Updates

A relatively decent sibling picture!
M was cheesy this morning.
Cute
Yeah, that's all 16 lbs 9 oz of him.EATING a graham cracker. YAY!So G is doing much better eating. Still not as much as most babies his age, but we're getting him to eat about 1/2 a jar of #2 foods now at a sitting!! WOOHOO!! He's drinking almost 30 oz of formula every day. He's GOT to grow now.

M is doing well- still not sleeping the best at night and I nearly always end up in there with her. I'm about ready to beat her this morning as she won't leave the water off. Thanks Grandpa for making that step stool. It's great... She's quite obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba on Noggin. It's annoying but necessary for my sanity.

My swim class is good. Each morning when I get up for it I think, "What the hell have I signed up for?!" But then I get there and it's fine. It's a fun way to get some exercise. I'm the youngest one there. Nearly everyone is over 60 except 2 ladies either in their 30's or 40's and one weighs at least 300 lbs. The instructor has to be a good 250. It's good though. Doesn't matter how huge you are when you're swimming. Turns out I didn't gain as much over the holidays as I had thought originally. Still a good couple of pounds, but since I'm back on my diet this week the excess water weight has come back off. I didn't have to size up clothes this time!! I'm feeling pretty good. Tired as usual, but good. I took today off because we weren't busy. I figure this is going to be the last time I'll be able to do it now that RSV and Flu are coming in full force. I'll take it when I can get it.

Project 365- 2009: The Layout

So I saw it stated this way- and this is how I feel about it. I have a few things I want to get accomplished in 2009- some specific, some non-specific. With the dawning of a new year I am excited! I know there won't be any new children and my children are getting to the ages where I have a TINY bit of time to myself. I thought about not posting my plans because, "What if I fail?" But then, if no one knows about them- how are you accountable? Lord knows I'm not accountable to myself! So I'm hoping that periodically you'll ask me how the project is progressing and it'll help bring me back if I have strayed. I'll try to update you on my progress!
These are the goals I can measure success/failure on:

1. Read the word.
I don't go to church- that's no secret. I work weekends. I have searched in vain for a service not on the weekend and I can't find one that's feasible for me to attend. I have looked (not very hard) for a bible study, but with no one to keep me accountable, it's not happening. Therefore, I want to just read the word. I have read the bible twice I believe from cover to cover. I usually do it before bed, but I abandoned it last march with G's birth. I know that reading before bed isn't something that is going to happen so I've got to fit it in elsewhere. I have the One Year Bible which gives a reading each day but not from front to back, just different scriptures (one new testament, one old, one proverb and one psalm) for each day. I've decided that sometime during the course of the day I will turn off the tv/radio and read it aloud to the kids as they play. They won't care to listen, but I do believe that they will hear it. I want M to know how much I love the Lord, but so far I am not succeeding. Thank goodness my mom is taking her to church for me. Some day I'll quit working weekends, but until then, I'll settle for this.

2. Weigh 150.
Ok, so that's pretty specific and I'd settle for 155, but I just want to get there and STAY there. This weekend I've been giving myself a break from the diet because tomorrow is D day. I have enrolled in a swimming class three days a week from 545-635 am! AH! I can do it. I think it will really be good. B has agreed to lay down with M on the other two weekdays so I can walk after she goes to bed. I am hoping that 5-6 days of exercise will do it with sensible eating. I am not putting restrictions on any sort of exercise or time, just a weight goal. I know I can do it.

3. Limit to 3 diet cokes a day.
I know that sounds silly, but it's a goal I'm not really even sure I can achieve.

4. Cook a meal for my family at least 3 nights a week.
That probably sounds silly too and I'd like to shoot for 5 but I hate failure, so I'm trying to make my goals attainable. I HATE cooking dinner for my family- not because I don't like cooking because I DO! It's because it's so stressful. My kids are probably crabbiest from 4-6 pm. It doesn't make for a fun cooking experience with two screaming kids.

5. Read books.
I don't have a specific list in mind, but I'd like to average about a book a month, for pleasure. Nothing outstanding, just fun and relaxation.

6. Cut coupons on SUNDAYS! I have been horrible about not cutting them and letting them pile up. Therefore, I'm not saving any money! AH! So irritating. I hate it when I come home with something and then see a coupon for it laying RIGHT THERE! Out with the laziness...

