Happy 4 Months Collin

~It's football season! GO Arizona Sate University Devils!~

Here we are at another month update! 4 months! This kid is just growing way too quickly and I wish most days that it would just slow down. I love how cute and cuddly he is and how such a great baby he is. He has been doing so well in so many areas. Learning to grab at toys now, coo a ton and man his belly laugh is just to die for! 

I found out that he LOVES to be bounced. He just laughs and giggles and just is such a happy baby. We are saying he loves it so much from being bounced in my belly while I was running. 

He loves music. If I am feeding a a song comes on or Mason is too close with his tablet and they are singing a song, Collin will stop nursing and watch and listen until that song is DONE! Super cute! 

He hasn't rolled over yet in this past month (He has since he turned 4 months but that is next month's news!) 

He can't get enough of his Daddy either. We often take lunch to Matt and whenever Matt goes to Collin's side of the car and Dad says hi Collin just starts talking and cooing and smiling to daddy. It is very cute. He does things with daddy that he doesn't do with me. So that is interesting to see. He has gotten a lot better with daddy when I am teaching. He just lets daddy cuddle him and is just as quiet and patient as can be. 

Collin loves his big brother. Anytime Mason comes over with or without the tablet, Collin watches. Always watching brother, and dog for that matter. 

Sleep has been good until just a week before he turned 4 months. Collin got his first sickness and was waking up 2-3 times a night. I was not used to that so it has been hard on me. 3 weeks later he is still doing it so I am wondering if my lovely 12 hour a night baby is gone and I have a baby that likes nursing at 2am on the dot everyday now. It doesn't matter. I still love this kid. I love sleep but this is what it is like being a mommy. Taking care of our young no matter what! 

Tummy time has gotten so great with Collin. He is a champ at it and I am trying to play up down with him when he does it (I go up he goes up, I go down he goes down). He likes that a lot he just loves attention.

OH and can we say, he sure is a healthy kid! He is getting rolls everywhere. I love this age where they are just fat on milk! And I am making that milk and couldn't be prouder of that fact! He is such a wonderful and quiet content baby. I can't believe how perfect he is and I celebrate everyday I can be with him, cause he is sure a cute little guy! I found a nick name for him by the way. I call him Jabba. for Jabba de Hutt. I like to play with his belly, tickle it and I always say, "Jabba, Jabba, Jabba." when I do so he is my little Jabba! Not sure how this nickname will be when he is older and rail thin like his Daddy but for now it is very appropriate! 

~cute arm rolls!~

PiYo Result Pictures!

My first Transformation Tuesday! I didn't forget to post the pictures of my transformation from day 1-60 with PiYo the other day with my REVIEW OF PIYO! I had to wait for my hubs and afternoon lighting to take the pix then I got sick and it just got delayed. So here is MY proof that even working out at home, and missing some days, YOU WILL still see some results! Are they completely life changing 100 lbs lost pictures, no, but I am getting there. I am not ripped, or shredded or totally defined or a stick but I am smaller than where I started. This is the real world people we all start somewhere! It takes just a little bit at a time and eventually I will be healthy and fit. You can click on the pictures to view the full size.

As a reminder I lost 8.5 inches across my chest, belly, hips, arms and legs. No lbs lost, gained 2 lbs. So now it is time for the weight to come off while I still trim down!

Am I happy with these results! OF COURSE! I am finally looking in the mirror and thinking, wow I look great today. So, here they are. And if you want results too, fill out the form at the bottom and I will get back to you. (also the piyo results is also my 21 day fix day 1 pictures. Because I went from one program straight to the next! So lots more results to come!)

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! Don't forget to follow me on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!

September Week 3 Recap

It is here! Finally here! Season and series premier season! YEA! I love this time of year when my favorite shows come back on. So that is what I am looking forward to this week! I will tell you my weekly line up next week but I am excited about the return of Once Upon A Time!

Back to last week. The dreaded hospital week I am now calling it. It killed my workouts for the week, but that didn't mean I had to eat poorly! The week started out great. Mason, Matt and Collin were all done with their whatever sickness they had and I felt really strong. I pushed starting my 21 Day Fix back a day so that all the junk food was out of the house on Monday. (Had to go through and purge a couple of things) Tuesday came and I KILLED it in my workout! I had pure muscle fatigue. I was exhausted and it took 4 days for my legs to not be sore anymore! (Don't you love those kinds of days?) Wednesday happened and I did my workout with my hubs which was awesome and a little intimidating but still awesome to see him huff and puff as much as I was! Then Thursday. If you don't know what happened click here and I talk all about it. Friday, and Saturday I had planned on working out but Matt advised against it because I still had a fever and other flu like symptoms come at me. So I took them as rest days, but I was fully planning on working out those days. So they were recovery days for me and Sunday was the first day since Wednesday that I felt normal again. Matt and I decided it would be best to restart my 21 days today. So that is where we are at.

