Healthy Living

So it's been about a year now that I've started my journey to health. Maybe not quite a year. But a good 6 months under my belt. I can honestly, finally, say that I'm feeling good. I'm not exactly sure how much weight I've lost. I only weigh when I go to the doctors because else it's too discouraging. I go to the doctors quite frequently so it's no big deal to just weigh then. I did have a few set backs. Lost some weight. Gained some weight. Lost some more. I really did start to get down and discouraged but now, I can say I'm feeling the affects of my change in lifestyle. It did take a long while. People would say "Just push through and work out and you'll feel great." I'm here to tell you the honest to goodness truth. NO! I did NOT feel great. In fact, I felt like complete and utter crap. My knees and ankles were almost always hurting. Not too long ago I actually sprained a deep shoulder muscle (can't remember it's proper name) and that set me back. All of that does not feel great. But eventually it WILL feel great. I started with small things like trying to eat 3 meals a day. Since being married I'd average MAYBE eating twice a day. Most days only once. And it was always in the evenings. Not good. I completely jacked up my metabolism doing that. Plus chemo didn't help either. I know my heart and liver have both been damaged thanks to chemo. And my unhealthy eating habits didn't help either. So, I finally took time to start taking vitamins regularly. That coupled with trying to eat a decent breakfast really started making a change for me. Then I started taking even more vitamins/supplements. And now I'm taking Aloe Vera in place of my Omeprazole. Not only does Aloe help with indigestion and heartburn, but it actually HEALS the inside of your body. Which my body is in desperate need of. I can already tell a HUGE difference. My end goal is to cut out all my prescribed medicines all together. I can't totally do that yet because I have one that's helping control my blood sugars and it's a tiny little pill once a day and it really does seem to be helping. So I'm sticking with that for now. For the longest time I really felt that I couldn't feel healthy or loose weight unless I invested in some special diet or program or supplement. Boy was I wrong. I don't need something special to feel good. What I need is good 'ol fashioned exercise, better food choices and lots of vitamins! That's it! Just that! It takes hard work and dedication. But, it's definitely worth it. Even if I'm not loosing all the weight I want to right now, (I mean, come on! Who wouldn't wanna wake up 100lbs lighter? lol), I definitely can feel my changes making a difference.  And that's really what matters. Oh sure, I still love my Big Macs and other random horribly crappy food. I just don't eat them NEAR as much as I used to. Or like, instead of getting a whole Big Mac Meal...if I want the Big Mac, I pass on the fries and pop, and opt for water and the burger. Cause lets face it! That burger has enough calories for an entire meal. haha! I also try to only eat one bad thing a week. It doesn't always work out that way...but I find the effort is really helping me make better decisions food wise. I also have to say I'm loving how I've built up more stamina with working out. I still have MUCH room for improvement. But considering when I started out, I'm doing SO well with my progress in the gym. It also helps to have someone motivating you. Kudos to Keri! For always being the one to keep me accountable and at the gym. Most times we don't even do all the same things. But it makes me feel so much better if she's there busting her butt and I'm there doing the same. LOL So here's a short list of the things you need to be successfully healthy.  It's not a complete list and some things may not work for you...but these are the things I'm discovering vital to my success!



1) Clean Eating: This doesn't mean everything you eat needs to be organic. Though that does help. But making wiser choices about what you do eat. Watching Sodium (that's a HUGE thing lots of foods sneak in there), carbs, fat and sugars are all things you need to be aware of.


2) A Buddy: It can be a gym buddy or a clean eating buddy. Or just a buddy who listens to you vent and whine about how much your legs hurt. haha For me, that main person is Keri! I have several others who I talk to, but mostly Keri because we actually workout together. haha

3) Vitamins: I was skeptical. But I promise you, it works! The one's I find help me most are, Prenatal, Vitamin D (like 3 doses), Vitamin E, Magnesium, B Complex and iron. On the days I miss one or two of them (or all of them) I really notice a difference in my mood and energy level.

4) Eating Breakfast: Another thing I was skeptical about. it's still hard to convince me that I NEED to eat breakfast when I wake up and even 2 hours later I'm still not hungry. But it doesn't matter. Now, I eat anyways. It may only be a greek yogurt with granola or it could be a full blown breakfast of eggs, toast and bacon. For me it mostly depends on the time I have. But regardless, I try to NEVER skip breakfast any more.

