Busy Busy Busy!!!!

Hello all,

It has been four CRAZY months. Andy and I were married on August 28, 2010 and it was the most amazing day of our lives. The day went perfect, all of our most beloved friends and family were there (minus a few who couldn't make it), and we just had a LOT of fun.



Since then, it's been back to the grindstone. Work is getting pretty crazy and I've had to bring work home on the weekends we are THAT slammed.

The girls are doing well. Izzy is loving school and is my shining star. She is crazy smart and I'm so proud of her. She wants to begin taking acting lessons and dance lessons. Watch out Hollywood! :)

Alleyna is my little stinker. She is ALWAYS getting into something. She is so curious and always on some sort of adventure. Just like her Daddy! It's so much to watch her learn and grow.

Weight loss since the wedding has been a little challenging. To date I am down 38.7 pounds, which is wonderful, but I could be soooooooooo much further along if I quit dragging my feet. Lately I have found myself being so exhausted and drained by the end of the day, I just give working out the big F.U. and go to bed. Haha.

I know that will get me nowhere, and like I have been told so many times by TD, "Do you like where you are?" My response, "Of course, not.". TD says, "Well, you're doing a good job of going nowhere. At least we know you'll rock at maintain when you decide to get there." At first I thought, "Wow, thanks a lot a$$hole." but he was right... I was going nowhere, I was staying put. Do I want to "stay put" for the rest of my life? Of course not, life's too short to stay put.

So, gone are the days of making excuses, or putting it off until later, and then later never happens. It's time to move forward.

Whoah Baby!!!

I have really been slacking in the 'blog' world. Wow...let's see if I can bring you up to speed without boring you! ;)

April was pretty uneventful, but hey, I'm not complaining!

In May, Izzy finished Kindergarten and is ready for first grade. A mother has to brag...she will be in accelerated reading classes as she is at a 4th grade reading level, and in an accelerated math class. I'm glad to see that I will be in a nice retirement home in my old age. :) So proud of my girl!

Alleyna turned one on May 12th and is walking, talking, and doing all the crazy things one year olds do. It's amazing how time flies!

June has been amazing! We've been relaxing poolside, celebrating family weddings, and preparing for Andy and I's wedding August 28th. Things are coming together nicely, and I can feel the anxiety and stress start to build. Is it like this for all brides? The busy-ness and stress kinda just hit you like a brick wall about two months out?

In the weight-loss area, pounds are sloughing away, slowly but surely. It frustrates me that as a full time working mother of two, I don't have as much time as others to devote to exercise. I do work out everyday, but while I wish I could do my two hours every day, most days I'm lucky to get in an hour. Andy has decided to join the gym with me, therefore my guilt of "leaving my family behind" will subside as the girls can go to the daycare at 24 and have their own little workout. We'll be one hot family by the end of August.

That's about it for now. I promise I'll try to do a better job on updates. :)

BEA UUUUUU TI FUL!

What a gorgeous day today!!!! Took Izzy bike riding while Alleyna and I walked the track by Lewis and Clark gradeschool. Fun times. :)

Down 2lbs today! Not too bad. I expressed my concern of my weight loss speed to the TD team and I was told to try cutting out an extra 100 calories and up your cardio speed/incline by .5 and see if that helps. We shall see. I'm not trying to turn a progress into a race by any means, but I do have a wedding dress to look amazing in you know. ;)

Speaking of wedding, got the flowers all squared away, as well as booking hair appointments for everyone. Catering and Rehearsal Dinner are this weekend. I also ordered samples of an invitation I liked from an online website. We'll see how they turn out. Everything is finally starting to come together, it's so bad afterall. Now, ask me that same question when we're about a month out. Haha.

Off to go make dinner! Tonight's special...Cashew Chicken with Lemon/Sea Salt Asparagus. Yum-O!

Adios amigos! =)

Not for the gentlemen's eyes....

Hello all!

What a crazy, busy week!!! Work has been complete chaos this week. We are converting to a new system ( I don't have to, I was trained on the new system only), so everyone is a little frazzled. I am officially out of training! I was assigned my own regional office Friday. I am in charge of anything that comes from the areas of West Virginia, North and South Carolina. Maybe I'll get some cool spiffs, say perhaps some UNC Bball tickets???? (Even though they SUCK this year.) Ah, the corporate life. ;)

In other news, wedding planning is coming a long nicely. We have the wedding cake secured now as of Wed. Still can't decide on a damn flavor yet. Oh well, we have a little over 5 months. (trying not to have a panic attack over that last part there.) Hopefully we can nail the catering and alcohol this week. I also got in touch with a girl I graduated with (Leigh Jacobs) and she is going to be our florist extraordinaire! I'm excited to meet with her Tuesday to see what we come up with.

Last but not least, FAST. FML I hate this part. Lol. I gained a pound this week. However, in discussing it with TD, we are chalking it up to TOM's flight coming in this week. (No joke, that's what he called it. LOL) TOM stands for Time of Month. Hahaha. He says he FREQUENTLY sees this from week to week and I shouldn't worry. If I have been following my plan, I should be down 5-7 lbs next week EASY. Which, I have, so yay!

