To Marathon Or Not To Marathon, That Is The Question...

So, I am debating whether I want to run the Grand Rapids Marathon in October. I know I want to run a Marathon, I just don't know when. Originally I was not going to run this year because Molly and Grace take up a lot of my time, but I really think I would be able to make the time commitment this year. I just feel like this is a good time to do it, I am young and healthy and not pregnant! I am just afraid that if I wait, something will happen and I will have to keep putting it off. The problem is there is only 11 weeks left (and Bob doesn't want to have to babysit while I do my long runs, I know it isn't babysitting when it is your children!) I have been doing P90X so I am fit, but I haven't really been running. I think I am going to train for the next couple of weeks and see how it goes. I did 5 miles today and it went very well. I think I am going to try 8 miles or so Saturday.

I still have 4 weeks left of P90X. I didn't really have a very good week, so I am going to repeat this week. With the training schedule for the marathon I am supposed to have a cross training day and two rest days. I think I will have two cross training days where I do my P90X weight lifting dvds and then run the other 4 days instead of doing plyometrics, core synergistics, yoga, and kenpo.

Okay, on to the kiddos. Grace has been real silly lately as usual. She loves water! When we were in Chicago we went to Millennium Park and she played in the water. When we were walking downtown she saw the river and kept saying Gracie go in the water! Now whenever she sees water she asks to go in it! I really need to get her a little kiddie pool for the rest of the summer! She also has been saying things like "in a minute", "tomorrow", and "in a little bit" and it is SO cute. When she says in a little bit, she points her finger up by her mouth and kind of leans into it. I want to get a video of it but she does it randomly so it is hard to catch on video.

Molly hasn't done anything new lately that I can think of. I think she is working on several teeth. I just ordered her some amber teething necklaces, so I can't wait until they get here. I ordered a couple of them on babyhalfoff.com. I've heard good things about them so I hope they help her. I can't believe she is going to be six months old Saturday! I think I am going to start her on cereal next week. She has been a fussy and gassy nurser lately and I have no idea what I've eaten wrong this time! Enjoy the video of Molly in her jumperoo!

Weigh-in

Today's weigh in was pleasantly surprising. I lost 3 lbs. this week and 3% body fat! I am not sure where it came from because I feel like I look exactly the same. Wherever it came from I'll take it, however it wasn't from my belly or love handles where I want to lose fat!

Today's workout went pretty well too. I did all but a few minutes of the Kenpo dvd and then I ran a mile. It wasn't a long run, but I was tired from the 50 minute workout I did right before. I am really glad I lost weight this week because I feel more motivated to workout next week. Only 4 more weeks to go!

Tomorrow Grace, Molly, and I are going to Chicago with Bob. He has to work down there Monday and Tuesday so we thought we'd go along and see Auntie Katie and Auntie Christa. Bob has been gone for the last couple of weeks, so I am glad we can go with him this week. We are going to go to Millennium Park Monday and play in the splashy park. Grace will be SO excited! When we went to Millennium Park in GR last weekend she loved it! I will try to get cute pictures or videos!

Feeling Worn Out

Did you know that 90 days is actually quite a long time? I do now that I am doing P90X! This weekend is the end of week 9, only 4 more weeks to go! I am so tired! I am having a hard time staying motivated to finish. My workout yesterday was a bust. It was yoga day. I got about 20 minutes in and then quit. Molly was crying and refused to take her morning nap and Grace would not stop whining. I decided to run a few miles, because then I could turn the music up and drown out the noise. I was 1.3 miles into my run when I had to get off the treadmill to discipline Grace. It is SO hard to start running again when you have to stop like that, so I quit. It is getting harder to fit in my workouts with the girls. The workouts are 60-90 minutes and that requires on lot of patience from them. Today's workout was better. I got all but the last 7 minutes or so done. I had to stop because it time to feed Molly. I didn't even get to take a shower first, which I hate. Oh well.

