Dear Mia,

You're finally two years old.

It seems like yesterday you were a little, pink blob with black fur that just laid there, slept and laughed occasionally. Now you're a tall, skinny, extra long furry little girl who talks to me, makes me laugh, has inside jokes with me and actually human! It still amazes me that you have half of my DNA coding your life. I know it's nerdy but that's what I think when I see you. My half of my genetic is keeping you alive and growing.

I like how you have my sense of humor. The world is funny to you and I'm glad you see it that way already. Sure, you seem to have a very bad & stubborn temper, but what two year old doesn't? Some people may think its crazy or strange that you don't hold my hand when we walk unless you feel the need to. To me, I trust you enough to not run off and fly down some stairs. You always make sure I'm close behind, and if I'm not, you pull me along side.

You're growing up too fast for me to handle, Mia. You didn't even cry for the first time at the doctor since you were 7 months old! You also got your finger pricked and just sat there. I see you have your Mommy's high pain tolerance. =]

Instead of me tucking you into bed, you give me a good night kiss and say "love you". You grab my hands and lead be to dance. You feed me and wipe my face clean. You sing your little heart out all the time. (I guess you get that from my car singing when you were in my belly) It's nice see you grow up but then again, it scares me. In 2 years, you'll be in Pre-K/kindergarten, I'll be graduated from Emory and who knows were we'll be headed or what life will throw at us.

There's so much I want to teach you. So much and so little time before you think I'm an annoying mama who just wants to be cool and you won't listen to me again until you're 25. Until then, I'll try to teach you everything I know little by little, day by day. Eventually, you'll understand.

Love, Mommy

Buff, Fit & Fierce Raven! #2

So I've been eating fairly healthily & tracking all my calories on livestrong.com like CRAZY! Everything I eat & drink, I track. I think I'm addicted. It's like my new Facebook, minus the annoying statues, drunken photos of people or addicting games.

I've already lost a pound of winter fat! I do yoga with Mia, been drinking lots of H20, and sleeping more! (Which also helps you stay healthy & not gain weight)

What's really hard is to eat enough calories to NOT gain weight! Did you know you can GAIN weight if you don't eat at least 1000 calories a day?! Why you ask?? Because your body will hold on to all the calories & fats you DO eat because it thinks you won't feed it to survive.
So tracking my calories daily helps me try to keep up. Plus I don't eat much. Usually small amounts multiple times daily & I realized I barely reach over 1000 a day. I usually get up to 900 or 1050. Nothing over 1300 yet.

I just want to look nice, no back fat or cellulite. (Which I've never had in the first place)

I don't think I'll ever look like her because of genetics & my lack of Anorexia Nervosa:

But I can look black girl skinny! (But I don't think my thighs are going anywhere unless I stop using them.)

Until next time,

Ravie McHealthy-Pants

P.S. I'm not anorexic or bulimic everyone! No need to worry...

Buff, Fit & Fierce Raven!

I decided to be healthier this year.

Not as a "New Year's Resolution" because those never follow through, but a New Raven Lifestyle!

So I'm going to be eating healthier snacks & foods. I don't eat fast food all that often anyway, but the snacks in my house need to change! Besides, I never completed my goal of looking better than I did before I had Mia. I got to my "before I had Mia" body. Now time to surpass that! I'm not a fan fruit, to be honest. Well, sweet fruits. Tomatoes, grapes, mangoes, kiwi, strawberries, apples. Zucchini, okra, corn, peppers, etc., are all good to me, and yes, they are all fruit in the biological world. I'm not sure why, but I'll eat the face off of some vegetables! I just want to start eating more healthy snacks & what not.

I'll also start doing yoga before I go to bed & maybe if I wake up early. I loved it when I took it at school, even though I was huge & pregnant & my stomach swept the floor when we did some moves. It was still enjoyable & increases blood flow & flexibility!

(I'll be doing that one day)

On top of that, I think I'll actually start using my school's gym & pool. I pay the money to use the "recreation & health" facilities, why not put it to good use?! Plus, I love swimming now ever since I took the class. I guess its because I know how to look professional now while doing it & learned how to dive. =D

I will also be calculating my calories! Yes! And you can do it too!! At livestrong.com, you can keep record of everything. How long you exercise, how much you eat, what you eat, when you eat, how many calories you should eat daily, how many you've eaten monthly/weekly, how much weight you lost, and healthy recipes to try. It's nice. Give it a try!

Since I'm taking ballet at school, that will help sculpt my body back into the lean (yet extremely muscular), dancer bod I used to have. Plus I love dancing (jazz, contemporary, modern, anything but hip hop because I'm not black) & always wanted to learn ballet. Maybe I can actually try out for So You Think You Can Dance or that new Paula Abdul show & marry a cute dancer boy! (In my dreams) The only thing I'm not looking forward to is getting my booty back. =[

(Ahh... I remember those leaping days)

And most importantly, I am going to sleep more! This is going to be hard since I have an 8:30am class, which means I'll have to wake up at 5:30am to get ready to hit the highway & beat ATL morning traffic, but I'm going to try VERY hard.

So, who's with me for healthy faces?!

Au Natural sans le Chop #3

I've come to realize my hair is not coiled, but more of a tight wave. It looks like her hair when dry... Yeah... more like this girl. The edges of my hair tend to be more coily than back & forth tight waves.

Thanks Mom & Dad for your mixed heritage. Sometimes I wish my ancestors weren't stolen & sold by their rulers so I'd alteast have an idea of what ONE type of curl pattern I'd have. Not an array of mess!

One hair will be fairly straight. One hair will be slightly wavy. Another, coiled. Another, wavy coiled. Pretty much a bunch of beta pleated sheets & alpha helices mixed together for you biology people out there.

Now my head is about half Africa, half chemically burned đu-đu. And yes, I do mean it looks like a chemically burned papaya if I ever saw one because I imagine it would look horrible... Just like my hair. I have no clue how to deal with it now. Before, it wasn't nappy enough to notice the differences. Now, if I put it in a pony tail, my head has waves & my pony tail is straight. Its AWKWARD!

Eh... But I guess that's the life of living in a Western dominated world. You have to have straight hair, skinny, and light skinned to be accepted in the world. But now that more black people are getting rid of the creamy crack, then maybe big fros will be the NEW HOTNESS!

Let's hope so because my little fro is NOT the new hotness....