{Day 1 of the Ultimate Fasting Cleanse}

I decided to buy a cleanse to help me get started on my new diet and workout regimen. I believe it's always good to do a cleanse twice a year to clean out your system (especially after the Holidays!). I did my research and found on on amazon called "Ultimate Fasting Cleanse" by Nature's Secret. I read the reviews and they were very good. It's a 5 day cleanse. This is what I have to do for the next 5 days:

Morning:

Mix 1 tablespoon of Fiber Fortification with water or juice

Take 1 Colon Clear tablet

Take 1 Liver Clear tablet

Take 2 Appetite Control tablets

and take 15 mini-tablets of Super Nutrition

Afternoon:

Mix 1 tablespoon of Fiber Fortification with water or juice

Take 2 Liver Clear tablets

Take 2 Appetite Control tablets

and take 15 mini-tablets of Super Nutrition

Evening:

Mix 1 tablespoon of Fiber Fortification with water or juice

Take 2 Colon Clear tablets

Take 2 Liver Clear tablets

Take 2 Appetite Control tablets

and take 15 mini-tablets of Super Nutrition

Sound like a lot huh? But it's really not that bad. AND so far I'm not hungry or have any funky symptoms.

Now, I'm going to share my weight with everyone who can read this. I am not one to tell anyone my weight but here it goes...

I weighed in this morning at 209.2 lbs. I started at 219lbs on January 13th. This is the heaviest I have ever been in my entire life. I'm not proud of it, but I want everyone to see my progress and to see me take on this adventure of a better lifestyle. I will weigh myself again on Saturday morning after my cleanse is over.  (Keep in mind, I'm not doing this cleanse to lose weight, it's a detoxification for my body to increase my metabolism over time) But since it is a "fast" I will most likely drop some lbs.

So let's do the math so far:

219 - 209 = - 10 lbs!!  not bad, but not good either=) I need to keep exercising and eat healthy. I want this to become a lifestyle habit. My ultimate goal is to get down to 150lbs. Those of you who know me, know that my body is very dense. I'm not sure if I would be happy at 150. The lowest weight I've been is 160 and even then people thought I looked funny. So we will see how I feel as I go. I will keep you all tuned in!

Oh Flagstaff, how you amuse me so!

Brandon and I decided to take a spontaneous family trip to Flagstaff, AZ. It's about 2 1/2 hours away from where we live. We booked a room at the Radisson for $50 (we had credit with Expedia), woke up early this morning, got ready and packed our bags. We headed out around 10:30am and arrived at 1pm. Elora was such a good baby! She slept most of the ride here (Yes, I am blogging in our hotel room while the little one and Brandon are taking a cat nap hehe). 

After we checked into our hotel room, I changed Elora's diaper and fed her. We then went exploring for a place to eat lunch. We found an Italian place called "Strombollis" (not sure if that's spelled correctly). It was pretty good! After lunch we drove around to find a place to take some photos. It's our first family trip to somewhere else besides San Diego. And it's the first time Elora has seen snow. We ended up driving for awhile, then finally found a place to take some photos. There is so much snow everywhere, it's beautiful. Although I would never be able to live in a place that snows, it really is a pretty sight to see. It's not that cold outside, but I think it's too cold for a 4 months old baby, so we didn't spend too much time outside. 

Brandon and I could not stop laughing because we were trying to find this market, similar to "Wholefoods". We looked it up on the GPS on the phone and just could not find the darn place. We were literally going in circles. It was pretty hilarious. Elora didn't think it was too funny though, she was getting pretty antsy in her car seat and just wanted out. We finally gave up and just headed back to the hotel room. There's really not much to do here with a baby. We've seen a lot of snowboarders and skiiers though. 

I doubt we'd come back here again. We liked Sedona much better. But at least we gave it a shot, right? 

Well friends, time to make the best out of this trip! Hopefully little one and big one will be up soon! =)

Until next time...