5) Activity: Honestly, any regular activity is SO good for your heart. Whether it's a walk or bike ride down the street. Or a full blown workout in the gym. You also don't need a gym to be active and healthy. (Have you ever tried doing squats holding a bag of flour? Workout! Total workout! haha) There are so many resources via google and youtube. I remember when I started out. I just downloaded a whole bunch of dance videos on youtube and just had fun for an hour. I would get a good sweat going and my heart rate would stay up for a good half hour. That kinda stuff is so good for your heart. Also try and do something every day. I usually do have one day a week that I don't do anything. Mostly because I am still overweight and working out is hard on my joints. My body just needs the recovery time. But I'm also going hardcore in the gym. If I were just walking every day. I wouldn't rest. If you're a mom. Find things to do with your kids to have them join in and be healthy too! It's such a good example for your children when they see you working out and sweating hard.  Some of our best family memories are the 4 of us sweating it out over Insanity videos. Each of our intensities were different based on skill level and ability. But we all did it together. So healthy for a family! I highly recommend it!


6) Inspiration: Mine comes in the form of shirts. I always feel more pumped by throwing on a workout tank that says "No Guts No Glory" than I would just throwing on a plain tank top. For others actual quotes work better. Find your own source of inspiration! :-)


So those are a few tips I thought I'd share with you all! If you need any encouragement holler my way! I haven't got it all figured out, but I'm feeling good and looking forward to feeling even better! :-)

Military Isolation

When I married into the military there were certain things I expected. 1) To move around all the time 2) To never have my husband around and 3) Raise a family on my own. Those were the obvious things I knew! I also expected our life to be a sacrifice. It takes sacrifice to dedicate your life to the United States. Through the years (especially before marrying into it) I prayed about whether it was the right decision for me and after I was married whether it was a continued right decision. The answer has always very clearly been yes. However, there are some things I just didn't think about. My friend recently wrote a blog post that was amazing! How there should be Basic Training for spouses too! You should totally read it here! "I'm talking What-To-Expect-When-You-Marry-Into-The-Military kind of basic training."  YES! That! For awhile now I've started to realize just how isolating being a part of this lifestyle can be. I'm starting to realize how people might perceive military spouses as snooty. I mean, of course there's always one who really is. Or more than one. hehe But it's extremely isolating when you move away from all your family and friends and life continues on without you. Everyone still gets to see everyone else. Except for you. Everyone takes selfies and has parties. Except for you. Everyone gets to witness developments in life (weddings, birthdays, children etc). Except for you. You're forced to witness it all through once a year (if that) home visits! Technology is great! Except when you're feeling isolated. It just helps harbor feelings of resentment and jealousy, which might make you put walls up more than the average person. And oh sure! There's always the line "Well, you chose to live this life." Well, yes! That's correct. We did. However, who else is going to do it? Someone has to sacrifice at some point. It's not the perfect lifestyle by any means. But someone DOES have to do it. I think constantly about whether I'm just living this life because I have to or because I actually believe in it. And the answer is that I believe in it. Despite the isolation and living without a spouse for 50% (more like 75%) of the time, I feel it's our family's calling. I feel we live it well. But that doesn't mean there's never any down days. It doesn't mean it's always a walk in the park just because "You chose it.". I really do wish that there could be a Basic Boot Camp for Spouses and heck, even children. It's tough. You move to a new place. You have to find a new life. I've never had much success with relying on other military spouses. It's very rare. I have been blessed to make 2 very close and dear military spouse friends here where I'm currently stationed. I cling to those relationships. I also have a few long distance relationships with other spouses. At the end of the day, those are the people who will get you through. When you're crying because you're so far from home and everyone is doing stuff without you. They will get it! They won't judge. They won't take it to mean you don't want to live this life any more. It's really not for the faint of heart. There are serious times when I have to just completely break down. I'm coming up on a transfer season here in less than a year. I'm nervous. I know what to expect. Moving. House Hunting. Movers. Boxes. Traveling. Hunt for a new life and more isolation. It really does make my heart ache how much I miss out on back home. How much I don't know certain things simply because I'm not there. How I would give anything to fly there for a weekend just to be a part of a few selfies and have fun too. But with the down days, do come up days. I just tell myself that it WILL be okay! I'm living a life of meaning and it takes sacrifice. Sacrifice is NOT easy. And I'm extremely grateful (and cling) to the people who make efforts to befriend me. People who are from the state you're stationed in and won't ever be moving. People who KNOW you'll be moving away eventually but who still choose to allow a friendship to grow and strengthen. I love those people and I'm grateful for them. So even if they don't exactly understand what I'm going through, it still brings me comfort because they didn't have to friend me. But they did! And even if it took 2 years to build a life here....I still built one. I still appreciate every second of it. Military life. The struggle.

