Why Is Fitness so Important to me? And How Did I Get Hooked With it?

There are so many facets to how and why I spiked an interest in fitness and honestly I could go on for hours trying to explain it to you. But since I love you and now how precious your time is I will give you the shorter version. My whole life I have dealt with horrible stomach problems. I spent a few years going to a GI that was never able to diagnose my condition even after all the tests. He put me on a prescription that helped a little. During my high school years it got worse! It started being linked with my anxiety and periods. Before my senior year of high school; my mom and I decided we needed to go to another GI and see if we can find a solution. I could not live my life running to the toilet and getting sick all the time.

My new GI literally diagnosed me after 5 minutes of me talking. No tests, no crazy theories, and no drama. She informed me I had IBS-D. There is no cure. The best way to manage it is with good probiotics, exercise, staying stress free, and healthy living. I could manage this! The kicker was that the trigger foods were chocolate, greasy food, caffeine, and sweets. That was so not a happy moment for me. Another trigger was any stress in my life good or bad; basically any extreme emotions would cause me great sickness. At least I knew what was going on and has an idea of how to fix it.

After that I went on Instagram and started following all kinds of healthy people. I needed inspiration, ideas, and help. This whole process was new to me. I had seen my mom start weight watchers so our dinners as a family were healthy. Most days though I had cheese its, popcorn (2+ bags a day), mac&cheese, quesadillas, and next to no veggies or fruits. This spiked my interested even more I started learning about Kinesiology and decided that I wanted to major in that in college. I had a free gym at the place a worked and would work out maybe 3 days a week and tried eating healthy all that I could. It was extremely hard with no one holding me accountable. I failed all the time and would digress and become sick again. 

Once I turned 18 and graduated high school I landed a full time job. I had been following a girl named Jessica who was a Beachbody Coach and we had been talking for over a year. She had inspired me and gave me the dream to do what she was doing and become a coach. I wanted freedom for my life and I wanted a solution that would work for my health. I joined and failed as a coach at first but I learned so much about my health and how important that was to me. Shortly after that I landed an even better job that was in the corporate world as a data entry person. I was very good at this job, but it took a HUGE toll on my health due to the stress and sitting all day long. Even though I was working out and eating healthy I got sicker and sicker. I eventually developed a condition called TMJ where I grind my teeth together at night due to stress. I literally went to bed worrying about work and woke up thinking about. I could not help it or control it. I ended up spending $240 on massages and chiropractic visits. My aunt got me using essential oils which helped but by no means took the toll off my body. I would need time to recover and heal again.

When I got TMJ it kind of all set in that something was really wrong that maybe I was not where God wanted me to be. I quit my job and went back to college part time and focused on my health; physically and mentally. It was an amazing time to just focus on my needs. I think in the long run this health and fitness love of mine is so needs based. I also love it and enjoy all the learning. I used to tell my mom if I could just study for the rest of my life I would be so happy. I was good at it and it was fun to me. This gave it to me in a way.

All in all health and fitness had been my medicine. Coaching has given me motivation, emotional support, and the ability to help provide for my family. I am by no means a fitness expert or have any kind of health degree but I have learned from a very tough road I have traveled. I am always learning new things that can help myself and others live healthier lives.

The Start of Preparing for Baby!

As Daniel and I go through this journey of having a baby; we are learning how much work goes into this change. The preparations that need to be made seem endless and expensive. When we realize that I will have a unpaid maternity leave the realization of the toll it will be is even more terrifying. Thankfully, I can slowly see our hard work paying off and God's hand taking over. It makes me feel hopeful every time I can see His hand.

 We are facing many struggles. The biggest one of them all has been the reality of how much having a child costs with the Doctor and Hospital. Amazingly we start having to pay for my OBGYN and Delivery this next month! I never saw that coming! I never even heard of having to "prepay" a birth. We also are having a hard time finding a good rent home; one that is in our price range and in a safe neighborhood. Especially after the tornado, all the local rent homes have gone up over $300 a month. Another struggle that we will have to fix before next summer is Daniels car. He has a nice car but the back seat has NO a/c and in Texas with a baby that is a no go. So by next summer we need to have a new vehicle. 

On the bright side of things we have been getting some very good blessings! I have gotten a baby wearing device and bottles for free. I am earning points at the pregnancy resource center for more baby items. All ultrasounds and a breast pump will be covered by my insurance. My business is growing every day which will be a HUGE help during my maternity leave. Most of the items we need for our house I am slowly getting on sale. I am also starting to work on lots of DIY projects for the baby and for our future home. I need Daniels help ALOT with painting, welding, and woodworking. Thankfully he enjoys it! 

What do we still need? 

-A good rent home

-Everything baby! Diapers, wipes, crib, clothes, playpen, and everything else...

-The ability for me to have good income even on maternity leave.

-Less hormonal mood swings

-More energy for me

-A good church home with an amazing nursery and young marrieds class

Overall we are so excited for our future and just waiting on God to show us how all this will be made possible. In the meantime we will continue to work hard and lean on him. At the end of the day, the fact still remains that all in all; all we need is Jesus. 

Second Pregnancy Doctor Visit! We Found out the Gender!!!

Today was honestly just an amazing day for Daniel and for me. Daniel came over after work for the doctors visit. He got off about 6 and was at my house soon after. We cuddled all morning and he got to feel the baby kick for the first time; which honestly is amazing at 19 weeks. We sure have a strong little baby.

