Healthy Living

My husband and I have been working out consistently for the past few months and have done an overhaul on our diets. Diet meaning way we eat not restricting calories. We want to make changes that we can stick with for life, not just to get the weight off. I've had a couple of friends ask me what we are eating and I'll tell you now what a basic day looks like then each time I try a new recipe that is a hit with the family, I will try to share it also. So, the basic day:

6am scrambled eggs, sometimes on a tortilla
9am fruit salad with plain natural yogurt or a fruit smoothie
12pm leftovers from night before dinner
3pm high protein snack
6pm light dinner, usually vegetables and protein

and we drink tea in the morning, with lunch, and before bed then lots of water during the day. Ryan's drinking protein shakes on days that he works out. We started the year off with a detox and he lost 9 pounds and I lost 6.5. I have been able to maintain the loss. He gained 4 back but then a week or so later, lost 6.

We are both very excited about eating healthy and exercising and teaching our kids to make healthy lifestyle choices! Look for recipes to come...

changing seasons

Fall is my favorite time of the year... beautiful colors, perfect temperatures, cool nights. Not to mention all of the yummy food! I just love it! I am looking forward to this fall but for me, it's not just about summer shifting into fall. It's also about me growing and learning and loving more and more each day, morphing into the person God has called me to be, carrying out His will for my life. While the leaves and grass begin to change colors and die, I feel so alive!

Aidan started kindergarten this year, that has been an adventure for all of us! Connor has decided he no longer needs naps so he and I spend our days relaxing and doing things that need to be done around the house. There will be no mention of "extra kids" in this post after this because well, there are none. I'm REALLY enjoying that! Of course I'm more than willing to help out friends here & there but as far as babysitting full time so that it infiltrates our lives, I'm done with that. We've also made up our minds not to have another child of our own. We are so very blessed with the two beautiful, fun-loving, precious boys we have. I just want to enjoy them and our lives with them!

That said, I have applied for a position at a residential treatment facility. I am praying I get the job! I have always wanted to work with kids and more specifically, I've always wanted to be a social worker. When I was growing up, though, everyone told me how terrible and stressful being a social worker would be and I listened and shoved that aside and fell back on teaching. If you know me, you know I never really pursued that. Now I realize that's because I didn't really want to be a teacher. So, with this position, I would be able to get close to some social workers and the realm of social work and get my feet wet and see how it goes. With one child in school and the other on his way next fall, I figure this is a good time to start and see where it takes us.

There have been some big changes here for me this fall, and some are in the process. It's easy to feel overwhelmed but I just feel so blessed and so loved and I am anxious to see where this "season" takes me and my family and can't wait to live it out to God's glory!

pondering a 3rd child

We have two boys, Aidan who turned 5 in January and Connor who will be 3 in August. I love them dearly, I couldn't imagine my life without them. Part of me is missing having a girl, though, and I think I want to give it one more try. But my husband is very okay with having 2 kids and no girls. I'm okay with having 2 kids but I'm really missing a girl and I think I will miss it even more as my boys get older and start doing more boy stuff with their dad and leaving me home by myself for periods of time. BUT, there are no guarantees that if we were to have another baby, it would be a girl. My sister has a girl and my brother has 2 girls, perhaps I could borrow them and just live vicariously through them, create a special relationship between me & my nieces :) I actually went as far, though, as to figure out that if I get pregnant in August, I'll have the June baby I've always wanted. Then, that fall, Aidan will be in 1st grade and Connor will be in preschool. Seems like perfect timing to me.

There are so many reasons NOT to have a 3rd kid, too, though... most recent, I found out yesterday it's going to cost us big $$$ for Aidan to play hockey. I want to be able to give him that, he LOVES the sport. Would we be able to if we had another kid? We'd need a bigger vehicle, I'd have to give up my spare room which I love so dearly, my youngest is working on potty training- do we really want to start all over??? Not to mention, we were set on not having any more kids and I got rid of EVERYTHING baby. Well, except for crib, changing table, dresser, play mat. But everything else is gone. And finally, after 8 years and 2 kids, I finally weigh again what I did when we got married. I'd be taking one huge step backward in that area!

what to do... well as of right now, Ryan is still very happy with just two and doesn't miss having a girl. So, I guess all I can do is pray and wait. Pray that God changes my heart to be content with what we have or changes Ryan's to long for another. And wait because everything perfect happens in God's time, not in ours.

