Date night bust

Now don't get me wrong I love my baby girl more than life but it is nice to spend some time with my husband alone and eat a meal without listening to squealing.

So tonight I asked my mom to watch Rylee so that we could have a date night and of course she joyfully accepted! 

So we figured out what we were going to do - make dinner at home and go to the fall fest downtown. My mom came and got Rylee at 5 pm and we made our dinner and ate in the quite. 

After dinner we went to fall fest and when we got there we were quite disappointed at the lack of stuff there. Only one row of things and it was mostly food - only about 4-5 vendors. So we left after about 10 minutes and decided that for our treat we were going to go to get frozen yogurt. 

It was also really nice to eat that at our own pace. 

From there we decided we were going to go to Walmart to grab formula then wash our car and go for a walk. When we got to Walmart we saw people we knew and stopped to chat for a while. By that point it had started to rain to we axed the car wash and the walk and just came right home. 

Mom brought rylee back a few minutes after then she bathed her I fed her then she went to bed a bit early since she was so tired from all the fun she was having with Grandma. 

We have a busy long weekend ahead of us and then I think that we finally get a break in our schedule for a few days before I leave for BC. Sean is going to watch Rylee for most of the day on Monday so I can get a bit of me time to unwind from the busy few weeks I've had and to get a bit of a break before I have Rylee to myself for 2+ weeks. 

Talk to you tomorrow! 

6 months already

You hear moms say it all the time "they grow up so fast". You may even roll your eyes and think nahh but when you become part of the "mom club" oh yes there is a mom club, you suddenly realize - yes, they do in fact grow up WAY too fast.

Today Rylee is 6 months old. It has gone by so fast yet at the same time I feel like she has always been with us. It is hard to remember what life was like before we had her! Next thing I know she will be going to college! I'm sure it will all go by in the blink of an eye.

Now my baby girl Rylee has brought us SO much joy in our life. I love everything we get to do together and don't know how I will be able to cope when I have to go back to work. I don't want to have to leave her, and although it is still 6 months away, I know it will be here before I know it.

Life as a mom is pretty much what I expected it to be. I feel it has come very naturally to both Sean and I and we don't over do it like a lot of first time parents do (which there is nothing wrong with that). We use cloth diapers, which is surprisingly simple (I really like simple) and has saved us quite a bit of money along the way.

Now my day involve cooking, cleaning, tending to Rylee, working my home business and laundry...lots of laundry.

                

                    3 loads to fold...

Mission accomplished!

I love all of the things that we get to do with her, and I could go on and on about how awesome and cute she is...but you already know that and she just woke up from her nap and is ready to be fed. 

Happy 6 month birthday Rylee Roo. Mama and daddy love you very much!

Until next time...                                                   

Busy busy busy

I feel like the theme of my posts lately are about how busy I've been but I have not stopped or slowed down in a few weeks and this week is no different! 

Yesterday Sean upgraded his blackberry to an iPhone and I upgraded to a iPhone 5. It is SO much faster and will allow me to do business stuff much quicker. Now that Sean also has an iPhone we can face time while I am away in September and October. 

Today I was getting the phones transferred over and set up for a good chunk of the day then went to Walmart to get a few items that I needed. Tonight I have my second last soccer game but not sure how well I will do since I trimmed the skin around my toe nail too short last night. Gross right? Thursday night is our last game so that will be one less thing to go to. 

I am really looking forward to this weekend but I'll write more about that later this week! 

Even though I've been really busy I have still been eating really well and making healthy choices. The other night it had been a VERY long rough day and it was 8:30 pm and I still hadn't had a chance to eat dinner so I was just about ready to order pizza when I talked myself out of it and just ate the healthy food I had already bought for dinner that night. Needless to say I was proud of myself! 

Last night for dinner we had a feast of a chicken  burger, green beans, asparagus, and the best corn on the cob you can imagine. Then we went to Kiwi Kraze for a frozen yogurt treat. 

Anyways, that's all for now or I'll be late for soccer! 

Away and on plan

Oh wow. What a crazy week! I don't feel like I've sat down in the last 7 days at all (and the next few days are just as busy!). 

Last night we had a soccer game against the 1st place team. 7 of our players showed up. So we started the game and just kinda played anywhere. The other team was very sportsman like and didn't cream us. They didn't taunt us and they didn't go super easy on it either. They played by passing a lot more. 

