Having Kids, Equals Being Fat... {Truth or Myth}

When i talk to women who don't have any kids yet.. the biggest thing i hear from them is

"Im so scared I'm going to get fat". Or that they assume they WILL for certain.

And my response..

"It doesn't have to be that way!"

My name is Christa Cox! Im 24, married for 6 years, and I am a mother of 2! I LOVE fitness, which is a good thing because i battle Hahimotos Hypothyroidism. For those who don't know what that is.. my body is attacking my thyroid (metabolism gland), so losing weight, or trying not to gain it for that matter, will forever be a war that i fight.

I think my story scares a lot of women. during my first pregnancy, i gained 60 lbs! bUT you have to understand, I gained my weight due to eating poorly! Yes i had health issues that i wish i could blame it on. I had high blood pressure, had to quit my job, and be on semi bed rest for 8 months!

BUT, if i had been eating right… i wouldn't have gained so much!

So yes, i couldn't control my health issues, but i could have controlled other factors in my life regardless!

But say you do gain a bunch of weight like i did, for whatever reason. 

Maybe you've already had kids and the damage is done.. Well guess what? ITS NOT TOO LATE TO CHANGE YOUR HEALTH!

I stand here today, with two kids, Hashimotos Hypothyroidism (no metabolism), and am 70 lbs lighter!

Its NEVER too late!

Its not easy! But it is do-able!

So I've broken down 4 key point BEFORE/During pregnancy to hopefully ease any anxiety about having kids and staying fit. And 5 key points to lose weight after kids and keep the weight off all while being a busy mom!

Before/During Pregnancy

1. DONT GET TO THAT POINT! Its so much easier to not gain weight, then it is to lose! You need to gain about 30-40 lbs, but any more is unhealthy. So PREPARE yourself before hand and educate yourself on proper diet and still working out during pregnancy!
2. Dont Make Excuses for Yourself. You are NOT eating for 2! You're eating for 1 and a rice bean, then a lima bean, then a banana. Adjust your diet to how big baby gets. Being pregnant is NEVER a good excuse to eat bad food. Telling yourself "Well I'm just going to get fat anyway" is only going to set yourself up for disaster. Your belly gets bigger cuz BABY is getting bigger. Extra lbs and poor diet might not show as much during pregnancy, but it for sure will after!
3. Start Early! Eating good and working out needs to be continued as soon as you find out you're pregnant. My first pregnancy, i stopped working out due to fear of miscarriage. 60 lbs later…. i WRECKED my body and probably caused the high blood pressure. The extra blood flow while working out is so good for baby!
4. Drink Lots Of Water! Drinking lots of water is the #1 thing that will help your skin to stay healthy and get less stretch marks. Heredity has a lot to do with stretch marks, but dehydration will for sure make it worse! I barely drank enough for my own body, let alone the extra body i was growing inside me.

Losing Weight AFTER Pregnancy

1. Number ONE thing is diet. No matter how much you workout, if your diet isn't up to par, your workouts are in vain and pointless.
2. WORKOUT! Believe it or not, baby DOES sleep during the day. Get your workouts in while baby sleeps. After work at night when baby is down for the night. Have your significant other watch baby while you workout. Get a gym pass that has daycare. You adjust your options for your own personal life. You make it work!
3. LET GO OF YOUR OLD BODY! After baby, you will 95% of the time never get the body you had before. Your hips will be slightly bigger, a stretch mark or 2 (or 5,000 in my case). You won't get your high school frame back. But guess what? You aren't in high school anymore.. you're now a MOM! So set new goals and aspirations!
4. ACCEPT your new body and life. Stretch marks are not a bad thing. They are your battle marks for being the amazing strong women who grew a life inside her body and sacrificed EVERYTHING about her body for her baby! After all, that is the definition of mom! And a little tip.. Victorias Secret will be your best friend for your new mom rack ;)
5. Lastly… 

REFUSE TO FAIL!!!

