Being a mommy...

One of the devotions that I've been doing lately is called A Minute For Mommy. Today, the devotional was about how even though being a mommy can be overwhelming and tiring at times, to think of the happy moment of being a mommy.

My dad always said that even though he is a pastor of a church, his first congregation will always be his family. I always appreciated hearing that, but it has never hit home so much until I became a mommy. I have a youth group to lead, many things I do at church and I'm also a consultant for 31, but my greatest roles are being a wife and mommy. The first place Cora will learn about God, love and life will be right in our house. It's a great responsibility, but it is so awesome! 

So today, I'm celebrating life as a mommy. Sure, life is a lot different than what it was B.C (before Cora), but I honestly can't imagine life with out her. She adds so much laughter, joy and smiles to our life. 

Here are some of the happiest and most exciting moments of being a mommy (not in any order):

-Holding Cora for the first time. 

-Hearing her giggle.

-Hearing her sing praises to God.

-Receiving her hugs.

-Hearing her say randomly "I love you, mommy"...even if that is followed by something silly like "like a light bulb".

-Those moments where she's not quite awake and I get to hold and rock her for a few minutes. 

-The special time I had while breastfeeding her.

-Laying in our bed and playing together as a family. 

-When she says her best friends are mommy, daddy and Jesus. And her boyfriend is daddy. I know this won't always last, but it melts my heart! 

-When she hugs on her babies or stuffed animals and makes sure we see how much she loves them. 

-When Cora teases us. She is quite a jokester! 

-Prayer/song time together every night. 

-Seeing Cora get excited for all things Christmas

There are so many more that I could list. I'm so thankful that I can be a stay at home mommy and have that extra special time with her. The good far outweighs her 2 year old tantrums! 

Thank you God for allowing me to be the mommy of Cora Marie!

Day 4: Parents

Today, I'm thankful for parents.

I'm thankful for my parents who have been there for me every day for the last 30 & 1/2 years. They have been supportive. They have been encouraging. They have been an example of marriage. They have given advice. And they have been my friends.  They are the best parents that I could ask for and are a great boppa and gramma to Corabug. They will do whatever it takes to help us! We are blessed to have them in our lives!

I'm also thankful for Craig's parents today! I became a part of the Schulte family 4 years ago and I'm so thankful that they have made me feel like their family! They raised a great son too :)

Craig and I are blessed with great parents!

Day 3: My Corabug

This is the post from yesterday. As usual, Sunday was extremely busy and I didn't get to write this post! 

So today (yesterday, really), I'm thankful for our little ray of sunshine-Cora Marie Schulte. This little sweetie came into our lives almost 2 & 1/2 years ago and we have been forever changed. Never have I met a sweeter, smarter, or cuter little girl than her (yes, I admit I am completely biased). She is also very strong willed and throws the typical tantrums. There are definitely some rough days (especially now with the terrible two's), but the good far outweighs the bad! She can make me frustrated one minute but make me smile and laugh the next. 

I'm so grateful that God entrusted Craig and I to be the parents of Cora. I can't imagine our lives without her! 

Thank you Ms Corabug for being such a great little girl! We love you! 

Day 2: My husband

Today, I am thankful for my husband. My other half. I can't imagine life without him! So thankful that we took the chance 6 years ago to meet up for our first date. Neither of us had any clue what to expect on that date and here we are years later...married for 4 years! 

He's the level head and calm person when I'm riled up about silly things. He is a great provider and works hard to keep a roof over our heads! And he's a great daddy. I love seeing the smiles on Cora's face and hearing her laughter when she plays with her daddy. 

Thank you, stinky..for everything you do for us! We love you! 

Day 1: Relationship with God

It's that time of year again...when we write about what we're thankful for the entire month of November. I've debated whether to do it this year and also whether or not to write in on my fb page or on my blog. I decided to go with my blog because it is easier for me to go back through later and re-read what I wrote. I like to see where I was the previous year and how things change.

Today, I am thankful for my relationship with God. I'm thankful that he is constant...even when I am not. I have been in weird funks on and off this year. Slacking sometimes in my relationship with God, but He has never slacked in his relationship with me. I'm thankful that He is my comforter...since I have experienced some huge losses this year with Craig's grandpa, Mabel and Jeanette. I'm thankful that He is a protector. Let's face it...I'm a klutz and there have probably been many times this year that I could have gotten injured or died, but He has protected. I'm glad He sustains. I'm the mom of a two year old with a million things to do...I don't think I could survive without Him! I am thankful that He is just and will judge everyone because I don't think I could do that job. BUT I am also thankful for His grace...because without His grace and sending His son to die on the cross for me...I would be doomed for hell. But He has covered me in His grace...even though my sins do not deserve it!

Week 4 results

Last weekend, we were in Cincinnati for my sister-in-law's wedding. While I did weigh myself at my in-law's house, I wasn't sure how it would compare to my scale...PLUS I didn't really do too well with sticking to Medifast last weekend! It was a CrAzY weekend! So I jumped back on it this week and just decided to postpone my weigh-in until this Sunday. I figured an extra week wouldn't hurt!

