Hello 2nd Trimester!

It's exciting, but a little scary to think that we are already over 1/3 of the way there! 

 

I have this pregnancy journal, but I've been thinking of what type of pregnancy photo book I want to make with all of my belly pictures and weekly updates.  While I think all of the chalkboard stuff can be really cute, I tend to shy away from things that get too trendy.  So, I've also seen this style, which I really like:

 

And I took my first belly picture, but I haven't uploaded it yet, so it will be coming soon! [Jake may have also been playing around and took his own "food" belly picture, however he made me promise not to share it haha...]

I have also been thinking about how I need to get into some sort of work-out regime, because up until now I have not had the energy or motivation.  However, I know it's healthy for me and the baby to do so.  I found a great deal on these on Amazon:

The Pregnancy Project

What I like about this particular set is that there is a different DVD for each month, so it keeps things interesting and it doesn't get stagnant.  It's half stretches, arm and leg workouts, and the other half yoga. 

Tracy Anderson Method

I've heard good things about this, so we will see!

I'm aiming for 3 times a week to do these pregnancy workouts.  We'll see how well I can hold up to that, or if I get ambitious and fit more in!

 

LASIK: 3 Months Post-op

I have my check-up tomorrow for my Lasik 3mth Post-Op review.  I'm really interested to find out what I'm "seeing" as far as being 20/20 or possibly better.  I've been trying to test myself with road signs for the past couple of weeks, but that's sort of pointless because other than knowing that I can read them, it does nothing to tell me what my prescription might be.  I wanted to sum up what I've had to do the past few months as part of the treatment/healing process for any of you who are considering have laser eye surgery, or know someone who might be.  Let me preface this by saying I am no doctor, so this is my take on my experience and what I remember:

Pre-Op:  Stop wearing your contacts (if you wear them instead of glasses) and pull out those old glasses and learn to love them! Because that's all you will be allowed to wear for about two weeks prior to your Consultation visit.  This is because wearing contacts mis-shapes the surface of your eye and can give false readings at your consultation, thus messing up the course of treatment and possibly causing some big issues. So suck it up, and don't cheat and wear your contacts.  I don't care if it's your birthday and your glasses don't match your cute party dress, or that you want to be able to work out without fogging up your glasses, it's not worth it.  Oh, and also, no baby making!  You can not be pregnant or nursing 6 months prior to surgery.  Pregnancy hormone levels can affect your eye sight, and your prescription has to stay level for 1-2 years prior to surgery.

LASIK Consultation:  This will determine if you are a candidate for the surgery and what type of surgery you should have.  This will take about 1.5-2 hours and they dilate your eyes to run tons of tests.  This gives them all of the readings of your eye, like the shape and size of your eye, how much corneal tissue mass you have, etc.  You also go through the regular eye chart test to find out your true current prescription. 

Surgery:  Once you get cleared at the consultation, you are good to go for surgery!  My consult and surgery date were only 3 days apart.  Your doctor might give you a Xanax to calm your nerves, but my body had weird reactions to pain killers when I had my wisdom teeth removed in high school so I don't care for pills like that and opted not to take mine.  I like to think I'm pretty good at keeping cool under pressure, though.  They put in some eye drops to dilate your eyes again and do some other things [I don't remember exactly], then you do one last eye chart test and the doctor checks your dilation.  They also plug up your tear ducts with a teeny tiny little self-dissolving plug.  Then it's off to surgery!  The actual surgery takes less than 10 minutes, and you are awake the whole time.  They do one eye at a time, and you have numbing drops in so you don't feel it.  [Warning: you might want to stop reading here if you get queasy about medical stuff] The first laser makes the "flap" and the second laser reshapes your cornea.  I had sort of built up so many thoughts about the surgery in my head that I was really surprised at how easy and quick it all was.  I was most worried about them cutting the flap, and I didn't even realize they were already doing it until it was done.  Because the numbing drops really only work on the surface of your eye, it was a weird sensation when they opened the flap because I could kind of feel it, not pain, but you can feel it.  At this point you can't see anything out of that eye because they use a stabilizing device that pushes your eye down on your optical nerve and you black out of that eye.  It's just temporary and as soon as the flap is cut and they remove the pressure you can see.  Again, it all happens pretty quickly.   What they don't tell you is that due to that pressure you will have somewhat creepy bruises around your iris for about a week, but they eventually fade away.  Honestly the worst part for me was the eye drops that they put in at the end to help the flaps heal, because they burn! and there is nothing you can do about it.  Your normal reaction is to close your eye when it burns, but they have your eyes held open so you just have to let it go.  One the drop sets they let you close your eyes and you put on your "shields" which make you look like a big bug. 