Toys

I think I've decided that I'm getting rid of all the boys toys! I remember so often my mom yelling at us that she was gonna throw away all our toys if we didn't clean them up. I remember how every spring (I think that's when it was) she would come into our rooms and purge. Broken toys? Trash. Toys you haven't looked at in a year? Trash or given to someone else. In all honesty, I didn't mind it that much. Because the things I REALLY cared about were always tucked away where they should be. Or I was currently playing with them. Barbies, American Girl Dolls and dress up almost never got thrown away. I remember loving the clean feeling of purging. Feeling like everything had a place and purpose. My sister and I shared a room, so it's not like we had a lot of space to work with. I even remember the day my Mom got us big Rubbermaid containers for under our bunk bed. We put our Barbies in those! I believe we put Polly Pockets in those as well. Plus the 2 Barbie cars we had went under the bed. It made me feel so happy to have it so organized and clean. Of course, I loved to drag out toys like the next kid. But I really did not realize that I loved organization so much. New containers would just stir something deep inside of me. "Oooo...new containers!" I even loved to sniff them! Don't ask! I have a thing for sniffing books, containers and babies breath (not the flower). Once I got my own house I honestly became too lazy to organize much. Plus we moved around so much in the beginning. Plus we had a very low budget. lol As much as I love Rubbermaid containers, they're not all that cheap. Even though, to be honest, if I could have a whole house full of those things, I'd be in heaven. Anyways, I've seriously just galloped down a bunny trail and even forgot why I was blogging. *sigh* Mom life, am I right? Anywho, back to the topic. Any time I think about what my favorite toys were, they were always pretty simple. I mean, obviously Barbies, American Girl Dolls and Polly Pockets were on the top chart. But I remember we had friends who moved to our home town. Their Dad built them an entire basement of box houses/tunnels. It was the MOST magnificent thing I'd ever seen. The amount of hours we spent down there....psht! I mean....we were always down there. Of course we had to bring in blankets, pillows and anything to make it "homey". But that's it! Boxes! Thats what made us happy! I even think back on the boys when they were little. The things they loved best were pots, pans, spoons and boxes. Why do I even have an entire playroom FULL of toys? Why did it take us ALL DAY Sunday to clean up the playroom? I don't have time for that crap? If I had a playroom full of boxes, blankets, pillows, pots, pans and spoons...Psht! They'd probably never bother me ever again! Plus, can you imagine clean up? Never stepping on a Lego! Whaaaaaa?!?! All this is to say....from now on, all birthdays and Christmases, my children will receive boxes (maybe I'll even toss in some wrapping paper), pots/pans and blankets. That's it! I know I know. You don't believe me. Honestly, I don't believe myself! But just wait til I have to go back and clean up their playroom again. I'll be back to it! "All toys in trash!!!!! Only boxes and pots/pans for gifts from now on!" Psht! Who am I kidding? The second I see something they'd like, I'll probably buy it. And seriously, do we actually expect me to be able to regulate how much my Mom (their Grummy) buys them? Come on! Let's be honest. I'm screwed. For the next 18 years, probably! Toys. *sigh* Toys!