PERIOD! 

Young&Restless Blog

Christa's Instagram: @ChristaCox3

Dealing With A Difficult Child...

We all know they are out there... "that kid". 

The one that wont share, the one that hits, the one that doesn't listen. The kid that talks back and mouths off.... "THAT kid"

Well what if that kid happens to be YOUR kid??

Braylee isnt "THAT kid", but she has the tendency to be that kid lol.

This post is mostly my advice on dealing with a difficult child. My situation.. followed by a 5 step process in how to handle a difficult child :)))

Before i get into this, let me just state that i LOVE my baby girl. My tiny peanut princess who made me a mother for the first time. She is my BEST friend and i really mean that!

I write this post to maybe help other parents who have a kid like mine.

Ok. lets begin.

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From day ONE (ok maybe day 3), Braylee has been DIFFICULT. We brought her home from the hospital and she would sleep for about 2 hours at a time, but then would wake up to eat, and not go back to sleep. This turned into her being backwards with her sleeping. Basically she slept all day, and was awake all night. I kid you not, this lasted 2 WHOLE MONTHS! Mom got no sleep.

In that 2 months, Braylee eventually developed acid reflux and colic. So she kept me up all night, and would scream non stop all day. I swear she never slept...

Yes, there was a light at the end of the tunnel with the sleep. Slowly but surely, at 1 years old, Braylee would sleep through the night.

Once she was 12 months old. Her terrible 2's started! I figured, oh joy, she is going to have her terrible 2 stage now, and be a normal 2 year old! NOPE. It got worse at age 2. Then people started telling me, "oh you just wait till she's 3. It gets worse.". I figured there is NO way.. WORSE then this tantrum throwing devil 2 year old?? No she had terrible 1's, terrible 2's, we are going to have a GOOD 3 year old! Literally, the day she turned 2, she threw THE WORST tantrum EVER on her bday, and terrible 3's began!

Now. She eventually mellowed out at 3 1/2 years old... but i have just come to terms, that Braylee is my "difficult child" and always will be. Thats just Braylee.

Braylee has to do things HER way, on HER time. She has always been that way. She is feisty, loud, jealous.. my mom calls her little Tinkerbell :). She will let you know when she is mad. She has no shame making a scene out on public.

Now dong get me wrong. Braylee has manners, she is a sweet girl, she plays well with her friends. She has the sweetest little voice, she defends her friends (especially younger kids). She really is a good kid! But at the drop of a dime, her temper can get the best of her..

Now why is this?

How can she be so good, but so bad??

Maybe Braylee is this way because she is a Gemini (split personality thing). Maybe she got some of her fathers bipolar disorder.. who knows!

But what I think... is that we are just handling Braylee correctly!

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THIS is where my parental advice comes in!

• Let them BE them self!

-Like i mentioned, Braylee just IS they way she is. We know this. And we love her for this. We know she is feisty  We know she is GREAT at expressing her emotions.. and we dont try to change her. We help her to maybe handle things in a better way.. remind her... but i would NEVER try to make Braylee stop being the way she is. She likes to handle things on her own time, so we let her do that (unless the situation calls for something otherwise).

• • LET your kid express them self!
  -Not letting your child properly deal with their emotions is SO bad on your child! Children act the way they do for a reason! They are learning WHAT their emotions are and how to handle them. Only disciplining and not letting them express them self only makes inner destruction in your child. If they cant deal with their emotions.. it becomes destructive.
  -BUT, in the same sense, be a parent! Dont LET them hit. Dont LET them kick doors down. Dont LET them mouth off and talk back to you... 
  which brings me to my next advise.. 
  
  
• Get to the bottom of the problem!

