Category Archives: healthy living

Keeping Mommy and Baby Happy and Healthy

There is nothing more ever mother wants than for their babies to be happy and healthy, specially while in the womb. The not being able to physically see them for those nine months is agonizing, there is constant worry and hoping that everything is ok and baby is growing the way they are supposed too be. Of course we have check ups but if your anything like me then the knot in your chest before the doctor says, “everything looks great”, is always there right before those appointments.

I can’t help it, I’m a worry wart! I’ve always been that way but specially since this is my first pregancy and EVERYTHING I am going through is completely new to me and honestly a little overwhelming at times. I don’t just worry, I overthink. I know, not a good combination to have for a new Mom. Thankfully, I haven’t reached the googling every symptom yet so there’s a relief there, but I do think about everything I do, everything I don’t do, everything I eat or drink, everything I haven’t planned ahead for, just all of it!

I try really hard to make sure to calm myself down and know that, one, everything I’m feeling is normal. Two, the more I stress, the more baby stresses so breath. And three, ITS OK! I don’t have to be 100% perfect for this pregancy. If I slip and eat a deli sandwich, which I do try to make sure is fresh at least, its okay. If I wind up drinking two cups of coffee and then some sweet tea all in the same day, it’s okay! I don’t have to constantly keep track of every single thing, and you shouldn’t either! We will drive ourselves mad trying too!

Now, yes it’s important to know what you do and put into your body! It’s important to make sure you are giving baby all the good nutrition they need to grow healthy and happy. They may not be here yet but our jobs as mother’s starts the day we find out about them. So with that I do try and make sure I am eating good proteins, vegetables, and fats. I try to make sure I stay active throughout the week, cause as much as I love my job, I sit and stare at a screen all day for five days a week, so definitely not the best for you in the being active department. Every week is different and it doesn’t always go according to how I want, but I try, everyday I try, cause it’s not just me it’s our baby girl that I have to be healthy for. It’s knowing that if I can push myself now and do this for her there’s nothing stopping me for making this a life style and being better for her when she does get here.

I wanted to include the link to my favorite online workouts, its completely free, and the instructor is seriously amazing! She is my goals for keeping healthy and happy while having little ones.

https://youtube.com/c/PregnancyandPostpartumTV

Her channel, which is on YouTube, has a variety of different workouts for prenatal, pregancy, and postpartum Moms. She has fitness workouts, yoga classes, and a whole lot of tips and tricks on delivery! She even has a nutrition guide to help for meals. Her workouts aren’t crazy either, there are different ones for each stage of pregancy and most with little to no difficulty!

I would highly recommend checking her out and seeing all the different ways to stay active during your pregancy. Rather it being getting a good class in once or twice a week or even just taking some time for yourself to go on a walk each day. Staying active is key to keeping yourself and baby healthy and happy!

Below are a few of the videos thats are my go to for reference!

A Little Better Everyday

It only takes one moment, one second, of your day to make it better. Sometimes life feels like an overwhelming mix of to-dos and emotions. We forget that we essentially are in control. We go through life thinking that everything has to be done now, or how we feel about something is the only way we can feel. This is simply not true. You have the power to change your perspective. You have the control to decide what is allowed in your life and your mind.

If your feeling down, find the things that make you smile and do it! If your feeling sick, find what helps and do it! If your feeling tired, do what is best for you and find your rest! No matter what it is, no matter if its weird or crazy or unconventional, do it! Never close yourself off from finding the things that bring you happiness or peace or health due to anyone or anything! You matter! Your thoughts matter! Your health matters! Your peace matters!

Words are important, so say it with me…YOU MATTER!!

Do whatever you need to prove that to yourself today!

Gut Health Is Important!

I know. It’s been a good bit since my last post. These last couple of weeks have been more fun than you could possibly imagine!

Did my sarcasm come across okay? I really hope so.

Even though I’m still not 100% I really wanted to be able to update y’all as to why the sudden drop off.

A few weeks ago I started to get extremely bad pains in my stomach whenever I would try to go the bathroom. Now unfortunately my family has a history of gut problems, all of which I will spare you the details of, but simply put, going every 4 to 5 days is kind of normal for me. I know, thats horrible! I should probably see a doctor right! Wellll yeah, I have many many times. This particular case it had been 9 days. Y’all….9 freaking days!! Like Holy Hell! I was dieing! I tried everything from only eating fiber meals, drinking Miralax every day, taking softeners and NOTHING WORKED!! My stomach was to the point that it felt like my intestines were literally tied in knots and someone stabbing those knots with a sharp knife.

