Catch up & The Beginning of my Fitness Journey

Good Morning everyone, well who is left. It has been a long time AGAIN! Normally I would give a pretty detailed update, but I think too much time has passed, and so much has changed. So lets just do a really quick re-cap.

Maddux is 9 months....WHAT!!!! CRAZY!!!

Averie is in First Grade and doing great. I LOVE LOVE LOVE her teacher. Couldn't ask for a better team of teachers.

I am working full time still, but I did get a promotion. WHOOT WHOOT!

Brian is working hard, and we are still working towards our goal of saving for a house. We are on track for the end of this year.

Anessa is working for the State now which is so amazing. She seems to be very happy. Her father and I are happy for her. We both believe this is a good path for her.

Okay, now onto the good stuff. In the past my blog has kind of been a lot about nothing. I mean there was the occasional post talking about family and what we are doing and plans we have. Other than that I don't feel like it is structured in any way. Until now. I have recently started a new journey that I am so excited to share on here.

I love working out at the gym and eating healthy, but I find that it comes in waves. Until now! I am committed to make it my lifestyle and not just a fluke thing I do. I have been creating a workout plan and figuring out how to track what it is that I am putting into my body. The easiest way to do this I think is with an app for my iPhone. I am still on the hunt for one, so if there are any suggestions out there comment below.

Here is my before picture for documentation purposes. I was watching some fitness videos on YouTube and one of the girls I watch said to use pictures to track your progress not the scale. I think that is a great idea. Considering that weight loss is not my goal. I am looking to be a healthier me and gain muscle. Don't worry, I love my family and will still share and give updates on the kids. For now the excitement of this is riding high.

My Plan moving forward. Hopefully by putting it here and documenting this new adventure I will continue to be motivated. But, my plan is to go to the gym 3-4 days a week. The gym is at my work so I go during the day. Talk about super convenient. Weekly plan goes something like this.

• Monday: Off
• Tuesday: Legs and Glutes
• Wednesday: Cardio/ Stair Master
• Thursday : Chest and Arms
• Friday: Cardio/ Stair Master

Once I have really nailed down my routine I will share what exactly it is that I do. I am also looking into a cycling class that  takes place on Thursday's so that could be incorporated.

Well I am excited to be at this place in my life and I have a very supportive system around me. Anessa my stepdaughter is also into fitness, and so I have been asking her lots of questions and getting some great advice. I can't wait to share everything that I learn with all of you.

Here we GO!

What I ate Wednesday

Happy Monday everyone. This is going to be an interesting post, cause I forgot a lot last week. It started off so calm and easy. Then it picked up and was super busy.

Let's start!

I guess I am not as on my game as I thought. This was my What I ate Wednesday, I figure I owed it to you guys so here it is. I usually do my posts at work and it was so busy towards the end of the week that I just could not get to it. Once I get home all bets are off. There is no time to even be on a computer.

So.... here it is.

Breakfast was delicious senorita bread and coffee!

No I did not eat that whole box, I brought them into work to share. I think I had 6 though!

Then WATER! Lot's of water.

Then Lunch which consisted of yummy Fettucine.

This is the best that I have found downtown. I crave it. Yummers. Oh and it is from Strings Urban Kitchen. Walking distance from my building. Perfect!

For dinner we had.... I have no idea. Why? Because it was 5 days ago. I am so sorry, that is if anyone cares.

Moving on. The weekend was fantastic but too short. Aren't they all.

On Saturday Grandma and Grandpa took Averie at noon and spent the day together.

First up some lunch and then a trip to Fairytale town.

Not only did they spend the day with our little girl, allowing Mommy and Daddy the day together, but they also made us dinner. I did make some bruschetta to take over. We didn't want to be total mooches. After dinner the family went hot tubing and then it was time to head home. We were all pretty tired. Averie passed out in the car.

Averie was pretty tired because on Sunday cause this happened. Talk about tired.

Sunday we spent the day at home. Relaxing, cleaning and trying out new recipes. Those new recipes will be coming to you soon.

Well work is picking up so I am off. I hope to talk to everyone tomorrow.

Half way there

Good Morning everyone. We are half way there. For me that means that my work week is half way over. Two more days until the weekend. YAY!

Update on meal plan, so far we have stuck to the plan. Impressive I know. Today unfortunately we are going to do something different. A trip to the store was necessary yesterday in order for today's dinner to work. I guess I will have to stew on what to make.

I am getting ready to drink this beauty!! I don't know what I would do if they said that you can't drink coffee while pregnant. Cry maybe.

I guess today I should get some work done. I am not very motivated. I am motivated to watch some Saccone Joly's on YOUTUBE!

