Mama’s Thoughts – Page 3 – These Crazy Montanas

The Montanas in Montana Part II

January 5, 2015January 5, 2015 Taryn and Tavia1 Comment

Our trip to Montana was nothing but amazing. We spent the first few days in my hometown, Billings, visiting family and enjoying every second. Then, we left for Big Sky to shred some “pow pow”. The weather was freezing, -20 to be exact, the snow was perfect, and the mountain was beautiful. I am not a very good skier, I’m so bad that most of the green runs were somewhat terrifying. The only thing going through my head most of the time was “make a pizza, pizza, turn, turn, holy crap!” The good news is that by the end of our trip, 3 full ski days, I was starting to feel much more confident! And there is an upside of being bad, I got a major workout! Talk about some burning quads and buns! (I may have counted that as my workouts) Our vacation was perfect; so much snow, beautiful mountain views, precious bundled babies, family naps, and priceless family bonding. We can’t wait for next year!

^^Max was a little too excited about our trip to sleep on the airplane ride home! Thanks Auntie Kienna for the pic! 🙂

I hope you all enjoyed your holidays as much as we did! Here is to an amazing 2015!!

The Montanas in Montana Part I

December 28, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

We have made it to Montana! Our flight was completely uneventful and even easy. My ergo baby carrier and chompy chic teething chewlery were a godsend. If you have a baby and haven’t checked Chompy Chic out..you need to. You and your baby will thank me! Anyways, we were welcomed here in Montana by the whole gang. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and lots of dogs! Max is in all his glory and so am I! So many babysitters! Family hackie sack sessions, cooking daddys, bunted baby wearing, and so much great grandparent love is what this trip has consisted of so far!

Stay tuned for some crazy winter workouts, our road trip up to the mountain, and how us Texans survive 19 degrees below zero, seriously.

Solids Y’all

November 22, 2014November 22, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

Well ladies and gentlemen, we have started solids in this Montana household. And to my dismay, Baby Max is not thrilled. At. All. We started with avocado. We had his Daddy, Mimi, Papa, and Auntie Kienna all here to witness his first bites of real food. At first, he was just excited because we were all cheering for him, and then, the reality of this ooey gooey new texture in his mouth set in. He gagged, gagged some more, and it all came back up. Poor guy. I knew this could happen so I wasn’t discouraged (yet). We tried again the next morning, and an even worse reaction. So we took a few days off, and tried carrots, fail. Then we tried oatmeal, by this time the kid gagged at the sight of his spoon. I felt so bad. He wasn’t ready. I don’t know why I felt like I had to rush him into solids. It seemed like that was the next milestone we needed to check off the list right at the six month mark. We have taken a few weeks off from trying new solids and just this morning we went back to the avocados. You can tell by these pictures how he felt. Ha!

He’s not super thrilled but this is a huge improvement from last time. There was one gag, and no throwing up. LOL! In a way, I’m selfishly glad he isn’t ready for solids. I am so not ready for our breastfeeding relationship to begin to end. Any of you other mamma’s experience this when starting solids?

Workin’ Out With Mimi

October 20, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

You all know that saying “I got it from my mama”? Well, I really did get it from my mama! Ha! She is the reason I am who I am today. The reason I love eating healthy, working out, and spreading what I know to others. I was lucky enough to grow up with her teaching me her ways to a healthy life. There are so many things she taught me about being healthy and having a healthy body image while growing up. These are just a few that are most important to me:

1. Leave the scale behind. No one cares what that number says and neither should you. It is all about how you feel.

2. Eat in as much as possible. It is much easier to control the quality of your food if you are the one making it.

3. Do something active everyday! Find what you love to do and just do it! It doesn’t matter if you love roller blading or weight lifting, just do something! Your body will thank you.

This whole post was inspired by my walk with my mom today that somehow turned into a “burn up the booty” session. We lunged between every other mail box, did step ups, and Bulgarian squats on park benches. That was our “something active” today. What was yours ?!

Precious Little Moments

October 14, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

Last week was one of those I can’t get my head above the water kind of weeks. Laundry was never ending, there were always dishes in the sink, and the little baby toys were always scattered randomly throughout my house (he isn’t even mobile yet, why are there toys everywhere? LOL). Why was last week crazier than all the other weeks? I took more time to just sit and watch Max instead of rushing to clean when he was happy in his jumper. We read so many books, sang so many songs, took long walks, and worked out at home together (he really likes to laugh at me). I took more time to enjoy the little things with that little babe of mine. Time is going so fast and it is making me one of those emotional moms. Just look at this little face…who wants to clean (or be any kind of productive) when you have these little cheeks to love on?! So, my new goal is to slow down, enjoy every little second I have with this baby while he is still just that, a baby!

Before you get bombarded with sweet baby pictures, here is what we like to do on our long walks!

