I have always been physically fit, in high school and college I was involved in sports and ate great….UNTIL I was pregnant with my daughter. I grained right at 75 pounds when I was pregnant. I would not advise the “I can eat what I want, this is the one time its ok to be fat!” attitude…..well in 3 years I have bounced all around with my weight and couldn’t seem to steady myself at a weight I felt comfortable with.
I started P90X 5 weeks and 3 days ago, I bought the program because we are short on $ and there isn’t a co-op gym program here at this base and with a toddler I needed something I could do that wouldn’t monopolize much time. This Program is perfect, its right at an hour a day and I can do it when she is still asleep, napping, sometimes if I let her watch a movie or at bed time. Now I am not going to say this program is easy, because it is VIGOROUS…. but no joke I woke up the next morning so sore…BUT no pain no gain!!
I am starting to feel good about my body again, I can look in the mirror and see that my body is changing (its an awesome feeling). Not going to lie, some days I am just not feeling it, but I put the dvd in anyways, Tony says “do your best and forget the rest” that’s what I have been doing and it feels great!
I know once I get to where I want to be I will not go back to my “old” self, I will continue this because feeling and looking great does not come quick or easy it is a LIFESTYLE change!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Toys are toys….
Okay , I told my husband Adam when we have our childern (before we had a child), he or she will not be limited to only boys toys or girls toys, because I think its silly to tell a child you cant play with that, its for a boy! I had two older brothers growing up and I played with my fair share of dinosaurs and G.I. Joes, point is I played with those toys because I thought they were interesting, they were fun. I would say growing up I played will all kinds of toys and I turned out just fine!
SO this is not the first time this has been brought up to me, and well I find it rather irritating. There was a lot more said then this….“Your daughter is the only girl I know that would rather play with dinosaurs and trucks over dolls…….” and you say that like its bad?! why should we limit our children to pink princess things and dolls, or blue monster trucks and trains? I think children should be exposed to all sorts of toys when they are young!
Relating back to my child development classes in college….typically a child who was a female would get a doll to play or a kitchen set, or a vacuum or whatever because when that little girl grows up she will one day have children and clean house. A boy on the other hand would get a chemistry set, firemen hat or legos, because someday that little boy will grow up and have to provide for his family with a skill or trade. TIMES have changed….Its 2010 for goodness sake. If a girl wants to play with a chemistry set, LET her… she is curious and wants to know about the world around her. If a boy wants a kitchen set, don’t think anything about it maybe one day he will be an award winning chef!
POINT is….children are young, they are trying to explore the big world around them. So don’t criticize or deny a child a toy based on the social norms of that toy, because at the end of the day IT’S A TOY! A childs’ play thing!
SO this is not the first time this has been brought up to me, and well I find it rather irritating. There was a lot more said then this….“Your daughter is the only girl I know that would rather play with dinosaurs and trucks over dolls…….” and you say that like its bad?! why should we limit our children to pink princess things and dolls, or blue monster trucks and trains? I think children should be exposed to all sorts of toys when they are young!
Relating back to my child development classes in college….typically a child who was a female would get a doll to play or a kitchen set, or a vacuum or whatever because when that little girl grows up she will one day have children and clean house. A boy on the other hand would get a chemistry set, firemen hat or legos, because someday that little boy will grow up and have to provide for his family with a skill or trade. TIMES have changed….Its 2010 for goodness sake. If a girl wants to play with a chemistry set, LET her… she is curious and wants to know about the world around her. If a boy wants a kitchen set, don’t think anything about it maybe one day he will be an award winning chef!
POINT is….children are young, they are trying to explore the big world around them. So don’t criticize or deny a child a toy based on the social norms of that toy, because at the end of the day IT’S A TOY! A childs’ play thing!
Bragging rights….
My baby is growing up. It seems like just yesterday she was born and I couldn’t wait for her to crawl, to talk, to walk and now she is almost 3 years old! I can’t believe how time flies…Alexis has always picked up on things fast and I am so thankful for that, she is very blessed!