Sunday we went to our old church in Louisa to say hi to our old friends! And spent the afternoon at my friend's house to let the kiddos play and tire them out!

We have some awesome news that I will share soon but don't want jinx it quite yet. Yep it is pretty awesome!

I am just glad that I am feeling better though. Still not sure what was wrong with me. We think it was a super slow moving virus that first gave me the super high fever then went and attacked other areas of my body. But back at it today and I am so not really looking forward to the many surrenders I will be doing today though. Man, they burn out my legs fast! (21 Day Fix day 1 workout: Total Body Cardio Fix)

Workout Recap: 
Sunday: rest
Monday: rest
Tuesday: Total Body Cardio Fix
Wednesday: Upper Body Fix
Thursday: HOSPITAL DAY
Friday: rest and recovery
Saturday: rest and recovery
Sunday: rest

This weeks goals:
~Do all my workouts. That is 7 days because for the next 21 days I am committed!
~Continue to eat clean. Even though I didn't get all my workouts in and had almost a full day where I didn't eat, but got pumped full of fluids, I have still lost weight because I cut the crap and am eating clean. down 3.2 lbs!
~Get 2 more rooms in my house clean. I am working on doing a Fall cleaning in the house right now and we did the guest room and Mason's room this weekend (you do not want to know how many fuzzies from his old sheepskin blanket and goldfish were under his bed!). So this week is the nursery and our bedroom that needs to be spruced up!

QOTD: What did you do this past week that was the most memorable??? Do you do a fall deep cleaning (dusting, scrubbing and cleaning baseboards)?

ALSO: If you would like to join my 21 Days to Great Online Health group, this Friday (9/26) is the last day that I will accept people for this month's group. Fill out the form below and let me know if you want to join! Any workout routine accepted! You know you wanna! THE HOLIDAYS ARE COMING! Get in shape now and eat better now so you don't have to work so hard during the holidays!

Yesterdays Little Adventure

Many of you saw the picture I posted on FB yesterday about me being in the hospital, yep the stinking hospital! Well here is the whole story!

Collin woke me up around 5:30am to feed and I got up to nurse him. As I sat up I had this sharp pain in my back and front, and actually going through me. It felt like I had a rod going through my body from my right sacrum to my lower abdomen. I fed Collin and just dealt with it. I went to the bathroom thinking it might be gas and tried to rub my belly. That didn't help. When I got back in bed I started shaking, violently and the pain became more intense. I called Matt and had him come home from work. I went and got in a scorching hot bath for about an hour, with the jets on to help massage the pain out. It didn't work.

We decided, since my sacrum was involved and doesn't really hold my adjustments very well that we should go to my chiropractor to see if it was just my hip severely out. We showed up without an appointment at 8:30 and they got me in as fast as possible. I was right that my hip was really out of place. The way I was getting up to nurse Collin was just not a good way for my body. So they readjusted me and got me back to normal. But I still had lower abdominal pain.

So we then decided to go to my Ob/GYN to check for an eptoptic pregnancy. In the car between the Chiropractor and my OB I started getting super hot! I had still be shaking and now had dizziness and nausea. I had just started my first cycle this month and the numbers were kind of adding up. Again we went there and they squeezed me in. (All the while Matt had both boys in the car! Such a trooper!) I got in there and they took my temp and I was 102.4. I saw the OB and he check me and no pregnancy but based off the exam and the fever he advised me to go to the ER now for possible appendicitis.

So off to the ER we went. They again checked my temp and it was holding strong at 102.4. I got back to my little suite and and was told I wasn't allowed to drink anymore water then the waiting began. Doc came in and did a small exam. He said I will need a CT scan to check the appendix to see if it is in fact inflamed. He said that in the past when people came in with my symptoms that they just went straight in for surgery but not anymore. They might not know exactly what the appendix is for but they try to keep it in you if they can.

So I got my lovely IV, ( I hate needles and IV. They make me squirm!) Along with anti-neasea and pain relief drugs. And shortly after that they had me drink this lovely HUGE 32 oz orange drink that tasted like tang and had to wait at least an hour before I could have the CT scan. Matt took the boys to the cafeteria and I got some rest while they were gone cause the small dose of morphine knocked me out! After Matt got back we called a friend to help with Mason. She came and picked him up and so we just had Collin with us and he just slept the rest of the time. Not sure if he got some of the morphine or not but he was so good. (He usually is!)

Finally it was time for the scan and then more waiting as we waited for the results. Doc came in and said that I looked normal. All the organs look fine and they couldn't see what was causing the pain. He said, "Well, we know what it isn't." He advised me to go home and rest and if it got any worse to come back in. I was told to take some Ibuprofen. While I was in the hospital my fever went away and by the time we got home though it was back in full force!

I told Matt that if I have to go back for them not to give me any morphine because we don't know if that helped reduce the size of my appendix if that truly was the problem or not. Anyhew we picked up Mason and a friend brought us dinner, so nice of her and I rested the rest of the night. I woke up completely soaked in sweat 3 times during the night. Matt even changed the pillow case because it was so soaked. I think my high fever finally broke around 4am.

