The Commitment

I just finished Day 3 of a 30-Day exercise program called, "Jillian Michaels' 30-Day Shred". And, oh my word! This is a butt-kicking 20 minute workout!

I have to admit, I heard that this was a killer workout and that one wants to usually curl up into a fetal position during one. But, when I saw that it was just 20 minutes, I thought to myself, "Maybe I should do two in a row to get a longer workout in." HA! I was panting within five minutes. PANTING. Gasping for air, desperate for water and wanting to curse, but I couldn't, because I couldn't breathe!

Ok, that last sentence may a be a bit of an exhageration, but in all seriousness, wow. W.O.W. This workout is fantastic and horrible all at the same time! My commitment (since that's what I titled my post) is to workout every day for 30 days. Every day. I have 27 more sessions to do and that's a bit daunting. But I just did three. IN A ROW! And that's amazing! My sister and I are doing it "together" 40 miles away. If we don't do it one day, we owe the other person $1. And I can't let my baby sister get any of my money. :) We just haven't figured out what our reward will be for keeping to our commitment. We decided that something involving food may not be the best decison. :)

I'll give updates here and there to let you know of my progress. I'm really hoping that this will jump-kick start in me a desire to workout more. During one of the routines in the workout I found myself saying to myself, with my eyes closed, "This is for my family. My kids. My body is a temple..." and that helped me. I'm thinking of taking a before and after picture so that I can see the results (scale broke - yeah, ha ha - so I don't know my starting weight), but the problem with this plan is that I have to take a BEFORE picture. Ugh. :)

So, here's to 27 more days of working my body into a sweat. I CAN DO IT!

Healthy Hopes

I started this year saying that I wanted to get healthy.And, I've made some effort to do that. But then, there are nights like tonight (and yes, today is a holiday, but that doesn't excuse the other days) when I've consumed enough calories for me and my whole family. It started with MOPs. I had some yummy egg bakes, and a, oh.my.word. eclair-like treat. I was good with lunch, except for the Coke. And dinner, well, the meal was healthy, it was what we had afterwards. Valentine's cake, chocolate candies, more chocolate candies, and for good measure, a few more chocolate candies. And now, well, I feel sick.

I don't know why I do this. One chocolate is fine, and tastes good, but the more I have, the worse I feel, and they don't taste good! But I can't stop. And I want to stop. I have no self-control. I know that we just should not have these things in the house. And for the most part we don't. But when we do have it in the house (and we're suckers for buying such items) then it's a crazy feeding frenzy.

So tomorrow Dave and I are going to sit down and and write out rules for our new healthy life-style. Because we need rules. We need boundaries. And then, hopefully, next year when I write my 2012 year in review you'll see a healthier me.

Babies! Babies! Babies! Follow-up

The babies have been born and I have been able to snuggle with both of them. What a joy that they both are! I was beginning to think that maybe Rachel needs a baby brother or sister. But then I went to Target today with Nolan and Rachel and the idea of #3 quickly vanished from my mind as I played "Come here right now, Nolan, or you will go in time-out" in the aisles of Target. What a fun game that is. Suffice to say, two is enough.

Babies! Babies! Babies!

It's funny how life brings though you different stages of life with people. From playing with dolls with your friends to having real babies to take care of. Not that long ago I was in the singleness stage. Running around the city with my friends going to bars, movies, restaurants, parties, and just hanging out. All the time. Then, we all started dating. Dynamics changed. Sure we still hung out in groups, but now it was double dates. Then the diamond rings were put on fingers and we moved into the stages of weddings, weddings and more weddings! And then the babies came. Oh man! In my MN circle of friends, the ones that we met at Grace Church (roughly 12 couples), there are 21 kids (under 5), one that should have born in the wee hours of this morning, and 4 more due before May! WOW! And I have other friends who have kids too. And I have nieces and nephews. These kids are everywhere!

As I write this, my thoughts go to my friend Jessica who went into the hospital yesterday early morning, only to be turned around. I got a text last night around 8pm that they were at the hospital and she was going to have the baby! And it's been over 10 hours since I've heard anything. I don't want to be that annoying person who texts them to see how it's going, but I so want to! Yesterday we visited another dear friend who had a baby girl on Monday. These two ladies I am very close to (in fact, we live pretty close to each other too). And all this baby talk has made me think of having another one.