That's pretty much all that's new and newsworthy. Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!!!

Love <3

This might be a novel....

It's been a really long time since I've posted anything on here. So, here we go!

A lot of exciting things are happening around the house. Izzy lost her first tooth, twice! Once out of her mouth, and second in the carpet. The tooth fairy still made an appearance, and once the tooth was found, the tooth fairy told her she could keep it. ;)

I'm doing pretty well with the FAST diet. I'm down a total of 17.2 lbs. I hope to get my 20lb bracelet this week. My grandma gave us her treadmill that she doesn't use. Now I have no excuse to work out when Andy gets home from work later than planned. I used the excuse of "It's too late to go to the gym." WAY too often. It's time to kick it in high gear. Not only is the wedding only a little over 5 months away, but I should have lost way more weight than I have by now. So...that is my goal for March. Lose 15 lbs.

Speaking of wedding, I have been getting a lot done. I bought my dress, the girls all ordered their dresses as well, secured the photographer (shout out to Jessi!), secured the cake, reception hall, and decided what flowers I want. It just seems like so much to do! I have to keep my stress level in check! It will all come together.

Below is a pic of my dress and the bridesmaids dresses. Andy never looks at this thing, so he'll never know. Tee hee.

http://www.maggiesottero.com/dress.aspx?line=d&page=1&style=AD3300

Yeah, it's a "destination" gown, but it's exactly what I wanted. Simple, yet elegant, and lightweight! Haha.

http://www.foreverbridals.com/gownpix.asp?Style=76215

Bridesmaids dresses, solid black with a pool colored sash.

Got a new car...2005 Malibu Maxx LS V6. It's fully loaded, really nice. It's not my SUV, but hey. Once the PT is paid off by the end of the year, we'll be looking for another new car.

That's about it for now. Tootles for now!

Oh! and go NU girls and KU guys!! HOOP IT UP!

FINALLY BLUE!

Today I FINALLY got my blue bracelet. I'm down a total of 15lbs. Not too shabby, but I could have done better. Like TD said, it's about looking at the past, knowing where you went wrong and learning from it. Now don't do it again! Touche,Mr. Dean, touche.

So with that being said, Here's to a new month ahead (a wedding dress to be bought on Sat-Yay!) and lots of hard work! It's all for three reasons: Andy, Izzy, and Alleyna. And anyone else who decides to come along down the road. ;)

Also, I'd like to just mention that a girl I went to High School with today had some heart wrenching news. She found out the baby she is currently carrying has a fatal heart condition and nothing can be done. God Bless her heart, she has decided to carry the baby to term. Offer up a prayer for her and her family, and the little peanut in her belly. Thank you! =)

Good night all!

Down.....

I wish this were a "Down in weight" post, but it's not. I have just been in a mood lately. I can't put my finger on it. There is absolutely nothing wrong, great job, great friends, awesome family, etc....just blah. I have had zero motivation to make it to the gym unless my friend Sarah calls me up, or Andy is barking at my butt to go. WHAT IS UP WITH ME?!?!?! It's all just a head game that I'm playing with myself. SHAKE IT!

I take the stairs at work everyday (all 9 floors of them), at least twice a day, and that burns about 60 calories each time, so that's not too shabby. However, I know this isn't good enough. I think some of it has to do with the fact that I am just extremely fatigued. I really need to work on getting my 7 hours of sleep every night. I also think I need a firmer mattress. I wake up with a sore back almost every morning.

Listen to me go on and on..Negative Nancy...SHEESH.

On a positive note, Andy and I are going to look at cars tomorrow. We are heading to Volkswagen to check out some Jettas. So excited!

Weigh in is tomorrow...look out! (>_<) <---Thinking thin!

Sad Face. =(

Yesterday was my weigh in day. I gained half a pound. Mother Trucker!!!!!!!!! To be honest, I kinda felt it coming. I totally half assed it this weekend. I was just in one of those, don't talk to me, don't touch me, and you better sure as hell not piss me off kind of moods. However, instead of getting a guilt bashing at weigh in's from TD, I got words of encouragement. He basically told me, suck it up, carry on, rock it this week. We fall down, but you better get up if you want to keep moving forward. So true!

Wiping the slate clean, and REALLY working my butt of this week. I have a wedding gown to purchase at the end of the month. =) Yay!

Ramblings....

Today was a good day. Stuck to my guns and worked out really hard today. Thursday is weigh-in's so I'm stepping it up a notch. Ya know, I got to thinking....if I can step it up this much for two days straight, why not just do it all the time. DUH! Sometimes, I wonder if that brain of mine is working.

I have a new love/hate relationship with the gym. It was absolutely PACKED tonight. I went around 830pm, and since it's close to UNO, I think all of the college kids come crawling out of their holes. I had to wait for an hour just to get on a treadmill. Sheesh! The elliptical kept me company though. (Yeah, totally didn't make it to the gym at 515 this am. My bed just wouldn't let me go.)