Post -Op:  Still no baby making!  Ladies, as your eyes will not be fully healed for 6 months, you cannot get pregnant until at least 6 months after surgery.

Day 1:  You are supposed to keep your eyes closed as much as possible for the following 8-12 hours.  They give you an ambien to fall asleep.  My check-in time for surgery was 9am so I was thinking that I would want to go home and just lay on the sofa listening to tv for a bit because I wouldn't be able to fall asleep right away.  Wrong.  They give you a numbing drop before leaving the office, but that wears off within about 20-30 minutes.  For me, it wore off when we were about 2 minutes from home and then the burning starts.  My eyes were watering uncontrollably and they burned like crazy.  I took the ambien before we even got home and went straight to bed.  The ambien knocked me out for about 7 hours and when I woke up the stinging was gone. 

Day 2:  You will have a check-up the following morning to make sure that the flaps are healing properly.  That is the biggest post-op issue, other than following your eye drop regimen, because if the flaps move they will need to be surgically corrected.  This is the appointment when you will be cleared for driving, so make sure that you have someone to take you to & from the surgery and drive you to this appointment.  You have to use over-the-counter re-wetting drops every 30 minutes while awake and a steroid drop once an hour while awake.  Those increments decrease over the next couple of weeks, until you are just using re-wetting drops as needed [for me, maybe 2 times a day].  You also use a gel eye drop at night to keep your eyes lubricated.  Dry eye is caused because during the surgery they have to sever whatever it is that helps to produce tears/lubrication and it has to heal itself.  You will also start your pill-poppin:

FISH OIL:  You will be told to consume around 3500mg per day.  Fish oil pills have filler in them, so you will actually need to read the nutrition label to see how many milligrams of Omega3 are in it.  For instance, a 1200mg fish oil pill often will only have around 750mg of Omega 3.  That means you will actually need to take 5 pills per day.  There are different sizes and manufacturers, so you have to find the one that works for you.  I like Nature Made and I have learned that the key to taking fish oil pills is taking them at night, right before you go to bed.  Why?  Because they make you burp.  And when you burp, you get that nice fish oil taste in your mouth.  Yuck.  So take them at night and they will digest by morning.  Now, I have seen burpless options since so they may be a little bit better, but I have not tried them myself since I still have plenty in my bottle.

 

DAILY MULTIVITAMIN:   This is just to make sure that your body is staying healthy and properly nourished during your healing process.  Again, I went with the Nature Made Multi pill.   I will say however, that in hindsight I would have probably opted for a flavored gummie option because this pill does not taste good at all.

1 Month Post-Op:  Your vision will be really good!  The tear duct plugs will have dissolved [during week 1 or 2].  I was seeing 20/20 in one eye and 20/15 [better than average] in the other.  By this appointment most of your inner-eye swelling will be gone, although depending upon your pre-op prescription and how much tissue they had to laser off, there may still be some.  My right eye had an astigmatism so they had to do a lot of correcting, and I was told there was still a good bit of swelling in that eye.  You are cleared to finally work out, but ease into it and do not do anything intense.  By now, you have started using Restasis, a prescription eye drop, morning and night.  This is suppose to help your eyes produce lubrication, because during the surgery they have to sever whatever it is that helps your eyes to produce tears/lubrication and it has to heal itself.  This will slowly get better over time.

2 Months Post-Op: Your vision will probably take a step backwards.  I was seeing 20/20 out of one eye and 20/25 [worse than average] out of the other.  Do not get frustrated!  This is all a part of the healing process and your eyes adjusting.  You can go back to your full work-out plan now.

3 Months Post-Op:  Your vision should finally be full-circle and you should be seeing 20/20 or better in both eyes.    After this, you should just need yearly eye exam check-ups.


