Meet Stephanie

My name is Stephanie; I’m 24 years old, and mother of two beautiful little boys and expecting my third child in July. I’ve been married to the love of my life since December 30th, 2005. I come from a small rural Minnesota town; population when I lived there was roughly 600. No stop lights, “heavy” traffic was 4 pickup trucks behind a tractor going down the main stretch. The kind of town where everyone knows everyone and everyTHING about everyone (even if they really don’t). I have a twin brother and two younger siblings that mean the world to me. I come from a dysfunctional family, but I’d like to think most people come from dysfunctional families but it’s what they make out of it as to who they become in life. That was the common ground Megan and I had when we met in school. We were both the mother figures to our siblings and forced to grow up before our time and came from dysfunctional families. We had many deep conversations for 14-15year olds around the lunch table! I graduated in the spring of 2006 and moved over 1,000 miles from home to be with my husband who had joined the Army and was coming back from first deployment.
If I had to shrink a description of myself down I would say: I’m a young mom who learns as she goes, the daughter of an alcoholic, a strong independent woman, intelligent, someone who has overcome her upbringing, a pro-extended breastfeeding, cloth diapering, non-circumcising, PROUD Army Wife.
I am pretty open about myself and my life and the things I have overcome to become the person I am today. I cannot wait to share with all of you and learn from each other!

Married Fat UPDATE #2

Hi there everyone! I know this update it well over due but if I am going to be honest I actually was not doing well. My health was getting bad with my anxiety and heart condition that I was not actually loosing any more weight I was gaining it, so from my first married fat my stats were this. 

Name:Megan

Height: 5' 1"

Weight: 160lbs

Age: 24

Goal: 40lbs gone. 

And when I weighed myself two months ago or so I was at 180lbs almost, I was mortified and devastated! I had let myself get worse then I was pregnant with my second :( But I decided that the only way I can do this is to obviously watch my diet and exercise but to get a scale to keep me motivated! So I got a scale and I just weighed myself on Fri for the first time in months and I was pleased with what it said! 

159#

This for me was big, I was down to what I started at and a little more. This is after having a full meal and what not. Needless to say that got me going knowing that I am looking at a 150# and I could do this just with a little motivation and extreme discipline on my behalf! 

I knew that I needed to cut the things that I love the most out and my weaknesses are: Pasta, Ice Cream and chocolate.

By doing this and only have them in extreme moderation I know that getting to my goal is going to get easier! I have been trying to recruit my husband into my efforts as being together we have gained the same since the moment I got pregnant with our first. I know he wants to but he is so tired as he works so hard. Love you Dustin!! we can do this!

I weighed myself after breakfast this morning and was supper pleased to see what I saw! 

156# 

Me this morning

I hope to maybe motivate you too, in some way or the next. Take     this journey with me and lets see what we can accomplish. I hope to see some of your efforts if you choose to post on your blog please send your link or what not and ill be sure to send encouraging words your way, or just simply comment below and we will do it that way :) Either way if you are planing to get healthy and loose some weight and are doing well congrats to you! 

Thanks for all your support in my long journey to getting healthy! I hope to have a even better update and weight next Monday! 

Megan

My birthday, xmas and the new year

Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

Hi there Everyone, as you see I am talking about something that most all my readers can and will want to read and or relate to. January was made Cervical Cancer/Health awareness month! This is something that effects approximately 12,000 as diagnosed each year and 4,000 of those lives are lost. 

The US Congress has made January its awareness month to gets its word out there about your health as a woman and how we protect our lives from Cervical Cancer. HPV-The Human Papilloma Virus is what causes the decease. It is transmitted sexually, and please take note that means;

-Intercourse-straight, gay or bi

-genital rubbing

-oral sex

-sex involving toys

You may not have realized all the riskes.

Cervical Cancer is actually preventable and I am going to list a few reasons that I have found that have been know to lessen your risk of contraction. 