Yes, I said it, but I'm not sure that I really mean it. Dave has said "No more." And I'm pretty much on board with that. Especially when both kids are poopy, screaming, crying, you know, being toddlers. Ha ha! But then, there are these moments, when I'm holding a newborn and my heart just melts. And I think, why not? But then I remind myself of morning sickness, swollen feet, exhaustion, double strollers, only two arms, two hands and the thought vanishes with the wind. And, because if I ever did get pregnant Dave would leave me. :)

So for now, I'll just have to snuggle with all the new babies coming into the world and be thankful for the two fantastic babies that I have! Because they are pretty awesome. Today Nolan told me that he liked my new hair cut. Yeah, haven't cut my hair in about a year and right now it's in a sloppy, just-woke-up pony tail. But it was so sweet. Love him.

Look Who's One

 

Yesterday was Rachel's first birthday! And we spent it at home with bad coughs and runny noses. We've been hit with sickness this year. Nolan spent Sunday afternoon at Urgent Care. Turns out he has pneumonia. He's on meds now and he's almost himself! Now this week Rachel is the sick one. We went to the doctor on Monday because she had a bad cough, but we probably went to early because all the doctor said was that she had a bad cold. Darn it. Today her cough is worse, so we'll see how tonight is. All this to say, Rachel's first birthday was kind of a bummer.

This past year has gone so quickly! It's hard to believe that a year ago I was in the hospital recovering from Rachel's birth. So crazy. I had a c-section with Rachel. I also had an emergency one with Nolan. Although I wanted to have a v-back with Rachel, it didn't happen. She was breech (as was Nolan) and I decided not to try the version (flipping the baby). We did it with Nolan and I ended up with the c-section anyways. So this time we scheduled the c-section. When we went to the hospital the labor and delivery nurse did an ultrasound and saw that Rachel was head down. Of course she was! We discussed it with the doctor an ultimately decided to continue with the c-section. The doctor would not induce so that I could have her then because it would be too risky, and I had just said all of my good-byes at work. It would have awkward to go back and say, "Just kidding! Didn't have a baby yesterday. So, can you reactivate my email? I may be here for a couple more weeks." And they said that Rachel had an "unstable lie" meaning that she would probably flip again. Yeah, I was there, so I said, "let's go for it!"

And she was born around 9:30 AM (I think...I'd have to look again). This c-section was a lot different that Nolan's. Read more about Nolan's birth here. One, I was conscious for the whole thing. Man, that surgery took a long time! I got very anxious during it, and the wonderful drug guy (can't spell the actual word) was wonderful. I would tell him that I was beginning to freak out, or throw up and he'd pump me full of goodness. Thank you, sir! He made the experience that much better.

And here we are, a year later. That sweet little baby that I held in my arms is on the verge of toddlerhood. She has a smile that warms your heart and makes you smile back. She has the cutest little giggle, but she doesn't giggle a lot. If you get her to giggle, you're pretty special. She's beginning to find her independence. Feeding her is impossible. It's best just to cut it up and leave it on her tray. She takes joy in shoving food into her mouth, all by herself. She's close to walking, is a pro at saying "bah" for almost anything, and her favorite thing to do is to bug play with her brother. She brings joy to our lives and we are so thankful for her!

And now I must go and rock that precious little girl, wipe her runny nose and give her kisses to make her feel better. Looks like we're going to be heading to the doctor again tomorrow to get her checked out. Here's hoping for meds this time in order to justify that wonderful health plan deductible! Gotta love it.

Working Mom to Working Mom

One year ago I changed jobs. It was my last day at YouthWorks and my first day at my new career: Stay at Home Mom. It was a pretty emotional week. I was saying good-bye not only to my friends and coworkers, but saying good-bye to what I had been doing everyday (minus weekends, holidays and vacations) for 10.5 years. Going to work. I was excited to become a SAHM. I was eager to get my household in order. I was excited for the change. But I was also mournful.

