R and R in Oklahoma: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

On the first of January I decided to dive into a vegan diet that, along with cutting out any animal product, also cut out sugar and it is referred to as "The Daniel Fast". I picked up a copy of this book and used recipes from the book and this website. The Daniel Fast is a 21 day "fast" from animal products (meat, eggs, cheese, milk, etc.) but also from sugar and all drinks except water. I ended up setting my goal for 20 days but ended up doing 19 since I WAY cheated on the last day.

My original goal when starting this was strictly to lose weight, but after reading through the book it became much, much more. I began a journey in my faith that I have never taken before and that was diving feet first into the Bible and actually trying to understand the scripture I was reading. I have set out before to read my Bible but it wasn't to read it and understand, it was just to read it from cover to cover. I failed miserably at that! But by devoting my morning to the Bible and a relationship with the Lord, I have grown so much in the past 30 days. I say 30 because though my "fast" ended, my devotion to grow as a Christian did not.

In the book that I purchased, there is a 21 day devotional to go along with the 21 days of the fast. I decided to use the daily devotional, but I also started reading Proverbs. I chose to read one chapter of proverbs each day and then I would have Proverbs finished after 31 days. On the first devotional I had an "ah ha" moment, (as Oprah would put it) she talked about first fruits and how God wants the best of everything we have, including our time. He doesn't want to be second to anything or anyone. Seeing that my morning routine was to roll out of bed and immediately workout and then begin my day as mommy, I decided that I would roll out of bed and spend what time I needed to read and then use what time I had left to workout and then allow my day to begin after that. Though there were mornings that I didn't get to workout, I was able to grow spiritually and it set in motion a new way of thinking.

This was a wonderful way for me to grow, gain knowledge, gain understanding and find focus on what truly matters. I see myself taking this journey whenever I start feeling a need to focus on prayer or when I feel that I am drifting away.

As for the weight loss, in the 19 days that I cut out all the stuff I cut out, I lost 8 pounds and 7 3/4 inches!! Plus, I now have a whole bunch of go-to recipes to eat vegan/vegetarian. I plan to continue eating that way 3-5 day a week because I feel my body was in far better health when I was eating so many fruits, veggies and grains.

My running total for weight and inches lost since starting to workout and track starting in September: 14 pounds and 21 inches! I learned that the best way to see a difference is to cut out sugar (at least hone it in a little!) because I cut out sugar in October and lost 9.5 inches and 3 pounds. Therefore, October and January were my two biggest loss months. Bye, bye to my daily sugar fix and hello healthier lifestyle.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

This And That

A few weeks ago we were able to make a family trip to the zoo. It was an unseasonably warm day, which we have had a lot this year, and a nice afternoon out. Rowynn was able to ride the merry-go-round for the first time! He was very unsure at the beginning and was asking to get down almost as soon as I got him up on the tiger. After going round and round and up and down, he was asking for more as soon as the ride ended!

Brennyn just continues to grow! He now has his bottom two teeth and he has one of his top teeth poking through. The horrible part, he grinds his teeth together. I'm not sure how he is able to grind his teeth when the top tooth has barely broken the skin. Some how he pulls it off and he sends chills down my spine every time.

To aid in the teething, we decided to offer him a pacifier. I think this one was a little to small.

I sure love this super handsome boy

We now read lots of stories. He loves to grab a book and climb on a lap and just read and look at pictures.

I now combine bath time. I love it. It is cute and it saves me time. It will be wonderful when Brennyn can sit up and interact with Rowynn.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Big Boy

Brennyn had his six month check-up today and all I can say is HE IS HUGE!

I kind of already knew that we would be in for a big baby, especially since he is sporting twelve month clothes and wears a size four diaper, like his brother!

Here are the stats:
Length: 27 inches (75%)
Weight: 23 lbs 4.5 ozs (off the chart!)

In the words of my pediatrician: "you sure grow them big at your house".

Monday, January 2, 2012

The Daniel Fast

A couple of years ago my brother-in-law did the Daniel fast. At the time, I had no idea what it was except that it was a very strict eating plan. Something along the lines of no dairy, meat and sugar. He pretty much only ate salads and fruit.

Well, I decided a week or so ago that maybe doing some sort of cleanse would benefit my body but also (most importantly!) my waistline. I originally was going to do Dr. Oz's 48 hour cleanse until I remembered Wayne doing the Daniel fast. I researched the Daniel fast and found that there were a couple of books available and headed straight for the bookstore.

I picked up a copy of The Daniel Fast by Susan Gregory and my plan to help my body become more healthy (and my waistline smaller) turned into something much more. Through reading the book, I decided to use the next 20 days to grow my relationship with God. Since I rarely devote any time during the day to praying or studying I decided to abstain from Facebook (I am on it WAY to much), follow the diet (fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts) and most importantly, study my Bible every morning before I workout (God doesn't want to be second best to anything, not even my workout!).

I have chosen to do the daily devotional provided in the book and also read a chapter of Proverbs each day. My goal is to gain a closer relationship with my Heavenly Father and spend time actually reading the one book on this earth that truly should be read cover-to-cover. I have yet to read my Bible cover-to-cover in my ~~thirty~~ twenty-nine (I only have 20 more days in my twenties. Yikes!) years on this earth. I know I am not doing it right now but, I think tackling one chapter at a time is the way to go.

I originally started down this road so lose a few extra pounds but I am hoping at the end of this 20 days I will have learned something, grown closer to my maker and be able to be a better roll model for my kids.

I did start yesterday. Well, partially since I had to do all of my grocery shopping. My breakfast was oatmeal with cinnamon and pecans(yup, no sugar). It was hard to choke down! I am so used to having one teaspoon of brown sugar in there and that one teaspoon makes a HUGE difference. I did cheat and have a cup of coffee (you're only supposed to drink water) and I did make a black eyed pea dip that had dairy in it. But, dinner was a vegan chili that was absolutely delicious. Even Rusty really enjoyed it!

Thankfully, Rusty is being very supportive of my decision to do this fast. He said he is willing to eat the vegan dinners with me at night so I am not having to whip up two meals. Thank goodness!!

I'll keep you posted on how it goes!