4 weeks already??

Wow… is it really 4 weeks already?? I cannot believe this is already 1/3 of the way through, how nuts!! The isabody challenge ends 8/2/2016 for me, and I just booked my tickets to go to Celebration with my good friend Molly, who I haven’t seen in YEARS! I am so glad that we have connected, and we are building my new business together. I’ll admit it’s a lot to handle also working a full time job, with a self-employed husband, who is also getting his master’s degree (yes he is a really good a multi-tasking), but the last few months have opened my eyes to something better, which is helping people. I used to think of my life as a very negative thing, too much to do, too little time. I never have enough money. I never get to go on vacation. I have to work all the time. I can’t lose weight. I can’t afford it. How negative and awful right?? Well I’ve realized that because of my negative mindset, I have been failing at tasks I could have accomplished years ago. If only I would have just believed in myself. Sounds pretty simple right?? I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know it all. But I do know now that if you tell yourself you can, you CAN, and you WILL. I started learning this during my workouts. Once I told myself “get out of bed!!!” I did, every day. And when I kept telling myself “Push harder, you can finish”, turns out, I could. I’m not perfect, and I still have doubts about things, but I now know that as long as I have confidence, and believe that I can accomplish what I set my mind to, it WILL HAPPEN!

This week Boot camp classes were awesome and challenging. Which I needed because of the Memorial Day holiday this weekend. With a state job I got Monday off (YYEESSS) but that also means a lot of tasty good around. I did indulge on Saturday with BBQ Ribs, and twice baked potatoes, and Oreo cupcakes. Yea… told you I indulged. Friday and Sunday were great though, two shakes each day, Meat and Veggies for dinner, and kept the starches/carbs very low both days. I am going to start a cleanse tomorrow to rebalance, because I still don’t feel right (bloated and ‘fluffy’). Excited to try out my first 2 day!! I also tried a new shake recipe called “cinnamon toast crunch” which consists of French vanilla Isalean shake, PBfit, banana, and a little cinnamon. Tastes amazing!! That is actually my new favorite recipe of the week! I used a lot of breakfast food for my dinner (brinner in my house), which is fine, always packed full of protein, and deliciousness. I like to add salsa to my eggs, or avocado (if I have any on hand). Sweet potatoes take the place of regular potatoes too. We also get farm fresh eggs from Clint’s mom and dad, so cage free!!

I thought maybe some people were wondering what kind of workouts I have been doing at home. I have a couple that I have written up, and sometimes I will write up more if I feel like what I am doing is getting old. Here are a couple I have written to do over my lunch hour, so they aren’t very long. You can always do them 2X or 3X for a longer workout, or if you’re just a complete badass☺. Here they are:

15 Min workout:

Each exercise is 45 seconds, with a 15 second rest. You can also do 1 full minute instead of 45 seconds.

1. Squat with a hammer curl (using heavy dumbbells)
2. Jumping jacks-fast
3. Sumo Squat (wide leg, toes pointed out) holding weight (heavy dumbbells).
4. Jumping Jacks- fast
5. Squat Jumps for 30 sec, then last 15 mini squat jumps.
6. Chest press on the floor, with legs in the air. (you can have your legs straight out for a harder workout)
7. Forearm plank
8. Reverse chest flys
9. Knee to elbow plank
10. Upright row with dumbbells.
11. Burpees- no pushup (you can add the pushup for a harder set).
12. V-Up abs
13. Toe touches ( I use a raise part of my floor, but a box, or bosu ball or even a pillow will do).
14. Abs- Leg Drops
15. Jack Squats (jumping jacks, but you squat when legs are apart)

Here is my 20 minute workout, same time intervals. Most of them are pretty similar stuff, mostly because I like them, and I feel like I can do more with exercises I like.

1. Sitting kick trough’s
2. Sumo Squat thrusts with weight (kettle bells work great for this, but a dumbbell works too).
3. Sitting Kick trough’s
4. Shoulder press with 1 arm-Right
5. Shoulder press with 1 arm –Left
6. Triceps dips (or your can use the weight behind your head for triceps lifts).
7. Running man
8. Alternative push-ups, side to side.
9. V-up abs
10. 1 legged deadlift with weight-right leg
11. 1 legged deadlift with weight-left leg
12. Hand plank
13. Right side hand plank
14. Left side hand plank
15. Burpees
16. Bicycle Abs
17. Jumping Jacks-fast
18. Leg Drops
19. Jump, jump squat side to side- fast.

