Farewell Dear Friend...

Last week the Estes family, particularly Paisley, said good bye to a dear friend.

A few days before we sent paci away, we talked to Paisley about it. Because if we would have just sent it away, the poor girl might not have survived! ha! Thursday night Sam brought home a huge Cinderella balloon and we tied paci to it. Paisley decided that she wanted her paci sent to Gma (in Arkansas) so that is where we told the balloon to go. (too bad balloons don't take directions very well) ;) After we went outside we let Paisley have one last suck on her paci and she was supposed to decide when she wanted to let it go...

Unfortunately that night was VERY windy and after about 5 minutes the wind caught the balloon, popped the paci right out of her mouth, and blew away. As simple as that, the balloon and paci was gone...

Trying to console a saddened little girl, we told her that since she was now officially a big girl she could have a cupcake!

SCORE!!

As Paisley was eating her cupcake Sam and I had a bad feeling about the balloon's departure because of how windy it was. The moment we opened our front door our worst fears were realized. The paci and Cinderella was stuck on the telephone wire right IN FRONT of our house! Like I could have almost jumped up and touched the dad-gum balloon!!

I began to panic!

What were we supposed to do?!?! If we couldn't get it down Paisley was surely going to see the poor lifeless Cinderella dangling from the wire stuck by her beloved paci. And that might be more trauma than this little girl (or her momma) could handle. But getting the paci down wasn't a simple task! Sam said we would have to call the electric company to come over and fix our little issue. How embarrassing!!! 

I could just imagine:

"Um ma'am, how did this balloon and paci come to be attached to this wire??"

"Well sir, I was just trying to get my daughter to stop sucking on her paci."

"So you thought placing it high enough that she couldn't reach was the answer? You know telephone wires are nothing to play around.."

"Yes sir...I won't do it again."

This was just simply not happening! Why could nothing be easy for our family???

After we put the kids to bed that night...Paisley crying for her paci...me traumatized by our parenting fail...I called my mom and sister to show her what happened. But when I stepped outside to let her see the crime see where Paisley's paci was clearly dead...it wasn't there. Thank you Jesus!!! Somehow it was released and sent on its merry way! I was no longer needed for me to shamefully deal with the electric company, and my family had been spared of this humiliation come dawn!

It's funny to laugh about now, but I seriously thought I was going die! ha! So the moral of the story is...don't let the paci toting balloons go on a windy day or near any telephone wires!

Simple enough, right!?

Little Miss Diva!

I CANNOT believe that Paisley went from this:

To this:

In two short years! 

Man I love this girl and all of her "girly-ness"!

I am SO blessed to be her mommy and I am excited to see who this little girl becomes.

(cue tears...)

We've got a tone of partying to do this weekend!!

Check in!

My goodness, once I announced my weight...in awesomeness, and my desire to lose a little, I felt like the eyes of the world were on me. This is creepy, scary, and oh-so-great (in an accountability kind of way) all at the same time. Have y'all ever seen the tv show "Ruby"; yeah, I am SO the blog equivalent, haha! Now I feel like if I eat a piece of cake Big Brother is watching and I'm going to be in TROUBLE, ha! There is just something about making your goals public that helps you actually achieve them! And for this I am grateful.

But the reality is I'm fat overweight and there's a reason for that. So this weight loss gig I've got going on right now is and will be a down right battle. I LOVE to eat...and I LOVE to eat sloppy, greasy, fatty foods! (this is really making me want some BBQ ribs right now) Truthfully I'll eat almost anything, because I'm a convenience eater...and an emotional eater...and a bored eater. Oh yeah baby, I'm a triple threat! ha!! This is why, for the most part, I am in my current condition.

Hi, My name is Brittany and I am a high maintenance weight loss gal. (first step is admitting) ;)

After going to the gym for two weeks straight, trying to eat right, and following my trainer's work out regime I am down:

YAY!!! 

Let's celebrate!

But I've got to keep it real with you. For the past two days I haven't made it to the gym, I've eaten cake, AND my "Five minutes in Hell" (may not be the official name, ha!) look a little like this:

Paisley tried her best to work out with me!

Things ALWAYS seem to pop up when I need to work out. The kids need a drink, Penelope needs fed, Sam gets home late for work, the kids beat me up while I try to work out, church, etc.

