To say we were shocked to find out we did actually qualify for the 2011 is an understatement!! I'm not a CPA so if you adopted last year, you need to talk to a professional to see if you qualify but for those looking into adoption through foster care like we did, here's a few things we found out:
-Most kids in our foster care system are considered special needs. Special needs can be because of their age, race, sibling group as well as medical needs. As you know, our son is Native and was automatically considered special needs even though he has absolutely zero medical or psychological issues. Because he was special needs, we qualified for the credit.
-The state paid all attorney fees, home study costs, and everything else that had to do with our adoption. We had no out of pocket costs. But the credit still applies because our son is considered special needs.
-Their is an income cap for adjusted gross income of around $185,000 and then the credit is phased out by $222,520.
-Say you didn't have $13,170 in tax in 2011 or say you don't have any tax liability last year (I say this because when my husband was in the military and deployed half the year, and we owned a house, we had 2 years where we owed nothing in tax), you still can get the the full $13,170 refunded!
Now, do I think you all should rush down to your local foster care office and adopt to get the credit, HECK NO!!! But do I think it's amazing the government sees the need for adoptive families and are willing to give them a break on their taxes or reimburse some of the private adoption costs in order to allow more families the opportunity to adopt, YES I DO!!
Here is a link to the IRS' Six Things To Know About The Expanded Adoption Credit!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
I'm Going to Be A Soccer Mom!
Where I live, 3 seems like the magic age where opportunities open up for kids to participate in activities such as soccer, swimming, gymnastics and so on. I've not been tempted to send my oldest AJ to Little Gym classes at $17 an hour, but to pay $115 for 6 weeks of playing on the YMCA soccer team with a bunch of cute 3 year olds, I'm all in! In May, AJ will play soccer on Monday and Wednesday evenings with 30 minutes of practice and then a 40 minute game. My little man has so much energy that I think this is just the outlet he needs and he is so excited that he is a "big kid" now and can play soccer.
Now it will be interesting to see if Dylan has a complete melt down the first time we arrive and he's not allowed to go play with his brother but it's life, and he'll have many more of these moments to deal with. Like preschool, I'll save that for another day but AJ starts in August.
It'll be interesting to see what each of the boys show natural talent in as far as sports. The one sport I do not want them to play......hockey. As you can imagine, it's a big sport here and these little kids are going on multiple out of state trips a year to compete and ice time is expensive. So I have no intention in signing them up but once they are in elementary school if they really show a desire to join a hockey team then I will support it. If you are interested in sports for toddlers, try YMCA or Boys and Girls Club websites for your local area. Our local clubs seem to have a lot of great options and they even offer scholarships if your family is need of financial assistance! I can't wait to post pictures here soon of AJ playing soccer!
Now it will be interesting to see if Dylan has a complete melt down the first time we arrive and he's not allowed to go play with his brother but it's life, and he'll have many more of these moments to deal with. Like preschool, I'll save that for another day but AJ starts in August.
It'll be interesting to see what each of the boys show natural talent in as far as sports. The one sport I do not want them to play......hockey. As you can imagine, it's a big sport here and these little kids are going on multiple out of state trips a year to compete and ice time is expensive. So I have no intention in signing them up but once they are in elementary school if they really show a desire to join a hockey team then I will support it. If you are interested in sports for toddlers, try YMCA or Boys and Girls Club websites for your local area. Our local clubs seem to have a lot of great options and they even offer scholarships if your family is need of financial assistance! I can't wait to post pictures here soon of AJ playing soccer!
