2 Hours Left!

I'm helping to raise funds to
#beatcancer, by blogging, tweeting
and posting Facebook status
updates.

Click here to join me!

From Baby to Toddler

Wow I can't believe it's been a full year since Jaina was born! It seems like only yesterday I was typing the last blog before she was born. I have to say she has been the most easy going baby I have ever known. It's a good thing because Alex is definitely in the terrible twos! Looking back on the day she was born, all of my memories are good ones. It was the most wonderful experience and if we were to have another baby (not happening, lol) I would definitely use the birth center again. I only wish that I had known my options when I had my son but I can't change that and that is okay. For anyone who is having a baby in the future I strongly recommend doing your research and deciding the best option for you. For anyone in or near Denton, Texas I strongly recommend Innana Birth Center (they take most insurance) http://www.inannabirth.com. Everyone there is very friendly, caring and helpful :-)Anyway, I gotta get Alex to go to bed. He's been fighting sleep all evening... I'll leave you with the link to Jaina's birth story: http://mistyfraker.blogspot.com/2008/10/settling-in.html

A Time For Learning For All of Us

Now that I have a few minutes to myself I can give a little update. We are officially in week 3 of homeschooling, and while we are still working out some kinks, it seems to be going well. I have quickly noticed that each girl has their own unique learning style. Samara is an independent learner who can read something and recite it back to me almost word for word and retains what she learned. Andrea has a little more difficulty with comprehending what she reads but when I can get her to slow down and actually pay attention to what she is reading she does pretty good. Myranda is easily distracted and sporadic. If she finds something the least bit uninteresting then she gives up. I have had and interesting time finding creative ways to get her interested in what she needs to learn. I have found that games that incorporate what she needs to learn work really good. I am also debating whether I should have them study together or at seperate times. I began with a set schedule for each subject and have had a hard time with the girls disrupting each other. Also, if I have to go over something with one of the girls, the other two are distracted by me. I have started working with each one individually the past couple days and have found that this way has its good and bad points also. I guess I will just have to weigh the pros and cons of each way and go with the one that comes out ahead.

Besides all that we have joined a homeschool group in the county that has been a big help to us in our learning process and we have made new friends as well. We even had our first field trip last week to a coffee roaster!

Priorities

So yeah I'm not keeping up with the weekly updates for my weightloss but that's okay. I'm still keeping with my goals... I'm down to 198 as of Friday (-8lbs total!!!) so I think I'm doing okay :-) While I'm going to continue working on that I have put the record keeping on the backburner because I have an entirely new project to work on. Tom and I have decided to homeschool the girls!!! I will have more info on that later. Until I get more time to update... ;-)

Wednesday Update (Just a Little Late!)

Week 3 (Yeah I skipped week 2; shame on me!) 202 (-3lbs, 5lbs total)

Sorry about not updating sooner! It's been another crazy time, but then, when isn't it? LOL

So far my weight loss has been on track so that is good news. I've been pretty lazy at following any sort of a plan but I have been a lot more aware of what I eat. Sometimes I will splurge, like yesterday I had some yummy pizza from Papa Murphy's. I have pretty much cut out all night snacks except for the occasional banana plus I have been sticking to water and diet/sugar free/low-carb drinks. I have also been trying to stay active with my children so I think that has been helping too. Tom and I have decided to homeschool the girls for this year for various reasons so I will have to spend time with them working on physical education. That should help me get more exercise too. Hopefully I will continue having good results to report :-)

Wednesday Update

Lots of stuff going on right now with illness wreaking havoc on the family so I won't have a chance to update today. I have a wedding to attend tomorrow so I won't be able to do it then. Hopefully Friday I will get a chance...

Curiosity Killed the Cat

I have heard the term "partial-birth abortion" and never really knew what it was.

So being the curious type I decided to research it. BIG MISTAKE.

What I discovered makes me sick to my stomach.

I wanna go curl up in a ball and cry.

My heart aches :-(

Why is this legal???

Wednesday Weight Loss Update

Hello! I will be posting my weekly updates on Wednesdays so I keep myself in check. I will be posting the successful and not-so-successful weeks.

Week 1: 205lbs (-1lb)

Well, at least I have lost a pound. My plan started off with a bang but quickly fizzled as I have kinda lost track of my motivation. I worked out with the Wii Fit last Wednesday and that was the last of my actual working out for the week. I did walk around Space Center Houston all day on Saturday so I guess that counts for exercise as well. As for the dieting, I've had good days and bad days the past week. My problem is that I will do good all day then when night time hits I am starving like I haven't eaten all day. It's not that I'm not eating right. I make sure to eat lots of protein and drink water. I don't know what it is but around 8 or 9pm I'm ready to scarf anything in sight! I try to not give into the craving but sometimes I eat a banana or some cheese to take the edge off. I also have a big problem of tasting everything when I'm cooking dinner.

So, here are my goals for the next week:

-Cut back on the extra "taste tests" when cooking dinner...
-Cut back on night snacks...

I would like to get more disciplined with the work outs but I'm really going to focus on the first two. At least I accomplished one of my goals last week of losing at least one pound :-) Off to work on a more successful week!

Reality Check

I've put it off long enough. I need to get myself in better shape. I've been lacking in the self confidence lately and I'm pretty sure it's because of my shape. I'm not as healthy as I can be and I need to hold myself accountable. The stretchmarks and flabby skin doesn't bother me. It's all this excess weight. I know it's not from the pregnancies because I started gaining weight before that. I was 163 when I met my hubby in October 2005 and was up to 194 when I found out I was pregnant with Alex. On top of that I had lost weight after having Jaina. I was down to 198 not too long ago. Now I'm back up to 206. Shame on me. Now I need to get myself back to a healthy weight range which according to Discovery Health is about 167. That's pretty close to what I weighed when Tom and I met. They say that it is best to only lose 1-2 lbs a week so that would give me 20 weeks to lose 39 lbs. That would make my target date to reach my goal around Thanksgiving. So, my goal is to lose 39 lbs by Thanksgiving. I want to remind myself to check in on here with my weekly accomplishments so hopefully I remember :-)

Here's my first check-in:

July 8, 2009, 206 lbs

June 22, 1978

That was the day my wonderful husband, Thomas Carl Fraker, was born. Happy birthday honey!