Super motivate!

So I've posted how I want to eat better, and get in shape. This week I dug out my Turbo Jam DVD's and started using those. My favorite is the Cardio Dance party which mixes up Dance moves, and some martial arts to get your cardio workout. Its 45min and they say you burn over 700 calories, myfitnesspal.com says its about 767 calories burned which is probably about right. I always feel WAY charged after I finish a work out and I've even several times this week been eager to go for a walk after dinner with Casey and the kids. As a result I've been burning a lot of calories this week and I'm already feeling tighter and most of all more energy and stronger.

I have decided I won't work out on the weekends, or I won't worry about working out on the weekends. I don't like people watching me and Casey being home and the thought of him watching/seeing me work out is a little intimating.... I don't know why he's seen my body and still loves me but still I'm weird like that. So anyway the plan was to not worry about working out, maybe try to take a walk or something but I wasn't going to worry about it. So Casey decides to take some stuff to his mom's house, stuff she's given us that we don't really need (she gives us LOTS of toys, stuffed animals etc that she's had in her storage unit). As he left I started to sit down at the computer, thought "Ah the kids are asleep, the hubby is gone for a few minutes I'll play my game for a bit on the computer." Then a thought crossed my mind...... "You can be using this time to work out." At first I was like "Yeah after 1 game" but then I thought "What if he gets home sooner then expected or the kids wake up sooner then expected?" So got up, changed into my workout clothes and set up the DVD. As I was putting the DVD into the player I looked over and saw my shorter 20min version and debated that. But ultimately deciding that I would feel really great about myself if I did the full 45min work out instead. So I put that one in and pushed play. The 45min FLEW by I was so pumped and it was the best work out so far.

Just as I finished Casey called and said he was on his way home and was thinking we could do Ryan's buffet for dinner. I thought "sure! I worked out so I can spare a few calories." So we get there and I decide to try eating healthy options. So first up I see fried chicken.... Yumm, then I see rotisserie chicken so I choose that one. Then a small scoop of their mac & cheese, then some steamed red potatoes. Thats what I had for dinner! I also had 2 rolls, I'm a sucker for their rolls but normally I would have easily eaten 4 or so. Plus I only used half a little tub of butter for BOTH rolls instead of a whole one for EACH roll, which was common before. To finish off I had told Casey who had a HUGE plate of deserts on it that I thought I would just get a little Ice cream and that would be it. I was feeding Willa at the time, Casey had brought over some strawberry banana's for himself to share with Eli. Well I started giving her some and she ate a good 1/4 of a banana! So just as I was finishing feeding her he brought me a small cone with just the right amount of ice cream on it. I ate that and it never tasted so good! I took my time eating it and just really enjoyed the flavor. Then since I was satisfied I told Casey whenever he was ready to leave so was I. I was so proud of myself as we walked out. Still a little worried what the rolls had done to my calorie count but still was ok with it. We get home and I plug it all into my calorie counter and low and behold.... Are you ready for this? It blew me away, I had consumed just 785 calories! I couldn't believe it! I still have plenty of calories left over for the day!
I'm so pumped! I CAN Do this and I WILL do this!

A hard post to admit.

So I think part of my working on getting in shape and losing weight I have to be completely honest, no matter how embarrassing it is. The idea is that if I make public some of the not so good habits I've formed I'll want to change to keep from having to keep admitting it over and over and over.

So I've been trying to work out and get back in shape, I started out working out and then stopped again a few days later due to health issues with the family just left me to fatigued and stressed to even try. Now that everyone seems to be on the mend (knock on wood) its time to get serious. One of the things I struggle with is eating, I don't like a lot of "healthy" foods. Most veggies I don't like and the one that I LOVE I am allergic to (corn). I like some fruits. Well lately I've been really hit by what I am teaching Eli, even at such a young age. Originally I wasn't to worried about him eating thinks like Chips. We do limit his sweets, so the other day I was sitting on the couch eating lunch with Eli (Another bad habit we're trying to break) he had a bowl of chips and I had something else. He would hand me a chip now and then, for the most part I don't eat a lot of them but I let HIM eat them. So there I was, sitting on the couch watching Netflix stuffing my face and being an example to my kids! I thought how I don't want him to grow up like that, I want him to learn healthy habits as a child so he won't have the life long struggle I've had. It helped that I was watching The Biggest Loser at the time, it was the first season and the first episode. I got inspired at that point and thought I really need to change my life for myself and my children. Not only to teach them good habits but also so I can enjoy playing with them at the park and stuff like that and not worry about getting tired. So I got up, threw away the rest of the bag of chips and gave him some animal crackers instead, I figured since those are low fat and calories those would be better. I told Casey when he got home that next weeks grocery bill was going to be higher because I was going to get healthier foods to eat. Fresh fruits and veggies and that sort of thing. I am going to try and eat more of the veggies that I can at least get down even if I don't enjoy it and I'm going to start pushing myself to work out more.

