Going, going, gone!

Elizabeth really started moving since she learned to crawl.  She still loves to go after Jason's toys and some days it seems like they trade toys.  As I type Jason is chewing on a baby toy and Elizabeth is attacking his train.  Thankfully Jason hasn't noticed yet, or the screaming would begin.  We try to enforce that the toys are both of theirs and you can't take away something that your sibling is playing with.  We have had to tell both kids no they can't play with a toy because the other one is playing with it.  Sometimes they can play very nicely together though.  For example Jason loves to run his train around the living room and Elizabet will crawl or use her walker to follow him.

We celebrated Thanksgiving last week with Jeff's family from San Antonio.  I cooked tons and haven't yet heard about any cases of food poisoning so that is a plus!  We all piled into their very large SUV and headed up to Dallas for some black Friday shopping.  I feel pretty good that we got quite a bit of our list knocked out.  After the family left on Saturday we put up our Christmas decorations.  I love that it is beginning to look like Christmas, it is my favorite time of the year!  Just yesterday I tried to take some Christmas photos of the kids and only one would cooperate (probably because she isn't fast enough to get away yet.)  So you will just have to trust me that Jason was adorable in his Christmas get up. 

Camping and crawling!

Last Thursday Jeff asked me if I was interested in going camping so we pulled everything together and got packed up.  Saturday morning we left for the local lake that has some great camping areas.  When we first got there we were both a little concerned because it was pretty windy and we were worried that it might be too cool for us as the sun went down.  Thankfully as we went for a walk after Jason's nap the sun came out and the wind died down.  Jason really enjoyed the playground and went down the slides quite a bit after watching some of the big boys do it.  When we finished our walk we started up our campfire to cook dinner and some s'mores. 

While we were hanging out we had Elizabeth down on a mat.  She was loving being outside in nature and even decided to eat a little bit of the nature.  As she was trying to get another leaf to try to eat she got up on all fours and crawled a bit.  Later on in the camper while I was getting Jason ready for bed, Elizabeth tried to go after one of his trains.  She has been improving little by little since then and her favorite thing to go after is Jason's toys.

Opps there went October

I kept meaning to write about what was going on in our life, but something else always got in the way.  October may have started off slow, but it finished with big bang.  I started out the month taking lots of photos of my beautiful babies.






Then we all flew to Virginia for Jeff and I's 10 year high school reunion.  We stayed with my parents and my wonderful brother gave up his room so that we could all stay on one floor.  They took us to a park where Jason got to ride the ghost train (not scary at all) and watched the kids while we were at the reunion on Saturday night.  Jason was an angel and although Elizabeth wouldn't take a bottle she did go to sleep for Uncle Brian.  We had a great time at the reunion catching up with people we haven't seen in...well 10 years.  On Sunday morning we attended the church we were married in 6 years ago and got to catch up with the pastor who married us. 


That afternoon we spent some time with our friends Nathan, Cristy and their little boy.  They played on the playground and fed the ducks and (in Jason's case) fish.  By that time the boys were ready for nap time so we headed home.  Jeff napped with Jason while Elizabeth, my mom and I helped support the local economy.  On Monday we knew most people would be at work so our family did some more supporting the economy and had lunch out with my dad.  We had planned on going to a local nursery for a fall festival, but Jason was completely worn out and took an extra long nap so as soon as we could we headed to the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the mall with our friends.  Before we had much time to explore it started raining on us.  We dashed back to the car and grabbed some dinner and hung out while the kids played.  Before we knew it we had to fly home on Tuesday morning.





Jeff took the rest of the week off because he had some extra time to use before the end of the year.  We tried to get some family photographs on Wednesday and hopefully they will turn out.  The rest of the week we just spent some time being together as a family and preparing for Halloween.  Jason helped carve a pumpkin and we all watched football on Sunday. 





On Monday night we were all ready to get out trick or treating!  Jason still had not figured out how to say trick or treat, but charmed everyone with his cuteness!  Every morning now he comes into the kitchen and sees his pumpkin bucket on top of the fridge and points to it.  Of course he doesn't get any until later in the day, but it is cute that he remembers what is in there. 





November is hopefully going to be a slower month for us.  Besides a couple of appointments we are just looking forward to Thanksgiving.  Since their plans changed recently we invited Jeff's family up here for Thanksgiving and this will be the largest group I have had for the holiday yet. 

too many projects not enough time.

I partially blame pinterest and my adiction to the internet, but it never seems like I have time for everything I want to do.  I am still working on the weight loss, although some days are better than others.  I would love to take better pictures and improve my photography skills.  I have about a million sites and at least 3 books I want to read to improve my skills.  I did just have a lightbulb moment the other night and am excited to practice more.  Then there is cooking for my family.  My darling husband has broken the news to me that he is tired of one of my standby recipies so I am searching for some new, healthy and tasty recipies also making Elizabeth's baby food.  Then I love making hair bands and bows for my baby girl and I need to start scrapbooking her first year.  Jason needs care and love also and wants to be read to and play trains.  We have also started to potty train him.  Then of course my husband would like to talk to me now and again.  There is also the normal cleaning and house care that needs to be done and it boils down to the fact that I need to start praying for a few more hours in the day.  In all honestly I really just need to prioritize what I want to get done and put the rest on the back burner for someday when I have more time. 

Today's photography attempt

Mid-leap

I can't believe we are at 6 months already!

It seems like just yesterday I was posting Elizabeth's birth story, but here we are on her 6 month birthday!  When did time start moving so fast?  Poor girl had to have her 6 month shots today, but she is recovering like a trooper!  She is sitting up on her own better and better every day, when her brother isn't pushing her over (a battle he has had many time outs for.) 

