Balance

Finding balance in life is often one of the hardest things to do. This can relate to need vs wants, work vs play, cake vs vegetables, etc. etc. The days pass so quickly that it really takes effort and a lot of hard work to find a semblance of balance, and to be honest, that is something we are struggling with lately.

I work two jobs and Andrew works all the time. Our schedules are carefully crafted to make sure someone is home with Hannah while still allowing us to basically work around the clock. I'm sad to say that with our current set up, Andrew and I see each other about 2 nights a week, with one of those being his kickball nights, so it's cut short. It's unfortunate that during this fun phase of life, we seldom get to have fun as a whole family. It's one of those tricky balancing acts, working enough to pay the bills versus making sure we are able to spend quality time as a family. This is our hardest balance and most painful concession to make sure we are able to stay above water. It's not easy.

Lately I've had trouble maintaining motivation to continue moving forward in my weight loss journey. It's mostly a battle of will power and self control. Something that seems should be easy can be so difficult. I admittedly have poor self control -- it's how I became over weight in the first place. I finally hit my pre-pregnancy weight about a month ago, but have self-sabotaged and regained a couple of pounds. I know I can do it, I'm down almost 20 pounds to prove it, but I'm too good at reasoning to myself, "it's the first date night we've had in weeks, have dessert." "You only see Mumford and Sons in concert every few years, eat the queso at dinner and drink beer at the show." "I'm down 17 pounds, I deserve this cookie!" Balancing the want to celebrate with the ability to continue being successful. It's hard.

As Hannah gets older (more sassy), bigger (able to climb on more things), and smarter (able to climb on more things and sassy), we are hitting a more complicated stage of discipline. She's not quite ready for time out, and laughs at whatever you say to her if trying to make her stop doing something. She thinks it's fun and highly giggle worthy to run across the couch while almost falling off. I can't keep her off of it, she doesn't care/understand/listen when I tell her why it's a horrible idea. She's bound to injure herself, I don't know what to do and she keeps on doing it. Balancing my frustration with concern, her fun with her safety, all of it with my sanity. It's challenging.

At the end of the day, we do the best we can. We balance what we can and some days the needs have to come before the wants. The need to work an extra shift vs the want to relax. The need to not buy the morning coffee vs the want to indulge. The need to put down the dessert vs the 'hello, we love cookies!' It's all a work in progress and I'm thankful that I have a wonderful husband and family to help me balance this crazy juggling act we call life! (but if you see me with a cookie, don't say anything, just give me the side eye).

Healthy Eating - 2.5 Months In

On January 1, 2016, I decided to make some dietary changes to improve the quality of my life for both short and long term results. I didn't look at it as a New Year's resolution or a diet to follow until I lost XX about of pounds. I went in looking at it from the perspective of health and an example for my daughter. After a couple of days in Andrew realized I was being serious this time and not just looking to cut calories for a week only to fall back to old habits yet again. He decided to join this journey and lifestyle change and let me tell you, having a partner and someone with similar goals makes it SO much easier and more enjoyable. It also helps since he makes almost all of our home-cooked meals :) While Andrew and I have similar big picture goals, our methods and reasons are slightly different so I won't speak for him in this piece.

We are now 60+ days into the "New Year, New Me" campaign and things are going great. We've stuck to long enough to become mostly habit. I was juicing (making fresh juices at home) twice a day, but produce is quite costly so we've dialed that back. I try to have one juice a day but lately it's been more of every other day. We both use My Fitness Pal and log our calorie intake, which is the main tool that has helped us be successful. I've also stopped drinking sodas, which was huge for me. I was a 2-3 diet cokes a day kind of girl, now I only have soda when I'm drinking my bourbon and coke, and that isn't very often. Maybe once every week or two. I could do better at drinking more water, but I'm still a work in progress.

Because I was smart and married a wonderful cook, we've been able to eat healthy meals when we are home together (which sadly isn't often enough). We've replaced pasta with spinach, bread with smaller portions of rice, and tried to work in healthy choices in all of our meals. Because we most always have fresh produce for our juices, we also have fruit around for healthy snacks.

I'm proud to say that Hannah is a big fan of most healthy foods, and even prefers fresh produce over processed foods that most toddlers love. Her favorite foods right now are steamed broccoli, pears, tangerines, blueberries, green beans. She won't even touch macaroni and cheese (say what?!). Not to say she eats perfectly or doesn't like cookies and crackers, but she truly does love fruits and veggies. Go Baby!!

With all of these lifestyle changes we have both seen big success in our weight loss goals. I'm down 15 pounds, but still have plenty to go to get to a more ideal healthy weight. Andrew has lost even more (I'm not certain of the exact number). What is it with guys having an easier time?! But he has worked hard for it, so I'm proud of us both! Stay tuned to see how far we can take this journey!