Ashlyn in Her Little Spring Dress

The Next Top Model

And for the serious look...

Just hanging out, holding my tongue.

Ashlyn and Micai

My friend, Ivy, asked me to watch her son, Micai, for a few hours yesterday. Micai is about 6 weeks older than Ashlyn. Here are a few pictures of them.

 

Week One

A week has past since we've started our change of lifestlye to be healthy. So far so good. It hasn't been too hard and it's actually been kinda fun. We've taken the dogs for a walk with us a few times when we've gone walking and Ashlyn loves to ride in the stroller. Also, the food has been great. I've been looking up a lot of healthy recipes with very low fat and they've all been pretty tasty. Here's one recipe that I made this week from The Love of Cooking Blog:

 http://fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com/2008/11/greek-style-minestrone-with-turkey.html

The only thing I did different was not use breadcrumbs, eggs, or feta cheese in the meatballs. They still held together fine and it was less fat.

Anyway, so far so good. Ramon's lost just about 3 lbs since last week and I've lost 4 lbs even. Hopefully we can keep this up.

Goodbye, Thin Mints! Goodbye, Chicken Wings! You Will be Missed.

It’s time for a change.

Since I’ve graduated high school, I’ve steadily gained more and more weight. Now that I’ve had three months to heal from childbirth, it is time to get off this extra weight. I want to do this for several reasons…

 

1- My health. The past two years I’ve struggled with more health problems than I ever had, mainly digestive which in turn contributed to other health issues.
2- My husband. I don’t want to ‘let myself go’ as is what happens a lot after marriage.
3- My clothes. I’m tired of buying new clothes and have a ton of clothes that I’d like to fit into again.
4- My daughter. I want her to be a healthy child. The only way that’s going to happen is if her parents are healthy too.

 

 

I have to admit, I’ve tried to start a diet and exercising, or whatever, several times but I never managed to stick with it. I’ve thought about this. I think I can really stick with it this time. Here’s why…

 

 

1- Since I’ve gone back to work after maternity leave I’ve been cooking a whole lot more and a lot healthier. I’ve really made a routine of this and it really hasn’t been very stressful and I’ve actually had fun with it. The others times I’ve dieted, I’ve gone straight from eating fast food 5 times a week to trying to eat mainly veggies.
2- I have an amazing husband. He also wants to lose some weight so he’s on board with me. We’ve agreed to some things and I think we can stick with it.
3- I have more motivation than I’ve ever had.

 

So, here’s what we agreed to:

 

• Throw out all cookies, chips, candy and other unhealthy items that are in the house.
• Go walking and/or running for 30-40 minutes Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday-Sunday
• Cook only healthy food
• Only drink water while at home
• Weigh ourselves every Sunday
• Stay away from sweets and processed foods
• No cheating at all, even while at someone else’s house or out to eat

Yesterday we weighed ourselves. When I was in high school (and a serious runner), I weighed 110-115 lbs. Before I was pregnant I weighed 130lbs. Now I weigh 151.6 lbs!  My goal is to get to 115 lbs again so I need to lose 36.6 lbs. So the new lifestyle begins... 

 

 

My Sweet Hubby

Ramon is so sweet. He sent these to my work yesterday. Also, since we've been married he's written me a poem or a letter on Valentine's Day. They have all been very sweet (this year was the 3rd).

 Before they bloomed

Happy Valentine's Day! Love, Ashlyn

Mama's Little Hunny-Bunny

More pics coming soon, but here are a few of my Hunny-Bunny...

No Snow

Anyone reading this post that is not from Houston is probably going to think these pictures are stupid...but this is RARE in Houston. We were supposed to get snow today and last night but it never happened. We were disappointed because we NEVER see snow. But, last year we got a lot more than I can ever remember and I've lived in Houston my whole life. Here are the pictures from last year.