Erica is a freshman in high school this year. The youngest out of 4 children she is by far my most spoiled kid. I had thought that my child bearing years were over when Erica popped in and said hello...I am here. At age 31 I found myself pregnant and mad. I had been divorced for several years and had recently started a relationship with Erica's dad and boom...pregnant!! How do I explain this one to my other 3 children? Ummmm.....how do I even tell my mom that her innocent 31 year old daughter was pregnant out of wedlock? And oh the gossip....I could just imagine the talk.
Yep, Annette was a goodie two shoe girl growing up. I did well in school, did not even kiss a boy until age 16. Stayed a virgin throughout high school and some of college. Got a full academic scholarship to Bowling Green State University, graduated with my Bachelors in Science Nursing, got married, served my country and had 3 beautiful children. After active duty I moved to a small town in Ohio, got a job in the Emergency Room and life was good.
Within a year all of a sudden I was getting a divorce and found myself a single mom with 3 little children. Well thank God I had an education and a good job to help support the 3 babies. I also had an amazing mom who picked up and moved in with me to help with the children and money.
The eldest of 3 children, I always felt that I had to be the example for my brother and sister. For the most part I was the perfect kid...never did drugs, never drank alcohol or smoked. Straight A's and played in the band...haha. Even as an adult, I felt I needed to be perfect for my mom and my brother and sister. So when I became pregnant, I was worried that I would disappoint my mother and my family. I waited until I was 6 months pregnant before I had the courage to tell my mom and kids about the pregnancy. My mom was actually quite relieved that I was pregnant because she could sense something was terribly wrong with me because I looked bad and had lost alot of weight...even though I was SIX MONTHS PREGNANT. Amazing what stress can do to ya, huh? My mom was worried that I had cancer or something bad like that. When I finally got the courage to tell mom (yep...age 31 and still feeling like I could not tell mom about the pregnancy) she of course had no issue with the fact that I was pregnant. She said....well honey, you're grown lol. I told the kids and a few people that gossiped alot at work and soon the cat was out of the bag. After my little secret was exposed, I felt like the weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders and I actually became excited about the little girl kicking the heck out of me in my stomach. I ballooned in weight almost overnight...lol. I went from not looking pregnant at all to very pregnant looking in about 4-5 weeks.
Then the day came, August 5, 1996 Erica was born. The queen had arrived. And Erica has been the queen since. Her oldest sister Kathy became her first mom. Kathy did everything with Erica!! She was only 8 years old but was determined to help take care of Erica. She changed diapers, held her constantly and they were basically inseparable. Kathy was the "mom" and I was her food supply. When I was not nursing her she would be with Kathy. When she went to her dads, he would eventually call and ask Kathy to come stay as well because she would cry alot without Kathy. So, Erica was and still is the queen.
Erica is close to all of my kids and she has 3 sisters with her dad that she is very close to as well. She is ms. Spoilly royally and has the best of 2 worlds. The world with her doting mom and my 3 kids and the world with her dad and his 3 kids.
So what does any of this have to do with fitness and diet?? Well, Erica is on a diet with her mom. She is a beautiful girl, but she wants to lose a few pounds and she has watched me transform my body and would like me to help her do the same. So we are on this journey together.
What I hope to do is teach Erica the importance of exercise, nutrition, and health while she sees the fruits of her labor....a beautiful lean physique. She is an amazing athlete and will lean out very quickly if she stays on point Mon-Fri. I will let her eat what she wants on the weekend. She got an iPod touch for her birthday so she can listen to music during her workouts. She has Labron James Nike shorts and tennis shoes for the fashion statement in the gym. She should be good to go with her spoiled self. I so love my Eri Berri!!!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment