Monday, June 22, 2009

Summer Fun

We are big fans of season passes of any kind. In the fall or spring, we usually renew our Oklahoma City Zoo Passes. In the winter while we can't go to the zoo, we get passes to the Oklahoma Science Museam. But in the summer, we get our Double Park Season Passes and spend as much time as White Water Bay as possible. Here are some pictures of the boys in the kiddie pool.

T-Ball buddies Payton, Preston, and Tyler

Tegan chillin' with the daddy

Tegan's first time in the pool (the notorious pouty lip)


Seriously not happy!


So they spent the rest of the time doing this...


and this.

Ahhhh, the dog days of summer

Saturday, June 20, 2009

a kink in the plan

*Lactation Information Warning*

As mentioned in previos blogs, I had cut my caloric intake as specified by the P90X nutrition plan. I began this last Saturday, and since I began making these changes, I have seen a drastic reduction in my milk supply. Poor Tegan would suck until there was nothing left and cry in desperation for more food. Truth be told, I've been supplementing his night feedings because by the end of the day, I'm completely dried up. I thought there might have been a connection between my change in diet and the change in my breastmilk, but as I scoured through all the breastfeeding infromation I had, I found nothing on the suggested amount of calories a nursing mother should eat.

Yesterday, I decided to visit a local health food store to purchase some fenugreek, an herb to help stimulate my production. While I was there, I spoke to the store clerk about the possible cause of my lack of milk. He said that most definitely the change in diet would have an effect on my lactation and that I should up my caloric intake. I went ahead and bought the fenugreek as a precaution for any future lactation problems.

So, I'm a little disappointed that my P90X results might be affected due to my inability to follow the nutrition plan by the book. However, being able to breastfeed my son to a year, and perhaps beyond, is much more important than attaining "killer abs." My plan is to continue to eat as healthy as possible, following the nutrition plan but adding more carbohydrates to the my meals. So this morning I had a bagel with peanut butter...it felt sinfully indulgent.

Well, I'm off to start week two of P90X!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Days 3, 4, & 5

Well, we are on day 5. Day 3's exercise was an hour of Shoulders and Arms (and 15 minutes of Ab Ripper X) and yesterday was an hour and a half of Yoga X. I must admit that it was pretty funny watching Richie attempt 1 1/2 hours of yoga...something he's never done in his life. For one, he's not at all limber, and for two, he's pretty uncoordinated. So, I was laughing during most of my "downward dogs" and "warrior" poses. Today will consist of an hour of Legs and Back and 15 minutes of Ab Ripper X.

The nutrition part of the plan has been the hardest part for me. Richie has been doing a fabulous job participating with me and trying new foods with me. However, because I'm not holding him to the same diet standard as me, he is allowed to eat things that I've sworn off. So when he waltzed into the living room holding a bowl full of ice cream...I almost fell off the bandwagon. I opted for strawberries...but it was a difficult choice to make. Still no soda! I'm a water junkie now!!

In other news, Payton is taking swimming lessons and is doing sooo well. He started Monday and today he floated on his back all by himself!! Tegan is as beautiful as ever. He's such a joy to be around, smiling and laughing at those who show him the slightest funny face. I love my kids so much, which is a big reason for me wanting us to become fit and healthy. Hypertension and cancer runs in my family and Richie's family carries a slew of health problem. His mother has had 3 heart attacks and just recently had a stroke. So it's very important for us to everything in our power to stick around in our kids lives as long as we can.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

P90X

So Richie and I have decided to take the P90X Challenge. Some of you may know what I'm talking about as you have seen the "info-mercial." Although it is probably not a new idea for those of you who are fitness buffs, I was instantly intrigued by the concept of "muscle confusion." I began searching the internet for other indiviudal's experience with P90X and was shocked to see the results. These results weren't terribly dramatic, showing extremely obese people slimming down to half their size, but instead seemed reasonable and attainable, something I felt I could do. So I made the purchase.

