My Fitness Journey So Far

 Well, as most of you know by now, I love working out. But I didn't always love it. Before I had kids, I HATED exercising. I thought it was the worst thing in the world. But, I also had an extra bone in my foot by my ankle that caused so many problems and it hurt to even walk 10 feet. I got that removed 6 years ago when Max was a baby (okay, he was 1. but that's still a baby. 😉 haha) and I could finally enjoy doing things without it hurting. I was doing fine with working out at home but I still wasn't enjoying it. I would get super lazy and I just hated it. Over 4 years ago when Hazel was 7 months old Daniel asked if I wanted to get a gym membership. I hesistated a little and thought he was crazy for even asking that question... haha why would I go and work out there when I wasn't even enjoying it at home. 

I got the gym membership and it took me a week to go back and actually do a workout. I didn't know what I was doing, and I just walked around a little bit and just went on machines but I kept going back. When I first started I went at bedtime when my kids went to sleep. I turned on Youtube and found a person to workout with there. That was fun and it seems crazy that I did that when I definitely could use youtube at home, but I was enjoying my me time without kids interrupting me every 5 seconds. 😉🤣 I started to love working out. 

The gym became my happy place but I was getting tired of going at night because I wasn't able to hang out with Daniel so much, so I started going to the classes and the first class I went to was Insanity. I LOVED it. I thought it was so fun! So I did more classes and just fell in love with working out. I did classes and some days did my own thing from youtube.  

A couple years later, my kids started school at different times then the classes at the gym so I wasn't able to go so I went after I dropped them off (Max went all day. Hazel still came with me. The kids area is amazing!) and I found Sydney Cummings on Youtube. I love her!! She is a certified personal trainer and posts a video every single day so I did that for awhile... 

Then in March of this year... Covid19... the dang pandemic hit and the gyms had to close. I was so sad. I didn't know what I was going to do because I HATED working out at home. But, I knew my sanity needed it and I knew that if my kids needed a happy mom and my husband needed a happy wife then I needed to make myself workout at home. At first I hated it and I missed the gym but I kept doing it and started posting videos on facebook and then little by little I have people telling me that I am inspiring and awesome. I went back to the gym in June after 3 months and it felt so great to be back. But, the virus didn't seem to be slowing down and there were tons of people getting sick... So I made the hard decision to freeze my account for awhile and work out at home again. It sucks and it's not my favorite thing in the world but I'm doing it. 

So far, I've talked about working out but I haven't mentioned the other part of losing weight... eating. I LOVE eating. I was eating all the time and I wasn't losing weight at all. A couple years ago I tried low carb and I hated every second of it. But I lost like 15ish pounds from that and I was excited but then Daniel had his stroke and I gained it all back and then some. I kept eating and eating and eating and then July 5th I got on the scale and realized that I was 10 pounds away from being at the weight at the end of both of my pregnancies. I was very unhealthy and I knew I needed to change and when I have said that I got too impatient and stopped eating great and gained weight again and then I kept repeating that over and over again but somehow on July 5th something clicked in my brain. I stopped eating all day, I started to drink a crap ton of water and when I do eat I eat less than I normally did. Here we are on September 5th and I've lost 15 pounds and my body has changed. I look in the mirror and am excited and happy with what I see instead of feeling crappy. Somedays I want to go back and eat all day but when I do I feel awful and wonder why I did that for a long time. haha I'm stronger and feel better when I don't stuff my face. haha I'm feeling so good and have made so much progress but I still have a ways to go and this time I'm being patient. :) 

There are questions that have been asked from friends so I will answer those! :) 

How do you keep your motivation up?/How do you stay motivated?: 

-If I don't workout and make time for me, I get grouchy and my family does not like it when I'm grouchy. haha 

What keeps you motivated to work out at home?:

-This one is kind of the same as the first question but since this virus hit I haven't been going to the gym like I mentioned. It's been hard but since I don't have the gym and my account is frozen then I have to work out somewhere and my sanity needs the endorphins and my kids and husband deserve a happy mom and wife. 