So the results...
Today I weighed in at 151.8. I'm down 4.4 pounds since I last weighed in 2 weeks ago. I have lost a total of 11.2 since I started this 4 weeks ago. So I passed 10 pounds this week. And according to my weight app on my phone...I am getting closer to healthy weight! WOOHOO!!! I also gave all of my size 12 pants to my mom this week. They are too big on me and a little big on my mom! It's weird we are kinda the same size now. We have never shared clothes like this! It's kinda fun! My size 10 pants that I wrote about 2 weeks ago are also getting a baggy on me. I went to the Mission Thrift store yesterday but only found tops...I need to find some new pants/shorts/capris before our vacation in 2.5 weeks!

I will admit. Yesterday, I was grumpy. All day. By the time I was laying in bed, I just felt like giving up. I have no idea why, but I did. But this morning, I woke up with a renewed determination. Remember, I said we are leaving for vacation in 2.5 weeks. Yeah...I want to feel a little more comfy on the beach!

Week 2 results

I'm a survivor 
I'm not goin' give up 
I'm not goin' stop 
I'm goin' work harder

While I'm just being silly about quoting lyrics from a Destiny Child's song...I do really like the lyrics of this part. The words are definitely applicable to sticking with Medifast and dieting in general. I keep joking about surviving it...almost like I'm being tortured..but I'm not at all feeling that! It's been a pretty good week again! 

And I'm seeing results! This week...I was able to wear a pair of jeans that are size 10! I don't think I've worn them since before I was pregnant. I also wore a pair of black capris this week that were super tight on me last month when I tried them on. 

AND I'm down again. This morning when I woke up, I weight 156.2. So that's down 3.6 this week and 6.8 from the start!

I have heard stories of others losing way more when they started this and it is easy to get a bit discouraged when I think that I'm not losing more each week. But I have to keep reminding myself that each person is different and to still rejoice in my personal victories this week of weight loss and loose clothes! 

One week down

I started this Medifast diet a week ago today. It actually went better than I expected. I'm still craving some things that I used to eat a lot (french fries, greasy burgers, popcorn), but I'm surviving! The hardest part is eating a lot more veggies than I used to! And I only had 1 French fry all week! That is a huge accomplishment for me. There was a day or two in there that my blood sugar was adjusting to the smaller amount of calories and I felt blah, but there were a couple days that I actually felt full all day just from eating my Medifast meals. And thanks to my parents letting me raid their stash of Medifast meals, I have a lot better idea what I like. I like the shakes, bars, soft serve, puddings, pancakes, brownies, cookies, cereals (although I'm still getting used to eating them dry and not with milk) and hot cocoa. I'm not a fan of the mac & cheese (even thought I did eat it several times this week), soups, bbq puffs and parmasean puffs. There have been different points this week where I think...is this really going to be worth it to pay this money, eat all these Medifast meals and not get the things that I've been craving. And now, I must answer...YES!

Here are my results this week. I weight myself last Sunday before service and I was 163. Today, I weighed myself before church and I was 159.8. A loss of 3.2 pounds. Sure I would've loved to have lost more in a week than that, but if I think I about it...I have been struggling for a while now to get out of the 160's. I've tried just eating healthy and it didn't work. I would cave and eat bad. So I wasn't losing. But this week...I
LOST! And hopefully I will be out of the 160's for a long time (or until I'm pregnant).

So thanks for the encouragement this week. I'm excited for the next week!

Day 1 is done!

I'm probably not going to blog about every day while on this diet, but I figured I'd blog about some of my thoughts after day one.

1. I survived! YAY!
2. I had some things that I really liked (such as the double chocolate shake I had for my evening night snack), I had some things that were okay (such as the mac and cheese) and some that I wasn't much of a fan for (such as the cappuccino).
3. I had a really good salad at Wendy's and I'm excited to eat one of them again!
4. I tried salmon a different way today and still liked it (with no sauce...just spices). And it was more fishy tasting than normal.
5. I ate a whole small can of green beans today by myself. Weird.
6. I felt a little blah this afternoon. I think part of it is my body adjusting to way less calories, but also part of it could have been that we were outside at the air show today and it was a little toasty!
7. I drank a bunch of water today. I lost count. Maybe 5 or 6 bottles. I'm glad that I can still do water flavors in them. It helped! I was almost down to 1 or 2 a day before I decided to do this diet.
8. It's easy to think about the things that I can't eat, but today I'm thankful I can drink diet coke/pepsi while on this diet :)
9. I really didn't crave things not on the diet today until the end of the day. I think I saw a picture of a french fry. I'm going to miss my fries! But hopefully it will be worth it!
10. Today, I started thinking about the future. Now I'm not saying I want to wear a bikini, but I had the thought that it would at least be nice to be able to have the body/belly to wear a bikini if I wanted to!

It's been a pretty good day and I'm excited for tomorrow and trying more of the medifast meals! I'm also hoping to order my kit tomorrow so I won't have to keep mooching off of my parents!

