Month: February 2012

The Battle of the Baby Weight

I have always struggled with my weight.  I remember my pediatrician telling my mom to make me drink 2% milk in elementary school to curb my weight gain.  I remember feeling fat in the 5th grade.  There have been periods of dramatic weight loss in 9th grade, summer after freshmen year in college, and when I moved to Asheville.  There have also been periods of dramatic weight gain 5-6th grade, freshmen year in college, junior year in college, post breakups, after moving to Dallas, and most recently during my 1st pregnancy.  I was about 20 pounds over my happy weight when I got pregnant.  Then I proceeded to gain 42 pounds during the 40 weeks of pregnancy.  Yikes.  Did I mention I’m 5’3″?  Yes, that does mean I was about as wide as I am tall.  The pic below was at 37 weeks.  It only got worse, promise.  
Dear First Time Mamas,
Congratulations on your first pregnancy!  If you have struggled with your weight in the past you are now feeling the freedom of being able to eat whatever you want and blame it on the baby.  Enjoy this to an extent, but consider yourself warned.  When that sweet bundle of joy arrives, the weight will not magically go with it. You might lose 12 pounds instantly with a big baby plus water, etc, but the rest will stay and you will have to fight tooth and nail for every. single. pound.  So, eat that ice cream for sure, but maybe not every night.  Trust me, I learned the hard way.    
Love, Becca  

 Here I am at 38 weeks with my sweet and skinny friend, Whitney.  I in no way realized exactly how big I had become until I saw these pictures.  I was hoping it would magically disappear after the birth.  Not so much.     

 I started off strong dropping 12 right after birth (just baby/water/etc), then another 10 from breastfeeding in the first few months.  Then it stalled out.  The Bear was born on May 31, and by October I still looked like this (below).

 I gave up sweets in the month of November, joined a gym and Weight Watchers, and started the Couch to 5K program.  I lost about a pound a week taking me to Christmas when I looked like this (below).  I gained a few pounds back over the holiday which was so frustrating.  Jed and I looked at this picture and decided we didn’t want to be the fat family any more.  We want to be fit and fun for our kids and our quality of life.  The day after Christmas we downloaded My Fitness Pal free app on our phones and I dropped Weight Watchers.  My Fitness Pal is basically the same as the WW app, but FREE!  So great.

 Since Christmas I have lost 14 pounds (for a total of 38) and Jed has lost 20.  This is the one downfall to losing weight with your man.  They will always lose it faster.  Jerks.  But seriously, I am so proud of Jed.  He has worked so hard to get healthy, and it has been fun to partner with him.  We still have a long way to go, but we are on our way.  I have 4 more pounds of baby weight and then 20 more pounds of pre-baby weight to lose before I reach my goal.  I hope to hit my goal of 62 pounds lost by the end of July.  That is slow and steady, a pound a week.  Jed only has 15 pounds to go, so he should be there by June.

Hopefully next pregnancy I can gain weight at a healthy pace and not put myself in such a tough position.  Our hope is to stay active as a family so that Bear grows up with parents who are fun and love to play and teach him the value of a healthy lifestyle.  Our goals this year are to lose weight, but to do that by changing our eating habits and portion sizes, and increasing our fitness level.  We set a goal of 210 minutes of exercise each week, which is 30 minutes a day.  We hope that Bear will grow up without having to struggle with his weight because he has been taught a healthy lifestyle.  
What are your weight loss, fitness, or healthy lifestyle goals this year?  How are you doing with them so far? 

Let’s Make an Easter Wreath

Easter is my favorite holiday.
Spring is my favorite season.
I really love the joy of Jesus risen and all of the bloom of new life.
I searched Pinterest for spring and Easter decorating inspiration and found this and this and decided to combine them using my interchangeable burlap wreath that I made here.
Here’s how it came about:
I stripped the Valentine’s Day stuff off the burlap wreath and wrapped the bottom of it in haute fur yarn, pinning the ends of it into the wreath with straight pins. Then I cut individual daisies off the daisy chain ribbon and pinned them into the “grass” using coordinating straight pins.  I arranged a few plastic Easter eggs in the grass using the straight pins and moved them until I was happy with their placement.
I created the words using dollar store pipe cleaners and ribbon leftover from the nursery decorating.
You can find the pipecleaner letter directions found here.
I couldn’t decide where to put my lil birdie.  I moved him around and took him off and put him back on.  He sticks in with yet another straight pin, so it was super easy to move him.  What do you think- bird or no bird?
He ended up here.
 I’m super happy with the way it turned out.
 The letters were WAY more difficult than I thought they would be.
Pipecleaner molding is not my best skill, apparently.
I also had a bit of a fiasco with the ribbon.  I ran out on the happy and had to go back and make it super tight so it would cover the whole thing.  In between I went to Hobby Lobby to find another spool of ribbon.  They were out.  They had just received a huge shipment of literally every other type of ribbon except the one I needed.  A craftastrophe! Oh well.  It all worked out in the end.
 Does the Easter Bunny visit your house?