The Walk Challenge

Walk for 10 minutes do 15 burpees (yes my neighbors might think I’m crazy HA) and repeat

At every bench you walk by, do 15 step-ups on each leg

After you finish your step-ups do 15 push-ups followed by 20 dips on that same bench and continue walking!

This makes our walks a little more exciting for me and baby Max! Try it! Let me know what you think!

The Pumpkin Patch

October 5, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

I have been looking forward to the pumpkin patch since I found out I was pregnant with baby Max. I’m such a sucker for fall traditions. Baby Max was such a champ, he only cried a few times, ha! We are so lucky to have family close that all look forward to partake in these types of photo ops. Prepare yourself for picture overload.

I can’t post this without at least a few health tips!

1. Bring a water bottle!

2. Drink a protein shake or eat before you go. That will help curb your cravings for those funnel cakes and corn dogs.

3. Wear sunscreen! (yep, I officially sound like my mother)

Clearly, we enjoyed our day so much! I hope y’all had a great weekend! How many of you have checked out the pumpkin patch?!

Pregnancy Throwback

October 2, 2014October 2, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

Well, pretty much all of my friends are pregnant right now, which has me feeling all nostalgic about my pregnancy. I absolutely loved being pregnant (lies, the first trimester was pretty awful). I wanted to share my top 5 tips to make pregnancy a wonderful, healthy experience.

1. Drink Lots of Water.

I can not stress enough the importance of staying hydrated during pregnancy. It is a natural energy booster, and trust me, you need to all the energy you can get. Being hydrated helps keep all of our organs functioning properly and will help keep those pesky pregnancy symptoms stay away. Especially those headaches!

2. Walk. Walk A Lot.

I took a walk every night. Walking outside in the fresh air helped give me energy, relieved my nausea (especially in those first dreaded weeks), and even helped me sleep at night.

3. Eat Your Vegetables.

Especially those dark leafy greens like spinach, and kale! The vitamins found in vegetables are so great for your baby’s cell growth. Not to mention they will help keep you healthy!

4. Buy Maternity Clothes.

There is something so exciting about putting on maternity clothes (which are super cute now days). They are made for your growing belly and will make you feel so much more comfortable in your skin! You are growing a little miracle in there and you should feel so proud to show that belly off!

5. Educate Yourself….Carefully.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and interview new doctors if need be! It is so important that you and your caregiver are on the same page about what you want for your pregnancy and birth. The end goal is a healthy baby and healthy mama, there is no wrong way to get there. On the flip side, don’t read too much. There is so much information out there, some of it is so great, and some of it is terrifying. Remember, our bodies are made for this! We all have our mama instincts and we need to trust them!

Everyone is so different. If you have things that helped make your pregnancy more enjoyable, please share them!

Here is my belly transformation through pregnancy! So crazy! Our bodies are amazing ladies!

12 weeks to 20 weeks

30 weeks to 40 weeks

1 week postpartum vs 1 month

Stay tuned for next weeks post about my post-pregnancy healthy tips and tricks!

It’s Fall Y’all

September 26, 2014September 26, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

YAY! I have been waiting all year for this. It is officially fall and I wasted no time getting all of our seasonal décor out! There is just something about fall that makes me so excited! Poor Max has to endure all my excitement and picture taking all by himself. Just wait until we go to the pumpkin patch, my camera will have never seen so much action. If my husband didn’t think I already went overboard with fall decorations, I would still be at Hobby Lobby bargain shopping cute pumpkins and anything else I can get for 40% off! He he.

Protein Packed Oatmeal Pancakes

September 24, 2014September 24, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

I’m not usually the kind of person to brag….but I’m bragging today. I kind of feel like a culinary genius (ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration), I made the best protein pancakes this morning. They are super easy to put together and delicious! Here is what I did!

Ingredients:

2 whole eggs

1 tbs Greek yogurt

1 scoop Orgain Organic chocolate protein

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup organic almond unsweetened almond milk

What you do:

Blend all ingredients in small blender

Pour onto skillet on medium-high and cook like a regular pancake

Tah-da! The best breakfast creation. I topped mine with a 1 tbs of organic peanut butter and 1 tbs of pure maple syrup

Disclaimer: I messed up with the pancake flip, so mine don’t look pretty. I promise they are delicious. This recipe will make two regular size pancakes or one giant one 🙂

Good luck flipping and enjoy these little pieces of heaven!

-Tavia

A Family Affair

September 22, 2014 Taryn and TaviaLeave a comment

One of my favorite things to do is workout with my husband. Little did I know, having a baby would make that pretty much near impossible. We were able to make that happen this weekend! Finally. There was one small hiccup, baby Max would be joining us. Luckily, Max stayed pretty entertained in his walker and thoroughly enjoyed watching his daddy lift some weights (he seriously did not want to watch me, what the heck?).

Here is what we did:

Back/Triceps:

Round One:

Straight arm pull-downs on the cable machine (20 reps)

Single-arm dumbbell row (10-12 reps) Make sure you pick a weight that is challenging!

Complete these two exercises together 4x through