Hey everyone!
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to hop on the computer lately and update the blog…..but haven’t! I keep thinking when life calms down a bit, I’ll be able to blog more often and more consistently, but life just never seems to calm down!
So, I’ve somehow learned to just squeeze things in, cut out what I can and keep on doggie paddling through life. Ha.
Over the weekend, I made a quick trip to Costco.
I found this awesomeness and was so excited about it….
Costco is THE BOMB and I’m always so impressed with the quality and healthy options they have available!
I also had to take this cute pic of the baby buried among all the groceries…
I love that little sweetie so much! He is SUCH a good baby! In fact, he just may be my “best baby” yet. He’s so quiet, happy, rarely fussy and is such a good sleeper.
He is truly a little angel.
He just turned 3 months old yesterday, if you can believe it!?! I love the 3 month age. I wish I could just freeze him and have a permanent 3 month old forever!
The kids have enjoyed having a baby in the home as well. They are always wanting to hold him, change him, love on him, etc. I love it.
Oh, and I just want to mention something. Yes, my baby has a name and if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’re aware of his name. BUT, before baby was born I was very careful not to mention my kids names on the blog. I’m not “super secretive” about it or anything, I just want to protect them a bit.
Anyway, I’ve decided that going forward he’s going to go back to being “nameless” along with the other kids. I realized it was kind of weird to only mention his name and not the others…..so he’ll now lovingly be referred to as “baby, the caboose, little squishy cutie pie, etc.”
Alrighty then.
I’m happy to say we got the house all decorated for Christmas over the weekend! Woo hoo! I’ve never in my life set up Christmas before Thanksgiving, but this year I decided to do it and I will tell you why….
Every single year I always “try” to get everything done (i.e. Christmas cards, shopping, decor, planning, etc.) early in the season so that I can just sit back and enjoy the beautiful Christmas season instead of resent it. However, it never seems to work out that way! I always end up stressed out, shopping at the last minute, sending Christmas cards out on Christmas Eve and wishing Christmas would just be OVER!
How sad is that?!?
So, this year I decided to decorate the house early so I wouldn’t have to find the time, in an already busy Christmas season, to do it. I’m also planning on taking a family picture this week for the card and will hopefully get them mailed out right after Thanksgiving. I’m also going to do a lot of the shopping on Thanksgiving weekend so I can catch all of the sales AND then I will just order everything else online.
I’m bound and determined to ENJOY this Christmas season!!
I will take some pics of the Christmasy house soon and share them with y’all. I did take one cute pic on Sunday night that I love…
My sweet little Santa was worn out! Oh, and I also want to mention that having all of the Christmas stuff up has put everyone in a very good mood! As soon as the kids walk in the door, they immediately plug in the the tree and turn on Christmas music. Everyone is so happy and there’s hardly any fighting going on!
Isn’t that awesome!??
Maybe I should just keep the Christmas stuff up all year long, huh?
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Well, as far as the whole “healthy living” part of my life goes, I’ve been doing okay. I’ve been eating well and exercising regularly, but I’ve also been slackin’ a little bit here and there.
I really, really, really wanted to stay ultra committed until Thanksgiving, but for some reason I keep finding myself eating things that aren’t on my “mega healthy, get fit, lose all of the pregnancy weight” approved plan!
The lifestyle I’m living right now is a wonderful, realistic, healthy lifestyle, but it is very much a “maintenance lifestyle.” I know that if I’m really serious about losing weight, I need to be “ALL IN” or it just doesn’t happen. Losing weight is tough!
I did manage to take some 3 months postpartum progress pics to share with ya’ll.
I can’t say I’m happy with my progress, but I can’t say I’m discouraged either.
I know as a blogger, I put myself and my life out there for the world to see! I’m totally fine with that. So, with that being said, I just want to speak candidly for a sec.
First off, I have a good self esteem and a good body image, even when I have lots of baby fat to lose! I really don’t see any reason to put myself down, criticize myself or beat myself up. There is no good that comes from that!
However, I expect a lot out of myself. I do not like to be a slacker. I LOVE to push myself, set and achieve goals and really take charge of my life. If there’s something about myself or my life that I don’t like, I try to use it as motivation and do my best to change it or improve!
So, with all that being said, I will give you all a very open and honest view of what I think of my body and my progress so far.
I realize some people will look at my pictures and think I look just fine and that I should just be happy and satisfied with how I look. I also realize others will recognize that I have a lot of work to do and definitely still have some pounds to lose! It’s all a matter of opinion.
In my opinion, I have plenty of weight to lose and I want to tone and tighten up! I will not stop until I get there.
Anyway, I’m happy my stomach has mostly gone down. My stomach doesn’t get very huge when I’m pregnant (although the rest of me does!), so it goes back to “flatish” pretty quickly and easily. However, I seem to stay WIDE for quite a while. My waist, bum and hips are definitely a lot wider than they usually are!
I also have like ZERO muscle tone. I’m hoping my muscles are still buried under there somewhere and that they will show up again after I lose some of this weight. We’ll see.
My face is definitely more full than it usually is, but it’s not as big as it was a month or two ago. I’m happy to see a little bit of progress there. When I lose (or gain!) weight, my face and neck are one places I notice it first.
My legs definitely feel bigger. I’ve been wearing my fall boots lately, and they are noticeably tighter!! So sad.
My chest is a LOT bigger than it usually is, but that’s mostly because I’m a nursing mom. I may very well be carrying an extra 10 pounds just there! Ha. I have to take extra precautions when I run these days and wear two sports bras. Sigh. I know some ladies love to be larger in this area….I DO NOT. As long as I have some sort of shape and look feminine, that’s good enough for me!
Soooo, that pretty much sums up the body assessment. Pregnancy is a big sacrifice and definitely messes up the body, but it is SO WORTH it!
