Merry Christmas!!!

Merry, merry Christmas from my favorite little man!!!

Updates!!!

I feel like I haven’t updated this blog in a really long time; so now its time to do a little catching up…

On the baby front:

Most of you already know that after a lot of discussion, prayer, and talking with my OBGYN, Wesley and I decided to take a much needed break from trying to have a baby. This past year has been tough on us both physically and emotionally. We decided that it was time for us to take care of ourselves first and foremost. My doctor placed us with a nutritionist within her office and Wes and I began a weight-loss extravaganza.

Our weight loss journey has been surprisingly easy and actually enjoyable. The diet program itself is a high protein, low sugar, and low carb diet (The program is called Cornerstone Wellness). The high protein helps to boost metabolism and combined with the low carb this helps you lose the extra fat and not muscle as most diets do; helping you keep it off and not gain the fat back. I have never been much of a meat eater so this diet helps me get the protein my body needs while also providing me with a more balanced diet and high metabolism (which I have NEVER had).

Cornerstone Protein Shake & MetAssist Tablets

**If you have any questions regarding the Cornerstone Wellness program, please do not hesitate to ask me and I will get you any information that you want**

With the program we drink 2 high protein meal replacement shakes (we chose to drink one for breakfast and then one for supper). We combine this with a balanced lunch and also small snacks throughout the day. Of course, don’t forget the exercise. Without the exercise, yes you will lose some weight, but you will not reap the benefits of getting in better shape. I have never been much of an exerciser, but now my body actually craves it! We started out just walking in the park for 30 minutes. and are now able to try new exercises and can work out for over an hour without feeling like we might die.

We meet with the nutritionist once a month and she reads our body fat content. This reading shows us exactly how much fat our body contains and lets us know how much excess fat our body contains. We also track our weight loss and food on an Internet based program. It keeps up with every calorie, fat gram, carb, etc that we put in our mouth along with any exercise we might have done for that day. It helps to keep you accountable for everything you put in your mouth. The control freak in me LOVES it.

I am not positive why this diet plan has clicked with me, but it has. I feel so much better about myself and am finally content with where I am right now. I know look at it as not a diet, but honestly as a complete life change. No longer will you see junk food in my house or will you see me overindulging and stuffing myself.

As of our last weigh-in with our nutritionist, Wesley and I have lost a combined total of 87lbs! Wesley has reached his goal and is now following a maintenance plan. I, however, am halfway to my original goal (I keep changing it because I want to lose even more). I am currently at a total loss of 45lbs and at only 17% excess body fat. Plus, when I met with Dr. Roberts to review my hormone levels after doing this diet for 3 months I found out that ALL of my hormones are now back to normal (I no longer have to worry about PCOS at all). Needless to say both Dr. Roberts and I am thrilled!!!

Me in April 2010 and now in December 2010

As I have mentioned before, I am a complete control freak. This diet and life change has given me a last chance to have a baby of my own. God willing after I am completely healthy we will be able to conceive and give birth with no issues. But even if we are not, at least I will know that I did EVERYTHING that I could do to make it happen.

Through all of this I have learned just how important it is for me to be content with where I am now. I do not need to dwell on the things I cannot have right now, but be happy with what God has given me. I am blessed beyond belief and know whether or not I have a baby of my own or not, God will bless me with a family!

Wesley and I plan to start trying to become parents again this next summer (depending on how long it takes for me to reach my “goal”). Until then we will be happy with our little family of animals and enjoy getting super healthy for our future children!

Happy Halloween

Here's hoping that everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!!!

Cowboy Khade

Wesley and his witch ;)

Khade and I carved a "jack" this week and boy was it fun!!! I wasn't sure if Khade would like it or not since he has always been a little grossed-out when touching new things. He took to it like a fish in water. He even helped me clean out the pumpkin. He would make the funniest faces when he touched the pumpkin "guts". I wish someone would have been there with us to video it all.

Khade cleaning out the "guts"

Cleaning off the top of his pumpkin

I taught him to say "Vampire Pumpkin", too. When Brandy (his mom) got home from work she asked him what kind of pumpkin he made and he told her very clearly, "Vampire". He is an absolute sponge. Tell him anything and he will repeat it and NEVER forget it either. I absolutely LOVE this age!!! Each week is a new adventure...

Khade and his Vampire Pumpkin

We also played in the leaves too. Which was another bunch of fun. He loved throwing them up in the air. He also tried to throw them on me, too. I swear he can turn the worst day around with just a quick smile and giggle!!!

Also, while Brandy and I were putting up some groceries Khade made him his own seat out of coke boxes. We didn't even notice for quite a while so there is no telling how long he had been sitting there. What a comedian!!! :)

I LOVE the beach!!!

I so wish that Wesley and I lived closer to the beach. We had the most relaxing and fun time with my parents at the beach. October was a perfect time to go. There was hardly any traffic and the weather was gorgeous. Now I will say the water was a bit cold, but hey it was still one of the best trips I have ever taken.

It was a week filled with my favorite things: sunshine, surf, Wii games, and my sweet parents and husband!!! What a week!!! :) Here are a few pictures (of course I took over 100, but whoa that would be a HUGE blog post).

Beautiful Sunrise every morning

Mom and my sand castle. We worked hard on this. Let's just say my whole body (and I do mean whole body) was exfoliated after this.