Now on the 9th day my stomach had gotten so bad that I just couldn’t anymore, I had my husband run me to the emergency room and we sat there for 5 hours while they did test and everything. The doctor came back and said, “here, just drink this magnesium citrate and you’ll be fine.” I really wish I could put an eye roll right now…

Of course I listened though, I was down for anything at this point! I drank the whole bottle and nothing happened till about the day after. Is it weird to get super excited about going to the bathroom? Like I was so excited, but of course things couldn’t be that easy… I was able to go but the abdominal pain I felt while going was excruciating!! This went on for another two days guys! I was able to get something out but my stomach wouldn’t stop hurting! Finally, on Thursday, I had my husband leave work to take me back up to the emergency room, this time the big one up in North Little Rock! 7 hours later! Yeah, 7 hours of sitting there hurting, bawling, and throwing up every pain medicine they tried to give me they sent me home again. Still not sure what was causing the pain and still no one to stop it. Now, they did run more test, checked my kidneys, and my appendix, which they found blood in my urine so that was wonderful but they checked pretty much my entire insides and still couldn’t pin point what was causing the actual pain. They thought kidney stones but the MRI they did didn’t show any, thankfully!

I can’t explain the amount of anger, sadness, and exhausting I felt though. I was done. Physically and Mentally. I hadn’t left my house, let alone my room for over a week. I couldn’t…it was either my bed or the bathroom and mentally I think it took more than it should have out of me. Physically I couldn’t do anything, all I wanted to do was sleep but of course with work and a home I couldn’t so it was a never ending battle.

I followed up with my primary doctor Friday, last week, and the appointment started just like the rest, me bawling. If anyone knows me, I hate crying. Crying when I’m trying to explain how I feel is awful and I get so mad that I can’t stop crying so it’s just an endless cycle. Anyway, I explained everything to him and gave him all the paperwork from each of the ERs. He called the last doctor I went to and they sat down and went through all my test, my MRI, my blood work, my ultrasounds, all of it! I was there for 2 and half hours. Woooo. Finally he came back in and gave me the news. My stomach muscles were shot.

He said he couldn’t say with absolute certainly but when my stomach was full of crap for those 9 days my intestines got swollen and inflamed. Well yeah makes sense, but he went on to say that since it was like that for so long with me pushing hard everytime I did go the bathroom the muscles around those areas were swollen and inflamed too. Pretty much, I was trying to push a baseball through a pipeline and all the muscles trying to do that work were shot and couldn’t do it anymore. Like straining any muscle in your body, if you dont give it rest it can’t get better. With mine though, I had drank two bottles of that magnesium citrate so yeah I had been using those muscles when I didn’t need to be.

Thank God for Dr. Roberds though! I love doctors that actually listen to you and actually work to help figure things out WITH you, not just for you but WITH you. He was able to give me a shot in my stomach to help the muscles relax and prescribed some medicine that was to help me get in front of this and keep the pain at bay.

Now everything isn’t 100% okay, but Dear Lord do I feel sooo much better! I still have some pains but it’s getting better everyday. I definitely never want to go through this again but I feel like I should say, if you have gut problems, TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR! Don’t wait. Don’t let yourself get to the point where your sitting in pain for weeks on end. Talk to them and figure out the best method for you to help your system run better. It may be as simple as eating a fiber bar once a day, it may be like me and you have to now take two pills a day, drink miralax everyday, and take a probiotic.

Don’t get to my point.

Talk to your doctor, cause I promise your gut health is so so important for how your body runs. How it handles food and gets rid of it. How it effects your physical state and your mental. How is helps you to really be able to do anything. Your gut is more than just where you put food. It’s where your body makes fuel and gives it, so please take care of your fuel system. Take care of yourself!

Your Practice Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect

This mornings Yoga and workout definitely didn’t go as I had planned, but honestly sometimes those are the best practices!

My sweet Callie decided she wanted a hug right when I was trying to do this move! Bless her!

It doesn’t have to be perfect!

It doesn’t have to go exactly how you think it should! I promise most the time it won’t.

It doesn’t have to be like everyone else’s practice, cause this isn’t Everyone else’s practice, this is yours! Your practice, and your time to come and just be!

The fact you took a moment today to just come and be with yourself. To come and breath in all that the day and world has to offer. The fact that you chose you.

That right there is what I want you to take away!

Your practice doesn’t have to be perfect. It just have to start with you choosing to take a moment for you!

The Road Not Taken – All That Is Needed

You will never see the world till you choose to go out into it.

You will never hear the sound of nature till you stop to listen to it.

You will never smell the sweetness of flowers till you go and find them.

You will never know the beauty of a location till you experience it for yourself.

