5 Week Self Challenge

We leave for vacation in 5 weeks. We are very excited! But I don't really want to be hanging on to all these excess baby pounds.

I am going to be realistic, tho. Nursing has never helped me drop the pounds like it does for some people. In fact, I'm one of those "lucky" few who's body hangs on to extra pounds for the purpose of nursing.

Yay.

Giving my baby what is best is much more important to me than being thin. BUT, that doesn't mean I'm not gonna try for thin anyway!

Keeping reality in mind, I'm going to give myself 2-3 challenges each week for the next five weeks. These are things that I want to make a part of my life, so they will continue through the rest of my life. Each week will just be in addition to the previous weeks.

Some of these will probably seem silly and simple but I need to start here. Also, I won't be cleared to do any real workouts til just before leaving for vacation so the exercise challenges are going to be light until after vacation when I work toward my next milestone goal!

First milestone = Pre-Kemp weight by vacation.

Week 1 - August 25-September 1

• 8 cups of water each day
• Take vitamins twice a day
• Daily easy walk

Memory Verse: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." Psalm 139:23-24

Week 2 - September 1-8

• 9 cups water each day
• One dessert a week
• Meals fit on small plate (no seconds)

Memory Verse: "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." Matt. 11:28-30

Week 3 - September 8-15

• Light arm work
• One soda a week
• No food after 9pm

Memory Verse: "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped: Therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him." Psalm 28:7

Week 4 - September 15-22

• 3 fruits a day
• 1/2-1 hour focused daily walk

Memory Verse: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Week 5 - September 22-29

• 3 veggies a day
• 10 cups water
• No processed food (just for this week. This will be a gradual process!)

Memory Verse: "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

Vacation - September 29-October 6

Second milestone = Pre-Jack weight by Thanksgiving (+ Thanksgiving 5k/10k)

Third milestone = Pre-Marie weight by Kempton's first birthday (+ half marathon/s in June/September)

Prayers would be appreciated :)

If I had it to do again...

 

I can remember the very spot on the big blue tarp that I was hazily staring at when I heard...

"It's a... BOY!"

I was sure I was going to hear GIRL.

So technically I was wrong. But I had been doubting for months. Derek says I wasn't wrong, I knew he was a boy, I just wanted him to be a girl for Derek's sake. He's right. But I stuck with girl because it was my initial thought. 

And my dad was sure he was a girl until he had this random dream a day or two before Kemp was born where he heard the doctor say exactly what he ended up saying... 

"It's a... BOY!"

Do I regret not finding out earlier? No. Not at all. I loved not knowing! It was fun and worth the experience.

Would I do it again... wait til birth to find out the gender? No. Once was enough. And as the next baby will be our last, I will need time to prepare my heart. 

We knew there was potential for this, but thought since we plan on having at least one more babe that it wouldn't be a problem. It was a tiny bit... Derek said, "I feel like we should have Kempton AND Amber. It's like we're missing one." 

I have to admit, it took a couple days to bond with my Kempy. Surgery and nursing pain weren't helping at all, but it was still frustrating. But the last day in the hospital, I spent it alone with my Kempster and fell head over heals in love. It's amazing how much a person can love such a tiny creature who does nothing but eat, sleep, and poop! 

Love my little man.

So in summary, I enjoyed the experience, but in the end I would probably say knowing ahead of time was better. We will definitely be finding out ahead of time with the last baby. Will we tell other people? That is to be determined ;)

The Birth of Kempton Charles

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

We came in. They cut me open.

"It's a... boy!"

Born at 11:39am. 9lbs, 4.8oz. 22 inches.

They sewed me up.

The End.

----------------

There are definitely benefits to having csections.

There may not be much to talk about as far as events, but the emotions involved are huge. The night before my csection for Jack, I was an anxious mess. Very little sleep happened. You know that feeling of overwhelming butterflies, involuntary worry, straight up freaking out? Several days before Kempton arrived I was anticipating a night full of that.

But can I just say, there is NOTHING like having a praying family. My sibs and parents were praying for me. My church family. My Christian family. I fell asleep Monday night completely at peace. It wasn't until about 7am that I started getting anxious, but even then it only took getting out of bed to push past it.

I even did some garden harvesting before leaving the house at about 9am.

Last family of 4 photo.

 The whole experience was quite a bit different than the first two. It was much better and much worse all at the same time. The surgery took much longer, which is better in that I feel the doctor did a very quality job, but worse in that it's just plain not fun being operated on. Also, I could feel tingling in my legs the whole time which made them very antsy but there was nothing I could do about it! But I was able to move more quickly since I didn't have an insane amount of numbing. There were several times I felt very tired and needed to calm myself down so I would close my eyes. I realized quickly that I was scaring Derek. He definitely thought I had passed out at one point.