After they were up by 5-0 we "called it a game" and then played for fun. They gave us 4 of their players and we played 12 vs 11 (we had the 12 lol). It was actually quite fun, not to mention a really good workout!!!

Today I went to Toronto with some of our Nutrie team for a mini training and we had a lot of fun (I think I even found a new babysitter!). We learned a lot and I stayed on track all day! After the conference we went to IKEA and then to dinner at Swiss Chalet - which has some good healthy choices. It feels SO good knowing I can do these things and with a little bit of planning still stay on track and not obsess over what I'm going to eat. 

Today I heard some inspirational speakers who said some intelligent things. 

1. Retreat - take a step back to push yourself forward. 

2. If you keep trying to cut down a tree with a dull axe because you are too busy to sharpen it you will waste more then if you stop. sharpen it. Then get back to work. 

Great points to contemplate - I hope you are enjoying your weekend! 

It's already Thursday?!

I can not believe it is already Thursday night, practically Friday already! Where did the week go?! I have been really busy getting lots of business stuff done, we've got a lot of great ideas that we will soon be starting to work. We've been doing a lot of research and brain storming and so I am really excited for that.

I had a soccer game on Tuesday night - it was not too bad a game for me. I was feeling very discouraged after the game before. It was the first place team, much younger girls that were very fast, and I had no hope in keeping up. I felt quite down and upset at myself. Thankfully I did not take this out in eating, instead I got right back in there and didn't do too badly against this last team. Although yesterday and today I was quite sore and was having a bit of trouble walking/moving first thing in the morning.

Today we were going to do a photo session with Rylee to get some new pictures of her in some SUPER cute outfits I have. It was raining when I woke up so we post-poned to tomorrow morning. Instead of going back to bed I went to the gym to do a cardio session to get my legs loosened up. Following the cardio session I did a good stretch - it felt amazing to start the day off with a workout and a shower before getting going.

Tomorrow we are going to do the photo session (and get a family picture as well). Hopefully I can sneak some on my phone to give you a peak before the real ones are ready. After that I am heading to the states with my dad - last week I had to pay to get a new fan put in my lap top because it was over heating. Not even 12 hours after getting it back, it got dropped and the screen smashed *cough*husband*cough*. It truly was an accident, so it's not really a big deal, but I ordered a new screen and that has come in. Hopefully soon I can have my lap top back so that I can give my parents their little pee-wee back ;).

Anyways I have a long day ahead of me and a long weekend too so I am going to head to bed, even though there are a million other things I could and should be doing, I also need some sleep.

Night!

A results update

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a good weekend! We went away for the weekend and had some really great family time. We got some shopping done, and went to a place that I hadn't been in a long time. It was a lot of fun and I am really glad we went away. One of the places we went you get to try fresh made fudge, and it was amazing. 

We walked around a lot, I kept drinking my water and made sure I wrote down everything I ate and stayed on track. It was great to be able to know that I can go away for a weekend and not blow it - but still just eat fairly normal, with a few little treats of things I might not get normally.

So as you know I have been growing my own business with a company called Nutrie that has 3 amazing products. I've been taking them regularly a
s well as focusing on making one small change and making this a life style change and not just a diet. Even when I lost weight before, looking back, I can see how I still treated it as a diet where as now it is very much a life style change. I made a proclamation that I was going to loose 80 pounds total to get back to my goal and I do that by a combination of weight watchers and taking the Nutrie product as their philosophies are actually very very similar so the product complements the program very well. 

Anyways, here are the numbers:

Total weight loss since starting product: 14.4 pounds
Total inches lost since starting product: 13.25

I am VERY happy with these results. Although I may not be dropping weight as fast this time as I was last time there are a few key reasons for this -

1) I am focusing on having a lot of protein, which keeps me fuller longer, but also helps to build muscle. When I lost weight last time, a lot of that was muscle and I got fairly weak. This time I feel very strong.

2) I am making small changes that add up to a life style change, so that when I get to my goal I will have an easier time of staying there, instead of putting it back on.

3) The type of exercise and length of exercise that I do has changed. Before I was married, had my own place, or a baby I was able to devote 1+ hour EVERY day to intense exercise where as now I do go to the gym when I can but I get out and walk more than I used to.