Well, I gotta go run a bunch of errands and figure out what in the heck we’re having for dinner, so I gotta roll! xoxo
I love the way you view your body and the fact that you are constantly pushing yourself – I’m the same way (except I don’t eat nearly as healthy as you do!!).
I wish we had our Christmas decorations done – I love having them out.
Thanks so much Kim! I LOVE having the Christmas stuff out too, but it is SO MUCH WORK to put it all up. I’m glad to have that part over with, so we can just enjoy it now. 😉
I think you’re very aware of your body composition and strengths and needs. I think this awareness makes goal setting much easier. It’s hard to explain and others may see that as having a poor body image sometimes, but I think knowing what you need to work on is all apart of the process.
Enjoy your beautifully decorated home!
I love how you explained this because it’s exactly how I feel! I love to push myself and reach goals, not because I have a poor body image, but because I have a positive body image! I want to use my body and put it to work, lol!
Oh man, I haven’t even thought about digging out the decorations yet. We have a houseful for Thanksgiving, so I’ll think about it afterward.
I didn’t start running until well after I was done nursing my boys, so it never occurred to me the difficulty in that. I do know that I loved the extra calories I needed to take in while nursing, and how much it helped with the weight. It still took a while. I do remember being very frustrated in the loss of muscle tone, though. Especially in my arms and shoulders, which have always been my strong suit. I didn’t have a baby out of my arms. What was up with that? Gah!
Anyway you do look great, and I’m glad you have high self esteem and certainly aren’t fishing, but I’ll just keep saying it.
Good luck with your Thanksgiving stuff at your house! We’re going up to my parent’s house for Thanksgiving, so thankfully I won’t have to worry about hosting. You’re lucky nursing helped you to lose weight. I seriously think I cling onto weight until I’m DONE nursing. So sad.
I love the fact that you know your body and you know at what weight makes you happy. I also put up the Christmas tree at my house and kids love it. The twins are tearing everything down though. I just love the holidays.
Thanks so much! Oh, your twins are at a hard age for Christmas decorations, lol! I’ll have that problem next year. Ha ha. I LOVE this time of year so much!
You know, I think I’m going to copy your idea and decorate this weekend!
I’ll have house guests over Thanksgiving weekend, so it won’t happen then. Between work, family and my kids’ commitments, I barely got our tree up at all last year, and it was so late that I kind of thought why bother on the other decorations. This way, the house will be festive before my sister and family come for Thanksgiving. Why didn’t I think of this before? You’re a genius, Mel!
You know why everyone loves you? Because it’s obvious you’re not fishing for compliments. You are just being real. But regardless, you are beautiful anyway! And the cute pics of your kiddos and baby don’t hurt either. Especially in a Santa hat!
I hope you got your Christmas stuff up this past weekend! It always seems that the season is SO hectic and putting all the decorations up is such a chore. I’ve been LOVING having all of our stuff up already!
You are so sweet Deborah! I sincerely appreciate your kind words. 😉
To funny that both our blog have honey pictures. And that cute sleeping baby wow. I think you look fabulous, but totally understand your desire to want to work even harder to meet your goals.
I thought the same thing when I saw the honey on your blog! ha ha.
Melanie you look wonderful! Focus on how YOU feel and go from there 🙂 I’m jealous of your decorations. We have 2 early Dec birthdays on 5th and 8th and no Christmas in our house until after then. Soon!
I’m so happy to have all the Christmas stuff set up and we are SO enjoying it! My poor oldest son’s birthday is ON Christmas. Thankfully, he’s pretty low maintenance and doesn’t seem to mind. 😉
You look great Mama!
C.
Thanks so much!
OMG I did not know you could buy babies at Costco!!!!!!!
LOL! Yes, Costco is my favorite store and they seem to sell everything! Ha.
I hear you on being a runner and wishing the “girls” weren’t so big. Sounds like you are making progress though, so just keep up the good work!
Ha ha! Thanks so much!
I think you look amazing, truly! But I definitely relate to those feelings. I was a 6 days a week workout girl before I had my daughter and I’ve never worked out that much since then. It’s just not possible with my other priorities now. I do however still workout and of course the main key to health is what we eat, so I got that covered pretty well. I do little workouts here and there to achieve my looks. The only thing I don’t really like on my body is my stomach. It just has not been the same since she was born. I had a major c-section so that is part of it, but my skin sags. I have to admit, I haven’t worked out or focused on it as much as I could have, but even if it goes completely flat, I have to accept that my skin will never be as firm as it was before….kind of sucks since I had really nice abs before, but my daughter is WAY worth the saggy skin, lol.
Oh and I hear you too, I had ZERO muscle tone left by the time she was born…I swear pregnancy changes that SO MUCH and I honestly thought I was “screwed” forever, but alas, it came back! Yours will too!
I also love that pic of your daughter laying down with your baby….omg SO beautiful!!!
Thanks so much Brandi! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and experiences. My little sis has had trouble with her tummy sagging a bit after having kids. It’s crazy what the body goes through during pregnancy! I keep reminding myself that I WILL get back to where a was eventually, but it will take time. It’s nice (and sad) to know that I won’t be having any more kids though, so hopefully my poor body will get a break!
I love so many products at Costco too! And I can totally relate to so many of those feelings postpartum!
I <3 Costco so so much!!!
No one knows your body like you do, and I can completely understand your thoughts. I can tell immediately when even the slightest change occurs, regardless of people telling me “I look fine.” Being aware is annoying, but also keeps me in check…for the most part!! You’re making progress and that’s what matters. Side note…I wanna smear that delicious looking honey all over my face.
Well said and I completely agree! I just keep reminding myself that it’s a journey and a lifestyle so I keep pluggin’ along…..