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
What I've Learned Losing 10 pounds in 2 Months
One of the hardest parts about following Weight Watchers is that it's not meant to help people lose more than 1-2 lbs per week and so sometimes taking a month to lose 3-6 pounds seems unimpressive especially when you hear others doing diets where they are losing 6-7 pounds in the first week. But I've learned to pay attention and take note of those who have lost weight and kept it off for a couple years at least. In January I almost took down my fitness pal weight tracker at the top of my blog because it was a lie. I'd lost 13 pounds but gained it all back. But now, now I'm within 1 pound of that 13 pound marker so I'm going to just keep it up there and hopefully next week I'll even have to change the number to 14 lbs lost! Here are a few things I've realized over the last couple months:
1) I used to cheat all through the weekend using all my weekly allowance points plus some. That doesn't work for me because it usually takes 3-4 days of healthy eating just to lose the extra weight I gained over the weekend which was seriously slowing down my weight loss. I also told my husband that I felt obligated to eat bad over the weekend as to not upset him by saying we were going to have grilled chicken and salad for say a dinner on Saturday night because I know he loves to eat out and so i always just assumed that's what we would do. Because his mood when we order in or go out to eat is significantly nicer/better than when I make a healthy balanced meal and for lack of better words, it's just not fair for him to base his mood on what we eat. My cheat this weekend on Saturday was a steak and cheese sub at Subway (I'd usually opt for turkey breast and no cheese) and fat free frozen yogurt from Menchie's with a tablespoon of crushed oreos on top. That's a far cry from say a burger and fries at Red Robin with a couple strawberry lemonades. So I'm learning not to just indulge all weekend long!
2) Weigh and measure everything!! I even weigh my grated cheese, I measure out my light sour cream, everything!! I bought a digital scale and I weigh it and calculate points before I eat it! That's why I also really love fresh produce that is zero points because then I don't have to weigh it or calculate points:) It's tedious honestly to weigh and measure, but it's been really eye opening to see just how far off I used to be by eye balling servings.
3) Eating a salad for lunch has been a great way to get my veggie servings in and to reduce the amount of carbs I'm eating. I read lots of blogs and one thing I noticed is a lot of the girls always were eating a big salad every single day. It was just part of their routine so I've been making it part of my routine also.
4) It's been weeks since I went out to eat and ordered something over 11 points. I wrote before how it was always just a given that it would be a cheat meal if I was eating out and I rarely even tried to choose something healthy. Now, I look up the menu online before I head out and I calculate the points if it's just a local restaurant and I don't feel awkward when I order something healthy even if everyone else is ordering high calorie foods and it's been extremely helpful in reducing my overall anxiety while eating out.
5) Just take it one day at a time. If I can say no to the Starbucks Mocha today and drink iced tea, that's a small victory. If I choose to eat a big salad for dinner while my family is eating pizza, that's a small victory. If I really wanted a bowl of ice cream before bed and I eat a grapefruit instead, that's a small victory. But it doesn't mean I'm never going to have a mocha, pizza, or ice cream but the more times I can say no because there will always be an opportunity later to have those things, the better off I will be. I've stopped thinking of it as can I give up this food for the rest of my life, I just think of it as can I give it up just for today.
6) I do not have the willpower yet to bake a whole cake or batch of cookies and only eat 1 serving. I end up picking at it for an entire week and I don't lose weight. If I bake cookies, I take 3 and freeze the rest. If I make a cake or something that doesn't freeze well, I dump the rest in the trash after we've all had a serving. If it's there, I'm going to eat it.
Those are the top 6 things I've learned so far and I'm so happy to finally see the scale moving down and being under my pre-pregnancy weight! 12 down, 60 more to go!
1) I used to cheat all through the weekend using all my weekly allowance points plus some. That doesn't work for me because it usually takes 3-4 days of healthy eating just to lose the extra weight I gained over the weekend which was seriously slowing down my weight loss. I also told my husband that I felt obligated to eat bad over the weekend as to not upset him by saying we were going to have grilled chicken and salad for say a dinner on Saturday night because I know he loves to eat out and so i always just assumed that's what we would do. Because his mood when we order in or go out to eat is significantly nicer/better than when I make a healthy balanced meal and for lack of better words, it's just not fair for him to base his mood on what we eat. My cheat this weekend on Saturday was a steak and cheese sub at Subway (I'd usually opt for turkey breast and no cheese) and fat free frozen yogurt from Menchie's with a tablespoon of crushed oreos on top. That's a far cry from say a burger and fries at Red Robin with a couple strawberry lemonades. So I'm learning not to just indulge all weekend long!