I am not sure if I told you guys this or not, but for my 25 pound loss prize I am going to buy myself an ipad mini. This has helped to keep me focused as it is something I really want, but instead of just going out and buying it, I am working for it. Of course I will use the tools to help me in my business but also along my weight loss journey so I thought it was very fitting. 

If you are interested in learning more about the Nutrie products I can send you a quick 14 minute video or you can check out my website at fuelyour.automaticbody.com. Message me for more details.

I hope you all have a happy and healthy day!

Another food review

Good evening all,

I wanted to do a quick post about something new that I tried today. Have you heard about the Lay's potato chip contest?

I found them in small bags today so I picked them up to try - my thought was that I would open all three, try a few and then send them to work with my husband. 

I opened them up and tried them in order from left to right - Loaded Perogies, Grilled Cheese and Ketchup and Maple Moose (I think). I tried a few of each, my husband tried a few of each, and so did my dad, who happened to be over at the time.

I was not really impressed with any of them. They were all just 'meh'. I would not be buying them again that's for sure. The flavours were really weak and didn't really taste like what they said they were. The grilled cheese ones did a little bit but I thought the maple syrup ones tasted more like gravy. 

I think I'll be sticking to my ketchup chips please and thank you.

On a side note - I am down 3.4 pounds this week!!! Gotta love being focused and on track!

To ween or not to ween

Hey all fellow breastfeeding mama's - this is the question of the year!

All of these opinions are my own, I think that each mom and family needs to do what works for them.

Before I had Rylee I thought that I was going to breastfeed her for a year. Since then my thoughts have shifted greatly. I have decided that I am going to start to ween her close to her 6 months.

This is for many reasons and I am refusing to allow myself to feel guilty about this. This is what is working for me, my family, and my babe.

So I have many personal reasons why I want to start weening sooner than I had planned but the bottom line is that before I had her, I didn't know what to expect.

Breastfeeding came very naturally to me. The first few days were tricky but once my milk came in and I used the breast cream (Lanisonal nipple cream) we were good to go. Rylee had a great latch and was growing at a good pace. I was ready to really struggle for the first 6 weeks like I had been warned would happen but it actually was quite simple..for me. I know that A LOT of women have trouble with this - but you are not alone. Stick it out and it will get easier.

I am larger chested and add the milk into that it makes life a bit uncomfortable. I was wearing supportive bras - but they had underwire and I got a blocked duct. TALK ABOUT PAINFUL - YOWZAS! I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Since then I have been quite fearful of wearing underwire bras or sports bras since then for longer than an hour or two at the most. I have feeding bras that I wear but they are not very supportive, which is very uncomfortable.

I have never been an attached breastfeeding mama - meaning I didn't think I really bonded with Rylee during our feeding session, but now that I am slowly dropping a feed (one feed at a time every 2-3 weeks). However, it is a little bit more emotional that I thought it might be. 

Rylee really enjoys the formula that we got in the mail however it ran out and I started a new one and she wanted nothing to do with it! She wouldn't close her mouth around the bottle, and pushed it away. Thankfully a friend gave us a different brand and Rylee took it. I will try the other one again tomorrow and see if there is any difference/if she takes it. If not then I will try a different brand again and see if she likes it.

My husband is also enjoying being part of the feeding process now that Rylee is on solid food and a bottle and now he gets to be part of that too and she bonds with him in a different way - although, she already is a daddy's girl, and she has been since day one (literally).

Until next time...

This girl is on FIRE

I am SO on fire. I've been tracking my food, focusing on protein, getting all my water in and feeling REALLY good about everything! I love how much better I feel when I eat healthy! Not to mention the extra energy I have.

We are in the middle of doing a kitchen reno so yesterday I went to get a price on how much the counter top was going to cost us. The Rona at the other end of the city is going out of business so they are having a big sale. We went there today to see what we could get that we still needed. We walked away with two new brooms, new threshold for our kitchen floor, a new sink, and wire to re-wire our thermostat. I was pretty pleased with what we were able to get - especially when it was all 10-40% off. We still have some things to go but it is looking good right now. 

Today is a fairly laid back day - it's quite chilly outside so I don't know if I will be getting out for a walk or not. It's a very good day to curl up with a hot cup of tea. 