Lastly, here is my 25 minute workout, I wrote this one up today, and it was the perfect time for me to do over my lunch.

1. Squat with weight, shoulder press with stand up.
2. Jumping step ups
3. Good mornings- wide legged
4. Good mornings- legs touching
5. Lunge jumps
6. Regular curls
7. Forearm plank
8. Hammer curls
9. Cross-body mountain climbers
10. Triceps dips
11. V-up abs
12. Bicycle abs
13. Leg drops
14. Side plank dips-right side
15. Side plank dips- left side
16. Hydrant kick- right side
17. Donkey kick- right side
18. Hydrant kick –left side
19. Donkey kick-left side
20. Squat Thrusts, hands on the floor
21. Chest to the floor pushups (I push my chest to the floor, and lift my hands off the ground before pushing myself back up).
22. Sitting kick trough’s
23. X-Squats
24. Burpees
25. Mini Sumo squat jumps- barely jump off the floor.

Well, those are my favorite home workouts so far! If you have questions, please feel free to text/call/Facebook me, anything I can do to help people get healthy, and happy, I’m in!!
Here are also some of my favorite calorie information charts. I don’t count calories really, but its good to know what is in what you are eating ☺

Better luck next week!?

Week 3 is done! Boot camp started back up last week, which is much better for me, because I am not as self-motivated as I should be. I think every night I set out clothes to wake up, and go run, and never ever did. I did workout once over my lunch on Friday, which felt great, and because there wasn’t a bonus boot camp day, I felt pretty obligated. Mary should be proud of the new guilt she has instilled in me to work out, even when she isn’t teaching class! Waking up early is just not something I don’t think I can ever get used to, without having something to go to. I don’t understand how people do it all the time. I mean, why on earth would you ever want to willingly get out of bed that early everyday?!?! By that early, I mean 4:30 am. I can see 5:30… that’s fine. But 4:30?!?! I still don’t know how I do it.

I will admit, this week could have gone way better for me. I was really hoping to get my but in gear, and try to get some good cardio in to prepare me for Zumba classes, but that wasn’t the case. I think I was so wound up from the last couple of weeks, that I just took it easy on purpose. Dinners were not even very eventful at my house, we were going to have friends over on Sunday, and took out 4 big sirloins, but our plans didn’t work out, so we pretty much had steak every night last week. Not that I am complaining! I love steak! We had grilled stead, steak quesadillas, I had a sliced steak sandwich one day for lunch. Just a little too much of anything gets old, well to me anyway.

This week was more about me connecting with people, and spending quality time, which is good for the soul. I met (randomly) this great gal here in Chadron named Christa. She sells Lularoe (a fantastic, and very cute clothing line) and I found her on Facebook.----- Side note, if you haven’t already, and if you like cute, comfortable clothes, you should look up her site. Christa Katen is her name. I probably added most of you to her page already, because I love supporting local self-employed businesses when I can. Also, she is awesome, and these clothes are awesome. Check them out. You won’t be disappointed. Ok, side not finished. --- I requested to be added to her local page, and ended up buying a shirt from her. Later on she asked me if I was from Idaho, which I am (OF COURSE I AM IDAHO IS AMAZING, I LOVE IDAHO!!!) is what I wanted to say. Turns out she is only two years younger than me, and grew up a couple of hours away from me. She has a son around Anna’s age too, so we tried out a play date, which went OK. I mean, we both have only children, who are at the age where everything is theirs… so there was a lot of crying, because they wanted what each other had. Seems about right I guess. On Friday I offered to help her set up for a ‘pop up party’ at her house to try to get some people to come by and look at her clothes. I had the BEST TIME! It brought back my high school days helping out at my mom’s shop, and I got to hang out with a cool Idaho person, while still living in Nebraska. I drank about a bottle of wine… so that \also was a plus to my Friday night. Ok, maybe more than a bottle, but who’s counting!

