Food, Fitness, and Family

Soldier of Steel

2013-06-19T12:08:59Z

**The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Soldier of Steel™. All opinions are my own.

Finding a partner in life who shares similar passions to yours is key. Lucky for me, Chris and I have many similar interests. One of the most important ones is that we are both committed to living an active and fit lifestyle. Chris’ love of fitness goes beyond his own personal reasons – it’s also a part of his job. As you guys know, Chris is an Active Duty Soldier in the Army and is expected to maintain a certain level of physical fitness. So in our house, anything that combines fitness and the armed services is a win.

Mark Twight is one of Hollywood’s “go to” trainers and is also the founder of Gym Jones (with his wife Lisa), a strength and conditioning facility. He’s pretty noted for helping condition cast members of movies like “300″ (2007), “Repo Men”(2010), “Man of Steel”(2013), and “300: Rise of an Empire”(2013). I have to say …. the characters are pretty ripped in those movies so he must be doing something right

He goes WAY beyond Hollywood though and also teaches climbing, nutrition, and fitness to Special Operations Command (SOCOM) operators. Basically he works with some bad asses in the military.

How does this connect to the Armed Services? Well, like Clark Kent, Soldiers of the National Guard have to be ready for anything at a moments notice. Not only to they deploy to war zones, they also are activated when crises arise back home like the tornadoes in Oklahoma or Superstorm Sandy. These men and women are Citizen Soldiers who are ready when their neighbors need them.

You too can be a SOLDIER OF STEEL™ by completing the workout. By visiting SoliderOfSteel.com you can:

Download a one-month training routine developed by Mark Twight
See how Mark Twight transformed Henry Cavill into the MAN OF STEEL™
Watch fitness webisodes
Receive training tutorials on 23 different exercises

What I like about the workouts is that they require minimal equipment and can easily be done at home (depending on what you have) or at any gym. The workouts themselves can be tailored for beginners and advanced alike. While I haven’t had a chance to try the workouts yet, I am familiar with all the moves and feel confident that you can be successful with them. After showing Chris the month of workouts we both are stoked to try them out soon!

Do you want to be ripped like Henry Cavill? Because I am thinking that Chris does ;)

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Disclosure Reminder: This is a compensated post for the Soldier of Steel™ workout, made possible through my partnership with FitFluential. All opinions are honest and my own.

Baby #2: 16 Weeks

2013-06-17T18:24:56Z

Things sure are moving along right? I swear that your second pregnancy moves at lightning speed compared to the first! Probably has something to do with a toddler running around? ;) We had a great weekend over here celebrating Father’s Day and my 26th birthday. More on that this week though! Until then, it’s time for my 16 week pregnancy update!

I feel like this photo is a little deceiving and makes me a little more bumptastic than I am at this point. My pencil skirt is not maternity and totally made the bump stand out haha. For a more realistic idea of where I am (belly is growing) here is a pic from the gym this morning:

What is baby up to at 16 weeks?

Baby is the size of an avocado – or about 4 1/2 inches and 3 1/2 ounces
Heart is pumping about 25 quarts of blood a day
Growing toenails!

How is mama doing?

Weight Gain: Sitting at -3 pounds which means I gained 3 since last week. Since I am still regaining what I lost due to hyperemesis so I am thrilled with this gain. The gain probably has something to do with the celebrations from this weekend

Fitness: Going well! I announced last week that I am heading to bootcamp and it started today. Last week I started Couch to 5K as a way to get back into running. I also did some weights. All of it felt great. I am feeling awesome starting to sweat again

Symptoms:

Potty Breaks: Getting up to use the bathroom 1-2 times a night which isn’t too bad
Growing Pains: Some round ligament pains from my uterus stretching – I heard you feel them sooner on round 2
Dry Skin: Using my Burt’s Bees Mama Bee belly butter on my dry spots has helped alleviate this a bit
Headaches: My head has been throbbing off and on

Cravings: Nothing specific at this point but I am definitely getting my taste back for more foods. Some vegetables have even made their way back into my diet. I am loving pretzels and Sour Patch kids though

Eye Update: I went back to the retina specialist on Friday and got some good news! While my vision is still wonky, the bleed has shrank 30% so it should fully resolve itself. WEE!! Going back at the end of July for another follow up.