My diet the last two days was not so good. Thursday I went out to dinner with Melanie, Bob, Grace and Molly. We went to Applebees. I got garlic herb chicken which was good, but we got potato twisters as an appetizer. For the day I ended up at about 2,500 calories. With exercise and nursing that is about breaking even, that is ok, but not what I want to do to get rid of fat! I ended up with 19% fat, 63% carbs, and 18% protein. I had only 3 servings of fruits and vegetables. Today was worse. I did okay during the day, but then we got Vitales for dinner. I had about 2,400 calories with 24% fat, 62% carbs, and 14% protein. A normal diet is 25% fat, but again, not okay for trying to burn the last of my belly fat!

Tomorrow is just a weigh in. Hopefully I will be about the same. Tomorrow's workout is Kenpo (punching and kicking). I think I want to fit in a run too. Maybe Bob and I will take the girls if it's not too hot. They liked it when we went last weekend. Actually, I just looked at the weather and it is supposed to rain...maybe the treadmill then.

Back to being tired...I'm sure Molly getting up in the middle of the night to eat is not helping the situation. I am glad she is growing, but I sure hope she is done with the nighttime feedings soon! My not going to bed on time doesn't help either!

Lately I have been having tons of fun trying to find new diapers for the girls. Yesterday I got a couple of GrowBaby diapers. I put them on for bedtime....not a good nighttime diaper. They both woke up wet. I put them on during the day today. Molly leaked during naptime, but Grace stayed dry playing. I am disappointed that they won't work at night. I love how trim they are. I might keep these shells and just get a few more inserts and use them for Grace during the day. I am waiting for my new bumgenius diapers to get here and also a bottombumpers. I also traded some diapers on diaperswappers.com for a couple of wahm made diapers and some wool dryer balls. Right now Sewcraftybaby.com is having a 15% sale on iCandy diapers and I think I am going to try them. I like the idea of snapping in a new insert and reusing the shell, kind of like my flips. I love sewcraftybaby.com. She always has good sales and fun giveaways on her facebook page. Anyway, enough about fluff. And this entry has gone on way to long, so goodnight for now!

Another cloth diaper giveaway!

I know, ANOTHER cloth diaper giveaway. I've recently discovered the world of blog reviews and giveaways. This giveaway looks pretty cool. It is for a Lollidoo Overnight Eco-Pocket diaper. Crystal from Biehl Adventures gave this diaper a rave review for an overnight diaper, and who doesn't need a overnight cloth solution. You can check out the review and giveaway at http://biehladventures.blogspot.com/2010/07/lollidoo-overnight-eco-pocket-review.html.

Another Okay Day

Today was just another okay day for P90X. I did arms and shoulders today, but only a small part of ab ripper. I just ran out of time this morning. My diet was just ok too, not the healthiest, not the unhealthiest. I had about 1,950 calories. 18% were from fat, 55% from carbs, and 27% from protein. I only had one serving of vegetables and no fruit.

Tomorrow is the dreaded yoga x. I always want to quit part way through, yoga is just not my thing. I made it all the way through last week and I am going to again this week. I am hoping to get a little run in as well, but that is iffy because the yoga workout is an hour and a half!

Hopefully the girls will be super good tomorrow and not interrupt my workout every five minutes!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

bumGenius 4.0 giveaway

I just wanted to take a quick minute to share a great giveaway with my cloth diapering friends. Maria from www.change-diapers.com is having a giveaway of two the new bumGenius diapers. Just follow this link http://www.change-diapers.com/2010/07/bumgenius-40-review-comparison-to-30.html to read her review and how to enter the giveaway. Good luck!

Catching Up

Let me quickly review my last week. I did okay Thursday, Friday, and during the day Saturday, but then we went out to eat at Don Julios for dinner and I had enchiladas. Then we got ice cream for desert. I got a reese peanut butter cup flurry with frozen yogurt (at least a little better than ice cream right?) Sunday wasn't any better. I did okay again yesterday, but then went out to dinner with my parents tonight at Texas Roadhouse. I WILL eat healthy for the rest of the week.