Saturday we went to Clint’s aunt Marijo’s son Jon’s graduation party. Both of us were hanging a little, and the drive is a bit long, but once we got there we had a great time. It was great to see everyone, I always like Merchen gatherings, and nothing is ever dull or old. Anna and I rode Marijo’s horse too, she loved it. I am so glad I have such a brave kid who loves to try out almost anything. That kid sees an animal, and she wants to pet it. If she sees any cows, they are her papa’s cows. If she sees a horse, she needs to ride it. She also showed up to the party in jeans, a cowgirl jean jacket, and a pink tutu, courtesy of her Grammie sending her the cutest clothes in the world. Clint's Uncle Darren and Mae came over for dinner afterward, I love spending time with these guys. Seriously fun people, and they always make me laugh. We need to get up to hot springs so I can get better at drumming (there is a mini Merchen band), don't worry I'll post videos whenever it happens!

Sunday we went to my in-laws to brand the calves out there. Very nice and relaxing, and I didn’t have to cook. I went off the deep end a little and made homemade tortilla chips, with cheesy queso dip, and Laura made homemade strawberry ice cream. I guess what I am saying is that I needed to indulge, but I went a little over board. Time to get back on the train, and start moving again. I also felt like crap after eating that food. Its good to know that the healthier food I am eating makes me feel much better. I think I saw a meme this week that said “wouldn’t it be nice if the label on what you old told you how you would feel an hour later?” yes. The answer is yes. I do really really wish that.

It’s really great meeting with so many likeminded, health conscious people lately. I know that when people are not into what I am into, it can get pretty annoying listening to me talk about working out, eating new foods, making new recipes, cleansing, protein, or whatever, but I am happy to have met the people I have so far. Thank you to anyone that has been open minded enough to learn more about what I have been up to these days, and all of the support I have gotten too. Without it I probably would have never gotten the confidence I have to get going.

New goals for this week:

1. Work out 5 out of 7 days.
2. Make a new recipe that would be on the ‘clean eating’ approved list.
3. Spend three nights away from  my computer/phone and with Anna until 9 pm.

Thanks again for reading everyone!!

Week 2 complete-food prep!

Hello Everyone! 
So week 2 of my 12 week challenge is complete, and I am so happy, because boot camp starts again tomorrow. I only had class once last week, and I was able to fit in a 30 Minute HIIT (high intensiity training) workout over my lunch Thursday, then a 1.5 mile jog with Anna later that night (picture below :) ). I did a 3 mile run Saturday because it was our only nice day the whole week, and I kept a 10 minute mile pace!! That is a big deal for me. I have lower back problems, and running has usually made it worse, but I felt great after some stretching before and after :)

My HIIT work out I wrote myself, combining my favorite workouts from boot camp, and what I have done from bodyrocktv.com in the past. If you don't have knowledge of HIIT workouts, and would like to try them out, and don't have a gym/boot camp to sign up for (I highly recommend this, because you meet new people, and have accountability showing up for classes), I would suggest looking up Body Rock workouts on youtube.com. They have different challenges, that last anywhere from 12 minutes, to 1 hour long. Great for people who want to start, or for people who want to try something new. This can be hard to keep up with at home, but if home workouts are your only option, I would check them out, its FREE! I wrote my own because if you are able to do the workouts you are good at/like, you can usually push yourself harder and get more cardio built into your workout. I am not an expert, just sharing my own experience. This week I was sad I had to cut it to 30 minutes, I could have went a whole hour. I started incorporating more of my performance workout line this week too, and it really gives me more endurance, so happy I found something with all natural ingredients and is helping me really push myself to the next level!

So I only got three workouts in this week, but that is OK! I did a daily cleanse on Tuesday, which re-set my body, I felt so excellent afterwards! My favorite meal this week was crock pot teriyaki chicken wings with some sriracha sauce. I'll be honest, I stole this from my friends fiance, he made them before, and they were so good, I had to make them. I put them in my crock pot all day (starting at 10 am), came home, put them on the grill to crisp them up, them put them back in the crock pot until dinner. I just used teriyaki marinade, with sriracha sauce ( I didn't use a TON because Anna needed to eat them too!). They were amazing! Paired with  steamed broccoli and carrots, and sweet potato tots. Dinner on Wednesday was delicious!

