Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Our busiest time of the year


For a lot of people, the time surrounding the winter holidays is the busiest time of their year.  But not for the Weavers!  It always seems to be around April and May – the last 6-8 weeks of the school year.  We always have 100 things going on each week, and it is just a crazy time!  So, here we are again!  In the middle of just plain CRAZY!  But, you know we love it.  And, this is a GREAT time for a shameless plug for the most AMAZING calendar app around, Cozi.  I just love it!  Color coded, can text each family member, even had to-do lists and meal planning options.  Seriously.  Try it.  You won 't be disappointed.  I promise.  LOVE. <3

Let’s get caught up on what’s keep us elbow deep in calendar appointments these days…  There’s always work for the hubs and I.  And of course, with our new ******** biz jumping off the ground, we are always telling people about that!  I’ve got Dream Weaver Prints keeping me going as well!  So, those are the fun ways we are keeping busy and helping people out. Not to mention March of Dimes!  We got to lobby for babies and mommies at the Capitol earlier this month, and it's time to start thinking Team Finn's Fans for this fall!  Doesn’t get much better than that!

The Twisters are hurling fast towards being 12 years old.  It just donned on me today that we are a mere THREE WEEKS from their twelfth birthday.  How in the world did that happen???  They are truly my joys.  So different, but both loads of fun, considerate, smart girls.  The have their own interests, friends and activities to keep them busy.  We are right in the middle of volleyball season for Emma.  She really loves it and has signed up for a camp this summer.  Lara has added a dance class for the rest of the year and is honing her skills.  We hope to find a fun dance something for her to do this summer as well.  They are both participating in a kids’ mud run this Saturday – that should be a mess of fun!
Emma and Lara - Easter 2014 (age 11)
Jake is LOVING his baseball season.  And frankly, so are we.  Our Pirates baseball team is just awesome.  GREAT group of parents and kids.  The kids all work really well together and are having so much fun.  We had team pics recently and we are just loving the way they turned out.  Thinking I need to commission the photographer for some kid pics later in the summer…  Anyway – baseball is LOVE.  Jake is completely smitten.  His 8U team is going to go out on the field with the Oklahoma State team for a game next month, and he may not sleep before then! LOL!  He is also doing the mud run this weekend; he is on a team of first grade boys and he can’t wait.  I am sure there will be LOTS of pictures from this event!


Jake #13 - schedule card
Pirate Baseball Family March 2014
And sweet Baby Finn…  When do I have to stop calling him that? LOL!  He is just amazing us!  3 word sentences!  Noun, verb, object.  WHAT????  I know, right?!?  So proud of him.  He is still super stubborn and remarkable finicky, but such a fighter.  And winning!  Since we started the appetite meds 7 weeks ago, things have REALLY changed for him!  So much has changed!  His pre-school teachers can’t get over how much more outgoing he is.  He eats.  AND EATS!  And eats some more.  At school and at home.  He talks so much more. He imteracts with others.  He SLEEPS!  He sleeps well and consistently.  We saw the Occupational Therapist 1 weeks after we started the meds.  He basically didn’t qualify for services.  If we had gone in a week earlier, he would have.  I promise.  THAT’S how much he has progressed!  We saw the ENT a coupole weeks ago.  His ears are still great (one tube in, one tube out), and he looked at his tonsils.  We were curious if they were enlarged – perhaps contributing to the eating issues.  He is also a mouth breather and snores a bit.  The ENT wants to watch him and see.  They were a bit large last month, but it was the peak of allergy season around here, too.  I am supposed to check for apnea while he’s sleeping, but I’m scared to go in there and watch him sleep – I don’t want to wake the beast! LOL!  And this week we saw the endocrinologist.  And stumped him.  Literally.  It was fun.  And priceless.  We told him all of Finn’s medical history, then went into the story of our last 2 months.  In 7 weeks, Finn has gained 2 pounds (that’s 10% when you’re that little!  I haven’t even LOST 10% yet!), and has grown 1.5 inches.  IN 7 WEEKS!  He is now on the chart for height – still below it for weight.  He talked to us about height genetics and probabilities, and said Finn should be around 6’4” as a fully grown adult – barring any complications.  (We told him we did a height predictor for Jake and got 6’8” – 6’11” and he was shocked again.)  We told him we weren’t worried about him being 6’4” we just wanted him to not have complications.  He agreed that we just want to make sure Finn is healthy.  We continued to talk about our options and concerns, and as we told the Doctor about the developmental improvements Finn had experienced, he was truly surprised.  Had never heard of the meds making those kinds of changes.  He was really stumped.  And he’s the EXPERT!  The Doctor was completely prepared to do blood tests and get Mr. Finn qualified for growth hormones.  But, after spending time with is, thoroughly examining our boy, and listening to our story, he decided to hold off.  He told us to come back in 6 months (around Finn’s 3rd birthday – when we will see ALL of his specialists again) and we’ll see how he’s grown.  I am ready for Finn to blow his mind again in 6 months.  Will you pray for that with us?
Finn - March 2014 (under 22 lbs)
Finn April 2014 - 24 pounds!

