Wednesday Weigh-In

*SIGH* Y'all, I need help. I've pretty much had a crappy week and I almost completely forgot about today's weigh in. Pair that with the fact that I've had my fair share of birthday cake this week and I knew I was in trouble.

Last week I did so good! This week, not so much.

I gained AGAIN; .8 pounds!  Apparently that is the magic number when it comes to gaining around here.

I realize that my gain wasn't even a whole pound but hear me out. This is what I do every single time I start to make progress. I get comfortable. I feel like it's coming off easily and I just relax. I cannot relax right here. I haven't even lost 10 pounds yet and my ultimate goal is to loose 50!!

You have all been so amazing with the sweet comments & emails and I love each and every one of you for your kind and encouraging words. I read them and I get a little teary eyed or my heart gets bigger with happiness. No, I'm not exaggerating. I'm a sap and women helping other women, especially women who don't even know one another, just makes my heart sing.

Unfortunately, after I've closed my computer and I am in the thick of what is going on around all around me, things that are sometimes out of my control, I turn to food. It's the whole reason why I'm fat y'all. When I'm sad, pissed, confused or at a total loss, I eat. I've hit every one of those emotions this past week.

So what I'm getting at is this: If y'all think about me through the next week could you pop up and say something like "Hey, put that chocolate chip cookie down!" Or maybe, "Hey, how about you get up off that couch and do that ab workout, hmm?" I promise I won't get pissed. I will thank you, over and over again. 

Feel free to embarrass me on twitter or facebook. If you'd prefer to do it quietly then you can always email me. I would be happy to return the favor for any of you. I just need to have my ass kicked this week!

I hope you all did much better than I did and here is to making progress next week!

Click Here for Week 6 




XO,
Lacey

©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

The Beginning

Beginnings are scary, endings are usually sad, but it's the middle that counts the most. Try to remember that when you find yourself at a new beginning. Just give hope a chance to float up. And it will too.. - Hope Floats

Today we embark on a new beginning. Today, Addison begins Kindergarten and James begins preschool. Today we venture out into our first day of homeschool! I've mentioned a few times that we will be homeschooling this year. Did I mention that I'm terrified? Did I mention that I'm having lots of doubts? Did I mention that I'm feeling completely unprepared?  
Well, I am all of those things.

We've done our research and we've weighed the pros and cons. I've spent plenty of nights wide awake til the wee hours of the morning pouring my heart into lesson plans and related activities. Yet still, here I am feeling unsure, but I feel that is pretty common for folks in my position.

Hubs & I have decided to homeschool for a number of reasons. The biggest reason is because of Addison's birthday. You see, here where we live (I'm not sure about other places) a child must be 5 years old by September something or other in order to start Kindergarten in August of that year. Addison misses the cut off by about 2 weeks! My girl is super smart (Yea, I know, all parents say that, but she is!) and she is so ready for school. I've worked with her a lot since she was a baby and that has really paid off. Hubs and I decided that there was no reason in the world to not homeschool her this year and let her start in Kindergarten. As homeschoolers we can proceed at our own pace and since Addison is prepared to start Kindergarten now, there is nothing holding us back.

This year will be a trial run for us. We didn't choose to homeschool forever; we've chosen to homeschool for now and then reevaluate later to decide if homeschooling is still the best option for our family. If it doesn't work out, Addison can start public school next year and still be in line with her peers as far as age and grade level go.

I feel really blessed that I have the opportunity to be at home with my children and to educate them and watch them grow. I know it won't be all roses, but I'm looking forward to this new adventure with them. Would you mind doing me a small favor though? Say a prayer for our family, please. Also, send LOTS of wine. #thankyouinadvance

XO,
Lacey

Photo Cred

 ©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

Milestones

Some milestones have been hit in our home recently and it has been bittersweet to say the least. The most notable of such milestones? Miss Addison lost her first tooth this week. She is not even 5 yet! Want to know what's worse (in my opinion)?

She already has another loose tooth. WTF?!

