A New Church Family

Last Sunday, I officially joined a new church.  For the past 4 years, I have been searching up and down and up and down for a church since I left a small town in Mobile area.  I knew that the new church was the place where I can see myself grow in faith and love with others.  I thank God for this new church family.

catching up...

Hello blog readers (if you do exist)!  It has been a while since I typed my previous entry.  A lot of things have happened since that time.  I passed all of my grad classes and the toughest GACE Deaf Education certification test (they happened while raising a toddler!), received a Master's degree, got "promoted" to 1st grade teacher, moved out of my preschool classroom, drove to Florida to visit my good friend for a few days, took my 18-month-old son and dad to Missouri to visit our extended family, mowed my parents' yard almost every week, spent a lot of quality time with my lil man and other loved ones, and so on...maybe I need to stop for now.  But hey... I am still losing weight by getting into Zumba moves with my friends/co-workers every Tuesday and Thursday and joining a local gym with my roommate a few times every week.  Hmm, I still like to eat sweets.  :( As of now, I weight at 197 lbs - from 208 lbs last March...I am very positive about new changes coming this year!

Let me share a passage with you...I came across it when reading throughout my old journal books.

From "When God Winks At You" written by Squire Russell -
"In the Bible, David never suggested we could go around the valley or over it, we all have to go through it.  But the nice thing about valleys is that there is an end to them.  No matter how dark it seems, there is a time when it will end to them, and you will break into the sunshine.  And that is the concept you need to hang on to - that there is an end to terrible times, to the feelings of loss of control and to the total absence of suitable remedies.  Valleys also have signposts.  All along the way, God provides winks of reassurance for you to see.  Just like on the darkest interstate, a signpost every once in a while is a welcome message of reassurance - a reminder that you are on track, to keep going."

In this world, we have faced devastating news (recently, a local mother accidentally left her daughter in a locked car for a few hours a few days ago, no justice for Trayvon, etc.).  However, I have reminded myself that I am grateful for God - with Him, there will be plenty of sunshine while we walk through valleys!

Motivation

This morning, I decided to weight myself in...when I stepped on a scale, I was almost in denial.  I was NOT proud to say that my eating habits were horrible.  And, I did not exercise very much; however, I exercised once a month, which was not consistent at all.  The stresses of my teaching job and graduate school combined with raising my 14-month-old son have always guided me to eat more and more.  That was how I dealt with my stresses.  Before I met the love of my life, I was at my best weight and felt so GREAT.  I wore size 8.  When I met him, we went out to eat almost every other night and I fell in love with him so that I forgot to exercise.  Then, I got pregnant with Jax.  During the pregnancy, I gained 20 pounds only because I managed my diet carefully and walked faithfully.  After Jax's birth, I started eating whatever I wanted to and stopped exercising consistently for almost a year.  Yikes...here I am at 208 lbs and wearing size 16.  

Reasons why I want to lose weight - 

1.  I want to be happy about myself.  

2.  I want to honor God by taking care of this body.  

3.  I want to go back to my pre-preggo clothes. 

4.  I want to keep up with my students' energy! 

5.  I want to set a good example for my son.  

6.  I do not want to deal with headaches.  

7.  I do not want to deal with body aches. 

8.  I want to look sexy for my man (even though he has always said that he loves me no matter how much I weight)!  

9.  I want to have a lot of energy. 

10.  I want to have a healthy lifestyle, so I can enjoy every moment with my loved ones.  

11.  I want to buy cute clothes.  No more Lane Bryant clothes. 

12.  I want to feel confident in myself when I walk anywhere...in a hallway at work, at church, on the beach, at Wal-Mart, etc. 

13.  I do not want to deal with sluggishness.  

14.  I want to wear bikinis.  

15.  I want to feel GOOD!  

16.  I do not want to feel embarrassed!  

Ok, I will start My Fitness Pal tomorrow morning.  Anyone is going to join me?  :) 

1st Christmas as a Mom

It seems like we just finished Thanksgiving...now we are here on Christmas Eve!  I now realize what my Grandmother from Missouri meant by telling me often, "Once you have children, your life goes by fast."  Between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, I did the followings...

