This adorable couple braved the cold wind for their engagement at the Missouri Botanical Gardens this afternoon with me. I had a wonderful time, and couldn’t wait to post a quick one from our shoot. I’m off to Indianapolis for a photography conference, but I’ll have the full post when I get back.
It’s Aidan!
This completes week 4 of my gym challenge. Go pink team! 
I can really feel myself getting stronger, and I’m able to do SO much more than I was just 4 weeks ago. It’s incredible! They have a fitness evaluation they do at 4 weeks, and I’m really excited to see how much I’ve improved…This week I lost another 3 pounds, so I’m down 14 pounds in 4 weeks. I was hoping to lose 20 during the challenge, so I’m exceeding that by far, and I’m so happy! Everyone is super supportive, and it makes things that much easier. Especially Dan, who is forced to eat nothing but healthy foods, at least when he’s around me. That’s ok. It’s good for him – right?!
My tip for this week is eat SNACKS. I think that’s the most important change I’ve made during the past 4 weeks that I’ve never done. Kashi makes fabulous tasting snack bars. They only have 100 calories, and they have plenty of fiber and protein. I usually have 3 snacks a day. One after breakfast, one after lunch, and one after dinner. (Usually 2 hours after a meal.) Other snacks that I enjoy are celery sticks w/ Laughing Cow Cheese, carrot sticks w/hummus, and those frozen veggie bags that you just pop in the microwave – I usually eat the broccoli and cheese ones. YUM. Aidan loves those, too. These snacks have made it really easy to drastically cut my calories and to still not be hungry. It really does work! Some days, when I’m in the gym 2 hours and I’ve done a LOT of cardio, I have extra calories because I’m STARVING. I’m not all about starving, so I eat a little extra. So, there you have it. My weekly health tip. It works for me, and I hope it works for you, too!
What about my blog readers??? What changes have you made that help you to lose weight?
And, here’s your regularly scheduled dose of Aidan. Happy Friday!
I couldn’t decide if I liked it better in color or B+W. What’s your vote?
And Aidan is LOVING it.
One more cookie. One more minute at the park. One more story. Everything is “one more” with this kid. (Notice the ONE little finger sticking up. 
)
Well, it’s that time again. Weekly weigh-in time. You thought I forgot, didn’t you! I had trekking class, met with my trainer, and then we weighed in. I’m down 3 pounds this week, for a total of 11 pounds in 3 weeks. I’ll take it! It’s been extra hard now that Dan is home. He’s so NOT on the wagon, but I’m trying to get him there. We’ll see how that goes. I think we’re going to hit up a spinning class next week. He used to go all the time when he was deployed, but I’ve never been. I was talking to one of the trainers who leads the class, and she said you can burn 1,000 calories in an hour-long class. Um, I’m guessing it’s way harder than it looks?!
So, I was trying to come up with a good weekly tip that has helped me out, and I was having a hard time with it this week. So, how about a tip for kids instead. All kids like pizza. Even Aidan. He was introduced to pizza about 2 months ago, unfortunately. (Yeah, he’s forced to eat healthy foods, too! No more pizza.) And Dan actually shared this tip with me. His mom fed him this as a child, too. Just take an english muffin (we only use whole wheat), then put a little marinara sauce (we make our own, so there’s no extra sugar), and then top with low fat mozerella cheese, and toppings if you’d like, and put it in the toaster oven until it’s melted to your liking. Aidan LOVES it. And he doesn’t even know it’s any different than the real pizza. This little treat is also really good if you’re in a hurry for lunch, like when we come home from swim classes and Aidan’s screaming, “Bites! PLEASE?!” That’s when I pop one of those suckers in the toaster oven.
And…here’s a quick pic of the little guy. Have a great weekend everybody!
Aidan and I headed over to my sister’s house today, and while I was there, I forced my niece to pose for a few quick shots with my new baby. My new Nikon D700 arrived last week, and let me just tell you I am in love. Seriously. If I wasn’t already married, I would totally marry this camera. I can’t WAIT to shoot a wedding with this.
So here is Haley. I really love her freckles. Isn’t she the cutest?
Round 1 with this sweet girl did not go so well, but luckily, she was wonderfully cooperative for round 2. Her mama and I were SO excited. She even slept for a few minutes of our shoot. Stop here if you don’t want to get the baby fever!
Her mom and I were so excited she was asleep for a few minutes. Her mom was so patient, and it totally paid off.
Doesn’t she have amazing eyes? They’re just so beautiful and alert!
This was her mama’s idea. The rocking chair was the baby’s great grandmother’s. Isn’t that sweet!?
My favorite shot of the day. I couldn’t believe she smiled! I love it. And look at her little toes peeking out of the cocoon. I could just eat her up!
More yummy baby toes. Who can resist those?
Tessa’s eyes are so big and beautiful! This was a re-shoot from last week. We had MUCH better luck this time. She only peed on her mama one time. Here’s a quick little preview of this little sweetie. I can’t wait to show the full preview. It’s coming tomorrow, along with a bunch of personal updates, too. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited Aidan and I are to have Dan home from Japan. Happy Tuesday everyone.
So we’re just going to skip those few weeks we didn’t do a photo. Aidan has come to hate it! I’m going to have to find someone to take our picture for us because he will NOT sit still for the self timer. I do need to buy a new remote….wait for it………………………..FOR MY NEW CAMERA! I’ve been waiting a while for this puppy, and it finally arrived yesterday! My new D700. It was love at first sight. Anyway. Here’s our picture.
