It Burns!

Okay, gonna make this quick because it's after midnight already, and I swore I'd start going to bed early. I keep forgetting to sit down in the morning to work out my meal plan. I need to try and remember to set aside time each day to do that. That being said, even without one, I've been doing pretty good. Especially with all the fresh food in the house. Here's today's meal plan:

Breakfast:
9am - 1 cup oatmeal, made with brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins

Midmorning snack:
I didn't have one today, I went to church! (more about that later)

Lunch:
1:30pm - salad with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers and mushrooms
               basil parmesan salad dressing

Afternoon snack:
I don't recall having one actually

Dinner:
6:30pm - leftover squash
               mixed veggies
               pork loin chop

Evening snack:
11:45pm - banana with 1 tbsp peanut butter
                 (this was my post-workout snack)

I am positive I didn't eat enough today. I know I need to make sure I'm getting those between-meals snacks in. I will work on that, as part of my keeping to a meal plan. I think I should keep a little notebook with me at all times. Write down my plans for that day, and also what I actually eat. I think that might help keep me on track.

I forgot to weigh in again today, so I guess my new weigh in will be Mondays. Fingers crossed I remember! As for the church comment... Well, I didn't grow up going to church. I wanted to as a kid, but my parents never took me. I don't know if it was laziness or lack of interest or what. I was always curious about church. I felt like I believed in God, and I wanted to know more, but I didn't really have the means. Fast forward to 2003, when my first child was born. I wanted her baptised. I looked in the phone book for churches in my area, and called the first one that called out to me. I asked questions, and found out that at this specific church, they do not do child baptisms. They believe the individual should make their own decision on whether to be baptised. What they do practice, however, is child dedication. This is more of a promise of the parents, to raise their child in the faith, in the eyes of the Lord. The pastor suggested I come to a service to see if they were a good fit. I loved it there. It is all very casual. They have a slogan. Something along the lines of "faded jeans and broken lives welcome". They even do a coffee break about halfway through the service. Great, great church. And so, after becoming a regular attender, I had my first child dedicated on her first birthday. It was wonderous. He came to my house and did the ceremony during her birthday party. Amazing, amazing job. With my second child, she was adopted, so hers wasn't done on her first birthday. I believe hers was done shortly after she turned 2, a few months after the adoption was final. My youngest daughter.... she hasn't had one. When I became pregnant with her, almost 3 years ago, I became very sick. I had pretty intense morning (all day) sickness, and couldn't get out of bed most days. I stopped going to church so I could rest. Even after she was born though, I didn't start going again. There always seemed to be an excuse. The fiance was working, or the kids didn't want to go, or the baby's schedule didn't allow for it. It's atrocious that I missed out on church for this long. I had gotten pretty involved, becoming a member of the children's ministry by helping in the nursery, I was going to the mom's group every week, with two babies in tow, one carseat in each hand. And then slowly I became less and less involved. And after spending so much time away, I started feeling like I didn't belong anymore. I still consider that place "my church", I just don't attend. Well, until today. I took the leap. I mentioned to the kids, and they actually got excited. I was eager to attempt to put my youngest into the childcare room to see how she would handle it. As it turns out, school aged kids get to sit in on the service in the summer, because there's no program for them until the fall. So instead, they were allowed to stay with their sister in the 2s room. Things went great in church. It felt wonderful to worship again. I even stood up to pray, during a special prayer. And then I was called to the nursery. My youngest had fallen and bumped her head, and no amount of consoling or distracting was working. Even with her sisters there, she wouldn't calm down. I stayed with her for a while, encouraged her to play, even sat while she had a snack. Every time I tried to sneak out, she'd catch me, tears welled up in her eyes. So we all went back to the service together. I sat against the back wall with my kids. They colored and stayed mostly quiet while I tried to pay attention to the rest of the service. (I don't remember what it was about so I guess they had my attention more than he did, sadly). What this means for me, though, is that I feel like I am improving in all aspects of my life. I am eating better, healthier, I am exercising, I am focusing my energy on family, and I am strengthening my faith. I want my pastor to marry us when we finally set a date. But that's not the only reason I'm going. I truly feel touched by God. I feel so much love at church. I even got to speak to the pastor's wife, who welcomed me back with open arms. I needed that. I believe that my going back to church will actually help me stay on track with my diet and exercise. I'm not sure how it's all linked, but I feel that it is.

So on top of that, I did a great workout tonight. I probably didn't push myself as hard as two nights ago, but I tried something new, and I'm sure I'll feel it tomorrow. I used my Better Belly Yoga DVD. Yoga is all about breathing. I think I am naturally a fast breather. Also, I almost constantly have a stuffed nose due to allergies. They say to breathe through your nose, but I just can't do that all the time. Aside from that, I really enjoyed the exercises. There were 3 10-minutes series on there, I only got as far as halfway through the second one, and then I found a bonus workout, and did that one too. Then I went ahead and did some of my own exercises, crunches, plank, can't even remember what else now. But I was downstairs for an hour, so it must have been a good workout. Tomorrow we're heading down to the park that I want to get married at. I am hoping to get a bunch of walking in. I may even take a walk while the youngest is napping in the afternoon.

Even though my mornings are pretty slow going, I feel like I'm getting more and more energy. The fact that I'm able to do these workouts after being up with my kids all day, instead of just going to bed, it fills me with pride. I am hopeful that I will see the numbers on the scale tip lower, but even if they don't, I will not stop.

Oh, and speaking of pride. I was craving a can of Coke all day, and I stayed away from it. Yay will power!