Speaking of food, I also did some freezer meal food prep on Saturday. I used the following link, making 12 meals total.

http://www.graciouslysaved.com/2013/08/12-easy-paleo-ish-crock-pot-meals.html?m=1

I use sweet potatoes when needed, and because a lot of the chicken is 'Mexican flavored', I can eat them with whole wheat tortillas if I feel like it. I will also add homemade guacamole whenever I can. Guacamole has a lot of good fats that our bodies need, and its delicious. 
I also got bountiful baskets from my local food coop this week. Ff you haven't already tried this, you need to! The website is www.bountifulbaskets.org. Please see if you can pick up in your area, its only $19.50 (total) for 1 basket of fruits and veggies, and they sometimes have some seriously good 'add-ons'. This time I got 40 lbs. of bananas. What do you do with 40 lbs. of bananas you ask? I cut them up, freeze them, and stick them in my shakes!! Or make paleo banana bread! Or make banana bread to give away! I highly recommend bountiful basket, as it makes you try new veggies you may not have before, and you can't make an excuse not to buy it at the store. You never know what is going to be in the basket, but whatever you don't want, you can give to someone else  (my mother in law gets all of our not wants and she loves it). 
Here is my freezer meals stacked up, and my overflowing veggie crisp drawer :). 

Today was filled with gratitude and relaxation (and cutting up bananas). I say gratitude because to start the week, I got news that a friend, and team-mate for my business house burnt down early Monday morning. She lives far away, and we have only met in 'person' once, but my heart ached for her all week. My grandpa's house burned down when I was about 15, and I will never forget the pain he felt losing EVERYTHING. My friend and her family are OK, which is what I am most thankful for, but the best part is how people have really embraced her and her family, to make sure they loved, appreciated and taken care of. I know that they will be OK, it will be a long hard road, but they are here with us today! 

That is it for this week. If anyone has any questions about HIIT workouts, or maybe more freezer meal recipes feel free to ask! I love sharing what I know. I don't know a lot, but whatever I can share to better someone else's life, I would love to help.

Thanks for reading everyone!! 

Week 1 down!

Oh man! This week was hard to get through! I think I should have waited to start my challenge, but it turns out that I actually did well considering how busy I was all week.
I helped out some of my other day car mom's this last week with a fundraiser for our day care provider (AKA the best lady EVER!!!) and her husband with a fundraiser due to a horrible accident Dan had over super bowl Sunday this year. I also had some volunteering over my lunches, and needed food to make for two brandings over the weekend. I made it to both workouts last week, and the one this morning, so at least I got that exercise I needed in my day. Over the week I was so busy, I took half hour lunches, barely made it home for dinner two nights, and probably would have went without eating with how busy work was. If it wasn't for my meal replacement shakes and meal bars I would have either a.) spend over $25 eating out, and it wouldn't have been healthy for me or b.)not eaten at all... which would have also been bad, or even worse. Instead I was able to eat on the run, get full, and stay energized. I couldn't believe how much energy I pulled out of myself this last week. I have never been more thankful for having my shakes and bars.. EVER!!
I did manage to make a few meals this week! We try to eat as 'paleo' as we can in our house, but I do usually make pasta or potatoes for my little one, she needs the carbs :). This week my favorite meal was probably my easiest meal. I had a ton of good foods and veggies from my bountiful basket (shameless plug) which included purple potatoes, red and orange bell peppers, summer squash, and carrots. I just tossed all of that in a bow with extra virgin olive oil, and some ' Jamaican Jerk' seasoning I had laying around. I then cut up chicken breasts into cubes, also rubbed some spices on it (Jamaican Jerk, thyme, rosemary, and garlic) and cooked it all on a cookie sheet for about 25 minutes. The chicken was cooked, tasted great, and all of our food was in a big healthy pile. Can't get better than that!!! It was also the most colorful plate of good I have ever made, I wish I had snapped a picture, ugh next time!

My favorite part of my workout this week was today was measuring day!! I have to have a whole week off of workouts, which makes me sad, but I love measuring day. Especially today, because my results were unreal. I posted a picture below, there are a total of 6 measurements, totaling from when I started boot camp classes at core fitness. The 2nd page with the most recent measurement I really focused on my diet, intermittent cleansing, and using my companies food a lot more. As you can see, what a HUGE difference!! I am really focusing on getting my body fat % down, which has been going great, hopefully I can keep up my momentum.

