Miscellany on a Rainy Monday

Good morning, readers! I sincerely hope that you guys are doing well. :) Life over here is a bit hectic, but I am adoring this season that my family and I are currently in. As you guys know, time goes by way too fast, and nothing proves this more than my sweet little boy. This week he will be 4 months old and I just can't believe it. He is pure joy. :) I'll be writing his 4 month update soon (hopefully!) but until then I wanted to share a few things:

     ~ Gavin is officially a roller! :) On Friday, June 22nd Gavin rolled over all by himself, and hasn't stopped since! Whether he's getting his diaper changed or drinking a bottle, this kid is trying to flip over. Lol it's the cutest thing I've seen so far. He's even doing a little army crawl and I know he'll be crawling before we know it. AH! Oh time, please slow down just a little. 

 Gav right after his first roll. :D

     ~ Last week, Gavin and I joined our sweet friends Melissa and Ivey (Ive's also my sis-in-law) downtown for lunch and a stroll at Battery Park. It was a beautiful day and we had such a great time. With each trip downtown I am falling more and more in love with Charleston. :)

View from our table at Fleet Landing

 Group shot!

Napping at the Battery

Me and my sweet boy

Gav and Aunt Melissa

:)

And here's a little miscellany...

* Last night, I watched Lady and the Tramp for the first time. Not sure how I missed this one when I was a kid, but I'm glad I've finally seen it. What a sweet little movie! I can't wait (well, I can but you know what I mean) until Gav is old enough to watch movies with us. I'm anxious to see his reaction to movies that Keith and I love. 

* This weekend, if the weather allows, I am finally going to learn how to play tennis! I've been wanting to learn how to play for years now and I can't wait to get out there. The hubs has already taught me the rules and point system, so all that's left is actually going out and playing. Yay! Here's to a good experience, a great workout, and scratching #15 off of The List.

*Speaking of The List, I've been doing a lot of thinking and I have finally decided on what's get kicked off and what new items I'll be adding. More on that later...  

* And finally, I am very excited to share that the time has come -- I am studying for the October LSAT!!! I've mentioned numerous times before about my intentions on studying, but I've finally begun! I'm enrolled in Blueprint's LSAT prep course and I am loving it. Seriously. I never thought I'd enjoy studying for this beast of a test, but I do! Better yet, I am dramatically improving and feel confident in my ability to rock this test. And I've only completed the first lesson. :) I'm really looking forward to the rest of my lessons and am anxiously waiting for Test Day (103 days from now, but who's counting?). 

Father's Day

Today is Father's Day and I can't help but feel overwhelmed with happiness. On February 29th, little Gavin entered this world and Keith and I have never been the same. Today, we are celebrating our sweet boy's life. He is the apple of our eye and words cannot express how much joy he brings to our lives. Today, we are celebrating Keith's role as a father. I know that he's only been doing this for a few months, but he's truly amazing at it. :) Gav adores his Daddy and always gets so excited whenever Keith gets home for work. I am excited to watch the relationship between Keith and Gavin grow, and will always thank my God for these two indescribable blessings in my life.

Happy 1st Father's Day, baby! We love you! :)

Hello, Asheville!

For Memorial Day weekend, Keith, Gav, and I spent time in Asheville, North Carolina and we had a lovely, relaxing time. I had never been to Asheville before and I have to confess that I absolutely love it there. The mountains were just beautiful! It was so serene and beautiful and I would not mind in the least if we ended up living there one day. ;) We spent one of our days there hiking at Chimney Rock Park. I had Gav in a baby carrier on my chest, and holy cow was that an awesome workout! Here are a few pictures from our hike.

We had a great time and since my honey has an office there we'll most likely be back soon!

Frustration to Motivation

In yesterday's post I expressed my frustration with my current predicament -- A new mom who is loving life but unhappy/frustrated with my non-existent weight loss. I shared that a recent realization of how God sees me as His perfect child opened my eyes to accepting where I'm at currently, and also how happy I am with my life. And while all of this remains true, a strange thing happened yesterday. I stumbled upon a site that was extremely motivating and shed a lot of light on my hatred of the scale.

I was on Facebook and came across a page that a friend of mine recently "liked". The page was for a gorgeous fitness model who is in incredible shape. (Hence, the whole fitness model thing ;) I was checking out her page when I realized that this was not someone who lucked out and ended up in this industry. This is someone that worked really hard and earned her place. Her name is Kelsey Byers and she is absolute inspiration. 