AND it’s time to weigh in! I weighed in this morning at the gym after our crazy trekking class. Let me be the first to tell you, that is the most challenging, yet motivating class ever! It’s just running intervals on the treadmill for about 45 minutes, but they blast really fun, pumpin kind of music the entire time, and everyone is SO motivating. It’s such a blast, and the class was packed this morning. Anyway, so I went to weigh in afterward, and I’m down 5 pounds. So, I’ve lost 8 pounds in 2 weeks. Craziness. (I use that word way too often, sorry. I can’t stop!) I’ve just still been eating super healthy foods and living at the gym. I figured I might as well, since Dan is gone and everything…And it’s good for Aidan because he adores playing with the other kids, and it’s great for him to spend a little time away from Mama. I was thinking every week when I weigh in, I would post a little tip that’s helping me be successful. Maybe it’ll help somebody else, too!
So this week’s tip is the Biggest Loser Family Cookbook. There are so, so, so many great recipes in there, and they’re all low in calories and all very healthy. The other day I made the Hula Pizza. If you’re a fan of the California Pizza Kitchen BBQ Chicken Pizza, you’ll love it! Basically you cook a whole wheat tortilla in the oven for 2 minutes, flip it, cook it for another 2. Take it out, put on about 2 tbspns. of low-carb BBQ sauce, add some goat cheese, pineapple, and anything else you want. Then cook that for a few minutes, and voila! An EXCELLENT dinner. And I think it was only about 250 calories. I added some chicken and onions to it, so it was probably more like 350, but it was a great meal. So there ya have it. My weekly tip. Anyone else want to share? I’ve received so much encouraging feedback, mostly via email, from friends and clients who say they need to lose weight. So my challenge to you is to post how/what you’re doing here! It’ll help you get accountable. We can motivate/help each other. Come on. I dare you. Don’t send me an email – post in the comments section! Happy Friday everyone!
Aidan and I went to the Transportation of Museum on Tuesday with a local playgroup. It was our second time there, but the last time we went to the MOT, Aidan was still a very little guy – probably abou 17 months or so. He enjoyed it MUCH more this time around. Now trains are one of his favorite things in the world. He cried when we left, and he’s not usually one of THOSE kinds of kids. Needless to say, I went ahead and became a member so we can go anytime we want! Not a bad deal.
And just for fun, here’s a shot from the last time we were there. Dan had just returned from his deployment.
Maybe I should tell him this isn’t exactly how you play baseball?!
Some Aidanisms of late:
1. They’re songin’, Mommy! (He won’t say signin’, it’s always “songin’”. How cute is he?)
2. He can count to 12 all by himself! (We’re working on 13-20 now.)
3. He knows all his colors. I think his favorite color is pink. (Or maybe purple since he likes Dora and Barney.)
4. He’s is truly proportionate. I weighed him yesterday, and he’s still at 38 pounds, and he’s 38.5 inches tall. (That’s the 97th percentile for both. Yikes! He’s going to tall like his Daddy!) His 4T clothes are getting snug.
5. Today when we were driving home from the gym, Aidan randomly started asking, “See Rachel now?” That’s his auntie Rachel who lives in NYC.
Me: no, Rachel lives far away. Where does Rachel live?
Aidan: New Ork.
Me: That’s right!
Aidan: Opa in New Ork. Oma in New Ork.
Me: Yes
Aidan: See Oma now. See Opa now. See Daddy now?
Me: No, baby. All those people are far away right now.
Aidan: Awwww. Far way. (And then he put on his fake pouty face.)
6. He loves hop scotch. Today he put his Elmo stickers all over the kitchen floor and started jumping on them while yelling, “Nanee (That’s how he says his name.) hopscotch!”
7. Every week during our trip to the grocery store, Aidan gets a little treat. Either strawberry or chocolate milk. He calls it “Bun Bun milk” because of the bunny on the side.
8. I’m enrolling him in soccer. Yes. Soccer. A class full of 2-year-olds running around like maniacs next to their parents. Can we say chaos?
9. At swim class last week, he was swimming on his own with only the belt around his waste! I was so proud of him, and you could tell he was super happy. He had the biggest smile on his face.
10. We have a nightly ritual of saying goodnight to all his friends who sleep in his bed. The other night, I couldn’t find his Camel, but I said “Night night camel,” anyway, hoping he wouldn’t notice. (He sleeps with Barney, Camel, Elephant, Ben, Bear and Horse every single night.) He noticed. We spent 20 minutes searching for that crazy thing. There’s hardly room in his bed for HIM. I think it’s time to look for a twin-size bed!
We had gorgeous weather for this engagement session on Saturday. Heather + Dan wanted their engagement pictures taken in Forest Park, so we spent 2 hours making our way all across the park! Good thing I brought my walking shoes! (My trainer, Tracy, would be SO proud.) We hit up the Muny, Art Hill, The World’s Fair Pavillion and random places along the way. These 2 are so much in love, and they were laughing and kissing the ENTIRE time. Seriously. I had a blast on this shoot, and I can’t wait for their wedding next month. I’ll see you 2 soon!
This sweet baby girl gave her mother a run for her money at our shoot on Friday! We ended up throwing in the towel because she pooped CONSTANTLY, and she did not want to sleep…I only got a few shots, but here was one that I really liked. We’re going to have a round 2 next week.
