An update and BEW Weight Loss Jan. 25

My doctor's appointment was fine on Monday. He says he is pretty confident that my cycles will return to normal by losing weight. He did some bloodwork, to make sure it wasn't my thyroid or some other issue, and I haven't heard back from him, so I am assuming everything turned out fine. (He said he would only call if there was an issue). So, that gives me all the more motivation to lose weight! Here is my 3 week update:

Weight Loss Goal by April 14: Lose 20 pounds

Pounds lost this week: 1.2

Progress Towards Goal: 6.5 of 20!!

Favorite thing that I ate this week: My German Chocolate cake from Elite Treats! Yumm-o! I definitely ate way too much of it though, so I had to spend the rest of the week recouping from my birthday weekend! I'm definitely thankful for a weight loss despite the cake!

Favorite new Recipe that I made this week: Last night I made Avacado egg salad. Casey was not crazy about it, but I really liked it. You boil 4 eggs, chop up one avacado, put 2 tablespoons of mayo, 1 tsp of cumin, and salt and pepper. We ate it in a wheat tortilla, as a wrap, with chips and salsa. Since he didn't like it, I will be making it for my school lunches! :)

Exercising Goal: To walk or do the Wii Fit at least 3 times per week.

How many times did I work out this week? 4! I did the Jillian Michaels "Ripped in 30" workout Monday-Thursday. I'm planning on trying to do it either today or tomorrow as well.

I am only allowed to drink Diet Coke from Friday-Sunday.

Did I stick to that this week? I allowed myself to have a diet coke after my doctor's appointment on Monday. Partly because I needed it emotionally, partly because I had a headache and needed caffeine, partly because it was MLK day, which is technically the weekend, and partly because I am a giant cheater.

How did you guys do? Leave a comment or link up!

An important visit

I do not very often ask for prayers, but tonight I feel like I really need them. I am going to see Dr. Fothergill (my OB/GYN) tomorrow at 2:00. There are several reasons why I am going, and several reasons why I would appreciate prayers.

After losing Brittyn, he asked me what we were thinking as far as having another child. (This was about 2 weeks after losing her). I told him that I really felt like we would start "trying" sometime this past fall.

We have never been very keen on "trying" to have a baby for a couple of reasons. 1) We have seen people with fertility issues that really struggled to get pregnant, and we just never wanted to put ourselves through the emotional turmoil actively "trying" causes. We believe that if it is supposed to happen it will. 2) We have never had a need to "try". If we wanted to have a baby, I have always gotten pregnant the second I even had the thought..

Til now.

Since we lost Brittyn, my cycles have been very sporadic. This can definitely happen after having a stillbirth, so I am not super worried about it, but it is frustrating. I am pretty certain that I am not ovulating at all at this point. I have not had a menstral cycle since November 6. (This has happened to me before. Before we had Kailey, I was about the same weight that I am now, and my cycles completely stopped. I lost weight, and they came back).

Anyway, obviously I am frustrated, and I would just appreciate your prayers for my appointment tomorrow, and just for this entire situation. I do not want to have to like, get on Clomid, or something for my cycles to get back to normal. I would rather them just come back on their own, but I am not sure what the probability of that is.

I also need prayers, that I will be content in realizing that Brittyn may have been my last pregnancy, which is very hard for me. I am incredibly blessed with my girls, and I do not have a need to do any sort of fertility treatments to have another child, so if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. Probably, if it hasn't happened by the end of 2013, then we will not continue to "try" to have a baby at all.

So...please pray for my appointment tomorrow, and my contentment. I appreciate all of you!

BEW Weight Loss Competition-January 18

Happy Birthday to me! It is my third 29th birthday today! Time flies! Last weekend we went to Dallas to visit friends, and to go to a wedding, so I was worried about weight loss! I did pretty well this week, even with all of that.

Weight Loss Goal by April 14: Lose 20 pounds

Pounds lost this week: 1.8

Progress Towards Goal: 5.3 of 20!!

Favorite thing that I ate this week: That would definitely be my burger from Twisted Root Burger last weekend, but it was definitely not healthy!

Favorite new Recipe that I made this week: Today at lunch we had a potluck, and the theme was "Pinterest Recipes". I made a cheese dip that was so good! (again..not healthy!) You get the TGI Fridays spinach artichoke dip, and velveeta, and Rotel, and melt that in your crock pot. It was super yummy!

Exercising Goal: To walk or do the Wii Fit at least 3 times per week.

How many times did I work out this week? 3! I did the Biggest Loser DVD workout 3 days.

