Miss E is 3!

It's been a little over a week since I've updated, but in my defense, I've been really busy. Between the gym, Miss E starting dance back, and her turning 3 and having her party, it's been a little hectic. 

So the most important thing first, my baby is THREE now. Her birthday was Saturday and her party was Saturday afternoon at a local jump place.I ran around like a crazy person Saturday morning, picking up the food, cleaning out my car, loading everything into my car....by the time the party came around, I was tired. But that's the good thing about having her party there, once we were there, I didn't have to do anything, it was quite nice:) Her party was a success and we had a great turn out. She had a blast playing with everyone. Saturday night we had her family birthday dinner. She picked the place(Texas Roadhouse) and she thought it was the coolest thing ever when they sang "Happy Birthday" to her and gave her ice cream.

Here is my 3 year old on the way to her party:

Sunday we took her to Build A Bear and she loved it. She took awhile to pick out the animal she wanted, she wanted a chocolate lab at first, then something else and something else before she finally decided she wanted the Disney Bear. Then she picked out a purple bubble dress and purple shoes with jewels on them(of course) to match. To top it off, she HAD to have a princess wand as well. That was an expensive trip, but so worth it. She named her bear Princess and has been inseparable from her since.

Here is Miss E and Princess:

So this is my second week at the gym and I must say that I love it. I lost my gym buddy due to her husbands schedule changing so now I'm going solo. I thought going into it that it was something that I was going to have to make myself do, but that hasn't been the case. I look forward to going and sweating and burning those calories. I really like the body pump class. I did yoga too and I didn't enjoy it as much, but I still liked it. I've been doing the treadmill and the elliptical and on the days that I don't do pump, I'm doing weights as well. This is only week 2 so I haven't seen any results yet(didn't plan too, I know it takes awhile) but I'm looking forward to when I do. I can see how people become addicted to it, I feel so great when I leave that I always look forward to going back. 

I can really see this becoming a every day routine, I was at 3 days a week, this week I'll go 4 days...I got to stick with it if I want to see change!

Holy soreness!

Friday morning was my first ever gym class(well outside of high school anyway). It was at 8:30 am but luckily the gym is only 10 minutes away, but I got up at 7 to give myself plenty of time. We got there and Miss E was more than excited to go to the kid area(as she calls it). The only thing I wanted to accomplish was to actually finish the class. I'm not going to lie, that crap was hard. Much more than I expected. But I did it. All of it. I was so proud of myself that the rest of the day was just nothing but great. I even did the elliptical there after, and did a mile on my elliptical at home that evening. I felt fantastic. Saturday on the other hand, I didn't feel so fantastic. I hurt. The tops of my legs and my chest, even my butt hurt. I was holding my pee because it hurt so bad to sit on the toilet. But the pain made me make better eating choices over the weekend. All that pain was NOT going to be for nothing! Today was a little better, the squats are what got me because the tops of my legs are the only thing that are still pretty sore. And I'm doing it again in the morning. I'm really loving the body pump class(that's the only one I've taken so far) and I'm going to do it twice a week. 

No spectacular update. I'm just proud of myself for finishing the class. I'm proud of myself for the better choices that I am making. This year is all about being positive for me. I've separated myself from the people who bring me down. I'm making big changes in my life and I'm excited to see how this all turns out.

My first ever mile:)

Today will forever be known as the day I did my first ever straight mile on my elliptical! To be exact, I did 1.09 miles, but who's counting?! Yesterday I dragged my butt up to Body Plex and joined. I start my first class in the morning. I am NOT a morning person, so this should be interesting. I'm going to be doing classes 3 times a week, alternating between body pump(what I'm doing tomorrow), body combat, and yoga. As I get better I also want to try  spinning. I am more than ready to do this!