That’s where we are today.  While typing this post, I have had text conversations with 5 people about various topics, shared ***** with 2 customers, made plans for the 7 year old who is out of school next Friday, talked to my husband on the phone, and corralled my 4 kids as well as some neighbors & friends that have been in and out of the house 100 times in an hour.  WHEW!  #momlife never ends!  And I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Drumroll, Please

You’ve got to be curious.  I know you’re wondering.  What ever happened to Britt and Betsey and that ** *** ********* thing they were doing?  Shouldn’t that be over with by now?  I wonder how they ended up?  How do they feel?  Did they lose any weight?  Are they still doing that ******** thing?

Well, you are right.  The last day of our ** *** ********* was last Thursday.  It is now Tuesday… Why the wait, you ask?  Well, you know… kids, jobs, illness, LIFE!  But, we are really excited to let you in on how it all went.  While we are on separate journeys, we are TOTALLY in this together.  We both ended Thursday evening feeling good, and feeling accomplished.  We started, we persevered, and we completed it.  We drank at or WAY above our goal for water every day!  And we’re not stopping there!  We talked to our mentors about what steps to take and what products to keep using, and here we are still rocking the results…

I know, I know – NUMBERS!  You want to know numbers.  But, let me start by saying, I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER!  I know Britt does as well.  We feel like we are standing straighter and walking taller.  It may sound a little cliché, but we feel HEALTHIER!  I don’t feel winded after climbing 2 flights of stairs.  I can walk longer and quicker.  I don’t feel temped by foods as much!  We BOTH tackled Easter without one single piece of candy!  No chocolate.  No jelly beans.  No gummy bears, Starbusts, lollipops or anything else!  We did eat the hard boiled eggs, though!  YUM!  Great source of protein!  And, we both see it in our wardrobes!  The pants I have on right now?  UGH!  They just won’t stay up!  Clothes that were tight feel better, I can tighten things up a bit, and in general I like my clothes better now!  I know Britt has had similar results in his closet as well!  Plus, friends say they can see it in our pictures.  I love that!

Back to the results and actual numbers!  We got up early Friday morning to take pictures, measure, and weigh.  Neither one of us are ready to show the pictures.  We’ll keep those under wraps until the results are truly visible.  But, we each measure 1-2 inches smaller in every area we measured.  Again, our clothes were already telling us this, but it’s nice to see it on the tape measure as well.  Time for the ultimate test – the scale!  Britt had weighed a few times during the second phase of the challenge, so he had a general idea of how he was doing.  I, on the other hand, had NO IDEA!  So, he weighed himself, and did the math.  Are you ready for this? EIGHTEEN POUNDS!  In 24 days he lost 18 pounds.  I was shocked.  And happy. And so very proud!  GREAT JOB, Baby!

So what about me?  How did the scale treat me?  First off, I have to say, it’s just not fair that men lose weight so much more quickly and easier than women. LOL!  BUT!  I am so pleased with my results as well.  After I weighed in, I figured up that I had lost 10 pounds during the ** *** *********!  A total of 15 gone since I started with ***** about 6 weeks ago.  SO EXCITED!

And like I said, we’re not stopping there.  We are still *****ing it up 2x a day, using **** *********** ******, as well as some other supplements we would love to tell you about.  All of the products are from the **** **** and we are very pleased. 

Our next weigh in won’t be for a few weeks.  We have to pick a date in the future, so stay tuned to find out when that is.  In the meantime, let us help you start your journey!  We want to share this success with YOU!  Please just ask!  We can tell you more about what we have been doing and what the ** *** ********* can do for you.  We are so excited to start this new, healthier chapter in our lives, and want EVERYONE we know to feel as good as we do!  We are so blessed to be on this journey, and would love to share it with you! 

Saturday, April 5, 2014

It started with a *****...


Life has been barreling by at lightning speed.  It seems like days go by that I don’t even see my girls.  They are busy with activities, and 6th grade life, and since they live in the basement, they go downstairs, and I don’t see them much.  Jake has baseball practice or games 2x a week, and almost every day after school he is across the street with the neighborhood boys playing basketball or soccer or some other game they made up the rules for.  And Finn.  Sweet Finn.  He’s busy figuring out how to jump, constructing 2 word sentences, and being a terrific two year old!  He is officially 2.5 years old today.  SHOCKING.  That also means that in the next 4 weeks, he sees all of his specialists, including a new one – endocrinologist.  But more on those visits when we have more information.