And you can never truly discover all you have to give till you open up to who you really are.

So choose to discover! Choose to experience all the smells, sounds and sites of the world! Choose to be a part of this world!

You have so much to give and so much this world needs! You are wanted and loved! You are perfect just the way you are, and You are needed for this world to grow!

You need to hear these words, and You need to understand their purpose. You are the only one that can discover new paths and make new roads.

So find the roads not taken and discover the beauty all around you.

Find the roads not taken and share it with others. You never know how much they might need it.

Find the roads not taken and take them. You never know what you will miss till you do! You never know how much you might discover within yourself till you take that first step…

Acceptance is Hard!

Accepting yourself. Accepting others. Accepting our world. Its hard sometimes. Unfortunately acceptance is not something that comes naturally to many of us. It’s not something we just do, or that we are. A lot of times it’s something we really work hard at. To be able to accept the commodities around us. To Accept the people around us. To accept ourselves for who we are.

I honestly couldn’t say which is harder.

At what point in our existence did we as humans start to not accept anymore? To turn to a way where all we do is judge another or complain for what we have. Where we put so much expectation on ourselves to be a certian way or live a certian life, all for what? To keep up with this materialistic world we live in? To make sure no one sees our weaknesses or has negative comments to say? To fake a smile at a stranger cause we wish they would give us the same?

Why though? Why is it so hard for us to coexist on this place we call home? To live together on this Earth in total peace.

Why is something that is so easy to do so hard for us? Acceptance is as easy as saying, “okay”. Nothing more, nothing less. Just okay.

If for one day our World could look at its neighbor and say, “I see you are different than I, but that’s okay, we are all one being living on this Earth. We all share one world. We are all together forever.”

If for one day we could all look into the mirror and just smile, because we know that who we are is needed for this World! Who we are was perfectly made for this time now! Who we are at this moment is just the beginning of who we can become!

If for one day we all just accepted.

Imagine it!

Acceptance is hard!

The choice to choose not to accept though, is harder, but it is just a choice!

Your choice, to say “okay” or not.

Life can be hard, but Accepting doesn’t have to be!

Monday Morning Yoga – Beginners Edition

Good morning, I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready to conquer your Monday Morning! Heck your whole week!!

This morning we are going to look at a few key Yoga pose’s to help open you up for an incredible amount of breath and energy!

And it only takes 5 minutes!

Yoga is a great way to help wake your body up in the mornings and really get your overall energy and health up!

Benefits of Yoga:

⁃ Breathing! It helps to open your chest, and this will help with concentration and focus for your day!

⁃ Increased Energy and Mood! Feel good after knowing you took time for you and it helps your health!

⁃ Reduces stress! Allow yourself to relax! That is what you deserve!

⁃ Physical Strength! Grow your outer and inner strength through balance!

⁃ Mental Health! Don’t take this time for granted, truly come to your mat and just be. Do the moves that bring you energy and strength. Find peace knowing your mind and body are connected together, the way they should be!

⁃ Overall health! – sounds silly when you say but yoga is one of the easiest exercises to help your overall health! You don’t have to do the hour long practices either! Just a good five minute practice every day will help make you feel better, stronger, and with more energy!

Now with benefits like those, and so many more, do you think you too could spare 5 min from your day? Just 5 min to set yourself up for success!

It’s that easy!

Morning Stretch:

⁃ Start with hands by your side and breath in.

⁃ Go into Mountain Pose and make sure you reach as far as you can with your fingertips!

⁃ Grab left hand and pull to the right. This is a sideways stretch and opens the ribs. Do one side and then the other.

⁃ Hands back up to Mountain Pose.

⁃ Next, down to a Forward Fold. If you cant go all the way down that is totally fine! Only go half way, but make sure to breath!

⁃ Hands back up to Mountain, then back to a slight backbend. Release your breath when you go back!

⁃ Come up then go into a Goddess Pose! This is my favorite! Its such an Empowering move and really opens your whole body up!

⁃ Breath! Breath! Breath!

⁃ Stand up to do shoulder stretches. Left then right!

⁃ Take your hands by your side and breath in. Roll your neck to the right. Roll it to the left. Go one side all the way around twice. Then go to the other twice.

⁃ Come back to Mountain Pose!

⁃ Hands down, breath in the out, make noise when you breath out! Use your vocals to really get that last breath out!

⁃ Then, SHAKE IT OFF!

Whoooo! You did it!! See! Wasn’t so bad was it? And now you’re filled with extra breath for your body, your mind, and soul!

Now!!! If you want to push for more, below is an added on sequence to the top that I move through! I love really moving in my practice though! Just do what you feel comfortable with!

