Thursday Three

Hi Guys! Its been a while.
Life's been crazy and hopefully you'll be caught up on ours once you're done reading. :)
There are three big things I want to highlight that's new in our lives.

#1: My baby is going to be 6 MONTHS OLD in 2 days!!!!

Ahhhh! Where has the time gone? It doesn't feel like a year has passed since we first found out we were pregnant, or even that 6 months has passed since we brought this beautiful bundle into the world.
*sigh*

She is seriously SO much fun right now. I think this may be my favorite age so far. 

She loves her "ba," rolling around on the floor, ANY type of food, the outdoors, playing and sucking on her feet, cooing and talking to her toys, raspberries on her neck, being naked, and snuggling her blanket. 

We've learned so much about being parents and continue to learn new things daily from this little girl.

Her personality has really blossomed over the last month and she thinks she's "Mrs Independent." 

But don't think for one second mommy still isn't going to chase you down and kiss you til you're 20 little girl! Haha.

Happy almost half birthday sweet baby, its gone by too fast.

#2: Mama's on a healthy kick!

Yes, I still enjoy the occasional nachos, Taco Johns, or Chinese take-out but for the most part I'm loving this new "clean eating" routine.  

Clean eating is simply removing as many processed and prepackaged foods from your diet as you can. It is geared toward raw veggies and fruits and fresh meat from the butcher. Stick to whole grains, brown rice, and whole wheat products. Eat meals with fewer ingredients; no more than 3-6.  And lastly, eat 5-6 meals per day. I usually do a routine of breakfast, 2-3hrs later a snack, lunch, 2-3hrs later a snack, then dinner (at least 3hrs before I go to bed).  

This method keeps my metabolism burning even if I'm not working out.

My snacks are usually things like; 

almonds and dried cranberries (my favorite), apples and peanut butter, bananas, carrots and celery with low fat ranch, dried apricots, 100cal yogurt bites, or a granola bar.

And when I'm too busy to sit down and have a full meal or miss breakfast because I'm running late to work I whip up a smoothie with Shakeology.  They have delicious recipes and it takes no more than 2-3 minutes to make.  One of my favorites is "Chocolate Covered Strawberries." It has fresh strawberries, Chocolate Shakeology, ice, milk, and water. Its like having dessert for breakfast. Yum!

As a result I've lost 5 inches total from my hips, waist, arms, thighs, and chest in just two months!

These are picture comparisons from 4-24 to today 5-9 (2 weeks)

I'm on my second week of bootcamp and 3rd week of Hip Hop Abs but I think the biggest difference has been my clean eating habits. Eating clean hasn't been the hard part though, I LOVE fruits and veggies-always have, its been portion control. And I'm still working on that but for now I hope to make "clean eating" a lifestyle and not just a dieting choice.

#3: We're in the business of buying...a house that is. 

If you can remember, exactly 2 years 2 months ago we were on the hunt for a home only to be halted by our mortgage lender who said my job status was "unstable" and I didn't have enough credit history.  Having been fresh out of college and between jobs I understood this but was disappointed because renting is SO expensive.

Now, we're back in the game only this time we have a pre-approval letter! Yay! :)

Unfortunately it hasn't been as easy as we though it'd be.  Spring has presented to be an extremely busy time of the year for the housing market and some of the homes we are interested in were pending sale even before we got to see them.  Others have terrible, terrible water damage from the torrential rains we had a few weeks ago. And while I know its not uncommon for a home to have moisture or water problems, I'm not ready to introduce black mold and thousands of dollars worth of work to my increasingly mobile infant.

All that aside, we've still manage to view 6 homes with at least 5-6 more on our upcoming list.
Of the six viewed; two were automatic no's because of the severity of the water damage, two were no's because of the shear size and the last two are maybes.

Two years ago I found this home:


which was eventually purchased by some friends of mine and now looks COMPLETELY different!

This year I found this:


See a resemblance? Funny right?!

So far this is my favorite home. A 1500 sq foot home with 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath on 1.34 acres. Everything about it appeals to me and it still has adequate amounts of fixing up to do. But, I'm going in with an open mind knowing that it could be offered on any day. So for now, we'll keep looking because I know that it takes more than two-three days of viewings to make a decision like this.

But really, who doesn't love a hawkeye room? ;)


Wish us luck and send prayers as we continue on this journey.

Until next time...