1) After having a horrible time trying to breastfeed our little girl I tried the one thing I could think of to increase my milk production- intake more calories. I failed to realize the importance of the quality of the food and ended up fattening myself up (like, so I was only 10 lbs lighter than I was the day BEFORE I delivered our baby. Yeah, it was bad). I decided a change needed to be made in my diet and I cut out processed sugars. Not too long after that I started trying the diet recommended by my footzoning instructors (see next bullet) which includes cutting out wheat, red meat and dairy in addition to the processed sugars. Once I started that my extra weight dropped off like melting butter (40 lbs in 4 months. Not too shabby, eh?) and I was able to reach my pre-married life weight, which was the goal. Not only did I lose weight but I felt the best I had since I could remember. I was (and still am) quite proud of myself.
2) I struggled with postpartum depression for a long time after our daughter was born. I spent the majority of my time trying to find a way to make myself more accomplished than being a crazed zombie monster who stayed home with a tiny version of myself all day long. My thoughts often reverted back to what I would do if I went back to school, and I seriously considered going to PA school, something I hadn't thought of doing since my first semester of college. My depression about my worth to society did not improve when we talked about it and decided that such a lofty goal wouldn't fit into the lifestyle we wanted for us and our children (I honestly don't think I could have done it even if we had though). Then I was introduced by one of my MIL's friends who is a footzoner and she talked of sorts of things you could do with it and I wanted to learn more, so I signed up for classes. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined how amazing an impact it would have on my life. While taking the classes and zoning myself my depression was gone and the back problems I'd had from my epidural were gone. Not only that but I learned a lot about how foods affect our bodies (in many more ways than you could learn in any college nutrition class) and I changed my diet and was able to lose 40 lbs and feel wonderful.
So now I have graduated with a certification in footzoning and take clients on in my home. I now don't feel like I need to go back to school to fulfill my need for success in life.
3) I have, for a long time, been wanting to get more into doing my artwork, but because I enjoy doing portraits of people the most I haven't had much inspiration or motivation because my parents and I only have so much wall space we can dedicate to my art, so I've been on virtual stand-still when it comes to art for the past few years. Then I recently got involved with a local non-profit arts and music program, and got talked into being a part of their local artists faire in December. I enjoyed it so much I started a page for my stuff to sell on Facebook and Instagram. Then the organization had a local business space donated to them for a five month span of time to set up a gallery. I was able to set up my space in there two weeks ago. Even though I have not yet had any commissions for portraits yet my vigor has been renewed and I have put together a few additional pieces since to started and I had forgotten how fulfilling it is for me to be so creative. So the past two months have been dedicated to starting up stuff for this business. It feels nice to have something besides my child to be involved in.
4) Last, but certainly not least, we are now expecting baby girl number two May 28th. My OB moved out of town right before I got pregnant and, due to a series of frustrating events the previous time, I have decided to try using a midwife this time around. She has been amazing so far and I am excited (and a little nervous) to try and do this unmedicated this time.
So the next few months will be spent organizing the house so that we can have room for two little ones in our apartment.
Now that I've caught up on our happenings hopefully these posts won't be so terribly long.