I do have a question for everyone out there....I tend to save the majority of my calories for dinner, over half of them. Would I benefit more from spreading them out more throughout the day, or is this ok? I think I'll have to email TD about this one. I'll let you know what I find out.

So, I did the stairs today at work and just about DIED. Lol. I went from the plaza level to 4th floor, cut across to the second set of stairs in the middle of the building (to take a short breather), and then from 4th floor to mine, which is 8th floor. OMG. My legs were BURNING. And to think, there's a group of people who do this 3x a day 3 reps each! They are training for that Trek up the Tower at First National coming up, but still! I hope to be able to get just from LL1 to 12th floor by oh let's say...April/May. Happy Climbing!

Hope you're all having a good week!
Peace & Hugs

Blame it on the A-a-a-a-a-Alcohol....

Andy and I met up with some of our friends we hadn't seen in a few months. We had such a great time. I was a good girl and ordered Bacardi and diets=0 calories. I was being such a "good girl" counting calories that I kinda, maybe sorta forgot to count the number of actual drinks I had. Yeah....let's just say I'm WAY too old for this crap. Hahaha. I'm hurtin' big time today.

Going to the gym later will be quite the experience. I just hope I don't sweat and smell like booze. Hahaha.

TTFN
Peace & Hugs

Uh-Oh....Spaghetti-O's!

I'm not quite sure what my problem has been these past two days, but I just cant' find an ounce of motivation. I kept track of my calories, drank my water, yadda yadda yadda, but I didn't exercise yesterday. Somewhere TD's ears are burning and he's shreeking I'm sure. EEEEEEE!! Lol. I've just been so dranined with Alleyna being sick and not eating or sleeping as normal. I didn't feel like doing a damn thing. And you know what kills me the most. I HAD PLENTY OF TIME!!!! ARGH! I'll just chalk it up to a bad day, yet remember now I felt at the end of the day. Disappointed in myself. I see Jessi and Sarah dropping the lbs left and right, and that in itself has given me a little spark to suck it up and get going. (SO PROUD OF YOU GIRLS!!!!)

I gotta shake this.....I've got a lot of work to do!

CrAzY

Today was an incredibly crazy day! I got to work, and no later than an hour passes by when my sister calls me to tell me that Alleyna won't stop crying and is refusing to eat or drink. (She's had a cold for the past three days). At that point, I knew it was time to go to the doc. Found out the poor lil' peanut has an ear infection, sinus infection, and croupe. They gave her a steroid via injection and amoxicillin for both infections. Let's pray she's doing better.

So, once she was settled in, Andy took over and I hit the gym. Did 2 miles, one each on the treadmill and the elliptical prospectively. I have also found a new love. THE SAUNA. AHHHHH! It's hot, I sweat my ass off, but it just feels so damn good. I feel incredibly refreshed after spending 15/20 minutes in there. You HAVE to try it. It's AH-MAZING.

All in all, good day today. Hit 1120 calories, barely made fiber...gotta keep an eye on that. Good luck to my ladies weighing in on Saturday. Two more days! Make em' count! I'm proud of you both! :)

Peace & Hugs,
Ashley

It's been 16 Days....

Hello Everyone!
This is my first post on the new blog. I'm not quite sure how I feel about starting a blog, or if I will be able to keep up with it, but we'll see how it goes.

You're probably wondering why I have a blog called, Bye Bye Baby. No, its not some teenage angst, I hate the world blog, but rather a sweet kiss goodbye to the life I've been living so far. What I mean is, it's time to become the old Ashley, in a physical sense.

In December 2003, I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Isabella. I gained 60 lbs. Six years later, I had another lovely and beautiful daughter Alleyna. I gained 3o lbs. While I lost the baby weight with Alleyna, I still had that ugly 60lbs sticking around, hindering me from living a life I used to live. I longed to be my, active, able to run around without getting out of breath five minutes later self. It's pretty sad that after six years I still have lingering baby weight. Now, don't get me wrong, if you're a mom reading this and thinking, "Who does this bitch think she is? All mom's carry post baby weight." That's fine. Go ahead and think that. I'm not one to stop YOUR happiness. However, my happiness is MINE. I am choosing to lose the baby weight, become a better and happier person-not for you, not for "society", but for my girls, my husband, and most importantly myself.

I joined the FAST program through work January 12, 2010. To this date I have lost 9.6 lbs in just two weeks. It's hard work, a lot of dedication, ups, downs, rollercoaster days, and being accountable for what I put in my mouth. I have to admit that after these 16 days, I already feel better! I am sleeping better, have more energy during the day, and tend to be in an overall better mood. My self confidence has greatly improved, and there's nothing but improvement ahead of me.

So, sit down, shut up, and hold on....this is going to be one hell of a ride!

Peace & Hugs,
Ashley