-Anger is a SECONDARY emotion. There is ALWAYS a different emotion that leads you into anger. Frustration, sorrow, confusion, etc. Think about it. Anytime you're mad, its because your sad about something (like you gained a pound that day) and that makes you mad. or you're confused, which can lead you to be angry. Kids dont always know WHY they feel angry.. and it can scare them! Hence temper tantrums. They are mostly scared and confused at WHAT they are feeling. They dont know what sorrow is, or confusion. They dont understand WHY a kid would take their toy, etc. 

• UNDERSTAND

-I think understanding is one of the hardest things to do for us humans. Its hard to put ourselves in other peoples shoes. Its hard to see things from another persons view. Especially cuz we add in our own life experiences. Example, its hard to sympathize with someone who is pregnant and complaining, when your pregnancy was 10 TIMES worse (just as an example lol). And with children.. we dont always take into mind that to a 2 year old or a young child.. someone taking their toy IS the end of their perfect little world. A tooth cutting through IS the WORST pain they have ever experienced cuz they havent had the life experience of something worse! Feeling sorrow and anger is new to them! So just try to understand!

• RELAX!

-Lastly... RELAX! Dont sweat the small stuff! So they're throwing a temper tantrum cuz they want a string cheese.. Well is it really THAT big of a deal that they cant have one? So they want to stay at the park 5 more minutes.... is it really THAT big of a deal to stay 5 more minutes? So they made a mess of your makeup.. did they break anything? did they ruin anything?? Then RELAX!

Yes it might slow you down and you might be in a hurry, but if your kid wants to try to buckle their own seat belt.. is it really that big of a deal to just let them do it?!

Dont make a bigger deal of something then it needs to be! :))

Baiden's 4 Month Update!

Are you ready for your heart to be in a puddle on the floor??

Baiden's 4 Month Update!

(so yes, he is almost 5 months now :( cuz i do these updates right before he is almost the next month)

 At Baiden's 4 month well check, his stats were:

*14 pounds (29.65 %-tile)

* 25.75 inches (73 %-tile)

 Baiden LOVES to talk.

He will jabber jabber and get so intense into talking to you! It seems like he's LEGIT having an intense conversation with you, but in baby talk haha. He is the cutest thing!

 He is SO smiley! Smiles ALL the time, even strangers get smiles out of him!
He seems to be a little on the shy side too. Cutest thing! He'll smile and laugh, then get all bashful and bury is face in whoever chest that is holding him :))

 You cant tell me that isnt the cutest thing you've ever seen!

He for sure wasnt thrilled about the hat.. hahaha!

This boy LOVES his hands. He is ALWAYS eating them!

 As mentioned in previous vlogs and also the vlog added in this post, Baiden is a little behind with his head control. We like to look at it more like he is just choosing to be lazy with it :))

 Baiden LOVES his big sister! (crap, im crying). Words can NOT express how amazing it is seeing your KIDS (plural) together! Braylee ADORES Baiden. From day ONE, she LOVES to help take care of him, talks baby talk to him, tries to play with him, wants to hold him.. and seeing Baiden light up when she comes around him.... **SIGH** that feeling is indescribable. 

 Getting too big for his swing!

Baiden is an ANGEL baby.

He takes regular naps. He wakes up around 7 or 8, has a bottle, 2 hours later, i lay him in his bed (no rocking, singing, no nonsense), and he just turns his head and goes to sleep! Doesnt even cry. He'll sleep for 1.5-2 hours, have a bottle, and 2 hours later, take another nap! No crying. Then he'll usually take a short 3rd power nap somewhere in the evening, then at 8pm, we have snuggle time (not cuz he needs it, cuz MOM needs it), lay him down, and without a peep, goes to sleep :))) He usually only eats once throughout the night.
ANGEL baby i tell you!!

 He doesnt care for tummy time. He has got a LOT better with it.. but he likes to "rest" a lot haha.

And due to this dislike of tummy time.. Baiden has MASTERED rolling over! (little terd).
He even rolls from his back to his tummy (which is harder). But he doesnt do that often cuz he caught on that that puts him on his tummy LOL.