Looking Forward To: Co-hosting a baby shower for a dear friend this weekend! It’s her first baby

Week Goals:

Continue adding some vegetables back into my diet
Successfully cook dinner most nights this week
Go strong with Best Body Bootcamp

Outtake for the week: Chris took my belly photo when we were out at the restaurant. When Em realized what was up she insisted on being in the pic

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Pregnant Bootcamping

2013-06-13T13:11:03Z

After a no good very bad first trimester I am thrilled to be starting to feel a little bit more like myself. Taking two months off exercising though is tough. I am ready to get back to the gym but definitely need a little bit of structure. Enter Best Body Bootcamp.

I participated in Tina’s first and second rounds of Best Body Bootcamp back when I was working on my post-baby body and LOVED it. The structure (and flexibility!) is awesome and the workouts are butt kicking. Exactly what I need to get back into gear and maintain a #FitPregnancy through the end!

This week I have slowly made my way back into the gym with a wog on Monday and a lower body workout and then a 2 mile walk on Tuesday. I took yesterday off because of meetings and plan to get my sweat on today as well. The Jellybean is making working out more difficult but the bump gets to come along for the ride

If you want to go to bootcamp with me you still can! Registration is $40 through tomorrow June 14 and then there is a price increase to $50. For that price you get 8 full weeks of workout, access to an awesome support community, and so much more! If you’re going to bootcamp let me know

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The Olde Pink House

2013-06-12T12:53:38Z

It’s been awhile since I linked up with my girl Jenn over at Peas and Crayons for a What I Ate Wednesday post! Heck – it’s been awhile since I ate normal food though! Given that this week in pregnancy has been kinder to me I thought now is the time to get back in the game!

I thought it would be fun for this week’s WIAW to recap our awesome anniversary dinner at The Olde Pink House in Savannah! The Pink House has come widely recommended to us from our friends (Victoria!) and we have been waiting for a special occasion to give it a go. Bonus? We got to get dressed up.

Skirt: LOFT Top: Urban Outfitters Shoes: LOFT

Our dinner reservations were at 6PM so really a perfect time to get down to Savannah. The Olde Pink House is next to Planter’s Inn and is Savannah’s only 18th century mansion. It was built in 1771 by the Habersham family and has a long history (and it’s haunted!).

We were immediately seated upon arrival in rooms that were part of the old bank vaults from when the house was a bank. Our server was knowledgeable and friendly and had great suggestions from the menu. We decided to indulge and start with two appetizers to share,

The one in the front is the southern sushi – smoked shrimp and grits rolled in coconut crusted nori. The wasabi style sauce took this dish to another level. It was definitely a favorite for us! The other appetizer was goat cheese stuffed artichoke fritters with red pepper and honey mustard sauce. This was great too but our hearts belonged to the southern sushi.

For our next course we decided to split the “BLT” – fried green tomatoes & sweet bacon with black pepper thyme buttermilk dressing salad. This salad has been featured on “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” and it was absolutely delicious. I had never had a fried green tomato before and it was definitely a new taste.

For my main course I took the server’s recommendation and ordered the crab stuffed black grouper with white wine lemon sauce and mashed potatoes and asparagus. This was unreal. Chris and I both agreed that the crab stuffing and sauce made the dish.

I would be remiss to not mention that there was a snafu with our service. We waited 40 minutes for our main course because of an error in the kitchen. The manager kept telling us it would just be another minute which would turn into 10 several times. When our food finally did show up, Chris’ meal was served with the wrong side so we waited for that to be replaced. On top of that, it was a massive steak served with 3 slivers of fingerling potatoes. When you’re paying $$$ for a meal you kind of expect more … especially out of a chef’s special. While these errors were really annoying the server and management were incredibly accommodating. They ended up comping Chris’ meal and giving us free dessert.

Overall our food and experience was really good. I definitely think our service (kitchen error) was a fluke for the restaurant and the management went above and beyond to redeem our evening. I highly recommend if you’re in Savannah and looking for a nice dinner to check out the Olde Pink House! You can see the full menu HERE.

We ended our evening sitting at Rocks on the Roof and chatting. We knew that Emmalyne was in great hands with Victoria watching here … and getting real-time Twitter updates of their antics I have to say it was a pretty perfect anniversary celebration. Here’s to another year!

What’s the best restaurant you have ever eaten at?

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EVOL Foods

2013-06-11T12:32:50Z

**I received a sample pack from EVOL foods for free. No other compensation was provided. All opinions are my own.

The last couple of months have been a little tricky in the food department. With the pregnancy came extreme all-day sickness and absolutely nothing sounded good. This resulted in me not cooking dinner for 6+ weeks. Which in turn meant that Chris didn’t have leftovers to take for lunch. The horror. Luckily, we picked up some ready-to-eat options for him and a sample pack from EVOL foods helped save the day.

