Happy 9th Emma!

Today is Emma's 9th birthday! Yehoo!

We are celebrating by taking a few of her friends to see Brave- how fun that they all thought about doing their hair in waves like Merida! :) Hope you all have a great weekend! 

Pretty close with the red hair- I guess I need to build a bit more volume to match Merida. That girl has got some great hair. :) 

The beginning...

This is going to be my first post about my journey to a better, fitter, me. I don't care too much about getting super skinny, or fitting into some specific size of pants, although hopefully those will be nice side effects of just getting HEALTHY again.

I typed a long story, but I thought it was too much, so to make it short- my excuses were 4 pregnancies, 2 miscarriages, snacking like a mother does, and lack of effort on my part. I got up to 189 at one point- higher than during any of my pregnancies. (And I'm not a tall girl- at 5'2", I don't carry that weight well at all.) All through high school and college, before pregnancy, I was at the most 120. I played soccer, I hiked, and I was just generally more active and didn't eat as much.

Last year in January, my sister finally convinced me, after a good year of asking, to try running a marathon with her. I had all sorts of excuses before, but this time, the kids were all old enough to not need me all of the time, I was done having kids, and overall I was sick of being fat. I thought that for sure running would slim me down in no time with minimal effort on my part. I was so wrong.

I was DYING- this was my first 4 mile run and I had to stop at least every 1/2 mile.  

Taken before my first training run ever

After a month-long bootcamp, training for 3 half marathons and now 2 full marathons, I weigh exactly the same as I did before I started running. I am definitely smaller in that I have more muscle tone and I am in much better shape cardio wise, but as far as the numbers on the scale, and the size of my waist measurement, I still have a long ways to go.

After running this last marathon, which came with a lot of injuries which I am positive were because of my weight, I decided it was time to give running a little break, and really concentrate on what I was eating. If I could out-eat a marathon training plan and not lose a single pound, I was doing something wrong somewhere. I knew I would justify some things- a 20 mile training run is a good excuse for a hamburger! :) But, it was in my daily eating that there was a problem.

So last week, I recommitted myself to Weight Watchers. I had signed up for a couple months after having Ruby, and the plan was good, but I just wasn't ready then. Now I am. I am ready to make the change for my health and to be an example to my children. I'm definitely ready to NOT look like I could announce a pregnancy at anytime. I'm ready to be comfortable in my clothes- and NOT in my clothes. I'm ready for a change. After this first week I can see that I was eating much more than I needed to be, and most of it was junky snacking during the day.

Also last week, I decided I needed something hard to keep me motivated. I decided on Insanity because I didn't have to go anywhere, I could do it when I had a chance at home (which that "chance" has been at 5:30 in the morning before anyone in the house is awake) and wouldn't have to rely on anyone else. So far, it is HARD. SO. HARD.

As most of you mothers can relate I'm sure, I have that guilt when I think, "Oh, I don't want someone to have to watch my kids, so I just won't go to the gym" and I knew that would be a downfall if I didn't plan accordingly, which is why I picked an at-home video instead of thinking I would always make it to the gym.

So in more of an effort to stick with it- I am putting all of this out there in the cyber-world. I will post some before/after pics when I get some good afters, but the "Underwear" before pictures will be embarrassing for me. Not something I would usually show the world, but I am hoping that through keeping myself accountable, I can help some other moms out there that may be in the same place that I am.

This picture was taken about a year ago at a friends house. I'm still the same size, and still have the same ugly clothes. :) 

Starting Weight: 177.2
(official WW weigh in, but I was up to 186 the weekend before when I ate like CRAP because I knew it was my last hurrah...)

Pants/Dress: 14

5-23-12 Measurements

Waist: 43

Hips: 44

Bust: 42

Arms: 14

Dress Size: 14

Thighs: 26

SO FAR:
Week 1 Weigh In: 172.8 (-4.4 in one week.)

My reward for finishing Insanity:

Super cute retro swim suit for our lake-side family reunion in August.

Hello?...

Once again, I have managed to go months without blogging. Here a few of my BIG reasons: 

(In no particular order)

1. 4 kids

2.  Mount Laundry, and a house to take care of (blah- housework!)

3. Working on redoing a few rooms in the house

4. Building (almost by myself!) new benches and a table for my kitchen (Used adapted farm house table plans from Ana White here just in case anyone is interested)

5. Finishing my Masters Degree (Yehoo!!) 

6. Running the Pittsburgh Marathon (my second) with all seven of my siblings, a couple in-laws, one nephew, and my mom (Yay!) 

I'm looking forward to getting a little more regular with my blog posts again! Let me know if you have any suggestions or ideas that you would like to see!

I am going to be making a few changes to  the look of the blog, as well as some posting additions. I have just started Weight Watchers as well as Insanity (definitely lives up to it's name) last week, so I want to post about that journey to help keep myself a little more accountable. Hope no one minds.

So, after all of my time away, is there anyone still out there reading this? :) 

Repeat! St. Patrick's Day Do...

We will be doing this style for Em tomorrow for school since St. Pat's is on Saturday. Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Here's the "how to" That I made two years ago...

Cute little teen punk...

This was a fun simple style on Mad. A nice tight Dutch braid on one side, lots of cute curls on the other.

Valentine's Day and some Puppies!

As you can see, my blog has become one of the bottom things on my priority list. I'm a bit sad about it, but soon (APRIL!) I will be finished with my Master's program, and I can get back to the important things of blogging about hair! :)

Maia got a haircut last week, so we have been dealing with the short hair styles. I know I saw this one around on one of the other blogs, but this is what we did yesterday for her hair. Emma had this traditional one, but of course she snuck out of the house before I remembered to take a picture. :)




In other news, my mom has English Cream Golden Retrievers that she is selling- there are only 3 left, and they are the perfect family dog. They live at our house, so they have been raised with my kids, and are super fun and playful. She only has 2 girls and 1 boy left. She will ship them at cost within the US. Check out her blog for available puppies and prices, and for contact information. :)

Brookside English Goldens

I caught the three playing tug-o-war yesterday. It was sprinkling here in Las Vegas, so they were a little wet, not their usually fluffy white selves. :)

Inspired by: Pinterest!

Pinterest is absolutely addictive. If you haven't signed up yet, you should. They have an entire section just for Hair & Beauty, but make sure you've got some time if you check it out. (Here is my hairstyles board if you'd like to follow it!)

I found this style a while ago, and tried it last week- super simple braids, but tight at the base of the head. It was a great one to do when my hair was wet, and worked well on my somewhat wavy hair, but would also look great on curled or straight hair as well. 

I only used 2 rubberbands and a few bobbypins and it held all day long. It even looked better as it dried throughout the morning. (Also, I did a two-into-one braid on one side, as my bangs still aren't quite long enough to reach without falling back...) So here's the video, although it is long, and a little boring, so feel free to skip through the steps. :)