1/10/12

Alright folks, you’ve heard it before, and hopefully this will be the last time, but today I start the NEW ME! The Holidays are over, the birthday is over, the sickness is leaving and life is calming down. I have NO MORE EXCUSES, and I’m ready to do this.

Yesterday I made up my menu for the week, did my shopping and packed my breakfasts and lunches for the week. I brought that in, and stuck to it! I’m also leaving my check card at home so I won’t be tempted by the cafeteria! I spent a good amount of time typing up my exercise plan for the next couple of months. I’m going to do my yoga video in the morning (as soon as I work on getting up on time!), walk the tunnels at work twice a day, and do my 60 day shred videos after work. On “rest” days from the videos, I’m going to do my Pilates to make sure I stay in the rhythm.

My walks today felt REALLY good. I had a good pace for just starting out, and got both of them in. The video really kicked my butt today. I’m exhausted, and already in pain, but if feels good nonetheless. I posted on my facebook today, asking if any friends used myfitnesspal, and would be willing to link up with me so we can motivate each other. A handful do use it, so I’m excited about that! I managed to stay within my calories, but did go over on my Carbs (not that I’m watching that TOO closely), so I need to work on that.

All in all, I’m really proud of my first day! Hoping I’ve finally found the motivation I need to do this, and stick with it! I’m at my highest non-pregnancy weight EVER right now, and I want to go down, and never look back up again!In other news, I’m feeling much better today. I’m still a little congested, but WAY better than the last couple of days. I made it through the entire day at work and was pretty productive. After I finished my evening workout, I started dinner, and finished just as the rest of the family arrived home. We ate dinner, and spent the night playing and goofing around together. Just lovin’ life, and hoping to stay on this high!

Here are some bathtime photos from tonight.

1/9/12

Guys, I’m down. DOWN.FOR.THE.COUNT. Today was a very hard day. From the cough, to the migraine to the congestion. My sinuses are out of control. It was ROUGH indeed. I did get up and head into work, but only lasted about half the day before I had to leave. I looked like I was crying just about the entire day, it wasn’t a pretty sight.

On my morning break, I did go through the ads and planned out my menu for the week. My goal was to start my new exercise and diet plan today, but there’s no way I could have. I did force myself to stop and do my shopping when I left work, because I NEED to get going on this, for my own health. I was able to fly through the stores and get everything put away pretty quickly, then hit the couch and never looked back.

I was able to get in some good rest time before the rest of the family got home. Christian made dinner and helped feed the girls, which was a HUGE help. I started feeling a bit better, and wanted to get some time in with the girls, so we put together one of Olivia’s birthday presents…a marble maze toy. The girls LOVED this thing – they couldn’t get enough of it. Pretty great considering Olivia was convinced it was a “boy toy” when she got it! LOL

1/8/12

Alright – it was only a matter of time. I am most definitely sick now. At least I was able to get through the Holidays, Birthday and kids’ sickness fairly healthy. Hopefully I can get it to pass quickly, because I’m not looking forward to this.

We took it pretty easy this morning. I did a TON of laundry throughout the day, otherwise, didn’t do a ton. I ended up taking a nice nap while the girls napped, which helped a ton, but I just kept feeling worse as the day went on.Christian and the girls went to dinner with his parents for his Dad’s birthday, so I got in a lot of quiet time (but was bummed to miss out on dinner….). I ended up taking down most of the upstairs Christmas decorations…didn’t put anything away, and still have the tree to take down, but I made some progress. It took forever – I kept getting winded and my sinuses would start acting up, but it was a good start.

Luckily, Christian brought me some leftovers, so I was able to eat while he gave the girls their bath. I finished folding laundry once they were down, and passed out. Here’s hoping that I don’t get any worse!

Here is a lazy day picture of Christian and the girls.

1/7/12

Today was the big PARTY DAY! My baby’s 3rd Birthday Party, still so hard to believe. I’ve been really nervous about the party. With the girls being sick, and so many of my friends and their kids being sick lately, I was so worried that nobody would be able to make it. Thankfully, everybody but one dad came that was supposed to. It was so great being surrounded by so many of our amazing friends and family members on such an important day.