As a mother, I think it is my right to brag on my child....My little girl is FINALLY sleeping in her own bed (she slept in her bed until we introduced the toddler bed and then she slept in my bed for a good 10 months, while we were in VA) now she is happy and content with her Dora bedroom and has to sleep with all of her favorite stuffed animals haha. Also my daughter is practically potty trained (we introduced the potty around 15 months and didn’t push it but she did very well, with all the moves and jobs since we didn’t really stick to it, but we are now)!! She will tell me when she has to go, if we go somewhere she will hold it until we get home or she may have an accident, but I told her accidents happen and that’s ok! She still wears diapers to bed and when we are in the car but she asks me all the time for “big girl pants”! She has been counting for a long time now, but recently she has been counting EVERYTHING, its crazy she will tell me “mommy there is 4 books on my bed”, she also counts on her fingers and toes!! Alexis started talking very early, by almost 2 she was talking in sentences and now she talks in complete sentences!! We have been working a lot on colors, this is not her strong point… I think I have pounded everything else into her head but colors, but every night we color in her book with 3 colors and she tells me what they are, work in progress. AND… I am proud to announce she started preschool on Tuesday July 6th!! Her teacher told me she is very advanced for her age, she is a good listener and is very polite (when she told me this my jaw dropped…my child?! haha a good listener haha I wish she would listen at home). This morning I woke her up at 7:15am and she hasn’t been up this early since April and she didn’t want to wake up, but I told her we are heading to preschool and she literally changed her whole attitude and was excited…she told me “hurry up mommy we don’t want to be late to preschool!”.
I love my daughter so very much and I cant wait to see what wonderful things she will do in her life!!
As a mother, I think it is my right to brag on my child....My little girl is FINALLY sleeping in her own bed (she slept in her bed until we introduced the toddler bed and then she slept in my bed for a good 10 months, while we were in VA) now she is happy and content with her Dora bedroom and has to sleep with all of her favorite stuffed animals haha. Also my daughter is practically potty trained (we introduced the potty around 15 months and didn’t push it but she did very well, with all the moves and jobs since we didn’t really stick to it, but we are now)!! She will tell me when she has to go, if we go somewhere she will hold it until we get home or she may have an accident, but I told her accidents happen and that’s ok! She still wears diapers to bed and when we are in the car but she asks me all the time for “big girl pants”! She has been counting for a long time now, but recently she has been counting EVERYTHING, its crazy she will tell me “mommy there is 4 books on my bed”, she also counts on her fingers and toes!! Alexis started talking very early, by almost 2 she was talking in sentences and now she talks in complete sentences!! We have been working a lot on colors, this is not her strong point… I think I have pounded everything else into her head but colors, but every night we color in her book with 3 colors and she tells me what they are, work in progress. AND… I am proud to announce she started preschool on Tuesday July 6th!! Her teacher told me she is very advanced for her age, she is a good listener and is very polite (when she told me this my jaw dropped…my child?! haha a good listener haha I wish she would listen at home). This morning I woke her up at 7:15am and she hasn’t been up this early since April and she didn’t want to wake up, but I told her we are heading to preschool and she literally changed her whole attitude and was excited…she told me “hurry up mommy we don’t want to be late to preschool!”.
I love my daughter so very much and I cant wait to see what wonderful things she will do in her life!!
Career….
When I was in middle school I had a huge infatuation with dinosaurs and I wanted to be a paleontologist. But that faded when my brother had his first child. After many times of babysitting my nephew, I decided I wanted to be a elementary teacher. When my brother’s son was diagnosed with Autism, I decided I wanted to be a special education teacher.
After graduation from high school I told my family I wanted to enlist in the marine corps. Not having had anyone in our immediate family serve my family was very reluctant to let me join. Being 18, I TOLD them I was going to do it with or with out their consent. The night before I was to go to MEPS my brother talked me down from the idea, he told me to go to college (I had already been accepted to all the colleges I applied to) and if I still wanted to join the Marine Corps I should BUT as an officer. So when I went off to college that was my underline plan to join the Marine Corps as an officer after graduation.
