Big summer ahead

So, I am determined to become healthier this summer. I have been thinking about joining this Transformation Challenge at the Nappanee Health and Fitness this summer. It's a 10 week challenge and I really think it would be great to learn about nutrition, have someone help you plan workouts, and have other people working hard to transform their bodies as well. Another thing I might be interested in is weight watchers. I am not sure which would be best. I am just thinking about both right now. I know I can't do it myself. I try and try, but I think to really get started on the right foot, it would help to be around other people going through the same challenges and also talking to people who know what I should do to get healthy.

I wish I took more pictures. This is random, but I took all kinds of pictures of Elijah when he was a baby, and I have really slacked with Aliyah. My other goal for the summer is to take LOTS of pictures of my kids. I want to remember this stage and it helps to remember if you have lots of pictures to look back on!

That's it. Pretty short, but just thought I'd throw those 2 thoughts out there! :)

Growing, growing, growing...

My 7 month old daughter is changing every day. She has learned to do a lot of new things in the last week! She pulls up on EVERYTHING now. She even moves from one thing to another by herself. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. She also learned to clap and any time she sits down, she just starts clapping. She is crawling really fast now and also says "dada" all the time! I don't think she knows really what it means, but if we say it, she'll repeat it. It's super cute.

I guess I'm totally out of practice when it comes to babyproofing because she has fallen a few times on things that maybe I should have gotten out of the way? I guess I just forgot how easily they tumble. Luckily we have Elijah because he usually lets me know what is too dangerous for her. ;) No...she's actually fine, but she is much more determined than Elijah ever was. I really do think she'll be walking before Elijah did.

I ran 3 miles yesterday! I started out that night just wanting to make it 1.5 miles because I actually had to stop running for a week to let my knee get better. It's all better now and I think because the last time I ran my knee hurt the whole time, I was like wow...I'm just gonna keep going! It felt great to be out there burning some calories and having some time to myself! I have lost 5 pounds so far, but I am really hoping to lose 45 more! Small steps...and I have given myself until my 30th birthday to do so, so it's less stressful.

I'm loving the weather and the sunshine! I feel so happy when the sun is out and I have the whole day ahead of me! My mom and dad have been driving a semi-truck for the last 3 years and my mom comes home for good this week! Then my dad will be home next week! I'm so excited to have them around again! It's gonna be a nice summer!

Have a great day! :)

Happy Birthday Elijah!!!

My son is 4 years old today. I can hardly believe it. He has a calander in his room that has special things you can put on it for Holidays and stuff, and I put a birthday candle on it for the 18th, and I put the Labor Day thing on there for the 16th and told him that was when I went to the hospital to have him! It is the first year he has understood what that means because he remembers when he had to wake up really early the morning I went to the hospital to have Aliyah!

Four years old is such a fun age. I took Lij to the play place at McDonald's today in South Bend while AJ was at class, and he was playing with another 4 year old and I could hear their conversation. They talk about all kinds of fun stuff, and it's just neat that they really can communicate with each other and play well together and understand each other.

I just wanted to tell you all some things that I love about my Lijinator because it's his birthday! Elijah is one of the sweetest boys I know, which always makes me laugh because he's also the craziest, most energetic boy I know. He loves helping people do things, though, and he is always the first to jump up to get Aliyah something if she starts crying. A couple weeks ago, I said something about how I needed to do the dishes and then I got distracted doing something else, and when I came into the kitchen, Elijah was standing on his stool doing dishes for me! It was just so sweet, and he was so proud of himself for helping me even when I didn't ask him to! :) He is always on the go...always making up new games to play or stories to tell. He has a great imagination and has come up with some pretty crazy stories that always make me laugh. He loves to read, although he can't really read himself yet, but we read him 3 books every night before he goes to sleep and I catch him in his room often reading the books himself. He likes to read to Aliyah, too. He will listen to us read her her little books and then he memorizes them and reads them to her himself! It's so cute. He has a love for learning, and I hope that I can do whatever it takes to keep that love alive! He likes to practice writing his letters and sounding them out. He also loves counting and can count to 100 all by himself! I guess I should probably teach him what comes after 100 sometime because I can tell he wants to keep going once he reaches 100! He also loves to go to Sunday School and learn about Jesus. I think his favorite thing they do in their Sunday School is sing because he always sings his songs on the way home from church! He also likes to memorize his verses!

Those are just a few things that make Elijah great. He really is the best son, and I'm so thankful that God gave him to us. It's so strange to think that when I was pregnant for him I really wanted a little girl, and was even a little disappointed right at first when I heard he was a boy. I can't imagine now NOT having my boy. He is such an important part of my life and the PERFECT first kid. I honestly don't think I could have made it through my year without AJ without my son. He is so special to me. I'm happy to have a daughter now, too, but I'm always so thankful that God gave me my boy first. :)

So...Happy Birthday Little Stinks! I love you so much!!!

So far, so good..

Well, just a quick update to say that I really have stuck to running every day! I'm very proud of myself and it's getting easier and easier to motivate myself to go! I can tell a difference in my attitude about lots of things just by exercising and eating healthy every day! I love it!

Also, I have not had pop since the night before my birthday. I thought I might get headaches from stopping, but I haven't! I drank a LOT of diet coke before I was 29! ;) I think my morning coffee might have helped, but I feel like I want to have something delicious! When I stop seeing a difference or stop losing weight, I will maybe give up my coffee, too, but I have a feeling that's a long way off!

I haven't weighed myself since last Wednesday, so I'm interested to see if there is any difference this week. I think I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow morning or Friday morning. I don't know...sometimes I feel like I have lost a little weight, then other times I feel like it's not working. So...I'm just gonna stick with it and eventually hopefully the numbers on the scale will go down, but I think the most important thing is that I feel better!

