The Biggest Loser Challenge

Hey everyone!

It's been such a long time since I posted. I didn't even post when Jade turned six months!!
I will definitely be updating this soon, but I wannted to let you guys in on an exciting next 8 weeks of my life!

I will be doing a Biggest Loser Challenge with my co workers! Some are already on the ball with working out and eating healthier. As for me, I pretty much started yesterday haha. Technically, the challenge started Friday. So I was just a day behind. My butt isn't going to a gym, but is staying at home doing some p90x and Insanity with my sister-in-law! We used to do it when we were in high school, but obviously that stopped. I'm just so excited to make a change in my life with something that I've been so insecure about. I am determined to eat healthier, and I also am determined to make this more than just a temporary change. These next 8 weeks are going to be the transition into a lifestyle change.

So starting today, this blog is going to be dedicated to my 8 weeks of things that make me feel more confident and healthy. I'm going to be posting about my good days with what workouts and foods I ate. I'll be posting my hard days, and hopefully not sharing that I bought a Ben & Jerry's icecream :)

I wanted to share what I had for breakfast today, and to hopefully get ideas from you as well on how YOU have a healthy lifestyle. If you don't, maybe you can join me in these next 8 weeks.

So this is the breakfast I'm currently eating, and I'm freaking in love with it. My sister in law texted me a picture of her breakfast, which was a spinach and ham omelet. YUM. I immediately went to my fridge to see if I could make the same thing. Turns out, I don't have ham. I did, however, have rotisserie chicken! So I broke out a small pan and made this breakfast scramble.

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c frozen spinach
• 3 TBS of shredded chicken
• 1 clove of minced garlic
• cheese to sprinkle
• salsa for topping

I whisked my eggs,put a little bit of water in it to make it "fluffier." Honestly, I'm not sure if it gets fluffier, but if I ever want there to be a little bit more egg without adding a beloved extra egg, I put some water in my mix. I sprinkled some salt and pepper to season it, and set it to the side. 

I eyeballed how much spinach I wanted to use. Had I used a measuring cup, I'm pretty sure it would have been one fourth cup. I put that in a pan, heated it, sprinkled some chicken I shredded, and let that heat together while I grabbed the garlic. Once I put the garlic in the chicken/spinach mix, I stirred it a few times to get the garlic fragrant. I didn't want it to brown at all. Had it browned, it would have given a little bit more of a bitter flavor in this meal. I poured the eggs into the pan and just scrambled away! I cannot make an omelet to save my life, so that made me sad when I was trying to recreate my SIL's breakfast. After the eggs were cooked, I transferred them to a plate sprinkled with cheese, and topped with salsa! It was delicious. 

Now my drink is like.. a play on  horchata. If you haven't had horchata, go to your local someburros or Filiberto's and order yourself one. It's a rice milk drink with cinnamon flavor. It is SO GOOD. 

almond milk horchata:

• put ice in a cup
• pour some regular almond milk (not flavored)
• sprinkle nutmeg and cinnamon

seriously, it was that easy. It's definitely a tame version of it, but so good to get your sweet drink in without adding extra sugar. 

I hope you liked that I shared these recipes with you! I feel like this might hold me more accountable to this challenge. See ya later :) 

5 Months

 Everyone… This is not a drill. My baby is 5 MONTHS OLD. That means she's almost half a year old… I'm so not ready for my little girl to grow up! But it's so much fun watching her learn and grow.

So she's 13 pounds, and getting chunkier every day!

Jade's favorites:

cuddling dad

eating

play time on the play mat

sticking her tongue out

talking

She melts my heart! I'm on the lookout for good deals on baby dresses. Jade is set on outfits, but I want to get dresses! I also need to get some bows/headbands. If any of you have a shop or know of one, let me know :)

So on to the adult stuff! I could talk about my baby for days though. We are almost all settled in to our house. I started a new job earlier this month with First International Bank & Trust. I love it! I've never had so many co-workers before, and I love being able to talk to so many people.

Now that we are in our own house, I am cooking so much! Ironic that I'm posting how I'm cooking a lot when we are currently waiting for our Chinese food to be delivered…. I'm serious though! I have my own instagram account for food if you'd like to take a look it's @theboysterkitchen

One thing I am bummed out about is that our community pool is under renovation. I have the cutest swimsuits for her, and I was hoping to start going to the pool soon! Fingers crossed it gets fixed soon.

4 Months

Hey guys!

So if you follow me on other social media you will know.. We are OFFICIAL HOMEOWNERS!!
Yes! I am so so excited! We are so lucky and blessed to have found this house. It's so close to our family, the freeway for work, and is just in such a great area. Of course some things are just too good to be true.. The owners before us were naaaasty. Like, I was scrubbing the wall of the master bedroom and the paint almost got a shade lighter because there was so much dust on it!! The downstairs bathroom looked like someone went diarrhea and no one ever bothered to clean it up. They had a dog so all the hair was up in the CUPBOARDS AND CABINETS!!! All I could imagine was the poor people that may have come over as guests and ate there. And it was like embedded into the trim of the wall. It was on the window panes.. Disgusting. So needless to say, we have been slaving away at making the house spotless. We are getting the carpets cleaned next week, and hopefully we will be officially moved in next week!

