A few months ago I decided I wasn't happy with my body. Anyone that knows me knows that I didn't just suddenly blow up... I've been "too big" for years. I never cared. Seriously, it didn't bother me. Now it does.
So, I'm turning over a new leaf. I'm not on a diet, I'm not doing an insane workout routine. I'm keeping it simple. Increasing the output, decreasing the input.
I started out just saying that I was going to do one thing active with my kids each day. Swimming, walking, biking, whatever. Just one thing. That worked well for a while, but then it got hot and we didn't want to be outside anymore.
I realized that I needed a little help in realizing my "active" goal. So, we joined the Y. We've been there three weeks and with a few exceptions, I've been going every day. Some days I take a class, some days I just walk or use the eliptical-it's-not-really-an-eliptical-but-I-don't-know-the-real-name thing. I have committed to 30 minutes a day. If I go more, that's gravy.
I haven't lost any weight. (well, maybe three lbs) I'm not upset about it. It just is what it is. Once I have a habit of doing at least 30 minutes every day, then I'm going to take a closer look at my food. I'm not going to go all crazy and restrict myself just to fail again. The only change I've made regarding food is that I limit myself to ONE serving. Most of the time that serving is probably too much in the first place, but "small and simple" steps, right?
I envisioned myself starting a blog about this and posting a picture of me in my swimsuit and even posting my weight.... but ha ha, that's not happening (not yet anyway). Maybe in a year I'll be like, "I lost 100 pounds!" or some ridiculous thing. I don't need to lose 100 pounds. I want to lose 50. If I lose 50, two things happen. First, I'd be at the high point of my ideal weight range and second, that's the day I book plane tickets to Hawaii. That's my big goal. Hawaii. I might even purchase a bikini. (I'm totally joking Mom).
The little goals are going to be something like this:
Lose 5 pounds- Purchase a new sports bra. I was going to have be at 10 pounds, but the ladies are protesting and because I only have one, I have to either wash it every day or wear it twice, which really shouldn't bother me, but it kind of does.
10 pounds- A new pair of yoga type pants. I only have one pair and this leads to the same issues as above.
15 lbs- still thinking about this one and further. I don't want to dream too much about something that may take a century.
Somewhere in there is purchasing a pair of pants that I love and feel comfortable in... that aren't a size 20. I have refused to buy any size 20s. My 18s don't fit, so I'm currently sporting maternity cut offs. I'm ok with this for now, but not for long.
I'm also trying to think of something that keeps me accountable. I haven't figure that out yet.
Happy 8th Boys
Ben and Cooper turn 8 today.
WOW! HOLY CRAP!
I still can't wrap my brain around that one.
I'm going to take lots of pictures today (hopefully). I will not dwell on the past or let my anxiety bring me down today. The boys are eight, and they are awesome!
WOW! HOLY CRAP!
I still can't wrap my brain around that one.
I'm going to take lots of pictures today (hopefully). I will not dwell on the past or let my anxiety bring me down today. The boys are eight, and they are awesome!
Swimming!
I wish I had pictures to go with this post! Alas, I do not. I don't even take my phone with me when we go to the pool because I don't want to even be tempted to be distracted. Taking 5 kids to the pool is not a place to be multitasking!
Logan is doing really well! She is no longer afraid in the water (out of all my kids, she's the only one that even had the littlest fear). She can pretty much go anywhere, but she sticks mainly to the shallow end.
Cooper is tall, so that's where he is lucky. He can touch the bottom of the pool that we go to no problem, so he does really well. He still needs some practice if he is going to go into deeper water.
Ben is short, so there's his problem. He can't reach the bottom of the pool (it's 3'6"). It's actually been good because it's forced him to learn how to swim and how to push off the bottom to get some air. He just keeps trying and trying and he is doing awesome. Last week, I couldn't get out of arms reach of him for fear he would drown (his swimming looks like drowning), but today I'm pretty confident in his abilities... I can be a few yards away. I still keep a really good eye on him... he likes to take risks.
Eli is amazing. We take his puddle jumper off about 50% of the time. I'm always RIGHT there with him because he over-estimates his ability to hold his breath. He LOVES to dive down to the bottom to fetch the diving toys. If he would actually use his arms, he could go a lot farther! He says that he swims like a worm... and he does.. with his arms by his side!
Now, Andrew is the crazy one! He, of course, always has his puddle jumper on, but he thinks he is one of the big boys. He jumps in, swims back to the side, climbs up, and jumps back in again. I just let him do his thing, as he doesn't want to be anywhere near me. If I move too close to him, he goes to the other side of the pool. His problem is that he has no fear! He needs to get some swimming lessons pronto.
We've been lucky because we've gone swimming six times in the past 8 days and we've gotten in free several times. I've still spent a bunch of money (it's $2/each for them and $4 for me) but I think it's totally been worth it to see how far they have come in the past week. A few more weeks and I'll have four competent swimmers on my hands.
Drowning is one of my worst fears for my kids, so I really think this is a priority... to get them to a place where they are capable of staying on the top of the water. We are working with each one of them to learn how to turn over and float on their backs to get a breath. Also, we are teaching them to push off the bottom to propel themselves up to the top. I tried to teach them to tread water, but I'm not sure it's possible at their age (perhaps I'm just not doing it right?) Anyway, hopefully this is just the start to a great summer of pool fun!
Logan is doing really well! She is no longer afraid in the water (out of all my kids, she's the only one that even had the littlest fear). She can pretty much go anywhere, but she sticks mainly to the shallow end.