For 10.5 years I had been a working lady. Getting up early every morning, showering and going to work. Now, I am still getting up early every morning and going to work. (Notice that I didn't say showering...). But now my work is at my home. And my team? Not adults. Children. This last year has been good and challenging. I've learned a lot about myself and I'm continuing to learn about myself too.

I miss the accomplishments of tasks. My tasks now seem to never end. I'm always cleaning the kitchen (seriously, why is that?), picking up toys, picking up toys, cleaning the kitchen. I miss having conversation without being interrupted by "mommy, mommy, momm-Y!" I miss going out to lunch and being able to eat mine first. Warm. I miss listening to my music on the radio in the car. And I miss the potlucks that my team seemed to have quite often.

But I don't miss: deadlines, politics, crabby customers, the database, saying good-bye to my son every morning and saying goodnight a couple of hours after I picked him up. I don't miss not seeing him try new things, saying new things, or learning new things.

I am so thankful that I am able to stay home. I am so thankful that my husband has been able to work and has been able to provide for our family. I am so thankful that I get to be with Nolan and Rachel all day. There are days that I get frustrated, that I get crabby and think to myself (and sometimes verbalize) "I wish that I could go to work today", but the reality is, this is where I am supposed to be. And it is good.

I've learned that I do need to get some time for myself in order to be a better mom. So I'm joining MOPS - a program for Moms of Preschoolers. Perfect! I've learned how to get away without showering daily, and I'm learning how to take advantage of naps to shower. I'm learning how not to be too hard on myself. The kitchen may not always been clean, and that's OK. There may be toys all over the place, and that's OK. The bathrooms might be dirty, and that's kind of OK. At the end of the day, I need to ask myself...what did I do today to show love to my kids? To my husband? To my Lord?

This is a tough job. Tougher than any other job. But I love it. Especially those sweet moments when we snuggle in the rocking chair watching a favorite kid show (Backyardigans anyone?). And that didn't happen at my old job (nor should it!).

Getting Cozy

I had a good post in my head last night, with a cathy title and everything. But, then I fell asleep, and for the life of me, I can't remember what it was. Oh well. I need to have one of those little tape recorders that detectives use when questioning people with me at all tims, so that when an idea pops into my head, I can get it recorded before it goes away.
So this post will be about the move.

Yes, we moved! In September. Last summer duing a sleepless night, I decided to look at houses online instead of going on Facebook. Dave and I talked about moving the year prior, but decided that it wasn't the time. So, looking online at houses wasn't uncommon. This time I found houses that I actually wanted to see. So the family took a Sunday afternoon to go to some open houses. We got the bug. Two days later we brought our realtor friend with us (my mom babysat) as we looked at 7 houses. We had a decision to make. Do we try to sell our house and move? There was good inventory out there. After about a week of calculating the numbers and praying and talking, we decided to take the plunge! Now was the time for us to make the move. After spending weeks working on our yard and deck to get it list-ready, (our yard was horrible. We neglected it for 6 years while we made the inside of the house a nice home) we put it on the market. Two showings later (yes, TWO) we receieved a full-list offer. And, duh, we accepted.

The hunt was on! We had to find a house quick. Sure we could have found temporary housing, but that was not something that either of us wanted to do. So the next Saturday we looked at 17 houses! Wow. Talk about brain mush afterwards. We saw some doozies, but we picked 5 that we wanted to look at again. And of those 5 we found the house that we purchased. We love the house! It's such a good fit for us. But, it's not our home yet. We need to roll up our sleeves so that we can make this house a cozy home.

We've done a few things. We replaced the lighting (took out the large 90's bubble light and put in recessed and pendant lighting) and resurfaced it as well (no more popcorn ceiling). We've replaced all the ceiling fans, replaced some door knobs and replaced some window coverings. This house was built in the 90's and the owners loved them some brass. There's lovely hardwood throughout that just needs a little TLC, an unfinished basement, ugly green carpet and some outdated features that needs updating. So, now we're in the process of redoing the "powder room" (toilet/sink bathroom) - gutting and putting all new stuff in (including a tile floor!) and painting Rachel's and our rooms. I'm ready for this house to feel like my home. The colors in here are all very drab, so we'll be adding color!

This is a picture of our new house and as things get done, I'll post before and afte pictures.