I was in no way prepared for this. I thought I had, at the very least, until the age of 7. My child, ever the over achiever, had to loose her first tooth at the age of "almost 5."

Last week she was sitting at the table eating her lunch when she jumped up, ran to me and said "Mom, Mom!! I have a loose tooth!!!"

My awesome response? "YOU DO NOT!!" But she did.

I took this video while we were out to dinner the other night:
#keepinitclassy  #wherearemytablemanners


Sorry it's sideways! If you can't see the video click here.

Then, on Tuesday night while I was in the shower, Hubs convinced her to just pull it out. I was peeved that he didn't wait for me but watching her pull out a tooth probably would have made my stomach churn anyway.

My Little Snaggletooth!

Oh, and why the hell hasn't anyone mentioned how DIFFICULT this "pretending to be the tooth fairy" sh!t is?! THIS tooth fairy only had a $5 bill on her at 8 o'clock at night when said tooth was pulled. THIS tooth fairy set the bar WAY.TOO.HIGH. 

What age did your child loose their first tooth and what does the tooth fairy bring him or her?


XO,
Lacey

 ©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

Just Living

With the exception of my weekly weigh in I've been kind of absent from this here blog for a bit. I know, you're just dying to know where I've been, right? Right.

I've just been living.

The realization that my my little world is about to change, a lot and very quickly, has suddenly hit me. My beautiful children - they are getting older. On Monday - we start homeschooling! KINDERGARTEN. It seems like just yesterday that my baby Addison was born, and now, Kindergarten? It just doesn't seem possible. So lately, I have been soaking it all in.

Can I share some pictures of our Shenanigans with you?

A couple nights ago, we had ice cream for dinner:














The next day we had a few water park adventures:


Then, I came home from my rodeo meeting the other night to find my husband outside murdering a snake with a shovel:

I apologize for the crappy quality of these pictures. I just couldn't resist taking a picture of my husband in his shorts and cowboy boots. If y'all only knew how terrified he is of snakes!! 

Things are never boring around here! Okay, just a few more..












~The kids "put me to bed" and apparently I needed something(s) to snuggle with!

~James loving on his Daddy while out to dinner the other night.

~I know y'all are staring down those biscuits up there. I got them from the local H-E-B and they are made by Immaculate Baking - try them!! Those are cranberry orange and they are just divine!

~Addison colored on James' face with orange marker and he officially became a tiger. "Roar!"

~My sweet Hubs passed out on the couch at about 6 p.m. You'd think he'd been up with the kids all night the night before. Oh, wait...

Thank you for hanging out with me while I give you a peek into our world over the last week or two. I hope you are enjoying, and relishing in, these last few days of summer..

XO,
Lacey

 ©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

Shhh!!! Someone is Getting Old!

Friday was my husband's birthday; his 30th birthday! You know I gave him hell even though I'm not far behind him. We actually celebrated his birthday last weekend by going to Schlitterbahn. It was crazy fun times! I wish I had pictures to show you but my camera isn't waterproof and I wasn't taking any chances. I will tell you that I was shocked when Hubs AND Miss Addison rode this ride:

Photo Cred

I didn't think Addison would do this but she sure surprised me. She hopped right on and held on for dear life. She did great! Little Man was dying to give it a go as well but there was NO WAY that was happening. Besides, he wasn't tall enough!

Photo Cred

We all rode the green slide on the far left. I thought for sure that Hubs & I would be able to go down with the kids - one of us with one of them. Nope. Wouldn't let us. My 2 year old did this slide ALL.BY.HIMSELF. I almost pissed my pants, but I was in the water and that would have been gross.

Photo Cred

Our very favorite part of the entire park is always the White Water River. As you can see in the above picture the water is rushing very fast. There are drops and turns and it is NUTS. It's the closest thing I've got to tubing the Guadalupe here in Houston.

