Weekly Weigh In #2

This week was a good week for me. My goal is to lose a pound and a half each week and that is exactly what I lost! 

So far I've lost 4.7 pounds (!) and I have 5.3 left to go to my first mini goal of 10 pounds by June 30. At this rate I'm still very confident that I can meet this first goal. 

This week was a much more relaxed week with my workouts. I didn't do something every day like I want to, but I was really good with my food. I stayed under every day! I'm really proud of that. 

I ran a total of 4.12 miles last week. Honestly I'd like to see that number up at around 12 right now, thats near 2 miles each day. 

I've also been doing my Wii Fit :) Which is really just fun, but it gets me moving and does burn some calories. 

I've also been getting much more active in the My Fitness Pal community and it is amazing! If you need support to keep you going then you need to join. It is free and the people are so nice, understanding, and supportive, not to mention motivating !!!! There are some people who have lost over a 100 pounds using MFP! 

Weekly Weigh In #1

Today is my first weekly update on how I am doing with my weight loss journey. 
I want to start by telling you all that this week has been horrible interesting. My husband and I are going through a rough patch. Rough enough that I spent the last week staying with my mom and we are going to start going to counseling tonight. I don't think it's anything that we can't get through, but it's just kind of been a wake up call to me that we need to be doing more of that big scary C word - Communicating! I think we get so stuck in our routine and daily life that we forgot that we are married and that we have to keep talking to each other, including the things that we don't really want to talk about because they make us uncomfortable or uneasy about hurting each others feelings. 
So this week I felt like eating chocolate constantly and making cookies and not sharing any ... 
But I didn't ...
Thankfully ... 
So, now to the last week. I have been using My Fitness Pal to track my calories in and calories burned by exercise. My screen name is mshellrung117, so if you want to add me feel free. I'm also using my Nike+ Sensor when I go walking or jogging, and started using the Wii Fit again which is a fun way to work out. 
I did really well this first week calorie wise. I went over significantly Friday, but still stayed under 2000 calories. I went out that day to celebrate my aunt being in town, so it was my day to live a little loose.
I did about 8 miles on the treadmill Wed-Fri. I slacked on my workouts Saturday and Sunday, unless you include shopping (!) and walked around the zoo for a few hours Monday. I did 40 minutes on the Wii Fit Tuesday. 
Now to the Weigh In part of the post ! 
This week I lost ... 
3.2 pounds ! 
I am really excited about that. It is a 1/3 of my short term goal. I want to kick that short term goal's butt and now I am well on my way! I now have 6.8 pounds to lose by June 30. I am really glad that this first week back was a good one because it has solidified in my mind that if I eat right and keep track of what I'm taking in and also take just a little time each day to do some sort of physical activity then I can do this. I can take back my own body ! 

My Husband’s name is Josh.

My husband and I met in High School. Supposedly.

He claims we had a government type class together freshman year. We were doing a mock trial in the class and the people with the highest scores on the test got to pick their positions. I got the highest score in the class and chose to be the judge. He got the second highest score in the class and was apparently upset with me for picking the judge and held a grudge for the next five years. 

Fast forward five years and we met again in the spring of 2008. We were nineteen years old. My best friend had a class on Wednesday nights and I would pick him up after and we would go to Denny’s. One week he invited a girl from his class. This girl is now my sister in law and her name is Amanda.

((Amanda and I)) New Years Eve 2008-9

One night she brought Josh with her to Denny’s and we started talking about books. We both love to read and we promised to lend each other some of our favorites. After a couple weeks his sister went out of town to work at a church camp for the summer.

We didn’t see each other for a little while and then one night we randomly started IM-ing. I invited him over to my house, or rather my parents, and then we watched movies. I believe the first one was Juno.

From that night on we were inseparable.  That was June of 2008.

When I met Josh, I was bitter towards marriage because of my parents and I thought I would never get married, or if I did it would be when I was an old lady.

Three months later I knew we were going to get married. And I wasn’t going to be an old lady.  We had a pretty whirlwind romance.

He proposed that December while we were celebrating Christmas with his family. He got down on one knee in front of his extended family and asked me to marry him. I agreed immediately. He gave me my mother’s ring, which is what I wanted.

In January, my mom and I began to plan a wedding for June of 2010, not knowing that this was not to be.

On March 3^rd 2009 I took a pregnancy test. It was positive.

I had wanted kiddos young. I imagined that we would have a honeymoon baby actually, but apparently the powers that be had other ideas. 

