The Plan

It's no secret around here that this mama needs to lose weight. It's also no secret that for the past three years, I've been "ready." Pshh. Nope. I was ready until I had chicken tenders (or donuts, ice cream, cheese puffs, buttered popcorn, fettucini alfredo, Hawaiian pizza, bread and olive oil, buffalo wings, chocolate chip cookies...) in front of me. My sweets these days have included sliced banana with a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of cinnamon or half an apple with some almond butter. And you know what? They totally hit the sweet tooth and I don't feel like a major heifer when I'm done. Win.

So, basically, I'm ready for real. No, not just because I can give Turkey Hill Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream the stink eye. And trust me, that is really hard. But because I am done being pregnant, done making excuses, and I'm ready to take control of my life and be a healthy role model for the girls. Did you hear that, boneless wings? You don't have any power over me. Shoop. 

I've been working my little toukas off, making a new bi-weekly meal plan rotation. I thrive off of meal planning. No plan = pizza. No plan = no bueno. How I've worked the rotation in the past was just by making plans for dinners every night for two weeks, then repeat. I've only ever jotted down ideas for breakfast, snacks, and lunch. This time, the whole shebang is down on paper, including Week A and Week B shopping lists. I'm going to get this down to a science and then when the weather changes, we'll change up the rotation for some cozier meals.

Week A -

Monday:

breakfast: banana cinnamon oatmeal

lunch: egg salad lettuce wrap and strawberries/blueberries

snack: 1/2 apple and almond butter

dinner: turkey burger, sweet potato fries, side salad

Tuesday:

breakfast: berries and honey over 1 whole grain waffle w/1 boiled egg

lunch: turkey, lettuce, tomato, and mustard on whole grain wrap w/banana

snack: cherry tomatoes and cucumber slices

dinner: baked chicken w/ fresh pico de gallo and sauteed green beans w/sliced almonds

Wednesday:

Repeat breakfast, lunch, and snack from Monday

dinner: quinoa and black bean stuffed peppers (or tomatoes)

Thursday: 

Repeat breakfast, lunch, and snack from Tuesday

dinner: pulled chicken tacos with lime pico and side salad

Friday:

Repeat breakfast, lunch, and snack from Monday

dinner: BLT salsa wraps and roasted broccoli

Saturday:

Repeat breakfast, lunch, and snack from Tuesday

dinner: chop salad

Sunday:

Repeat breakfast, lunch, and snack from Monday

dinner: "summer pasta" (whole grain spaghetti, olive oil, diced tomatoes, onion, zucchini, garlic, and pepper)

Week B - 

breakfasts, lunches, and snacks continue to flip-flop through the second week with the same foods as Week A - I'll just mention dinners for Week B.

Monday: pulled chicken, romaine, feta, and balsamic vinegar wrap w/sweet potato fries

Tuesday: ham, swiss, apple quesadilla w/roasted broccoli

Wednesday: turkey sausage and roasted summer veggies w/fruit salad

Thursday: whole grain pasta with pesto, chicken, and broccoli

Friday: turkey, brown rice, and black bean gumbo w/sauteed green beans

Saturday: chicken fajita salad

Sunday: Italian baked chicken w/veggie loaded (whole grain, obv) pasta salad

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Now, all of that is just for me. Hubs likes yogurt for breakfast and sammies for lunch. Girls eat sammies, fruit, and veg for lunch and same breakfast and snack as me, then we all eat the same dinner. Ermagerd. A lot to keep up with, yes? But I have it all written out in several different places, including my refrigerator door, so I have no excuses to slip up. I purposely didn't create a menu plan with complicated orders, because, well, I have a toddler and a preschooler climbing me and calling my name 467 times during the course of trying to prepare each meal. I think we'll all dig this setup. 

As far as goals go, I have a major goal and monthly ones. I don't think I'm going to focus too much on numbers because that can get you down. Though, I do want to concentrate on the main weight loss goal to be down 70 pounds. I was going to give myself a year, but I also want to talk to my physician and a nutritionist before I go getting myself hyped up over something that's not healthy or feasible. I don't think I'll be dropping 10 pounds a week or anything crazy (shooting for the healthy 1-2). That means, though, that if I can average the 1-2 pound loss per week, my goal is definitely a reasonable one. Sounds outrageous to me, but people have done greater things. I need to work on a reward system, too. I am greatly motivated by rewards. What? You're not? Weirdo.