2) Weigh and measure everything!! I even weigh my grated cheese, I measure out my light sour cream, everything!! I bought a digital scale and I weigh it and calculate points before I eat it! That's why I also really love fresh produce that is zero points because then I don't have to weigh it or calculate points:) It's tedious honestly to weigh and measure, but it's been really eye opening to see just how far off I used to be by eye balling servings.
3) Eating a salad for lunch has been a great way to get my veggie servings in and to reduce the amount of carbs I'm eating. I read lots of blogs and one thing I noticed is a lot of the girls always were eating a big salad every single day. It was just part of their routine so I've been making it part of my routine also.
4) It's been weeks since I went out to eat and ordered something over 11 points. I wrote before how it was always just a given that it would be a cheat meal if I was eating out and I rarely even tried to choose something healthy. Now, I look up the menu online before I head out and I calculate the points if it's just a local restaurant and I don't feel awkward when I order something healthy even if everyone else is ordering high calorie foods and it's been extremely helpful in reducing my overall anxiety while eating out.
5) Just take it one day at a time. If I can say no to the Starbucks Mocha today and drink iced tea, that's a small victory. If I choose to eat a big salad for dinner while my family is eating pizza, that's a small victory. If I really wanted a bowl of ice cream before bed and I eat a grapefruit instead, that's a small victory. But it doesn't mean I'm never going to have a mocha, pizza, or ice cream but the more times I can say no because there will always be an opportunity later to have those things, the better off I will be. I've stopped thinking of it as can I give up this food for the rest of my life, I just think of it as can I give it up just for today.
6) I do not have the willpower yet to bake a whole cake or batch of cookies and only eat 1 serving. I end up picking at it for an entire week and I don't lose weight. If I bake cookies, I take 3 and freeze the rest. If I make a cake or something that doesn't freeze well, I dump the rest in the trash after we've all had a serving. If it's there, I'm going to eat it.
Those are the top 6 things I've learned so far and I'm so happy to finally see the scale moving down and being under my pre-pregnancy weight! 12 down, 60 more to go!
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
A House Full of Sick People! HELP!
Since I last checked in, my husband went to Las Vegas for work for a week so I got to play the role of single mom for a week and let me tell you, it's exhausting!! The day after my husband got home I went to a movie with my mom and I get a text saying Dylan just puked everywhere. He got sick 6 times that day. Two days later, my husband was sick and hasn't stopped being sick and was diagnosed with pneumonia and fluid in his lungs. And through out this, AJ has been sick about once every 4 days. Like he gets sick or throws up but it's perfectly healthy the next day. Same thing with Dylan. I have no idea what is going on. One day I think they have the flu, a few days later it seems like a sinus infection or bad head cold and then it cycles all over again.
One thing I know is when I get sick, there is no mercy for me because it's likely someone else is sick and I still have to take care of everyone else and make dinner and do laundry and do dishes and get up in the middle of the night with the kids, etc. So I was so thankful it looked like I had dodged the sickness bullet until Saturday when I woke up and my whole body ached and my throat was on fire.............and of course it was my husband's day to be on call at work so as soon as I came back from Weight Watchers at 9am, he had to go into work for 3 1/2 hours.
However, my kids were angels! Dylan curled up next to me on the couch and AJ even brought my empty cup of water to the kitchen sink and neither whined for anything. As of today, everyone is sick to some degree and we are all taking medicine and I'm hoping by the weekend we will all be rested and recovered!
I'll update this weekend on weight loss but I'm down 8.8lbs since January 23rd...slow and steady....but I need to start exercising because my weight loss has slowed down a lot and I'd like to lose at least 1 pound per week!