My package came in the mail on Thursday. "Yes!" I thought. "I'm starting this program tomorrow!" I immediately opened it, eagerly explored its contents which consisted of one manual explaining the program and exercises, one manual outlining the nutrition program, and a set of 13 dvds. All of the sudden, I felt overwhelmed. So I decided to wait a few days, read through everything completely, and proceed with the program when I felt I had a good grasp of it. Needless to say, Richie and I both began the program yesterday and we're both feeling a little like jello. Yesterday was "Chest and Back" which consisted of an hour of various push-ups and pull-ups, as well as "Ab Ripper X"...16 straight minutes of very difficult core strengthening exercises. Today we did "Polyometrics," an hour of the craziest cardio I've ever attempted.

In addition to the exercise routine, we've also begun eating a tad more healthy. No more soda for me! Water, water, water will be the bulk of what I drink. I will no longer be eating many simple carbohydrates like potato chips and regular pasta. Instead, I will be chosing whole grains. Fruit will replace the small amount of sweets I eat. This will be the part of the program that Richie will have the hardest time following. He doesn't appreciate vegetables as much as I do, and he tends to eat more unhealthy than I. So I told him I wouldn't hold him to my breakfast and lunch standards, but have asked him to eat what I eat for dinner.

My meals for yesterday consisted of an egg white omelet with low-fat mozzerella cheese for breakfast, a salad with lean steak strips and balsamic vinagrette for lunch, and a turkey, lettuce, tomato with olive oil dressing sandwich on whole wheat for dinner.

So far today, I have a strawberry banana protein shake for breakfast and a City Bites Razzmatazz sandwich for lunch. Nothing but water on both days!!

Okay people. This is difficult for me to post, but it's important that I include the "whole picture." So, with out further ado, here are the before pictures we took.








I will be blogging about our experience with P90X, as well as posting pictures of our progress at one, two, and three months. Be praying for us....we're gonna need it!!
Aimee

Thursday, June 11, 2009

garden clean-up

So, Richie had been giving me the hardest time about the state of our flower beds (and for good reason, because as you will see in the pictures below, they were DISGUSTING!). This, however, gave me quite a complex as a truly aspire to be a superwife and mom that can do everything. Unfortunately, I have a problem keeping plants alive. :( But with his help, we cleaned up our flower beds. Below are the "befores" and "afters."


Before
After


Before (the "sink hole" where the water garden used to be)

After

Before

After


Before


After

And a cute baby for good measure!


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Saturday, June 6, 2009

business talk

Because some people are always asking and because I love to brag on my husband, I thought I'd blog about our business: how it started, how its evolved, and where we are today.

After spending two years attempting the dumbest "business" imaginable (this is a company I will not grace by name), our family was in the worst finacial state possible. We had had two cars repossessed, our home had fallen into foreclosure, and every bill we owed was at least two months behind. In December of 2007, Richie had began submitting his application to nearly every place hiring in the Metro area. After a month of applying and over a hundred resumes submitted, Richie had not received decent job offer.

We just so happened to have a friend who is an OKC police officer who also owns his own security business. On occasion, he would throw some extra security work Richie's way. He had offered a few shifts for Richie to work on Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's. So, with no income, we were eagerly anticipating this money.

We just so happened to stop by the Civic Center Music Hall to visit a friend, Richard, we knew from when we worked the coffee shop years before. He asked us what we were doing "now-a-days." Richie reluctantly answered, "I am currently looking for something." And Richard followed by asking, "Would you be interested in the concessions at Rose State Performing Arts Theatre?" Without hesitation, Richie answered, "YES!" They gave us a week to open the concession stand. This included licensing, equipment, product, etc...

So we had a choice: pay our very overdue bills with the expected security money or start a small concession stand business. The answer was obvious.

And we just so happened to know a guy who sells used catering and concessions equipment. He loaned us the equipment we needed to get started. This included a hot dog machine, a pretzel machine, and a freezer. We used the money from working security to obtain licenses and product for our first weekend we opened. After that first weekend, we made back all the money we spent. After the second weekend, we paid off the equipment borrowed and were in the "green."

And it just so happened that the first time Richie ever searched Craiglist, he found a coffee shop at a private school for sale. They were asking $15k for it, which of course we didn't have. But Richie is one determine man and wouldn't let the price discourage him. He called the owner and they worked out a deal. Not only did they knock $5k off the price, they even let us pay it out over the course of 4 months. So in August, we not only had a small concessions stand, but we also had a coffee shop.

