Before I began to move...

I am currently reading Julie and Julia and was inspired to start blogging in order to motivate myself.

Owen Seth Gasper was born three months ago on April 26. He is a new joy in our lives and I didn't know I could love such a little being so much.

I also didn't know that being pregnant would allow my body to expand (not contract) in ways I had never imagined.

Now you must know something... I am almost 5'9" - I like to say "Five Nine" when people ask how tall I am... it implies that I am tall and slender. There's something so beautiful about the number "9" don't you think? ANYWAY, before I was pregnant I was 5'9" and 145 lbs... at one time. I think that the real weight that I carried around was 153 when I got pregnant, and since I am writing this blog to keep myself honest, let's start there! I don't own a scale, so I honestly don't know, but I have that number filed away in my brain somewhere, so I think that's it.

So my BMI before I was pregnant was somewhere around 23. 23 is good, average, normal. There's something comforting about being that person. You just fit in.

I must rewind and tell you that during my first few months of pregnancy, I gained weight at a normal pace... a few pounds here, a few there, a beautiful baby boy was growing inside me and I was eating normally... maybe a few extra things here and there (let's be honest) but nothing insane.

Then all of a sudden the third trimester came and POW weight was attracted to me like bees to honey. I read in a book (one of the many that sat on my nightstand that I would go to for comfort but rarely find any when it came to my third trimester of pregnancy) that in the last month of pregnancy most women do not gain weight or sometimes LOSE it! WHAT?!?! During my last month of pregnancy I gained 3 or 4 lbs a week. No joke. It was unbelievable, I was like a balloon. That's about 12 extra pounds that the normal woman does not gain.

So let's start there. Let's start on the last day of my pregnancy, which happened to be my 30th birthday. I had notions in my head for much of my twenties, that my 30th birthday was going to be a BIG BASH. All my friends would come over, we'd toast my twenties and welcome my thirties. There would be dancing and talking and eating... there was eating.



What actually happened on my 30th birthday was that my wonderful husband and stepson made me a three layer yellow chocolate cake. (For those of you that know me and know my aversion to cake, yellow chocolate cake is the only cake I eat, and it is delicious!) I waddled my 205lb self (yes that was the last weight taken of me before Owen was pushed into this world!) around the house. My grandparents and aunt and uncle came over and sang happy birthday to me, which, if you know my mom's side of the family, is quite a treat because it's harmonized. And my grandpa ended it with "hip hip hooray!" which is another family tradition. It was a great day, not the day I imagined, but wonderful none the less. Little did I know that the next day I would shed 20lbs... 8lb 11oz of that would be Owen. He was a gorgeous new born... I know I am biased, but I am also honest, and some newborns are down right weird looking. Owen was not, I don't know how I got lucky in that arena!








So on April 26, 2009 a new journey began for me I became a mom to a newborn... and a woman with a BMI of 27 - which is definitely in the overweight category. It was a new beginning.