I am only allowed to drink Diet Coke from Friday-Sunday.

Did I stick to that this week? Yes! I only drank water and unsweet tea Monday-Thursday, and then today I rewarded myself with a Route 44 Diet Coke!

How did you guys do? Leave a comment or link up!

BEW Weight Loss Competition-Jan. 11

I was sick all week, so I was a bit worried about my weight loss! I did really well though (except for the exercise..).

Weight Loss Goal by April 14: Lose 20 pounds

Pounds lost this week: 3.5!!

Progress Towards Goal: 3.5 of 20

Favorite thing that I ate this week: That would be my grilled cheese with avocado sandwich, and La Madeleine Tomato Basil Soup that my husband got me yesterday!

Favorite new Recipe that I made this week: (same as above) Grilled cheese sandwich with avocado. Try it! It was so yummy! I just used colby jack cheese and mashed up half an avacado with garlic salt, then cooked it like normal. I got the idea from my friend Heather.

Exercising Goal: To walk or do the Wii Fit at least 3 times per week.

How many times did I work out this week? ZERO. I definitely did not exercise this week, seeing as I could barely talk or breathe from being so congested and feverish. Next week though, next week!

I am only allowed to drink Diet Coke from Friday-Sunday.

Did I stick to that this week? Yes! I only drank water and unsweet tea Monday-Thursday, and then today I rewarded myself with a Route 44 Diet Coke!

How did you guys do? You can link up, leave a comment on the blog, or leave a comment on facebook to let me know. Feel free to do it whatever day this week that you did it last week. So if you didn't link up til yesterday, you can link up on Thursday. :)

BEW Weight Loss Competition Week One

That is right, I am starting a weight loss competition! You need to join me! I know there are tons of my readers who need/want to lose some extra poundage. Some of you may only want to lose 10 pounds of Holiday Weight, some of you might need to lose a lot more than that! No matter how much you want to lose, I want you to join in the competition!

I am going to post every Friday about my personal weight loss progress. I am going to post in the format of those Maternity posts, except I will be losing weight instead of gaining, and also there is no baby. :)

This competition is called the BEW Weight Loss Competition, standing for Brittyn.Elizabeth.Williams. You pronounce it like Jew, but with a "B". The deadline for round one of the competition will be Brittyn's birthday, April 14.

If you want to join in, I am including a linky tool at the bottom of the blog, and you can link directly to your post about week one. You can model your posts after mine, or you can keep it much simpler, it is up to you. I am mainly doing this for accountability for myself, and that is why you should do it too...

BUT...

Whoever loses the largest percentage of poundage by April 14, will also get a gift card to their favorite store. And if I win, well I will just buy myself a gift card. :)
**If you want to be eligible for the gift card, you have to do your first post by next Friday, January 11th.**

SO here is my first post, and make sure to join in the fun!

Week One

Here are my pictures. (I know it looks exactly like a maternity post, right? But no, that is just my baby weight from Brittyn..no judgement, please.) :)

2012

What.A.Year. In a lot of ways I am happy to see 2012 go, but in others I am sad. After all, this will be a year without Brittyn, in any form or fashion, which is hard. I know that might seem like a weird thing to say. I'm ok with you thinking that.

I felt like I should blog about 2012, and then Kelly's Korner had a fun way to bring in the new year, so I decided I would follow her format:

1. What are you most thankful for?
2. What were the highlights of 2012 for you?
3. What are you hoping for in 2013?
4. What were some of your favorites of 2012? (clothes, movies, songs, TV shows)
5. Who was God to you in 2012?

1. I am most thankful for my Savior, my husband of 9 years (wow!), my three precious daughters, my house, my job, Casey's job, my Swaggerwagon, Chick-Fil-A, Starbucks, and Sonic Diet Cokes. (In no particular order).

2. Highlights of 2012 were: Turning 30 (surprisingly...), being pregnant, realizing how much my friends and family care about me, paying off a lot of debt, getting $5,000 of my student loan forgiven, watching Kailey and Makenna grow and change into little people with such personalities, planting and taking care of my Brittyn flowers, going on a cruise, snorkeling in Cozumel, Having the best group of students I have EVER had the privelege of teaching, meeting Angie Smith, celebrating 9 years of marriage, planning Makenna's Pink Lemonade Picnic 2nd birthday party, and planning Kailey's Pancakes and Pajamas Birthday party (shallow yes, highlight most def!)allowing God to use me to bless other people, through sponsoring a child, etc.

