Fit Mama - Week 2

So, after having two kids only 13 months apart, my figure now needs a little attention.  But this post is about more than just weight loss, my family is undergoing a lifestyle change of our eating habits.  Obviously, we want to raise our children with healthy eating habits and give them the best start at life, but to do that, David and I need to change our habits.  We can't expect our kids to eat well if we don't set the example for them.  That being said, we are eating according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat To Live plan.  We are essentially becoming 'nutritarians'...the majority of the foods we eat are nutrient-dense.  We have cut out dairy almost completely (it is so horrible for you!) and eat very limited amounts of meat.  The majority of our meals are made of greens, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds and beans.  This is the healthiest way to eat and will set our children up to be healthy later in life.  We are really excited about this and have been doing really well eating according to this plan, and Fenna loves it!  I see and hear so many stories of toddlers being picky eaters, but we have not run into that problem!  Fenna loves anything green you place in front of her and eats like a champ!  I have actually been worried before that she was eating too much!  Having explained all of that, I am also very hopeful that eating this way will help me shed some of those extra lbs from the babies!  So, my top weight at the end of my pregnancy with Kason was 205 (which was actually also my top weight with Fenna).  After giving birth I dropped about 20 lbs almost immediately then stayed in the mid 180's for the first 5 weeks post-partum.  So, when I began this at 5 weeks post-partum my starting weight was 183.4 (yikes!).  For my height and build a good weight for me is around 125, but personally my goal weight will be 140, if I can get there I will be a happy camper!  As you can tell I obviously have a long way to go!  As of this morning, about a week and a half in I am 175.8, so I have made some progress already!  Now, to help motivate me, I am going to post pictures throughout this process.  These first couple really scare me because I think I look better than I actually do, but when I look at these pictures I realize that I need to stick with this!  I can't believe I am posting these, I know they are horrible, but hopefully soon I will have new, better ones to replace them with!  Here we go...

Kason: One Month Old

WOW!  How time flies!  I can't believe I am writing this post already (and I'm even a few days late)!  Time definitely goes way too fast once little ones start entering the picture.  I am definitely trying to cherish each moment, but they disappear so quickly!  At his 4 week weigh in he was finally back over his birthweight, so we were able to stop taking him to the doctor weekly, thank goodness!  Now, he's already getting too big for his newborn clothes, and I don't think I mentioned that he skipped newborn diapers and just started with size 1 right from birth!  He is sleeping very well at this point, at around 3 weeks old he began sleeping in 4 to 5 hour stretches and usually only wakes up once per night (around 2 or 3 AM usually).  I'm definitely not complaining about that!  He is really just the sweetest little man, he only cries when he needs to be fed and is quite alert when he is awake.  He can already follow things with his eyes very well and keeps his head up like a champ!  Kason has been quite the busy little mister, in his first month he has already been to the zoo as well as the pumpkin patch!  Having a second child definitely brings in another dynamic, but we have been working hard at making sure we are still getting out and about (if it was my choice we would probably never leave the house!).  All in all, we are so in love with our little mister and I just can't imagine him not being a part of this family, he was definitely worth the hard weeks at the end of the pregnancy!

Little Mister

Well, our little guy turned 3 weeks old this week!  Which is completely unbelievable...it goes way too fast!  Unfortunately, he has had some trouble starting out.  At his first check up after we were discharged from the hospital he became very jaundiced and had a biliruben level of 20, which is very high.  He had to be in a biliblanket 24/7 for 4 days and was having blood drawn every couple of days to check his levels.  His biliruben level on the fourth day came back as 14.5 so we were thankfully able to take him off of the biliblanket at that time.  Even now (over a week later) the whites of his eyes are still a bit yellow, but that is apparently the last place that the signs of jaundice disappear from.  He has also been having a bit of trouble gaining weight.  At his 3 week check up he was still not back up to his birthweight, but he is only a few oz shy of it at 8 lbs 12 oz.  Now we have to take him in for a weight check next week as well, when he turns one month old, and hopefully he will be past his birthweight by then!  We are nursing like crazy to try to get him to gain (and avoid having to supplement with any formula (which we had to do a few times while he was on the biliblanket to try and get the biliruben out of his system)).  

Other than that, little Kason is doing so, so well!  He is a very laid back baby, much like Fenna was.  He is sleeping 4 to 5 hours during the night, so I am one well rested mama!  Fenna has also been sleeping so well, she is currently going to be around 7:30 every night and usually sleeps through the night!  I'm not sure how I ended up with two AMAZING sleepers, but I am definitely not complaining!  We also have weened Fenna from bottles/formula completely...so glad to be done with that!

David went back to work the second week after Kason was born so it has been a bit challenging taking care of two!  There are definitely difficult moments, but overall it is not as hard as I thought it would be.  This week though I do have my sister staying with me to help out with Fenna so I can focus on making sure that Kason is nursing long enough, which will help him put weight on.

I have been so bad/lazy about taking pictures lately (ain't nobody got time fo' that!), but here are a few shots of the kiddos and our lives lately!