Saturday we weighed in and measured. I did not lose any inches or body fat percent and only lost about a half pound. It was really depressing to know that I worked hard for 4 weeks and didn't see any progress. I briefly considered quitting, but after 8 weeks of work and only 5 weeks left, I just couldn't do it. I have been thinking about why I didn't see any results, and I think it is a combination of things, not just the diet. I also switched from the lean to the classic program and the lean is supposed to be for burning more fat and the classic for building more muscle. I am going to do better with my diet for these last 5 weeks and I am switching back to the lean program. I am also going to throw in more running when I have the time as well. I need all the cardio I can get to burn this baby belly off!

Now let me share some cute Grace and Molly stories. Grace has been more into singing lately. She can do almost all of her alphabet. It usually goes like this a,b,c,e,f,g, some letters that she says faster like she is saying l m n o p, she picks up with q, and does the rest correctly. It is real cute. I have been trying to get a good video to share, but she just likes to look at herself when I turn the camera on. Silly girl. The other day she was playing on the piano and singing Molly's crazy, Molly's crazy. I am not sure singing is her special gift from God...lol.

Molly has been sweet and cute as usual. I think she is going through a growth spurt at the moment. A few nights this last week she woke up to eat in the middle of the night so the last few days we have been back to nursing every 3 hours or so. I am glad she is going through a growth spurt though. I weighed her last week and she had only gained about 4 ounces in a month and a half. I just weighed her before bed tonight and she is up another 4 ounces. She has her 6 month check up in 2 weeks and I am looking forward to seeing how much she has grown!

On another note, I have been having a productive couple of days. I have been cleaning out closets, our guest room, and my sewing room. It feels good to get rid of stuff and get things organized! I am looking forward to sewing again. I haven't done much since Molly was born and I want to start making and selling stuff again.

Alright, enough for tonight. I will start blogging about my P90X journey again (I am loathe to use that word just because I know it drives Bob crazy, haha) Thanks Jen for keeping an eye on me!

Day 3

This morning Grace was playing while I was getting breakfast ready and I heard the cd player come on. Her music started playing. I went in there and discovered that she took our cd out, put hers in, turned the radio on and pushed play. Pretty talented two year old.

Molly is getting really close to sitting up! She can sit up and lean forward on her hands, but she still needs help because she will topple backwards if she gets too excited! I can't believe how big she is getting!

Well today was just an okay day for the diet. I was really hungry all day today for some reason. I ended up eating 1,992 calories. I am okay with that. I like to be closer to 1,800, but I am okay to going up to 2,000. For breakfast I had Kashi Go Lean Honey Almond Flax with 1/2 glass of skim milk (245 calories). I have been occasionally having a little milk and Molly seems to tolerate it a little better. I had a banana and some turkey jerky for a midmorning snack (215 calories). For lunch I had Bob bring home Subway. I had a chicken teriyaki on wheat with lettuce, tomato, green peppers, and sweet onion sauce. No cheese! (380 calories) My afternoon snack was a clif mini bar, a yogurt, and a granola bar (310 calories). For dinner I had a ham and turkey sandwich with cheese on light bread and potato chips. When I got home from bowling I had a second dinner (I feel like a Hobbit) of two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (672 calories for both dinners). I then had the ice cream I had been craving all day. A skinny cow caramel cone. Yummy! (170 calories) I ended up with 15% fat, 64% carbs, and 20% protein. Not enough protein. And I only had one serving of fruits and one of vegetables.

I do not like very many vegetables. I like green beans, peas, and corn.....not a good variety! If anyone has any good ways of getting vegetables in let me know! I am also looking for a healthy vegetable soup recipe! Thanks for keeping me accountable!

Check In Day 2

Today was a busy day. I have five girls again today. It went very well and they even all napped at the same time again! Now I am just doing a quick update and then heading to feed Molly and go to bed.

I will start by sharing how I finished my day yesterday. For an afternoon snack I had Clif Mini Bar (100 calories). For dinner I had pork loin sirloin chops with green beans and watermelon (395 calories). After dinner I had a skinny cow ice cream sandwich with a 1/2c. of edy's slow churned mint cookie crunch (280 calories). I didn't do a good job spreading my calories out yesterday so after dinner and dessert I was only at about 1500 calories. I try not to eat under 1800 just because I don't want to mess up my milk supply. I ended up eating popcorn, rice cakes, and a skinny cow chocolate truffle bar. Not the best calories I could have eaten, I know. I ended the day with 1808 calories, 17% fat (20% or under is my goal), 58% carbs (between 50-60% is my goal), and 25% fat (20-30% is my goal). Not too bad, I even ended up getting two of my four servings of fruits and veggies I was going for.

