mnb challenge: week one!

Alright folks.  Week one of the "move.nourish.believe." challenge is over! I love doing these challenges.  It holds me accountable, it forces me to step out of the box and try new things,  it gives me "easy" content to post on social media {which some days is much needed, haha!}, and it gives me a focus.  I tend to be all over the place because I get too excited and start getting too much going at once, so focus is good.  {If you want to jump in and join in on the fun, click here for the event on Facebook! It's an awesome party!} You're supposed to take a picture that relates to that days challenge, post your accomplishment on Twitter and Instagram, and then recap here at the end of the week!

Besides, the grand prize for this fabulous challenge is $1,000 shopping spree to Lorna Jane!!! As a mom who's always putting her kids needs before her own, I could use workout gear... I've been using the same stuff for several years now! 

Week one was all about movement. {Does anyone else get the I like to move it, move it song from Madagascar song stuck in your head when you talking about moving? No? Just me? ok.}   So, without further adeiu, here's how my week went! 

Feb 3: Sweat it out - show us your favorite way to sweat it out! 

I'm a stay at home mama with a two and a half year old and a four month old.  Workout DVDs are a staple for me.  I love to get out and walk with the kids when I can, but it's been too cold here to get them out.  Boooo.  To be honest, our Playstation has been trying to fritz out for awhile, and I think it finally bit the dust... I couldn't get the silly thing to boot up.  So, I worked out on my laptop.  I wasn't going to let anything stop me starting this challenge on Monday! In case you can't see it in the picture,  I broke out my Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader Boot Camp dvd, it's an oldie but a goodie! :) 

Feb 4: Change it up! Sweat a new way! Find a workout from movenourishbelieve.com/category/move and show your post-session selfie! 

This is a prime example of why I love this challenge.  I had to log on to the move.nourish.believe. website and find a workout to do for this day.  I had to step out of my comfort zone and try something different. After scrolling through several workouts, I picked this travel workout.  I don't have the confidence quite yet to try some of the yoga stuff she had posted without causing myself harm! I added a little extra to do it by pulling up a video from +Natalie Jill on Instagram.  Love her workouts, and I hadn't done this one! 

Feb 5: Let's get planking! Plank for at least 5 minutes today.  You can split the planks up.

I don't know about anyone else, but I have a love/hate relationship with planks.  I'm four months out from my second c-section, and it still ceases to amaze me how different I feel even when compared to after having our son two and a half years ago.  I've always prided myself on having strong abs, but there's just something about carrying a baby around then having those muscles sliced through that puts you in a new category.  It's worth everything you go through, it's just a different kind of challenge.  I spent some of my planking time with my favorite little boy riding on my back.  Totally makes any workout fun! Love this kid.  

Feb 6: Buddy up! Workout with a friend today.

My favorite workout buddy happens to be my sister.  I'll be honest, we have had the most incredibly rocky relationship, and I love that we are now at a point in our lives where we seem to have called a truce and just enjoy being around each other.  I think that for the first time in our lives, we actually aren't competing with each other, we're working as a team.  I still haven't seen it, but I've heard that our relationships mimics the one in Frozen {and no, I don't have magical ice powers, sorry to disappoint, haha!)...  We popped in another oldie but goodie: Flirty Girl Fitness - abs and booty.  I haven't done this workout in awhile, and I rememberd it being a halfway decent workout... Our legs were both jelly by the end, and today, I'm feeling the repercussions of "leg day".  I'm all those ridiculous meme's you see all over the interwebs.  

Like this one.  

Feb 7: Show your five fitness favorites.  Exercise, people, whatever gets you moving and motivated! 