Olivia had SO MUCH FUN running around, jumping and sliding with all of her friends. Amelia just did her own thing the whole time, having just as much fun. I got to briefly catch up with our friends and it was just an amazing day. Olivia was blessed with so many great toys, books and clothes. All in all, it was a HUGE success. Seriously, I would HIGHLY recommend Pump it Up for a party – they do a GREAT job! I’m not too happy with their handling of the Happy Feet contest, but for what they ACTUALLY do, I highly recommend them. Worth every penny!

The girls passed out on the way home from the party, and went right down for their naps. The carpet cleaners arrived shortly after we got home, and got right to work. I couldn’t believe how fast they did the basement – and it looks AMAZING. Seriously, the carpet is a whole new color, and it smells great. Our basement is finally livable again, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. We haven’t decided exactly what we’re going to do yet, but closed off the basement and put the litter box by the door, and the cats food and water by the entry. They will no longer be aloud downstairs because I know that cleaning the carpet doesn’t completely get rid of it, and Rico will just start right back up again, pee’ing all over. I think we may get rid of the dogs kennel, and leave him upstairs during the day, and put all of the cats stuff by the entry, but we have some talking to do about it. We’re still not sure what we’re going to do with Rico, I’d hate to get rid of him, but we just can’t deal with that anymore. It breaks my heart.

Once the girls were up from their nap, we ate some dinner, and headed over to my cousin’s house for a bit. He was home alone with his kids, and we hadn’t hung out with them for a while, so we spent some time playing and catching up with him and the kids.

A very busy day, but beyond great! Birthday, officially over! Here are some party pics!

1/6/12

The big news going on right now is this CRAZY weather. I think it’s pretty crazy just about everywhere across the country right now, but in Minnesota – SUPER crazy. This is supposed to be our coldest time of year right now, literally, the middle of “winter” for us – and we’re breaking daily HIGH records. 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and no snow on the ground! It’s supposed to continue on through next week. Now, I’m normally a winter person – but only because I can’t handle the heat, so the cooler weather agrees with me. THIS, is actually perfect for me. I’m not into snow, snow sports or anything like that, so other than Christmas, I really don’t care if we have snow or not. This cooler, but sunny and bearable weather, I could live with.

Now, I’m just hoping this doesn’t mean we’re in for a brutal Spring/Summer. And, I do feel bad for people, and business, that rely on snow and cold weather in the winter. I know there are a lot of business that are being hurt by the lack of winter – that part definitely sucks.

After I picked up the girls today, we headed to Target to pick up some final party supplies. The cupcake cake ended up being on sale (only $15.00!!), and even though the facility provides plates and stuff, I wanted Olivia to have her princess theme so I picked some stuff. I love taking the girls shopping – they are just in awe of everything, and are so funny. If only they didn’t take up so much room, and if only I didn’t hear “ooh, I want that one” ten million times :)

We all snuggled on the couch for some family time. We watched Wipeout, and seriously, Olivia thinks it is the funniest thing EVER. It’s so cute. We watched a couple kid movies and just relaxed, which was much needed. Christian and I didn’t last long once the girls went down – exhaustion, and an early day tomorrow made for a fairly early bedtime for us as well. Boy, we’re definitely getting OLD!

Here is a bathtime photo. Our "spa-like" bathroom is no more - it's pretty much just a kid disaster zone now. Ha.

1/5/12

Amelia had a REALLY bad night last night. She kept waking, and I finally took her temperature at around 2:00AM, and it was at 103. I have her some Tylenol to help her get some sleep, but I was a nervous wreck the rest of the night and couldn’t really sleep. The girls slept pretty well from that point on though, which was good. I took her temperature again this morning before we left the house, and it was normal, so hopefully she’s on the mend now!

I was off to work, and pretty exhausted. Christian checked in with his mom throughout the day, and Amelia was finally eating a little, playing a little and didn’t have a fever, so those were all comforting, and good signs.

I was supposed to be off this afternoon for the carpet cleaner, but they canceled first thing this morning. Apparently something in their vehicle blew up, so they had to cancel their entire day, and rescheduled for Saturday. I was SO looking forward to it, but I supposed a couple more days won’t kill us!