Wes and me

Mom and Dad playing putt-putt golf

Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville

My crazy mother being "attacked" by a bear :)

And for all of you who know my parents...this shows just how cold our condo was EVERY night!!! Freezing to death!!! LOL

My Little Indian

Yesterday was a day of ABSOLUTE fun!!! Khade woke up in a great mood and was in a playing mood. From the very beginning he was saying, "Tiffy play" and pointing for me to sit in the floor with him. We had to fix everything in the house with our tool set and of course watch the Tractor DVD three times. Here are a couple fun stories from our day:

Chilling on the Couch

While I was eating a plum, Khade came and got in my lap and started pointing at the plum and saying "Apple". I told him no that it was a plum and he kept arguing with me saying, "apple, apple." Finally he asked for a bite so I let him have a small bite. He said, "YUM plum!" I guess he just needed to have a taste in order to understand it wasn't really an apple. He then proceeded to eat about half of it. :)

Notice the trackhoe in the picture? ;)

Another fun thing that I so wish I had on video was when Khade decided to show his bubble tiger how to shoot basketball. I swear, this child has the biggest imagination for a 21 month old. He had the tiger in his hand and took it over to the basketball goal. He then held a ball up to the tiger's face and said, "see ball tiger?" He then made the tiger watch as he placed the ball in the hoop a couple of times. He was so dead serious too.

Bubble-Tiger

And my final FAVORITE thing from yesterday was simply when he told me "I love you too".

All I can say after spending this wonderful day with my little Indian (he ran around with his headdress on, acting like one) is that I just hope and pray that when Wesley and I finally have our own kid that he or she is half the fun as my sweet, Khade baby!!! :) :) :) :)

Dressed in his Indian headdress

Dancing like a "wild" Indian

I NEED Tractors!!!

The title of this post is "I NEED Tractors" for one reason only this was one of the cutest things Khade said this week. He is now talking in complete sentences and can tell you exactly what he wants. I swear, he gets smarter each week anymore. He is learning so quickly and repeats everything. He also sang and did the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider for me. TOO CUTE!!! And luckily we got by with only seeing our Tractor DVD three times too... ;)

I didn't get many pictures this week because he was way too busy talking to me the whole time I was keeping him. LOL

Light of my Life

Here is a picture of my latest craft project. I thought it turned out GREAT! Unfortunately it did not photograph really well. I gave it to Wesley as a little reminder yesterday... ;) I even hollowed out the light bulb myself.

And because he is the sweetest husband EVER, I came home to a clean house, flowers, and yummy Sugar Free candy!!! I sure do love that man!!!

Big Weekend!!!

What a fun weekend it was! We were busy, busy this past weekend, but had a lot of fun. The weekend both started with a bang and ended with a bang (literally).

Wesley went dove hunting for the first time with my dad and brother-in-law. He had so much fun and shot 6 doves. I was really proud of him, but still felt a little bad because he shot 6 poor innocent birds, but such is life. I called mom that morning and said, "Hunting season has begun and now my husband has a gun so I guess he will be kidnapped by dad every Saturday." I can't believe that my dad has rubbed off on him. I married a non-hunter, but now here he is, Mr. Hunter!!! :)

The day ended with the start of my beloved SEC football season. For any of you that don't know I absolutely LOVE college football. I can watch for hours and never get tired of it. I am one of those people who gets really into it whether I'm sitting in front of the TV or at the actual game. I scream, I holler, I yell, I dance, I do it all!!! I bleed orange and navy (I am an alumni and a proud one at that), but if Auburn is not playing Tennessee I will route for the Vols. Thankfully, both Auburn and Tennessee had good wins! WAR EAGLE!!!

Wes and I usually lay around and just relax on Sundays, but not this week. My dad called around 3pm and wanted us to go see Avatar with mom and him. Now I have seen Avatar before, but never like this. I saw the DVD version and that was quite a long time ago. We went to the Regal Cinema and saw it in IMAX 3D. It was incredible!!! There was so much more to see in 3D. I highly recommend it! I was afraid it would prompt one of my crazy migraines, but it didn't. My eyes felt a little sore afterwards, but no migraine.

After Avatar, Wes and I drove downtown for the annual Boomsday celebration. For those of you who ask "What is Boomsday?" It is only the biggest firework display on Labor Day. They shoot the fireworks off the Henley Street bridge right over the water. I swear it is bigger than July 4th. It was incredible! Wes said it was the best firework display he has ever seen. I LOVE fireworks and these were the best. I thought I was going to choke to death though on all the smoke. When the fireworks were over we noticed a lot of ash flying around in the air and that all of us had it all over our clothes and hair. It looked like we stepped right out of the movie The Road. I took some pictures, but believe me they do not do the show any justice. Plus due to our spot, I was unable to get many pictures of the actual bridge and there was some great stuff happening on the bridge itself. Here's a small taste though.

So now its Labor Day and I'm alone...BOO!!! After such a weekend filled with laughter and family (and complete strangers) it feels strange to be just "the boys" and me again. Sometimes I wish Wes got holidays off, but hospitals never close...but, honestly thanks everybody for an AWESOME weekend!!!

Frog Boots and Cheesin'

Here are some pictures of Khade from the past couple of weeks. As you will see anytime I ask him to smile for the camera he "cheeses" so hard that one of his eyes actually close. I spent the day with him yesterday and he just had to wear his frog boots all afternoon too. He is too cute!!!

Sleeping in his BIG boy bed (when did he grow up?)

You have to LOVE that beautiful face and blue eyes!

Laughing at Aunt Tiffany

The frog boots :)