Of course, this will vary depending upon your doctor.  I cannot say enough good things about my doctors, Dr. Jaben [performed my surgery] and Dr. Rauch [consultation and post-op review] at TLC Charlotte.  I highly recommend them if you are in the area and considering the procedure.



If you have any other questions about pricing, insurance, surgery, etc.  just ask me!


 

You are what you Eat!

So true.  I took a nutrition class in college and there is one lesson that will forever stand out in my mind.  My professor had glass jars filled with yellow colored liquid.  Each jar was labeled with a common food item..."2 slices of Cheese Pizza", "Snickers Bar", "5oz Chocolate Ice Cream"...pretty much all foods that I ate on a somewhat regular basis.  Then she explained that the liquid in the jars represented how many ounces of fat were in that item.  YUCK.  One of those I think I just threw up a little in my mouth kind of moments.  Now, while I have to say I do enjoy the occasional piece of dark chocolate or some Coconut M&M's, I have been able to pretty much avoid all other forms of candy since.  I also just try to not buy snack items that I know I will not have the will power to avoid if it's in the house.  A great example would be sweet tea--if there's a gallon of it then I will drink every drop until it's gone, but if I just don't buy it, then I always opt for water.  Ever since being diagnosed as hypoglycemic in high school I've cut out all soda and never really been tempted to drink it again.  I have a huge love of ice cream, but now if I buy it I always go for the "Slow Churned" option from Edy's which is 1/2 the fat, or some sugar free frozen yogurt with cut up fruit [kiwi, strawberry, pineapple, raspberry] for sweetness.  Especially when I'm really into a workout regimen, I try to get creative with finding healthy meals and snacks that will still satisfy...and ways to work in chocolate :)  Here are some of my favorites right now:




Breakfast Smoothies | Lean Cuisine Spinach & Artichoke Dip | Tribe Spicy Red Pepper Hummus
| Quaker Popped Quakes - Cinnamon Apple | Yoplait Greek 100 Cal Yogurt |
Bananas | Snack Pack Fat Free Chocolate Pudding | Special K Savory Herb Crackers
 

 

For breakfast smoothies, I still follow this recipe.  I like to vary the options with different fruits, flavors of yogurt [vanilla, strawberry, key lime pie, chocolate, toasted coconut] and sometimes I will add in an instant coffee pack. 


So, if this has you in the mood to pick up some of these items next time you're at the grocery store, or just thinking about healthy snacks you love, here is a nice little meal planner printable that I've created.  I like to think about my actual meal plan for the week so that I don't end up buying a bunch of extra items that either go to waste or get lost in the back of the pantry closet for months.  There is no space for lunches on here because I usually bring dinner left-overs or a quick Lean Cuisine to work:

Enjoy!


XO, Stacey

Get Fit!

Yep!  Pretty much sums it up.

I am on day 3 tonight, and my muscles already feel ripped apart.  Love that burn!

Also, I wanted to share a free website that you can go to that helps you track your meals.  This is awesome!

You go to www.Livestrong.com and click on "My Plate".  You can make a free profile and it is crazy how much information that they have loaded into it.  You type in whatever you have eaten--down to the brand and portion size.  They have many fast food chains and family restaurants pre-loaded so you can build your exact sandwich from Subway or type in exactly what you got from Chili's.  They even have vitamins so I can add in my Women's One-a-day multivitamin and my Fish Oil pills that I have to take from my LASIK surgery.  What I like about it is that not only does it tell you what your calorie intake should be for your age, height, and weight, but it also calculates all of the carbs, fats, calories, sodium, etc. of that food.  That way, people who usually count calories can see if they are actually eating an unhealthy diet since it's high in sodium or cholesterol.  It was surprising to me because by tracking the last three days, I have actually been significantly under my recommended calorie intake, but one day I was almost 20% over my daily value for sodium.  Just gives you things to think about.  AND if it could get even more fantastic, they even have exercise workouts that you can add in with the time that you did them so that you see the calories that you should have burned with that workout.  They have everything from running to golfing to trimming bushes with garden shears.  Yes, seriously.  They don't have all names of specific workout programs, like Insanity, but I enter it in as "boot camp" since it's an intense cardio/strength training workout.

And, for those of you Iphone users, there's an app that you can put on your phone.  I haven't checked to see if they have the app on Android.


Have a good night!