Granted these aren't bad, but I told you, I'm a high maintenance weight loss kind of gal. So if there is anything that hinders or messes up my plan...I'm over it. Because right now working out sucks. 

It does.

It just plain sucks. If you were to watch me work out (and oh my word, please don't, ha!), I look like a hot jiggly mess! Seriously, if you get too close while I'm working out you may be hit by a fat roll. But I keep telling myself it's all for the better. Every time I run, I can't look at the fact I need to run until I burn 400 calories (which for an out of shape lady is hard!). I run until I hit 200, and then I want to quit, so I pep talk myself into running until I burn 250 calories. When I reach 250, I want to quit, so I pep talk myself into 300 calories. And the cycle continues all the way until 400. ha! 

But when I do burn all I need to or complete a work out like I should, I limp walk out of the gym with my head held high. Because for that moment I am no longer the 211 pound hot mess. Instead I'm the girl who making a change in her life, and she quite frankly is unstoppable.

So my encouragement to you (and me!) is to not give up...it's okay to admit your a high maintenance weight loss gal (or guy), but don't let that be your only title. Let's keep deciding to make a change...because the one thing propelling me to continue? The fact that I'm going to be weighing in and photographing myself next week! I've so got to redeem myself some from the atrocity you gazed upon last week! ha!

Without My Permission...

...this little lady turned SIX MONTHS OLD today!

(sorry the picture is blurry)

Seriously y'all, she is the best.baby.ever!

Penelope loves to smile, laugh, and talk...especially early in the morning when I bring her into bed with us. 

Such a Chatty Kathy!

Pretty sure she started saying "da-da" the other day, and she is trying SO hard to crawl. Makes me sad to see our little Nelope grow so fast!

All of her siblings love her to death! Especially Miss Priss! After nap time everyday, Paisley asks to go see Penelope and say hi. So we head over to her crib and one of two things happen.

One - Paisley wants to climb in bed with Penelope

or

Two - Paisley wants to hold/rock Penelope in the rocking chair!

It really is SO precious!

Such sweet sisters!

Paisley has a big day coming up on Friday....tear.

Just A Whole Lot of...

...RANDOM!

There has been SO much going on lately around my house, not like that is new, ha! Nothing really big enough to blog about (...except one, which you'll know when you read it!), but I decided to share anyways. Hence the reason this post is entirely RANDOM!

* I have had such a GREAT response to my Bloggy Biggest Loser post. Many of you thought I was brave, and I can only assume it's because I posted my fat pics. It's not bravery...just stupidity. Haha! No, really I don't regret showing them, because it is all the more incentive to actually LOSE the weight. (told you I need severe accountability!) For all of you ladies wanting to join me, are you willing to log your stats and show your progress with me? It's no fun being the ONLY one. ;) C'mon, I challenge you to be honest with yourself, get comfortable with who you are, you don't have to LEAVE yourself at the undesired weight, but you should DEFINITELY love the body God gave you. Let's work together. ;)

* Also on the topic of weight loss, I realized the other day that I need/want to lose about 70 pounds total! Y'all that is a second grader! But, let's get it done!

* Sam had the day off from work (Yay for President's Day...banks are closed!) and he told me that I could have the day off too! What a blessing! I spent a good amount of time at the gym, worked on orders, and tonight I get feel pretty! (See next bullet point) ;) I am so thankful that I have such a sweet husband who acknowledges my hard work and let's me take a day off! Go Sam!

* Tonight I am getting my hurr did! It is about TIME! Awhile back a friend of mine turned my hair color from bleach blonde to brown. This was only supposed to be a transition into a red, so when a week later I added the red...my hair did not respond so well. I seriously look like a calico cat with shades of red, brown, blonde, and purple. Purple?!?! Yeah, it was no good, and my hair has permanently been fixed in a ponytail. ha! Thank the Lord that will no longer be the case!! Hallelujah!!!

* My business cards came in today, and they are FABULOUS!!! One side has different pictures of my products and the other has my business information. I'll have to post up a picture later!

* Did you notice that the blog is now naturallyestes.com instead of naturallyestes.blogspot.com?!?! Movin' on up! haha!