Today was also the big Happy Feet contest results day. They posted them fairly early this morning, and we came in 3rd. I was a little bummed out – I really thought we had a good chance. Another contestant asked to see the final vote tally’s, and once they were posted, we ALL knew something was up. There was NO WAY the final totals they posted were accurate, not even close. All of the contestants were posting about it, and we were all pretty upset. Pump it Up finally posted later in the day that supposedly the “third party” company they had tracking and tallying the votes claimed that a ton of votes had to be thrown out for cheating. I am so appalled by this, as were many other contestants. I would NEVER cheat in something like this; I wouldn’t even know how to cheat. It makes me a little upset that we’re going to be paying them a pretty penny for Olivia’s party on Saturday. It’s just not right. At least we placed though. I sure would love to know what the REAL final vote totals were.

Tonight was pretty relaxed. We just kind of hung out and watched the girls. They both seemed to be doing much better, and ate pretty well throughout the day, so I’m really, REALLY hoping this illness is finally leaving our house!

Amelia had a new thing...she's not happy unless she has a cup of milk AND a cup of Orange Juice, available at any given time. LOL, whatever keeps her happy I guess.

1/4/12

Amelia is still not eating, and seems to be worse than ever! Christian’s mom said she just sits with her all day long, just wants to be held. This is SO not like Amelia (and it kills me that I can’t be the one holding and comforting her all day…), she is not a cuddler and is always on the go.

I was so exhausted and just felt completely run down by the time I got off work, so I just picked up a pizza for dinner. Amelia of course was not interested and just sat with Christian while I worked on getting the rest of the basement cleared out for the cleaners tomorrow. He and the girls sat and watched some TV. Christian eventually sat Amelia down so he could run to the garage for something, and by the time he came back, she had fallen asleep, right in the corner of the couch. She’s NEVER done something like that. Poor thing, my heart just broke watching her sleeping there, sick as can be.

On the plus side, Olivia seems to be just about all better. THANKFULLY! We did not want another sick birthday, and she has just been miserable. She has a bit of a cough left, but that’s really it. YAY!We all ended up going to bed fairly early. For how long, who knows, but it’s been an exhausting couple of weeks, that’s for sure!

1/3/12

Today ended up being a surprise work from home day. I woke up feeling like I had been hit my a Mack Truck. Amelia had a rough time going down last night, and Olivia had a rough time staying down. Seriously, please take this illness away!!! Anyway, I woke up and knew I wasn't going to be able to last the day at work. I decided to just bring the girls to "daycare" when they woke up, then run in quick and grab some work to bring home (and, do my timesheet - much more important! LOL). It ended up working out pretty well. I sat on the couch, in my jammies all day and cranked out just about every Contract I had in my box. I was able to wash and dry the EIGHT loads of towels, bedding and blankets we had piled up and work right up until dinner time. I was feeling much better by the end of the night. I was worried that I was getting sick, but I think it's really just extreme exhaustion, sleep deprivation and just being completely rundown.

After dinner, I spent the rest of the evening folding the laundry (including the girls' clothes that were washed over the weekend...oops). The girls were doing a little better today, but still not really eating, and they were both VERY crabby this evening. Let's just say, I was happy that Christian had to deal with them tonight...

Here's hoping for a restful night...finally! And, here is a picture of Olivia's brand new princess bedding. She is in love with it :)

1/2/12

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY TO THE MOST AMAZING 3 YEAR OLD I KNOW!!

Today, Olivia Rose turns 3 years old. It is SO hard to believe. I remember that day like it was yesterday, I cannot believe it was 3 years ago already. She is so smart, so fun and so entertaining. She makes us laugh, drives us crazy and melts our heart, over and over again, all day long. She's becoming such an amazing big sister and she learns and grows by leaps and bounds, seemingly daily. I can't believe it's time to start looking at pre-school's and thinking about stuff like that. 3 years ago I was meeting the most amazing person I had ever met to date, and now she just amazes us every day.

As far as present day, we had an amazing day celebrating our little Diva. I went running into their room as soon as I heard them stirring to give her lots of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY's" and kisses. She was smiling ear to ear, like she really understood how exciting it is. We had some breakfast, then Christian dropped Amelia off at "daycare" so we could spend the day with Olivia. It worked out nice, both of us getting our Holiday off today :)

After we were all dressed and ready to go, we were off to the Mall of America. We had some leftover ride points from the last few visits, and she actually went on a TON of rides. I was so excited that she finally tried some of them out, and she just laughed and had the time of her life. It was great! Next up, we took her to the Disney Store to pick out a gift - of course, she bee-lined it right to the plush Ariel doll. Then, I asked her what she wanted for lunch, and she immediately said she wanted Pizza...so, pizza it was. She never used to like pizza, but she can't get enough of it now!