Anyhow, since yesterday was the Hubs' actual birthday we celebrated with a very low key evening. We had a nice dinner at home followed by some super delicious cake that does not fit nicely with my "lose 50 pounds plan."  I say 'does not' because I'm still eating on it. Yes, I know that is bad, you don't have to tell me.

 

For Hubs' birthday dinner I made Mini Meatloaf 'Cupcakes' (recipe to come!), fresh snap green beans and garlic smashed red potatoes. For dessert we had his favorite, Carrot cake with cream cheese icing! Sooo goood y'all! Oh and that number 3 on the cake? Don't y'all know that 3 is the new 30? It's all I had! 

My pictures of Hubs came out a little blurry, but y'all, he NEVER smiles. Seriously!! I just had to post them.

Tonight the kids and I are staying in and watching The Lorax while Hubs goes and watches the TEXANS whoop some butt!! So he has pretty much had a week long birthday celebration.

Aren't I just the BEST?

XO, 

Lacey 

 ©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Wow! I cannot believe it has already been 6 weeks since I started this little weekly weigh in series! The time has gone by really fast! Thank you to all of you for your continued support and love, it means the world! 

So when I first told y'all of my plans to run a 5K I weighed in at 205 pounds! My weight loss has been slow going but I'm right on track. Today, I'm weighing in at:

After gaining weight last week I came back with a vengeance! I lost 2.2 pounds this week which puts me down a total of 7.4 pounds!! I'm only 2.6 pounds away from my first 10 pound goal! This is HUGE for me!! Some of you said that maybe my little gain last week was exactly what I needed to kick me into high gear. I wouldn't go so far to say that I went into "high gear" but I definitely got my crap together this week. So, you were RIGHT. It helped!

I concentrated this week on eating better, eating less and being more active. It worked. Imagine that! I'm headed to the grocery store right after I finish this post to stock up on fruits and veggies for the next week or so. When I get home I will start preparing some of them. I find it easier to make good food choices if those choices are convenient and already prepared. So I'll spend a little time steaming veggies and cutting up and storing fruit for easy access.

So for the next two weeks my goal is to drop the 2.6 pounds needed to make my first 10 pound goal. I'd like to think I could do it in just one week, but I don't want to get my hopes up and end up disappointed in myself. I keep trying to remind myself that slow and steady wins the race.

And now, a little inspiration:

I hope you all had a successful week! Remember, we're in this together! 

Click Here for Week 5

 XO,
 Lacey

 ©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Crap. I gained weight this week y'all! I GAINED weight. I even got my ass up off the couch and went to the gym this week! Seriously, I did! I mean, it was only ONCE, but damn, give a girl a break already! Also, I'm 5 weeks with no soda. You read that right. FIVE WEEKS. Do you know how hard that is? I'm sure plenty of you have a clue as to how I'm feeling.

UP .8 pounds

Yep, I'm up .8 pounds. Catastrophe right? It's really not. I'm upset that I gained weight this week BUT if I weren't shoveling food in my mouth like a ravenous pig then I would have lost weight this week instead of gaining. LESSON.LEARNED. As if I didn't already know that would happen...

BUT tonight I found a new piece of inspiration. While watching the news I saw a story about an 80 year old man who is STILL running marathons. He looks to be in amazing shape, his spirits are high, and he is LIVING. I'm a 27 year old, relatively healthy, albeit overweight, young woman. What the hell is wrong with me? Am I lazy? Do I lack motivation? Do I not care? I'd like to think the answer to all of those questions are NO, but if I'm being 100% honest, I do have a bit of a lazy bone. The Point Is if HE can do it, if countless other people can do it, then SO CAN I.

I CAN lose the weight. I CAN run a 5K.
I CAN feel good about myself, inside AND out.

I CAN.
I WILL!

YOU CAN TOO.

Have a GREAT and SUCCESSFUL week y'all!
Make it count!

Click Here For Week 4

XO,
Lacey

 ©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

Sponsor Spots & A Guest Post!