Today I still have lower abdominal pain but it isn't as bad as yesterday. I feel week and just out of it. Even if it wasn't appendicitis it was something. I wouldn't have had that high of a fever for nothing. (I don't know the last time I ever had a fever that hight!) Oh, the doc did say that my white blood count was high so my body is fighting something. So I am taking it easy today. Probably won't do the ab workouts for the next few days to let that get better. I have a nice little bruise where the IV was, plus where they did the first stick for the IV that didn't work. I am keeping an eye on it and how I feel. I pray it doesn't get any worse. But I sure would love to know what caused it or what not. I have changed my eating (way more healthy) and am doing a different workout but I seriously doubt that that is what caused me to spike a seriously high fever!

It was not that respiratory thing that is going around. I have no cough, or breathing issues. It was purely lower abdominal pain! So there is the story. My little adventure!

My PiYo Review and Results!

Day 60 has come and gone for me on PiYo already! First off, that was a fast 60 days. Secondly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! PiYo is fairly easy to follow! There are really only a few moves that I really struggled with but with time I was able to figure out what modifications I should make that fit me.

Example: I used Yoga blocks instead of a chair to get a further stretch and to learn how to use more upper body strength for some of the moves like 3 point balance Crouching crow. It is a little scary on the blocks though because they wobble with me and are not stable so make sure you have a good strong foundation of your own balance before you go for a harder modification!

Downward dog split and with open hip is still my least favorite positions. I can't lift my leg very high, um cause I am having to do the splits while my head is hanging down and such, but I noticed that I was able to hold the pose longer each time I did it. (Which is in almost every workout!)

Favorite positions: Child's pose, cause it is a rest position. Pigeon has always been my fav too because it just stretches the IT band like nothing else. I could sit in that position all day long because it is that nice and wonderful. Even when I lean and stretch into it more it is more wonderful. And surprisingly I have really learned to love and see downward dog not as a hard position but truly as a rest position. Which it should be. I have learned to trust my body and put most of the weight on my legs and not on my shoulders and wrists. By shifting my body and making my legs hold more weight (meaning, I just ground my legs more and keep them tight and flexed) I can hold that position much longer and comfortably.

RESULTS:  CLICK HERE TO VIEW MY PICTURES! In the 60 days I did not lose any weight. I actually gained 1.7 lbs...in muscle. How do I know it was muscle, because I lost inches. Which means that I lost fat. I lost 8.5 inches to be exact! YEA! With that said, working out is hard. And even I hit a point where I wanted to do something different (check out the new Beachbody On Demand All Access Pass where you get access to over 40 FULL workout programs and bonus materials plus new workouts when they are released too!), but I had committed to doing this and only this for 60 days. Did I workout every day? No. I did miss some workouts and that obviously hindered my results. But I worked out most of the time and still got great results. And this is why I am moving on to 21 day fix. I have the workout stuff done but the eating is what I am having a hard time with.

How Hard is PiYo: I felt that PiYo was great for me because I was already used to most of the moves used in it. I did prenatal yoga for 30 weeks while pregnant and I often got to work one on one with my yoga instructor so she helped me know and get better with the positions. I have heard from other people that they are having a hard time with PiYo. You will sweat. Your arms will ache. You butt will burn and your core will hurt. Just because you aren't using weights doesn't mean you aren't burning a ton of calories! I promise you that if you listen to Chalene and do as she instructs you, you will get better. I know I am more flexible than I was before. I can't do the splits but I am able to stretch deeper at the end of workouts. It is just easier to fold over! My back no longer hurts and I know when I am using my core because it is stronger and I can feel it. I really do recommend this program to runners because it will help to lengthen and strengthen you hamstrings and core! I felt pretty good after my race, which I did not really run for training. I was doing this and I survived and felt strong finishing!

Oh Chalene, you're so funny!: I really loved all the inspirational things that Chalene says during the videos. Some of them just make me start to laugh and help get me past the discomfort I am feeling. Example: "Feel that! That's like an epidural. Your leg is as numb as an epidural. Ok let's get the feeling back in your leg! SQUAT!" "Best revenge on anyone is looking amazing!" and last "DROP IT LIKE ITS HOT!" (She says that a lot!) Oh and when you get child's pose you are supposed to say "Thank you!" Which you will do after awhile without even thinking of it because it just feels so good to rest!

Final thoughts: PiYo is great. It will help you tone up your arms and legs because you are using them doing mini squats a lot and holding up your own body weight. You will get more flexible too as long as you push yourself. It just takes some time to master the moves and I will honestly be using the workouts again in my rotation of workouts because they really are that great! My favs, Buns and Core!

Want more daily motivation and inspiration? Click here get free advice, support and encouragement + a free copy of my Clean Eating guide to help you get started on your health and fitness journey! Don't forget to follow me on INSTAGRAM and FACEBOOK!