So my little Jade girl is now four months.. I am so in love with her! Her personality is shining through. Let me also add, she is sassy already! Just like her dad ;) haha jk love you Kevin. We both know it's cause of me! She is starting to roll over- whenever we aren't looking, of course. I heard her fussing around 3am, and I get up and look into the crib and she was rolled over smiling so big at me! Hopefully she will start doing it more often! 

 Some other things that Jade loves is to eat. Seriously, that girl will chug a bottle even if she just ate 20 minutes ago. Oh, and she LOVES attention. You just look at her and she will smile! So of course all you want to do is play with her cause she gives the best smiles. She is SO close to laughing. Every now and then we will get her to, but nothing consistent.
Well, here's to another month of watching her learn and grow!

We went and visited dad who was working hard on the house! Sure love him. #mcm :) 

3 Months

Love her duck face! Her cheeks just look so kissable

My little Jade girl is 3 months old! Time seriously has flown by. I have loved watching her grow into the cute little girl she is so far! She is starting to get on a schedule for night time (finally!). She is the sweetest girl on the planet. You can look at her and she will smile right at you! I'm so glad she's a happy baby. During my pregnancy I literally kept a roll of toilet paper with me cause I cried all the time. Thanks, hormones! So glad she's not a sad baby!!

I am so excited to announce that we will be closing on a house next month! I will finally be able to decorate a nursery for her. Kevin and I will actually be able to call a place ours. We've moved four times in the past 3 years. Moving into our house will be the fifth time. Now we can finally stay in one spot! So now I stay awake at night trying to plan how to paint the house and how I can decorate a nursery. What colors is everyones' walls?! What are your must haves in a nursery?

This Saturday, Kevin and I had to take a homebuyer's course in person from 8am-5pm. It was only fitting we were stuck in a class all day together since he's been gone in Chicago all week. Okay, just until Thursday night, but still. So when we were taking the class they were talking about budgeting and how yo uphold cut out luxuries like Starbucks. We NEVER get Starbucks when we're out. And I've only had it like three times since I left my work (I worked in a Safeway and Starbucks was right there). Anyways, we had gotten a vent and a treinta sized drink. We looked at each other awkwardly haha. Whoops.

When Kevin came home from Chicago, Jade was all smiles! You can tell she knows we are her parents. It melts my heart! Kevin gets her to smile all the time, even when she's crying! Jade is such a daddy's girl. But how could you not be with the best dad like hers? :)

Look at her crazy hair, by the way! Every time she has a bath it sticks straight up. We try combing it and putting it down with our hands but to no avail. So we just embrace and love on her crazy hair. Speaking of which, I had the cutest onesie made by RosieLuv! If you haven't heard of them, check them out! I'll make a post of all the cute stuff I have from them soon.
Hopefully I will be able to post about our house soon too :)

I'm Back!

Guys! I'm back to the blogging world.. Last time I posted was when I was around 26 weeks!?

My life got really crazy with work, school, pregnancy, and some other personal stuff. But now I am not pregnant and am graduated! Anyways, I love reading birth stories and could not wait to share mine! However, some of the emotions I felt were so raw and personal. I feel like if I even take out the extra personal feelings that I was going through that I still wouldn't be able to portray the emotions and story well. Maybe next pregnancy? Which will be in a few years haha.

So I really just wanted to share some highlights and points of my life with you guys!

Jade will be 2 months old on the 28th. Let me tell you, it is the most confusing thing trying to figure out if I should go by weeks or months. Like weeks sounds better for a baby, but if I go by weeks… On the 28th when she was born she will be 2 months, and two days later she would be 9 weeks. Anyone else confused?! She gets her shots on Monday.. I'm seriously so sad. I already know I'm going to cry watching her get her shots. Poor baby :(


Since I became a mom I have felt so much love for her. Even though at three in the morning she drives me CRAZY I look at her and my heart still melts. She will fall asleep on me and be snoring, and I will even try and do little things that would wake a baby up.. nothing. She's passed out. So I set her down in the crib a few minutes later, and she's staring at me wide-eyed and smiling. Like what the heck?! Go to bed! But her cute smile and face just makes me so happy so I don't get mad. She's the best snuggler, so I don't mind too much. (Don't tell Kevin I said that!)

This past week my grandpa passed away. I said my goodbye to him the night before he passed. It was such a heartbreaking week. It still is so sad to think about! But I'm starting to make peace with it, because he's finally at rest and peace instead of in discomfort and pain. So many people showed up to his funeral. As we reminisced memories with him, a few random ones popped into my mind.