One thing I know is when I get sick, there is no mercy for me because it's likely someone else is sick and I still have to take care of everyone else and make dinner and do laundry and do dishes and get up in the middle of the night with the kids, etc. So I was so thankful it looked like I had dodged the sickness bullet until Saturday when I woke up and my whole body ached and my throat was on fire.............and of course it was my husband's day to be on call at work so as soon as I came back from Weight Watchers at 9am, he had to go into work for 3 1/2 hours.
However, my kids were angels! Dylan curled up next to me on the couch and AJ even brought my empty cup of water to the kitchen sink and neither whined for anything. As of today, everyone is sick to some degree and we are all taking medicine and I'm hoping by the weekend we will all be rested and recovered!
I'll update this weekend on weight loss but I'm down 8.8lbs since January 23rd...slow and steady....but I need to start exercising because my weight loss has slowed down a lot and I'd like to lose at least 1 pound per week!
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| Dylan said he wanted to go play, but he had no energy once he got over there:( |
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| This doesn't happen much anymore, my baby boy sleeping in my arms:) |
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| He was feeling better and I said, "Get your boots and hat on so we can go to Grandma's!" I meant snow boots and winter hat! |
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Getting My Husband To Eat Healthy
As I've mentioned a few times before, my husband does not choose to eat healthy in any sort of way. It bothers me for so many reasons and I was sort of at my wits end last week where I had two options. Option A- throw a fit and start ranting at him about how I just don't understand why he won't try. Or Option B- go buy him food he may enjoy that is healthy, prep it, pack his lunch and just see what happens.
For once, I chose option B because I've picked option A too many times to count and it has done nothing for him or for me. Here are the things I had to take into account for his food:
1) He drives a work van from site to site which means he carries his lunch in a cooler but has no access to microwaves or freezers.
2) Sometimes he gets called to a work site and his lunch time where he could stop and eat or go buy food is gone so I knew it had to be items he could possibly eat at a red light or in just a few minutes once he got stopped.
3) He will stop for a venti mocha and a muffin/breakfast burrito/donut in the morning because he doesn't take the time to make breakfast because he does not leave enough time in the morning to make a healthy breakfast.
So what did I come up with?
Snacks:
-Almonds, unsalted and unroasted- portioned them out into 1 oz in a baggie.
-Jerky
-Fun size pack of peanut M&M's (he's got a sweet tooth and this beats the extra huge Reese's peanut butter cup he gets all the time)
-Mini peppers
-Honeycrisp apples, sliced
-Reduced Fat Wheat Thins portioned into 1 serving in baggies along with 1 oz. of cheddar cheese sliced up.
-Ice water
Breakfast
-Tropicana orange juice in mini cartons (bigger than a juice box)
-Thomas Light Whole Grain English Muffins, Canadian Bacon, whole egg, I slice of colby cheese
Lunch
-Diet Dr. Pepper in a bottle (I'm not a fan of soda but he's been drinking a 32oz regular Dr. Pepper on a daily basis so baby steps).
-Sandwich rolls from the deli (not whole grain but baby steps I say), ham and turkey deli meat, sliced Havarti
-Pop Chips portioned out to 1 serving
My husband has college two nights a week so I bought the groceries and brought them home and portioned out the snacks and chips and put them in a plastic tub so it would be easy in the morning to grab and go. This took all of 20 minutes for a weeks worth of lunch time snacks. When he came home that night he was floored! I got a big hug and he was excited to get to eat what I'd bought the next day. I told him it would only take 5 minutes to make the egg mc muffin sandwich but that if he really was completely out of time, make a PB & J on 1 slice of the whole grain bread and just take it with him. I think it's kind of a lot of sugar but considering what he's been eating, I think he'll be able to lean into making even healthier choices in a little while.