Speaking of Derek, he totally watched the whole procedure and loved it!

Gross.

So now let's talk about the whole thing about how Kempton was only 9lbs 4.8oz. Yes, many a woman has pushed out a 9 pounder. Geesh, many have gotten much bigger than that out the natural way. But, as I mentioned in this post, I decided I needed to leave the csection/vbac thing completely to the Lord. While I tried to induce labor, God and I had all sorts of conversations about the outcome. Pretty much every time I pulled into the doc office, I said, "God, this is Your thing. Don't let me get in the way of what You want. I know that You know best." Toward the end, we knew our newest addition was not as big as his older sibs but I decided if the little mister ended up 9lbs or bigger, I would be confident in the csection decision.

Thank You, God, that Kemp was at least 9 lbs!

Next, would we do the whole not-finding-out-the-gender thing again? That is a question to be answered in another post. Along with the details of the surprise that we had Kempton rather than Amber!

Patience, my friends.

I'm so in love with our newest little man and his big sibs! It's amazing how much Marie and Jack love him. It took Marie a few hours to warm up but Jack bolted to him as soon as they arrived at the hospital. "Baby mine," he likes to say.

Now they beg to hold him. Jack will wrap his arms around and not let go. Marie tells me to take good care of her brother, tells me not to cry when I cringe during nursing, gives him stuffed animals while he sleeps. It's a dream. We love being a family of 5.

 

So glad I said yes.

9 years ago at the top of the Warren Dunes, Derek asked me to be his girlfriend.

I hesitated because I knew I was still struggling with a past relationship. But I also knew that I really wanted to be Derek's girlfriend. So I said yes.

I'm so glad I did.

For the first six months of our relationship I put that poor guy through the ringer. But he never once even considered breaking it off. He was in it for life starting on this day 9 years ago at the top of the Dunes.

About six months into our relationship I was working a gruelingly boring 8 hour shift in the dressing rooms at Marshalls.

I'll never forget that shift.

I was staring out at the store that was practically empty. I wasn't even really thinking about Derek. I was probably thinking about how insanely bored I was and wondering if it was worth the $6/hr or whatever it was.

But suddenly it hit me. I love him! I just knew it out of the blue. And was giddy about it. I watched him fight for me for the first six months. I watched him put up with me, adore me, treat me like a princess, have overwhelming patience for me.

I knew from that moment that I loved him and I haven't stopped since.

I'm so thankful God gave me a peace about saying yes 9 years ago, because I needed to see him fight for me. I have no doubt in my mind that he will always fight for me. He is so good to me.

It's important to mention that even though Derek has always been so amazing to me, if God hadn't gotten ahold of my ridiculousness six months after I said yes, I wouldn't have come to the place of recognizing it. God broke me just days before that shift at Marshalls and I'm so grateful for it!

Our whole relationship is completely owed to Him. It's such a beautiful thing when God writes your love story :)



Happy 9th Anniversary, my One and Only Forever Love.

Happy 4th Birthday, Marie Love

To my Goob,

4 years ago, at 1:51pm, we became parents for the first time to the most beautiful baby girl. You were so squishy you could barely open your eyes, which seemed to be fine with you as you loved to sleep more than anything the first few months of your life.

But wow have things changed! Now you are Little Miss Active. Your daddy and you can go non-stop all day long.

 

One new thing that you do that I just adore is you love to tell me and daddy and Jack that you love us. "Mommy, did you know that I love you?" are the words that brighten every single one of my days! You've become a little bit more of a snuggler as you're getting older. You are a wonderful big sister, always looking out for your brother and wanting to spend time with him.

You are sure that this new little sibling of yours is a little sister. I hope for you that it is. But if you get another little brother, I know you will love him just the way you love your JackJack. I'm so proud of how much you've grown since becoming a big sister. I pray that one day you will be blessed with being a momma because I know you will be amazing at it, in spite of all your momma's failings.

I constantly pray that God will draw you to Himself, that you will be sensitive to Him and give your life to Him very soon. There is nothing I or your dad want more for you! I also pray often that no matter what kind of ups and downs we go through in this life, that you and I will always have a strong relationship. I want to hear you say, "Mommy, I love you SO much" all the days of my life. God is continually working on me to be the best momma for you possible. But I will fail, and I do fail, and you already know that. And you always forgive me. Thank you! And don't ever stop!

Every time I ask you to stop growing up you tell me that you have to. Sometimes you say Daddy said it was okay, but I'm quite certain that's not true! I know you have to, but make sure you are always my baby girl.

 

We love you so much more than life, Baby Girl.

Happy 4th Birthday!