Health

As we all know, losing the weight after having a baby can be quite difficult. My biggest problem is eating like I am still pregnant. Because I am breastfeeding, I get these out of control urges to eat! If you have ever breastfed, you know what I'm talkin about! We were just on vacation for a week, which means we ate out ALOT! And when you have 3 kids, a drive thru is the most convenient. We packed a lot of snacks but ate horribley!
We got home and a couple of days later I had a Halloween cookie decorating party for Riley and friends, so of course I ate a ton of cookies! You see, I am a total sweets junkie. Anything chocolate I will eat, literally. But this time after having the sweets I felt sick, really sick. I felt heavy and tired. I came to a realiztion, and this is not rocket science but I am slow, eat bad = feel bad! See, I told you, not that hard to figure out, but for some reason I just wasn't getting it!!

Having a newborn (well, almost 4 months!) is exhausting. He gets up a lot at night and I mean alot! So I really need to get as much rest and have as much energy during the day that can. I can't get this eating unhealthy. So I went to a blog that I have been reading for a while now and searched her side bar for the topic of health. She had been feeling stroke like symptoms for EIGHT years and it only changed once she changed her diet! Wow, it scared me! I mean, I am not feeling stroke like symptoms but I am tired a lot, sluggish, irritable, my skin doesn't look good, I have been having headaches, etc. I ran across this post and I knew I was hooked. I love reading a health blog written by a Dr. It's like being in her office without having to pay!

So here is what I am doing, nothing drastic but I am not eating ANY sweets(ok, maybe a 100calorie Dreyers bar sometimes!), cutting out Diet Soda, eating WAY more veggies, watching my portion size, eating organic meats, drinking more water, and during snack time I will reach for an apple with a little peanut butter rather than an unfilling unhealthy snack. I am going to continue my work out routine. Let me be clear here, of course I want to lose weight but more importantly I want to be the best ME I can be. This means taking care of ME. Not only will I benefit from this, my husband and kids will to. This is going to be a struggle during Halloween but if I had a natural labor, I can do anything!

We're Baaaack!

We got in late lastnight from the MOST amazing family vacation EVER! Literally, the kids were awesome, the company was awesome, the food was awesome and just an all around fun time with my family. We went to Disneyland, California Adventure, then on to Monterey where we visited the Aquarium (AMAZING), the beach and on our way home with went to a HUGE pumpkin patch. I am busy today doing laundry and getting ready for our Halloween shindig on Saturday. I will break up our trip with a couple of different posts. Although we didn't get much sleep, it was the best time I have ever had. And having Avery with us completed everything.

My Boy

I can't believe it's been over 3 months since I gave birth to Avery. I am absolutely obsessed with him. Is that bad to be obsessed with your child? Well, I don't care! He smiles all the time, giggles when I tickle him, and loves to chew on my fingers! His has the biggest blue eyes that shine with he smiles and dimples that will make you melt. I can't imagine my life without him, even though it's only been 3 short months, I feel like I have known him my whole life. He is so content just sitting on my lap, leaning his chubby cheeks on my chest. I am really trying to enjoy EVERY single moment with him. When Riley was this age it really was quite a shock for me. I was nervous all the time and never sure if I was doing the right thing. I also was very uncomfortable breast feeding in public (which made it really hard to go anywhere). I am so much more comfortable parenting the second time around. Riley turned out great, so I guess I (and daddy!) did something right!!

Avery-you have truly blessed my life and I am enjoying EVERY SINGLE moment of being your mommy.

Getting Ready for Halloween

I am not the biggest fan of Halloween. But when my neighbor came over and told me that we get quite the foot traffic on Halloween night I knew I had to make an attempt at some decor. My mind started racing with inexpensive decorations and I quickly went through my wallet to check to see if I had any Joanns or Michaels coupons! I am proud to say the grand total for my Halloween mantel redo was a whopping $7.00! First I scoured blogs for inspiration. I cannot remember where but I saw that someone just spray painted branches black. I went to the backyard and looked for some "twiggy" branches and sprayed them, added the bats and a couple glitter skulls and I was in business (the only way I am going to have a skull in my house is if it has glitter on it!)

The crow I bought at the dollar store and the skeleton hand (I tea dyed it) and boo sign I printed off the Graphic Fairy. I bought the small pumpkin at CVS and spray painted it black. I stenciled on the 5, well, because there are 5 people in our family.

Our mirror definately doesn't go with the theme but it's all I have. Although, my SIL who is an antique dealer just found a 6 pane antique window for me. I am having a vision of hanging it above the mantel with a Halloween bunting. But we are leaving for Disneyland next week so we will see what I get done! Everything else on the mantel I already had around the house so it worked out perfect!

A Great Weekend

This past weekend was amazing. Not for any particular reason but the fact that we were together. After the run on Saturday morning we went to the Home and Garden Show. Riley had a great time doing the craft section. Then on Sunday, I woke up with a migrane so we stayed home from church, after taking some meds and relaxing I felt a lot better. We lounged around the entire day, it was great! We haven't done that in forever. Sometimes rest is the best thing for a family. At one time, we were all laying in our bed watching cartoons under the covers with the sound of rain outside.

When I saw it raining, I got so giddy! I rushed to get Rileys rainboots on and we ran outside to smell the fresh air. This weekend reminded me to slow down a bit and enjoy eachother. I even had time to whip up some beanies for Avery, I am pretty happy with how they turned out. It helps that I have a really cute model =)

Done And Done

I completed my first post baby 5k! I actually decided to run it the morning of the actual race which was in the early evening. To be honest, I didn't want to pay the entry fee and I didn't want to run at 5pm. But I really wanted to keep the goal I had set for myself. So my brother came over to watch the kiddos and Jim and I headed off to the park. He followed me the whole time on his bike (he can't run because of a knee injury, we are hoping for surgery by the end of the year!). I love my husband for so many reasons but he truly is my biggest fan. He is very supportive in whatever I do, especially when I set goals for myself. Surprisingly enough it didn't feel that hard. And I have to be honest, I didn't do a lot of training before, but I should have!

Anyway, enjoy the picture. I am such a goof sometimes! Happy Weekend!

A Moment of Silence

Every morning, no matter what, I get up at 6:30am. I have to. When I don't my day gets completely thrown off. I never did this before I had Avery but for some reason I need complete silence in the morning. No one (not even the hubby) gets up before 7:15am. I have never enjoyed COMPLETE silence as much as I have since Avery has been born. It is not that I have bad kids, quite the opposite actually. Riley has such a huge imagination (which I am in love with!) and Avery is the happiest baby I have ever seen. He literally smiles while he cries, no joke! It's very funny to watch.

First I open up all the windows and turn the house fan on. Grab a cup of coffee and sit on the couch and smell the crisp clean morning air. I think about what is going to happen that day or how I can have more patience with the kids. I pray, I think about how to be a better mom and wife, and just listen to myself think, it's great! Although mid-day I am wishing I would have slept until the kids got up, I am reminded again the next morning why this time is so special for me. This time has been an amazing growing experience for me. I am really enjoying my time with my kids and letting the little things go. For instance, today we had a 2 hour tea party! I mean, how many times can you "pretend" pour tea? Apparently for 2 hours. But Riley will talk about the tea party for weeks! That is how you know you are making memories with your little ones and that is the most important thing!!

Avery was very excited to be invited to the tea party but he was alittle embarassed that he didn't have a bowtie to wear. So Mommy has that on her list of things to make!