While in college among joining a sorority, being in choir, the dance team, a member of the cross country team, the wrestling manager, being involved in Christian organizations, and working part time as a work study student and as a waitress (I was always extremely busy, that’s how I stayed organized to believe it or not) I declared my major to be Elementary education. After taking general psychology class I became very interested in it. So I made psychology my second major.
I was in my junior year of college and found out Adam and I were having a baby. I wanted more than anything to finish my degree (first in my immediate family to go, and graduate from college). Well if I wanted to have my cake and eat it too I had to make some hard choices. I wanted Adam and me to have the baby and live together, and I wanted to graduate college with both of my majors, BUT in order to do that I would have to stay an extra year due to finishing up all the required classes and student teaching. Not knowing what the future will hold I was reluctant to be away from my husband and keep him away from his daughter (I debated transferring to a college in California but not all of my credits would transfer), As I calculated it if I dropped my elementary education major ALL I would have to do is take summer classes to make up for missing the fall classes, come back after having the baby, and finish on time in the spring….so that’s what I did. It was a sacrifice I am glad I made, sure it was hard but it was extremely worth it.
Since graduating from college, getting married and having our beautiful daughter I still had my dream of joining the marine corps. To me it almost made so much sense to have both my husband and I serve our country, but it raised a HUGE debate with members of both of our families. I get that I will be away from my daughter, I get I will miss things that happen in her life… BUT to me I BELIEVE anyone who is mentally and physically fit should show their gratitude to all the men and women who have fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice in preserving what our for fathers did…OUR FREEDOM! To me that is the GREATEST honor of all, to proudly say “I served for our country”. To me it doesn’t matter what branch you serve, doesn’t matter what your MOS (or job) is, EVERY body in every branch and MOS serves as a piece to the whole picture.
I am currently un-sure what I want to do with my life. I was so sure, but having a child, and a husband who will be deployed or be in the field A LOT has altered what I WANT to do! My husband doesn’t necessarily like the idea of me being in the marines because he doesn’t want me to deploy and possibly get hurt, I get that, he also would like another child someday and me joining would put that on hold a while longer.
SO what to do? I could just sit at home and be a house mom and wife….NO! that is not the life for me, I am a self sufficient individual… I don’t ever want to RELY on my husband. No matter what I never want to feel like I NEED him, but to want him! I don’t want just any job, I want a CAREER…something I can move up in, something I like to do. The main difference between a job and career to me is: a job is something you have to do for the money, its something that you may not necessarily like, a career is something you choose….its your passion, it isn’t always easy but you are glad to have that career at the end of the day. well I must make a decision…. my life is slowly passing me by, and I am yet to decide whether to go back to school and get my masters or to pursue the marine corps or to find a happy medium 9-5pm job.
TO BE CONTINUED……at a later date:)
After graduation from high school I told my family I wanted to enlist in the marine corps. Not having had anyone in our immediate family serve my family was very reluctant to let me join. Being 18, I TOLD them I was going to do it with or with out their consent. The night before I was to go to MEPS my brother talked me down from the idea, he told me to go to college (I had already been accepted to all the colleges I applied to) and if I still wanted to join the Marine Corps I should BUT as an officer. So when I went off to college that was my underline plan to join the Marine Corps as an officer after graduation.
While in college among joining a sorority, being in choir, the dance team, a member of the cross country team, the wrestling manager, being involved in Christian organizations, and working part time as a work study student and as a waitress (I was always extremely busy, that’s how I stayed organized to believe it or not) I declared my major to be Elementary education. After taking general psychology class I became very interested in it. So I made psychology my second major.