See this picture? 

 via

Awesome/incredible/inspiring, right?! How did she obtain these results? By working her butt off! She eats clean and sticks to a fitness plan filled with cardio and weights. You can read more about her story here. 

And now my favorite picture:

 via

She weighs the same in each picture! From her Facebook:

"Forget the scale! The picture on the left was taken around March 1, 2010. This is right when I hired my nutritionist. Weight: 140 lbs, 24% body fat.
 

The pic on the right was taken June 17, 2010. About 3.5 months of clean eating. Weight: 140 lbs, 15% body fat. This is when I decided to start training to compete. 

Measure yourself & take progress pics! This is a perfect example of why NOT to get discouraged by the numbers you see on the scale!"

I can't express how encouraging this picture is! The scale truly means nothing, and here is the evidence. While I'm not planning on duplicating her routine, I will research what she did and possibly try it out. If it works for me, then great! If it doesn't then I'll keep looking. For me, the key is finding something I enjoy and sticking to it! I will say that I attempted the Insanity Fast and Furious workout on Sunday. This DVD is a 20 minute condensed version of Insanity...and I only lasted 5 minutes on Sunday before gagging and collapsing. BUT I felt good and sore and I will try it again and again until I can do it!

I know that it wasn't an accident that I stumbled upon Kelsey's page. I think that I was meant to so that I could be encouraged...so that I could believe in myself again. I still stand by everything I said yesterday, but am much more encouraged about my journey to a healthier life. 

Frustrated

What is it about the number on a scale that can make you feel so awesome or so disgusting? 

For a solid month, Keith and I were on the Weight Watchers Points Plus program. We were doing great, and both had way more energy and just generally felt better. Well, that was until I decided to weigh myself. By doing this I discovered that I had not lost anything! Zilch, zero, nada. Talk about discouraging, and I didn't understand. What was I doing wrong? Through WW, you can lose approximately 1-2 pounds per week and the only thing I can think of is that I am still partially nursing Gavin, and because of this I'm allowed an additional 7 points per day. I guess I'm not burning enough calories nursing, but because of it my appetite has vastly increased. 

So, what's a girl to do? I wish I knew the answer. I know it's not rocket science -- eat less, exercise more. But sometimes it's just not that simple. All that I do know is that I threw in the towel with Weight Watchers. :/ To me, I can weigh the same by eating whatever I want, or I can meticulously count my points and still maintain my current weight. I pick the first one. Now, once I stop breastfeeding I'll have more options. I'll likely give WW another try, but I could also choose to take diet pills or drink those magic shakes. However, I think taking these things would harm more than help. To lose weight is one thing, but to keep it off is another thing entirely. I want to do this the healthy way, I just have to find my niche is this area.

Confession: I know that it's only been a few months (3.5 exactly) since I've had Gavin, but I feel like I should already be back down to my pre-pregnancy weight. Between the celebrity moms who take 5 minutes to get back into shape and the pressure that society places on women, I feel like I've failed. Until today I felt pretty bad about that, but then I realized that none of it matters. Would I love to lose this weight and tone up? Sure. BUT, it doesn't matter how I look on the outside if my insides are a mess. And honestly, right now my insides are on cloud nine. I am loving life. I don't think that I've ever been happier. I would take this, over looking like a model and being negative and lost any day!

Keith and I have been watching sermons online from our old church in Atlanta, and we're currently watching a series called "The Comparison Trap" by Andy Stanley. This message discusses how it's human nature to compare yourself to others. You always want to be -er. Pretty-er, rich-er, skinny-er, happy-er, etc. But what happens when you become those things? You want to be -est. The pretty-est, rich-est, skinny-est, happy-est, etc. Today we listened to the second part of this message, and it really hit home. Pastor Andy told us that in God's eyes, we are compared to nobody. He does not look at us and wish that we'd be skinnier, prettier, taller, etc. He looks at us and sees perfect children. Is there room for improvement? Always. But if my Father thinks those things of me, then I really have nothing to worry about. :)

I won't be settling for where I'm at now physically, but I've realized that I'm not going to change overnight. It's going to take some time for me to find a routine that works for me. And that's okay. I guess the purpose of this post is to document my feelings at this point in time, and also to encourage any other new moms out there or anyone struggling with this issue. You are not alone. We all just need to find what works for us, stick to it, and be patient. It'll all work out. :)