That's the update!

29...REALLY?!

Well, you guessed it...I'm 29 years old now! Seems so crazy to think about. I mean my next birthday will be my 30th birthday!

The night before my birthday AJ took me out on a date (thanks to Ross and Emily for watching our kids) and we were talking about how I really want to be healthy and fit by the time I'm 30. So, I asked AJ to really keep me accountable on exercising and eating right. I gave him permission to get in my face about it! (I tested him out once, too, and he did great!) So far since I've been 29 (3 days), I have ran every day and eaten healthy! My goal is to run every single day I am 29. Seems kinda crazy when you think about winter and everything, and the fact that you should have a rest day, but my plan is pretty simple. I am going to run as far as I can for 2 days, do sprints the 3rd day, run as far as I can the next 2 days, do sprints that 6th day and then sort of do the opposite thing on Sunday...I will start off with jogging for 5 minutes, then walk, then end with jogging 5 minutes. So I can say I ran every day, but it's still a rest day. I think it's a fun goal because so far I really have ran every day and I don't want to not run because I like saying I have ran every day I've been 29!

Also, I gave up pop for my 29th year of life. Those are just 2 goals that I am going to make right now. Later on if I lose weight and feel like taking on another challenge, I will. But I gotta start small!

In other news, my little girl is 7 months old today and my little boy is going to be 4 on the 18th! Where has the time gone?! I can remember as clear as if it was yesterday the summer I had Elijah. He was such a fun baby and we would walk everywhere in the summer together. Now he doesn't fit in the stroller anymore. But I have a pretty cute replacement! :) More about Elijah on his 4th birthday...I want to do a post dedicated to him, and I don't want to spoil anything! :)

Aliyah is crawling now (has been for close to a month), she loves sweet potatoes and squash, she is starting to pull up on things. She squeals with delight about anything that makes her happy! She loves her talking phone, her singing giraffe, and her doll from Lila. She is equally in love with her daddy and mommy, but Elijah is by far her favorite person in the world. He just walks in the room and she squeals and tries to scoot or crawl over to him as fast as she can! She also has gone MIA a few times and we have found her in her brother's room playing with his favorite toys. He now has a few toys just for her in her reach so that she will just grab those when she goes in there! Clever boy, huh? :) Her hair is getting longer and she is wearing some 6-9 month things now. Oh...and she has beautiful red toenails thanks to her mom. ;)

Alright...I gotta go clean and do laundry and pack for our trip to Massanutten this week! We are going to Emily's parent's timeshare condo! So fun! I think Elijah is more excited than anyone because he gets to spend a whole week with his best friend and cousin Hunter! :)

Until next time...

Let's Get Real

Alright, folks, I'm about to get really REAL with you. I have been overweight since I had Elijah. It's not getting better. After having Aliyah, I realized how important it is to set a good example for her and Elijah on how to be healthy. It is so hard for me to admit this publicly, but since it doesn't seem like that many people read this anyway, I guess it's not THAT big of a deal. I have 50 pounds to lose to be at my ideal weight.

Ugh...so there you have it. I need to lose a whopping 50 pounds! I have finally reached a point where I feel ready and willing to do the hard work to get there. Before I have always looked at how much I have to lose and it seems so overwhelming, so now I've set a goal that feels much more manageable for me. I want to lose 10 pounds every month. I think this will get harder when I only have like 20 pounds left to lose, but for the first 3 months, I think it's very doable.

When I think about losing 10 pounds a month, it feels less stressful than thinking about all 50 at the same time. Plus every month after I've reached my 10 pound goal, I'll be able to say Oh! I only have 40 pounds to lose now, 30 pounds to lose now, 20 pounds to lose now...and so on. So, here is how I'm planning on doing this. I'm going to work out 5 to 6 times a week, and I'm going to cut my calories to 1600 a day the first month, 1500 a day the second month, and down to 1200. It's gonna be crazy, but I think it'll be totally worth it in the end.

Alright, folks...I'll keep you updated on my triumphs and struggles! Wish me luck! Well...really pray for me if you think of it! I could use the extra strength! :)

Back at it again...

I have really gotten out of the habit of blogging! I don't expect a lot of people to read this or anything, but I truly do enjoy writing these posts, so I am going to try my best to keep up with it this year!

We had a really great Christmas this year! We celebrated our own little Christmas early because we were in Minnesota with AJ's side of the family on Christmas day. Elijah was so excited about Christmas this year. He ran into our room in the morning and yelled "Mommy! Daddy! There's PRESENTS under the tree!!!" It was so exciting for us, too! He loved his toys and played with them all day!

My parents came over the day after our little family Christmas, and we had lunch together. It was really great to see them before we left. We weren't going to get to see them because they were supposed to arrive after we already left for Minnesota, but they ended up getting to come home a little early! We were very happy that we could see them and say Merry Christmas in person! :) Elijah got some great little toys from his grandma and grandpa and Aliyah got a cute Christmas outfit and some nail polish! I painted her little toenails after they left and she looked so cute! Have I mentioned I LOVE having a little girl?! :)

We drove to Minnesota on the 23rd and stayed there until the 31st! It was a lot of fun to see everyone! Some of the highlights include seeing AJ's whole family on Christmas Eve and opening presents, hanging out with Roxana every night til like 3 in the morning playing bananagrams or talking, going bowling with all the siblings, taking Lij ice skating, going to the Mall of America, and going to IKEA for my very first time! We had a wonderful trip!

Now we're back and enjoying our last week before we go back to school. It was nice that I was able to take the summer and a semester off to spend with my kids, but I am very ready and excited to get back into the routine of classes and homework. It's crazy to say, but I really am.

That's the update! I will blog again soon about some changes I have been making in my life! Until then.......