13 by 31

As my sister is approaching her 29th birthday and will be giving birth any day now, I was studying my calendar this morning and realized by 31st birthday is looming. Ahhh... a year older. I really don't mind it but alas, birthdays are always a good time for me to set a goal. Aidan's first birthday, Connor's first birthday, my 30th birthday, Connor's 2nd birthday, Aidan's 5th birthday. Each of those, I set a goal- to lose weight. I don't think I actually succeeded any of them but it was something to aim for. And now, I am 20 pounds lighter than I was last year so something must be working. I have hit a plateau, however. Time to step it up a notch. I have 13 pounds to lose until I am at my final goal. My 31st birthday is March 29th. I think that gives me plenty of time to ramp it up and get these last pounds gone. Of course it took me eight months to lose 20 so losing 13 in two months is going to be tough but I am sure I can do it! So here I go- 13 pounds gone by my 31st birthday!

Remembering When

Our oldest turned 5 this past Friday. It was fun, we were excited. We had a great party with friends at the bowling alley. On the way home from the bowling alley, "Remember When" by Alan Jackson was on the radio. And it took me back- to the day we brought him home from the hospital. That very song was on CMT and I remember crying, thinking "it will never be just me & Ryan again." My heart was sad, for that reason, and because I was thinking about how our kids would never know our grandparents who had died or the one who was in the hospital and died just 7 weeks later. But at the same time, I was so happy and so filled with joy, having just brought our first baby boy home from the hospital. Now, he's 5 and our second baby boy is almost 2 1/2. I am SO glad it's not just me & Ryan anymore. Not because I don't adore my husband but because I could not, just COULD NOT, imagine life without my precious boys. Here we are, 30 years old and our boys are growing up so fast. Some day, they'll be grown up and have lives of their own and Ryan and I WILL be alone again and will be left to "Remember When." These are years I do not want to wish away and I do not want to forget!

The lyrics, in case you have not heard the song...

Remember when I was young so were you
time stood still
love was all we knew
You were the first, so was I
made love and then you cried
Remember when
Remember when we vowed the vows walked the walk
Gave our hearts, made the start, it was hard
lived and learned, life threw curves
There was joy, there was hurt
Remember when
Remember when old ones died new were born
life was changed, disassembled, rearranged
We came together, fell apart
broke each other's hearts
Remember when
Remember when the sound of little feet
was the music
We danced to week to week
Brought back the love, we found trust
Vowed we'd never give it up
Remember when
Remember when thirty seemed so old
Now lookin' back, it's just a steppin' stone
To where we are, where we've been
Said we'd do it all again
Remember when
Remember when we said when we turned gray
When the children grow up and move away
We won't be sad, we'll be glad
For all the life we've had
And we'll remember when

The Grind

After Ryan having two short weeks with two four day weekends and me not watching Tanner for almost two weeks, we're back at it this week. I was thinking on Monday, oh, back to the grind but that just sounds awful. Who wants to be ground? Not me! So I have set out to make our routine not a "grind". With some focus and prioritizing, tweaking of the schedule, and cutting out/down the things that rob me of my time, I'm feeling pretty on top of things today. My house is getting back in order, I'm spending more time with the kids, I'm working on the business, and checking things off my project to do list. Hopefully I will be able to keep this up throughout the year and make it a true lifestyle/household change!

Crazy

Oh my... I was just having a phone conversation with my mom, it ended with me hanging up on her. I TOLD her I was not going to argue with her and she wouldn't let it go... Here's the story: my dad had my siblings and I and our families over today. In the course of my conversation with my mom, that came up. She said "ugh, see, I don't see why he doesn't invite us over for things like that." I told her I didn't think he had to. So we began to debate. I don't think that when mom has all of us over, we should "have to" invite dad and vice versa. She gave me this line of crap about doing it for us kids. I told her that if we thought it was important, we'd suggest it but obviously us kids don't think it's that important and therefore, since it's about "us" and not her, to just let it go. She ended up telling me I need to pray about it and search my heart. I told her I didn't, that I know how I feel about it. And she said but what about how the Lord feels about it, that He tells us to love everyone. I said that we do love everyone but that doesn't mean that we ALL have to get together all the time. Her and my dad are divorced. The reality of that is that we are now two families, not one. That's when she told me that I needed to talk to a counselor. I then reminded her I said I wasn't going to argue about it and I hung up on her. Now I'm trying to resist the temptation of calling her back. I want to apologize for hanging up on her but at the same time, I know she'll only start rehashing the whole ordeal. UGH!