After putting Willa down for a nap I dug out my workout video's I bought in 2006. Eli had slept in that day so he wasn't ready for a nap and I thought what a good way to lead by example? Let him watch and "participate" in a workout once in awhile so he learns good habits. My workout video of choice? Turbo Jam Cardio Dance Party, oh yeah its fun and it gets the blood pumping! Then I set about trying to find how many calories they estimate you burn while doing that work out.... For 45min it says you burn about 774! Are you kidding me? Thats so much more then walking! So That is my goal, to at least do my Turbo Jam once a day and then when Casey gets home after dinner we also try to take a walk. The kids are LOVING this new routine because we stop at the park and let them play about halfway through our walk. Right now we're doing just over half a mile in the evenings. But remember I've already spent 45min doing a pretty intense cardio workout... Well intense for me anyway.

So there's the bad, the good is I'm going to change it! I couldn't ever make a life long commitment for just myself but I WILL for my kids and my family. Since yesterday I've lost nearly 2lbs already. Hope that continues!

No more disturbed nap time!

Many of you know that we have a 23mo old and a 6mo old. For awhile now I've been complaining about door to door sales men coming and ringing our doorbell many times (one rang it like 5 times then pounded on the door!) The doorbell is at the top of the stairs which is right across the hall from Eli's room so its been a long time issue where it wakes him up. Actually not so much now that he's older but still if he's just gone to sleep or its rang over and over again it does wake him up. So I've been complaining about it and finally Casey said he could disconnect it. But I don't like that idea either because I like to have the doorbell when the kids aren't sleeping. So we just kinda never did anything about it. Well a few months ago I brought it up again, actually I think it was more like 6mo or more. I THINK it was right before Willa was born. Anyway, he again said he could disconnect it and I was like "I don't want to do that...... Hey can't you just put a light switch to it so that it can be turned on and off?" He stopped and stared at me for a minute and then was like "Well I could do that! I've never seen that done before! Where do you come up with this stuff." Now for those of you that don't know me let me explain. My husband is an electrician so its no biggie for him to put new switches or outlets (we have outlets EVERYWHERE) so saying he's never seen that done is a pretty good bet not many people think about doing that. So we now our special doorbell on off switch, and to make sure that if we ever move out people know what the switch is for we wrote "doorbell" on it. Its located right under the doorbell box and it is AMAZING! No more disturbed nap times! :)

Our doorbell light switch, not the greatest picture but you get the idea!

Our sad sick son.

So I've been posting on FB that Eli has been sick. Thought I'd detail it a little more here for friends and family who haven't gotten the whole story linked together. Last Weds Eli started coughing, at the time I wasn't much concerned figured he might be getting a cold or it might be allergy related. Thurs it progressed a little more but he was still playful and fever free. Fri morning he was coughing a lot more and sneezing, had a slight runny nose and a slight fever. I knew then he was getting sick, Fri night we still went to grandma Stephie's house where he fussed a great deal over every little bump or fall. That's so not like him, we left there earlier knowing he needed to be home and get to bed.

Saturday he was worse, I'd not slept well that night so after feeding Willa and making waffles for the family I went back to lay down while Casey watched the kids. After about an hour and a half Casey came and woke me and said he thought we should go ahead and take Eli to a walk-in clinic as he just wasn't feeling good. So we took him to a walk-in. Of course he was clingy and fussy but as soon as we get there he's flirting with the receptionists and being all cute and not acting sick at all! I told them I promised he was sick! They said its common for them to perk up a little at first at some place new to explore. However Eli did have a minor meltdown over being told no in the waiting room, something that is very uncommon for him.

So we get back to the room and of course he doesn't have a temp the little stinker. The Dr came in and talked to us and asked what it was that made us decide to go ahead and bring him in. He said he believed us that Eli was sick because he could see it in Eli's face even though he couldn't find anything medically wrong with him by looking in his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. He did note however that Eli's eyes were red and blood shot. We told him it was how he was acting more then anything. Was NOT normal and the cough sounded bad too and was getting worse. He said he's seen a lot of this the last few weeks, he said its the flu. He said he didn't even need to do a swab unless we REALLY wanted him to, but it would torture Eli and he knew that's what it was without swabbing. He prescribed Tamiflu and told us that if we couldn't afford it not to worry about it because it doesn't cure the flu nor does it keep it from getting worse. It just helps ease the symptoms of it. He also for warned us it tasted NASTY. Said he tasted it himself once and it was BAD, he was pretty nice. He also told us that he's seeing kids bounce back pretty quick from the flu but adults are getting hit HARD with it AND the flu shot isn't protecting against this strain at all. GREAT.