 I feel so great to know that this hard work is paying off, and that a busy, full time mom can actually do this. I used to have so many excuses as to why I wouldn't commit, and just workout, or just say no to eating cake, now that I feel this great, I can't believe I waited this long. Of course I did over indulge this Saturday at our friends branding, but that was just 1 day! And we also need to be able to enjoy ourselves and have a great time, which we did :). I am glad that I have chosen something that is a lifestyle, and not a life sentence. Dieting hasn't ever worked for me in the past, but this new lifestyle is working great. I challenge you to do something different this week. Maybe switch up your pop for flavored carbonated water? Arrowhead carbonated water is awesome. Try sweet potato fries instead of regular fries, did you know they make frozen sweet potato fries in a bag??? Try going for a walk two times this week, either over lunch, or after work, or even do I dare say it.. in the morning?? I will say this, no matter how much I hate waking up early, I love getting my workout out of the way first thing. 
Ok well those are my highlights, and some low lights of my first week of my body makeover challenge. If I had to suggest one thing its try something new. I am going to find a new recipie to try out this week, hopefully its not an epic fail. Until next week!!

Started 6/12/2015, most recent measurement is 5/9/2016.

12 week 'body makeover' Challenge!!

Today I have started to embark on a new, short term journey. A weight loss challenge that will be 12 weeks long, and hopefully help me get over a plateau I have been on for the last several weeks. About a year ago I was invited to a fitness group ‘bonus day’ where anyone was welcome. I was invited by my co-worker who said it started at 6:15, and only cost $5. I was totally in, until I realized that it was 6:15 AM, not PM. I hadn’t woken up that early to work out…. Well, ever. I had already said I would go so I set my alarm, dreaded what was about to come in less than 12 hours, and headed to bed early.

I woke up that day thinking to myself that I wasn’t sure if I could do this. I haven’t worked out more than 20 minutes in over 3 years, and I was still trying to lose my baby weight. I was still in a very ‘dark place’ due to my weight gain, and didn’t know if I had the confidence to go into a room of athletes, and try to compete. I say compete because I am a very competitive person, with everyone, especially myself. If I could not win, then I didn’t want to play. Kind of how I have always been, which has been my downfall in a lot of things I hate attempted to accomplish, but quite or failed. Anyway, I went to Core Fitness, got my ass kicked by “mean Mary”, and was addicted, I knew I had to go! All the time! Her only open class time was 5:30 a.m., which seemed insane, but I signed up, and I went. I started off slow going twice a week, then three times, and have been doing ever since. That started my new found self confidence that I could do more than I thought, if I would just try.

Flash forward to today! I signed up for a weight loss challenge through my nutrition company, and boy am I excited. I haven’t had the drive to start something like this, but the last few weeks I have really started to focus on what is going to be best for me, and in return my family. I can’t be sitting on the couch all day when my daughter wants to ride her bike outside. I can’t be too tired to help out around the house because I don’t have the energy. Things have to change. So I am starting with this post today because it is day one. I will try to post once a week. I will probably just talk about my workouts, food I ate, my scheduled meals, if I indulged, and my family, if anyone is interested. I haven’t been writing for a while now, and thought this would be a good time to start. After all, what if my experience motivates someone else to get healthy? Lose weight? Start running again? Or just put a smile on their face? I also think that writing about my challenge will keep me accountable, and motivated. I would love to share my before photos I took today, but I think I will wait to post those until my final week, keep the suspense going☺.

What is next to come ahead is going to be hard, but the result is going to be amazing! Thanks for reading everyone!!

My Birth Story

I know I know its has been months since I have been on here to share!
What can I say, I have been a little bit busy lately with a growing girl, and do I mean GROWING!

I wasn't sure if I should tell my story, but I thought that I should get my thoughts down typed here for my next child, so when I am pregnant again I can look back and remember the details while I still have them in my memory (which is fading fast into mommy brain). I will start from the beginning, or the day before Annabelle Laura was born.