That's really about all for now. I may ammend this post at a later date. I'm sure there are more goals I have for the year: be a better wife, a better mother, etc etc etc, but these are the ones that are measurable. Wish me luck! I'm going to try and give a weekly post on Project 365 Progression on Sundays. If I forget, remind me.

Awake again...

Yep, it's 12:22 am, and yep I'm awake, and YEP I have to WORK TOMORROW. WHY?! M woke me up screaming for whatever reason and then guess what?! I started COUGHING. Ugh. I am SO SICK of this! I just took my cough medicine at 8pm! Whatever... You get to enjoy the benefits of it.
G is really climbing now- we had to move M's desk up to her room because he keeps climbing on it constantly...So talented.He's a really good basketball player too!!! 2 points!Really making sure it's IN the basket.YAY!!!Climbing on the fireplace.
Maybe no one is watching!
Dang! She caught me!I could do that again any day....
G climbed out of the bathtub tonight when B wasn't looking and right on top of his head. Joy. Maybe I'm done coughing now...Maybe not.

Annoyed

Yes, I do have some new pictures but right at this moment (2:16 am) I don't have the camera. I still can't shake this illness. Some of it has to do with not resting enough I'm sure, but I have coughing fits again and again. The only thing that is helping is the codeine I had left over from G's birth and I only have 2 pills left. Yikes. I am taking G for some immunizations tomorrow so hopefully she'll help me out. I haven't been sick like this for years! I have terrible sinus pressure and pain. :( Every night I'm up at least an hour or two coughing.

Alternately it seems that I have gained back nearly all of the weight I so diligently worked to loose :( So irritating how there's no one to blame but myself. I am hoping that I can get back on the horse tomorrow and it'll come back off fast. I really let myself loose this last week.

New years got a little crazy for B and I. We went to our friends' Mike and Theresa's like always, however, this is the first new years in 2 years that I wasn't pregnant or nursing. I took advantage... My mom took the kids home for us around 9:30 and put them to bed. Let's just say I won't be doing that again any time soon. I felt awful all day yesterday. Woops. We got home after 3 am! It was a pretty fun time though.

B has been off for 2 weeks. His last day off is tomorrow. It's been awesome having him home! It's been nice to parent together some. M's going to have quite a wake up call when she realizes I can't lay with her at nap time anymore starting Monday. That's not going to be fun.

I am darn ready for the holidays to be over. I need things to get back to normal. My house is a disaster. I haven't cleaned anything (except the bath tub) for about 3 weeks- you can imagine. My floor is littered with crumbs and my poor child is crawling all over it.

Hey! G took is first step last night!!! He was cruising around M's desk and let go. He took one little step and immediately crashed face first, but I was so proud of him for trying!! Walking may be in our near future.

I think I may be done coughing now. Back to bed!

The rest of our Holiday

We'll start with STJ on Christmas day. M loved this little motorcycle. You push a button and it goes on its own. She and Max played with that for quite awhile.
She also loved Patches the kitty. She was adorable and so sweet. I wish we could have one :(
Max carried around the camera saying "CHEESE" for about a 1/2 an hour.
M playing in the rubbermaid. It's a long tradition started by my grandma to fill boxes with each persons' presents. So Murphy, Max, Todd, Ryan, and Missy all got rubbermaid tubs filled with presents from Ann and Bob. M just wanted a tub.
M thanking Grandma Betty for her new fangled "paper dolls." It's a wooden doll with magnetic clothes, shoes, and hats. She actually liked it pretty well!Playing with grandma.G with daddy watching the action.Max and Murphy got helmets for the 4 wheeler.Christmas at Grandma Lana's on Friday.
We waited on M to wake up so we could start the festivities.Look at that hair. It would appear she has a lot of it, but it's really quite thin.The fam. This picture isn't so good but in the next one M is picking her nose. So, this one it is! I don't have the entire family picture (with grandma and grandpa) on my camera.Let the games begin!Aunt Casey loves to put the kids inside boxes...G got a couch like M.Uncle Kellen got her a new baby. She's getting into babies but she's pretty busy to mess with them too much. She likes to put them down for naps. Opening her scooter with mommy.Daddy putting it together.Taking off!Look at this face. The picture is kinda dark but this is CLASSIC M face lately. She is REALLY into sticking her bottom lip out.Addison in his teepee made by ME!Right before coming home- G was actually asleep like this and if I tried to move him he would get back here.So tired.Merry Christmas!

