CAVE Momma!

Welcome to Cavemomma.com. I am SO glad you found me!  My goal here is to help busy people, especially parents, find a path to health, organization, and overall happiness through nutrition, fitness, and planning.
My name is Nichole. In 1999 at the young age of 21 I gave birth to my first child. During my pregnancy I was put on bedrest due to some complications. I am not a “sit down and do nothing” type so it was incredibly difficult for me. I bought every book about pregnancy, parenting, etc. you can imagine. I was gonna be the best damn parent ever. At 21. Yeah.
Long story short, I gained 70 pounds lying there eating and reading and watching TV. When I gave birth, I was ready to get that extra flab off me RIGHT NOW. Thankfully for me, my mom had some success with Atkins, so I followed her footsteps. Along with that and Tae-bo (hey, it was the 90’s) I lost all the weight and then some. I felt amazing…I had to shop for new clothes because my pre pregnancy clothes were too big. Shop I did, and then….the next week I found out I was pregnant with my son.
Fortunately, I was able to be a stay very active while pregnant with Zac and for whatever reason I had a ton of energy and craved nothing but salad. I only gained 25 lb with him, and that practically fell off after he was born. I had a boy and a girl and was thin and happy and done having kids. Or so I thought. When Zac was 13 month old, I was surprised by learning I was going to have another baby. Having 2 kids 2 and under is crazy. Having 3 under 4? Forget it. Alyssa was 10lb 2 oz., and I had gained 40 pounds. My hormones were shot, I was tired all the time, I had postpartum depression and I was NOT going to diet. I was never fat, but never “fit” either. I stayed at around 130-140 pounds for a lot of years after Alyssa was born. I was unhappy most of the time. My marriage fell apart in 2004.  I had 3 kids, was unhappy, and unhealthy.  When my kids were at their dads, I drank a lot of wine, and smoked A LOT. I never smoked around the kids, but it was my security blanket for a LONG time. I had joined a gym and was working out almost every day and trying to eat pretty well. Most of the time, I just didn’t eat. I got down to 117 pounds. (I am 5’6″). Yikes.
Then, I met David. We were married in April of 2006. David hated smoking so I quit immediately.  He hadn’t had any kids, so we decided to add one more to our family. I worked 40 hours as in management at Home Depot and our commercial cleaning business 20+ hours per week my whole pregnancy. I only gained 22 lb, and 9 pound Kristen was born the day after Christmas 2006. (Yes,we’re done.) Because our business took off, I quit HD and we went full-time in our business, which David now runs mostly on his own, as I am a full time MA at an OBGYN practice, which is now teaching real food nutrition to our patients. I was tired all the time, and had gone back to smoking. I think it was my “me time”.  I remembered a time of going to the gym and feeling strong. I ordered P90X and finished a 90 day round, and decided the way to stick with it was to hold myself accountable with my Facebook friends and blogged every single day. I also became a big fan of Oxygen magazine and Clean eating. I did great with it, but did not quit smoking. I still felt shaky and tired a lot, still got sick a lot, but was convinced I was doing well.  Somehow, I found a friend on Facebook who talked about Primal/Paleo alllllll the time. I finally read the books and realized it made so much sense. I was so excited I started to blog again. Then 2010 rocked my world.
My grandfather passed away in March. My uncle passed away in June. Then, in the worst final blow imaginable, my invincible gramma died of lung cancer August 22 2010.  In the 6 days that followed gramma’s death, I gained focus. I was outside crying and blaming God and smoking the afternoon of August 28th, and it was almost like she spoke to me. I thought “do something. Don’t sit here and feel sorry for yourself.” My sweet gramma was also a badass. She would not sit down and feel sorry for herself. She had quit smoking some 20+ years earlier, and she didn’t want me to experience what she had. I knew that. I put that cigarette out, threw away the rest of the pack, and didn’t look back. I immersed myself in Paleo/Primal nutrition studies and went back to school to finish the Nursing degree I had started at age 18.
That was exactly one year ago today. I’m in my 3rd semester of school, carrying a 3.8 GPA, a happy non smoker, and the healthiest, fittest me I’ve ever been. I currently weigh around 125lb, give or take. My gramma would be so proud. Hell, I’m proud. If I’m being very honest (and I always will be. I don’t “candy coat” anything.) I look great. I LOVE when people ask me “are all those kids YOURS??”  Yep. I have learned so much. I’m so much stronger, smarter, and creative than I ever gave myself credit for. I’m looking forward to the rest of my journey. Come along with me….~Cavemomma