My other obsession has been my new camera. I've always been what you call a 'mamarazzi'. Anyone close to me can tell you that is the truth. I've had a camera in Miss E's face since the second she was born. Now that I've upgraded, the obsession is worse! I mean, at least this kid will have tons of baby pictures, right?? Anyway I skipped automatic and flipped straight to manual and have been learning ISO,Aperture,Shutter speeds,etc. I've been experimenting and seeing what looks best and such. Like I said before, I am in NO way wanting or trying to be a professional, but I do want to be able to take good pictures of my kid whenever I want:) Anyway here are some(out of the hundreds) that I have taken:

These are all straight out of my camera. I figure I'll learn my camera thoroughly before learning the editing process. Not spectacular pictures but I think they are pretty good for a beginner in manual:)

Anyway, that's all I've got for now. I'm off to bed early so I can get up and bust some booty in the am!  

Hello 2013!

I'm starting the New Year with nothing but positive thoughts. Why? Simple, because I CHOOSE to. But here are a few reasons:

We are going to pay off a good bit of debt this year. A loan that we've had for a year and a half, our last 2 credit cards, and my car(I will NEVER have another 6 year loan). I'm so excited that I can't see straight!

My baby is turning THREE! In just under two weeks Miss E will be 3 and it is just surreal to me. I can't wait to see what this year has in store for her.

Brandon gets TWO vacations after July and a couple of raises this year. Need I say more?

We will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary in September and our 12th year together in November.

I have lots of house plans this year. I want to redecorate our bathroom(which isn't really decorated, just painted, but I want to repaint and do some things in there. I want to re paint our living room, dining room, and hall, and I want to get our basement de-cluttered and organized into useful space. 

And the biggest thing I'm looking forward to....doing things for ME! Getting this weight off. I'm down 10 lbs since my first post about it a couple of weeks ago, but I slacked over the holidays. But now saying that I have 40 lbs to go sounds so much easier than saying 50 lbs to go, so I'm thankful for that 10. I'm taking a HUGE step and joining a gym ( I have a workout buddy) and doing two classes with her. I'm so excited about this next step. This is my biggest goal of 2013. Cliche, yes I know, but I don't care either. I AM going to do this!

Happy New Year everyone!

The flu=EVIL!

I took Miss E to the dr yesterday because she woke up with a bad cough again. We had been around so many people the last week so it wasn't really a surprise that she would pick up something. I actually just called the dr office and asked the nurse to call in a refill on her cough meds, but she insisted on us coming in. Thank goodness we did. When we got there her fever was over 102 and so they did a flu test and it came back positive. I woke up yesterday not feeling so great, and by the time we made it back home from getting her Tamiflu, my temp was over 103. Not good. Luckily my MIL works in a dr office and called me in Tamiflu, so we both have been taking it since last night. Great. Except our insurance didn't cover the liquid form for Miss E, so I have to take caplets apart and hide the powder junk in different things (i.e. mixing it with a small bit of yogurt, hiding it in between a piece of cheese folded in half) and so far it has all been a fail. It tastes horribly and I feel terrible, but it's not like I can mix it in a whole cup of juice because I have to make sure she gets ALL of it. I've been having to keep Motrin in her constantly because that is the only way her fever will stay down and even then it lingers around 101. And somehow the child still has energy and wants to play. For very short periods of time because she gets exhausted easily, but I have NO energy to keep up. All I want to do is sleep. All. The. Time. And that is just not possible with a toddler. "Mommy, I'm done, come wipe me", "Mommy I need more water", "Mommy, can I have a snack", "Mommy, can I play on the tablet"? It's never ending. At night is when it is bad for her, all she wants to do is lay with a cool wash cloth on her face and I'm like "finally"! Rest time for mommy too! My body aches to the core and I have chills that will not go away. But the OCD side of me still needs certain things done, so I'm the freak with the 103 temp doing dishes because I just can't sleep knowing they are in the sink(Brandon is out of town working). It's a horrible sickness and I fully acknowledge that.