The next morning when he took the kids to my mom's, instead of getting in the shower I ran to the kitchen and made his sandwich for lunch and also egg mcmuffin sandwiches for us both (I only use 1/2 a cheese slice for my own) and he was again over the moon I'd went to so much work. I even did the same thing the next day and on the third day he actually made my egg mcmuffin sandwich and packed his own lunch. He called at the end of the first day of taking lunch and said his stomach hurt and he was so full and I thought 'Yeah, it's called digestion and it's what your body does when you give it healthy food and water!!' He did ask if I could make sure there was a cheese slice for every Wheat Thin next time which made me laugh. An ounce of cheese sliced came out to about 8 small squares but there were about 25 Thins:) And if you didn't guess by reading this post, my husband is a cheese fanatic.
I'm glad I decided to do it and even though he still doesn't believe you can eat out healthy (even though I explained what I ordered last week) I just keep reminding myself it's all about baby steps.
For once, I chose option B because I've picked option A too many times to count and it has done nothing for him or for me. Here are the things I had to take into account for his food:
1) He drives a work van from site to site which means he carries his lunch in a cooler but has no access to microwaves or freezers.
2) Sometimes he gets called to a work site and his lunch time where he could stop and eat or go buy food is gone so I knew it had to be items he could possibly eat at a red light or in just a few minutes once he got stopped.
3) He will stop for a venti mocha and a muffin/breakfast burrito/donut in the morning because he doesn't take the time to make breakfast because he does not leave enough time in the morning to make a healthy breakfast.
So what did I come up with?
Snacks:
-Almonds, unsalted and unroasted- portioned them out into 1 oz in a baggie.
-Jerky
-Fun size pack of peanut M&M's (he's got a sweet tooth and this beats the extra huge Reese's peanut butter cup he gets all the time)
-Mini peppers
-Honeycrisp apples, sliced
-Reduced Fat Wheat Thins portioned into 1 serving in baggies along with 1 oz. of cheddar cheese sliced up.
-Ice water
Breakfast
-Tropicana orange juice in mini cartons (bigger than a juice box)
-Thomas Light Whole Grain English Muffins, Canadian Bacon, whole egg, I slice of colby cheese
Lunch
-Diet Dr. Pepper in a bottle (I'm not a fan of soda but he's been drinking a 32oz regular Dr. Pepper on a daily basis so baby steps).
-Sandwich rolls from the deli (not whole grain but baby steps I say), ham and turkey deli meat, sliced Havarti
-Pop Chips portioned out to 1 serving
My husband has college two nights a week so I bought the groceries and brought them home and portioned out the snacks and chips and put them in a plastic tub so it would be easy in the morning to grab and go. This took all of 20 minutes for a weeks worth of lunch time snacks. When he came home that night he was floored! I got a big hug and he was excited to get to eat what I'd bought the next day. I told him it would only take 5 minutes to make the egg mc muffin sandwich but that if he really was completely out of time, make a PB & J on 1 slice of the whole grain bread and just take it with him. I think it's kind of a lot of sugar but considering what he's been eating, I think he'll be able to lean into making even healthier choices in a little while.
The next morning when he took the kids to my mom's, instead of getting in the shower I ran to the kitchen and made his sandwich for lunch and also egg mcmuffin sandwiches for us both (I only use 1/2 a cheese slice for my own) and he was again over the moon I'd went to so much work. I even did the same thing the next day and on the third day he actually made my egg mcmuffin sandwich and packed his own lunch. He called at the end of the first day of taking lunch and said his stomach hurt and he was so full and I thought 'Yeah, it's called digestion and it's what your body does when you give it healthy food and water!!' He did ask if I could make sure there was a cheese slice for every Wheat Thin next time which made me laugh. An ounce of cheese sliced came out to about 8 small squares but there were about 25 Thins:) And if you didn't guess by reading this post, my husband is a cheese fanatic.