It was Tuesday March 25th and we (my husband and I) were headed up to Rapid City for my 38 week check up so see if Anna was going to show up any time soon. Before we left I got everything at work ready for my transition, packed the truck full of our overnight hospital gear, and I told everyone at work I wasn't coming back. I was of course joking, but I guess in a way I was willing Annabelle to come out and meet the world. At my appointment my Doc said that I was a 'good 4 cm' and could go in and get induced. I did not want to get induced, it just isn't something I believe in unless it is medically necessary, which in my case it wasn't. I also found out that the Braxton Hix contractions I was having the last few weeks were actual contractions! There were not really painful, but made me more dizzy and nauseous than anything. We were having dinner with friends that night so I figured we could go to the hospital if we wanted before we headed the hour and a half back down to Chadron. The last thing we wanted to do was drive to Chadron, then drive right back up to Rapid to have a baby.

Surprise Surprise I had more contractions at dinner, and decided to go get checked out just in case. The hospital triage room said I was still at 4cm, but told me to walk around and if I had any changes they could admit me. Away Clint and I went walking the halls of Rapid City Regional. It was pretty boring except for the strange sounds that we heard coming from one of the administration rooms of the hospital. It reminded me of what happens in the on-call rooms on Greys Anatomy for those of you who watch that show :). It was not painful for me again, which I thought was strange. There were other women in Triage room crying and in a whole lot of pain and only at 1 cm. Those women were sent home while I got to stay which didn't seem fair to them, but I was the one actually having a baby. I kept thinking that if this is how I felt with pain, why have I been so afraid of childbirth this whole time? FINALLY at 11:30 pm I was admitted and given a room after hanging out for 6 hours in triage. I was so happy that Anna was finally on her way that I was surprising everyone. Clint kept asking to make sure that I was ok, the nurses said they hadn't delt with someone this happy in a long time and didn't know how to react to me. I was asking if I could take a bath, wondering what I could eat, asking how long they thought I had. I was just so excited! That night I did have some some-what painful contraptions but nothing I thought I couldn't handle. I kept thinking that if this is what it was going to be like maybe I didn't need the epidural I had been wanting my entire pregnancy.

That next morning I remembered I forgot to call my job and tell them I had been admitted. When I called my fellow co-worker and mother of two was so excited for me. We were chatting when a contraction came on just as she was telling me I needed to get the epidural now before it was too late. That contraction convinced me and I rang my nurse right away. Along with fluids they tried to give me pitocin, which I had told them for the second time I was not interested in having. I never thought nurses and doctors would try to push it on me that hard, but they really were! Finally I got my epidural and I was on cloud nine. I had no pain at all, and was actually pretty tired, tired enough to take a nap! My mother-in-law who had all of her children naturally with no medication and two at home thought it was one of the craziest things she had ever seen. I was happy she came to hang out with Clint for the time being, I wasn't much fun napping for the next few hours.

The nurses informed me what I was dilated enough to push, and away we went. Future Grandma only had to leave the room for about 40 minutes when Anna was welcomed into the world. Everything up until that point had been great, I had no real complaints of what I thought this experience would be like. The nurse and I talked about her putting Annabelle right on me to nurse, to create that instant bond every mother hopes for and I was so excited to hold her.

When I saw Anna she was a gray color and not crying, eyes open and flailing around, but no noise, she let out a few squeals but not enough for the nurses to give her to me. They assured me that she was fine and that I would get to hold her soon. As I stared at doctors trying to get my baby breathing correctly I failed to realize that I was hemorrhaging and my doctor was working furiously to control my bleeding. I waited and waited which seemed like forever when they finally handed me Anna, but with oxygen up to her nose. It was so unrealistic that this was my baby, only because it's the once in a lifetime event that makes your new life seem like something you watched on TV and that you are experiencing from memory. But this new life is real, and it is happening, and it is oh so wonderful. I only held her for a few moments before they took her to the NICU to get her breathing where it should be according to what the nurses told me. Clint and his mom went to go grab a bite because they hand't eaten all day, which was fine because they assured me that Annabelle would be back and in our room shortly.

