I'm an INSANITY GRADUATE!!!

WOW!  Where to start???  Well for starters, I AM A INSANITY GRADUATE!!!

I'm so excited to be able to finally post that.  It took me one week longer because of a toe injury but I finished!!!  63 days of intensity finally paid off and I couldn't be more thrilled.  I even got up the nerve to make a transformation video about my journey.  I was so inspired by so many other peoples videos that I wanted to be as much of an inspiration to others.  I had hurdles to overcome.  We moved 11 days into Insanity and I had to start over.  This was a hard one for me.  Those workouts are hard and the thought of doing them AGAIN was shear determination at times.  However, I knew that in doing them I would solidify in my mind that this was a lifestyle change for me and was just going to be the beginning of a whole new journey in my life.

I can not even TELL you how much more energy I have had!  We've moved out here to our dream house on  land and I have the energy to do all the things I wanted to do AND keep up with all the kids.  If they want to have a relay race down the driveway...I'm right there and I'm barely winded afterwards!  There is also another plus of being able to EAT MORE food!  I love that part.  YES, it's mostly healthy food, but when you work out as hard as I have...you don't want to ruin it with junk that doesn't satisfy.  We do have our "free days" and they are great, but nowhere near like we used to.

I have had a wonderful support group online and at home.  Trent has been amazing as I have gone through this.  He's encouraged me, worked out with me and kept me accountable.  My wonderful kids have been such a help too!  The older boys have stepped up and helped with babies that start crying in the middle of a workout or the middle kids who might have decided to start bickering and fussing at each other.  They have mediated, made lunches, fixed bottles and just been AWESOME!  My new friends online have encouraged me, supported me and been there to spur me on when I have had less motivation on some days.  I'm so thankful for all those blessings.  God placed people in my life to help me along this journey and I really am grateful.

This journey is not over.  I've already bought my next workout program (WHO knew I could get all this done AT HOME!!!!!) which focuses more on weights to tone & sculpt.  I'll be doing that  along with INSANITY for some extra cardio.  Sorry if you get tired of seeing my workouts...but this is something that I have simply fallen in love with...and I like to share the things I find AWESOME with my AWESOME friends!

Here's my transformation video.  It took me a LONG time to press "submit" when I was uploading it to youtube.  I have never uploaded anything before and the thought of having my BEFORE pics out there was a little intimidating for me.  In any case....I am praying that it will reach the right people and that it will motivate you to change anything that you find unhealthy or undesirable about yourself.  Maybe that's your physique ...maybe it isn't.  Maybe it's a relationship that is weighing on you...a attitude or funk that you have found yourself in...maybe it's a strong hold in your life that is slowly draining you from the inside out.  No matter what it is...it is up to you to CHOOSE to deal with it.  It won't fix itself.  :)

My Insanity Transformation Video

Gone INSANE

Okay, so I'll update you on what the hubby and I embarked on 51 days ago too.  We started the Beachbody Insanity program with Shaun T.  It has kicked our tales over and over and yet we keep coming back for more!  It's crazy how much we enjoy it and how bad we sweat.  It's the hardest cardio workout either of us have EVER done.  It is 63 days total and to be honest I DO NOT want to post my before and after pics, however we took them at 36 days and were blown away at our results.  I had only lost about 4 pounds at that time and I thought surely I wasn't going to see any big changes even though my clothes were fitting so much looser.  Let's just say we were pleasantly surprised.  Really, we were.  No where close to bikini worthy, but definitely feeling more comfortable in my skin.  I'll be milling it over in my head on whether or not I will post them.  It's been a tough 51 days...really tough.  Our nutrition has stayed mostly on point and we have used supplements like whey protein, pure protein bars and I signed up to be a coach as of today in order to get a great discount on the shakeology supplements they offer.  We are excited to try them!  Also, ordered my new workout program called Les Mills Pump.  It's a weight lifting program.  I'm totally into weights and can't wait to get it in the mail!  Anyway, if you haven't ever checked out Insanity, you really should.  Our overall amount of strength and energy is through the roof.  It's INSANE how good we feel right now!  This is how a normal workout usually ends for me....and I keep coming back because I LOVE IT!

We are hatching chicks!!!

"STITCH"

We are hatching chicks at our house!  I started with 20 eggs and 15 hatched!  I wanted to post about something really awesome that happened with chick number six.  She started hatching a day early and to be honest I just don’t think she was ready.  In any case, she started making her entrance into the world on Sunday, June 3rd.  I was really excited as me or the kids had ever seen this before.  

 Well, as she came out of her shell I noticed there was a problem.  I picked her up as she was almost all the way out.  Then, when she separated from the shell her umbilical cord pulled away to reveal her belly had not closed up all the way before hatching.  She immediately started bleeding out as I held her.  I stuck my finger over the whole and pressed gently to stop the bleeding.  Her blood was pooling inside my palm and seeping through my fingers onto the floor.  I really thought she was going to bleed to death.  The bleeding did stop but every time she chirped her insides would come outside the hole..  Since the bleeding had stopped momentarily I propped her on a towel knowing she wasn’t going to move due to all her blood loss. 

  I researched for a moment on the computer about her ‘belly button’ because I really did not know if that is what it was.  Once I established that she did in fact have a belly button and me closing up the hole would not damage her potential egg production or bowels I decided her best chance of living would be for me to sew up the hole and pray I didn’t hit any of her organs.  

I grabbed the smallest needle I could find, heated it with a lighter to kill bacteria, grabbed some thread and did my best.  I can say that it is NOTHING like sewing on a button, nope, buttons don't chirp and you don't have to keep tucking intestines back inside them. 
Well, I finally finished, applied Neosporin and bound her with gauze in a way that she could not move because when she chirped her insides applied quite a bit of pressure to that area.  Now, it’s been 9 days and I’d like to introduce you to the chick we call “Stitch”.  Which I’d like to add that I think is actually a boy.  We eat the roosters around here, so I’m not sure how I feel about that.  I don’t know if this rooster will ever see its demise by these hands as I just can’t stop thinking about how hard he had to fight to live.  Either way, I’m hoping I’m wrong and that it’ll turn out to be a hen and feed me lots of wonderful eggs as payment for being my first chick patient.  Overall it was an AMAZING experience!!!!