Getting Organized

I've been on a little bit of a kick to get more organized lately.  I have to admit that I am definitely a creative mind so while everything in my home has its place, sometimes I am the only one who understands that junk box organization. So, seriously organizing has been my focus...I don't really know why.  Maybe that happens after you're finally settled into a house with your husband/wife?  When you first move in together it's a merging of "his" and "hers" elements and making compromises.  But over time as you're married, you get "ours" stuff.  And slowly but surely, you purge the old items, or box them up for the attic and a rainy day.

What are my plans?

1.  The previously mentioned & newly decorated bookshelves in our living room...the new photos should be arriving at the end of the week so that they can be placed in frames and I can post pictures on here!  Even though they are photo-less...just the new layout seems so much more purposeful and less like random bookshelves of stuff.

2.  I'm finally getting around to the giftwrap organizer in the closet of the 4th bedroom, lovingly referred to as the Man Cave.  I am seriously excited for when this is finished.  Tutorial to come, using this pantry organizer:

Grayline Back of Door Storage System from Amazon
They also sell this at Target, but it's $9 cheaper, plus free shipping on Amazon! Gotta love a deal.
 

3.  Organizing the rest of the above mentioned closet.  It was seriously a pile of random things ranging from bed linens to giftwrap to massage chair boxes to luggage to folding chairs...Get the picture?  Well, I completely cleaned out that closet yesterday and was extremely surprised to realize that there is not really that much in there, it was just all piled on top of each other and really mis-using the space.  After throwing out some of the boxes and random items, I placed the good items back in there.  All except for the linens, because I need some shelving for those. 

4.  Getting rid of old clothes that I no longer wear.  While many of us are less toned than we were in our high school days, some of us have stayed about the same clothing size.  Yay for us!  However, the downside of that is you somehow end up with this closet full of clothes you've acquired over the past 10 years and at some point you have to start eliminating pieces from your wardrobe.  Also, like many sorority girls, we end up with collections of semi-formal and formal dresses that we honestly won't wear half of ever again.  Unless maybe you marry rich.  But for most of us, finding a charity to donate to sounds like a better idea.  I never just throw away clothes.  There's always somebody else out there who could use it. 

5.  Finally get around to our backsplash.  This isn't necessarily organizing, but I will be able to finally feel like our kitchen is complete.  I'm trying to narrow down ideas and products.  Also, painting one of the kitchen walls and hanging a valence over the sink window if I feel really ambitious.



That's all for now.  Starting back with Day 1 of Insanity tonight, the Fit Test [essentially, maxing out on 8 different exercises].

World Market Love

Well, my hubs was busy working out of town this weekend so it provided me with lots of free time for catching up with friends and catching up with laundry!  I made a day trip to Columbia to see my parents and one of my best friends, Eden.  While visiting with my parents we had lunch at Panera, possibly the best place in the world for a good soup/sandwich combo, and then went to World Market.  I feel like World Market can be hit or miss, and I wasn't finding tons of wonderful things however I did find this little gem...

Turkish Peach Jar Candle from World Market

Smells soooo good.  I love fruity scents and this one has a little bit of spice to it, too.  I wanted something to switch up from all of the Evergreen and Apple smells I've been using all Christmas season.  

Also, I was super excited to find these to use for grilling out on the boat...

World Grill Appetizer Skewers from World Market. 
For some reason, these are not on their website.  I purchased them from the location in
Sandhills, NE Columbia.

These are the perfect size to get all six skewers to fit on the grill, and can still hold a nice amount of food.  Plus, they are a fun, curly shape :)


Have a good night, bloggers!  Back to real 5-day work weeks tomorrow.  Also, starting back with Day 1 of Insanity tomorrow...I can already feel the burn!


 

Summer Schedule

I feel like our Summer schedule has been crazy.  We have so much going on, it feels like every weekend.  This past weekend was so much fun, visiting with friends who were in town for a friend's bachelor party.  On Saturday it was the first time in I could not tell you how long that Jake and I got to just sleep in and be lazy on a Saturday morning.  Even the pups were tired and lounging, they didn't even beg to go outside.  I finally woke up and got out of bed to make some breakfast (scrambled eggs) that I brought back upstairs so we could eat in bed while we watched This Means War with Reese Witherspoon.  Very cute movie.  Jake totally called the ending--I thought it might be a little bit different.  Around 2:00 Melissa & Amit got into town, we dropped them off to do all of their Bachelor party festivities and Melissa and I got to spend the day shopping and a dinner at Enso.  Enso was amazing as always--best sushi in Charlotte in my opinion.  Also a very cool atmosphere.