1. Getting vaccinated.

Click here for information

2. Getting your yearly PAP done as soon as you have intercourse for the first time or after you are 21years of age. 

3. Getting tested when its recommended

4. SAFE SEX!!!!!! Please for not only this sake but for all others lets spread safe sex like a decease instead! 

Woman we are all at risk, HPV is something that is nothing to mess with or wait for, we want to be as healthy as we can so please get tested and get your vaccine today! Please spread the word and wear your green ribbon proud, if you would like to have TGL to send you a ribbon please Email me and we will get that worked out. 

Hope we can end the sadness and high numbers or woman effected every year of this scary and silent killer!

-Megan

Information for the transGen folks :)

(Borrowed from The She Bob Blog)

Discrimination against trans folks is still a big issue with health care providers and insurance plans, but on November 21, 2011, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists expressed its opposition to gender identity discrimination and formally implored Ob-Gyns to provide routine treatment and screenings to transgender patients, including Pap tests. Also, starting in late 2012, most insurance companies will be required by law to cover screenings. If you encounter problems with insurance coverage, learn about filing an appeal here.

A few more resources for you:

• Check It Out Guys (creators of the excellent poster above) is a great resource on cervical health geared toward trans men.
• Planned Parenthood provides low-cost reproductive care.
• Resources PDX includes a medical directory for people of all genders. Tranz Guys PDX has a list of trans-friendly doctors.
• Black Women’s Health Imperative has a helpful page about cervical cancer.
• Our Bodies, Ourselves has a page on cervical tests and how to read a Pap test report.

Vidazorb Belly Boost Review and Giveaway!

Vidazorn® is a amazing company founded on what our tummy's feel like.. "What are you absorbing today?"

I was sent a full bottle of there Belly Boost Zorbee bugs for your belly chewable robotics. There is 90 in a bottle. I was excited to get my kids on these as my daughter has a milk protein sensitivity and Jack has always been a bit fussy. I have tried robotic before and didn't like that they were in liquid form and needed refrigeration. 

Fun facts about Belly Boost:

* Most thoroughly tested chewable pro biotic in the world.

* Its a amazing convenient chewable non refrigerated tablet.

* Billions of CFU's in each tablet.

* would have to take 10x the amount of others to reach what Belly boost can do!

* 7 years to produce and a 3 year shelf life! 

If that does not tell you how great this product is I can help, I have been giving them to my kids for over a month now on and off not always remembering. I can tell you that it truly has mad a difference, actually it even has made them seem a bit happy. Happy  tummy= a happy kid and a happy mom! I truly think all persons should be on a pro biotic supplement for themselves as well as getting there family too as well! If you would like to learn more about Vidazorb® Belly Boost please visit them online at http://zorbee.com

Another thing that is totally not relevant that I thought was neat is if you have small ones that are old enough to use a computer and color, they have games with the little zorbee and colors pages too on their site. 

I really enjoyed using this product and was pleased with the results and the fact that my children got excited to take a probiotic. 

Please sign up for the contest to win your very own, Three winners will have the chance to win Belly Boost and a bottle of Plus. 

Contest Requirements:

1. Follow this Blog publicly

2. FollowVidazorb® on facebook HERE

3. Share this with others, Via twitter, facebook, blog....

4. MUST like us on Facebook

Optional:

Like the Great Letdown on facebook.

Tell me what you like about probiotocs and if you take them yourself.

I wish luck to you all, be sure to make all entries a separate comment and the more that you do the more chances you have to win. For sharing on social sites you may make a entry 3 times a day on all media. This contest ends 31st of January 12 mindnight central time. ALSO PLEASE BE SURE to check out the other contest that I have going and extended for more chances to win some fun things!! Click here to enter second contest. 

Thanks for entering!!

Megan

*Note that this product(s) was given to TGL free of charge in the reply that we give a honest review. All thoughts and opinions are that of TGL and not associated in any way with Vidazorb.

