and baby makes three

i need to start blogging on a regular basis, but with school i feel like i don't have a minute to think let alone write. this weekend i spent my entire saturday afternoon working up at school...and i'm still not even close to caught up. oh well, that's the life of a teacher.

the big news in the henderson household is that ryan and i are expecting our first child july 21.  we are so excited.  we found out on thanksgiving day.  i was four days late and just scared to take a test (didn't want to find out i wasn't pregnant). after all of our family functions i finally took a test.  i was so excited that i yelled and ryan knew immediately.  we hugged, kissed, and cried in the bathroom. now that ruined all the plans on how i was going to tell him, but oh well.

at 7 weeks i went to my first prenatal appointment.  i saw the baby for the first time.  it was amazing.  i can't imagine what it is going to be like to hold that precious baby.  counting down the days down to march 1 so i will know if baby is a boy or girl...i'm guessing girl.  daddy is wanting a girl.

the first picture of  me that mommy & daddy
were both present for

~laura

skinny girl trapped in a fat girl's body week something

well, i know it has been a looooong time since i posted.  i've had some ups and downs, but i just wasn't feeling the need to share every up and down.  so i am down 6 lbs, but my clothes are starting to get saggy.  now that is a great feeling!  i thin zac (my trainer) wants to beat me sometimes.  oh well...i can be a butt. i will post more soon.

skinnyg girl trapped in a fat girl's body week 3

today will be a short post.  i have lots to do for school and psr tonight.  today was the first day of school, and it went really well.  i can't wait to know them better and to see what they are capable of.  i have a lesson that i am doing this week, once i have done it i'll give you the run down on what i did and how it went.

with prepping for school i have been sooooo busy.  i didn't have much time to go to the gym this week, so i actually had to be on top of my eating.  i was very deliberate to make sure i didn't indulge even when all i really wanted was a massive bowl of ice cream and chocolate sauce.

total weight loss: 3 lbs.

i'm so excited to be down a total of 3lbs. this week i'm going to get back in the gym and work like crazy to keep loosing.  i really need ryan to keep me from stress snacking.  so far i've been good about drinking water instead of snacking.  a big success for me this week was when i bought kettle corn and  just ate a half a cut of it instead of the entire brown bag of popcorn they gave me.

i will post more next week.  

skinny thoughts, skinny thoughts, skinny thoughts :)

~laura

skinny girl trapped in a fat girl's body week 2

one week done.

one week of forcing myself to evaluate every speck of food i put in my mouth.

one week of limiting my soda intake.

one week of forcing myself to go to the gym...even on friday night when there were only 7 other people there.

i felt hungry all the time at the beginning of the week.  i was starting to work at school, so i was getting out.  unfortunately, when i was home i was hungry.  i craved food because i was bored.  i stopped myself a lot.  i ate a lot of grapes and carrot sticks when i was hungry.

i am most proud of the workouts.  i worked out pretty much every other day.  i tried zumba on saturday and LOVED it.  the teacher cindy was absolutely crazy!

 i'm also really proud of the food we tried.  tonight we ate spaghetti squash.  it wasn't horrible either.  i've found other replacements too. i love mac and cheese.  but as you know mac and cheese is 480 calories for a cup.  i found a rice pasta from trader joe's that was only 220 calories per cup.  i was so excited!  i bought it for ryan since the protein was 6 grams versus the typical 10+ grams.  (i can post about ryan's diet in another post,,, but for those who don't know ryan is on a low protein diet.  we continuously are looking for low protein substitutes.)  we tried the mac and cheese and it was delicious.  i don't get out to trader joe's often, and while ryan and i were shopping at schunck's, we found rice pasta in their gluten free section.  i'm hoping it is as good as the trader joe's version.

i had disappointment this week, even though it was very short lived.  i weighed myself at night and i was up 2 points.  i was so mad.  how could i watch everything i eat and work out more than i have ever worked out in my entire life and still gain???

i weighed myself the next morning- down 1 pound from my original weight!!!!  i hit my goal! all i wanted was to  lose 1 pound and i did it!!!!

more skinny thoughts this week :)

~laura

skinny girl trapped in a fat girl's body

i'm not sure what initiated it, but last tuesday i talked ry into going to the rec plex to see how much a membership was. i just felt the need to finally commit to making myself healthy.  we ended up at club fitness down the street from our house.  they had a special that waived the enrollment fee.  we both signed up and got personal trainers for four sessions.  my first session with the personal trainer was on friday.  i was shocked into realizing how fat i really am- 178.6 pounds.  may not sound like a lot to some- but i'm 5ft tall!

(me on vacation- 7/2012)

ryan and i went shopping for healthy food the next day.  we bought lots of food we've never eaten before like spaghetti squash and egg plant.  i have already changed my eating habits and it feels good.  i'm hungry all the time, but that will get better. if you know any good, healthy snacks/meals let me know.  especially food that is healthy but tastes bad for me.

i will keep updating every week- the trials and tribulations, the joys and accomplishments.