I was in my junior year of college and found out Adam and I were having a baby. I wanted more than anything to finish my degree (first in my immediate family to go, and graduate from college). Well if I wanted to have my cake and eat it too I had to make some hard choices. I wanted Adam and me to have the baby and live together, and I wanted to graduate college with both of my majors, BUT in order to do that I would have to stay an extra year due to finishing up all the required classes and student teaching. Not knowing what the future will hold I was reluctant to be away from my husband and keep him away from his daughter (I debated transferring to a college in California but not all of my credits would transfer), As I calculated it if I dropped my elementary education major ALL I would have to do is take summer classes to make up for missing the fall classes, come back after having the baby, and finish on time in the spring….so that’s what I did. It was a sacrifice I am glad I made, sure it was hard but it was extremely worth it.
Since graduating from college, getting married and having our beautiful daughter I still had my dream of joining the marine corps. To me it almost made so much sense to have both my husband and I serve our country, but it raised a HUGE debate with members of both of our families. I get that I will be away from my daughter, I get I will miss things that happen in her life… BUT to me I BELIEVE anyone who is mentally and physically fit should show their gratitude to all the men and women who have fought and gave the ultimate sacrifice in preserving what our for fathers did…OUR FREEDOM! To me that is the GREATEST honor of all, to proudly say “I served for our country”. To me it doesn’t matter what branch you serve, doesn’t matter what your MOS (or job) is, EVERY body in every branch and MOS serves as a piece to the whole picture.
I am currently un-sure what I want to do with my life. I was so sure, but having a child, and a husband who will be deployed or be in the field A LOT has altered what I WANT to do! My husband doesn’t necessarily like the idea of me being in the marines because he doesn’t want me to deploy and possibly get hurt, I get that, he also would like another child someday and me joining would put that on hold a while longer.
SO what to do? I could just sit at home and be a house mom and wife….NO! that is not the life for me, I am a self sufficient individual… I don’t ever want to RELY on my husband. No matter what I never want to feel like I NEED him, but to want him! I don’t want just any job, I want a CAREER…something I can move up in, something I like to do. The main difference between a job and career to me is: a job is something you have to do for the money, its something that you may not necessarily like, a career is something you choose….its your passion, it isn’t always easy but you are glad to have that career at the end of the day. well I must make a decision…. my life is slowly passing me by, and I am yet to decide whether to go back to school and get my masters or to pursue the marine corps or to find a happy medium 9-5pm job.
TO BE CONTINUED……at a later date:)
Monday, June 28, 2010
From Coast to Coast…
Some people love it, some people hate it, the marine corps will take ya all over the country and world…we started in South Carolina and we have been to California, to Virginia and to North Carolina. I told Adam when we first started out, lets do and see as much as we can, because we may never have the chance to do it again…so at every duty station or holiday we try to make the most of it, to do and see as much as we can. To me life is about the moments you spend with your family, so we are always doing something together as a family.
Adam and I were both nervous to move to California, the crazy traffic and people, just the over all not knowing anyone or anything at this new place. However, over time we both grew to LOVE the Beautiful weather, the people we met and the really neat places we visited. We lived on base and the base beach was about 20 miles away so we went there often. Adam has an aunt who lives in the beautiful country side north of Hollywood. We visited a few times while we were out there, we had the chance to go white water rafting, and we walked through the beautiful red wood trees (an awesome experience). We also visited Hollywood a few times, that was really fun, there are many different things to see in Hollywood (word of advice its kind of scary at night, that’s when all the weirdoes come out hahaha). we also went to sea world, they have a promotion that military and their families get to go to the park free once a year. We never made it to the different beaches or to Vegas but if we ever get stationed out there again we will defiantly have to go.