A new lifestyle change

Over a year ago, Craig went to the doctor and was told he needed to lose weight. He came home and changed his eating habits almost immediately. At that time, I was still nursing Cora, so I had an excuse to not change my eating habits. Plus it seemed like nursing helped me get some of my pregnancy weight off. Well, in August of 2012, I was done nursing...but my eating habits didn't really change much then. So I gained some weight back that I had just lost while nursing. I have attempted to change my eating habits similar to Craig...but I have an excuse for everything. Seriously, I do. Stressful day. It's someone's birthday. It's raining. I'm sleepy. We are on a date. It's the weekend. It's a holiday. So by the time I got through my excuses, I was pretty much still eating bad every meal. 

My parents started Medifast back in March, I think. And we instantly saw results! They look and feel awesome. I have been around them enough when they eat that I know pretty much how the diet works, but I never thought I'd want to try it. I just wanted to stick to changing my eating habits (yeah, it isn't working for me). Plus I thought it seemed like a diet for older people :)

When I went to my doctor in May, she informed me that I need to get some of my weight back off. Especially if I would like to start trying soon to have another baby. It makes sense. I should lose weight now before I have another child and gain even more weight. Hopefully it will be easier to start healthy habits now! 

So yesterday, I found a friend that was saving Medifast recipes on her pinterest page. It intrigued me since she is younger than me. I wrote to her a bit and she encouraged me to check it out more. Craig had told me before that I should just do what my parents are doing. I just brushed that advice off. But I finally went to the site. And I thought...I need to get on Medifast. I need to make a change and I want to see results sooner than later. 

I still have yet to sign up, but I am starting it tomorrow. Mom and dad have graciously given me a good sampling of their Medifast meals to try. Part of me questions if I should've thought about this longer than maybe 24 hours, but I think this is what I need to do. I've had a cheat day today-full of waffles, coke, root beer, cheeseburger, fries, pizza, a cookie and whatever else I want to get in tonight. I won't be eating these things for a long time, but I'm excited to start this journey! 

I am also a little nervous. It does cost a bit...so I definitely don't want to fail! I want to see results. And for some reason, I'm a bit nervous that I may lose too much too soon and my bridesmaid dress will be too big on me at my sister-in-law's wedding. I know that's a good thing, but that dress was a pretty penny, so I don't  want it to look bad on me! 

Goal Weight: 135

Starting Weight: 163

That is crazy. When I got back from Ukraine...I think I was between 140-145 and that was the smallest I have been in years. And I would like to be even a little smaller than that! I would like to get my BMI to a healthy range and not overweight or obese range! 

So there it is! That's my goal and I'll keep you updated! 

Here are my before pictures from tonight! 

I'm so happy

It seems like I sing the happy song about 20 times a day with Cora. That's her most requested song. And typically I just sing it with her to satisfy her and then move on to another song, but today it got me thinking. Isn't it funny how a little chorus that you've sung for most of your life can get you to think?

I feel like as an adult, for some reason I don't look at life and the things that make me happy as much as I should. It seems like so many times we have have been tainted by the world and we somehow only see the bad. Why do we do this?

What about Cora? She's now a big 19 month old! Why on earth does she want to sing happy all the time? Well...because she is almost always happy! She has a mommy and daddy who love her. Her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who love her. And she knows all this. Her basic needs are met. She has a bed, house, tons of clothes and toys and lots of food. She gets to do lots of fun things like play, read, and dance with mommy and daddy. But most importantly, she's learning at this early age what it means to love Jesus. Maybe she doesn't really think about those things, but she is almost always happy.

Don't I basically have those same things? I have a husband who is an awesome provider and daddy. I have a little girl who is the sweetest. I have great parents who have always been there for me. And I have a supportive family and friends. I love my church. I love the youth group. I love selling 31. Our needs are beyond being met and I get to stay at home with my baby girl. And most importantly, I love Jesus and I know that He loves me.

So why do I dwell so much on the bad? If I would just take more time to focus on the things that make me happy, then I would quickly forget the "bad" things! The first verse says I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Why do I not express this joy? Is it being suppressed? And the second verse says and if the devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tac. Why are we dwelling on the bad things? Well because that's what the devil wants. He doesn't want us to focus on that joy from God. He wants us to dwell on the crazy, stressed out life that we live and focus our attention on the bad. We so quickly fall into the trap of losing our joy.

So my goal for 2013 is to try to focus on the joy given from God and make the devil want to sit on a tac!

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart, (Where?)
Down in my heart, (Where?)
Down in my heart,
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart
Down in my heart to stay

And I'm so happy,
So very happy,
I've got the love of Jesus in my
H-E-A-R-T
And I'm so happy,
So very happy,
I've got the love of Jesus in my heart

And if the devil doesn't like it
he can sit on a tac (ouch)
sit on a tac (ouch)
sit on a tac
and if the devil doesn't like it
he can sit on a tac
sit on a tac all day

And I'm so happy,
So very happy,
I've got the love of Jesus in my
H-E-A-R-T
And I'm so happy,
So very happy,
I've got the love of Jesus in my heart