Old Photos of my Family

I came across some old photos of my family back when there were no digital cameras or they weren't as readily available. This is probably one of the reasons I take so many photos. I have none of myself as a baby :(

This is me. We lived in a refugee camp in Thailand. There's a very interesting film about the history of the Iu Miens that were involved with the Vietnam War. My family was part of this. I was born after my family have settled in the refugee camps. We arrived in Sacramento, CA in 1984. I was only 4 years old. I was placed in kindergarten at 5 and had no knowledge of the English language. I can't imagine how frustrating that was for my teacher. 

These are photos of my family in Thailand 1983-84

My parents in Thailand

My mom. She's so beautiful.

Photos with my sisters in the U.S.

Photos of the girls with mom.

This was us in 2013. Only 1 nephew missing. The rest of us were there. Mom, Dad, 3 sons, 4 daughters, 14 grandchildren (16 now), and 6 daughter/son-in-laws. We need a new photo because 2 new members have been added since ♥

Low Calorie Foods

If you're watching your calories like me... I have a list of some of the things that I love. I understand that diet isn't all about calories but this post is all about the low calorie foods.... We all know there are low calorie foods such as veggies but these are alternative low calorie foods that would normally be high in calories.


Bolthouse Yogurt Dressing - I found these at Sprouts. They had so many different flavors but the Mango Chipotle grabbed my attention. I love (absolutely LOVE) spicy foods. They were $3.99 for a bottle. I even used it as a sauce for my pork chops during dinner and I loved it. I will have to try new flavors next time. I've been known to buy too many at once and not being able to go through all of them.




PB2 Peanut Butter - I never liked peanut butter and I'm still not a big fan of it but when I find low calorie foods I can eat, I eat it. When I first started dieting for my wedding years ago, I found these ad have been eating them for a long time now. I LOVE the chocolate ones. Who doesn't love chocolate? (Wait, I didn't until I was pregnant with my first baby!) I've seen these at my local Walmart.


Sara Lee 45 Calorie Bread - I admit, these are probably less calories because they're smaller than your typical breads. But still, I still like them. It helps me with my portion control.


Smucker's Sugar Free Jams - I love the Blackberry spread using Splenda to sweeten it. I've also seen it sweeten with other sweeteners if you don't like Splenda.


Shirataki Noodles - Okay, I have to admit although I love the idea of this, I didn't care for how it tasted. Maybe I didn't cook it correctly. I thought it's worth mentioning since I know a few people who swear by it and loves it. I've seen these in the Asian Grocery markets.


Fiber One's 90 Calorie Brownies - I was so in love when I saw they had a Mint brownie! It's so good (not as good as a full flavor sugary, butter brownie) and low in calories. I warm mine up and add 1/4 cup (150 calories) of Thrifty's Mint'N'Chip Ice Cream.... Mint goodness!


Fiber One's 80 Calorie Cereal - Speaking of Fiber One, they have low calorie cereal too! It's only 80 calories for 3/4 cups. And this is chocolate (for my sweet tooth). Wow! Did this just blow your mind?!?! But wait, milk is so high in calories! There's an alternative for that too! Wait for it......


Almond Breeze Almond Unsweetened Vanilla Milk - BAM! haha Okay, I know not a lot of folks don't like almond milk but I do and this one is only 30 calories for 1 cup! Yum! I believe Silk has a similar product too but for some reason I liked the Almond Breeze brand better. So.. A serving of the above cereal and a cup of this milk, you've got a low calorie breakfast (110 calories).

Losing Weight - June 2015

A little history....


I was a hungry kid. I ate a lot. I ate my lunch at school and snacks. I ate my sister's lunch too (she gave it to me so don't think I took it from her - ha!)


Fast forward to 19. I have always ate anything I wanted and everything I wanted and A LOT of it too. Sound familiar? I tried hard to gain weight. I could only get up to about 97 pounds from 93 and at 5 feet 4 inches, everyone thought I was taller than I really am. It's probably because thinner people look longer/taller.