Cooper is tall, so that's where he is lucky. He can touch the bottom of the pool that we go to no problem, so he does really well. He still needs some practice if he is going to go into deeper water.
Ben is short, so there's his problem. He can't reach the bottom of the pool (it's 3'6"). It's actually been good because it's forced him to learn how to swim and how to push off the bottom to get some air. He just keeps trying and trying and he is doing awesome. Last week, I couldn't get out of arms reach of him for fear he would drown (his swimming looks like drowning), but today I'm pretty confident in his abilities... I can be a few yards away. I still keep a really good eye on him... he likes to take risks.
Eli is amazing. We take his puddle jumper off about 50% of the time. I'm always RIGHT there with him because he over-estimates his ability to hold his breath. He LOVES to dive down to the bottom to fetch the diving toys. If he would actually use his arms, he could go a lot farther! He says that he swims like a worm... and he does.. with his arms by his side!
Now, Andrew is the crazy one! He, of course, always has his puddle jumper on, but he thinks he is one of the big boys. He jumps in, swims back to the side, climbs up, and jumps back in again. I just let him do his thing, as he doesn't want to be anywhere near me. If I move too close to him, he goes to the other side of the pool. His problem is that he has no fear! He needs to get some swimming lessons pronto.
We've been lucky because we've gone swimming six times in the past 8 days and we've gotten in free several times. I've still spent a bunch of money (it's $2/each for them and $4 for me) but I think it's totally been worth it to see how far they have come in the past week. A few more weeks and I'll have four competent swimmers on my hands.
Drowning is one of my worst fears for my kids, so I really think this is a priority... to get them to a place where they are capable of staying on the top of the water. We are working with each one of them to learn how to turn over and float on their backs to get a breath. Also, we are teaching them to push off the bottom to propel themselves up to the top. I tried to teach them to tread water, but I'm not sure it's possible at their age (perhaps I'm just not doing it right?) Anyway, hopefully this is just the start to a great summer of pool fun!
Costa Rica- Tuesday
Costa Rica...days I can't remember...
Time means nothing to us on this trip. We sleep when we get tired (lately, that's about 8), we wake when we wake up (5:30am...that sun!!), eat when we are hungry, and have lots of fun in between! So, I can't remember when we took these pictures, some on Sunday, and some Monday. Enjoy.
Before we left for Island Tortuga, we left the car with a woman from the branch in Puntarenas. She has these two parrots. One talked and talked (he said "goodbye" to us) and the other one was mute.
The pineapples here are HUGE.. That's Abinadi's hand... and it's big, but look at the size of that pineapple!
We had to cross the Gulf of Nicoyo on a ferry. Taking the car was too expensive, so we just took ourselves.
We sat right by the a/c.. by the time we got to the peninsula, I was freezing.. ahhhh.
Every pool we have been at always says the same thing, "You need to wear your bathing suit". ha ha.
Our hotel in Paquera.
They don't have take out cups here, but they are more than happy to put your smoothie in a bag. We were in this tiny car going down a really bumpy road so I couldn't get a good picture of it.
At breakfast... we LOVED the smoothies they called "naturales"... so far the strawberry has been the best.
Here are the stairs going up to our hotel room. Here in Costa Rica.. they kind of just make things work...
They needed stairs to go in the opposite direction, so they built them!
Our hotel room.. nothing fancy, but it had air conditioning!
We rode out to the beach in this truck that was literally falling apart. Our guide (Fito) told us that the roads were so bad that if he bought a new car it would just end up falling apart as well, so he has an old one. :)
The live bait we used to catch some fish! I was sad that I couldn't bring my boat, but Fito told us that everything we brought would get wet and we couldn't risk it. So, I have no pictures of Isla Tortuga. It was so great. We went to this one current and caught about 8 spotted snappers. Well, Fito caught most of those. He would put his line in (literally, just a line.. no pole) and immediately catch a fish. I caught a little sand pufferfish, and Abinadi caught a bunch of tiny snappers... we had to throw all those back in. The pufferfish was cool to hold though. My dad got a picture with his phone (he took a chance) so maybe one day I'll get those pictures.
The is Playa Organos. Isla Tortuga is the island you see right across the ocean.
Once we got to the island, we got out and went snorkeling. It was amazing. The water was so clear and there were TONS of fish. I found some pictures online of some of the fish we saw.. these aren't my pictures...
The yellow and blue striped ones were EVERYWHERE! You could literally just sit there and swim with them.
These blue fish were really big. There were a ton of them too.
I wish I could find a better picture of this one.. it had a florescent purple stripe on it's back.. it was my favorite.
Now, I couldn't find an exact picture of the blue spotted one we saw, but it was a lot like this one, but with only three bright blue spots on it's sides. Spectacular!
This is the house of the guy that took us out. He doesn't really do tours like this.. he is just some guy that my dad talked to that had a boat. Their house was incredible. Basically just a bunch of sheet metal for walls, dirt floor, and the potty was outside.
Our spotted snappers!
While we were snorkeling, Fito was bringing a bunch of oysters...
Fito cleaning our fish. (Part of our arrangement was that they would cook whatever fish he we caught.)
This is their kitchen. No electricity.. just gas.
LUNCH! The yellow thing is a fried and flattened plantain. They use them kind of like a tortilla.
Fito took us back to the ferry at the end of the day and we rode back to the mainland and then drove back to Esparza.
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