And for my favorite part...
Baiden is STILL a mama's boy! :))))


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Adjusting To New Baby.. {Week 1}

Alright. Lets talk about how we are doing with new baby :)

I heard that going from 1 kid to 2 kids is the hardest. After that (kid #3,4 etc) is easy peasy. And well, i dont have 3 kids, nor will i probably ever have 3 kids, but it makes sense! I mean, your fist kid is used to ALL the attention, ALL the toys to themselves etc. Yea, they play with other kids here and there on play dates, day care, school, whatever. But they always get to go home to being the ONLY kid! So where there is a new sibling.. all that changes.

Now week one for us was BLISSFUL! So amazing.

We were at the hospital for 3 days with room service, nurses to help, great food, and babysitters at night so you can get some sleep! Braylee was on vacation mode with her cousin Kallee and was just loving life!

Braylee LOVES her brother. She gets the biggest smile when she see's him. Always says "Thats my baby BROTHER!" "He's so cute mom!". She always wants to hold him and help anyway she can. 

She'd come to the hospital, get so excited over brother, and then say "k cha-chee" (thats what she calls my sister). "Lets go to your house to play". She seriously was having the time of her life haha.

 When we left the hospital, we went to go get Braylee, and she did not want to come home with us haha. Kinda made me sad.

 We had a game plan for Braylee to make sure she didnt feel "replaced" or have resentment toward brother. We planned that Jeff and i would takes turns having one on one time. Take Braylee out for ice cream of something. Jeff was so excited to take Braylee to dance during his week home from work and Braylee was too, she is such a daddy's girl.

 (4 days old going to first doc appt)

 But even when brother was home with us.. Braylee was SO good with her brother. Always wanting to help, always wanting to hold, its the cutest thing.

But Braylee with US, is a whole other story!

During the fist week, Braylee was REALLY testing her limits with us. She'd find the SILLIEST things to make a big deal about. She became more mischievous, sneaky, and down right defiant. She'd do something bad, we'd get after her about it, and she'd just smile and laugh! (little terd lol).

But Jeff was home from work so it wasnt all that bad! We'd take turns with our patients level with who dealt with which kid haha.

 Ok now for Baiden's side of the situation and coming home!

Baiden is the EASIEST baby! He is so so chill and SO super sweet. Braylee was a hard newborn. She wouldnt sleep, was backwards with her nights and days when she did sleep, and developed colic which made for a REALLY fussy baby. Jeff works REALLY early, and LONG days (especially during the summer when Bray was born). And he drives truck. He can NOT go to work sleepy. So i was doing the up at night thing all by myself, then she'd be up all day and Jeff would be gone all day. I was a new mommy, it was just HARD.

 Baiden though is so sleepy! He sleeps all night, all day. Well at night he wakes up about every 2 hours to eat, but then goes right back to sleep! And Jeff was home the first week (didnt do that with Braylee cuz we NEEDED the money). So getting up at night was actually fun!

I loved the new baby thing and snuggling him at night and feeding him. And i always had Jeff if i did need a break or needed to nap during the day (which i never did).

So yea, week one was AMAZING! Yes Braylee was a little difficult but not bad at all! I loved the help from hubby and everything was just wonderful. 

We had this sweet new baby and a beautiful baby girl who loved him! It is SOO amazing seeing her as a big sister. Words can not even describe the amazing feeling it is being a parent of 2 and seeing your kids interact. And having a boy is SOOO different!! My bond with him is so different.

Everyone worries "how can i POSSIBLE love another person as much as i love my first child?!". Oh, its possible. Your heart just grows 10 million times bigger! But i personally never worried about that.

What i worried about, was Braylee feeling replaced. I mean, it is what it is, newborns are SO demanding and need LOTS of attention. But Braylee is doing very well. I think it helps that she is 3 though and not 18 months-2 years old like most age difference is with other parents.

Anyway! Thats week one!!

Week 1= AMAZING :)