About a half hour went by when I started to worry about where Annabelle was, Clint was still at dinner and I was by myself (besides when the nurses came in to check on my hemorrhaging). Then an hour went by, then an hour and fifteen minutes. A nurse came in to speak with me about Anna and told me she swallowed fluid on her way out and contracted pneumonia. Her oxygen levels were supposed to be at 21% for a normal baby, and her oxygen was at 75%. She said that she needed to stay in NICU until her oxygen levels normalized and her pneumonia was medicated and cured. I sat and cried because of the pregnancy hormones, the fact I didn't get to hold my baby, and that I was alone in a room getting this news from a stranger. When Clint came back and realized that Anna was not ok (his phone was dead which is why he did not find out sooner), he was furious that he left. My childbirth had gone from great to devastating as we didn't know if our daughter was going to be able to come home with us, or if we could even hold her. Clint and I had to gear up to focus on one thing, and that was being there for Annabelle in every way we could.

After things calmed down, we found out the next morning that Anna would only have to stay in the NICU for 1 week, and her oxygen was already normalizing to a point where we were able to hold her that night. My mom had shown up the night before after driving 14 hours from Idaho and could not wait to hold her as well. With both of our moms there with us I think that helped Clint and I from really falling apart. We stayed in a hotel until we got to room in with Anna the last two nights of her week in the hospital, going to feed her every feeding except one in the middle of the night we were there as much as possible. We were able to bring her home on 4/2/14 in a snow storm bundled up in her car seat and ready to be home again.

There were so many more details to my story that I chose to opt out, some because they are too much information for non-moms, and the ones who are moms have already been there. I think Annabelle came into this world this way to show us what parenting is like right away, constant worry about the well being of your child. But also that each moment is precious, like when she would squeeze our hand under her oxygen hood, or stop crying at the sound of her father's voice. It was a tough start for her, but she is already growing so strong in so many ways it hardly seems like she was born only 2 months ago.

Picture of me eating one of the many popsicles the nurses encourage me to eat while waiting.

Our first picture with Annabelle Laura. You can see a nurse holding the oxygen up to her nose to help her breathe.

This was after they got some of the fluid out of her and her color pinked up.

Cuddling with Dad when her IV was in her right arm.

This was when they put her IV at the top of her head so she would't pull it out. The nurses called her a wild woman with how much her arms always flailed around.

This is her waking up from a nap, such a sweet girl :)

35 Weeks! Getting close!

AAHHHH!!! There is a baby coming so soon! This is excited but also a little bit un-nerving because a first time parents thought (well mine anyway) is what am I going to do with a baby?! The great part is that I have a lot of support and help, and we are feeling pretty prepared for her arrival. The advise we have gotten that we like the most is "All you have to do is love her and feed her". This is nice because it makes everything sound so nice and easy. Some other great advise I will take out of the baby shower advise portion of my book I was given which has also been helpful. I will leave out the names of who wrote them but some suggestions are:

"Spoil her and give her whatever she wants!"
"Enjoy your moment it goes way too fast. Do what you feel is best and ignore too many opinions"
"They are a bundle of joy and lots of fun! Don't stick your finger in the back of a diaper until you smell it!"
"Love them lots, show compassion, and never ever let them have electronic devices, EVER!"
"Beat her early and often"
"Start beating your kids early and often"
"Give her a lot of love"
"Make them clean their plate, and don't forget the good old back of your hand when they mouth off. Oh and love them every minute".
"Manners matter, and when that tiny child doesn't use them, use the back of your hand"
"Snuggling, and cuddling is more important than anything else! Chores, cleaning, and laundry and always wait."

These are all pretty good suggestions! Just and FYI there were men and women at the baby shower, and both entered suggestions into the book :)

Had an appointment on Tuesday and Doc says she is about 5 pounds, not small and not huge. She said that so far I am one of her only patients that she doesn't need to worry about, but that could all change in just a few weeks. She has been head down almost the whole time, and kicks and hiccups a lot! These are all very good signs and hopefully they all stay good signs.

I had a great surprise this week! I have been searching for a rocking chair for a while now and have not been able to find one, and Wednesday I come home to a sweet glider rocking chair Clint got and set up for me! It is very comfortable and I think we will be spending a lot of time in it.

I have been feeling more tired lately, no contractions yet, so I think she may be sticking around a little while for those of you who may be betting on the birth date. I should have more news in a few weeks after my next appointment!