* Lastly, I was accepted into this exclusive group called The Artisan Group. Basically businesses who are accepted into the group get to gift celebrities their items. As a matter of fact, The Artisan group will be taking 100 swag bags to the Oscars and not only do the celebrities GET your items, but they take pictures WITH your items!!!!! What great publicity!!!! I didn't apply/get accepted until it was too late for the oscars...hopefully next year! Anyway, the other day we found out about an opportunity to do a swag bag for an A-List celebrity and his family....and I was CHOSEN!!!!!! So I get to make a custom headband for this celeb's daughter:

(via)

SURI CRUISE!!!!! Can you believe it?!?! I almost can't, and I am SO excited to make something fabulous...that she will wear everyday...and get photographed in...and appear in People magazine. (deep breaths, deep breaths) This is such a HUGE opportunity for Peas & Carrots, and I am so honored. After I make little miss Suri's headband, I will make other similar to it for y'all to buy! That way you can say that you have the same headband as Suri Cruise! SO COOL!!

...that about does it, I am heading out the door to be pampered!

Living on the Wild Side

Last night our Sunday School class had a little get together! It was SUCH a blast, and I enjoy spending time with them outside of class. It is SO important to have friends and feel plugged in at a church. ;)

Of course I had to get pictures of everyone...well I think I missed a few people, opps! For some reason our group got a little segregated at one point with all the women on one side and the men on the other. It's okay though, the girls TOTALLY had more fun chatting.

P.S. I am pretty sure that I am only wearing black until I lose the first 20 lbs. Black is slimming and I need all the help I can get, ha!

For our ladies group picture I made Lucy (the lady next to me) trade plates with me, because I didn't want my heaping plate of food sitting in front of me. Especially since I'm supposed to be on a diet! She laughed and sweetly obliged...not that I really gave her any choice, ha!

When it was time for cake I about died! That warm, gooey, chocolatey goodness NEEDED to be mine.

GET IN MY BELLY!

But this is all I got. :(

And if anyone tells you other wise They.Are.Ly-ing! ;)

After we ate...and ate...and ate, then we adults did the only natural thing next.

Play ROCK BAND!

But the best singer of the night was BY FAR Matt. And I have the video to prove it! (Man I LOVE iPhones!)







Good food, great memories, and a little bit of blackmail sprinkled in, makes for a fun night!

Bloggy Biggest Loser!

Okay, I recently reached a point in my life where I am just tired of always feeling HUGE and insecure about myself. Literally I would probably complain to Sam about how I felt like a cow almost everyday...while eating cookie dough. ha! It was easy to blame all the weight gain on having four kids in 5 years, and while those little bundles of joy may have done a number on my body...the current state it is in, is all my bad!

With that said, Sam bought me a gym membership. I was a LOT a bit mad that he would spend our limited income on something so silly like that. But he knew as well as I did that my guilt about him using the money for me, would drive me to actually USE the gym. Ha! The man is a GENIUS! Thus began this LONG journey to taking back my body!

I am someone who needs SEVERE accountability when it comes to eating right, going to the gym, and actually doing something productive at the gym. Taking a tour of the facilities and stretching doesn't count...or so I've been told. ;) Anyway, hubby thought I needed a more of a nudge in the right direction...which led me to my drill sergeant personal trainer. My first meeting with him, I knew would be rough, instead of leaving feeling better about myself because I worked out, I would inevitably feel worse because my current state was so bad! So I decided I needed SOMETHING to make me feel better about all of this...

P.S. It didn't help. ha!!

My trainer made me weigh myself, which was a shock to me, because up to this point I only guessed at what that pretty number would be. Now that I know, I think I like the guessing better, ha! After he saw my number he jokingly said, 

"Well we could wait a couple of days for your assessment and your weight would be the date."

I about went all Waterboy on that guy!

The dude is tough. He definitely does NOT let me get away with anything! I have even tried to pull the, but I JUST had four kids bit. Nope, not working.

And to help my accountability further I decided to blog about this journey. I'm partially crazy at the moment for posting these pictures, but I'm gonna do it anyway.

Here is what I'm working with right now:

That equates to:

But in this one case I'd like to be a little lot less awesome! 

Listen, if you know me in real life, there is to be NO mention of this number, got it! haha! 

....................................................

I know that there are other men and women out there in blog-land that would love a reason to start claiming their bodies back. Why don't you join me?? 

Every two weeks let's post updates, encourage each other, and hold each other accountable. This should be a no judgement time! I am working on adding a link up section at the bottom of the post as well as "Bloggy Biggest Loser" button for you to add to your blog!

For Pete's sake don't leave me hanging! 

Let's to it together! 

There is strength in numbers!