I have been on an orange juice kick lately...I just love it and crave it. It mostly is probably due to limiting the sugar I have and craving that sugary taste. I love oranges too, but man they are messy and time consuming. I really want orange juice, but don't want all the calories that go along with it.
So it is great that I got to try out Trop50! I tried the orange juice beverage with some pulp and loved it. I thought it tasted just like regular orange juice. What is even better is it has 50% less sugar and calories than typical orange juice.
AHHH my kid finally slept through the night! It has been a very long week. Lauren has been cutting molars and got a cold, and throwing up some....so her sleep was terrible. All last week she was up between 2-5 hours during the night. I was beat...which meant I had absolutely no motivation. I did not exercise one time last week.
So my goal this week is to really follow the new Mamavation Moms ...that will be announced tonight at the Mamavation Twitter party. I think if I follow along with them more this campaign it will help get me motivated and more committed to losing again. I am sick of how I look and feel.
So this week I planned out our meals...they might not be super healthy all the time...but it is planning which will help keep me from grabbing fast food or eating junk food waiting to figure out what to make. These are my baby steps....start planning, start eliminating, start adding. Gotta add the good stuff and eliminate the bad stuff...a little at a time. I think if I can add healthier meal options a day at a time I can get the whole family eating better.
So I actually got to sleep last night...and feel good this morning. Started the morning off with some old fashioned oatmeal with cinnamon and cranberries....now I need to get some exercise in soon and will be feeling good all day long!
Good luck to the Mamavation Mom finalists! I was once one of these...and didnt make the cut...but life goes on. You can all keep up with the sistas and get lots of support to help you lose and get healthy!
Right now you can enter for a chance to win 3 years worth of Redbox rentals by playing the Rebox Movie Awards Game.
Golden Globe® Awards nominees have been announced and the awards presented on 1/29/12, so head on over to Redbox on facebook and play the game...give them your pics, challenge your friends and enter the game. To play and for official rules please visit http://www.facebook.com/redbox?sk=app_317341738290302
Are you ready for a new look this New Year? Progresso® is excited to announce the return of their Souper You® Contest giving you the chance to win an incredible makeover! By telling Progresso why you deserve a makeover and what you love about their soup, you could have the chance to win an ultimate makeover experience in Hollywood this Spring!
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To achieve social acceptance of disability.
To honor the late Annie Hopkins, founder of 3E Love and creator of the International Symbol of Acceptance.
Join the movement at
http://www.dayofacceptance.com
Our story: I wear my 3elove shirt to support my children. Today is a hard one for me, as we had a genetics appointment yesterday. My oldest who is 10 has taken a very significant decline the past 4 years. Today she is not only wheelchair bound, but can barely move any of her body independently. I wear my shirt for her, to support her no matter what her condition is....She is loved unconditionally! I do embrace diversity...but sometimes things just do not seem fair. I always questioned why my daughter had to be disabled....but accepted it...always saying it could be worse. Then she did become worse. There are days that I have to accept it....there are days I try to empower her or others, and days I educate others..but there are days when I just want to say it all sucks! Yesterday was one of those days. When you visit genetics because not only is your oldest having issues, but your other children as well. Yesterday we learned that the doctor definitely has concerns that our youngest may possibly have mitochondrial disease also. It is hard to accept that all my children have special needs....but I will accept it. I will fight as much as I can though to empower every single one of them as much as I can. I will educate others...so they are accepting...so they will search for reasons...so we can find appropriate medical treatment...but mostly so they all can receive caring treatment and words from others...not discriminating ones! No matter what conditions my children have...they all have rights! So today I will wear my heart on my sleeve....for those, like my children that can not express it!
Wear your heart on your sleeve and join together to: Embrace diversity. Educate your community. Empower each other. Love life.
A pretty big shopping holiday is coming up soon....Superbowl! Ha Ha .... yeah I know you were thinking Valentine's Day, but I'm sure the men would much rather shop for the Superbowl. Well why not make it easy and check out shopthegiftbasketstore.com and you could pick something up for both!
Shopthegiftbasketstore.com offers a huge selection of gift baskets for just about any occasion. Got a Superbowl party you are throwing or attending...or a football fan that you can not watch the game with? Send them one of these great gift baskets.
Then I am sure you are trying to figure out what to get your sweetheart for Valentines day. Shopthegiftbasketstore.com has a great selection of gifts and baskets that any of your loved ones would love!