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Jonies Story.... The adoption....

A Desire for The Great Letdown…Adoption

It has been awhile since my last post and Megan has asked me to catch you up on the last two months. We decided to apply to join an adoption agency at the beginning of November when I felt the pull to look at that particular agencies site and saw there were two openings. This was a Monday night. By Wednesday afternoon the agency had contacted me to set up an interview for the following Tuesday and the nervous wait began. 

Angel Adoptions is based out Illinois so our interview was over the phone, during Steve’s lunch break(my husband), so we sat in his lunch area, on speaker phone and had an hour long conversation with one of the starters of this wonderful agency. It was a great conversation and we hung up the phone feeling, still nervous, but a little more excited than we had when we began the call. Thursday of that week, just before 4pm, I received the email we had been waiting for…and it was a YES! They accepted us and want to help us bring home a baby of our very own!! I read the email over and over, called my mom (laughing and crying!) and called Steve to give him the news. Elated we began applying for a loan immediately to cover the agency fee, home study and lawyer fees we expect to need to cover. 

When, after two weeks of trying, we conceited that no one will give us a loan right now I was crushed. It felt in that moment as though I had lost another baby and I cried on and off for two days. They don’t like all the things we are paying on right now, and I respect that but we have four big things nearly paid off…so now we pay things off and we reapply. It is frustrating to know that because of money we are being put on hold to hold a baby in our arms. 

My sister opened up a PayPal account to try and raise money toward our adopting but nothing has come into that account yet. I have become a Tupperware consultant to earn more money on a flexible schedule, but that has been very slow going and I have made very little. Steve has had two job interviews in the last two months in an effort to get a better paying job, nothing yet.

Our friends and family have gathered around us and have began giving us or telling us they are saving for us their baby’s items as they finish with them. The family I nanny for gave us their bassinet over the weekend and so it sits in our bedroom with the diaper bag I purchased after our acceptance and the onsies, cloth diapers, blankets, etc that my parents gave us for Christmas – “so you have something to get started.”  It is exciting and heart wrenching somehow. Another friend is planning to hold a garage sale this spring and give us all the proceeds, we have a couple of other friends, and us, providing product for that sale.

During all of this I have decided that I desperately want to breastfeed our baby so I have began the process to re lactate. Of course I became ill the week after I started the nipple and aerola massage and then the holidays happened, with travel involved, so I got away from a great though painful week of massage. I purchased and have continued taking Fenugreek and Goat’s Rue, both highly recommended for re lactating women. I am reading Mother Food by Hilary Jacobson right now and she has some great pointers. This week I begin again. The thought being able to breastfeed our baby is just so wonderful. I hope and pray that it works!

Emotionally, I am all over the place right now with this – nothing happening, other than bills that were going to get paid getting paid off…the longing and desire has not cooled, even with the Minnesota weather. In recent weeks we have had two potential “offers” brought to us by friends of friends about babied they aren’t certain they want to keep, but I have refused to get excited about these situations, especially when there has been no follow up in either situation. A situation like this would eliminate the adoption agency fee, which would be a blessing in and of itself. 

We just want to be parents. We just want to be Mommy and Daddy. We are so close and yet so far from our goal…I pray daily, cry often, wonder constantly. How? When?

Cost with Angel Adoption:

Agency Fee: $14,200

Home Study: $1,500-2,500

Lawyer: $2,000-7,000

Joni

A note from Megan

As my best friend Joni is someone I know wants to be a mommy more then anything, she has a way with children that I cant even explain. No matter the problem with a child she can solve it. This is something she is destine to be...A Mother.... She is the most kind hearted, whole hearted, caring, compassionate, truthful person I know and a friend to be so proud to call mine. Please keep your prayers open for a financial miracle as they need it. I am hoping to set up a fund for her so we get closer to bringing a baby home of their very own! 

Megan