Week 1

Well, week one of my challenge is over. I feel like it went pretty well. The yelling challenge was the hardest at first. By the end of the week I did go a good 4 days with no yelling. Today I ruined it. I would love to say that in my defense they were back talking and wouldn't stop and so I was forced to yell. However, in reality I probably could have still dealt with it differently. I will get there though. For now, I will celebrate 4 days of no yelling.

My thoughts thus far on the yelling challenge: I didn't mention anything to my husband, but just changed my habits. I assume he read my blog though since he immediately improved as well. The benefits happened immediately. Within a few short hours I noticed my older two talking nicer to each other and having less attitude. This got better and better each and every day. Along with the better attitudes came children who were helpful, thoughtful, and caring. They worked together, played together, and just had a fun week. Oh, I must also remember that I also took away the remotes to the Playstation and Wii. Since we don't have cable this meant that they only had access to a few educational shows and not everything on Netflix and Hulu. Taking away the shows and all the attitude, yelling, and fighting that they watch was also huge in this no yelling effort. I brought the remote back out for the weekend. Things got worse again. So, I have decided that the remotes will be hidden again during the week. I don't know about the weekend yet, but we will definitely have to regulate it more than we did this weekend.

Healthy Challenge: I am finding that it isn't as easy to get into the routine this time around. I don't know why. The cravings are worse than before. I have had a few desserts this week (though they were portion controlled), way too many carbs, and not enough fruits and veggies. I did great on water intake and only had pop once! Now, thoughts on pop.....bad bad stuff!! We took the kids to the movie theater yesterday. Afterwards we picked up Subway and went to the park to eat and play. I forgot to get myself a water and so I ended up drinking some of my hubby's Mt. Dew (maybe 12oz at most). It tasted gross. Thought that since it tasted so bad that it wouldn't set me back, because I wouldn't be craving something that is too sweet for my tastes. Then later on everyone goes to bed. Here I sat till 1:30am wide awake, not even tired at all. I still didn't feel tired when I finally did get in bed. I finally did sleep, but not well. I tossed and turned all night. I had a really hard time getting up this morning. So of course I was then craving caffeine!! Stupid soda makers have us all hooked on caffeine!! It is so addictive! Did I go get a pop? Nope. I grabbed my water bottle and started chugging the water. Thankfully I didn't have any headaches like I had earlier in the week.

So, as I go into week 2 I am hoping to improve some things. I would like to go more than 4 days without yelling. I would like to go the entire week without pop. I would like to eat more fruits and veggies, while cutting back on the desserts.

Thanks to my hubby for encouraging me and going through all this with me. Thanks to my accountability partner who has been with me through the last few months and is still doing this with me. It is so great to have those texts at all times of the day encouraging me, holding me accountable, and sharing the good and bad.