Wow... really? 22 months? Has it been that long since that pregnancy test? So much has changed. So much has happened!
1 - I have a beautiful 13 month old. Gabriel joined our family on July 2, 2012. He's such a joy to have as a part of our family. Thank God for Gabriel!
2 - I am now a stay-at-home-mom!! This has always been a huge dream of mine and God has answered my heart's desire. There are certainly challenges, but I wouldn't change it for the world.
3 - My dad was paralyzed in an auto accident on December 15, 2012. He suffered a C4-C5 injury that has left him paralyzed from the waist down. He has limited use of his arms and hands. But daily God is working in Dad's life and I fully believe, Dad will walk again!!
4 - I have put on weight. A lot of weight. I'm so frustrated at myself and really needing new motivation: that's how I ended up on this blog again. Looking for motivation. Trying to remind myself that this hunger is worth the great feeling of less weight.
About that: after Gabriel arrived, I exclusively breastfed him for the first 6 months. I kept my weight under tabs, even though I ate everything in sight. When he was born, I dropped all my baby weight and an additional 5 pounds. I was so happy as that is how it happened with Elijah too. I was determined to keep it off! I did pretty well - only gaining 7 pounds over a six month period. Then Dad's accident happened. The stress of that sent me straight to food. In addition, Gabriel started eating baby cereal about two weeks following Dad's accident - which significantly cut down on the breastfeeding. The perfect storm. In the next 5 months I put on 20 pounds. By Gabriel's first birthday, and unexpected self-weaning, I had put on another 10 pounds. Total weight gain in the past year? 40 pounds. Yep. It's THAT bad. <deep sigh> It's even worse when you figure that 33 of those pounds have happened in the last 8 months.
I keep looking at pictures and I know I must do something! But honestly, I've had zero-zilch-nada motivation. I just can't seem to even care. For the most part I don't. But each Sunday that I have to get dressed for church, I get that feeling of dread. That sick pit in my stomach. It wasn't until yesterday that I decided I have to do this. I just have to jump in the water. I googled "weight loss motivation" and found some website that had lots of "before and after" pictures of people who'd lost weight. At first I was smirking as I viewed pictures of those who'd lost only 10-20 pounds. I mean, I could drop that in a week or two. And then it hit me. If it's so easy, why haven't I done it?
Weight Watchers isn't an option right now. So I'm utilizing My Fitness Pal, a free website with tons of weight loss ideas based on calorie counting. Plus they have a great (ad free) app that is just wonderful for tracking foods, calculating recipes, etc. I love it! Some would argue this isn't the best way to lose weight, but I've got to start somewhere. I don't want to go public with this yet, but here I am blogging away. I haven't even told Chris that I planned to start this. Well, honestly, I didn't plan it. I just did it. Already, it feels better just to know I took a step. A tiny step, but at least it's in the right direction.
Oh joy. Labor Day weekend, our 15th anniversary, and a weekend away is all coming up within the next week. Yay.