Water water water

I'm sure you all know that we are to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day...but do you know why?!

Here are some fun H20 facts:

Two-thirds of a human body’s weight consists of water. Humans need water for circulation, respiration and converting food to energy.

Water consists of three atoms, 2 Hydrogen atoms and an Oxygen atom, that are bond together due to electrical charges.

Humans drink an average of 75.000 litres of water throughout their life.

In a five-minute shower we use 95 to 190 litres (25 to 50 gallons) of water.

All of these fun facts were found on Google. I have recently seen how many cups our body uses each day and how it is used but for the life of me I can't find the information now...do any of you know?

Some people have trouble getting in their daily amount of water - but it is very important for your bodies well being to make sure you get enough. Because you body uses so much water just by drinking the right amount you will start to feel better immediately. For those that don't like the taste of water try simple things like adding cucumbers, lemons, or oranges to your water. You can also try flavour shots or crystal light. Or if you use automatic body, your phone app will send you reminders when to drink your water!

Do you drink enough water?

Rylee's first solid food

Yesterday was a big day at the McNamara house hold. Our wee babe had her first solid food! We are starting her on rice cereal and she did really well! Tonight was a second run and it was as successful, but I think that was because I made the cereal a bit too runny. 

Today Rylee and I went to a dear friends bridal shower. We had lots of fun watching everything she got and Rylee got some snuggles from some new people. I also made some new friends which is always a bonus! They had some good healthy food there, but I opted to only have a cupcake as it was quite warm out and I wasn't feeling the best.

Dinner last night was SO good. I made ceaser salad and topped it with fresh salmon and feta cheese. Tonight's dinner was some yummy panini's! Followed by some BBQ'd peaches for dessert. I seriously can't get enough of those peaches!

The fan on my lap top is fried so tonight we ordered a new one and hopefully will get that changed over sometime this week. Currently I am using my parents little lap top that they have named pee-wee.

Tonight the pool temp is 78 degrees, so once the babe goes down for the night I am going to go for a swim followed by a hot shower. I can't wait to try out our pool strobe light for the night time!

Hopefully you are having a fun and healthy weekend!

Enjoy your Saturday night!

Some tasty reviews!

I have found some new tasty items over the past few days that I thought I would share with you.

Sorry if I've already shared this first one, but for the first time I tried grilled peaches and they were SO good. I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon on them and they were delish!

I also tried a product that I saw on a commercial called Sweet Thins. They are in the isle where you would find melba toast. The flavours are lemon poppy seed (that is the one I tried), banana bread, and chocolate brownie. They are 2 ppv for two "crackers" and they were very good - especially for a little treat. They would be perfect with a cup of tea (or coffee if you like it) for an afternoon pick me up.

Last night for dinner we tried a new burger that I also saw on a commercial. It is the black angus burgers from Wal-Mart (Wal-Mart brand). They were $12 for 12 patties and they were SO good. I am still raving about them! They were 5ppv for one patty which is in line with the ones we normally buy, but these ones taste much better! I would strongly recommend them - we will be buying those ones from now on!

One of my favourite treats is to get frozen yogurt. There is a place right by us called Kiwi Kraze. I keep an eye on which flavours they have and there was one that looked really good called fluffy marshmallow  After dinner we decided to go to get some. When we got there I sampled the fluffy marshmallow and I am SO glad that I did because it was GROSS. Like didn't even finish the tiny sample cup gross. I ended up getting strawberry cheesecake and topped it with lots of strawberries and coconut.

What good foods have you found this summer?!

The power of protein

Oh man that was a long night!

I left at 11:30 pm to get my dad from the Toronto Airport. Once I got on the highway the thunderstorm really picked up and I was not able to see anything! I couldn't even see the road in front of me! I pulled off the side of the high way with my four ways on to try to wait it out, however, the trucks were still FLYING by me, causing the whole car to shake. I didn't think it was very safe for me there so I continued down the road, going 50km/hr, four ways on, until I reached a truck inspection centre and pulled in to wait it out. 

Once it looked like it had let up a bit I got back on the highway and within a minute it was so bad again that I couldn't see anything. I just drove slow and followed the thick white line to try to see where my lane was. I was going to pull into the service centre and wait it out again but by the time I made it there the rain had significantly eased up. It took me over an hour to get to where is normal 30 minutes away. Needless to say, I was running behind.