How do you find the time and space to workout especially with kids at home?:

-Great question! I send my kids up to quiet time (and now that school is starting I will probably do it while they are at school) and do it then. They interrupt me sometimes and it's frustrating but I still get it done. My living room is small but that's where I do it. 

How much water do you drink a day?:

I drink a gallon. Well sort of. haha I have a 25 ounce water bottle and fill it up 5 times so I drink 125 ounces every day. (a gallon is 128.) 

When do you think you will be back at the gym?: 

-Hopefully soon! But I'm not sure. I know this virus won't ever be gone but I'm hoping once it slows down a lot I will be back. 

My excited face when I realized that I haven't eaten out, and started drinking more water and eating less that I was down 6 pounds in 10 days. :) 

                                                        10 pounds down in a month! 

                                                It's pretty exciting seeing your body change!! 

I can tell that I'm getting stronger when I can do a 2 minute plank instead of a 30 second one. haha

The next picture I haven't shown anyone except for my husband and one other person so I'm a little nervous... but here goes. eek 

It basically looks the same from January to July but you can definitely tell something is changing from July on and it makes me so excited! 

I'm excited to see what happens when I keep going! 💗 

Easter 2019

Easter this year was so fun! I love spending time with my family. :) We celebrated mostly on Saturday. We went to the high school for an Easter Egg Hunt. There were age groups so it wasn't so chaotic. haha there was 0-3 so I went with Hazel, then Daniel went with Max in the 4-6 age group. Max got a lot more eggs than Hazel but they both still had a lot of fun! :) 

Then Max had a soccer game. He just mostly likes to run up and down the field. haha in the picture it looks like he has it, but he didn't. lol he wasn't paying attention then ran into another player. hahaha he's hilarious. 

When that was over, we went to my parents house and had food and Daniel made up a little scavenger hunt to find their Easter baskets. Max was awesome at knowing where to go when he heard the clues! 

Max got a new church outfit and legos and Hazel got a dress and a Puppy Dog Pal book that's has opposites. :) 

It was a really fun day and then Sunday we went to church and I tried taking pictures of my uncooperative children and I kept getting frustrated.... It's a good thing they are cute, right? haha 

Then after church we went to my parents house and had dinner and watched a program the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square did and while we were watching it we asked Max why we celebrate Easter and he said "Because Jesus died" and we started talking about it and dying and stuff and Max said something about if he died it wouldn't be sad because he would be in heaven and Jesus lives in Heaven. My mom then said she has someone in Heaven. She said that her dad is in Heaven. I was thinking he was going to be confused and ask who her dad was because he died 6 years before he was born. But he just pointed to his picture that is on their wall and said "I know, he's right there!" I never showed a picture of him or told him who that was. (although... I might have... I just don't remember. haha)  Everyone got really quiet. It was an amazing feeling knowing that they knew each other in Heaven. I love this gospel and that I will get to see my grandpa again. 

Wow, it's been awhile

So first of all, it's been over 2 years since I blogged. My last blog post was talking about Hazel being 15 months. She is now almost 3.5!  I have been wanting to keep blogging but I have kept forgetting. I have facebook so that's basically my scrapbook and I just haven't thought about blogging too. haha but I want to go back to blogging again but it will mostly be about the gym and losing weight and how it's going. There are people on my facebook that don't want to see everything so I will blog about it and whoever wants to see it, can go to my blog! I will still post about it on Instagram and Facebook but I have been taking progress pictures at the beginning of the month every month and I don't think I am ready to share those there yet. (Since I've only been in a sports bra and I know people don't really want to see that. haha) 

Daniel is great! He is still a mailman but he wants to be a supervisor at a post office. We will see what happens. He applied to a Utah Post Office and interviewed but he wasn't able to get them yet. So right now, we are staying here and hoping to find a house soon!