The Civic Center Music Hall Coffee Shop came next, followed by a catering business, the liquor bars at both the the Civic Center and the Stage Center, and now we'll be taking on the concessions and liquor bar at Shakespears in the Park at the Myriad Gardens. This is a grand total of 7 locations in the span of a little over a year! Here are some pictures of the Civic Center Music Hall Coffee Shop...
The entryway

The coffee bar

Our cappuccino machine
The seating area

And here is some of the art hung in the coffee shop




So the point being that all of those "just so happened" moments were God setting us up for success. He is soooo good, all the time and all the time, He is good. Thank you, Lord, for pulling us out of the myre and setting our feet on solid ground.










Friday, June 5, 2009

Sharing Tegan's Portraits

When Tegan was 3 weeks old, my friend Melissa came to my house and took his newborn portraits. I thought I would share a few of my favorites.


To see more of Melissa's work, visit http://www.naturalphotography.smugmug.com/

Monday, June 1, 2009

Tegan's first laser treatment, Payton's graduation, etc...

We traveled to Little Rock for a second time on Wednesday. We decided to bring Payton this time. We were a little hesitant to do this because he gets super car sick. But we packed a "puke bag" and hit the road. The drive there was long, but we arrived without any complication (or vomit).












Payton was a huge help! He fed Tegan so we would have to pull over and nurse.

We stayed at a hotel, which Payton loved! He got to swim in the pool with daddy and he really enjoyed sleeping in the king-size bed with us.

On Thursday morning, bright and early, we headed to the Children's Hospital. After showing up at the wrong place, we finally arrived where we needed to be and checked in with the front desk. If I haven't raved about the Arkansas Children's Hosital in previous blogs, let me do so now. The facility is perfect for children of all ages and adults alike. The staff is so accomodating. Everything is play-friendly. They have an amazing gift store full of everything a child would want, sick or not. There are waterfalls inside the lobby as well as outside in a play area. Both waterfalls empty into a pool full of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. I can only imagine that this money represents the wishes for health and long life tossed in by young children and parents who are visiting the Children's Hospital. Although this makes my heart ache, I am thankful that they, and we, have a place like this to come to.


After waiting in the lobby for thirty minutes or so, we were called back into the treatment room. The whole family was welcome, so Payton came too. Dr. Kincannon greeted us and introduced himself to Payton. He immediately commented on how light Tegan's birthmark had gotten and seemed surprised it had done so, as port-wine stains usually get darker with time. He scooped him up and talked to him in the funniest voice, even I chuckled. I am so thankful to have a doctor that is sooooo good with little ones.


He explained the simple procedure to again and asked if we'd like to feel the laser ourselves. "Sure," I said. He asked to see the inside of my wrist, and without fear knowing that my son was going to be zapped several times, I outstretched my arm. -Zapp- It was the tiniest sting, and I felt so much better knowing that it wasn't going to be terribly painful for Tegan. Richie got a zap too. Dr. Kincannon offered a zap to Payton, but he declined without a second thought.


We were all handed purple goggles to protect our eyes from the laser.




We laid Tegan on the table, his eyes were covered with a thick strip of gauze, and quickly the doctor gave him five zaps on the cheek, two zaps on his temple, and one above his hairline. He cried immediately, but I think he was more mad about the gauze over his eyes than the laser treatment. The zaps left round purplish-red marks.












Here are some pictures of the site just after treatment. What a brave boy he was!





These purple marks got darker, reaching their peak darkness on Saturday, but now have begun to fade. These are pictures of my baby today.




I am hopeful in this treatment, but I am putting my faith in God to do the majority of the work, which He already has begun to do. Look at the difference He has made in my baby's birthmark even before we started laser treatment.

As a newborn

At nearly 3 months!
God is Good!

Prior to leaving for Little Rock, we attended Payton's Kindergarten completion ceremony. Even though he will repeat Kindergarten at his new school, we are so proud of all he's accomplished! He's such a bright mind and I marvel at his creativity. His imagination is unmatched and I daydream of what he'll become when he grows up.


He has also lost his first tooth!! The tooth fairy was very generous, exchanging $5 for his tiny tooth.
So, thank you all for your prayers and continue to pray for our family! We love you! Until next time.

-Aimee