Today was okay as well. I had blueberry pancakes with crystal light kiwi strawberry for breakfast (332 calories), a yogurt for my midmorning snack (180 calories), a spinach salad with ham, turkey, fat free mozzarella, raisins, pecans, and light honey french dressing (421 calories), a cup of grapes and a clif mini bar for my afternoon snack (175 calories), an english muffin with egg whites, swiss chesse, and turkey sausage links for dinner (332 calories), and edy's slow churned mint cookie crunch and skinny cow cookies and cream ice cream and kettle corn for dessert (370 calories). I know that I treat myself to too much dessert, but at least it is low fat dessert! I finished the day at 1809 calories, 20% fat, 60% carbs, and 20% protein. I even had 3 1/2 servings of fruits and vegetables.

Thinking about having to share what I ate today really did help keep me in check, so thanks to those who read this and keep my accountable! As far as working out goes, I didn't today. I have a stretch day this week and I made it today because it is too hard to work out with 5 kids 5 and under. Tomorrow is core synergistics. Yippee!

Accountability

Today is the beginning of week eight of P90X. I feel like I haven't made any progress in the last three weeks. I have done all the workouts except three, but I have done a very poor job with my diet. I have pretty much been eating what I want on the weekends and then doing an okay job during the week. I end up working off my weekend during the week. It is good to know that I will be able to maintain my weight doing that once I have finished, but I need to finish first!

At the end of this week we are supposed to weigh in and measure and I almost don't want to. I don't think I have lost any inches. On the plus side, my arm and upper back muscles are looking really good.

I think I am going to take a page out of my best friend Melanie's book and try to blog everyday for the next six weeks. I figure if I have to tell people what I'm eating and how my workouts went then I will be more faithful to the plan. I'll count this as today's.

I had yoga x today and I finished the whole workout! When I get to yoga day, I am really unmotivated and tend to cut the workout short. If I do that I will usually run, but I really want to stick to the workout plan as much as possible.

So far today (through lunch) I have had 700 calories. I had oatmeal and a string cheese for breakfast, yogurt for an after workout snack, and a ham and turkey sandwich with 2% swiss cheese and maple Dijon sauce on light wheat bread and some baked lays for lunch. On a typical day I try to eat about 1800 calories and five "meals" (breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner with dessert).

On the average day I burn about 1800 calories just breathing, taking care of the girls, etc. I burn about 300-500 nursing Molly and P90X says I burn about 600 calories doing that exercise. I figure if I consume around 1800 calories that is enough for nursing Molly and I can lose about a pound of fat a week.

Another goal I want to achieve is eating more fruits and vegetables. This week I am going to try to eat four servings a day (at least one veggie). I know that is not nearly enough, but it's a start! So far today I am at zero. :(. I'll check in again tomorrow!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Giddings Ave SE,Grand Rapids,United States

Short and Sweet

I love when both of my kids sleep all night! Grace has been doing so much better the last couple of weeks, thank you God! Molly has been a pretty good sleeper ever since she was born and she has continued getting better. The last week or so she has been sleeping until 8:00 or 8:30.

I can't believe Molly will be starting solids in a month or so! Right now she eats at 8:30, 12:00, 3:30, 7:00, and 10:30. When she starts solids I am going to try dropping her 10:30 feeding. She is growing up so fast! She is getting close to being able to sit up by herself and she learned how to jump in her jumperoo tonight! So cute!

Well, I should probably get ready for bed. I get to go decorate for my sister's wedding tomorrow and have to fit in my workout in the morning before I go.

Another cloth diaper giveaway!

Hello all. I just wanted to share another cloth diaper giveaway! Check this website out.

http://www.clothdiaperblog.com/category/feed-your-stash-friday/

Have a great day!