I have written about my love for their chicken burrito before on some WIAW posts. Seriously … they are so good! So I was pretty excited to see a variety of burritos just waiting to be tasted.

We got the gluten-free shredded beef, gluten-free chicken, and chicken with guacamole. Chris promptly stole the gluten-free chicken and loved it … definitely has a little spice to it! I love that they are now including guacamole in their burrito packets. Saves me a dirty dish when I also make my own! We also got some of their bowls to try: the fire grilled steak, terriyaki chicken, chicken enchilada, and bean & cheese enchilada.

These were a huge hit with Chris. So much so that when these 4 were gone, we started buying them from Kroger. They are an easy option for his lunches and he says they are VERY tasty too!

Probably my favorite thing about EVOL though is their dedication to providing quality ingredients in their products. They use real ingredients … the same ones you can find in your own pantry. On their website they even list where their source their meat and dairy from! EVOL is love spelled backwards which goes with their motto of love the food you eat! You can find them on Facebook and Twitter too.

Baby #2: 15 Weeks

2013-06-09T21:12:36Z

Happy Monday folks! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend … I know we did! Chris and I finally went out to dinner for our anniversary on Saturday and I can’t wait to share more about that tomorrow. Such good food! Any-who … moving on to this week’s pregnancy update

What is baby up to at 15 weeks?

Baby is the size of an apple and measures around 4 inches in length (or more if you’re my jellybean)
Baby can sense light even though their eyes are still fused shut
Baby is forming tastebuds and will hopefully be a foodie baby like their big sister is

How is mama doing?

Weight Gain: Still sitting at -6lbs. Had a OB appointment on Friday and they are happy to see some of the weight coming back on. I have gained back 3 of the 9 pounds I lost so getting back on track. For anyone concerned … don’t be. I lost 15 pounds with Em and still went on to gain 32 pounds ;)

Fitness: I have a date with the gym tomorrow morning! Chris and I walked around Savannah for our anniversary and I have definitely been feeling a bit more energetic and less sick. Ready to break a sweat. It’s driving me LOONY that I haven’t!

Symptoms:

“Morning” Sickness – Dare I say I have felt pretty good the last couple of days?! I remember starting to feel a bit more normal around this time with Em with only a few bad episodes every week so fingers crossed this continues
Super Pee-er - oh the joys of pregnancy
Dry Skin - thanks for your suggestions last week! I found my Burt’s Bees Mama Bee Belly Butter works wonders on my dry spots
Cravings – nada

NT Testing Results: At my OB appointment we went over the NT test results. Everything looks great! The only thing is is that Jellybean is measuring 5 days ahead right now. Not too surprising considering Em was a good size baby. No due date change at this point.

Looking Forward To: My birthday next weekend, Father’s Day, and a dear friend’s baby shower that I am hosting with Heather and our friend Cassie. We also have our next appointment and our anatomy ultrasound scheduled! Also super stoked that the house we own in Texas is RENTED for another year!

Week Goals:

Get back to the gym
Use my cleaning schedule for the first time in 2 months and get my house in order

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Bestowed Box

2013-06-07T13:49:59Z

Disclaimer: I received a free Bestowed box in exchange for a review. The box I am reviewing is actually the March box. The company graciously allowed me to delay my review until I felt less like a zombie and more like a human. All opinions are my own.

I drive Chris nuts sometimes. I mean doesn’t every wife? One of the ways that drives him insane is the fact that I like a little bit of everything. This means I tend to want to order an appetizer, main meal, and dessert when we go out to dinner and have a few bites of each. Not entirely practical. Same thing goes when trying new products. I hesitate to go too far out of my comfort zone without knowing if I am going to like something. I HATE wasting. Just ask the coconut water still in my fridge that hasn’t been consumed.

It’s because of this that I find subscription boxes particularly intriguing. I mean … I get to try a bunch of new products for an affordable price? Sign me up! So when Bestowed asked if I wanted to try their box I said heck yes!

I got a ton of new fun things to try. The thing I like most about Bestowed is they are committed to sending products that are healthy and working with brands being chosen based on ingredients and nutrition. They even consider where the product is made and what kind of packaging is used. Looking at their list of brands I felt comfortable since I purchase items from many of them already.

Emmie gobbles up the smoothie pouch and fig bar before I even had a chance. The coconut butter was also pretty tasty! My mother-in-law took the olives which was fine because the spiciness probably would’t sit well with my preggo belly I am not sure what to do with the hemp hearts (side note: did you know hemp products are a banned substance in the Army? I can’t add them to anything Chris eats) so any ideas would be great!