I met my husband the year I was about to turn 20. I had a lot of crazy unhealthy relationships prior (is that why I didn't gain weight? Stress?) My husband made me so happy. He was different from most boyfriends I've had and it's a good kind of different. Anyway, we were happy. We ate a lot and we both got FAT. Between the 2 of us, we gained a whole person. I reached 135lbs and he went from 180lbs to 260lbs. That's just about 118lbs!


I didn't start really trying to lose weight until I got engaged. It was 2006 (6 years later... took him long enough!) I started tracking my calories and exercising. I didn't really know how to start. I joined the gym and had a personal trainer (as part of the package) but I felt like he wasn't really trying to help me. He was trying to sell me their products like powders and vitamins. Whatever. Whatever I did, it worked. Right before my wedding, I lost about 30 pounds and didn't even fit my dress correctly (I made it work!). Of course it took me like 9 months and hubby 4 months to lose his weight (rolling eyes).


I wanted a baby right away so I thought I could just eat whatever I want because I'll be pregnant soon anyway. I got pregnant 2 years later... After my baby was born, I went right back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I was determined to breastfeed and whenever I dieted, my milk supply went downhill. So.... I ate myself fat the first year and gained 20 pounds! Hey, at least I accomplish my goal of breastfeeding for at least one year.


I joined this thing at work called the Top Loser Challenge. You win based on your percentage of weight lost. I joined by myself (you can do it as a group too). Everyone did such a good job and most people had more weight to lose and lost a great amount of weight but my percentage of weight loss led me to win the competition. I didn't expect it at all! It was a nice reward for all my hard work. I lost 20 lbs.


Shortly after, I got pregnant. This time, the weight didn't come off right after delivery. I actually started to gain weight after a month! I also had more than enough milk supply for me to diet comfortably. It took me 11 months to get back to my normal weight... then SURPRISE! I found out I was pregnant again before Connor turned 1 (11 months old).


NOW... my baby is almost 10 months. I'm not losing weight. In fact, I'm just gaining. I had an idea to start a support group on Facebook. It's only been a week and I'm already making changes:


Walking up 13 floors back to my desk after pumping (2x).
Walking at lunch
Walking the stairs at least once a day all the way up the building (26 floors)
Playing with kids after dinner (actually running with them at the park - in grass or play structures)


I also decided to purchase a Fitbit. They came out with a tracker that also tracks the heart rate. They've always had different types of trackers but nothing with a heart rate (to my knowledge). I own a Polar Heart Rate Monitor which comes with a chest strap. I found this was very helpful and motivated me to keep going when I saw my calories burned while I exercised. The only issue I had with it was that you had to wet it and put it on your chest. It was inconvenient. I read many reviews and it seems the FitBit was mostly accurate (to a certain point).


I won't post a "before" photo until I have an "after" photo otherwise I'll just be posting an eye sore of a photo and nothing to show for after! Working on the "after" photo!

Bell's Palsy Update - 1 Year

Okay, it's not quite a year just yet but pretty close. There hasn't been any changes since the last update. This is probably my last update (did I already say that in my last update?). 

Anyway, anything I feel now I think is and will be a permanent effect from this. I notice it when I'm stressed. I noticed muscle restrictions when I'm eating. I don't think that I will fully recover all my muscles in my face. 

When I'm stressed, I get that sharp headache pain behind my ear. I would have excuses this in the past but that pain, was how all this started. Most headaches (for me at least) is centralized in the head. It can be in the front or back. I also get a lot of tension headaches from my shoulders and into my neck. I rarely notice any pain behind my ear until a few days before leading up to the day my face started drooping on one side. So you bet that whenever I feel pain behind my ear, I freak out! So far, it hasn't happened again. 

