imprompTuesday - Transformation Tuesday

Hello Everyone,

I've really missed blogging about something that I'm so passionate about for so long, but we really had a lot going on and not a lot of time to really focus on some fun "extracurricular" activities.

This past week was my one year "anniversary" since I had my husband take some beginning pictures on April 20, 2016 so that I could look back in a year to see how much I'd progressed since making some various adjustments in our life style.  I'm very pleased with the results and wanted to share my progress photos as well as a quick hit list of what I think made such a difference this time around.

Still on Temporary Hiatus

I am still on a temporary hiatus from my blog at this time due to getting life under control with two kiddos and a new family schedule with my husbands job. I have so many awesome ideas constantly flying at me for blog posts, but am having to keep them on an idea sheet until I can start dedicating time each week to regular posts.  I'm happy that people are still finding my posts useful and fun to reference, hoping that I can return to continue sharing in the near future!

Fun Facts:

1. My son is almost 8 months and he's crawling and standing (with assistance) as much as he possibly can.
2. My hubby is currently an assistant instructor at a local martial arts facility...he works 3 - 9 pm most evenings, but is getting the chance to truly teach something he's passionate about.
3. I've still been able to get my evening workouts in from time to time...but not on a daily basis like I'd gotten use to.  I'm looking to adjust my work schedule to 7:00 am - 4:00 pm so that I can have an hour to workout prior to picking up kids!
4. Our family has started implementing several fun lifestyle changes in the food department that I'll be sharing in the future...these include making beans and rice instead of using canned or instant, cooking an entire chicken in the crock pot instead of eating pre-packaged sandwich meat and watching our sugar intake.
5. Fall is finally showing itself on a regular basis and I'm ecstatic about more out door workouts!

Hope life is treating you well and know that I will be returning in the future!! :-D

Always,

Deanna

Weigh-in Wednesday - Women and Weight Lifting

I am happy to see that more women are starting to lift weights and making it a part of their normal routine. I still think it's something that many women struggle with wrapping their head around. For this reason, today I wanted to run through the common misconceptions of weight lifting for women and why it's actually very beneficial to pick up and maintain. 

Menu Monday - Garlicky Bean Enchiladas by Rachel Ray

This week our family is going to enjoy:

Monday: Homemade Sloppy Joes (click for recipe)
Tuesday: Turkey Burgers
Wednesday: Burrito Bowls
Thursday: Garlicky Bean Enchiladas
Friday: Tuna Casserole (click for recipe)
Saturday: Mother's Day Surprise
Sunday: Hot Dog Roll-ups

While we aren't vegans or vegetarians, we still enjoy a meal that doesn't contain meat from time to time and this week I wanted to share with you one of our favorite meatless meals...Garlicky Bean Enchiladas...

Weigh-in Wednesday - My Breastfeeding Chronicles

 For today's Weigh-in Wednesday, I wanted to share with you my personal experience with breastfeeding this go round. I thought it would be nice to have more information out there discussing women who exclusively pump and why we choose to go this route.

First and foremost, I want to state that I believe every woman has a right to choose whichever path she wants to in this area.  This is a VERY personal decision and something that only a mother can make.  Whether you want to exclusively feed from your breast, pump, feed formula or go the route of a combination of the above, it is YOUR decision.  I personally feel like every mother is doing what is best for her own situation and what is best for her baby/child and should be treated with respect no matter what route she goes!!

I also wanted to state that due to my own experience, I felt that sharing it would assist other women in knowing other options that are available that might not be discussed with them as they try to navigate the crazy/fun/stressful/enjoyable whirl wind that is breastfeeding.

Sassy Saturday - Our Birth Story

For today's Sassy Saturday (the place I'd previously been bringing you pregnancy updates) I wanted to share with everyone our amazing birth story. Now you're not going to find any gory details about the delivery process, but you will hear how our amazing pre-valentine's baby came to make his appearance so very unexpectedly.


We had scheduled our induction for Tuesday, February 16th and our actual due date was the 20th...we had some issues with our doctor and I'm pretty sure she just wanted to have some control over this pregnancy with all the push back we gave her. My last day of work was on Friday, February 12th and  I figured that would give me one work day off to get all last minute preparations taken care of before our baby boy was brought into this world.

Little did I know...

imprompTuesday - Blogging Hiatus & Future Plans

Hello All!

I've been on a blogging hiatus since November due to the holidays and my pregnancy. Now that I'm almost 10 weeks post partum, I've decided to get back into the swing of things on here to continue documenting my progressive journey to leading a healthier lifestyle and, hopefully, encouraging others to do the same thing.

I'm going to start with a few posts over the next few weeks and then lead into a regular posting schedule in May.  I will say that certain topics will be posted weekly, while others will extend to bi-weekly so I don't put as much pressure on myself to have daily posts all the time. With two kids, a husband, a full time job and fitting in exercise/meal planning I have to keep my perspective realistic.

Things to look forward to:

• Our birth story
• My breastfeeding chronicles (so far)
• My thoughts on several healthy documentaries that I watched over my maternity leave
• My new fitness routine
• Having a healthy work-life integration
• and so much more...

I'm very excited to return to my blogging!! Stay tuned for this Thursday when I share our exciting birth story. :-D

Always,

Deanna