⁃ So you just came back to Mountain Pose after your neck rolls!

⁃ Let’s go down to Downward Dog!

⁃ Breath! Take a moment in this.

⁃ Down to all fours. Hands and feet. Make sure you Re-situate yourself!

⁃ Time for some Cat and Cow! Make sure your breath is alined for each. Don’t rush this! When your in Cat, check your shoulders, how do they fill? When your in Cow, hows your lower back? Be aware of your body in each pose!

⁃ Back to Tabletop.

⁃ Come back into a Child’s pose and breath.

⁃ Breath here for three good full breaths.

⁃ Come up and flip around to where you are sitting with legs straight out.

⁃ Stretch down to your feet. If you can’t thats completely okay!!! This takes time, and this is will come!

⁃ Hands up! Reach as far as you can with your hands while sitting!

⁃ Lay back all the way down!

⁃ Breath!

⁃ When your ready! Flip over!

⁃ Flow from plank to Downward Dog in one motion. Breath through this!

⁃ Once in Dog, walk yourself back up to a Forward Fold. (Half way is great too!!)

⁃ Breath in and reach up to Mountain Pose one last time!

⁃ Breath out and bring your hands to your heart!

⁃ Close your eyes and let go. Dont focus on poses or breath or any of it. Just be.

⁃ Open your eyes, take one more big breath in! Breath out and use those Vocals! Make it a breath that you are pushing Everything bad out of your body!

⁃ Then, SHAKE IT OFF!

You did it!!! How do you feel?

The time you take matters! Don’t rush through these just to say you did them. The time you make for yourself is your oasis. Own it, and Grow it.

Happy Mondays Loves! Go forth and make today and each day after YOUR DAY!

Morning Affirmations You Deserve

Say it with me, “I love who I see in the mirror!”

Again!

I love who I see in the mirror!

Now say, “I am happy, I am healthy and I am full of love!

Take a second. How did that feel to say? Are you just thinking it or actually saying it out loud?

What you say and how you say it mean everything when it comes to speaking to yourself.

Words are important!

Without words are world would be a blank canvas of untapped beauty. We need words.

From speaking to each other, being able to read and write, and most important speaking to ourselves words are what make up our lives.

Words are power and words are important! If you’re not use to speaking these types of affirmations out loud I challenge you, once a day for 30 days speak one of the below out loud. Go stand in your mirror or sit up in your bed in the morning and speak these words.

⁃ I am healthy

⁃ I am strong

⁃ I am full of love and happiness

⁃ I will be a flame for others

⁃ I will full my positivity

⁃ I have the energy to bless others

⁃ I am deserving of kindness and respect

⁃ I am beautiful

⁃ I am no less than anyone I meet

⁃ I love who I am

⁃ I love all that I have achieved

⁃ I love all that I can become

⁃ I will overcome anything

For 30 days, that is all I ask! Say at least one of these to yourself. If you can go to a mirror and look at yourself when you do that’s even better, you need to know who your talking too.

When you look into the mirror really look at yourself, the curves of your face. The dimples on your checks. Does your nose wrinkle? When you smile do you show teeth? Really look at yourself, study yourself and repeat at least one if not all of these affirmations. Don’t just whisper them…I want you to yell them!

Yell,

“I love who I see in the mirror!”

You are beautiful. You are strong, and You deserve unending happiness. No if, ands, or buts about it! You DESERVE it all!

Wash Away the Weight of the World!

This is my ritual bath I’ll take on certain occasions. This helps me recharge and reconnect with myself and my faith.

Water is our connecting form. It has always been seen as a way to cleanse oneself. From ritual cleansings, to baptisms, to just washing it away in the shower at the end of the day, water is our comfort. It is the universal breath we all need.

Doesn’t matter who you are, what you are, what you believe, or how you go about your life we all have this common “grounding” point. This connection that brings us, as living beings, together. Water.

Next time you feel lost, alone, nervous, tired, run down, overloaded, or just need an escape for a minute, I encourage you to take a bath. A real bath too. Draw the water at just the perfect temperature, set you out some candles or Incenses. Put your music on blast. Grab your favorite bath robe to get in after, and disappear for awhile!

P.S. This is the same even without a bath tub! Just take that time away and submiss yourself in water!

Baths can be the best way to escape without escaping. Bath’s are meant to clean you, but not just your physical body, your soul as well. So let it. Let each bath be a way to reset yourself. A way to help shake off the bad and put your mind back in a calming state to help you conquer your days, your weeks, even your months, or heck just life in general!

So take a bath!

And wash away the weight of the World!