My battle in losing my baby weight....

Gotta love Mike's hat... hehe

Warning: This post is mainly for my personal use, but read and please leave any tips, suggestions, recipes that you think would make this process easier (if that is possible)! Thanks!

So this is a picture of me the summer before I got married, I felt like I was in great shape and I actually liked my body. And as all of you mothers out there know, having a baby pretty much ruins that. I tell myself every day and every single time I look in the mirror that it sure is a good thing that I absolutely adore my daughter and wouldn't change having her (or any future children) for the world. It took me a long time after having Evelette before I accepted what my new body looked like, stretch marks and all.
When Evey was about 3 months old is when I started dieting, working out, and trying to lose weight for the time, thanks to my friend Brit Burningham! I was able to lose 22 pounds in 3 months doing a program with her. I quickly got back into my old eating habits and felt CONSTANTLY hungry, I blamed it on breastfeeding. Once my milk supply ran out when Evey was 6 months old, I told myself I have no more excuses and it is finally time to get this extra weight off!! My dad introduced me to P90X even before I got married, he lent it to me and I tried about three of the workouts and turned them all of within 15 minutes because I just simply could not keep up with them! I recently started the P90X workouts again and have seen incredible results! I have lost 13 pounds so far, in 5 weeks time. I plan to continue until a couple weeks before Christmas, unless I reach my goal weight before then (but I don't see that happening). I was so motivated those first 4 weeks when I was seeing instant results, but like normal, I have reached a halt in my weight loss.  I just have to take the dieting and working out one second, one minute, one hour, one single day at a time, it's all I can do to keep going!
I needed to write this down, not necessarily to let everyone know how much weight I needed to lose or how overweight I was, but so I could look back when this is all done and realize how much progress I've made. I seriously believe that losing weight is next to one of the hardest things I have ever done. My goal is to weigh a lot less BEFORE I get pregnant again, than before I was pregnant with Evelette, that way it won't be this hard after my next child to lose my baby weight (HOPEFULLY!!!).
Well I have about two months left, so wish me luck! Not sure if you will even be able to tell a difference but I will post a before and after picture when I am done. If any of you have any tips, suggestions, recipes, ANYTHING that has helped you or someone you know, please don't hesitate to share.
I feel much better after writing this down, sorry if this was boring for any of you!!

Busy life the last 2 months!

What a crazy, busy last couple of months we've had finishing up summer and trying to squeeze in some last minute trips! We sure had a good one but we were sad to see the warm weather come to an end, really abruptly!
We went down to St. George with Mike's mom, Melanie, and some of his siblings. I wish we lived closer so we could go to St. George more, I love it down there!! We had a lot of fun playing cards, eating good homemade food, watching movies, swimming, going on walks, eating out, and just being with family! Evelette especially loved playing with cousin Xander! She followed him everywhere and always wanted his toys! She is such a tease sometimes, it's pretty funny!

At our favorite restaurant in St. George, Benja's Thai and Seafood, AMAZING!!
(I am VERY happy to say that I have lost 13 pounds since this picture was taken, I HATE my fat face and arms. But don't get me wrong, Evelette was totally worth the hundreds and hundreds of hours of sweating and panting and gasping for breath haha. and many more hours to go until I reach my goal weight...)

Cousins

LOVES to play on grass

Our cute lil' fam

Xander, David and Leslie, Evelette, Me and Mike, Mel, Jordan

Xander looking at Evey like what the heck are you doing!? haha

cuties

Going on a walk, her favorite activity!!

Her second favorite activity. She just loves being swung by daddy. 

We were finally able to go to Lake Powell, my very first time! Lynn was able to get his boat fixed after two years and we had a great time down there with Lynn and Lisa! It was in the upper 80s and low 90s the whole time and this was in the middle of September! We sure lucked out with incredible weather and warm water. Evey loves grandpa's boat, except when she has to wear her lifejacket (which is almost all the time haha).

Sweet Baby Evey being her little cute self

Chillin with daddy

She has never slept so good in her life than she did on the boat! I was very surprised!

She's our little navigator!

Our hike to the 'Indian cave drawings and house'

Sleeping with Grandma Lisa!

My little Evey has such a wonderful spirit and quite the personality! I feel so thankful to have such a happy baby! She is now 10 1/2 months old, 24 1/2 inches long and weighs approx. 17 lbs 7 oz (according to our scale at home).