I'm running up against the biggest deadline of my life, my pregnancy. I need to get my nursery all decorated and I'm really trying to wrap up a project at work before my maternity leave. So I'm super busy. At least it's a distraction from all the weight that I'm gaining!
I'm now well known for my decorating skills or anything, so I'm trying to make sure that I include everything that the baby could possibly need. While I was online looking up some of that stuff, I ran across some info on garage doors. We have a carport now and I'd love to have garage doors as a way to hide our mess, so I think that we're going to get some.
I found some really great inspiration from a nursery remodel project that just turned out so cute! It definitely helps to have some examples to go by when you're doing something for the first time. I'm sure I'll be following even more examples when the baby finally comes!
Pretty soon many people that have started their New Years resolutions start giving up. I haven't done great yet, but I am not giving up. I remember making the resolution three years ago to get healthy and I did it....So I know I can do it again! It is just time to really get serious about it and get motivated.
I was planning on following the 30 day guide from "Get Off the Couch Potato" by Kathi Casey, but I was a couch potato this week. I only exercised twice all week. So I am starting over again this week and WILL do it this time. My husband also reminded me to get back using the Wii and doing my hula hooping again. (you know while he sits and watches me wiggle my butt lol) So I think I am going to challenge myself to do that again...I think I am going to aim for once a day. I need to tighten up on my diet also. I slacked off over the weekend. So this week I am going to actually weight myself and get going.
Mamavation Blogging Carnival question: What are your latest healthy food discoveries?
This week mamavation is sponsored by The Chia Co. One thing I actually have been doing lately is adding Chia to my oatmeal. I let it soak in a little warm milk first while my oatmeal is cooking. It gives it another texture and flavor to my oatmeal. I like sweetening my oatmeal by adding in a little dried cranberries. This is the only way I have tried it...so if anyone has any other recipes let me know.
One other thing I do like is orange juice this time of year. The family starts getting colds, and to me OJ something that is comforting and good way to fight them. On the same hand I shouldn't drink so much calories. So I was happy when I was asked to try out Trop50.
I haven't tried it yet, but will be soon. Tropicana Trop50 is just 50 calories per 8 ounce serving.
Each 8-ounce glass of Trop50 squeezes in a full day’s supply of vitamin C and is also a good source of antioxidant vitamin E. Sounds like a good option to me!
Want to try it? Check out Trop50 True Resolutions:
Behind every New Year’s resolution is a secret motivation. Do you really want to lose weight to feel healthier or is it really to fit into that a-MAY-zing dress that’ll make your ex do a double take? This year, Trop50 True Resolutions celebrates the real reasons behind New Year’s resolutions. There’s no reason to sugarcoat the truth, only reasons to be your fabulous self!
Share your secret motivation and you’ll earn a coupon for $1 off Trop50 for yourself and 50¢ off coupons for up to 50 of your friends. You can even submit incognito with a fierce disguise. Bonus: Whether you submit a resolution or not, you can also enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a $1000 gift card.
Limit one (1) $1 coupon per person/email address/Facebook account. Coupons available while supplies last.
Giveaway:
So head on over to Trop50 on facebook, and share your resolution! They have also offered one of my lucky readers a prize as well...... A $50 Spa & Wellness Gift Cards bySpa Week® !!!
To enter this giveaway:
Leave a comment here telling me what your resolution is.
For extra entries:
Like Trop50 on facebook.
Enter your resolution on their True Resolutions page on facebook.
Like my blog on facebook.
This giveaway will end on Jan. 31 and the winner will be notified by email. Please only one entrant per household/IP address. Make sure to leave a valid email. Please leave a seperate comment for each entry. You may enter similar giveaways on other blogs, but it is at the discretion of the sponsor if you can receive multiple prizes.
I will be receiving a coupon for a free bottle of Trop50 to review. This giveaway is sponsored by Tropicana and is not sponsored by Mamavation. This post is also sponsored by The Chia Co and I’m writing this to be entered into a giveaway hosted by Mamavation – a community dedicated to obesity prevention & weight loss for women”.
Probably because I have never really known "normal" for several years now. When I first started writing my blog it was to advocate for my children having special needs and to raise awareness for their disabilities. Then things were calm for a while and I started entering giveaways and then doing reviews myself. I liked doing this. It was something that made things seem "normal".
Then we get stays in the hospital, and worsening of conditions. Then back home again. How do you go back to what seems "normal" when you realize it never really has been. I have always been the strong one, the positive one....but also the one that tucks my feelings inside so that others stay strong. Maybe for my health I should express those more often. I actually fear how others will react if I let my feelings out more. I hate to alienate even more people, because either they don't like how I feel, or they don't know how to react to how I feel. I also hate the other side of it too....getting too much attention. I like people to just have "normal" conversations.