Spring?

We are playing outside nonstop right now.  
The weather in Dallas is ridiculous this week and we find ourselves asking, “Is this spring?”  Dare we hope that winter has passed us by completely?  Spring is my favorite.  Spring brings the trees budding, flowers blooming, birds singing, the discipline of Lent, the joy of Easter, our anniversary, Jed & Fisher’s birthdays, dining on patios, and SO MUCH playing outside.  

Look at this big, almost 9 month old boy!  He is standing and cruising around the edges of furniture like a champ.  Neighbors of friends of ours gave us these Little Tikes playsets, and I know we are going to be playing like crazy all spring and summer.  Don’t you just love hand-me-downs?

Trying to Escape

The Bear is on the move.  
He has been scooting backwards since Christmas, but this week he started legitimately crawling.  Translation – He can go anywhere he wants.  We are terrified.  Here he is trying to escape through the screen door (which is unbelievably dirty, btw).  Yikes.  Must babyproof ASAP.  And clean screen door.  And clean front door while I’m at it.  

Frugal Friday – A Burlap Wreath for All Seasons

Thanks to Pinterest, an interchangeable burlap wreath has been on my crafty to-do list for quite a while.  It seemed like the perfect solution to my insatiable need to decorate for holidays but stay within our teeny tiny budget.  I finally got around to it last week and dolled it up for Valentine’s Day without spending as extra dime.      

 I bought a straw wreath form at Hobby Lobby using their eternal 40% one item coupons.  I had a ton of burlap left over from other projects, so I cut it into 4-5 inch wide strips.  I kept the plastic on the wreath form after searching all over for tutorials.  I started gluing and wrapping the burlap strips, pulling them super tight to keep the wreath looking neat.  Every time I work with burlap I forget that it is super messy.  Seriously, consider yourself forewarned.  You will have burlap dust EVERYWHERE.  It is itchy and insidious.  Bring out the vacuum.

 After letting the burlap dry, I went through my scrap ribbon and pulled out all the reds and whites.  The big white poof in the middle was the bow on a Christmas gift I received.  I used straight pins to attach the poof to the wreath, then started pinning the looped ribbon to the wreath around the poof.

 I had a few fabric roses made from vintage fabrics lying around, so I pinned them on the wreath as well.  I cut scrap ribbon into workable lengths and looped each piece 3 times before pinning it to the wreath.  I kept pinning ribbon loops onto the wreath until it felt right.  I was inspired by lots of burlap wreaths and ribbon wreaths that I’ve seen around the internet on Tatertots and Jello, Pinterest, and other fabulous sites.

 You can see one of the pins I used in the photo above.  My plan is to remove all the ribbon and switch to a springy wreath this weekend.  I’ll toss the scrap ribbon back into my pile and start over.

 I couldn’t decide if I liked it better without the felt heart hanging in the middle (3 for .30 at Target after Christmas).  I took it down and liked it much better.

 I tied a loop of ribbon to the top so that I could change that out easily as well.  The whole thing will change to a new season with very little effort.

  Are you on Pinterest yet?  Let me know if you need an invite.
What’s on your crafty to-do list?  
I’m sharing this project at some fabulous parties.  Check them out on my right sidebar.  

Thankful Thursday – Valentine’s Edition

This week I’m thankful for:
fresh tulips from my love
a crawler(!) in my house
sick days
good naps for my little Bear
sunshine in February
screen doors letting in warm air (in February!)  
Chinese food delivery
front porch sitting
weekends with extended family
What are you thankful for this week?

My Mama

Today is my Mama’s birthday.  
I am so blessed to have her in my life.
She is my biggest fan,
prayer warrior,
and encourager.
She is a great listener,
wonderful grandmother,
and the perfect shopping buddy.  
I am so thankful she gave my grandmom the surprise of her life all those years ago and became a sweet Valentine’s gift for my grandparents.  My grandmother had 2 teenagers and thought she had hit menopause.  Surprise, a baby was on the way.  What a gift she was to them and to all of her children, and of course to my Daddy.  Thanks for loving us all so well, Mama.  Happy birthday.    