I'm hoping in a few months I can come back and revisit this, and some of my items will be different.  I have a few things on my fitness "wishlist", like a Polar, or fitbit, new sports bras and shorts/yoga pants and leggings, new shoes, etc...  :)  But for now, these are my go-to essentials.  My favorite Pink yoga pants, my loved Nike sports bra {so comfy}, my Under Armour shoes, my yoga mat, and my fave workout DVDs: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Bootcamp {hey, I'm from the DFW metroplex, I love my DCC!}, Flirty Girl Fitness, anything Shaun T - the man is crazy but knows how to get 'er done, and Yoga Booty Ballet.  I'm actually about to begin a new program - which just shipped tonight - hooray! in a little over a week and I'm almost beside myself with excitement!! Woo hoo!!! 

Next week is Nourish.  I'm supposed to eat a meatless meal on Monday which should be interesting as I loooove my meat.  And so does my husband...  Hmmm.  Wish me luck! 

Thankful Thursday

I've never done one of these before, but I plan on making it a habit!

Every November, there is a trend that goes around Facebook where people list things they're thankful for every day of the month.  That's all well and good, except that we should be always be thankful and always willing to share it! Regardless of what might be going on in our life, there are things to be thankful and grateful for.  So, in no particular order, here are my top 3 today at this moment.

**Our daughter: Our little glo-worm is such a light in our life.  She's fit seamlessly into our lives like she's always been here, and literally doubles my joy as a mama.  Finding out in December that she had a milk/soy intolerance {{literally}} flipped our lives upside down, but in the best way I could have never imagined.  I had no clue that I ate so bad until I was truly forced to sit down and examine everything I put into my mouth.  I don't overeat, I've always had a good idea of many calories I ate, my labels always said "healthy" things on them... but that's just it: If your food has a label, it's not a food!!! It's amazing the way that our eyes have to be opened sometimes.  I'm just so glad that mine were.  Now I'm not only making better choices for myself and our daughter, but it's bleeding into other family members as well.  It's ignited a passion in me that I always knew I had, but never knew what to do with it.  Now, I have an outlet and a purpose!

**Beachbody: I've always loved the workouts.  I honestly had no idea until recently that you could even be a coach.  Having this opportunity shown to me finally provided the outlet that I wasn't fully aware I needed.  It's helped me to be the advocate for living healthy and taking care of yourself that I've always wanted to be.  God places things in your life for a reason - this was a door He swung wide open, and I took a leap of faith and went through.  I haven't been in it long, but I already have some awesome people that will be starting on a journey with me this month to try out the new 21 Day Fix, and I'm so excited to see what this does for them!!!! I'm also hoping that this will turn into an amazing business opportunity for me so that I can not only build a business doing something that I absolutely love, but it will take some of the financial burden off my sweet husband.

**My husband: He is my #1 encourager, regardless of what I want to do.  He's there to console me when I feel like a huge failure, to comfort me when I feel lost, to be my cheerleader when I want to try something new... He's my partner in everything.  He's a great dad, an incredibly hard worker, and never fails to sacrifice things to make sure everyone has what they need.  I tell people constantly how amazing he is, but I'm sure I fail on more than one occasion to tell him how grateful I am that he's in my life.   My heart swells when he roughhouses our son, or snuggles with our daughter.  I don't think I could ever be more thankful for what my life has been blessed with... but then again, God never ceases to surprise me!     

**Ok, so top 4.  I can't leave out my son.  He was the first light in our lives, our little monkey that started bouncing around in utero and has yet to slow down.   At two and a half, he has become such an individual, so independent.  He loves to help with things, to be a big brother to his new baby sister, to be the astounding little awesome person that we created.  He literally is our first little miracle.  He challenges me to be the mama I want to be for him, to create a lifestyle for us that keeps us all happy and healthy together.  Our chapter of life that began the day that he entered the world has never been the same, nor would I want it to be.  So thankful and blessed for my little immediate family!!!!

I seriously could go on and on, and mention how grateful and blessed I am for the rest of my family and my friends, but this could turn into a seriously long post...  I'll save them for their own special Thankful Thursday in the future.  :)

What are you thankful for today??