Anyway, Christmas was great. We went to Alabama Christmas Eve day, then we did our family stuff on Christmas morning, then went to my in-laws to open gifts, then to Memaw's for more gifts and lunch. I must say that I am extremely lucky to have married into such an amazing family. Miss E got more gifts from Grammie than she did from us (same as the last 2 years). Brandon and I also got some great gifts, I got a new big crock pot(which I have been wanting), some kitchen things, some dvd's, clothes. I love that my MIL and SIL know me so well:) My big gift and the one I was most excited about was from Brandon and Miss E though. I FINALLY got my nice camera! I was so surprised and have been pretty much obsessed ever since. Anyone who knows me knows that this is something I've wanted for 4 years now. Don't worry though, I not one of THOSE people, you know, the ones who get a nice camera and in a month they are a professional photographer charging people for pics;) Although I have always been obsessed with taking pictures, I am in no way wanting to go that route. I just want to be able to take nice pics of my own kid whenever I want to, not on someone else's schedule. I do have 2 photographers that I absolutely love and will continue to use them as well. So yes, Christmas was freaking fantastic this year. I'm just glad we got the flu after it was over! 

Hopefully we will both be over this flu crap quick. I have a birthday to plan and invites to get out. I still can't believe that Miss E is going to be 3 in two weeks!

I got the Liebster Award:)

Woo hoo! I got this the other day:

Thank you Erin over at http://mother227.blogspot.com/. She has been an inspiration to me as I'm starting on my weight loss journey. 

So now I guess it is my turn to nominate 11 people, give some random facts about myself, and answer some questions.

So here are the rules:

1. You must thank the person who nominated you for the award.
2. You must write eleven facts/things/tidbits about yourself.
3. You must answer eleven questions that were given to you from your nominator.
4. You must nominate eleven other bloggers who have 200 or less followers and tag them in your acceptance post.
5. You must create eleven new questions for your nominees to answer in their acceptance post.
6. You must notify your eleven nominees on their blog, so they can accept their award and pay it forward.
7. You must not nominate the person who nominated you.
8. After all of this is done, you may add the Liebster Award Button to your blog.

Here are my 11 things about myself:

1. I LOVE being a mother. I truly believe that this is what I am supposed to do with my life. Raise my little girl and maybe another one one day. My daughter is the absolute greatest gift. I don't think you can know what true love is until you have a kid. It's freaking amazing. 

2. I have 5 siblings, 2 younger, 3 older, and I don't talk to any of them. It sucks but that's the way it is. 

3. I was lucky enough to marry my absolute best friend. I swear Brandon knows me better than I know myself sometimes. He is the only person in the world that knows *every* single thing about me and the only person that I can be myself 100% around.

4. I think RIC (routine infant circumcision) is wrong and disturbing.

5. I despise coffee, but I LOVE the smell of it. Sweet tea is my coffee.

6. I am currently working on shedding some major pounds. It's not easy, but it will be so worth it when I finally get there.

7. I love tattoos. I have 6 of them and I want more. 

8. I also love guns. I have 2 myself, and in my house we have quite a few. My almost 3 year old loves them too, but she knows the difference between her play ones and mommy and daddy's real ones. It's all about teaching gun safety at an early age. There is nothing better than going to the range to let out some stress. Also, I will NEVER be left defenseless. 

9. I want to go to Ireland before I die. I want to see where my family comes from. 

10. I love college football. I think the pros are pansies. College is where it is at. During football season I plan my Saturdays around games. I have and will always be a UGA fan. I think I will always miss Matthew Stafford. 

11. I'm trying to think of something spectacular here, but honestly I have nothing. The only thing I can think of is that I'm a planner. I plan everything. I like things to be done well before time so there is no stress. I booked Miss E's birthday party like 4 months in advance. I buy presents extremely early. I'm just not a last minute person. 

Ok now that those are done, here are the 11 questions from Erin that I have to answer:

1. What is my favorite holiday? That's easy, Christmas! I love the season, the lights, the celebrations, the family time, the food, the look on my daughters face on Christmas morning. I just love everything about it!