1. When I was around six years old he showed me to eat popcorn with milk. Literally a bowl with popcorn covered in milk. Same thing with bread. He tore up the bread and drenched it in milk, and ate it like cereal. Thinking of it now I'm pretty sure that's the weirdest thing ever, but I thought it was the coolest thing when I was little! He actually made me like popcorn! (Yes, I don't like popcorn.)
2. He loved to read. I always felt a connection with him since we talked about books and school a lot.
3. I always felt good about myself when he told me he was proud of me. Hearing that I make someone proud makes me feel good, but from him it was like another level.

Luckily, I know I will see him again someday. I know he's watching over my future kids in Heaven and is watching over my family.

Well, I'm going to try and make it a goal to update every week now that school is out. I feel empty not learning or having homework. Who knew I liked taking classes so much!

Have a great week everyone :)

26 Weeks

So I have been super behind in my posts! So here's a little update on what's been going on..

How far along: 26 weeks on Saturday! 

Maternity clothes: nothing since my friends gave me some clothes from a few weeks ago! 

Sleep: I can't sleep well. But what's new? 

Movement: She's moving like crazy! This morning it felt like popcorn was going off! 

Cravings: I'm not sure if this is a pregnancy thing…. but I work at a bank inside a Safeway. Safeway has the BEST mac n' cheese ever! I order a side of mac n' cheese and a chicken tender. Seriously the bomb. It's almost always what I want for lunch. 

The Appointment: So I had to go get an ultrasound done with a specialist because my amniotic fluid was low. Luckily, they thought it was normal! We were able to get some 3D ultrasound pics done. Remember that one time when I said I would never post 3D pics? Yeah well, I'm eating my words right now. I must say though, that these pictures are a LOT better than the baby looking orange and covered in gorilla glue. Baby B waved hi again! She also elbowed me :') such a stinker. The tech kept trying to get a picture of her face, but her hands would not go down! 

So I'm pretty much in love and I can not wait to meet her!!!!! Like AH! I think that she's freaking adorable. I'm going to have the baby shower early November. I'm either thinking fall theme or a pink/gold princess theme! What do you guys think?!

Totally not baby related: I went to the Taylor Swift concert last week! I freaking love T-Swift. She mixed two of my favorite songs of hers- "Wildest Dreams" and "Enchanted." Her choreography was amazing. There were bracelets taped to each seat. And during her songs they would all glow a certain color. The visuals were astounding compared to her RED tour. However, I think her RED tour was a little bit more out there and fun. 

Week 22

So I totally missed last week. There's been a lot going on these past few weeks. I finally have some time to stop and catch up! I wasn't able to take pics this week (someone remind me to take pictures please). BUT my belly is finally coming through!!! About time, right?

How far along: 22 weeks

Maternity clothes: this awesome sister in my old ward gave me a bunch of her old clothes! Most were just baggy clothes, but it's been so nice having a change of wardrobe. I did actually go out to buy some maternity work pants. No luck at the store I went to, so I just bought some pants that were a little big and slightly stretchy. Fingers crossed they last! My co worker brought in a maternity blazer for me! I must say I have the most awesome co workers ever. 

Sleep: I've been exhausted lately. It takes me forever to fall asleep, but I've been really good at staying asleep! 

Movement: Well, last weekend this little nugget decided she wanted to move towards my side. So she was stretching out my ligaments, and I got the WORST pain ever. It started when we had date night, but I thought it went away the next day when I woke. I knew it had to be her, because I could feel her kicking! I awoke the next day, Sunday, and started getting ready for church. The pain was back and I tried to manage through it… but it got to the point where I couldn't walk. I talked to my OB and everything seemed to be okay to him. So I just rested for the whole day. 

Story number two about movement: So I had to go back in for a check up just to make sure something looked good from the gender reveal ultrasound. I was just looking at the screen, watching my baby girl move. And boy, was she active! I was surprised that I wasn't really feeling her that much. It's hard for me to tell what is what on the ultrasounds, but the tech said she was sticking her tongue out at me! After a little laugh I saw her hand go up again. And I was starting to think that she was SO cute, because at every single ultrasound so far her hand has been up. Then all of a sudden I see her hand go up three times. "Is she… punching me?!" I asked my tech. The tech started laughing and said "She sure is!" I got a feisty little girl in there, I can tell! haha 

Cravings: Last week I was craving pumpkin bread from Starbucks. What makes the addiction worse is when you work every single day inside a Safeway that has Starbucks. That was my breakfast each morning! And then I realized how much money I was spending so I tried to make my own, but no luck.  It wasn't as moist or flavorful. This week, thanks to my SIL Annie, I have been craving fudgesicles! Almost every day I have one. If I don't have one for the day, I have two the next day.

Side note: I got a bag of free baby girl clothes last week, and I am SO excited!!! Most of them were newborn and I'm just so excited for her to come. I can't believe how tiny she'll be!