So, I decided to start fresh here with a new blog. The last time I posted on my old blog was in 2011, and so much has changed since then!
First of all, let me introduce myself. My name is Kathie, my husband is Vince, and for privacy reasons I’ll just keep the kids’ names anonymous. I will refer to my oldest son as “Na-Na” (what he calls himself), and the youngest as “Jeb” (family nickname). Na-Na is 3 years old and Jeb is 5 months now (the picture in my header is a few months old).
The past 4.5 years of marriage have been a constant growing process for me. When I married Vince, I had no clue how to keep a house (beyond the basics of actually cleaning things and doing laundry that I learned while living with my parents). My only knowledge of cooking was how to follow instructions on the back of a box of processed food. I didn’t even know how to make scrambled eggs!!
My mother-in-law taught me so much about cooking, and I started learning how to make everything from scratch. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn much about what foods are healthy and nutritious right away (My own fault, for not thinking and studying for myself on these things. My mother-in-law is an excellent cook and very good at providing nutritious meals for her family! It just took me a while to catch up with her on that.), and so my first couple years of marriage were spent drinking a lot of soda and sweet tea, baking LOTS of goodies loaded with white flour and white sugar, and as a result, gaining a bit of weight.
Losing my mom to cancer in 2009, and also having a pregnancy with serious complications (severe pre-eclampsia) that same year, sparked a desire to learn more about nutrition. I started with very basic knowledge, learning that protein is important and that every meal should include nutritious fruit/vegetables. I didn’t make all the changes I needed to right away, but I was learning. In early 2011, I made a decision to cut out soda, white flour, white sugar, etc. and just stick to simpler foods for a while. I lost 15 lbs in the process. Then, in April that year, we moved to another state and Vince was able to get a better-paying job, so I started celebrating with food and gained some of the weight back. Also, my pregnancy with Jeb caused me to go back into serious carb cravings, and I gained a scary amount of weight! I did a lot of reading about clean eating earlier this year, and determined to lose the weight after pregnancy through nutrition. So far, I have lost just over 30 lbs of “baby fat” from just eliminating junk and eating a little cleaner. I still have just under 30 lbs left to lose to get to my “goal weight”, but I’m taking it one lb at a time and just focusing on nutrition.
So, that is a little bit about me. 🙂
Real Whole Family 