Exercise

It's been 10+ months since I had Emilee.  I think it's time.

Just to give you some back story, I was once upon a time at my "ideal" weight when I graduated from high school. 

Freshman year at college -August 2002

May 2003

Then college happened.  Actually my freshman year of college, my weight didn't fluctuate that much.  I attribute most of the weight gain to stopping marching band, eating when I could and what I could afford, and not having time to work out, although I will admit that my roommates and I would try to go to the pool or exercise facility when we could and there was lots of walking all over campus.  By the time I graduated college, I weighed probably 40 pounds more than when I went.

Engagement Photos - Oct 2005

Then I started working full-time.  It didn't get better, I just kept eating the wrong foods and not having any time to work out.  I did play in a softball league and at one point, even had a gym membership, but it wasn't enough.  Before long, I'd gained another 40 pounds.  Before I knew it I was 80 pounds more than I really wanted to be.

Las Vegas - July 2007

Then we decided to get pregnant.  Looking back, I should have taken the time to lose weight first, but I didn't.  Luckily I was able to get pregnant (with some fertility help) in the summer of 2009.  I started taking Bradley classes for the birth and that's when I learned about the Dr. Brewer diet.  Basically, eating lots of protein and good grains, fruits, and veggies.  I started eating better because my baby depended on it.  I also tried to exercise (aka walk) when I could.  I gained about 25 pounds.  Noah was born and as he got bigger and started eating solid foods, we learned that we could eat better to be a good role model for him.  So slowly we started choosing healthier foods.  I ended up loosing the 25 pounds I gained during pregnant within a few months.

Around Summer of 2011 after I had stopped nursing, David and I decided to do something more drastic to help us be healthier.  We went on the South Beach diet.  We ate no carbs for about a week or so, lots of exercise and then when we brought back carbs, there was no white pasta, potatoes or bread.  Over the course of a few months of this, I had lost about 25 pounds!!! WOO HOO!!!

Isla Mujeres - June 2011

During this time, I also started trying to get pregnant with Emilee and towards the end of the summer, I was pregnant again.  At that point, I started the Dr. Brewer diet again and gained another 25 pounds (putting me back up at my weight before I got pregnant with Noah).  After she was born, my weight went back down 25 pounds to my Emilee pre-pregnant weight pretty quickly. 

Now today here I stand, 10 months later, at my Emilee pre-pregnancy weight.  Still about 60 pounds more than what I want, though.  We definitely eat better than we used to.  And naturally with 2 kids, we don't exercise in the "traditional" sense, but we are active because we have to be.

October 2012

I'm still nursing Emilee so I want to be careful about how many restrictions I put on my diet.  So I'm not going to worry about that as much right now, at least until I'm not nursing her as much (after she is a year old at least).  For now, I want to start exercising.  My first step was signing up for my first 5k.  I'm going to do the Color Run.  I chose that one because it sounds fun (getting splashed with crazy colors while you run sounds fun, right?) and because it's more a fun run, it's not timed, so I figured if I couldn't make it and had to walk, it wouldn't be that bad (aka no one would ridicule me).  The bad part - I'm having to train while it's both cold outside, not light very long and I'm working a ton of hours during busy season.  The race is April 27.

I'm writing this all here to hopefully hold me accountable.  So my plan is to follow one of the "couch to 5k" programs that are about 8 weeks long.  That means I have until the end of February to start training.  Until then, I'm just going to try and be as active as I can to get my body used to working out again.  And hey, if I lose a few pounds in the process, that's ok with me!!!

So my plan for now is to wake up at 5am 2-3 days a week and work out on the elliptical for 30 minutes.  I normally get up at 5, so I'm pushing my "get ready" time until 5:30am.  If we have a random warm day, I may walk outside or take the kids with me, but this will have to do for the next 3 weeks or so until I start my training program for the 5k.  Then I will have to figure out a new plan that involves outdoors unless it's raining or something.

 Ok - here I go!!!!!

New Doctor - Continued

We went back to the doctor for Emilee on January 23, 2013.  We saw the new doctor and our reason was to get her ears rechecked.  Since this was our first visit with this new doctor, I wanted to talk with her and get to know her and discuss her growth "problems" that the other doctor thought we had. 

When she first came in, she looked at her ears and said everything was cleared there.  I'm still not 100% sure she even had an ear infection to begin with, or maybe it wasn't that bad.  I don't know.

So then she brought up the growth issue before we did.  I guess the prior doctor noted it in the file.  She was weighed with her clothes on since it was just a sick visit and the doctor mentioned how she had increased in weight.  Well duh, she didn't have clothes on the last time.  So then that's when I showed her my charts from WHO (instead of CDC) and explained that based on those she only went from 28% to 25%. 

She agreed that the WHO charts are more accurate than the CDC and unfortunately their office only had the CDC charts.  But overall she said, she looked at her and mentioned how she doesn't look underweight whatsoever.  That's really what I wanted to hear.  Not how she stacked up on some chart.  How does she look?  And if you look at Emilee, she does not look underweight AT ALL!

We did discuss that I think she is getting between 15-18 oz of breastmilk a day and if that's enough.  She said it's on the low side, but that it also seems like she is getting enough other table foods to make off for the nutrients and calories she is lacking in breastmilk.  So that makes me happy!!!

Overall a good doctor's appointment and I can finally say I'm really happy with our kid's pediatrician (for now).

New look and new home

This blog will now be located at stlporterhouse.blogspot.com.  If you have a bookmark taking you to the old blogspot or to our domain name (stlporterhouse.net), then you need to change it to make sure you are coming to the right address.  I don't want to lose you!!!

In about a month, I am going to let my domain name expire.  I don't see the need or desire to keep it anymore.  

If you are reading my blog on a reader, then you should click and come check out the new page.  I did a little re-designing and while I didn't pay for anything and didn't even use anything beyond the basics already included in Blogger, I'm quite impressed with the final product.

I hope to have some more posts coming soon, so stay tuned!!!

P.S. She's sick in this picture, hard to tell, right?