So that being said....if I start expressing more of my feelings here...dont run away...dont feel you need to say anything either. Also believe me I am such a mixed bag of emotions lately (and a woman) that I may say one thing one day (or minute) and then say the opposite the next.
Also for those that are typically here pretty much just to enter a giveaway, I am sorry, but I feel like these will definitely be much less. I am just not "feeling" it lately. I do have some items to tell you about that I have used recently, but overall they are going to be less. I just dont have the physical time or emotional time to do some of these tasks.
This weekend we went to the zoo. It was Lauren's first time. She was great that day and seemed to enjoy it.
I thought I would share a couple videos too. They are of some new little ones at the zoo. I forget what the first little things are called, but there is a baby bouncing around. We also got to see the lion cubs that were born there this summer.
Cinnamon Toast Crunch has been a favorite in my house for a while now. Since my stepdaughters moved in with us this is one cereal that goes fast. Now they have another option to try too, Frosted Toast Crunch! Each crunchy baked square has the great taste of frosted vanilla and still has that great cinnamon crunch.
Each serving has 11 grams of whole grains! This is a great way for my children, and even my father in law who raids the box often, to get some whole grains. My son is very picky about cereals and this is one of the few he will eat. Frosted Toast Crunch is now available in the stores and makes not only a great breakfast item, but also a great snack for school time. I will most likely be sending this often for a classroom snack. I have to make sure to put it in the backpack as soon as I purchase it, otherwise the box typically is opened before the next morning!
I started the week off strong, but slacked off some at the end of the week. Today I got back with it and will hopefully have a stronger week. After spending weeks at the hospital with Kennedy, getting back in the swing of things last week was a bit tough. I had to do a lot of errands and a couple doctors appointments. This week there is no appointments, so hopefully I can get into more of a routine to guide me along. I am also hoping for a now one year old to start sleeping better! I think she is cutting some molars and has been sleeping terribly at night. This really makes it tough to be motivated to do a lot. I noticed last week when I was more tired, or stressed from too much baby crying, then I would turn to food and being a couch potatoe. So I am hoping to get with it this week, and overcome these things.
The good for last week: I managed to cut my soda down, and avoided getting fast food while I was out a couple times. I exercised twice, and did some other moving around like spending the afternoon at the zoo yesterday. I cut back on junk food.
The bad for the week: I got stressed and overtired and ate some junk food and drank soda by the end of the week. I was doing good, and let one slip lead to another slip. While I did exercise a couple days, which is much more than I have done the last couple months, I did not do it how often I wanted to.
Goals for this week:
Moving: Exercise by following the 30 day program in "Get Off the Couch Potato" by Kathi Casey. I read through about the first week of this and it really is just starting off with some basic exercise and breathing and adding on some everyday. So I will try to do at least this, and probably add in at least a couple days of my Wii exercises. I picked up a 4" step for my balance board and created a 35 min. step aerobics, boxing, and a couple other activities from EA sports Active 2 (which I got by being a Mamavation Sista!).
Eating: I am going to make sure I eat a healthy breakfast everyday. No cereal this week for me. I find if I focus on a good breakfast then I do better through out the day. I am also going to aim for NO soda at all, and only healthy snacks. I am aiming for a lot more veggies.
I thought about joining in the 2 week challenge, but decide not to do it this time. I want to start back at a pace I know I can stick with. I find if I am pressured too much when I am trying to get back on the wagon I will just get frustrated and end up quitting. So I am starting out slower, and hopefully adding on as the weeks go on. Then I will be ready to join in later down the road.
Disclosure: I have received some products free either for review, by winning them, or by being a member of mamavation. This does not influence my opinion of these products.
well this will be quick because life has been hectic. I have not posted a mamavation post in quite a while, but it is new years and I need to start new. I think back to three years ago when I made the resolution to get healthy, and actually did it....until I got pregnant and then gained everything back. My baby is a year old and its been a crazy year ...so now it is time to get with it again. I will be looking into working out again and getting more resources for getting healthy. So look forward to seeing more of my posts. I am already checking out some cookbooks and magazines for recipes, and a new book called "Get Off The Couch Potato" by Kathi Casey. So look forward to me telling you more about these items, and most likely my Wii...as that was my best friend last time. So I'm back....how about you?