Hopefully today we make it to the store. Here is my essentials list that I spent yesterday perfecting. I am sure there are things that I missed. The plan is to take it with me to the store and buy the highlighted items. While I shop I can add the things that my preggo brain forgot. Check it out.

Essentials Grocery List

By the way it took me 10 minutes to figure out how to link an Excel Document. There is so much I don't know how to do. I need to be a professional bloggers apprentice. That way I don't have to rely on Google for everything.

Well folks. I have some work to do and some organizing to take care of. I will talk to everyone tomorrow for What I ate Wednesday on Thursday. *smiles*

Meal Planning ~ Essentials shopping list

Happy Tuesday, one more day closer to the weekend. YAY!

I spent the better part of yesterday meal planning, organizing myself for the week, and writing up an essentials shopping list. You know a list complete with the stuff you buy every month, or week. As I started writing the list. I noticed that it was easier if I just included everything, even the stuff that we don't buy every month. I am just going to highlight the things at each shopping trip. That way I never forget anything. I think that this is an easier way for me to manage our monthly groceries.

If you have never made a list like this, this is my first time too. I will let you know how it goes. If it is helpful. I hope it is. I also hope it is going to help me coupon. YAY!

I have an idea, let's look at last weeks meal plan and see how well we followed it.

• Monday  - Spinach and Ricotta Tortellini, We actually had this.
• Tuesday  - Hamburgers/Hot dogs, We did not have this we had Roundtable.
• Wednesday - Verde Enchiladas, I have no idea what we ate on Wednesday.
• Thursday -  Bruschetta chicken http://www.mommyhatescooking.com/slow-cooker-chicken-bruschetta, Averie and I had soup.
• Friday - PIZZA! I make my own dough. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017334-quick-pizza-dough,  I made Caprese Panini's. YUM
• Saturday - Roast Chicken and potatoes. Check out Dinner a Love Story for her recipe. It is my favorite. Brian and I went out for a date night. I made Averie and Grammy Mexican rice, and taquitos.

So I wouldn't say meal planning is a fail for us, but we definitely change things based on circumstances. Let's give it a go this week.

Meal Planning:

• Monday: Spaghetti, and balsamic dip with Rosemary bread.
• Tuesday: Steak Fajitas
• Wednesday: Fried Chicken and Mash potatoes
• Thursday: ?
• Friday: Pizza
• Saturday: Roast chicken

I also plan on making a loaf of banana bread for the week. I think I have mentioned this recipe before. It is the Bethenny Frankel Boo Boo Banana Bread.

It's so easy and delicious. The only change to the recipe that I made is mini chocolate chips. The recipe calls for chocolate chips, which I assume is regular size. I like the mini the best. I also sometimes add walnuts. This post is making me so hungry.

I better head off and eat something before baby boy gets mad at me. EEK.

Talk to you all tomorrow.

Doing to much

Good Morning and a Happy Monday to you all.

Let's talk about the last several days. I have been MIA because baby boy has decided to challenge me a bit. I spent the better part of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in bed with what the doctors call round ligament pain. Oh boy between the pain, nausea and lingering headache I had I was in for a ride. I didn't make it to work but did the best I could working from home. This pregnancy is definitely nothing like the first. I hope it gets better.

Brian left on Thursday for Idaho. His brother is planning to move there in May and they had a few houses lined up to look at. So I was left with little Ms. Averie to fend for ourselves. Pain and all. Thursday was tough. But...then.... GRAMMY came. Talk about a grandma in shining armor. She got me through the weekend, or at least until Saturday when Brian made it back home.

Let's start with Friday. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Cutest kid ever right! We didn't do anything, and I cheated and made soup for dinner.

Saturday, Averie and Grammy went to the Art Beast. This place is awesome. If you live in the Sacramento area you have to check it out. 

http://www.artbeaststudio.com/visit

It's a great place for kids to be artistic and social. Great combination for this kiddo. Look they are all wearing pink. Must be a GIRL THING!

Saturday I made Caprese Panini's for dinner. They were so delicious. When Daddy is away we go vegetarian. It's the only way!

Onto Sunday's festivities. Brian made it back Saturday night and we went out for a late dinner. Kind of an impromptu date night. Sunday morning I made a big breakfast. I am starting to feel a little better by this time. Grammy takes Averie with her to church on the Sunday's that she visits. So Brian and I did nothing. LITERALLY nothing. I think I might have vacuumed something. I am not sure. Once Grammy and the booger got back we headed out to do a little shopping, exploring, and a hospital tour. I didn't do a tour with Averie and thought since it was openly offered, why not?

