This thing they call Motherhood

While talking with my mother this morning we briefly talked about how hard it can be to be a mother.  To feel like all you do is care for your children and love them through everything and do your best by them and it feels like it never gets easier, just harder. I so understand that feeling. Some days I feel like my days are just go, go, go, go and I have almost nothing to show for it at the end of the day. For instance, there are days when I feel like I just tend to children every minute of the day and then I look around and my house is a mess and I think "what have I done with this day?" Sometimes the answer is clear........ I was a Mom ALL DAY! Other times I just feel like a failure. The scary truth of motherhood is that it is hard work and sometimes it doesn't feel like anything is working out.

The fight is on

In my last blog post I revealed that a crazy crash diet was in my near future! I originally planned to start this diet the day after thanksgiving but due to a few strict rules of this particular diet and my monthly friend that was postponed for another 6 days. I am proud to report that I am now 12 days in and have done surprisingly well. It has been SO hard though. A few months back, if you remember, I tried to do HCG. I quickly realized after a get together with some family that cheating for me was the death of this diet. This is the diet I started again, but with the knowledge of the previous time I know that I have to fight harder to NOT cheat. This is definitely not my favorite diet but I really feel motivated when I get up every morning and see results physically and on the scale . One thing that seems to be helpful is to "freeze" things. I know that sounds weird, but I don't feel like I am depriving myself if I save the things I want for a later time. For instance, my dad sent over some wonderfully smelling pumpkin bars with chocolate chips and I wanted just ONE very badly so I put some in the freezer. I did the same thing when I made cookies today. Writing this out I am realizing it could sound a little crazy. For one, it may sound like I plan to have a huge binge day as soon as my 6 weeks are up but I assure you I don't. It also may seem like I am starting some strange hoarding habit, I hope that is not the case. I pretty much think I love carbs too much to collect them. For some reason freezing my treats is helping me to know that now is not the time to eat treats, I want to be healthy but in a few months when I have achieved my goal I can have a treat every once in  while.

My personal hair secrects

If you know me you know I don't have the worlds greatest hair. It's naturally wavy, frizzy, coarse, and dry. Yep, it is miserable! Not to mention all of the years worth of chemical damage I have done to it as a result of my obsession with coloring and bleaching my hair!!! I have learned a few things about babying my hair, so I will share my tricks with you all.

-I only wash my hair twice a week. I know that sounds nasty, in fact my sisters make fun of me all the time. Really though, it is better for your hair. Every time you wash your hair you break the hydrogen bond and then rebuild it when you dry it. Doing this too much is actually more damaging. It is also good to let the natural oils in your hair build up, it helps to keep your hair moisturized, strong, and healthy.

-If you dare run cold water through your hair at the end of your shower. When you wash your hair in hot water (this is true of your skin too) it opens up your cuticles, so to shut them properly you should use cold water. It also helps to make your hair more shiny.

-After your shower, towel blot instead of being rough with your hair.

-I like to add a smoothing serum, split end treatment, and a little oil to my hair before I even comb it out. (Be careful if your hair is really fine and not dry, too much product will only make it feel oily.)I feel like it gives it an opportunity to really soak in and it makes your hair easier to comb through. You also can assure the product will be thoroughly worked through your hair by brushing it after.

-When you brush your hair...... USE A COMB! This by far is one of the things that has worked the best for me. When your hair is wet is it more susceptible to breaking because the elasticity is much greater. So using a wider tooth comb will be much gentler for your hair.

-Let your hair air dry as long as possible. Heat is just not good for your hair. I usually will let my hair air dry for a few hours and then blow it dry to minimize my frizz. If you don't have the time during the week days, try it during the weekend. It will really help.

B.I.F.

You may have known me in high school, if you did you know there is truth to this next statement. I was really weird in high school. If you didn't know me in high school...... well, now you know the truth. Trevor tells me I really haven't outgrown this weirdness but I like to think it is a more mature weirdness. Who knows though. As a result of my weirdness I came up with B.I.F. in high school after I smashed my index finger in the car door. It stands for blackened index finger and I wore this clever this abbreviation on the bandaid that covered my injury.

Is it worth it?

Last night Trevor and I were invited over to a couple in our ward's house to get to know one another and play some board games. While we were there having fun and talking and our kids were playing together we started talking about Church with children. Just a little background on my kids........ my girls have been on a really consistent schedule for like 6 months now! Napping around 11 till 1, in our old ward they napped during sacrament meeting and sunday school. In our new ward, that starts, at 12:30, we have been putting them down for a nap around 10 and waking them up around 12 to get to church. Since, obviously, church is right after their nap time they have had TONS of energy the last two weeks in church and Sundays have been basically miserable. I can't remember one thing that was uplifting or made me feel the Spirit! I was too busy trying to contain the children that wanted to be put on the floor and passed between Trevor and I over and over again.

Wow that was embarrassing!!!

As of late I have accomplished many epic fails, my blog header being one of the big ones! In case you hadn't seen I made a new blog header which I am totally completely in love with! One day I was talking to my mother on the phone, which I do frequently, and she asked what was special about 9.15.2009. She thought maybe that was when I had started this blog! I couldn't believe that I got my own anniversary wrong! How embarrassing! The worst part is that while I was creating this header I thought to myself "how embarrassing would it be if I put the wrong date for my anniversary on here!" So I double checked and really thought that the 9 month of the year was August! I completely blame this total fluke on mommy brain. It is the sad truth that my brain just hasn't been the same since my sweet little baby girls came to this earth. Or maybe it is just a good excuse for my tendency to not pay as much attention as I should!!! Either way it was an epic fail.