2. What is my favorite food: Longhorns crab stuffed filet. It is freaking amazing. They don't carry it anymore and I refuse to go back til they put it back on the menu.

3. What is my favorite memory that includes alcohol? This one is tough. I have quite a few...I think Music Midtown 2004. I went with my roommate and Brandon and it was just a freaking amazing weekend. I just can't even explain it. 

4. What is your favorite memory without alcohol? Dang, I have a few of these too...do I have to pick just one? I'll go with the day we arrived in Daytona last year. It was our first family vacation with Miss E and her first time seeing the ocean. I will never forget the look on her face. We were standing in the hotel parking lot, the sun was going down and Brandon was holding her. I can still smell the ocean. That was an amazing memory, I won't ever forget it.

5. How long have I been with my significant other. We have been together 11 years, married 4. I was 16 when we started dating and he was 17.

6. Where did you meet them: Well we went to high school together, but our families just happened to be in the same place at the same time for vacation one year. He saw me at the pool and the rest is history.

7. What would be the first thing I bought if I hit the lotto tonight? I would pay off the house, my car, Brandon's truck, and anything else we owed. I would donate to foster kids, women's shelter's and animal shelters. I would pay off Brandon's parents house and vehicles(after everything they've done for us, it's the least we could do) Then we would probably buy land and build. I would also love to foster dogs. 

8. What is my dream car? I don't really have one. Cars aren't really my thing, I just need something practical with good gas mileage. I mean, I wouldn't turn down a Bentley or BMW though:)

9. What would be my dream place to live? I wouldn't mind staying in Ga I guess, but I want somewhere with land. I don't want to be too far away from civilization, but I love the quiet and the privacy. 

10. If I could get plastic surgery today, what would I get? A boob job. I'm waiting until we get done having kids, and then I am getting one.

11. Where is my favorite place on earth? Honestly, probably my home. It's my safe zone, the place where I have great memories, plus I love who I share it with. I guess I was supposed to say the beach or something, but oh well.

Ok so here is who I nominate:

1. Anna at http://justnormalthinking.blogspot.com/

2. Elizabeth at http://mylifeaslizwifeandsahm.blogspot.com/

3. Christine at http://inspire-to-create.blogspot.com/

4. Amanda at http://justtakeonebiteplease.blogspot.com/
5. Kristen at http://kristenplusjswifts.blogspot.com/
6. Mommy2Izzy at http://mommy2izzy.blogspot.com/
7.MommaSachs at http://mommasachs.blogspot.com
8. Mommy RiRI at http://thatgoesdouble.blogspot.com/
9. Amy at http://threeoclockcrazy.blogspot.com/
10. Christina at: http://twoboysandarucksack.blogspot.com/
11.Michelle at http://ourlifeontheoutside.blogspot.com/

And here are my eleven questions:

1. Who is your favorite author?
2. What is your ideal job?
3. What is the best concert you've ever attended?
4. What is your favorite movie?
5. What is your favorite thing to cook?
6. What is your earliest memory in life?
7. What is one thing on your bucket list?
8. What is your favorite tv show?
9. Do you collect anything?
10. Why did you start blogging?
11. What is your guilty pleasure? TV show, book, movie, anything like that.

Ok, that took forever, but I'm done!

First week weigh in.

Today was my first weekly weigh in. I'm happy to report that I am down 4 lbs even. Nothing spectacular, but to see the numbers go down is a great motivator:)

It's much easier to eat healthy when its just me and Miss E. Throw my husband in the mix and that is where it gets tricky. But I've been doing great not eating the things I'm not supposed to even though I'm having to fix them for Brandon. Last night I did indulge in a piece of cake for my FIL's birthday, but I came home and did double time on the elliptical too. 

So there it is, my first week back on the wagon and I feel good about it. I knew it wasn't going to come off easily, but I'm working everyday at it:)