*     *    *

* my skinny girl is screaming to come out which gives me plenty of motivation to work out and eat healthy *

my skinny girl wants: to walk without my legs touching

                                to not have an arm jiggle

                                to not have a muffin top

                                to fit in my size 8 pants again

                                to play tennis for fun and not wear out after one game

~laura

Hilton Head Island

welp, vacation is over.  ryan and i went to hilton head island, south carolina, with his family for the past week. the week started with me driving down to georgia with ryan's dad, brother, and nieces.  we stayed with his aunt and uncle for the night.  it was great seeing them! definitely need to go down again to spend some time with them.

after two days of driving, we finally were in hilton head.  i was happy to be there, but i missed ryan and emmy so much.  i couldn't wait for ryan to get there. after we ate supper, we took the kiddos to the beach for a late night stroll in the dark.  lukey had his first experience with the ocean.

we spent most of our time at the beach and the pool. the kiddos liked the beach, but it did not compare to the pool.  i think they could have spent every waking moment at the pool. i was pretty content on the beach with a book, but oh well.  (speaking of books, i finished the best book Bright Young Things by anna godbersen.  i loved her first series The Luxe, and Bright Young Things really compared.  very different, but still very gossip girlish.) 

\

ryan finally joined us monday night.  his flight kept getting pushed back farther and farther.  he ended up getting into savanah, georgia, around 1:30 a.m.  goodness was i tired, but ecstatic to see him! 

when we went to the beach tuesday, there was a guy fishing who caught a sting ray.  it wasn't a little sting ray either.  this sting ray was probably four feet long and two feet wide. it seemed like everyone on the beach gathered around to see. 

ryan and i decided we had to do something out of the ordinary during the week, and we agreed to go parasailing.  this was an adventure.  i am terrified of heights, but i couldn't pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity.  let me just say, it was cool, but never again.  there were twelve of us on the boat.  the one girl on the boat was a spunky preteen who was scared to go up as well.  our "first mate" was very entertaining.  he kept everything light and tried to ease everyone's nerves. 

 ryan and i went up second to last.  it felt like you just floated off the boat.  it was absolutely serene when we first went up.  i was actually enjoying myself and not scared.  then the driver decided to jerk us.  i will not repeat what i yelled at that point, but it wasn't appropriate for all ears.  i had no choice but to tough it out.  it was an amazing experience, even if i was freaked out the majority of the time.  

that night we went to harbor town (which is the same place we parasailed).  this was our favorite place by far!  the area had a lighthouse that you could see from any part of the harbor.  the area was very laid back and the weather was probably the best it had been all week.  there were red rocking chairs up and down the harbor.  we spent a good amount of the evening in the rocking chairs.  i had blake sleeping on my chest while i rocked, which was just so comforting.  i love the feel of a sleeping baby on my chest.  it was a great evening.

i am so happy to be home! i'm loving having emmy snuggling up next to me again.  i leave for chicago tomorrow while ryan goes back to work on monday.  i'm heading up for a conference. i wish i had a little time between the two trips, but i'll be glad when they are over.   until later.

~laura

happy fourth

the past couple days have been great.  ryan took off the two days after the fourth so that we could have some family time.  with us going on vacation with the entire family soon, we thought it would be nice to spend the time just us.  for the fourth we went to st. charles riverfront to watch the fireworks. i <3 fireworks.

on thursday we went to the science center to beat the heat.  it was uber crowded!  we didn't spend a lot of time there, but i was really fascinated with some of the dinosaur bones they have on display.  i have never been super interested in dinosaurs,,, but for some reason i found it so cool that paleontologist make cast for dinosaur bones before they move them from the site.  and they use aluminum foil to protect the bone from the plaster.  who would have thunk it?

friday, we spent some great family time with lucas.  jen had a doctor's appointment, so we went out to babysit little man.  she took joel with her since he is still breast feeding, and we really wouldn't have been able to give l some great one on one time if joel would have been there. ryan loves hanging out with the boys, and they really love him too.  and if ryan isn't there and i am, all i hear is, "where's uncle ryan?"  i love it!!!  we swam with lucas for a couple hours and then went out to dinner with the whole fam.  

(yes, ryan is showing off one of lucas's toys.)

today i am working on some school stuff.  can you believe that i feel like my summer is pretty much over? we leave for south carolina soon, and when i come back, i have school stuff until school starts.  i am really looking forward to south carolina and to my trip to chicago for the differentiated learning conference, but i don't want my summer over yet.  

i do have to say, though, that when i went to wal-mart i was super excited that school supplies were out. and i bought some.  i mean a ton.  oh well.

i am working on a new idea for my classroom- reading response journals.  i had no idea how i was going to make AR (accelerated reading) more valuable in my class, and i think i found the solution.  every friday the kids will spend ten minutes writing in their journals.  they will give a brief summary of what they read, answer three response questions, and define three unfamiliar words in the text.  i am being extra cognoscente of the core standards that each and every activity we do in class covers, and this activity stands up well with the core standards.

and of course, while i worked, emmy tried preventing me from getting anything done. gotta love the furbaby.

i'm taking  a break from A Wrinkle in Time today, but i will get back at it next week.  i have the final projects figured out, which i think is what i am most excited about.  i also am having the kids create tessellations.  i don't know how that will go over, but i think it will be really cool.  i am spending my time reading each chapter and writing notes about the chapter.  what's great is that i am really seeing the book from a different perceptive than when i read it the first time, and i love it.  

well more later.

~laura