pregnancy joys

up at 2:00 am. can't sleep. hip hurts really bad. very hungry. hubby is snoozing. want to go back to sleep. watching some show about cheese. :( this won't last forever i keep telling myself.

mae

32 week

meaning Elijah's due date is 8 weeks away (and he could be here sooner). Right now i have so many emotions that it's hard to even put into words. I am so eager to see this little guy and to hold him while at the exact same time not ready AT ALL for him to be out of my stomach.

as the big day draws near, i find myself asking so many questions. will i be a good mother? will i know what to do to take care of this precious gift from the Lord? will i be able to make it through labor? how will i know i'm going into labor? will my water break? will this little boy look like daniel or myself...or i guess neither of us? will he be healthy & happy? and so on... i have so many questions and i have to patiently wait for the answers.

i know i already love him & i haven't even seen him face to face. I love feeling his movements (even when i'm trying to sleep). Daniel & I seem to always be guessing what part of the body is protruding from my stomach. I think our son likes to have his bottom up in the air (or at least that is what we think it is :)).

These days i'm definitely feeling pregnant. I think it is pretty humorous for daniel as i make so many sounds just trying to get out of bed. Hey you try to get out of your snoogle while your bladder is so full & your 7 1/2 months pregnant. My abs are definitely shot but it's worth it :). I do feel like a beached whale at times. Oh some of you have asked to see the snoogle so here is a pic i pulled from the Internet. most nights i like it...

Eli has hiccups pretty much on a daily basis.

my first baby shower is on Saturday!

last night we started our pregnancy classes. i think it is making it so real...not so far off. we watched the labor video...WOW! on our way home my sweet husband said "we need to get our bags packed". I smiled and said...honey we still have time. :)

mae

did i mention...

i love this man!
I came across this picture while actually looking for another pic and had to share. It reminds me of his love :) Thank you Lord for such a wonderful husband who first and foremost loves you & desires to serve you Jesus, but that he also loves me...for some reason.

***NEW POST BELOW***

Mae

4th of July

We had a busy weekend that was spent with family & friends :)

Friday...well I got my hair all chopped off. This was actually NOT my idea at all but rather my sweet husbands. He convinced me...wasn't very hard...to just get it ALL cut off. He was so cute. My appointment wasn't till 2:30 but all through out the day he would tell me that he was excited I was getting my hair cut. He was so giddy at the hair salon...he sat there patiently waiting, studying Greek while the lady began to do her thing on my hair chopping off 7 inches. He would peek around every so often and smile at me while she cut away :) Man I love this guy! When she was done...a huge grin came over his face, and he couldn't help but stare at me the rest of the day. I think he REALLY likes it!! I like it too :)

Saturday we went to the lake with my family & of course the puppies were there. Recap...in case you don't know who the "puppies" are..well our dog Madie has a sister Sadie (who my brother & sister-in-law own). Miss Sadie just recently had 5 puppies & here they are...

Una (the oldest) a girl

Darling (the smallest) a girl

Minnie Me (she look just like Sadie) a girl

Prince (the only boy!)

Miss Piggy (she eats ALL the food) a girl

then we headed back home to have dinner with Daniel's family. After that we headed to my parents to watch the fireworks since they have a really great view from their back porch.

our precious niece Mia

Andrew (Daniel's brother) Jen-Yu & Mia

(here i am at 31.5 weeks)

All in all it was a great weekend!

We have yet another fun filled week ahead..

Tuesday night we start our pregnancy classes (not sure what the technical name is) & then on Saturday is my first baby shower!!!! Pretty exciting stuff. That's all for now...