3. What I'm hoping for in 2013: To pay off most of my student loan, to become pregnant/have a baby, that everybody I love stays healthy, that God continues to mold me into who He wants me to be, that God continues to show me what he wants me to do with losing Brittyn, that we will fund one well for the people in Uganda in honor of Brittyn, that Makenna becomes potty trained (like now.),that I will lose at least 30 pounds (also like now).

4. My favorites of 2012: REVENGE (the TV show, not the action), REVOLUTION, Sonic Diet Coke (duh), Starbucks White Mochas, Chick-fil-A Chicken nuggets, Karen Kingsbury books, facebook, instagram, pinterest, my turquoise-ish nail polish color, spending time with my girls, watching/listening to the girls as they play together, the German Chocolate cake Casey make me for my birthday, My new red polka-dot Toms Casey got me for Christmas, my apple products, etc.

5. Loaded Question. God was my Peace in 2012. To say that my relationship with God was different this year than any other is an understatement. Through Erin losing Graham, and me losing Brittyn, I questioned God. Like a lot. I just didn't understand why we lost our babies. (Still don't). Through all my questions, and all my worries and doubts, God has been with me, and has given me so much peace. I know that He is in control of my life, and He has a greater plan for my life than what I have imagined for myself, and I have come to a place of trusting Him, even when I can't understand what in the world is going on. He is my Savior, my Redeemer, my Constant, and my Peace.

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from 2012: (I have SO many more. But I had to stop!)

Giving Vs. the "I Want" Syndrome

I want a bigger house.

I want to buy my children clothes from whichever stores I want, whenever I want to.

I want to be able to travel a few times a year, to all sorts of cool places.

I want to be able to go to a nice dinner for special occasions, even if it costs an arm and a leg.

I want to be able to buy the trendiest clothes and jewelry.

Really, the list could go on.

Obviously, that is my human nature talking, and not my Christian nature. We all battle some part of that nature every single day. When I look at my finances, a lot of days, all I really want is more money. To spend on me. Or my family. Obviously.

Yesterday, when Casey and I were looking at our budget, however, I realized, that for the first time in our marriage, our giving percentage is higher than every other category in our budget (except our house payment..which is another story for a different day). This made me so full of joy!

But what about all of those "wants" up above. I mean, couldn't I stop paying all of the money to my church, and to compassion, and to World Vision, and to Holden Uganda, and...you get the picture...and use it to do some of the things above instead?

Yes I could. A lot of people do.

But...those wants are not why I am here. Those wants, are not why Brittyn isn't with us.

I don't know why Brittyn isn't with us, I won't until we are in Heaven. One thing that God has placed on my heart within the last few months is the importance of doing things for God's Kingdom, in honor of Brittyn. I feel like that gives her short little 23 week life, purpose.

One way that we are giving, as of this month, is we decided to sponsor another child. There have been some months, where I looked at that $38 Compassion donation, and thought to myself "Man. I sure could use that money". Well, instead of taking it away, we are adding another $35 through World Vision. We found a girl, who was born the year Casey and I started dating...On Brittyn's birthday, April 14! Isn't that wonderful?? So Brittyn isn't here, but now this little girl's life will be forever changed because of our support! What a lovely feeling!

The second way that we are giving, is through Holden Uganda. Chet and Sarah Erwin started this organization when their son Holden was stillborn, when Sarah was 9 months pregnant. They, like me, wanted to do something to honor their son. They decided that they wanted to make 9 wells (one for each month of Holden's life) in Uganda. Well, after awhile, they realized that more people wanted to make wells in honor of their babies. Holden Uganda has now funded 108 wells for the people in Uganda! Each well has the name of a baby that has been lost, engraved on the side. (Go look at the pictures. Your heart might actually stop beating when you see the wells and the Ugandan people next to them!) Each well gives clean drinking water to 1,000 people. ONE THOUSAND PEOPLE.

Brittyn is not here, but 1,000 people get life.

Sign.Me.Up.

SO, we have chosen to fund a well for Brittyn. We need about $2,000 to fund a well. My goal is to have this well funded by Brittyn's birthday, April 14. We obviously cannot fund the well on our own by that date, so we need your help! I was going to wait until the new year to introduce this project, but since your donations are Tax Deductable, I thought some of you might want a way to keep a little more of your money, come April.

If you want to help us now, or in the next few months, or both, all you do is the following steps:

1) Go to Holden Uganda (look at the pictures of the projects!)
2) Click on "Donate/Support"
3) Click where you are located (USA, etc.)
4) Click "I do not have an account"
5) On the drop down menu select "Brittyn Elizabeth Williams"

Follow the payment steps. Help us make Brittyn's life have a wonderful purpose!