This weekend we have our friends' wedding, which makes it a little mini-reunion with our college friends so I always love those occasions.  I'm hoping for some pool time and hopefully a trip to the driving range on Sunday since I haven't been out there in a few weeks.

Then for the next two weekends I have baby showers & 1st birthday parties on the Saturday's...I guess that is what life is like when you're our age!  I just got one of the baby shower gifts I ordered in the mail yesterday and it is so precious!!  Even cuter than the picture :)

Also, today I mailed in my entry for the Arts Council's juried competition...we will see if I get selected to be a part of it.  You mail them a cd with the image of your artwork and then they narrow it down to the ones who will be on display and a part of the contest.  I forget the exact day when you find out if you're chosen but I'll update once I find out!



Small Accomplishment:  Last night I did my Insanity workouts (yes plural, it was also an ab video day)...and I kept up with Tonya!!! For any of you who have done Insanity, you know what I mean! haha  I've also decided that on some days, probably my "Cardio Recovery" days, I am going to start running a mile as well.  The loop around the middle of our neighborhood is exactly a mile.  It's a nice little scenic run with some hills so it's a good workout.  I figure that since I'm running the Color Run this November I should mix in a little bit of that too, even though part of the Insanity warm-up is jogging/sprinting in place.

RESULTS!

Insanity is amazing, and I'm not even through the first two weeks of the two month program. But, more about that in a minute...


So, to re-cap this past weekend:  not much went according to plan.  We were supposed to have a fun movie night with April and Jeremy Friday night, but Jake has been slammed with work and needed my help.  So, like any loving wife would do, we had to take a rain check on the movie and I helped him finish up work and we had a joint project we were doing for our jobs so he and I worked on a floor plan layout. 

Saturday, Jake almost didn't go to play softball because he had a lot of work to do, but other guys called out last minute and his team needed him to play or else they would be disqualified from that entire league (I think it was ISA or something like that?) for the rest of the year.  I went to watch that game, but then I had to go get my oil changed.  My pretty little car already has 22,000 miles on it and it hasn't even been a year quite yet (July 31st).  Good Kia does not have the biggest or best selection of cars, but they have a fantastic service department!!  Then, Saturday night we did get to go to Karen's luau which was very, very fun.  Great food and great people.  We were exhausted when we left after playing in the pool all afternoon. 

Sunday, I had all intentions of waking up and going to church, but my poor little Kona was sick and I was starting to get really worried about him.  He had been having stomach issues for the past 3 days and since I didn't want to have to wait a whole week to take him to the vet we packed up in the car and I drove him to the emergency vet off of Westinghouse.  We had a different vet than we did the last time we were there (for Reece's seizures) and I did not like this one at all.  She was the type that was trying to up-charge every little thing, and I can't stand doctors like that.  They should be worried about the health of their patient, not making extra money wherever possible.  So, after about $206 and two hours, we left and headed home.  I gave him his first dosage and didn't end up leaving to go golfing or to lay out at the pool because I didn't want to be gone if he had a bad reaction to it.  Luckily, the medicine started working and he was already better by Tuesday. 


So, back to Insanity.  For those of you interested or considering trying it, here is my opinion:  it's wonderful for ME.  I am someone who is naturally very athletic, played a lot of sports in high school, and enjoy working out (once I'm in my routine, which is the biggest part of the struggle).  If you are like me, then you will love it.  It only took me 3 days to get into my routine of coming home from work, have a very small, healthy snack (mainly just to sustain me because of my hypoglycemia), change into my workout clothes, do the workout, shower, cook/eat dinner, and I'm relaxing by about 8:30-9pm.  With that said, this is definitely not for everyone.  With Insanity, you do not use any props or weights, only your body.  It is very much like intense sports conditioning.  Some of the exercises you do are ones from track, basketball, volleyball, and boxing.  The rest are intense training exercises.  You work out your entire body, but I would say the areas of focus are your core, quads, and toning your shoulders/biceps/triceps--in that order.   I would think that a lot of guys would want to do additional workouts to focus more on upper body muscle building, since it's mainly toning your arms.  It also seems to be targeting the young adult age group.  Everything focuses on tightening your core, but in the beginning it's not a ton of actual ab workouts.  There is a DVD that you add in to some of your days starting the end of week 2 that is solely ab workouts, so I will let you know how that goes this weekend!  Am I seeing results? Yes, already! After week 1 I was definitely feeling results and I could tell that it was already working because I tried on an old pair of shorts that had gotten too tight, and they fit!  But now, mostly through week 2, I am definitely seeing results.  I love it, total motivation to keep going :)