So, there's the meal plan. I'm also doing the 30 day squat challenge - started today. Norah thought I was hilarious and Sadie counted for me. She'll be able to count to 300 by the time I'm done! After squats, it's the crunch challenge and then the plank challenge (my arch nemesis). I'll also be doing cardio and strength outside of my challenges, 6 days a week. If I could just leave you with a request, I'd greatly appreciate your prayers that God will continue to motivate me to transform my lifestyle in such a way that I will become a healthier and happier me, wife, and mama. Thank you so much!

If anyone is interested in my workout plan or pending reward system, leave a comment and I'll be sure to include those in upcoming posts!

Five Minute Face {FundayMonday Link-Up}

I'm going to try really hard to do the FundayMonday link-up with Still Being Molly and LipGloss & Crayons on Mondays! I love finding new blogs and I love how this link-up allows for ANY type of post. No pressure. Amen? Amen. That said, I've been meaning to share my (very quick and easy-peasy) make-up routine for a while. Let's be honest, I don't have time to go all out, nor do I have the finances to haul in a bunch of MAC products, but I do like to leave my house with some effort and dignity. Here's what I do:

It's important for me to have products and tools that I can get double use out of. For instance, I use my blush as a highlighter, too. And Garnier's BB Cream is like a miracle in a bottle. I use the one for oily skin, so it sops up any excess oil while lightly moisturizing, correcting my many sun spots, and also includes SPF. I use my concealer for scarring, dark spots, pimples, under eye circles, and as an eyeshadow base. My flat shadow brush is used for all over lid color and lining my bottom lid and my crease brush is used for the crease, inner corner, and highlight. I use my medium Bare Minerals foundation brush for my mineral veil and blush. When you double up on your tools, you have to be really careful to keep them clean. I wash mine weekly in baby soap and let them air dry on a towel.

 Before and after - no lie, five minutes or less. Because...

Ain't nobody got time fo dat.

I use three colors on my lids, but they're all shades of champagne. I like to have a little color and minimal shimmer, but my everyday eye isn't for making a statement. I just strive to look moderately awake. If you're interested in any of the products I use or how I use them, feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email at alittlebitofthisblog@gmail.com.

Inconsistent, but Updated

I just want to pat the mommy bloggers on the back. You all amaze me. How do you make the time to be so consistent? Do you have children that actually sleep or take normal naps? I mean, seriously, I can't wait until I have 45 minutes to myself that's not a chunk of time in the middle of night wakings. That said, I can't think of a better way to spend my sleepless nights than holding a sweet baby that can't get enough of her mommy. 

I've been teaching music at Sadie's school on Tuesday mornings, which has been such a blessing. I think I really like the preschool age group and I love teaching simple music over lots of different subjects. I get to concentrate my lessons on one basic idea, which is a lot easier on my frazzled brain. I also get nervous every Monday night that I'm going to bore my kids to tears. Happy to report that hasn't happened... yet. 

We also took a big trip up to Virginia last week to visit my family and were blessed enough to visit with some friends during our stay up there. Pause. I just put Norah down for a nap 20 minutes ago and she's up. Surprise... And, I'm back. We visited my parents from Friday-Wednesday, then headed to DC to visit Christina and David on Thursday, Sterling to visit Jen and Jim (with a surprise visit from Whitney and Tommy!) on Friday, then back to my parents' on Saturday to see my mom's best friend that I haven't seen since I was about 16, and home Monday. It was a whirlwind with just me and two littles, but I think we did well! Until Monday... when Sadie fell forward onto my parents' coffee table when trying to get up from the sofa and put her tooth through her entire lip, then something hit my brand new car on the way home. Yeah, all great except those two things. I'll spare you the gory photos of the injury. Blech. But here are some photos of the past few weeks since I've failed to update in a while!

Learning the treble!

 (L): No, I'm not making that up. She carried The 911 Commission Report with her for several days.

(R): I rearranged the living room and made a new "corner 'o fun" for the girls (really, three corners 'o fun)

 This is what I wore out on a very rare girls' night out. I was very blessed to be able to go when hubs had a night off and a dear friend covered me.

(L): Sadie all matchy-matchy when she dressed herself. Adorbs.

(R): I had an eye infection and this is what the eyedrops made me do. OMG. Ouch.

