It's A Boy!!

I am so pleased to announce the birth of our son, Lee, on January 24, 2009! I am enjoying him so much and Ella just loves being a big sister!!

Please visit my new personal blog Me & My Three Loves at www.threeloves.wordpress.com! I will try to update that one on a more regular basis! Thanks! :o)

Gone Off Chocolate!!

Did that grab your attention!! Hee, hee! It's true. I no longer crave chocolate and don't care to taste it! Why is that, you ask? Because I'm pregnant!! :o) I've been dealing with nausea 24/7 since about the 6th week, and if it's anything like my last pregnancy it lasted into the 5th month!! I'm 3 months right now. Eekk! So most food turns me off right now. I have a hard time with meals as I just don't know what to eat!! My husband has been terrific throughout it all!

We toyed with the idea for a long time of just being content with having one child, since I've had a bit of a rough go with things the last 4 years. But I just couldn't go through life with just one. And Ella would love a playmate!! She is very excited to become a big sister and I know she'll do a great job!!

Here's the ultrasound at 9 weeks + 1 day ... my little peanut I call it!! :o)

Because of my nausea I haven't been able to wear my regular pants even underwear! As anything remotely tight makes me feel even worse, so I've been into maternity pants for a while now! LOL! Though I am starting to wear my regular pants on good days, just with the zip undone!! Heehee!

We took out a box full of my old maternity clothes and some nice shirts, but the pants are sooo outdated!! LOL! I need to get a maternity swim suit as well, Thyme Maternity was all out! :o(

Ella is a little water girl and we bought a big pool for the backyard for her 4th birthday. We have so much fun swimming and I love to watch her have fun!! She's been swimming on her own since our trip to Kauai and she loves to do handstands and somersaults in the water, too! Eekk!

Hope you are all enjoying your summer!!

If you have any suggestions to control my nausea, please leave a comment! I have tried pretty much everything!!

Where has the time gone!?

It's been so long since I have blogged! Sorry!!

Since January of this year I have been concentrating on the start-up of my new business, EllaBella Designs www.EllaBellaDesigns.ca, in partnership with my friend, Karen. It has taken us months to prepare for the opening of our business and we are very pleased so far with the outcome & support received!

I am still yearning to make a mini scrapbook album on my weight-loss journey and I haven't been successful thus far in doing that! But I hope to do that soon. I like to look back at my before photos so I still see how far I have come.

I still struggle with keeping the weight off, and have gained a little more than I have liked to back but managing to keep things in check. I think the scrapbook album will help me keep things in perspective and help me realize just how far I have come. At our Grand Opening I had my scrapbook albums out for display and had comments on how much weight I have lost...so that felt good! :o)

I find that I have kept some new habits I learned when losing my weight. I drink lots of water now and add a bit of flavour with Crystal Light (Pineapple Papaya being my new favorite flavour). Those little packs they make to add to a bottle of water have been instramental in me drinking my water. We took them on our recent trip to Kauai with us and worked out perfect!

I also found that I wasn't eating enough protein, and if you can believe it, fat! I also make sure to have lots of veggies with our meals (raw veggies being my favorite now); I need to work on the fruit though! I still catch myself upping my starch, so must be vigilant at all times!

Chocolate is still my downfall, but I do allow myself to indulge once in a while. :o)

I'll have to end it there. But I do plan on writing more often...!

:o)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to you all!! Hope you had a fun time ringing in 2008! We spent a quiet night at home (well, if you call organizing the entire house quiet!! LOL!). We've been busy packing, painting, moving...we have under-utilized the space in our house so we decided to re-organize the whole house!

And I have been a naughty blogger indeed!! Life has been extremely busy. Not only are we re-organizing the house but I am starting up a small business with a friend (www.EllaBellaDesignStudios.com). I have been busy with craft fairs and then had many custom orders to fill in time for Christmas. Crazy busy, but fun!!

I have to admit, I have been over-indulging during the holidays!! Though we made sure we had a meal plan for the holidays and that helped a lot!! (Especially for the bank account!) I have even been making salads with some yummy homemade dressing (though it did include mayo!!). But it has been all of the chocolate and goodies that comes with the holidays!! If I continue with the mass chocolate cravings, I'll start up my Chromium again.

I was very reluctant to get on the scales, but was surprised to see I had "only" gained a few pounds. Still, a few pounds here and there can add up quickly. So I am back on track and will try to get some walks in. I have had a problem lately with energy (ok, could be from over-indulging on non-nutritious food items!! And lack of sleep...). Anyway...I am taking Korean Ginseng to re-gain some energy enough to exercise. I haven't noticed much of a difference in energy yet (though I have in other areas!), so may get an overall health test done at the Naturopath's. (Did I ever mention that I love my Naturopath...not in that way!! Heehee! I will never take prescribed medication again if I can help it!)

Anyway, here's hoping for a healthy New Year to all!!

:o)

I'm Back!

From Crusing! Myself & DH went on a 3-night coastal cruise last weekend with his work colleagues. They were celebrating the company's 20th Anniversary! They treated everyone to a cruise, it was so sweet of them to do!

It was a fun time, even though I woke up on the first morning of the cruise sick! :*( I tried to make the most of it though. I enjoyed a spa treatment (I highly recommend foot reflexology!) & finally had some quiet time with DH on the last night of the cruise! He had so much fun with his colleagues & spent most nights in the casino. :D It was a great get-away, but I worried about our DD who was at home sick with my SIL & BIL. They came over from Vancouver just to look after her! They seemed so comfortable in the roll as well!! She was in excellent hands and had a lot of fun!

Needless to say, I am quite sick myself now! :*( Not fun. Hope to feel better soon.

Here are a few snapshots on the Mercury (Celebrity Cruises)

On deck at the Bon Voyage Seattle party:

The Mercury in port at Victoria. We got off here and decided to take in the Titanic exhibit & IMAX show, it was wonderful!!

The dance performance on the cruise was amazing, here I am with two of the dancers:

Wow!

I am definitely feeling the pain today!! My quads feel like the muscles have been ripped open...which I'm sure they have! My classes are Mondays & Wednesdays, though the next two weeks I'll have to miss the Wednesday classes...that's too bad. Though it's probably a good thing not to overdo it at first! My neck is pretty sore, so I may avoid that particular exercise for a bit.

I was happy to walk by the junk foods and not be tempted!! It's interesting, but I find that since I've started aerobics I don't feel the need to indulge (well, as often!). I suppose it's a high and I'm sure there is a pride thing involved, too! LOL! I can't wait until next class!!

I find myself looking back at the "before" photos, which seem to give me a sense of accomplishment which I find I lose over time. It's funny how the brain will continue to see myself as overweight, when I know I'm not. I will have to read my blog entries as well. I know I never want to go there again, so if I read my entries and look at my pictures I feel I will be less likely to be in that state again.

:o)

First Aerobics Class

YAY! I made it through my first aerobics class since 2003!! I haven't been since I was pregnant, so I am quite proud of myself!! It is a very low impact class so that helped. I must be careful with my neck though as I have had recurring problems and would hate to agitate it.

I thought I'd weigh myself this morning even though I had a feeling I had gained a few pounds. Just 1.2lb, but it's still depressing. :( At least I am trying to do something about it though. But, boy, it sure is a life long thing, isn't it?

Anyway, I feel great! I'm sure I'll feel it in the morning, but, you know, it will be a great feeling! :D

I was at a scrapbooking retreat on the weekend in Parksville (check out www.ellabelladesignstudios.com for more info.) But thought I'd share a couple of pictures taken from my hotel room! What an awesome view that was!! It was a great rejuvenation for me and am so glad I went!