Overall I think the Bestowed box is a pretty cool way to try some new products. Seeing posts from May April and May boxes makes me think this even more. They cost $19 per month which is an affordable way to try out a bunch of new things! You can sign up HERE.

**Eye Update: Thanks for your kind words on my eye yesterday. The retina specialist said I have a bleed behind my retina but it should in theory resolve itself. Probably due to my extreme nearsightedness combined with constant throwing up due to the hyperemesis. I go back next week for another scan so hopefully between now and then it starts to improve!

Do you participate in any subscription boxes? What are your favorites?

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Baby #2: 14 Weeks

2013-06-05T22:54:25Z

So I am actually 14 weeks 4 days right now but better late than never right? Coming back from vacation knocked me on my booty. The 3-hour time change did my in! On top of that, I am dealing with a retinal hemorrhage right now and will be seeing an eye specialist today to see what’s up …. wish me luck! And please excuse the terrible photo – I took it Sunday after traveling all day the day before.

What is baby up to at 14 weeks?

Baby is now the size of a lemon – or 3 1/2 inches and 1/2 an ounce
Baby can squint, grimace, and make other facial expressions

How is mama doing?

Weight Gain: Sitting at -6 lbs so slowly but surely it’s coming back! I have been able to eat a bit more lately so I am sure that is helping.

Fitness: Nothing yet besides doing lots of walking on vacation. Hoping to get back into the swing of things soon.

Hymperemesis Update: I still have near daily nausea/vomiting but the frequency during the day seems to be subsiding a bit. I am getting really tired of getting sick but I have hope that it is on the tail end! Things still aren’t as bad as they were with Emmie for which I am thankful (1 ER visit this time compared to 5 last time).

Symptoms:

Lots of trips to the bathroom – Seriously … I feel like I have to pee all the time! Worst thing? This just gets worse from here haha.
Dry, itchy skin - Totally new symptom from last pregnancy. My skin is incredibly dry in patches and itches like no other. Currently accepting remedy recommendations.
Awesome fingernails - Another new symptom! My nails this time are really strong which is awesome since they are normally kind of weak. I’ll take it
Cravings - Nothing definitive yet (other than my one day of bacon obsession)

Sleep: Sleep has been pretty good so far – I wake up when Chris gets up 4:45AM to use the restroom and then go back to bed. Still have some crazy dreams though!

Looking Forward To: Getting my eye looked at today. Having wonky vision in one eye is scary and uncomfortable! We also have an OB appointment Friday so I am looking forward to getting the final results from our NT testing. The ultrasound looked perfect (wee!!!!) but will get the blood test results at my appointment.

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4 Years

2013-06-05T12:38:46Z

4 Years

3 States

2 Babies

1 Love

Happy anniversary to my best friend, soul mate, and partner in crime. Four years ago we set out on a crazy adventure in life and haven’t stopped laughing and loving since. I am so blessed to call you mine now and forever.

Baby #2: 13 Weeks

2013-05-28T03:09:40Z

Hi friends! I hope everyone had a fabulous, long weekend and a safe and happy Memorial Day! Today is our last day in Phoenix before heading to Vegas tomorrow morning. We have LOVED spending time with our family and friends and have tons to catch you up on. First and foremost though, is the latest edition of Baking Baby 2!

What is baby up to at 13 weeks?

Baby is the size of a shrimp – or about 3 inches long
Fingerprints have developed!

How is mama doing?

Weight Gain: I am still sitting at minus 7 pounds, however my appetite is slowly coming back so I am sure this is going to start increasing soon! Fingers crossed

Pregnancy Fitness: While I haven’t had a formal workout yet, I have definitely been on the move in Phoenix. Between chasing a toddler, hanging out with my nephews and niece, and generally being on the go my activity level has increased. Playing in the pool helped too

Symptoms:

Nausea/vomiting is still happening though not quite as frequently. I have found that if my stomach is too full I instantly get sick.
Sleep is a little allusive at night but I think some of that has to do with the time change.
Cravings – BACON. I HAD to have bacon earlier this week. I choose not to admit how many slices I ate

Looking Forward To: Feeling some flutters! I feel like I have felt a few over the last few days but nothing definitive. Feeling those flutters makes all the sickness worth it

Have a great Tuesday everyone! I am off to soak up my last few hours with my family before having to say goodbye again

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