So we get the tamiflu and we can't get Eli to take it. Not at all, not mixing it in his juice (Dr recommended) not mixing it in his milk, not forcing it down his throat. Not even mixing it in ice cream! He would NOT take it, so glad we didn't have to pay for it (Eli's insurance covered it all). After we get home Casey runs to the store to get a couple things we need. While there he see's a little slide we were debating getting for Eli and it was only $20 and he felt like maybe it would make Eli feel better. So he got it, he brought it home and put it together while Eli was napping and when he got up (he didn't sleep) there was his slide. At first he was a little scared to climb all the way up but once he did it a few times he LOVED it.... Of course then there was the fall...... Yep right off the back of the slide, thankfully its only a couple feet off the ground and of course its in our living room and he didn't really get hurt. But being sick he cried and cried and cried. After some cuddles with Mommy he was back to playing on it. He'd play on it for a little while and then come and snuggle with Mommy for a bit.

Daddy showing Eli the slide.

Sun Eli was even sicker, running fevers and still refusing the tamiflu. He spent most of the day in our laps and crying softly. It broke my heart he was so sick and felt so bad. I started debating at that point if I felt like we should take him to the Dr again. Casey said he thought we should give it a few more days. Sun night Eli had a pretty strong fever going, we gave him a higher dose of motrin. The Dr had given us a chart, if the fever is low grade (under 102) give him this much. If its a high grade (102 or higher) give him this much. So since his fever was 102 something we gave him the higher dose. He had a hard time sleeping though and I was up several times in the night comforting him and when it was time dosing him with more motrin.

Snuggling with Daddy, one of the few times he actually slept although he spent all day on one of us. Mostly mommy but this time it was Daddy who comforted him.

meds. We started our day, after about 30min Eli was at least playing a little but still spent a large amount of time in my arms or even at one point laying on the floor crying softly. After a much needed nap for all of us when I went to get Eli he didn't want to get out of bed. He was awake and crying but just laying in the corner of his crib. Poor guy, he felt VERY hot but greatly protested having his temp taken. I knew Casey was on his way home and I called ask a nurse to see if we should take him back to the Dr. They said if his temp reached 105 we should take him back in, they said to make sure we get him to take the motrin. At that point he was fighting me so bad on it that I felt like it would be best to have Casey home to help me hold him down to get it in him. I hate doing that but its the only way sometimes. Casey gets home soon after I hang up the phone and we take his temp. For some reason he HATES that even though its under the arm. I had Casey "Hug" him holding his arms down so I could get his temp. The thermometer read 103.8 we've been told you are to add a degree to it if its under the arm. That meant his fever was 104.8 So this time I called the walk in clinic that had seen him to see what they wanted me to do. They told me to take him to Childrens Mercy, they said we could take him to the urgent care clinic and if they needed to they would take him across the street to the ER. So we give him some more Motrin and head to CMUC. Thankfully they weren't busy and got us right in. But of course by the time we got there his fever had gone down, however even an hour into the medication (it took us awhile to drive there) his temp was still over 100. The Dr came in and looked at him, we told him Eli had been diagnosed with Flu on Sat. The Dr asked if he had a positive swab and I said "no the Dr said he was 100% sure it was the flu because he couldn't find anything else medically wrong with him but he could tell he was so sick by the way he looked and acted.) The Dr looked at the nurse and said "Geez he should play the lotto" I almost had to laugh. He looked over Eli and said that while he wasn't going to say he did or didn't have the flu (I got the impression he didn't feel like Eli DID have the flu) he could tell me that Eli had one nasty cold and now its turned into an ear infection (made sense as Eli had started pulling on his ear) and now needs antibiotics. This Dr was older and very nice (they both were really nice Dr's). He told me to keep giving him motrin every 4-6hrs, the nurse told me she felt like motrin worked better then tylonal. We got home and ate dinner, Eli has been eating VERY little. Like a couple of bites a day since Sat which has had me worried because he's already a skinny boy to begin with. But the Dr said as long as he's drinking he will be ok and will probably be very hungry when he feels better. He said to let Eli pretty much eat and drink whatever he wanted.

My aunt suggested getting him some pedisure which is like a milk shake with added vitamins and calories. So we stopped at the store and got some of that and of course his new antibiotics.  We offered him some dinner and he only ate a couple of bites, finally since his fever was climbing again and it was time we gave him his motrin and put him to bed. We've been allowing him to take a sippy cup of juice with him to bed and last nights had his antibiotic hidden in it. This morning the cup was empty which was good, Eli slept good all night not waking really other then a few short moments to whine and roll over. This morning I gave him one of his pedisures with the antibiotic mixed in it. He seemed to really love the banana flavored one however still wouldn't eat. I also gave him some more motrin and within about 30min he was playing. He so far has kept his fever a little lower and has been a little more perky. Still fussing easily over normally non issue issues but thats to be expected. At one point I was more thinking out loud when I said since it was so nice out we should go outside. He right away got up from playing on the floor and ran to the gate and wanted to go out. So I figured the sun and fresh air might perk him up a little. I dressed him in a warm jacket with a hoodie and told him he HAD to keep the hood on or we would come inside. He did and we spent a little time outside, it did seem to perk him up and he's only had 1 dose of the motrin and has kept his fever down too. Which is good, hopefully we are on the mend.