Mae

our weekend :)

what a great weekend it was! Started off with both daniel & I having friday off...whoohoo!! our day was spent just taking it easy in the morning, then heading out to lunch with my whole family. after that we went "baby tea" shopping because I am looking for an outfit to wear to my tea which is a week from Saturday! No success...but will keep looking! After swinging by the grocery store on our way home, I decided to make daniel his new favorite little treat :) oozie doozies!
well & of course Madie had to taste...
and Elijah got some too :)
saturday morning daniel studied Greek for 3 hours while he let me sleep in. Let me just say that it was amazing! Eli has been an active boy lately depriving mommy of sleep, so I think I just finally crashed! I slept from 9:30pm to 8:30am. Can't tell you the last time I did that! Thanks daniel for letting me catch some zzzz's!
Saturday was our all day "date day" (taking advice from some sweet friends to enjoy all the time we have together before the little one arrives). We went shopping (well shopping with only managing to buy one pair of running shorts for Daniel that were way on sale we couldn't pass up) had lunch at one of our favorite local places, and then headed to the IMAX theater to watch Transformers 2. We had a nice little dinner & then headed home for time just to hang out!
my husband..the one always behind the camera :)
sunday (today) after early service & community group, we hit the rode for the lake! what a fun day hanging out with friends. Of course daniel & i got more sun than we thought! Even though i can't ski or tube (you know pregnancy gets in the way) that didn't stop me from enjoying the boat rides while others had their fun! what a fabulous way to end the weekend. Now to another week that will be filled with 2 doctor appointments, work, friday off & some time spent with the family :) Have a good one!
Oh & did i mention i will be 31 weeks on tuesday...getting so close!!
mae

BOBing it!

In just a few short months you will see me out & about BOBing it! Thanks to my sweet in-laws, Elijah will be cruising in style as he & mommy (and maybe even daddy) take our daily run!! We got a phone call the other day that it had arrived in the store (they had to special order it), & Daniel IMMEDIATELY hopped in the truck to pick it up. When I arrived home it was put together so nicely waiting for me to test it out. Thanks sweetie!! We both were/are so excited. Didn't know we could or even would get this giddy about a baby jogging stroller. So without further ado..
Please excuse the way i look in the pic...Daniel & i had just got back from a long run & NO we didn't take the BOB if you were wondering (although we wished we had little Elijah out to do just that :)).


can't wait to test it out with all the other mommy friends out there too!
Mae

Should I

...be worried I still have 10 weeks to go. Yikes...Elijah is growing pretty rapidly & so am I. Here I am at (almost) 30 weeks!!


Our doctor visit last week was...well...not so fun! I had to get a shot in my rear end, 2 finger pricks (because the nurse couldn't get my first finger to bleed enough blood) & I had to have blood taken out of my arm...ugh. BUT the good part was that I passed my sugar test!!! Praise the Lord. We got a great report from the doctor & I am measuring right on track (maybe a little big but no biggie). Elijah is head first & in position which we were grateful to hear! we go back to the doctor again a week from wednesday. maybe they will surprise us with a sneak peak of our little boy on the ultrasound :)

mae

never thought

...i would purchase a pack of white men's wifebeaters from wal-mart for myself, but today i did! since i'm still running & it's summer time, I needed something to go over this BIG belly of mine! All my running shirts still fit EXCEPT for the fact that my belly hangs out either while i'm standing there or when i begin running. and i would wear daniel's t-shirts, but i live in a VERY VERY hot state where a t-shirt could seriously make me over heat!!! so there ya have it...a first :)

mae

my secrets

...to weight loss (ok let's be honest! they are not secrets...basically in a nut shell just eat right & work out :))
I am overwhelmed at how many people have requested to "know my secrets" over the year, and well you see i have been a bit busy in all preparing for a baby & working working working! BUT i have finally found some free time to sit down & share so bare with me if it is long...

to begin:
I would say one of the most important things for me (and that I tell everyone first thing) is that you NEED if at all possible to get someone to either workout with you, or to be there for encouragement (or to just tell you not to eat that chocolate brownie that you really really want!!). This person for me was my dear husband (i guess at the time when i started 4 years ago he way my boyfriend :)). Daniel never missed a workout or run and was very good at helping me stick to the diet! What a great guy. Not only that, he basically was my "personal trainer". In case you haven't noticed (which i'm sure you have) he is in GREAT shape and has been working out for years, so he knows all about it! Yes there were times that well...i wasn't so kind to him because really i didn't want to lift one more pound or i just had to have an oreo cookie. Looking back now i am so thankful for his constant love & faithfulness to me :)