Our doctors visit started with a sonogram which would be Daniels first to see. This for me was honestly the best part of it all! But first we had to wait as the Tech needed to take a ton of pictures to make sure the baby was healthy and growing correctly. Daniel and I visited the whole time. I cannot tell you how amazing it was when she was finally done and turned the screen around for us to see. Then for Daniel it became even more real than earlier this morning when he felt a kick for the first time. We got to see the baby's lips moving and the little toes! It was so perfect.

I mean look at that sweet thing up there ^^^^^^^^^^. How can you just not fall in love?!?!?!

 We learned that our baby is perfectly healthy. The heart looks good and the little tummy. Our baby is 9 OZ. I am gaining weight perfectly not to much for sure and not to little. I have no worries at all currently for sure! The Beachbody coach in my wants to say it is Shakeology that makes healthy babies! But of course that is not at all true it sure helps though.

All in all we are so excited. I cannot tell you how just incandescently happy we are. I do have a little secret to tell you! Daniel,  my parents, a few select friends, and I have know the gender of our precious baby for about four weeks now. It has been beyond hard to hide it from everyone. But my OBGYN told me not to announce it just is case the world goes crazy and she happened to be wrong. So today we had the gender confirmed, strongly confirmed.

So for what all of you have been waiting for our precious baby is a....

Boy!!! We are having a sweet baby boy. I cannot believe we are having a perfect little boy. Daniel by all means is overjoyed. I cannot tell you about the joy he had when I called him 4 weeks ago and told him. I am excited and totally nervous. I had NO brothers and didn't have boy cousins till I was older! So I have not been raised around boys. But God knows exactly what I need and apparently that is to have a son. Who knew we could ever be this happy!

Craving Crusher : Peanut Butter Balls

A Healthy Snack to Get you Through Pregnancy or Life

I have intense cravings for sweets and dangerous foods like that! I mean come on who wouldn't Braums is like heaven to a pregnant sweets craving woman. But I know how much more my baby need good nutritious food. So I have made a snack to help keep those cravings under control. 

Peanut Butter Balls 

 Ingredients

• 3 Packets or 3 scoops of Vanilla Shakeology 
• 1 Cup of PB 2 Already made(2/3 cup of PB 2 and 1/3 cup of water)
• 1 Cup of Organic Oats
• 1/3 Cup of Honey
• A splash of water if you need it

First, measure and pour your Shakeology into a good sized mixing bowl.

Second,  make your PB 2 and stir extremely well. Then dump it into the bowl.

Third, measure 1 Cup of oats and pour into the bowl.

Fourth, add 1/3 cup of honey to the mix and begin mixing with a spatula. After mixing for about 3 minutes you may realize you need just a splash of water to get all the powders to stick together.

Once you are done mixing, begin rolling them into little balls and putting them on a cookie sheet cover with foil. Place in freezer for about 15 minutes to an hour to chill. Then you are done and can place them in the refrigerator.

I hope you enjoy this treat! Share with all your friends and let me know how you like them.

Also you may not know where you can get Shakeology so Here is the Link

No More Fear Natural Sunscreen is Here! DIY Essential Oil Sunscreen

So if you are anything like me you want to eventually be 100% chemical free!!! Well I am taking the summer by storm and figuring it out this year. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. Who else is with me here? Let's all start using products that a good for our body and heal us rather than hurt us.

So how do we make this Natural Sunscreen?

I swear this is the easiest recipe and you are going to think I am crazy!

Ingredients: 2 oz of Coconut Oil and 30 Drops of Carrot Seed Oil.

Directions mix them together and you have essential oil sunscreen.

Now you do need to apply generously. Make sure to let it dry before entering water to laying down on a towel. Also reapply every hour to three hours: it all depends on your skin type. If you burn easily reapply often. If you are one of those lucky people who do not burn then apply about every 3 hours.

Enjoy you summer out in the sun everyone! I want to see your DIY Sunscreen pics!!! Make sure to tag me in them on  Instagram or Facebook.

Also you can get your Carrot Seed Oil HERE!!!

 

DIY: Natural Bug Spray with Essential Oils

First off I want to share with you the WHY we are making natural bug spray. What is so bad with the store bought kind??? Well let me inform you my friend.

• First off they warn you NOT to breathe in bug spray it may give you poisoning. Have you ever successfully applied bug spray and NOT inhaled it? Yeah it is pretty hard.
• The chemical DEET that is in most bug spray is extremely harmful. Here are a few documented and tested side effects listed below:
•  Kidney/Liver Damage: Yes
• Sensitizer/Irritant: Yes
• Birth/Developmental Defects: Yes
• Detected in Groundwater: Yes
• Potential Leacher: Yes

 So maybe what I could find is not that much but the fact that bug spray can cause birth defects means this mama is staying away from it!!! So lets get to the fun part how do we make this amazing homemade bug spray? 

What you Need:
-Teaspoon of Epsom Salts 
-A Spray Bottle
-8 oz Which Hazel
-8 oz Water
-Thieves Essential Oil 15 Drops
-Peppermint Essential Oil 15 Drops
-Purification Essential Oil 15 Drops
-Citronella Essential Oil 15 Drops

What to Do:
-Add you Which Hazel into the spray bottle. Then add you Epsom Salt. Then add all your Essential Oils in. Shake it up! Then add your water. After that you are done! 

Unless you want to be cute like me and add a super fun label. I got the one on Pinterest. I swear to you the lady is skilled in making cute labels. 
Here is the link for the labels: Bug Spray Labels