mexicans (Fiesta En Jalisco) for burritos and so they would sing to her. She was a little shy but loved every minute of it. Her birthday party wasn't until Saturday it was nice to go out and have a little family dinner on her actual birthday.

It took lots of shopping trips and planning and wine but she got a new bed for her birthday. I found the frame used which is a big plus and she can grow into it. The bottom and the rails come off so it could just be a regular twin bed for when she gets older. I had a heck of a time putting it together and when it was all done wine was required. She loved it when she woke up from nap and was surprised with it. She still has been a little scared of staying in it all night but she is sick right now so i think once she feels better she wont have any problems.

My good friend Toni made us another fabulous cake. Kendall requested it be purple with strawberries and then a couple days before the party she was upset it wasn't going to have a rainbow so Toni was able to work that request and came up with a wonderful cake. It was a strawberry lemonade cake with strawberry filling and it was delicious. Kendall is not a huge fan of cake but LOVES fondant so she just jumped right in and took a bite right out of the rainbow after we sang to her.

I don't have any pictures from the party because the camera on my phone is being so slow that it takes forever to get a picture taken and then it usually is blurry cause K won't sit still that long. All in all it was a very successful day and the kids all had fun playing.

Happy Monday!

"The Notebook"

For my friends wedding I wanted to give her a special gift. We had been talking so much about different plans and what she wanted to do and there was so many ideas floating around that I decided a wedding notebook would be perfect as a little gift.

I got the idea from another friend of mine and she sent me files and files full or wedding organizing tips and checklists.

Next i just needed something fun to put it all in. This is what i came up with:

The last name is Swatski and they are having a superhero themed wedding (which i am totally excited for, it is going to be awesome)

All I needed for supplies was a cutout of the Superman logo, a notebook, sharpies and glitter glue.

I started by tracing the logo onto the notebook and then outlining it in the sharpie.

Then i finished it off by tracing over that with the colored glitter glue. It was so super easy. I am not really pleased with how the letters came out because the glue came out a little thicker then i wanted it to but overall it looks super cute and she loved it!

I am so excited for the wedding. The venue they chose is absolutely beautiful. The planning is coming together nicely and the next step we have is to go dress shopping! 

Happy Thursday Friends!

Dashboard

Yesterday was my best day yet with using my Fitbit. I struggles last week because i was off on a mini vacay visiting my sisters family over on the other side of the state.

Everyday it tracks your information and then you sync it with you computer and it shows you your results for that day. You can also look back at all the past days. You don't have to sync every day like i didn't for 5 days in a row while i was gone and it held all my data in the little device i wear around.

On average you are supposed to walk 10,000 steps in a day. Do you know how hard that is when you have a desk job? I get up and pace just so i can get extra steps in, or i jog in place for a few minutes. Even when i am at the gym i try to walk around extra. I still haven't hit that mark yet but am really hoping to soon. I have reached my calorie goal several times though. For my height and weight i am supposed to burn 2,184 calories a day. Yesterday i hit 2200 burned and i had 42 very active minutes. That little bar chart at the top of the picture breaks it down to how many steps you take every 15 minutes, the green lines are where i have walked over 1000 steps for those specific time frames.

Its hard to reach the goals it sets for me, but i literally try every day to get up and move around extra so i can. One day soon i will get there.

Also i was able to link my Fitbit account with My Fitness Pal account so it logs all the data together to show just what i did for what specific day. After "pretending" to go back on my diet a couple weeks ago and then taking a week off at my sisters house. I am back to a strict diet again. I bought and planned all my meals for the whole week ahead of time. Today is day 2 back on it and although i am starving i am remaining strong and am not going to give into the cravings.

Ah Monday

Last week was my first full week back at the gym and it was hard. I really enjoyed being back in the mindset to push my body to its limit.

I am excited to go today. 

I got a Fitbit Zip and loving it is an understatement. This little thing is amazing. It keeps track of calories burned, steps taken and distance walked. I have been wearing it while i sleep even so it tracks my sleep activity. 

This is not the fancy one by any means. I would love to have the bracelet but it wasn't in my budget. This one i got off eBay for $35 but they normally retail for about $60 which still to me seems like a lot. But after wearing it for a week I would have definitely paid the $60. Keep in mind though that it has to be hooked up to the internet to get it set up.

After the first couple days i realized that i do WAY to much sitting at work. So i started getting up and walking around more. I do a few jumping jacks here and there or i will jog in place just to get myself up and moving. I still have yet to hit the 10,000 recommended steps per day but i am getting closer! 

One thing i did to help me out was bought an elliptical. We had one but took it over to my sisters cause we didn't really use it much since we all went to the gym. She is still using it and i was looking for something to help me out on days i didn't go to the gym or so i could do my cardio at home instead of spending so much time at the gym So i searched our local yardsale page and found one for $35. It isn't the nicest one but it is perfect for what i need it for and i have only had it for a few days. I find myself jumping on it here and there for a few minutes to bump my heart rate up for a little while.

Tonight i am going to start off with a few minutes of cardio just to get my body warmed up then i am going to go into my normal workout routine but finish it at home and do my cardio there. I am pretty excited to try this out.

And yet again I am also start up My Fitness Pal again. I have been lazy about it and not paying super close attention to what i have been eating. But now that the holidays are over and I am all caught up on crocheting i am going to fully devote my mind back to myself to get to where i want to be.

Happy Monday Friends!