Day 3 of Water Challenge - withdrawal symptoms begin...

So it's Day 3. I NEED JUICE. PLEASE! ORANGE JUICE. APPLE JUICE. ANYTHING! The first two days weren't so bad. But today, everything I ate seemed to beg for an accompaniment of sugar. Eggs in the morning? How bout some OJ. Hot dog for lunch? What about some diet coke? Lowfat spinach dip for a snack... hmm... my mind was going crazy for a sweet treat! ::sigh:: I knew it couldnt be as easy as I was hoping but still. Right now, all I want is a nice warm cup of hot cocoa, but I know that it would go against the challenge so I must abstain. I know it's for good reason. I heard that it takes 21 days for a habit to form, so maybe after the 7 day challenge I can move up to 21 days?? Uhh... can't think that far ahead.

Some of you may be asking, why can't u have diet coke or flavored water? Well for one thing, pure water is the best for cleansing purposes. And besides that, for me sugar is a trigger. Even FAKE sugar is a trigger. So I know myself enough to know that having a diet coke really is only a gateway drug into wanting more sugary things. So pure water it is! How are my fellow water challengers doing? Any withdrawal yet???

Water Challenge Revisited

Remember my September Water Challenge? Well that was a big flop. I don't even remember what derailed me but the challenge was just too challenging for me I guess! In any event, I've been feeling so sluggish lately, like I need a detox or something. So that's why I wanna TRY to give the challenge another shot for this coming week. NOTHING BUT WATER FOR 7 DAYS.. I can't even imagine what kind of withdrawal my body is going to go through from the lack of sugar.

I'm assuming I'll go from this:


TO THIS!


Wanna join me? Let me know! I'm going to aim for 42 glasses of water in 7 days
(six glasses per day). Can you do it? Do you think I can?

My Moose and Zee 1st Birthday Party Thoughts

Mikey LOVES Moose and Zee. He usually ignores TV otherwise, but as soon as Moose and Zee pop up on the boob tube, he drops everything, mouth wide open, drool spilling for all too see:



So I decided that this would be a great theme for his 1st birthday party! But do a quick google search and there is practically NOTHING out there for a Moose and Zee theme. NickJr has stuff you can print out, but I was hoping that there was a party favor sight that I could just get everything from. I'm looking for a caketopper, wall decals, and maybe those decorations that hang from the ceiling. I'm going to get light blue and yellow helium balloons to float around everywhere too. Hmm.. if anyone has any other ideas, let me know. I'm not going to go completely nuts about it because I'm a firm believer that HE WILL NOT REMEMBER a lick of any of it so why stress myself out? Of course I'm going to try to make it cute, but it'll just be a small gathering, with a few family members, friends, food, and fun. I'm sure he'll be more concerned with the cake we're going to let him taste that day! And earlier that day he'll have his Baby Dedication at our church as well, so it'll be a wonderful occassion. Can't wait!!



- UPDATE - (one year later)

The party was a huge success! I never got around to sharing the info - the party was simple, but perfect for a 1 year old. We printed our decorations from www.nickjr.com then purchased laminate to gloss the decorations, then we hung them up. We also put up light blue and yellow balloons, and our son's godmother made Zee cupcakes! We created goody bags filled with stickers, bubbles, candy, and we created moose and zee cookies to put in the bags as well. (We made sugar cookies, wrapped them in cellophane, then decorated the outside of the cellophane with moose and zee eyes, ears, etc. Here is a quick snapshot of our fun time:

We are currently planning his 2nd birthday and the theme is Disney's "CARS" movie. He hasn't even seen the movie yet but is obsessed with the toys, and clothing that we've purchased for him from the movie. So we're planning on getting yellow and red balloons, and "Cars" decorated cups, napkins, cake topper, the works. They have a lot of great "Cars" inspired party supplies on www.amazon.com I'll link back to this post with pictures after the party!

Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred - Day 1

CALORIES BURNED: 167

Okay. I started the 30 Day Shred. AGAIN. Usually I never seem to be able to get past day 3, I have no idea why.. Okay yes I do. It's called LAZINESS. NOT GOOD! In any event, if at first you don't succeed - well you know the rest. So last night was Day 1. Can I just say, ouch! I was so out of breath and tired and whiney and blecchhhh!! I finished the 20 minutes, but I really don't think I did it with as much effort as I should have. But my body was creekin and crackin! Arghh!

I'm glad I did it though. I didn't enjoy the actual exercise one bit, but I did enjoy the after-endorphins and the feeling of accomplishment I felt aftwards. So I'll keep plugging away. I PRAY that I learn to love exercising... or at least learn to tolerate it and make a habit out of it.

Oh, and I think I'm going to buy a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) because I'm tired of guessing how many calories a certain exercise is burning. From what I hear, a HRM would tell me exactly how many calories I'm burning at that exact moment. So if anyone has a HRM recommendation, please comment!

Somewhere Along The Road of Motherhood... (poem)

Somewhere along "The Road of Motherhood"
I lost my identity.
I all of a sudden had to become everthing for everybody,
no longer able to just be me.
I now wear many hats, you see.
Dauughter, Sister, Friend, and now Mother.
And that last hat is harder than the others.

Of course I'm overjoyed for a family like mine.
A husband, a baby, what more could I need?
But alas a sadness creeps in at times.
A yearning for some autonomy.

Motherhood isn't what I thought it would be.
To some it doesn't come naturally.
And sometimes there's guilt when you've had enough,
when you want to walk away when things aren't easy.

The expectations are what is killing me.
To work, be a wife, and a nurturing mommy.
I'm torn between desire and capability.
And come down hard on myself when I can't juggle all three.
But "If I don't do it, it won't get done."
That's my mentality.

So onward and upward, with a smile on my face.
Most times it's real but then there are those other times.
Times of sadness I'd like to erase.
And hope that sometime soon I'll find my place.
To just be me.


Just a Note - My feelings don't just stem from motherhood per se, it's all of the responsibilities that come with being an adult/wife/mother. I love my son more than anything. This is just a fragment of all of the emotions I feel about my experience.