Howdy! I've finally gotten up off my rear end and set up my passionfruit account! I've been putting this off for awhile because I thought it was going to be a total pain in the ass. Guess what? IT WASN'T. Well, I'm sure you know what is coming next right?

I'm going to beg and plead with you to sponsor me! Okay, no not really, I'm really not the begging type BUT it'd be pretty darn cool if you just picked up some ad space cause you wanted to :) If you'd like to swap ads just ad 'The Bee Charmer' to your cart and at checkout use Promo Code "MommyCharmer" and the transaction will total $0.00. Since I'm using passionfruit all ads will go live as soon as they've been approved; it's easy peasy y'all!!

Also....I'm a little late but I wanted to let y'all know that I'm guest posting on Lindsey's blog today! Be a peach and go over and show some guest post love would ya? You should also totally follow Lindsey cause she's a doll!

Oh! I changed up the font for the body of my posts today - is it easier to read y'all? I really liked the font I had before but I'm pretty sure it was hard on the eyes. Let me know what y'all think!

XO,
Lacey

 ©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Heeeey Y'all! Happy Wednesday. Before we get started with this weigh in business I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all of you who have been reading and following along this little journey with me. You have all been so sweet, supportive and encouraging! YOU have been exactly what I was needing. So, THANK YOU, I can't say it enough. Your words truly mean so much to me!

I was SUPER nervous about this weighing in this morning but I've surprised myself again! I was mostly worried because over the weekend I may have drank my weight in beer..Okay well not that much beer, but you get my point.

I'm down .6 pounds since last week! A GRAND total of 6lbs. It's slow going, and of course I'd rather things be happening a lot quicker but I'm not getting impatient. I'm happy to be seeing consistent results week after week and I'm trying to just be happy with that.

On Monday I started tried this insane ab workout; the challenge was to do it for 30 days straight which I had FULL intentions of doing, but I could only make it through the 1st half of the workout. I have NO core strength after 2 pregnancies/C-sections so I was really struggling through it. My plan was to just get up and try again the next day and keep doing it until I could complete it. Then I woke up on Tuesday. IN PAIN. Not a little bit of sore muscle aches but excruciating pain. I could barely lift my legs up because it hurt my abdominals! Yes girls, this workout is legit and as soon as I can once again sit on the floor I WILL be back at it. Ouch.
Click Here for Week 3

  XO,
 Lacey

I'm linking up with Raven & Kristin again this week for Inspire Me Healthy!

©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.

Brothers of The Sun & Saturday Shenanigans

Hey y'all! I've finally recovered enough from Saturday's concert to come back and share all of the shenanigans with you! I won tickets to the Brother's of the Sun Tour from the local radio station a few months ago and I've been anxiously awaiting the show ever since. Saturday was the day, finally!! The hubs and I had a fabulous time! The station hooked us up with some great seats and the cold beers were flowin. Two of my three brothers were also at the show and one of them had seats in a box suite and we ended up getting to join them! It was our first time in a suite and it was way too much fun. FREE food & beer, plus an awesome view without a bunch of folks sitting on top of you? YES please! Thanks to the brother in law for the hook up!

The concert was amazing! I have seen both Kenny and Tim in concert previously but Tim HANDS DOWN brought down the house! He made the show for me, and I told him so!
Instead of rambling on about all the details I'm just going to dump all my pictures on y'all. Enjoy!

Beer was A'flowin!

View from our seats

Kenny's Grand Entrance

Kenny's Stage Set Up

Hello Gorgeous!

Kenny Flying Over the Crowd

This man is scrumptious.

Am I right or am I right?

Me & the Hubs

OH! Can't believe I almost forgot to mention! When it was time to go home, we couldn't find our car! YES, we had been drinking BUT I'm awesome at making note of these types of things. The damn car was RIGHT where I said it was. It was ALL HUBS' fault! He was swearing up and down that it had been towed. I still can't figure out where he got that idea from!

What's your most memorable concert experience?

 XO,
 Lacey

 ©..And They Call Me Mommy,2012.