We went to Kohl's did some shopping, then headed to the new Natural Food  Co-Op. I had tried to go here once before but the parking was a mess so I abandoned the plan. I really like this place. They have the largest selection of binned foods I have ever seen. Which I love. I don't like packaging. I like buying in bulk. Here is the link below. They also have a great selection of hot foods for an easy and quick lunch, or even dinner.

https://sacfood.coop/

If you have never been, it is a lot like a Whole Foods. They even have cooking classes which I think would be fun for Brian and I to do. I have always wanted to learn how to make mozzarella.

Last on the agenda for Sunday was a Hospital Tour. Talk about a reality check. I can't believe I am going to do this again. Just myself, Grammy, and my Mom went so I took a few pics for Brian. Lucky for you all, I can share them. Like you care right. *laughs*

Waiting Room

The counter in the Birthing room where they bathe the baby

Self Explanatory

Desk/sitting area for visitors in the birthing room

Where baby boy will be cleaned and wrapped

That's the jist of what the weekend had in store. Unfortunately, because I did so much on Sunday my body felt very tired and weak, so sleeping was welcomed. Especially since I NEEDto make it to work this whole week.

Well, talk to you later all. I have purse cleaning, organizing, meal planning, and a shopping list to write. Oh and I have some work to do. *wink wink*

Meal Plan Time

Happy Monday everyone!

It has been a long weekend and I am back at it. Getting organized and ready for another week. This is a big week, and a short one. We have been in a bit of a food rut lately. I feel like this happens a lot.

Here is the dilemma. My Hubs is tired of the same rotation of meals. However he is hesitant to try new things. Where am I supposed to go from here!

The "PLAN", I am going to find a couple new meals a week and sneak them in. But they aren't going to be completely new. I am thinking a fresh take on some old favorites. Wish me luck.

• Monday  - Spinach and Ricotta Tortellini
• Tuesday  - Hamburgers/Hot dogs
• Wednesday - Verde Enchiladas
• Thursday -  Bruschetta chicken http://www.mommyhatescooking.com/slow-cooker-chicken-bruschetta
• Friday - PIZZA! I make my own dough. https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017334-quick-pizza-dough
• Saturday - Roast Chicken and potatoes. Check out Dinner a Love Story for her recipe. It is my favorite.

Let's see how this plan works out. I think it is a good one though. Maybe you all can tell me what your favorite sides are. I usually list the main dish, but sometimes struggle with sides. I would love to hear your suggestions.

There is so much going on that it is hard not to write multiple posts in a day. I hope everyone is keeping up, and I am so excited to be back and for things to be going as well as they are.

Until tomorrow.....

Pregnancy products I LOVE

Hi there, we are on another day. I am tired, the time change was quite difficult this time around. Averie is sleeping a lot. She clearly has not got the memo.

The weekend was jam packed full of lots of excitement.

Just kidding, Brian and I painted the backyard fence, and we went gambling with his brother. Not too exciting. I did win 40 bucks though. That is always fun.

I wanted to take a few minutes to share with you all my favorite products that I am using during this pregnancy. I used a lot of the same products that I did with Averie, so I had some experience with products that I thought worked well.

Mothers Friend: This is what I used to keep my skin moisturized when I was pregnant with Averie, so why change up. I came away from that with only one small stretchmark. I know that is genetics, but I do know that pregnant bellies need to stay moisturized, so this is my go to.

Prenatal One: I did a lot of research on prenatal vitamins, and this was the winner. I really wanted something that was plant based. I also supplement with Vitamin D.

Vitamin D: My Vitamin D was low, so the doctor recommended that I take 2000 IU of Vitamin D. This is also plant based, so I gave it a try. I have to mention, even though it is not the most pleasant of topics. The combination of the two of these vitamins has been great  I do not have a lot of constipation. I was constipated a lot in the beginning with Averie.

Boppy Pregnancy Pillow: If you are pregnant and do not have a pillow to make you more comfortable while you sleep, then you need to. I am so uncomfortable while sleeping and these pillows make all the difference. This is the one that I have, and early on it is perfect. This is not a waste of money. NOT AT ALL!

I hope that some of these reviews are helpful, and that you find that they work for you as well as they worked for me. I will post more products as my pregnancy progresses. I did purchase some maternity jeans for the summer from thred-up, but I am still too small to fit them. Once I am able to wear them and it get a little warmer I will do a haul.

Until then everyone, have a great week. Happy Monday!

Gender Reveal

Hi there everybody.

Here is a little back story.

Brian and I host a Family Dinner once a month, so when we found out we were pregnant in February we announced it then. So for March's dinner we decided to reveal the gender. Brian nor I can keep a secret so we decided it would be best to tell everyone at dinner.

Here is our attempt at a gender reveal video.

It was pretty exciting and I think Averie loved being able to pop the balloon. Brian and I knew already so it was more of a surprise for family. Which all kind of thought we were going to have a boy already.

Brian and I are so excited to welcome our little stud. Averie is going to be a great big sister.