Max is doing fabulous in Kindergarten. He loves it so much. We had Spring Break last week and he was so excited to go back to school. I am going to have to find something for him to do during the Summer cause I think he will be bored. haha

Hazel is doing great! She is making lots of progress on her speech and will hopefully go to a Special Education preschool to help her more. She went to Speech Therapy in June for 6 months and that was so good for her and it was worth it but our insurance changed in December so we had to stop. She's made way more progress since then.

Well anyways, I'll try to be way better at blogging and not wait 2 more years. :) 

15 months old!

I'm not really sure how it happened but Hazel is now 15 months old. What?! How is that even possible!?! It makes me so sad but at the same time she is so fun and it's so great watching her learn and grow. 

She weighs 19.2 pounds (tiny! but she's growing so the doctor isn't worried.) and is 29.5 inches. She loves to eat. She eats EVERYTHING. Which is awesome since Max only eats like 5 things.

She loves taking a bath as long as she's standing up. If the water touches her butt she freaks out. haha 

She has 10 teeth (with the 11th coming in) 

She is a walking machine 

She loves to torture her brother and take his toys away and run (crawl) away from her. 

She sleeps through the night most nights. She was waking up a couple times randomly and I was getting exhausted. I finally just let her cry it out and now she sleeps all night (except for when she's sick or teething but not very much) 

She used to not be very cuddly, but she is such a huge mommy's girl and loves to now. She tolerates her daddy and loves to follow him around but doesn't really want him holding her. haha 

She is busy busy busy and doesn't stop moving and keeps me on my toes and makes me exhausted some days but she's seriously the greatest and she just loves life. She's the best. :)

Hazel is 1!

I have been slacking on keeping up on my blog. Hazel is now 1! The last time I wrote a post about her is when she was 6 months. Yeah... I'm pretty sure I kept up with Max more. Oops. Sorry Hazel. #momfail

Hazel Lynn turned one on November 4th! It's so crazy how time flies. She loves everything that has to do with being big. She's hilarious cause she's so little. She hates baby food and will eat anything you put in front of her. Which is awesome since her brother isn't like that at all. He freaks out everytime I put something new in front of him. Kind of annoying but glad I don't have to deal with it with 2 kids. haha she's standing and crawling and is so busy busy busy it's exhausting. haha 

Seriously, you guys. She's the best. I don't know what I'd do if she wasn't in the family. (that's cheesy. but it's true. haha) I just love being her mom. 

Max is 3!

Max is 3! You guys! Can you believe that?? Time is going by so fast! He's still supposed to be a baby. We had a construction party for him and I just have to say it rocked. I planned a great party! :) 

It was so fun! But it's all thanks to pinterest. Cause if I didn't have that I have no clue what I would do... haha 

-He can count to 3 

-He knows some shapes

-He loves being outside

-He loves to tease

-He's so much better with people ever since Hazel was born

-He loves any type of truck and gets excited whenever he sees one 

-He's getting way better at bathtime

-He loves giving hugs and kisses (especially "fart" kisses. Daniel taught him that one... haha)

-isn't potty trained yet. Tried but he's not ready. 

-loves going to nursery

-loves bubbles

-loves books

-still working on trying new foods. 

He's so fun and I can't believe he's 3. Time can slow down now... 

6 months!

I haven't blogged in forever! I guess I always kept forgetting. Last time I blogged Hazel was only a month old. Now she's 6 month and the best thing ever! :) She's still tiny at almost 12 pounds. She can roll over (Only when she really feels like it) she loves when people talk to her, likes to grab everything in sight, she loves bathtime and sitting up with help. She hates being tired, having dirty diapers and tummy time. She sleeps anywhere between 6-10 hours at night. She takes 3 naps and is a happy girl. When she's not happy it's either cause she doesn't feel good or tired. We just love her so much! Max adores her and ever since she was born he has been doing A TON better with people. Like, seriously guys. Remember when he would scream and think he was dying when people were holding or touching him? Doesn't happen anymore. He likes people. Hazel being here has seriously changed him. It's crazy.

