1 Year

Tomorrow is the big day!! One year ago I had my baby girl and weighed 252 pounds. How the year has flown by. How life has changed so much for me. I am already 76 pounds lighter, I left my job and became a stay at home mom, I started working out regularly with a trainer, and I've met several new friends, etc. Having two kids is definitely different from one.

I truly can not believe that my wee one is 1 year old. She is my little princess and has been such a joy to have in our lives. Her big blue sparkling eyes, sweet blonde curls, and 8 little teeth creating her precious smile melt my heart. She has been such an easy baby. She is learning how to talk and yells out words like ma-ma, da-da, ya-ya, jack, ba-ba, hi, na-na, uh-oh, la-la. Reese loves to blow raspberries and spit bubbles. She isn't quite brave enough to walk yet even though she started crawling at 7 months. She is wildly independent and definitely head strong. She already squaks when she doesn't get her way! Her and her brother are the best of friends and they spend hours playing with each other; Hudson has even convinced her to be passionate about cars. It has been so fun dressing her up and putting bows in her hair. I have definitely spent a little more money on accessories with this kid...hair bows, tights, shoes, leg warmers, head bands, sunglasses, tutus, bloomers, etc.

I sure do love my kids. They both bring so much joy to my life. Part of me can't believe that she is already a year old and another part of me can't remember my life with out her. Happy Birthday tomorrow sweet Sissy....We love you.

Kind of makes me sad that she is turning one. I mean, I don't know exactly what our future holds but for several reasons we think that Reese will be our last baby. I think that is why it is hard to see her grow up because deep down I know that I won't be having more babies. However, we are looking forward to the new experiences that we will get to have with older kids such as traveling, camping, boating, etc. Also after working this hard for a new body, I am not sure I want to risk losing it again by being pregnant. I have also been advised by my doctor that it may not be safe for me to have more since I have had two c-sections and my uterus is very thin in spots.

I am not sure if I will quite make my goal of losing 100 pounds in a year. It will be close. I started this journey in May 2010 and it is already mid-march. I wanted to start immediately after she was born but since I had a c-section it took me about 6 weeks before I was really ready to exercise a lot and it took that long just to feel like myself. I swear those first 6 weeks are like a big fog. So only about 6-8 more weeks to see if I can make the goal. It is lofty but I am just proud of how far I have came and that I am getting my health and confidence back. I know that this summer I will be the lightest I've been in a long time...and I can't wait to hit the lake!

Creamy Skillet Chicken

Tonight I made the yummiest dinner and it was super easy. You can modify this to be a low carb dinner or a low fat dinner. If wanting to watch fat just substitute light or fat free milk & cream cheese.

Creamy Skillet Chicken

1 TBSP Olive oil

4 boneless skinless breast halves (about 1.25 Lbs)

1 Envelope Lipton Vegetable Soup mix

1 C Milk

1 C Water

4 oz cream cheese

Directions:

In 12 inch skillet, heat oil over medium high heat and brown chicken turning once, remove chicken. In the same skillet bring soup mix blended with milk and water to a boil, reduce heat and summer uncovered 4 minutes. Stir in cream cheese until melted and simmer 3 minutes. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

I served this with green beans and a baked potato (for Travis); I just had an extra serving of green beans. You could also serve with biscuits, rice or noodles. It was very good and the extra sauce would be great over potato or rice.

Blog Award

This month's blog award goes to one of my besties, Amanda Rayburn! I have been wanting to give it to her for sometime just because I love her so much but she wasn't following the blog as well as others so I had to put her off. However, as of recently she has became a good reader and she is also joining me on my diet for lent. It has been fun to talk to her about her workouts, eating ideas, etc. We are getting to our goals together.

Last time Amanda saw me, I weighed 231 pounds. I can't wait till I can see her again (hopefully in June) and show her the new me! I don't even know where to start in telling you about Mandy. Out of all of my friends and family she has came to Tennessee to visit more than anyone and she loves me so much that she even attempted to move to TN to be closer. She was here for about 4 months and got home sick. :(

When I think of Amanda here are some of the words that come to mind (you may not understand them all...but I do):

Cupcake, Smart, Music, Hoodies, Sex in the City, Pigtails, Camel's Back Park, Vault, Macbook, Pharmacy, Beautiful, Poetic, "I thought I got 100", New York City, Quiznos, muffcakes, Alto, St. Luke's, Radiohead, Creative, Old Chicago, Williams-Sonoma, Devoted, Sunglasses, Vue, Funny, Boise State Bronco, Friend, wisdom teeth, Talented, Happy Camper, Sucrose, I-Pod, Weeds, Eclectic, Knitting, Epidemiology, Tatoos, "Who Cares", Oranges in Tube Socks and Moonshine.

Amanda is a great friend. We have laughed many laughs. She is the kind that you can call for no reason or the type that would come over just to help you clean the house and hang out. She knows all my flaws but still loves me. We have been on tons of adventures together and I can't wait for even more. Love you friend. You mean the world to me. Miss you tons and wish you were still here. Good luck with Pharmacy school....I'll know you'll be great!

Isn't this picture of me disgusting? It was the last time she was here, right after Reese was born and we headed to Dollywood with my 3 week old baby. hee hee. Look at my shirt curling up over my belly. Gross!!