What I'm Loving about Being the Mom of a Teenager

Isaiah and me after our workout

The teen years are rough. They are rough to live through, and I've heard they are rough to parent. I'm a newbie "teen-mom" (that just doesn't sound right... How else do I say that I'm a mom of a teen?), and I know nothing yet, but there is no harm in starting off positive. :)

My teen boy is an incredible person. He works hard in school; he's great with little ones; and he's a good friend. The thing I'm appreciating so much lately is how he's a great listener. About a week ago, I was having a bad day. I was overwhelmed and and really stressed out. He stopped what he was doing, sat down with me, and asked me what was wrong. After I talked it out, he encouraged me to come downstairs and workout with him to cheer myself up. I did, and instead of feeling down, I was laughing with my son and getting some healthy exercise for my body.

Stressed mama transformed to happy mama

I've worked out with him a couple more times since then. He's really into fitness now, and actually put together some workouts for me. It was not easy, and definitely made this mama sweat!! I told him that you can't tell when I'm flexing anymore, and he said, "Yes, you can, Mom. When you're flexing, your arms go from flibbity flab to just flibbity..." lol Thanks a lot, bud...

It's awesome to watch your little baby grow into a young man that you can respect. It's really special to see that he's there for you when you need him.

My Whys for Starting a Business with Plexus

I am a feelings girl, not a business woman. I care about things that I'm passionate about. Starting a network marketing business isn't really my style. So, why am I doing it?

Really, my story starts with my mom. When I was a little girl, I remember my mom baking cookies, working in the yard, visiting with the neighbors, swimming, and having picnics with us in the front yard under our beautiful magnolia tree. Mom seemed pretty happy. When I was around 10 years old, Mom started getting really tired. She was just tired all the time. She took naps, and she took us out of school to home school us. Getting up in the morning and driving us to school was getting to be too much for her. That year she home schooled us was amazing. We spent so much time together. Mom made it so special, and my little brother and I did very well. We went back to school the next year, and mom started getting really stressed. She would break down more and more frequently, and it just got worse as time went on. After a few years of this, she was finally diagnosed with depression and started taking an antidepressant. That started bringing our mom back to us. Whenever she would forget to take her medication or try to go off of it, the darkness would take over again. My mom and I have been through a lot, and I am proud of the relationship we have today despite the dark times we went through together.

I got married when I was 22 years old. We were pregnant with our first child a few months after our wedding, but spent our first Christmas in the hospital because I miscarried at 8.5 weeks. After a few more months, I was pregnant again, and we had our firstborn in February 2004, second in February 2006, third in December 2007, fourth in November 2009, fifth in September 2011, sixth in August 2013, and seventh in November 2015. I've breastfed each of these children between 15 months and almost 4 years. Postpartum depression has gotten worse with each one.  I started seeing myself go through what I had lived through with my mom, and it scared me. After our sixth child, I finally saw a doctor and started an antidepressant. In a few weeks, I started feeling like myself again! It was amazing. When I got pregnant with our seventh, I stopped my medication immediately. I was afraid it would hurt my baby. That pregnancy was the hardest pregnancy I've ever had emotionally. After I had her, I got back on my medication, and that's where I am now: 37 years old with 7 children ages 13, 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, and 1.

When my friend (also Sarah) started talking to me about Plexus, she invited me to learn more by joining a 7 day challenge group. In this group, I tried a 7 day sample pack of their signature product called Slim. Slim is a blood sugar stabilizer, and it's delicious! I watched the videos they posted everyday, and was so inspired to hear other moms like me who found themselves again after taking Plexus. They got their energy back and were able to be the happy wives and mamas they wanted to be! That's what really sold me, and I made the decision to join Plexus as an ambassador, and start my journey to a healthy gut. I cannot wait to see the healing this could bring! I want what these other people have.

The initial reason I joined as an ambassador was cost. If I paid the $35 membership fee, I would get a nice discount on my products. 2 weeks in, I am getting quickly inspired by my very energetic team to go for it with the business.

As a family of 9, money is always tight, and if I can bring in an income from this, that would really help! Here are my goals/dreams for my Plexus business:

1. I want my mom to find true healing and have a happier life because of better health.

2. I want to become my healthiest self, and be a better wife and mom than ever before. I would love to not need my antidepressant!

3. I want my husband to be his healthiest self and have more energy.

4. I want my business to completely pay for our Plexus products, and soon earn over and above that to help with our finances.

5. I never want to be defined as a "business woman". I want to help people, and if these products are going to bring physical and emotional health to me and my friends and family, that's something I can be passionate about!

Mid First Week Report

As usual, my plan is not going off without a hitch, but it's okay. :)

Monday and Tuesday went very well, and I've been doing pretty well with my macros all week, but I haven't gotten my workouts in as I was planning. Today is cheat day. YAY.

See, Wednesdays and Thursdays are a little crazy for us. Wednesday, we have dance classes from 5:30-7:00. Thursdays, Matt works a full day at the hospital, comes home and tries to sleep before going to his home care job overnight and straight to another full day at the hospital Friday morning. It's crazy. So, that kinda threw off the workout schedule.