1. Complete and defend my research study (I made an A on it!)  
2. Help my parents decorate their house for Christmas - (aww, memories came back when I hung up their family ornaments.)
3. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
4. Visit my parents' new church and let Jax experience what Sunday School was like! 
5. Make a Santa handprint out of clay (with Jax's help!)
6. Paint Jax's Nativity footprint plate (it took me a while to get his perfect footprint)
7. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
8. Bake tons of sweets - Grinch cookies, Candy Cane peppermint cookies, peppermint rice krispies, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered peanut butter crackers, Christmas chocolate chips cookies, cranberry almond bars, magic bars, oh my goodness, have I made too much sweets...umm, yes, however, I gave MOST of them away to my co-workers, parents, sister, my boyfriend and his family, and my roommate and her parents!  :) 
9. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
10. Paint all of my students' Christmas handprint plates - sigh, I'm so thankful for my awesome aide who helped me a lot with this project. 
11. Prepare for a big Christmas program at my work...I'm still PROUD of my preschool students for doing great jobs acting!
12. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
13. Go out with JASH girls twice!  
14. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
15. Christmas shop on my own and with my boyfriend (I learned that he is a serious shopper!)
16. Wrap all of my presents (this year, I decided not to spend that much $$ on gifts because I am on a tight budget - I just finished paying some of my last semester's tuition - yikes!)
17. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
18. Have my regular dental visit with Jax who behaved well during the entire visit!  
19. Visit my mom at her work
20. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
21. Have lunch with my sweetie
22. Have lunch with my sister
23. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
24. Have lunch with my Dega friends
25. Eat at The Fish Market with my mom's lovely boss and my family and then the boss' house for some great coffee and desserts!
26. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...
27. De-stress!  De-stress!  (Trying to say to myself, "Suzanne, do nothing!  Sit!  Wait, I need to go and finish my laundry...oh, I need to take out trash...sigh!" :) 
28. Feed Jax, play with him, bathe him, and change his diaper...(my life with Jax just keeps getting busier, but I LOVE being his mommy!)  

For My Son...

20 Things a Mother Should Tell Her Son

1. You will set the tone for the sexual relationship, so don't take something away from her that you can't give back.

2. Play a sport. It will teach you how to win honorably, lose gracefully, respect authority, work with others, manage your time and stay out of trouble. And maybe even throw or catch.

3. Use careful aim when you pee. Somebody's got to clean that up, you know.

4. Save money when you're young because you're going to need it some day.

5. Allow me to introduce you to the dishwasher, oven, washing machine, iron, vacuum, mop and broom. Now please go use them.

6. Pray and be a spiritual leader.

7. Don't ever be a bully and don't ever start a fight, but if some idiot clocks you, please defend yourself.

8. Your knowledge and education is something that nobody can take away from you.

9. Treat women kindly. Forever is a long time to live alone and it's even longer to live with somebody who hates your guts.

10. Take pride in your appearance.

11. Be strong and tender at the same time.

12. A woman can do everything that you can do. This includes her having a successful career and you changing diapers at 3 A.M. Mutual respect is the key to a good relationship.

13. "Yes ma'am" and "yes sir" still go a long way.

14. The reason that they're called "private parts" is because they're "private". Please do not scratch them in public.

15. Peer pressure is a scary thing. Be a good leader and others will follow.

16. Bringing her flowers for no reason is always a good idea.

17. Be patriotic.

18. Potty humor isn't the only thing that's humorous.

19. Please choose your spouse wisely. My daughter-in-law will be the gatekeeper for me spending time with you and my grandchildren.

20. Remember to call your mother because I might be missing you.

His 1st Visit with Santa

I'm taking a deserved break (ahem, not deserving it!) from revising my Capstone paper.  I will have to submit it this coming Monday, and then I will have to present my final paper to three professors through Skype this Friday.  I'm starting to have a sense of relief...because my 4th semester of grad school is almost complete.  I'm looking forward to plenty of free time!

Today, my boyfriend and I took our son to a mall for some Christmas shopping, visiting with Santa, walking around, admiring Christmas decorations, and drooling over nice things I'd love to buy (mostly, me).  When we saw Mr. Santa Claus sitting on his sleigh, I looked at Jax, sitting in his stroller and staring at the mysterious man with white beard.  I got him out of the stroller and then handed him to Santa Claus.  He was very QUIET in Mr. Claus' arms the entire time.  I was surprised that he did not cry at all!  :)  So unlike his mom, who screamed when she first met Santa Claus.  See the picture below.  I assume that Jax wanted to make a good impression on him, so he could get tons of Christmas gifts.  Maybe I should remind LaLa about this.  *winks!

It's starting to look more like Christmas!

We are about to leave for Christmas shopping with Jax!

This morning, I gave him 6 oz of milk. He drank all of it. Then I made apple & oatmeal for him. He refused to eat all of it. Trying to figure what he wanted, I noticed him sign "milk" while he was crying. That's my son! I'm so happy that he finally communicates with his deaf mommy!