Mommy A

{Back on track!}

Alright everyone, I have to admit..I have not been working out religiously this week. With Brandon getting sick and him being home with us for a day and a half, it completely threw me off track. No bueno! I need to step up my game!

I'm not in any rush to lose the weight, but I'm going to be in two weddings at the end of this year. I want to look and feel my best. Plus, I need to lose weight just to be in good health. Without good health, we have nothing. So, I need to get back on track next week for sure!

Elora is getting heavier by the week! She is 17 lbs & 2 oz, 25 inches long. Whew, my arm muscles sure get a work out with her! I'm just glad she is healthy, that's all that matters=)

I love weekends! As I usually always say on Fridays haha. Brandon gives me a break on the weekends, which is always nice. On Saturday we are going to meet our friend's baby, her name is Bryce Ann. She is 2 months old. I'm going to take photos of Elora and her together, I love how Elora has little friends already!

It should be a great weekend! I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend yourselves!

Until next time....

Mommy A

{Elora is FOUR Months OLD!}

Today my baby girl is 4 months old! Where has the time gone already? She is almost half a year old! WOW! They aren't kidding when they say time flies so enjoy every moment with them!

Brandon wasn't feeling good at all so he stayed home with us. We pretty much lounged around all day and watched "The Hills". Ugh, I can't believe we got sucked into that show! We downloaded all of the seasons and had a marathon in our living room. Good times! haha

I took some 4 month old photos of Elora and Brandon. I actually need some photos of her and I together. I'm always behind the camera so I don't have many photos of us together. I guess I should show Brandon how to use my camera=)

Here are some more photos of my loves. Please feel free to comment! I love hearing from all of you!

 

 

{Monday Madness!!!!!.....}

Okay, not really. It's been a pretty mellow Monday. Brandon is not feeling well so he's playing the "sick" card with me. He can't do anything because he's sick. I told him "well just because you're sick doesn't mean you stop being a Daddy!" Then he runs off to change Elora's diaper, good boy=)

I hope he fights off whatever it is that's trying to take over his body! We don't need any sickness in our home! We have made it thus far with none of us getting sick so let's keep this healthy marathon going! I religiously take my prenatal vitamins everyday still. I think that's helped me a lot with staying healthy during sick season. It's funny when men get sick, they are total babies!

I have to admit, I was lazy today. I didn't clean like I wanted to. Elora and I just lounged around, took some photos and lounged some more. Lazy Monday indeed. But these are the kind of days that I love. Where nothing is bothering me and I can just be..a Mommy. Elora is smiling like crazy nowadays, it's heartwarming. I can't seem to make her laugh like Brandon does. I'm a bit jealous, but it's okay that's his "thing" with her. He can make her laugh so hard too! Whenever he takes her in the room to change her diaper I hear him talking to her and all of a sudden she just laughs so hard! It makes me laugh haha. 

BREAKING NEWS: Elora rolled over from her back to belly today! The other day she rolled over from belly to back! She is officially a rolly polly olly! I now have a mobile baby! WATCH OUT! Time to baby-proof the whole house!

Check out some of the photos I took of Elora today. She apparently wanted to do more "serious" photos since she didn't bust a big smile for me! Oh well, they still came out beautiful as always=)

My baby girl is starting to sit up on her own now! Two days shy of 4 months.. WOW! Bittersweet...


Today is my Mom's Birthday! Elora's Grandmama! I'm sad we couldn't celebrate with her, but I sent her a little surprise in the mail! (It's a custom calendar of Elora's photos hehe) She should get it by tomorrow. We tried to send it to get to her today, but missed the time frame. Our next big road trip is BIG BEAR for Valentine's weekend with our good friends, The Goodan's! We are so excited! I ordered Elora some little boots for the occasion. She needed some warm boots because it's going to be COLD! I got them from babysteals.com so I got a great deal=)

Time to wrap up the night here at the Padilla house. Until next time...

Mommy A

{Weekend wonders}

This is Daddy Padilla taking over the blog, albeit for this single entry, but who knows? maybe more down the line...