As far as my new Plexus journey, my box arrived yesterday!!! Matt and I are splitting it for now until we can afford to get 2 Triplex combo packs per month. I had my first official Slim pink drink yesterday, and we both took a ProBio5 (their probiotic)with dinner. This morning, we both took 2 BioCleanse capsules, and Matt took 2 Xfactor capsules. Well, we are both feeling the cleanse already... especially Matt... at work... Sorry, honey!

I am so happy school is almost over! The next big thing is our dance recital. We have 5 children performing this year, and I'm in 2 performances myself! It will be quite a day!!

Anyway, I hope you are all taking care of your own O2 masks! Have a great day!

My egg whites didn't turn out too bad ;)

Mommy Makeup Tutorial with outtakes hehe

I don't always wear makeup, but when I do, It's minimal, quick, and simple. Since there are tutorials on everything under the sun nowadays, I thought I'd make a post about my mommy makeup routine.

*Step 1: Moisturizer. I ran out of my Olay face moisturizer. So, I used some baby lotion.

*Step 2: One fingertip of foundation to reduce the dark circles under your eyes.

*Step 3: Black Mascara just to make eyelashes visible.

***TAKE THE PICTURE, PHONE!!!! LOL***

*Step 4: Lipliner because it's just fun. ;)

***TAKE THE PICTURE, PHONE!!!!! LOL***

*Step 5: Lipstick to give the impression that you have it together. ;)

There you have it! Throw your hair in a messy bun, grab some coffee, and own this day, Mama!

New Before Pics and Day One of MY Journey Begins!

I am so excited to begin MY journey today. I put that in all caps everytime to constantly remind me to own it. Own this journey. Own this plan. Own my motivation. This is MY journey this time.

I am currently 150 lbs. My goal is 130 lbs. I had Matt take new before pics for me. I am trying to focus on looking ahead to future gains, not on all I lost... So, posting these requires some bravery. I have to reject all the feelings of shame that I'm tempted to feel. It's not because I'm just ashamed of how I look. It's because I lost so much that I'd worked so hard for. So, please do not think that I think a 150 lb 5'4" woman is in terrible shape. No body shaming here, and that has to start with not body shaming myself. <3 Oh, I should take measurements too. I'll have to do that next time.

I lost my food scale. So, I'm just using measuring cups for now.

After the kids got home from school, and we picked up our new fish from a neighbor, we all piled in the van to meet Daddy at the YMCA. Boy, that childcare is a total game changer!

I didn't want to do my floor exercises in front of everyone at the gym. So, I hit all the leg machines they have. I did one set of 20 at a challenging weight. Then, did one more set of 20 at one level heavier. I also did 15 minutes on the good old stairstepper. I got 50 floors in. 

After the YMCA, we got Little Caesars for the kids since we were pressed for time. We dropped off the 3 that had a dance class. Then, Matt went to Applebee's to get us some salads (Grilled Chicken caesar). I took all the croutons off of mine and didn't use the dressing. It was so good!!

When we got home, I jumped down to the basement with Isaiah and did my floor exercises. Wow! good workout!! Give it a try! Just switch the sets and reps. They got those switched around!

So, here's my day in my notebook. As you can see, Selah got a hold of it. I was under my protein, and over my carbs and fats. Not too shabby for day one, though!!

Whew!! I worked hard today!!!

Okay, but what's up with the Plexus thing??

A couple weeks ago, my friend, Sarah Centers, started talking to me about Plexus. She is a Gold ambassador, and she has seen incredible results with the products for herself and her family. She invited me to be a part of a 7 day challenge on Facebook. I tried their product called "Slim". Today was the 7th day. So, I'm out!! :(  Anyway, I watched the videos of people giving their testimonies about how the Plexus products have been life changing for them and their family. I especially related to the burned out mamas who tried it out of desperation to feel better, have more energy, and not be so grumpy with their families. I desperately want that too. By the 6th day, I was wanting what these people had. I talked to Matt, and we came up with a plan to make it work. Now, I am a Plexus ambassador, and my Triplex welcome pack will be coming to me in the next few days!!

I want to document my experience with Plexus on myo2mask so you can learn about this with me. The first thing I want to do is write a list of my whys:

1. I want to be a happy wife and mom.
2. I want more energy!
3. I would love to be able to get off of my antidepressant.
4. It would be a great bonus if I actually did make a little income with this company.
5. I want to help my husband and family be at their best.

So, it is another new adventure for me! If you want to join me and try this out, let me know. They often have those 7 day facebook challenges, and I'd love to have friends and family to walk with me in this. If you want to check out their product line, here's my fancy schmancy Plexus website: HERE.

I am a little skeptical. I have trust issues especially with sales companies... So, Plexus is going to have to prove themselves to me!

MY Journey. I'm getting excited!!

I am old school. I like to write things down in a notebook rather than use an app. I took that screenshot of Jessica Enslow's plan, and plugged in my own info. She uses iifym.com to calculate her macros. It's very simple except at the end after it asks where to send your macros, enter your name and email, but continue on the site. Use the sliders to adjust your percentages.

This is exciting! It's already empowering to see this start to come together. This mama is no longer in autopilot. I am owning this!!

Now, I need to plan my workouts.

Check out Jessica Enslow's plan on her YouTube video HERE.