Elizabeth was born with a full head of hair, but she had been loosing it steadly until recently when it seems like it has lightened up from the almost black that she was born with.  I still say she is going to be blond for a little while, but everyone else thinks we will have a little burnette.  Whatever color her hair she is sure to be a little beauty!

Although she has always been a pretty good sleeper she doesn't really get herself to sleep most nights and wakes at least once.  I think we may need to start sleep training her like we did Jason.  It always hurts my heart to hear my babies cry, but I think that putting herself to sleep is a skill she needs to learn. 

Recently we started solids with her and she doesn't really approve.  We have only done oatmeal and avocado, but she only tolerates them sometimes.  She weighed in today at 17lbs, 10 oz so she isn't hurting for food.  Unlike her brother Elizabeth wants to put everything in her mouth so I will have to watch her very carefully.  We are about to move her up a size in diapers and we may have her wearing her 6-9 month clothes soon.  She also loves to babble and I think Jeff can claim another child who's first word was Dada.  All in all she is a pretty happy baby. 

It has been too long!

It really has been too long since I have updated, but we have had so much going on.  We are finally in and settled in our house.  I will be sure to put together a post with photos of home when I get a chance.

 In the mean time Elizabeth is almost 6 months and I am just getting around to posting her 5 month photo. 

We also went to a train museaum with the family and Jason didn't want to leave. 

Jeff and I also celebrated our birthday.

 We packed up everything and moved it into the new house which was quite an adventure.  Now that we are here and everything is in it's proper place, we are working on making friends. 

We attended a family fun day at Jeff's work last week and a baseball game in Dallas.  I have been taking the kids to library story time every week and recently we went out to lunch with a family from the library.  Next week we have Elizabeth's 6 month appointment and I am excited to see how big she has gotten.

This post isn't about Jason, or Elizabeth, it isn't even about Jeff. This post is about me and what I need to do. Let's start from the very beginning, a very good place to start (name that movie.) I always had issues with my weight. I remember being made fun of in Fourth grade about it and between freshman and sophomore years of high school I went to weight watchers with my family, lost quite a bit of weight and learned some great tools. As high school and college continued I forgot what I should be doing and slipped into eating lots and lots of junk. One of my biggest regrets is that I didn't slim down for my wedding. In early 2006 I decided with my new husband that I would start taking it off instead of putting it on. The Atkins diet had been going well for his parents so we decided to try that. It worked amazingly! I lost tons of weight that first year and then when the loss started to slow down we got a treadmill.

Senior prom, not perfect, but not too bad.

Wedding, not exactly where I wanted to be.

getting there (Christmas 2006)

October 2007, I loved this dress, but didn't buy it.

poor Jeff looks terrible in this photo, but I look good (Christmas 2007)

I have always hated running I still hate running, but I knew it was the best way to get into the shape I wanted to be in. I still remember the hike we took with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law and I beat everyone up the mountain. It was such a great feeling! I of course had bad times when I strayed from the diet or didn't run enough, but I kept it up until early 2008 when I had an early miscarriage. We had already been trying for a baby for 8 months. I lost the baby around Valentine's day and, although there was absolutely no scientific evidence to support this, I blamed the stress running put on my body a little bit. So when I found out I was pregnant again in May I didn't want to take any chances and I stopped running. I also went nuts with my eating. I gained way more than I should have by the time that Jason was born on February 12, 2009. I knew I wanted to lose the weight again so as soon as Jason started solids at 6 months I went back on the Atkins diet. I did lose a bit, but I wasn't down to where I wanted to be when we took a cruise, then moved and lived in a hotel. I was promising myself that as soon as we got into our new house I would crack down and eat well again. Then I was shocked to find out we were pregnant again. It isn't that we weren't trying, but I was shocked by how easily it happened this time. I knew I couldn't diet while pregnant, but I did reign in my wild chocoholic nature this time.

Christmas 2008, pregnant with Jason and still 2 months to go.

Summer 2009, Jason is cute, but I needed some work

Christmas 2009, I worked on it

about a week before Elizabeth was born

Wow that ended up being way longer than I thought it would be, but I guess it all needed to be written out. Technically I am at my pre-pregnancy weight, but I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be again. I know that I need to start running again and am planning on downloading and starting a couch to 5k running program as soon as we get into our new house (don't worry I won't get pregnant again.) In the meantime we have decided that the Atkins diet, although it has been good to us before, isn't the way to go. It is a great way to lose a lot of weight fast, but as soon as you start eating carbs again the pounds start piling back on. This time I am going to be counting calories and trying to have a very balanced diet. I also want to take advantage of the time I am nursing Elizabeth since I am one of the lucky ladies that nursing makes it easier for me to lose weight. Eating healthy is something I would really like to teach my children, especially since we know that Elizabeth inherited my thunder thighs.

My amazing, shrinking father (stand up straight Dad!)

There are quite a few people who have been an inspiration for me to do this. The first one was...me! I have done it before and know I can do it again. Secondly it would be my Father. I don't know exactly how much he has lost, but he looks amazing and most of that is from eating sensibly and bicycling and here is where he writes about it http://50centuries.blogspot.com/ I also have a friend from college whose story is very much like mine and she has successfully run off the pounds while she makes healthier food choices. My biggest supporter in all this is my wonderful husband Jeff. The other day he sent me an e-mail titled "hot stuff" and it included two pictures of me from 2007 in a bikini. I will include these, but please forgive the bumps, lumps and imperfections.





So I am hoping by writing all this out I will be able to behave, eat well and run! I would also love to shave off a few pounds for our 10 year high school reunion in October.