Speaking of Max. He will be 3 (THREE!) next month!!! So crazy!!! Time goes by SO fast! 

I love being a mommy! :) Even though sometimes they make me want to pull my hair out and drive me bonkers, I love them so much and I can't imagine them not in my life. 

1 month!

I can't believe my baby is already a month old! Life seems to be flying by these days. It's crazy! 

Hazel has been a great baby so far. All she really does is sleep, eat and poop. Haha 

She eats every 2 hours and LOVES to eat. 

She's still sleeping almost all day. She sleeps about 4 hours at night then goes back to sleep for 3 more hours. A couple times she sleeps great and then other nights she is up for 3 hours and I am grouchy. Not a pretty sight. ;) haha 

Unlike her brother she is starting to love bathtime! She just needs a warm washcloth on her. :) 

She hates her carseat. When she realizes she's in there she freaks out. But then she falls asleep. :) 

So far she's been great and we love her! 

Hazel Lynn Romrell :) Birth story

Well guys! She's finally here! It's been a week already! It's so weird how time flies. As much as I love that she's finally here that just means she's gonna get bigger and bigger. I just want her to stay tiny forever! Well she can grow a little more so I don't feel like I'm gonna break her but when she gets bigger, she's forbidden to grow more. :) Since I had a c section, I don't have much of a birth story like I did with Max but I will try to tell the whole story. I just won't go into TOO much detail. ;) haha 

So Tuesday during the day, I felt my tummy harden and then go soft again, I just thought it was her moving into weird positions or something. It kept doing it and it started to hurt, but I still didn't think anything of it. We dropped Max off to my parents and I told my mom that my tummy kept getting hard and she's like well are you sure its not contractions? I was like well I guess but that's not how I was feeling with Max so I didn't know! haha but they went away while I was in bed (at least I didn't feel them anymore) I slept as well as I could, and woke up at 5:40 and got ready! We left for the hospital at 6:05 (Yes I was paying attention. ;) haha) and then got to the hospital and signed in and got all hooked up and the hardening of my tummy came back and they told me they were indeed contractions! I was shocked since they were SO different from what I felt with Max. They were 5 minutes apart! It was very exciting. haha a few days before I wanted to experience labor again which is weird but it was a nice couple minutes. Even though they hurt. haha then we got into the room and I had the spinal put in and started to feel numb right away. It felt so weird. I couldn't move my legs and my belly was numb. Then, Daniel came in and the surgery started. It felt like a long time to get her out but it was less than 10 minutes. She was born at 8:09 AM and she wasn't breech anymore! Which was kind of exciting! She was only 5 pounds and 15 ounces! So tiny! I was surprised. I totally thought she was gonna be like 7 pounds. I am wondering since she was so tiny and she wasn't breech anymore and in the position to come on her own that I could probably have a vaginal delivery. Oh well. She's here so I guess it doesn't matter. :) We stayed in the hospital for 3 days. C sections are rough. It's hard to laugh and cough and basically do anything. haha but it's totally worth it. :) But I still wonder if I could do it vaginally. I guess I can ask Heavenly Father when I die. ;) haha but I did pray and I felt like having a c section was the right thing to do so I guess it was a good idea. :) It's okay. She is here and healthy and that's all that matters. :) I'm now a mom of 2! So crazy! 

Isn't she so cute? :) 

When he first met her he totally ignored her at first. He didn't really want to hold her. But he did want to feed her. haha 

 I love this. Maybe having a sister won't be so bad? 

Going home! 

We love her already and can't wait to see how Max does with her. He's with Daniel's mom and dad in Eastern Idaho so I haven't gotten to see how 2 kids is yet. So we'll see! Hopefully he won't try to kill her. ;)