That leaves Britt and me.  What have we been up to?  Well, let me tell you all about it…  We are on a mission.  We finally hit rock bottom with our health and our weight, and we aren’t going to take it anymore.  He will be 50 this summer, in 3 days I am closer to 40 than I am 39, and we have a very energetic 2 year old, plus 3 other kids!  We want to see graduations, weddings and grandkids.  Heck, we want to see baseball, volleyball, dance, basketball and the rest, too!  Britt was truly inspired by David Brown (@1stronger) from the Biggest Loser this season, and that was our very first step.  Soon after the finale, we went to Edmond to see him live, and even got to meet him.  Then, there was the second step…
Biggest Loser cast member David Brown (@1stronger) with Britt, Emma, Betsey and Finn 2/2014
There are a lot of direct sales “health and wellness” things out there.  And I have a lot of friends on Facebook that sell them.  Some days, it’s just overwhelming. I’ve tried a few.  Even back in the archives of this blog you can see things about what I’ve tired.  Some were too expensive; some tasted gross.  Some only had one flavor (BORING!).  Some were overwhelming and confusing.  All of these things cause my ADD to kick in and causes me to shut down.  This is where my AMAZING husband steps in.  He had seen one of our friends posting about ********.  It peaked his curiosity, and he began reading and asking questions.  Next thing I knew, not only were we signed up to be distributors, our ** *** ********* products were on their way!  Time for me to get caught up with the learning curve and find out what we were in for!

Before we even started the ****, we had scheduled a ***** at our house to introduce our friends to the products, offer them the chance to try some ***** (an ******** ****** ***** product) and to learn about the company.  We were so impressed by our mentors who helped arrange and facilitate the *****, we knew this was the right thing for us!  We were 4 days in to the ** *** ********* when we had out meeting.  We had a half dozen folks over to the house, drank some *****, watched some inspirational stories about the products and the company, and told our story.  We are older parents, been overweight for YEARS, and need to get healthy.  We believe in the ** **** *** company, and the products, and we can make a “Plan B” income while we lose weight and get healthy.  It’s a win-win!  We are excited to work with our friends who are interested in doing the same.  The business has really taken off since this party, and the sky is the limit!

So, what is it about ********?  For us, it’s the science behind the products, the support the company gets from the medical, athletic, and weight loss communities, and the PEOPLE!  ******** is a premier health and wellness company offering world-class energy, weight loss, nutrition, and sports performance products.  I first became familiar with ***** in 2005 when I worked for the Oklahoma State University Athletics department and the Cowboy Football team.  In fact, the person that brought us to ******** was a young lady from my Orange Pride group that I advised during my time there.  That leads me to the next most popular question… What is *****?  ***** is a sugar free, low calorie energy drink that can be used up to 3 times a day.  It enhances mental energy and focus, provides long lasting energy, and fights drowsiness. With 21 vitamins, nutrients, and minerals and only 45 calories, it is infinitely better for you than coffee, soda, or those NASTY energy drinks!  Comes in 8 flavors, and is a best seller.  I started drinking it a few of weeks ago, and I am amazed and completely satisfied with the results. ***** is LOVE! 

So, here we are on day 12 of the ** *** *********.  ½ way.  And again, could not be happier!  I know your next question!  What’s a ** *** *********? It is a comprehensive supplementation and nutrition program that gives your body the jump start it needs to help you reach your goals.  There is something for everyone: weight management, energy, overall body composition, or overall wellness.  Days 1-10 are a ******* ***** and days 11-24 are the *** *****.  Britt and I both choose the program for weight loss plus energy.  We have to get started, and we need the energy to do it!  Alright!  Now you want to know how it’s going, right?  FANTASTIC.  I haven’t felt this good in a very long time.  I had a very smooth first 10 days.  Britt had a couple of rougher days, and fought a small cold in there, too, but overall such a great experience.  We decided to weigh-in after the** *** *******.  The results? 7 pounds lost for him, 6 for me!  I am down 10 pounds from the first of the year, and I am not stopping!  We feel like we are walking taller, standing straighter, and feeling so much better.  We’re less irritable, more patient with our kids, and generally better people to be around.  This next phase, the *** *****, should really get us some great results.  We took before pictures and measurements.  We have 12 more days until we will reveal those.  Another great thing about the ******** products?  After this **** is over, we will still be drinking our *****, using the **** *********** ******, and using product for our specific needs.  WE WILL LOOSE THE WEIGHT! 

The best part?  We are in this TOGETHER!  This is the fight of our lives – literally.  Our kids need us to be healthy.  We need each other to be fit and well.  We are excited, energized, and DETERMINED.  We found something that works, and it’s something we LOVE!  And the very best part?  We get to share our story and help others. 

If any of this sounds familiar, sounds like something you want to know more about, or you have any questions, contact us.  We would love to help you out.  Or if you want a sample, let us know!  We can get you started on your own road to a better you! 

Stay tuned to the blog for results and updates.  This is a journey, and we’ve only just begun!