 Swimmin' on my parents' back deck

 My bathing beauties

Norah made some friends at the park when we visited my parents. I was glad she was being nice to these little girls who spoke little to no English because Sadie kept running away from them and whining to me, "Mommy, I don't want to play with those girls! They keep chasing me and I don't know what they're saying!" Yes, we had a talk.

 Yowell Meadow Park in Culpeper, VA

 Sadie, duck/goose watching in the lake at Mountain Run Lake/Park

Sadie and the Washington Monument as we entered DC (she missed some awesome plane landings!)

 Christina and David took us to the Washington Monument lawn for a pizza picnic! It's surrounded in scaffolding because it's being surveyed after a recent earthquake. 

Sadie and Norah during our picnic

 (L): Norah at the pool with Aunt Christy (Christina)

(R): Sadie dressed Norah up yesterday. Apparently this is what a pirate princess looks like. 

 Hopefully my very first homemade pickles will be delicious. I'll be able to report back after I tear into them this evening. They're upside-down right now. 12 hours right side up, 12 hours upside down. I have no idea what the science behind that is, but I'm just following directions. Looks good, though!

I hope y'all are doing well! I won't make any empty promises telling you that I'll be back tomorrow or something. I really don't know when I'll be back. I'm doing my best and that's what I can give!

Little Life Lessons

1. I don't care what you say. My itty bitty excuse for a ponytail is adorable.

2. Zoe says, "Relax. Just chill."

 3. For happiness, just add water.

 4. It's hard to look pensive with a neon yellow tutu and a lollipop.

5. Genuine excitement and gratitude are always appreciated.

6. Every little girl should get to dance with her Daddy.

7. Giving is far sweeter than receiving.

I don't have a photo for this one, but I have to remind myself of it a few times a week.

8. Sometimes, TV is the answer. It just is. My brain isn't fried from Sesame Street and my kids' brains won't be, either.

Cajz Sunday

Cajz? I was trying to shorten "casual." Anyway...

My MIL was in town over the weekend and Sunday morning consisted of breakfast at home, picking up lunch for the hubs while he worked, and lunch out. I changed into a dress for an afternoon baby shower and then back into my shorts for the remainder of the day. Still not sure how I'm feeling about shorts... The important thing is that I'm wearing them, regardless of our previous hate/hate relationship.

 tanks, shorts, sandals: Old Navy

I don't know if I've told y'all about my knees before... Something tells me that I have and that it was pretty recent. I'll chock it up to mommy brain if I'm repeating myself, though. The dark spots on my knees are sun damage from years and years of tanning and not exfoliating the dry patches. So, basically, don't go in the tanning beds because they cause cancer. And ugly spots on your knees. I always think about retouching them, then remember that I'm one of those real people that likes to show how things are without Photoshop. So, there you have it. And I'm not wearing make-up, either. BAM!

Country Fried

There's something sweet to be said about a ruffly dress and boots. I just want to twirl and shout Taylor Swift lyrics from the rooftops, pretending I'm "twenty-two-ooh-ooh-ooh." No one has to know the truth. I've always loved this dress for its youthful, flirty flow, but I always wear it in the fall with a chunky cardigan. I'm glad I pulled it out of the back of the closet for church on Saturday night, because it just made me feel pretty. I love how a piece of clothing can do that.

dress: c/o Maurices, boots: Soda, belt: New York & Company, necklace: was my Nana's

What's a piece in your closet that you usually wear in another season, but could pull it out and style it for summer?

Red, White, Blue

Better late than never, yes?

Here's a recap of our July 4th. It was absolutely fantastic, laid back, and we got to spend some time with Clarke, so I couldn't have asked for a better day. We spent most of it at the pool, I cooked a completely untraditional, but healthy and yummy feast, and we accidentally ran into my girls from church at the fireworks. Sadie had her big kid friends, Norah had her baby friends, Clarke had man friends, and I had my girls. It was absolutely perfect. Couldn't have asked for better weather or a better way to celebrate our nation's birthday. Hope yours was awesome, too!

 The littles wore matching dresses from Old Navy.

 My dress and sandals are also from Old Navy. I made my scarf/necklace out of an old dress of Sadie's because I didn't have anything red.

Festive family photo!

 Sadie with three of her buddies... I just adore how cute this photo is.

 Caprese salad, turkey and spinach stuffed sweet potato, and roasted prosciutto-wrapped asparagus

 Beauty and the tree

Norah loved the fireworks. :)