My little helper

Her favorites for the month are:
-Pushing her walker toy and cruising around the house
-Saying "mama" and "dada" nonstop
-Loves to read (and smack) books with mommy
-She knows right where the pots and pans are in the kitchen, she pulls them all out and somehow knows to find a spoon in the dishwasher to smack on the pans. She is such a great helper in the kitchen! She has always loved being in there while I'm cooking.
-Evey loves the big bookshelf in our living room and pulling THE SAME book out every time, its so funny
-Her way of giving loves to us is by lightly bonking us on the foreheads, its our little game of "bonkies", I think I love to play it just as much as she does
-Her favorite food is steak
-She loves to play the "talking game", she will yell or squeal and then I do it, and we go back and forth. She gets mad when I don't play with her haha
-Evey is a good finder when we play hide and seek
-She gives her little rattle doll loves every time she sees it
-She loves her new sippy cup
-Her new discovery is the water in the toilet, ewwww. We have learned very quickly to always have the bathroom door shut!
-She is pretty much obsessed with any and every other little kid!! I love how her face lights up when she sees another baby!

Taking huge bites out of the cucumber!

Needless to say, I love my daughter more than I ever thought I could love someone. She is such a joy to be around!! She teaches me new things every day. She is becoming a mama's girl more and more. Well speaking of Evey she is pulling on my leg to come play with her. . . Goodbye!

A week with the Blackwells in Utah!

 Our week at a glance through pictures!

 


At the BEAUTIFUL lake Flaming Gorge!

 


Daddy's little driver. She is obsessed with steering wheels!




Cousins Xander and Evelette ready for their naps!




SOO CUTE! Smiling at Aunt Tara.




Splashing herself while swimming at the Scera Pool in Orem!




Evey and Mommy




Jamie, Eves, and me




Smiling at Grandpa Blackwell, I think she secretly has a crush on him hehe




Us girls at my favorite place...Joe Bandidos! Mmmm




Siblings chillin in the nice evening weather



Great Grandma Blackwell





Cute little smily butt




She loves to read books! Thanks Grandma for the books! :)




Cuties! Aunt Brianna




Aiden and Evey, best buds!!




Cousin Irey holding Evelette.




Grandma feeding the munchkin at the pool




She loves her vegetables and chicken!




Her new favorite toy




How precious. I love Evey's face expression in this picture




She did this about every half hour. Her favorite thing to do at Grandma's, besides chase the cats!




Very rare to get all of them to smile at the SAME TIME!




Lelly and Brit at Olive Garden.




She LOVES, LOVES, LOVES bath time!




Trying to get mommy's gum




Entertaining Grandpa Blackwell at Brielle's soccer game!

 We sure had such a fabulous week spent with great family and friends. We miss and love you guys! We are so sad summer is coming to an end, but so happy that we had a great one!

9 Months!

I am very happy to say that I have a very healthy 9 month old baby! Even if she is petite, she is still growing as she should be! She will be 9 months on September 4. Her 9 month well check up, with our new doctor, went great. She weighs a whopping 15 lbs. 12 oz and is 24 1/2 inches tall! My little shorty! She is still not on the charts for height or weight but her head is 17 1/2 inches, which puts her head in the 75th % for her age. What a cute noggin she has! She has hazel/green eyes, blondish/redish hair and is such a beautiful little girl. She is constantly climbing on EVERYTHING, she loves to pull herself up and walk around furniture. A few days ago she started saying "mama"! When she wants me, she'll crawl over to me, crawl and stand up on my legs and yell "mamamamamama" 50 million times til I pick her up. I love it, it makes me smile every time! She says "baba" but I don't think she knows what it means yet. It's so cute, when she wakes up from her naps she'll stand up in her crib and yell "mama" until I come get her. She sure loves her mommy.

8 1/2 months...WHAT!?!

Could she be any cuter, even with crusty boogers!?
Evelette is 8 1/2 months old and loves to crawl, climb, pull herself up pretty much everywhere we go and on anything! She is such a busy little girl who always has bumps and scratches from her exploring and falling. 

She is such a happy little baby and is finally feeling better again! YAY!! She loves playing in the grass, CHEWING on her sippy not sucking, she loves playing peek a boo anywhere, has the most beautiful hazel eyes, her hair is finally growing back! I love this little girl SO MUCH!

Ever since I found out I was having a little girl, I have loved making bows and headbands! These are a few of my recent ones!

I have such an adorable model, don't ya think!?