Christmas x3

Well guess who's sick now? Yup, me. Of course. I am SO DONE with this winter. Sorry I didn't get to uploading the pictures sooner. It's been busy. I ended up getting to stay home on Christmas and today (yay for healthy kids!) so that's been nice! I didn't get sick until yesterday afternoon, so the holiday was exhausting, but fun. I'm ready to move on though.
The family picture attempts. I thought this first one hilarious. This one would be pretty good if I didn't look like such an idiot. Tuesday we had everyone over for Lana's birthday. It wasn't anything big, but here are a few pics of the kids.This pic is a random one of G- NO I didn't put him on the table. He climbed up on M's desk and then figured out a way to get on top of the table. Doesn't he look innocent about it?Christmas eve we had B's parents and my mom over and the kids opened all their presents since I was supposed to work. It ended up working out well since we still had 2 more days ahead of us. M definitely has it figured out and opened several other people's presents also. G really didn't care at all, of course. It was also the worst day of his sickness, so he was pretty miserable. We went to church which was pretty miserable and then came back here to play and eat chili. It was a good night.
M helped B put together G's new zebra toy.
The finished product. G got to check it out the next morning.Christmas day we got up and went to B's parents' house for breakfast. I will admit that when we all got up and both kids were screaming that I questioned why it was that I wanted to stay home from work... Then we headed to STJ to see my side of the family. Max and Mira are about 3 weeks apart and it was fun to see them interact. They are vastly different! It was good to see my family! We left there and headed back to David and Lana's for a relaxing evening. We watched Christmas Vacation and hung out. M went to my mom's to spend the night. G was feeling so much better by evening and was in rare form. He started waving and saying "Haaah!!" (Hi). I think we can maybe count it as his first word.

Friday was Christmas at B's parents since it was our year and Grant and Casey's year to be at the other side on Christmas day. We got over there about noon and ate at about 1. Mira actually took about a 2 hour nap and was great all day! We spread the presents out over several sessions. The kids really enjoy playing in the unfinished basement over there. M and Reese both got scooters!!

I had a really great Christmas. I got everything I wanted!!! We got yearly passes to the zoo and to Worlds of Fun from my family which will make for a great spring, summer and fall! I got a necklace with the kids' names, birthdates, and birthstones on it and an NINTENDO DS! WOOHOO!!! I also got some new clothes which fit great. I haven't been so excited about my gifts for years!

Well, it's really early-the rain woke me up. I think my coughing fits have calmed for now so I'm going to go back to bed now. I'll add more pictures later.

Sick :(

Of course, both the kids are sick. M got some antibiotics a few days ago and is coming out of it now, but G's just got bad last night so he didn't get his medicine until today. He's pretty crabby and wants to be held. He isn't eating which isn't helping him grow either...

When we took M to the doctor we took G to weigh him- only 16lbs 8oz. Hmmm...that's only 2 oz in 2 weeks. Normal really for this age, but he needs to grow faster. I knew this would happen. I knew I would wean him so he would grow and then he wouldn't grow and I'd feel guilty for weaning when I didn't need to. Oh well. I was looking for a reason to wean anyway, so it gave me an out I suppose. We talked about it briefly and now that we're out of breast milk I have decided that I'm not going to calorie load his milk. A normal baby shouldn't need high calorie formula to grow. Dr. M said she agreed. We'll see what happens. I think no matter what you decide, you're going to feel like maybe you didn't do the right thing. It's just the nature of motherhood.

We are doing Christmas today since I have to work tomorrow. I'll try to get some pictures up tonight. M is pretty cute about opening presents. G could really care less. The snot on his face makes pictures really pretty right now too.

It's been a really exhausting few days. Monday night mom and I went shopping until after 11 and I was up until at least 12. Last night I was up until 1 am. It's totally unlike me to be up so late. I'm soooo tired. Oh well- that's Christmas, right?