After some debating this way and that, Josh and I decided to get married before the baby was born instead of on the day we had planned. This meant that my mom and I were now planning a wedding 11 months earlier than expected and also that I was going to be six months pregnant on our wedding day. 

Hoo Are You ? #40

1. Are you a mom and if so how many kids do you have?

Yes I am a Mom. I have one beautiful, funny, strong -willed little girl who will be 18 months old on 5.7.11.

2. List 3 qualities that you love about your mom!

She is an amazing Nana. 

She has the patience of an angel with my little brother. 

She doesn't care how many times I call her to ask her about ingredients for her recipes while I'm standing in the middle of the grocery store with a list that I know is wrong. 

3. What is your favorite thing your mother cooks?

Her spaghetti sauce (which I'm actually making tomorrow and I had to call her while standing in the grocery store tonight about this recipe) and her marinated roast. 

4. What do you love about being a mom?

I love that no matter what Ashlynn loves to spend time with me more than anyone else in the world. The feeling is mutual. 

5. What are your plans for Mother's day?We are pretty sure we are going to the St. Louis Zoo. Other than that the details are up to the hubby. 
I'm Linking this Hoo Are You up at Night Owl Crafting .... Come join the party ! 

My name is Megan .

So, It has come to my attention that I haven’t really shared much about who I am,  where I’ve come from, or what made me who I am today.  I’d like to rectify that, so I’m going to start sharing more with you about me and my past and what is going on in my life.

My name is Megan and this is an introduction to my family.

I was born 22 years ago on April 1^st to a man named Don and a woman named Kathy. I have an older sister and one younger brother. When I was eight, my sister was ten, and my brother was four, my parents divorced. My dad remarried about six months later and mom about a year or so after that.  They each had another son with their respective spouses. Those little brothers are 8 & 9. 

My favorite thing about my dad is that he paints army men.

 Like this. 

Yea they look gross but it requires a mad amount of skills. 

My second favorite thing about my D.A.D is that he is an attorney who has decorated his office with Superheros. Yea. And he's a good attorney, not some nut job. 

He’s a big old nerd. And he instilled that in me from birth. Actually when I have time, I like to nerd out by playing World of Warcraft … yea … I know.  In addition to this he introduced us to things like Dungeons and Dragons and Talisman. There is a picture of me floating around somewhere where my dad is teaching me to play Talisman. I was about six weeks old. He is now separated from my Stepmom, but we still see her pretty often.

My sister is two years older than me. To say we’ve been through a lot together is an understatement. My parents got divorced when I was eight and she was ten. It was not a pretty time in our lives. And neither were the next ten years really. I have a pretty intense belief that if it weren’t for my sister being there to go through that with me I wouldn’t have made it. The only thing that kept me going through pretty bad depression was my awesome older sister and my desire to not leave her. She is now in college, about to start Grad School and I am very proud of her. The day she got accepted I might have cried a little bit.

My Mom is a stay at home mom to my youngest brother.  She used to be a teacher. She is an incredibly strong person. My brother is 8 and has Asperger’s Syndrome. If you don’t know what that is I’d suggest reading up about it. It requires a lot of love, patience, and faith in something higher to parent a child of Asperger’s. My brother is amazing. He is very intelligent and just about the best snuggle buddy in the world. He loves my daughter fiercely and feels it is his job to protect her from the world, which I think might be the most adorable thing ever.  But he is also the most frustrating kid I know, and that is why I respect my mother more than pretty much anyone, because honestly, I don’t think I could do it. My mom isn’t perfect. She admits that she thinks she’s made mistakes, but no one else I know could do half the job she has done of raising that kid. And that is a fact. She is still married to my Stepdad. He camps with my older brother, and both he and my mom are really involved in Scouts. My Stepdad has to travel a couple days a week usually for work. He moved here to get married to my mom and start his life over from Pittsburgh, PA. 

My oldest brother is an Eagle Scout. In fact, he just turned 18 and he just became an Eagle Scout. I’m super-duper proud of him. This is the main wall from his project.  

He, and his helpers, painted this mural in a local Elementary School. I think it is absolutely beautiful. My brother is one of those kids that can go camping for weeks and not really care that he’s off in the wilderness somewhere. I’ve never gone real camping with him, but I hear he’s pretty much amazing out there and it is where he belongs.  He is also one of those kids that is amazing at video games. He’s been playing them from birth practically and just knocks them out. He now has a youtube where he shows other people how to beat video games. People like me who aren’t savvy enough to figure them out for themselves. *Sigh* He’s now teaching his mad skills to my middle brother, who is nine. I’m pretty sure he’s giving my older brother a run for his money.

