weekly meal planning

In order to help our family to stay accountable with healthy eating, I've created this printable that I have framed and am planning to reuse every week.  It's in a cute ombre pink color because, of course, it will most definitely help to make this more fun! ;)  If you'd like your own, I've made the document share-able (is that a word?) so that you can use it for your weekly planning!

"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

You can find the document here.

Happy planning, mamas!

Happy 9 months!

My sweet girl is 9 months old today!  How on earth did it happen so quickly?  This is one of those big milestone ages that makes you really, really sad!  I was going through some of Keziah's clothes for a friend yesterday and as I picked up each newborn size, more and more tears filled my eyes.  Goodness, what am I going to do when she turns 1? Ah!

Anyway, this month, Keziah has begun crawling, walking along furniture, has 0 new teeth (last month stole the show in that department!), says "mama," "dada," and attempts to say doggy but sounds more like "da."  She sleeps a perfect 10.5 hour stretch at night before going back down for 2-3 hours more (this is great!).  Her smile is starting to get bigger, with more of a wrinkle in her nose and more teeth to show off.

And check out the headband I made for this month! Pretty sweet, huh? ;) I thought this was perfect for November!  Wait until you see what I have up my sleeve for Thanksgiving! ;)

First sickness

I never knew how moms did it: dealt with sick babies. Not that I was afraid of not being able to handle it, but that I wouldn't know what to do.  Keziah started getting a fever the other day. Was at 101.8 to be exact and I was definitely nervous. I'm the kind of person that always fears the worst, so my mind just goes all kinds of crazy directions. I sought some advice from other mamas and pretty much learned to just let it run its course (unless it gets above 103). So, I didn't want to interrupt her immune system's defense mechanism, so I let it ride. The next day she was normal again ...

Or so I thought.  Daddy brought home some kind of virus/cold and looks like it's getting the best of Keziah. Earlier today, she seemed a little off and sleeping more/longer than usual, so I was praying nothing would come of it. But after her (second!) nap today, she woke up with a nasty cough. Poor baby. Looks like she couldn't escape it. And here I thought breast fed babies were nearly invincible.  I'm just going to plug away at the vitamin C and hope that some of it transfers through to the milk and helps her out. I also read that elderberry works wonders, too so I'll have to go find some of that!!

God has blessed with me a superhuman immune system and now that I'm a mom and a Wife to another baby (shh!), I'm learning that it's definitely a blessing! Someone's gotta be well enough to care of the crew, right? ;)

I mean, look at this sad-looking Princess ... makes me sad.

weight struggles

I am so excited to blog tonight because I'm blogging from a brand new (to us), beautifully painted and stained, grown up computer desk!  A few months back, I scored a huge, solid wood desk for free off of a garage sale group on Facebook and Josh and I finally had time to redo it.  It's gorgeous and I'll show it to you some time soon ... hopefully tomorrow!! :)

I don't think I've ever blogged about it.  You know, that big, fat, ugly topic that all women hate to discuss, yet love to cry and complain about.  Yup, our weight.  Weight has always been a big struggle for me.  Not that I've always had lots of weight to lose, but I've been conscience about it for quite a while.  I've pretty much tried it all: Weight Watchers (lost 10 pounds in 3 months), watching calories (lost nothing), Paleo (lost 30 pounds in 5 months), and most recently, Trim Healthy Mama (lost 6 pounds in 2 weeks).  I stuck with Paleo the longest and thought it was very, very restrictive, it was definitely my favorite.  I felt my best, looked my best, and then BAM!!! I got pregnant ... my hormones, morning sickness, cravings, and bodily changes all got the best (err worst?) of me.  I gained each of those 30 pounds + 7 by the end of my pregnancy and guess what?  I haven't lost anything since!  Sure, I have maybe lost the 7 pounds, 2 ounces plus a tad bit of water weight since having Keziah, but not an ounce more.  I've been blaming it on the breast feeding (and I honestly do feel like that plays a big part in it), but I am pretty sure there's more to the picture than that (like, maybe the fact that my stomach is a bottomless pit and Josh has to keep up with me when it comes to eating).  I've gone back and forth with Oh, I'm going to do Paleo again or Trim Healthy Mama is best, but I think I've just finally had enough.  Josh and I want to start thinking about baby #2 very soon and I just cannot imagine gaining all of that weight again ON TOP of what I already have.  For me, that's just unacceptable, especially when I can't say that I've given it my 100% in trying.

Tomorrow, I am going to begin a 30-day "cleanse," if you will.  Pretty much just strict eating to detox my body and see how I feel.  I'm pretty sure that I'll feel awesome and want to give it another 30 days.  Anyone can do anything for 30 days, right?  That's where I always get messed up; thinking yes, let's do it for 1 year (like I swore to with Paleo)!!! Then I just feel all kinds of overwhelmed and like I've already failed when I didn't even give it a week!!

 I'll keep you updated on how things go, because this has to get done before trying for another baby.  It just has to.