I'm glad I decided to do it and even though he still doesn't believe you can eat out healthy (even though I explained what I ordered last week) I just keep reminding myself it's all about baby steps.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Eating Out Healthy: Mc Donald's, Qdoba, Taco Bell, and a Diner
Guess what?? I lost 1.4lbs this week and ate out 6 times!! What I learned was:
-It is possible
-It does take planning
-It's much more expensive than eating at home
Mc Donald's
Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken and Southwest Dressing, Large Unsweetened Iced Tea (10 WWPP)
Definitely filling and delicious!
-It is possible
-It does take planning
-It's much more expensive than eating at home
Mc Donald's
Southwest Salad with Grilled Chicken and Southwest Dressing, Large Unsweetened Iced Tea (10 WWPP)
Definitely filling and delicious!
Taco Bell
Chicken Fresco Soft Taco and Crunchy Beef Taco Supreme with a small diet Pepsi (9 WWPP)
This was very good except for the diet Pepsi which I usually don't drink much soda but it was way too sweet so next time i'll just get a free water! A Taco Bell Bean Burrito has 9 points which is suprising because I used to think it was one of the lowest point options!
Qdoba
Naked Chicken Taco Salad- Lettuce, Chicken, Black Beans, Sour Cream, Extra Pico and Water (11 WWPP)
Bleh. It just wasn't great. Tolerable yes, but not great. I also added fajita veggies for $.69 extra put picked them out after one bite. I think they were over grilled so they were chewy and I believe they use oregano for the seasoning and they just tasted terrible. My salad cost over $8 which is outrageous IMO! Next time I think I'd opt for 2 hard shell chicken tacos with very little cheese and sour cream, lettuce, and black beans next time.
*No picture available
Diner
We have a diner that is like a 50's diner so mostly classic American fare. I ordered a BLT, no Mayo and substitute a side salad with ranch on the side (just dipped my fork in) and also a diet Coke. (10 WWPP). The hardest part about eating in a local restaurant is you have to eyeball portion size and quantity. I think it's crazy when you subsitute a salad they upcharge you. At this restaurant it was $2.95.
*No picture available
Below I've listed some of the options I researched and I printed out on a cheat sheet for our vacation. I think I'm going to do okay!
| Taco Bell | |
| Chicken Soft Taco Fresco | 4 |
| Crunchy Taco Supreme | 5 |
| Small Diet Soda | 0 |
| McDonald's | |
| Cheeseburger | 8 |
| Southwest Salad w/dressing | 10 |
| Grilled Chicken Sandwich w/ no mayo | 9 |
| Fruit and Yogurt Parfait | 4 |
| Egg McMuffin | 8 |
| Oatmeal | 7 |
| Small French Fry | 11 |
| Side Salad w/ balsamic | 1 |
| Iced Tea or Diet Coke | 0 |
| Subway | |
| 6" club, 9 grain wheat, no cheese, all veggies, light mayo, mustard | 9 |
| 6" steak and cheese, light mayo | 11 |
| 6" chicken teriyaki, no cheese, light mayo | 11 |
| 6" BLT, no cheese, light mayo | 10 |
| 15 baked lays | 3 |
| Carl's Jr. | |
| Cranberry Walnut Salad | 8 |
| Low Fat Balsamic | 1 |
| Kids Cheeseburger | 9 |
| Side Salad | 3 |
| Dairy Queen | |
| Original Burger | 9 |
| Original Cheese Burger | 10 |
| Side Salad, no dressing | 1.5 |
| Starkiss | 2.5 |
| Small Vanilla Cone | 6 |
| Small Vanilla Cup | 4 |
| Grilled Chicken Sandwich | 10 |
| Taco Time | |
| Chicken Tostada | 8 |
| Tostada Delight Chicken | 11.5 |
| Crisp Ground beef taco with sour cream | 7.5 |
| Stree Taco Chicken | 5 |
| Refritos without chips | 4 |
| IHOP | |
| Belgian Waffle plain and Fruit | 10 |
| pancake platter | 13 |
| Simple and fit twoxtwoxtwo | 10.5 |
| Short Stack Pancakes | 13 |
| Kids French Toast | 12 |
| Red Robin | |
| Garden Burger | 13 |
| Red's homemade chili bowl | 11.5 |
| Olive Garden | |
| Breadstick | 4 |
| Grilled Chicken Spiedini | 11.5 |
| Linguine all Marinara lunch | 8 |
| Linguine all Marinara dinner | 11 |
| Garden Fresh salad w/o dressing | 9.5 |
| Garden Fresh salad with dressing | 3 |
| Chicken and Gnocchi soup | 7 |
| Minestrone | 2 |
| Pasta e Fagioli | 3 |
| Zuppa Toscana | 3 |
I Didn't Want to be That Mom, So I Wore a Bathing Suit