In other news, I signed up the for Charlotte Color Run!  We have a team, if anyone would like to join it!  Right now our team is myself, Kelsey, April, and Todd.  There is no limit to the amount of people on your team, and the only reason to be on a team that I can see is to get a $5 discount, but hey-it's fun with friends!  I wish it wasn't so late in the year (Nov 17th) because it will probably be very cold, but it will be a lot of fun.  I've never run in a 5k before, but lately I have been really intrigued by them and considering signing up for one.  This one I heard about through friends on facebook and it seems like a really fun one, especially to start off with.   What is the Color Run, you ask?  Just a way to spice up a 5k and make it a little more fun.  All of the runners are supposed to wear a solid white shirt, and at certain points along the path there are "color zones" where volunteers spray you with some sort of paint mixture.  Each point is a different color, so by the end of it you look like a tie-dyed rainbow of sorts.  As an artist, I think this is really cool.  Each city also picks a charity to raise money for, and Charlotte's is Habitat for Humanity this year.  Be sure to check back in November to see the awesome pictures from this event :) 


That's all for now, we are getting ready to go out to Tequila with Todd & Kelsey because apparently it is karaoke night?? Who knew they had such a thing.  We will not be singing, just enjoying the crazy people and some good food.


Lastly--say a prayer for the families, soldiers, and safety workers in Colorado right now.  I am so thankful that my brother left there right before the wildfire started, and that he is home safe as it is raging closer and closer to the Army base.  Also, prayers for the students at the Air Force Academy because it is dangerously close to them.  Google "Waldo Canyon Fire" if you want to see more info and pictures.

Busy Bees

It's only Tuesday and this week feels so busy already!  Lots going on with work for Jake and I because the big project that my company sold a few months ago is starting installation--where Jake's company comes in.  It's a fun new experience going to all of the weekly construction meetings and seeing the updates.  Things have just started but I'm looking forward to seeing it all come together--especially their custom reception desk that I designed.

I'm looking forward to the weekend!  Not sure of our plans Friday night, but Saturday Jake has a softball tournament, we have a friend's Luau, and then Sunday will be church and I'm hoping some golf.



Insanity Update:
Day 1 is completed!  It was the 1st Fitness Test, and I was satisfied with how I did on it.  DEFINITELY a long way to go--I felt like my endurance was pathetic.  Not too much muscle soreness today, but I can already tell tomorrow will be a different story.  Tonight will be the first actual workout-wish me luck!

Moment of Insanity

 

 

I should probably stop watching infomercials...first, I was convinced into purchasing Bare Minerals back in October, and then today I was convinced into getting the Insanity workout package.  I'm hoping that I am as happy with this as the make up! Haha

I actually think I could really like the way this system is set up.  As an athlete all through my childhood and high school years, my workouts were my coaches telling me what to do and what to do next, for how long, faster, slower, etc.  My biggest struggle since then has been to find motivation during work outs and ways to hold myself accountable.  The way the dvds are set up will give me a schedule and certain tasks to complete each workout.  I am apprehensive but excited! Beauty is pain, right?  I really want to build muscle back and get more tone.  I still wear the same size clothing I did all through high school and college, which I suppose is an accomplishment because as I freakishly realized today I started high school exactly TEN years ago (holycrapimgettingold!).  However, I don't have all of that perfect muscle tone that my high school body had.  Lets hope this works, I like it and want to stick with it! At the very least I see it as an investment for a few years from now when I need to work off baby weight!

Info for anyone interested:  it's a little pricey, $120 for the set, but I have been getting really awesome feedback from everyone I know who has used it.  I'll post some updates once I start and let you know my experience first hand!