Finally, our adventure was over. She passed out before we even hit the highway home. I ran into Target quick on our way home to order her Cake for the party this weekend, and grab a little cake for her to have later tonight.

After a little nap, we were off again. We picked up Amelia, and met my Dad and stepmom for dinner. They can't make it to her party this weekend, so they wanted to come down to spend some time with her, and give her some presents. The girls were pretty exhausted, and clearly not feeling too hot, so they didn't eat much and were pretty lethargic through dinner. They perked up once we got home, and it was time for presents, singing and cake! My Dad got her a Ladybug tent and the girls had the time of their life playing in it. They were hilarious.

Finally, the two little girls passed out. Hopefully for the night, but I'm not holding my breath! We are now the official owners of a 3 year old, I'm still in shock!

1/1/12

WELCOME TO 2012. It's so hard to believe...2012. Where in the world does time go?!?

I have so many personal goals and resolutions this year. I'm really going to do my best to stick to them, and maybe even expand on them as the year goes on. My main resolutions/goals for this year are weight loss, organization and to become debt free.

1. Time to get my butt in gear, and lost this weight. I know what to do, and how to do it. I need to JUST DO IT! After Olivia's party next weekend, we don't have anything going on that needs my attention - so I have NO EXCUSES left. 1/9/12 I am getting on my exercise and diet plan, and I'm losing this weight. I have many reasons for losing the weight...health, vanity, self-esteem, being a healthy example for my girls and, I want and NEED to be at a healthy weight before we try for Baby #3. I have my plan - now it's just time to implement it!
2. With both of us working and away from home so much, our family needs structure and organization. While I am the queen of organization, that all seems to disappear when it comes to scheduling our lives. I am going to get a weekly calendar up at home so we can clearly see what we need to do that week. I am going to get back into shopping every Sunday and packing my breakfast and lunch for the week (which will also help with Goal #1).
3. Debt Free - it IS the way to be! And, this year, we will be there! I will be filing our taxes as soon as possible this year - and with that return, we will be paying off Christian's Truck, and both of our Lines of Credit (which really are fairly small). Then, in August, I'll be paying off our Visa. We will officially be "debt free" (well, other than the mortgage, which I don't really count at this point). Of course, this all hinges on the hopes that nothing comes up between now and then. Christian and I both claim "0" for work (I know, that makes most people cringe). It's works best for us...we get by on our checks, and this way we don't waste our money year round - we put the large chunk towards something with purpose. I've thought of changing our claims once we are debt-free, but I think we'll actually keep doing it. And, next year and on, we can put at least part of that down as an extra payment on the house, and maybe use the rest to take an annual family vacation. I'm not sure yet - that's all a little up in the air. All I know is that as I make these final payments I am going to be doing the happiest of happy dances EVER!

So, now it's time for action! I've dubbed 2012 as the year of change! We'll be financially more secure, I will be happier and healthier finally taking some time to focus on myself and we'll all be better for being more organized and structured.

Today was a pretty low key day. The girls are still sick, of course. Amelia actually seems to be getting worse. We spent the morning/afternoon hanging out around the house, and finally cleared out the "office" (getting ready for Thursday's deep clean). After naps, we were off to a big New Years feast at my in-laws house. The girls were pretty exhausted, so we only hung out for a bit, then headed home to bed.

It's been a busy couple of weeks, and this coming week is no exception. We have a lot of plans this week...Olivia's Birthday and Celebrations tomorrow, I'm having dinner with the BFF on Wednesday, the carpet cleaners are coming on Thursday, then we're going to dinner with some long-lost friends, and Saturday is the big Birthday Party. I think life will finally slow down for a bit after that...which will be a very nice change of pace!

I have to share - apparently my lucky streak is continuing into 2012 - today I scored Christian and I free movie passes to a screening of "Man on a Ledge" on the 18th. I can't wait, it looks really good - and it will be nice to get out together. YAY!

Here is a picture of Amelia tonight, sleeping away with her new bedtime friend. The only thing that makes her feel better these days