My physical appearance looks normal but when I'm eating, I feel it the most. Maybe it's because I'm using a lot of facial muscles when chewing, slurping or sipping. It feels as though I'm limited to using 100% of my facial muscles on the affected side. I can tell my lips still don't pucker normally haha

It's not the end of the world. Just a strange thing. 

My sister who just gave birth had Bell's Palsy the last month of her pregnancy. I saw her a couple of weeks later and she looked fine. Apparently hers wasn't as extreme as mine. She didn't have to tape her eye shut like I did. She was able to close it with an eye cover. I'm glad she didn't have to experience it like I did. It was horrible. The eye irritation. Ointment. Tape. Gauze. Oh it feels like it was just yesterday. 

Chopping off my locks

It's been over 2 years since I've cut my hair. My son is now 3 months old and my hair is starting to fall out. It's been getting on my nerves since it's so long. It gets in the way when I sleep and my 1.5 year old likes to pull it. Sometimes, I put my elbow on the ends of it and try to get up... ouch!

So... I've decided it was time to chop it off. It's so long that I can donate it too. The last time I chopped this much off, I donated it to Locks of Love.

I always worry when cutting my hair because I would secretly cry after. I never found someone that understood what I really wanted. I don't cut my hair often but when I do, I don't want to come home crying and regretting it... this was how it was all my life. I tried the expensive salons where I ended up paying over $40 for my hair cut. I've gone to the cheap salons up and down Stockton Blvd in Sacramento & know that I'm getting what I pay for but I still go...

When I decided to cut my hair 2 years ago (and it was just about this long), I decided to go to GiGi who I went to school with but we were never close. She was always so nice though :)

Anyway, I loved how she cut my hair.. so of course, I went back to Studio G to get my haircut this time... and I'm loving it! 

Now, my hair isn't in my way & I had 21 inches of hair to donate!

Here's me in March 2012 (I guess it was longer!)

 

Fun Day At The Park

We stopped by this park near the river today to let the boys burn some energy. I happen to have my camera and wanted to practice. 

Connor sure loved the swing!

This photo just made me laugh out loud because I felt the "fun" he was having. Lots of giggling too. 

Then they wanted to go see the river. 

They were too close to the "edge" for my comfort. But he loved watching the boats. 

Heading back down with the help of his big brother. 

There were Dandelions everywhere!

He tried really hard to blow it like his brother!

Daddy got to hold baby (often rare). 

Auntie was there too!

Essential Oils Vaporizer

I started using essential oils when I had Bell's Palsy. I've never really been big into natural health remedies. If there's a drug out there for my colds, I'm all over it! 

I use Tea Tree Oil & Lemongrass oil for my DIY Baby Wipes... it smells so good.

When I had Bell's Palsy, it felt like the doctor's couldn't help me. For the first time, I felt so frustrated because they didn't know how people get Bell's Palsy. There were theories but they admit that no one really knows... So I was given steroids and antibiotics (I was 17 weeks pregnant so I was not happy). 

Anyway, the web turned me to Essential Oil (People who've had it, recommended it). I had some from earlier this year but I plan to collect more! They're pricey so it will take a long time to stock up lol I buy NOW brand because it's more in my budget.

Fast forward.. I wanted something to diffuse my oils for this cold my family has caught. So after reading many reviews and seeing that a lot of EO users recommend this one on their blogs, I bought the Green Air Vaporizer on eBay (it was slightly cheaper than Amazon).

When I received it, I LOVED it. WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG!?! :)

It's easy to use and clean. It changes to pretty colors and I love the sound of it as I sleep. It's quiet but makes a little soothing sound (I'm a light sleeper).

My boys are fascinated with the changing colors and vapors. I may have to buy more!


Update: Well, being new to using EOs, I started to do more research and there are oils such as Peppermint & Eucalyptus that are not safe for young children. SO... I won't be using these around my kids but just thought I'd share that. Like with any medications, herbs, etc. it's probably best to check for safety uses for children!