Once I got out of that it was clear driving the whole time, not even a single rain drop! The lightening was incredible! HUGE cracks lighting up the whole sky. At one point I could swear it hit the ground right outside the car - but just reminded myself that I was in a safe place. It didn't help that I was driving my parents car because if I had been in my own car - I would have felt much more comfortable (not that there is anything wrong with my parents car...I am just not as familiar with it). 

Since I was late getting there we didn't get home until about 4:00 am and I was starving! I had a quick snack, and went to bed in hopes of a speedy zonk out. At 4:45 I was finally able to drift off only to be woken at 6:30 am for the babes feed. Back down at 7 and she let me sleep until 9:30. So, I am one tired mama.

She just went down for her nap so I am using the time to pay some bills, write this post, then try to catch a little snooze myself.

Tonight is weigh in night - and my week was kind of up and down so I don't know how I will do. I had some good moments and some not so good moments. I will also try to get some activity in - but depending on how long I can rest for this afternoon, sleep might win!

I made my meal plan for the next two weeks and I am really trying to focus on protein packed foods. I've got some new things I am going to try for snacks, to see if I can help to curb the hunger from breastfeeding. Did you know that we should eat 1 gram of protein daily for every pound we weigh! I know I don't get as much as I should, even though my fuel does help (30 grams of protein/can). Do you get enough protein?!

Rylee's nap time is precious time so I better get to it if I want a rest as well!

NSV's

Good afternoon everyone!

I hope everyone is having a good, productive Wednesday so far. Last night I had my soccer game (we lost) but afterwards I still had a few points left over. I was thinking I wanted a donut with my left over points but then I got thinking about an ice cold fuel and that won.

When I got home I put my fuel into a glass with ice, had an apple with peanut butter and was quite pleased with my choice of snack.

Since starting weight watchers again after Rylee was born I have been really focusing on making small changes that I am able to do forever. Because let's face it - this is a life long journey I am on and I need to be able to maintain my weight loss. Which is why when I found Nutrie I was SO excited to get started because that is their slogan - one small change - and their products are so simple and tasty because they believe that ingredients matter!

The program is SO simple to follow and I do it along side my weight watchers (since again they promote the same idea of small changes for a healthier lifestyle). Automatic body even has an app that sends me reminders of when to do things. It gives me one new small change a week and sends me little text message reminders when to drink my fuel, and a glass of water, and each little change that it makes. It has actually become very routine now - so much so that I have been carrying a water bottle with me when I go out of the house now, which is something I never used to do before.

So I mentioned a bit yesterday that I have been having a lot of NSV's (non-scale-victories). I am really really proud of how I have been able to do things - like throw out a pan of dessert that I didn't care for so that I wouldn't eat it anyways - that I haven't been able to do before. Now, I am not perfect, I still have slip ups, but the difference is I am getting back on the wagon right away and making up for it.

Tonight I plan on getting to the gym for a cardio workout once Sean gets home from work, then I am going to take a nap because I am going to be picking up my dad from the Toronto airport at 1:30 am. It's going to be a very long night and tomorrow will be long as well since Sean is on days so I'll be home all day with the babe.

Some times I wish I liked coffee - but at least I have my energe drink!

Dust off the old blog

Hello Everyone!

I am back! It's been just under a year since my last post but I've had some major and very exciting changes since then.

I don't even know where to start so I will start with the two most exciting things in my life right now and then fill you in as we go with some daily posts.

1. My baby girl Rylee. For those of you that know me know that I had a baby girl 5 months ago and she has become the centre of my life. I love watching everything she does and every minute I get to spend with her. She is growing so much before my eyes. I will have tons of stories coming about my adventures with her while trying to balance everything else in my life against being a new mom. 

2. My new business! On top of being a new mom and everything else I've been doing I started a new business! I am working with a brand spanking new company called Nurtie and I couldn't be more excited. We get to focus on making one small change in our lives every week to have a healthier life style. I will post more about it as we go but if you want to take a sneak peak you can view my website at fuelyour.automaticbody.com.

I will write some more tomorrow about things I've been up to - but for now I am off to my soccer game!