So now you know a little about my family. We are all a little nutty and there have been times when I’ve wanted to run away from all of them, but they are my family and I love them. Without each of them I wouldn’t be the person I am today. Luckily, I get to see all of them relatively often and I still live in the next town over. I wouldn’t mind moving one day, but for now I like that my daughter is getting to know her extended family so well. 

Waiting to Try

So, as you know my husband and I went on a vacation this past week. 
We were gone for a week and each day I missed my little bug more and more than the day before. 
It was amazing to come home and see her. She looked like she'd grown four inches and was saying about 37 more words, including the phrase "What is it?" Which may be the most adorable thing I've every seen. She is picking everything up right now, looking at me, and saying "What is it?" 
It makes my heart smile. 
And it's things like this that make it hard to wait to have another one :) 
But we are. 
Because we want one of these babies: 

Before we have one of these babies: 

Yea. We want a little boy :) 
We've even picked out names for the next, and last, one. 
* Sigh *
How adorable will it be to have Ashlynn holding her little sibling ? 
Too adorable <3
But for now it's on hold. 
For 17 months to be exact. Josh and I have decided to start trying September of 2012.  
We hope to buy a house in Spring/Early Summer 2013 and we want to have a baby shortly thereafter. 
Yea ... we're a little crazy :) But at least Ashlynn should be potty trained by then ! She will be 3 1/2. 
But until then I'm going to enjoy all of the time I get with my little bug and the little moments that make me want to make her a big sister. 
So ! Does anyone have two little ones around 3 1/2 years apart? How do you like it? And of course how do you make it 17 months when you have baby fever ?! I have a feeling I will need help with that ! 

Highlights From Branson !

I thought I would share our trip with you ... or at least the bits you may be interested in ! 

This is our condo ... or rather my in-laws. My favorite part is the Jacuzzi tub . 

<3

Here we are on our way to Branson and the yummy watermelon I brought with us!

We always spend time playing cards when we are on vacation. It's something fun we don't usually make time for at home. The next two photos are us at Panera ... yea ... we had to spend about half a day there so that I could finish my research paper for Sociology. It was about 70 degrees and all I could think about was how much I would rather be any where else during my vacation ! 

Here we are at Cantina Laredo ! A great gourmet mexican place on Branson Landing. It is a strip with tons of shops and yummy food on the lake. During our meal a random water and fire show started. It was pretty neat! 

After lunch we checked out some of the shops. Josh's favorite was this great shop that sold nothing but olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You can see about a third of their stock in the photo. We sampled a bunch and they were so yummy ! Josh decided to get the Red Apple Balsamic and I can't wait to make a salad to have with it !

We also stopped by and got a new charm for my pandora bracelet, a piggy in honor of my piggy bank collection. We got this handmade doll for Ashlynn at another set of shops that focused on handmade sellers. There are a ton of this little shops in Branson ! It was fun to roam around them and see what people could do !

 Here we are when we decided to roam off the map. We were actually looking for the beach ... but it was closed !!!! Apparently April is too early to go to the beach ! But we got to see this AMAZING view and visit the trout farm and the big Dam in Branson. A cool sight to see. The trout farm was neat as well. I'd never seen anything like it. 

 We of course went to an ice cream parlor and it was DELICIOUS ! I had chocolate chip cookie dough :) 

We also went to Dick's 5 & 10 store. It was pretty interesting ... They sell anything you could imagine, including the original Slinky Dog, pre Toy Story ! My face in the bottom corner was me being mad at Josh because he hit my camera against something and I was worried he had hurt my poor baby :) 

We went to the Stone Hill Winery in Branson as well. I'd never been to any sort of Winery so it was neat. It was a cute little place and we got to taste a lot of different wines. We ended up getting a bottle of the Cream Sherry. We had it with dessert after we got home Thursday night and it was very yummy ! 

The last thing we did was to go to this water, light, fire, and music show on Branson Landing Wednesday Night. We got frozen yogurt at the Orange Leaf and went to the show. It was amazing ! Definitely worth a trip down to the Landing just for the show ! 

Love, Bessie {2/18/11}

{I exclaimed my love for my hubby on the fridge}

{ my brother turned 9. i can't believe this btw . }

{ Our little bug is very sick. Don't know what exactly is wrong yet. }

{ Apparently us shoving this over her face at the doctors office is supposed to be okay because it has a dinosaur face. Ashlynn didn't think it was okay. In fact after we were done she grabbed the dinosaur, bit it, and threw it on the ground. }

{ I started work on some spring bow that will hopefully be up in the shop soon ! }