When Adam had successfully completed officer school, Alexis and I moved to Virginia to stay with Adam while he was at TBS. While in Virginia it was a very stressful time for Adam he had a grueling 6 month training session where he wouldn’t come home for nights, and or if he did come home he would be walking in really late, had to study even later, and then be up at it again early the next morning. When we did do anything Adam was a good sport about it, we usually went on weekends or on holidays. We visited the DC area many times, to many of the museums and we also went to the Independence day parade which was really fun! We also went to Richmond a couple times where we took Alexis to the children’s museum, and to the holocaust museum. Over one holiday weekend I planned a trip I was extremely excited about, we went to PA, to the Hershey museum and to the factory (they give free candy at the end of the ride through the factory, yum yum). On that trip we also stopped in Baltimore where we went to (a rather expensive and not very entertaining) the National Aquarium. We never made it to the Smithsonian air and space museum or to Arlington cemetery, so those are places we will have to visit if we make it there again.
Now we are in North Carolina where already we have done many things. We have traveled to Charleston, SC and did many things there such as the patriots point, Ft. Sumter, and Ft. Moultrie, went to the market and the aquarium. We have been to Myrtle beach, where we went on the board walk and went to the Ripley’s aquarium (Alexis loves fish that’s why we go to so many aquariums). Alexis and I make it to the base beach at least once a week. There is much to do here and I am excited to discover our awaiting adventure.
Along with seeing new things, we have also met some really good friends that I hope through the years we stay in contact with. Without them, our experience of our duties stations wouldn’t be the same. People always say the marine corps is a family, and I am so glad to be apart of it. The people we have met throughout the years have stood by us through rough spots in our lives, our children have played together, they have welcomed us into their homes for special occasions. I hope that they all know how much each of them has touched my life.
Adam and I were both nervous to move to California, the crazy traffic and people, just the over all not knowing anyone or anything at this new place. However, over time we both grew to LOVE the Beautiful weather, the people we met and the really neat places we visited. We lived on base and the base beach was about 20 miles away so we went there often. Adam has an aunt who lives in the beautiful country side north of Hollywood. We visited a few times while we were out there, we had the chance to go white water rafting, and we walked through the beautiful red wood trees (an awesome experience). We also visited Hollywood a few times, that was really fun, there are many different things to see in Hollywood (word of advice its kind of scary at night, that’s when all the weirdoes come out hahaha). we also went to sea world, they have a promotion that military and their families get to go to the park free once a year. We never made it to the different beaches or to Vegas but if we ever get stationed out there again we will defiantly have to go.
When Adam had successfully completed officer school, Alexis and I moved to Virginia to stay with Adam while he was at TBS. While in Virginia it was a very stressful time for Adam he had a grueling 6 month training session where he wouldn’t come home for nights, and or if he did come home he would be walking in really late, had to study even later, and then be up at it again early the next morning. When we did do anything Adam was a good sport about it, we usually went on weekends or on holidays. We visited the DC area many times, to many of the museums and we also went to the Independence day parade which was really fun! We also went to Richmond a couple times where we took Alexis to the children’s museum, and to the holocaust museum. Over one holiday weekend I planned a trip I was extremely excited about, we went to PA, to the Hershey museum and to the factory (they give free candy at the end of the ride through the factory, yum yum). On that trip we also stopped in Baltimore where we went to (a rather expensive and not very entertaining) the National Aquarium. We never made it to the Smithsonian air and space museum or to Arlington cemetery, so those are places we will have to visit if we make it there again.
Now we are in North Carolina where already we have done many things. We have traveled to Charleston, SC and did many things there such as the patriots point, Ft. Sumter, and Ft. Moultrie, went to the market and the aquarium. We have been to Myrtle beach, where we went on the board walk and went to the Ripley’s aquarium (Alexis loves fish that’s why we go to so many aquariums). Alexis and I make it to the base beach at least once a week. There is much to do here and I am excited to discover our awaiting adventure.
Along with seeing new things, we have also met some really good friends that I hope through the years we stay in contact with. Without them, our experience of our duties stations wouldn’t be the same. People always say the marine corps is a family, and I am so glad to be apart of it. The people we have met throughout the years have stood by us through rough spots in our lives, our children have played together, they have welcomed us into their homes for special occasions. I hope that they all know how much each of them has touched my life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)