Well it is Saturday morning, we woke up around 5am (well I should say I woke up around 5 am) because Elora got a little rumbly in her tummy.  After she ate we fell back asleep til around 8 or so when she delightfully woke us up from our slumber and started talking away (in her baby language of course).  Perfect cue for starting a cup of coffee to get the day going.  I made Angela a cup of Hyssop tea because she said she wasn't feeling too great, she hates the flavor of Hyssop but it's so good for you!

I look forward to these weekends where I get to stay home with the fam.  working and being away so long from everyone gets depressing at times, especially when Elora rolls on her back for the first time and I miss it!  I think Elora is starting to get the hang of everything around her, she knows who we are now and I can tell shes getting the knack of trying to put everything she can grab in her mouth... yuck! =)

Well this week was Angela's 24'th bday, and although it wasn't her ideal scenario staying home with just her and little Elora I think it turned out good for the most part.  I tricked her out when I got off work pretending I had to stay late fixing someones desktop and she was pretty angry because she wanted to go get her nails done.  In actuality I was driving up north to Scottsdale to pick up her special ordered Sacher Torte that I found out about and just had to get one made for her from AJ's marketplace.  While there I picked up a single rose and a single balloon that says 'Happy Birthday!'  (Inside joke on the balloon)...  What sucked was on the way home from Scottsdale I ran into a horde of traffic, which fueled Angela's frustration even more because it was taking me that much longer to get home.  I called the nail place she loves and the lady said they close at 7, I did the unthinkable at that moment... I convinced the owner of the nail place to come back after they close saying it was my wife's birthday and all she wanted was to get her nails done (manicure and pedicure of course!)  The owner agreed and said she would come back when I gave her a call on her cell phone as she only lived a min away.  We ended up getting there close to 8 and left near 10, wow such great service! being willing to come in for extra 2 hours just for one person was pretty damn cool.  After we left we were trying to decide if we should go out to dinner but being it was so late and Angela's favorite restaurant the Cheesecake Factory closed at 11 we decided to venture to Jack in the Box instead.  2 breakfast jacks and one chicken pita snack later and we were home watching a movie, Elora fast asleep in the bed and Angela and I sleeping on the couch not even halfway through the movie (whoops!) I guess next time I will have to request the day off from work so we can spend the day doing everything and anything her heart desires. :-)

Well breakfast is ready.  Angela whipped up some leftover Cheesecake Factory with eggs (yes we went last night instead)

- Until next time... maybe

BP

Blogging=)

{21+3 = Twenty Four!}

Twenty-four years ago my Mom and Dad were eating at Denny's, munching on some nachos when my Mom's water broke! 9 hours later an Angel was born! Haha JK, I was born!! At 9am, weighing 8lbs, 8oz. What's funny is that Brandon weighed the same at birth too! Aw we were just meant to be! =)

So today is my 24th birthday. I don't have any special plans. I took Elora for a doctor's appointment to meet Dr. Martin in Maricopa. He has an office in Gilbert and so many of my Mama friends have referred me to him. He just recently opened a Pediatrics office in Maricopa, YAY! =) We love him! He was very nice and he doesn't make you feel stupid, like most doctors seem to do. I felt very comfortable with him. We decided to wait on getting Elora any vaccines. We are doing the "delayed" schedule. I was supposed to get her vaccines twice already, but when we get to the appointment I freak out and decide to wait longer. I don't know, I'm just afraid of the reaction she might have to it. I want her immunity to be super strong to fight off any reactions she could have. 

My Mom and Dad were supposed to come visit for my birthday, but my Mom couldn't get the time off. I wish we could win the lottery so my parents can retire. They have worked so hard for so long now. And they have supported me through thick and thin. 

It's been fun hanging out with Elora today. It's my first birthday with my baby girl! Now that's something to celebrate! We had a mini photo shoot with my blackberry camera haha =)

 

I'm looking forward to seeing Brandon today after he gets off of work. I wish he had the day off to spend with us! Let's see what tonight holds for me=)

Mommy A