Boy Mom

Yes! I am a boy Mom! Full 100%  boy mom. The statement was recently made to me "Wow! No kidding! You didn't even flinch, you're a boy mom for sure!" It made me giggle. Me? A boy Mom? Who would've thought! Back when I was all of 5 years old, dreaming of being a wife and mother, I imagined myself with boys and girls. Mostly playing Barbies, riding bikes, swimming and playing house. That's what I imaged my entire life would be like as an adult. I would like you all to know that it's been very little of that. haha In fact, I haven't been able to 'play house' or Barbies not once. When I found out our first child was a boy, I was elated! Boy oh boy oh boy! I was ready! I was ready to be a Mom! I was ready, so I thought, for what that meant. God gave us a very healthy (9lbs 5oz at 40 weeks) boy! He was one of the best babies I'd ever seen or taken care of. Happy. Slept extremely well. Only cried if he was hungry. He didn't even cry over a dirty diaper! Like seriously! I got this parenting down! No biggie! Less than a year later I got pregnant with number 2. So far the worst we'd gone through as new parents was....well...nothing. Seriously! Our lives didn't change AT ALL. We still hung out with friends. Went to dinner late. The kid just slept through everything. Fantastic. I was so ready for that girl! After all, being a Mom isn't complete unless you have both genders, right? <sarcasm> Imagine my surprise when at my 20 week sonogram they said "There it is! It's a boy!" Ugh! You're kidding, right? No, seriously! That's what I said. I was livid. Seriously, another boy? I didn't want that. Lemme march home and find my receipt! Return! ASAP! Two boys, less than 2 years apart. Oie! What was I thinking? I literally held my tears in, got home, ran straight from the front door back to my bed where I collapsed in a crying blubbering mess. I'm not ashamed to admit it. I am however, ashamed of the thing I yelled at my sweet husband because he said "it'll be okay!" We won't go there. haha But I was plain crushed. I wanted a girl! It was my plan! I mean, I would've preferred the girl first, but I could hang with that when God was like "Oh no! You'll be having a boy!" "Oh, okay, cool God! That's fine. So long as you give me the girl next! Deal? Okay! Deal!" Clearly that was a one sided conversation. Two boys. Not one...but TWO. I managed to console myself with the thought that at least the first boy was a piece of cake! Then comes baby number two! All 9lbs 3oz of him at 2 weeks early. God threw us for yet another loop when he ended up in the NICU for a week. I had to leave the hospital without my baby. I'm pretty sure that was the point that I fully accepted him as a boy and longed for his presence. On we move. One confusing, hard year of a baby who CONSTANTLY cried (seriously, no exaggeration there), post partum depression, being in an entirely new state away from family/friends, food allergies, change of diets and then it finally felt like we came up for air! A year and a half later I was finally feeling like I could tackle life. Just in time enough for baby number 2 (will refer to him as S2 from now on) to start walking and moving around. Oh goodie! I had a less than 3 year old (will refer to him as S1) and a crawling busy 1.5year old. This is when things really took off! If I thought the first year was a challenge. Boy was I VERY wrong. Very....very wrong. Instead of crying and just barely trying to survive the passing days, I now had to teach each one of them how to play with the other. More so for S1. "What do you mean I can't hammer S2 while he lays on the floor?" I quickly began to learn that I did not understand these creatures at ALL. Why, why in heavens name does S2 continually lie on the ground so that S1 CAN hammer him? Why does S2 allow himself to be beaten and tortured that way? Why does S1 think it's okay to do that? Maybe he's going to become a serial killer. Is there something wrong with him mentally? Maybe I should make a psychologist appointment for him. Soon, this all became my normal life. I've told people time and time again, that my normal life consists of the following questions.

1) Is there an ER close by?

2) Do I actually feel up to the challenge of navigating an ER trip by myself with two children?

It might sound funny to you. But I am dead serious when I answer those 2 questions. Some days, it's "Sure! Why not?!?!" others it's like "No, I can't afford that today. We have no food in the house and I really need to grocery shop." it's seriously that simple for me. I've also learned in the 5 years of parenting (almost 4 years of pure boy overload) I won't understand why they do what they do. I also have learned that blood, scrapes and bruises are totally normal. Oh sure your kid looks like he got beat up by the local gang. I mean, essentially he did. Local gang = Older Brother. And the thing is, I make S1 sound like a monster. But in fact he's just a boy! And S2 is a pure glutton for abuse. He laughs. No, like really, hysterically laughs as his brother sits on him and punches his legs. That's play time for them. In fact, I've started to realize that playing and actual fighting are pretty much the same thing. One could be crying because the other hit them...then seriously, 2 seconds later they're back to the SAME thing that got them there in the first place. Like, come on? Are you kidding me?

All of this is to basically say that I love my job! I absolutely enjoy being a rough and tumble boy Mom. I get some kind of satisfaction when all other moms are gasping and running to rescue their kid from climbing up the ladder to the slide and I'm all sitting back with a pina colada in hand like "They'll be fine!" I mean...not really. But some days you do need a nice Pina Colada to make it through the day. And that's A-Okay! Because in the end, you love your boys. You try your very hardest to teach them manners so that they can grow into decent adults. Other than that? There's not much else you can do. They perceive fun as jumping off the highest object they can find. And you perceive fun as drinking a Pina Colada......or two! ;-) 

Welcome Aboard!

Welcome to my new blog! I had another blog and even though I loved it, I decided to finally get a new blog under the right email address. The old blog wouldn't let me change my main email address. So! New blog it is! It's currently under construction. But stay tuned for new blog posts! Also, if you have any suggestions or you're really good at setting up blogs, let me know! I could use some help! :-D