Last weekend we took the kids to one of our local high school pools that has open swim on Saturday. It never even crossed my mind that I'd be in the water but that it was my husbands responsibility to do that because I wouldn't be caught dead in a bathing suit right now. My kids loved the open swim and I'm totally impressed my husband managed to wrangle two toddlers for 40 minutes in the water! But as I was sitting in the bleachers, I was thinking about Roni over at Roni's Weigh posts about getting over your fear of wearing a bathing suit in order to go have fun with your kids, and over those 40 or so minutes I seriously regretted not being in there with them. Living in Alaska, we honestly do not have a lot of reasons to be in a bathing suit. It's rarely warm enough to lay out in the sun in just a bathing suit and really the only pools are at the high schools so it's easy to avoid squeezing into bathing suit. I haven't worn a bathing suit in Alaska since 1998!
So yesterday my husband reminded me that he had promised the kids he'd take them to the pool again. At $5 an adult and $1 per kid, it is some serious cheap fun that involves physical activity which is great! I said I'd get my bathing suit and towel and we could go. My husband was actually shocked and said I didn't have to if I didn't want to and I just told him I could care less how I looked in the bathing suit, I wanted to swim with my kids. Because quite honestly, I don't want to be that mom, you know that one that sits on the sidelines and cheers on their kids but doesn't actually participate because they are out of shape or uncomfortable in front of others.
When I went to find my swimsuit, I was shocked to find I own five! You know why, because everytime I went on vacation I would buy a new one thinking it would make me look slimmer than the last one... it never did though. I own a Miracle Suit that is anything besides a miracle but I did find my Land's End tankini with ruching in the front you know to disguise my tummy fat and it's black because black is slimming. Well I took a picture before we left for the pool. I am posting this picture to provide you with proof that black is neither slimming and the ruching does not disguise a darn thing!
So yesterday my husband reminded me that he had promised the kids he'd take them to the pool again. At $5 an adult and $1 per kid, it is some serious cheap fun that involves physical activity which is great! I said I'd get my bathing suit and towel and we could go. My husband was actually shocked and said I didn't have to if I didn't want to and I just told him I could care less how I looked in the bathing suit, I wanted to swim with my kids. Because quite honestly, I don't want to be that mom, you know that one that sits on the sidelines and cheers on their kids but doesn't actually participate because they are out of shape or uncomfortable in front of others.
When I went to find my swimsuit, I was shocked to find I own five! You know why, because everytime I went on vacation I would buy a new one thinking it would make me look slimmer than the last one... it never did though. I own a Miracle Suit that is anything besides a miracle but I did find my Land's End tankini with ruching in the front you know to disguise my tummy fat and it's black because black is slimming. Well I took a picture before we left for the pool. I am posting this picture to provide you with proof that black is neither slimming and the ruching does not disguise a darn thing!
I'd say the swimsuit fit as well as it could and stayed in place and I was pretty comfortable in it. And swimming with my kids.......well it was a blast and probably one of the most fun activities we've done together and I really can't wait to go again!! My friend's son is even having his birthday at a swimming pool next month and I'm totally okay with going and participating. I refuse to sit on the sidelines until I lose 60 pounds. Plus, I really could use the extra exercise:)
Do you fear wearing a bathing suit in public? Do you have a favorite swimsuit brand/design I might like?
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