**oh i do need to say that over the years my exercises & diet have changed slightly as i have gotten stronger & exercise more, but this below is what initially i started with & made me drop the weight pretty quick. My total weight loss (pre-pregnancy :)) was 64 lbs.

the workout:
-don't start off by killing yourself

• 30 mins of intense aerobic exercise (started off at 3 days a week & worked up to 5 or 6 days). This can be anything like running, fast walking, aerobic classes, swimming, biking, elliptical & so on. I would usually try to run three days a week & then do some other activity the days in between.
• weight training **Ok ladies! I know what your thinking right now! "I don't want to lift weights because it will make me big & bulky". Let me be the first to tell you that is a lie...remove it from your thoughts right away!! Weight training has done wonders for me!

Here are some tips/guidelines to plan for your lifting...

• don't always do the same exercises. change it up to keep it interesting & keep your body guessing!
• don't work the same muscle groups two days in a row.

• i usually pick two exercises per muscle group & do each of them three sets of 15 (ex. 3 sets of 15 side raises & 3 sets of 15 dumbbell press all to work my shoulders. Google those if you don't know what i am talking about).
• i would usually do something like back, biceps & legs on Monday, & then chest, shoulders & triceps on Tuesday...Wednesday would be back to what was on Monday and so on...circuit training is also a good way to change it up.
  

the diet:

• cut out all sweets!!
• basically eat the same amount of protein as carbs.
• make sure your carbs are whole grains NOT mulitgrain (that can be deceptive...they are not the same thing). ex for whole grains: whole wheat bread, whole wheat bagels, whole wheat tortilla's, oatmeal...etc. basically anything that is 100% whole wheat!!
• for protein you want anything that is lean & grilled/blackened, etc. Get rid of the fried fast food stuff! Ex: egg whites, grilled chicken, tuna, grilled shrimp, turkey...etc. protein is important & you need it to build lean muscle.
• do vegetables more than fruit since fruit does have sugar in it.
• use splenda instead of sugar
• cut out soft drinks!!!! I lost somewhere between 5 to 10 lbs by just cutting them out alone!
• be aware of calories...and how many you take in!
• drink water...don't waste calories with sugary drinks that leave you empty! I have found that propel water is a great way to get flavor but also to go healthy!!
• when you are out to eat order a salad with grilled chicken! be smart with your choices. eat steamed or grilled veggies instead of those french fries.

my menu: in case some of you need more direction because i know i did! I wanted Daniel to tell me EXACTLY what to eat & the portion size..

Breakfast:

2 egg white (with pepper NO SALT!)

1 piece of whole wheat toast

water :)

Lunch:

1 can of tuna (drained) with a table spoon of fat free mayo & some pickle relish. All of this on two pieces of whole wheat bread to make a tasty sandwich.

water :)

Dinner:

grilled chicken on a beautiful bed of lettuce with some fat free dressing. also, i try & include some walnuts, raisins, carrots, tomatoes on my salad for extra nutrients!!

great snacks: hand full of walnuts, almonds, raisins, carrots spread out during your day when you just feel like you can't make it!

**Oh i can't believe i almost forgot this...PROTEIN SHAKES! My first year of loosing weight I lived off of these! Every morning i drank one with a half of a whole wheat bagel. BUT i have to say that after years of drinking them I can barely even type this without throwing up! Maybe i will get back to them when I'm not pregnant!!

so there it is...

don't expect to be instantly thinner. it took me about 8 to 9 months to loose 50lbs & and then another 3 to 4 months to get the rest off! I have kept it off and feel great! It is all about a lifestyle change!

i have continued with this lifestyle even being pregnant. As of today I have gained 11lbs at 28.5 weeks pregnant (well i say 17 lbs but the doctors say 11lbs). Eat healthy and exercise like i said before. Oh & do splurge some time! I can still remember when I lost my first 30 lbs Daniel took me to chili's & let me get my OWN molten chocolate cake! I devoured that thing! He wanted to reward me for all my hard work. So sorry this is jumbled and I feel like I am rambling, but maybe someone will benefit from it. Please let me know if you have any questions :)

Mae

God is just so full of surprises!!...