Make It Happen – A Family Photo Shoot

A big family photo shoot is one of those things that I’ve wanted to do for a while, but is nearly impossible to actually make happen.  Obstacles were stacked against me.  My family is large and spread out, four siblings, 3 spouses, 3 states, 4 cities.  We hadn’t posed all together in any organized fashion since before Chris left for Afghanistan and any of us were married.  It was time.  Over Christmas break there was a 12 hour window when we were all in the same place at the same time, so it was go time.  As the oldest kid and natural born bossypants, I basically forced everyone into it, but most thanked me later.  Just kidding, but maybe they will someday.  I told everyone to wear any shade of grey, white, black, or red, and put a brush through their hair. Somehow my daddy managed to sneak in a baseball cap, but you can’t win ’em all.  We called our friends the Filipeks and had them send down a photographer or two.  We had three cameras going to get lots of pics.  I marched the group down the street to the other side of the lake behind my parents’ house for a scenic backdrop.  It was like herding cats.  Finally we got to posing, and the results are pretty great.  
 Nice and normal, grouped close together.
 Each little family group separate, looking at each other.
 Surprised!
 You’re a tiger! Roar!
Big thanks to the Filipek family for snapping our pics.
The silly ones are probably my favorites.  After the group shots we took a couple of the grandkids with Dede and Poppy.  My goal was to get these printed on canvas for my mama’s birthday, which is today.  Over the weekend we sat down and edited them using Picnik and ordered a few canvas prints.  I can’t wait to see the results.  All in all it was totally worth the hassle and cat herding to get pictures we will treasure for years to come.  
What tasks are on your “Make It Happen” list this year?   

My Harry Potter Adventure

Welcome to Hogsmeade.  
Harry Potter Nerd Alert
Warning…  Warning…  
I’ve read all the Harry Potter books three times.  
When I finished the last one I was distraught and didn’t know how to go on, so I gave it an hour and then read the last few chapters again for closure.  So good.  
Please respect the spell limits.
Enjoy the butterbeer.  
I had two frozen, and they were delicious.

On a recent trip to Orlando for Young Life’s All Staff Conference I had a few hours of free time and decided to embrace my nerdy obsessive side and venture over to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure to explore The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  It was all I had hoped for and more.  
Jed does not share my Harry Potter obsession.  It is an issue we are working through in our marriage.  During our full day of free time we went to Epcot and the Magic Kingdom so that he could have fun, too.  Thankfully my friend Jen shares my obsession and was willing to nerd out with me for a bit.  We were like giddy schoolgirls.  In wizard robes.  Just kidding, we didn’t have wizard robes.  But I wish we did. 
   

It was magical.  
All aboard the Hogwarts Express.  
The ride inside the castle rocked.  Seriously, the scenery from the line was amazing.  They really did a phenomenal job.  There are only three rides, and the lines were short so we rode all of them.  Hagrid’s house was in the line for the Flight of the Hippogriff ride.  Flight of the Hippogriff is more of a kiddie coaster, so I was thankful we only had to wait 10 minutes.  The Dragon Challenge is a super fun double coaster with tons of flips and twists.  It rocked.  So did the 5 minute line.    
The village of Hogsmeade is so cute and magical.  The shops stay true to the Harry Potter books, and I had to buy some candy in Honeydukes.  I wish we had time to eat at The Three Broomsticks or Hogshead Pub.  We did go in and explore, and they were both so well done.    
If you are a fellow Harry Potter nerd, The Wizarding World is a must do.  It isn’t cheap or in any way frugal, but it is a trip into the world of your imagination straight out of the books.  If you aren’t a Harry Potter nerd, you are missing out on so much and I can’t help you.  Read the books and join the fun.  The movies are great, too, but the books are pure magic.    

A Bow Tie Onesie for Your Little Man

As a dapper southern gentleman, Fisher rocks a bow tie on occasion.  Being only 8 months old, said bow tie is best worn painted on a onesie.  I’ve seen some really cute bowtie onesies on Pinterest and Etsy, and decided to try to make one for my little man.  It was so super easy that I had to show you.    
 Here’s what you need:
cardstock or magazine
disappearing ink pen
onesie
fabric paint & brush
or fabric paint pen
1) Stick your card stock or magazine inside your onesie to prevent bleed through. 
2) Use your disappearing ink pen to draw a basic bow tie outline on your onesie, just below the collar.  Keep redrawing until you are satisfied with your design. 

3) Trace the outline of your bow tie with your paint and brush or paint pen.
 I used a paint pen, so I had to dot it on to really fill it in.  I will definitely use fabric paint and a brush in the future as it goes on much smoother.

4) Fill in the outline of your bow tie.  
5) Let your little man rock that bow tie onesie.
  So cute.
So easy.
So frugal.  

 This is his Zoolander Blue Steel Baby Model Pose. 
  This is his “Mama, how many pictures are you going to take?” pose.  
I’m sharing this tutorial at some lovely link parties.  
Check out their buttons on my right sidebar and join in the fun.  
Did you pay attention to the Superbowl or were you crafting and blogging like me?