The best part of my day!

So the last two days have been ones that I would rather spend drinking than with my kids. I have had a 3 month old going through a growth spurt - eating constantly and having issues napping today. Last night she slept well at night, but the two previous nights she had 2 wakings a night. My darling 2 year old and 4 year old are the best of friends, but this does not help the noise level in my house. With a husband who works sleeps during the days 10 days a month, this causes me quite the anxiety... Where are the drinks?!

Well, last night I got the "big girls" to bed at 8:15 pm. Taylor wanted cuddles, but Dylan was fussy and was yet to go to bed. I told her that after I got Dylan to sleep I would come check on her.
She said, "And cuddle me?"
"Yes," I told her.

So, 15 minutes later, I snuck back into her room. Her big sister asleep already on the top bunk. As I walked closer to her, I could see a HUGE smile on her face. It melted my heart to see the look in her eyes with that smile. I made her night by coming to cuddle her and she made my day. She wrapped her arms around me and fell asleep.

Today's Craft

I had a wild hair today to go buy the supplies to make a birthstone necklace for myself.

I have seen similar things online with crazy prices... so here is mine:

The beads on the top and the bottom of thier names are their birthstones.

Alex is October which is pink, Taylor is December which is light blue and Dylan is May which is an Emerald (green).

First Day of School!

This is my oldest daughter's first day of preschool. It almost feels like when I dropped her off at daycare at 8 weeks old, almost. Now she can play with other kids, smile, laugh, talk, pee in the toilet, eat solids and feed herself.

Here is Alex on her first day of school.

Maybe I should get used to calling her Alexandra. She has to go by Alexandra at school since there is another Alex in her class.

Well, I was a little sad to leave her... a little sad to have a quiet house when she was gone.

She didn't seem to care, she just got to play with new friends, her cousin and an old friend. Her little sister was mad she couldn't stay to play too. Her baby sister celebrated this milestone by napping in her carseat.

Gone are the times we can pick up and go on a trip in the middle of the week. We may not work 8-5 M-F jobs, but we have school now!

My first 5k!

So, I accomplished my goal. Please pass the doritos, pizza, donuts and ice cream please!

I ran a 5k this morning that I planned for less than 24 hours. It was the Miles for Smiles run to benefit pink scarf and the Bismarck cancer center.

I bribed my Sister in law (by paying her fee) to walk the race pushing Dylan in the stroller. Her wonderful husband allowed me to drop my other girls off at his house to lounge and watch cartoons with their two kids. The only foul was that Taylor peed on the bathroom floor, her pants and panties trying to go potty there. I did provide breakfast for them making the struessel banana muffins I blogged about here. I also made homemade granola bars. These were awesome. I made them yesterday and there is barely any left! The kids all LOVE them!

Okay, back to the run... I jogged the whole time repeating to myself as I was passed many, many times that time does not matter because I have a 3 months old. I have never ran a 5k, much less 3 months and 6 days after I had a baby. I had my heart rate monitor on but tried not to pay attention to it and tried to push myself.... I ran 20 minutes of the race with my heart rate above 85%. It took me about 33 minutes to complete the race (5.5 mph - not too bad!). Of course, I was second or third from the end of the runners - but I did it! I have the Friends of Youth race in a month that is put on with the Bismarck marathon. I would love to finish it in less than 30 minutes, so that is what I have to strive for over the next month.


I celebrated my success this morning by taking my three angels grocery shopping at Wal-Mart (after I showered, started laundry and gave the girls a snack). We then went to Wendy's drive thru for lunch which I had the new Apple Pecan chicken salad. It was great! I inhaled it I was so hungry... The website says that it is 580 calories, which is a little more than my normal salad I make for lunch... still GREAT! After, I unloaded groceries, put them away, emptied the dishwasher, loaded the dirty dishes into the dishwasher (and hand washed a few), emptied the trash, switched laundry and picked up clothes that we took this morning.

I am exhausted. I will close my giving myself this:

Not because I think I did super, duper excellent. Not because I beat a few people in my run. But because I jogged the whole thing and I accomplished a 5k after 3 kids (one who is just 3 months!).

My first 5k!

I signed up to run a 5k in September, but I saw in the paper one that is being held tomorrow. With the help of my Sister in law, to walk pushing my 3 month old in her stroller and her husband to watch my two older kids, I will be running tomorrow! I am super-duper excited! :o) I also weighed myself and it read 185. Super!! I am down 39 lbs and 15 from my pre-PG weight and 20 from my goal 10 weeks to get there. I guess it may have been easier to not gain 54 lbs with my pregnancy, but then Starbucks would have went out of business! :o)

My girls - picture comparisions

Feel free to guess who is who in these pictures:

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

Do they look anything alike? This is at about age 3 months for each.

Here are a few more just for fun!

Game #2,

Pic A

Pic B

Pic C

Place your guesses now!

My highlights~

I post about my kids a lot and my struggles with them. Here is one blog entry just about me...

I have been running most days of each week for about 3 weeks now - usually 2-3 miles a day. I have been watching what I eat, most days for the past 3 weeks. I am happy to say that I am now down to 186 - with 21 lbs to go by November 1st.

Baby's crying... that is all. :o)

My naughty daugher...

It has not been a secret that we have had our share of challenges with our dear 4 year old since the birth of her baby sister. I think this latest one takes the cake for naughtiness. Yes, she has started to pee the bed at night since her sister, yes, she gets into trouble when I am feeding the baby, yes she pushes and bosses her two year old sister around, yes she is always in the babies face.... however this one makes the rest look so minor.

Despite her actions a few weeks ago, I ran on the treadmill and put the baby on her blanket in the living room while I showered. Alex comes running into the bathroom telling me that baby puked. I tell Alex to hold her on her side and I will take care of it when I get out (I had conditioner in my hair). Alex leaves and runs back saying that baby has puke on her eyes. I jump out of the shower and poor Dylan is screaming like she is hurt. (I tried to cover with my towel, I just pray no one was out taking a walk by my house that day. We have a 8x6 foot bay window in our living room that would have had quite the show in it!) I get baby cleaned a bit and place her in her bouncey and reprimand Alex. I return to the shower, throw something on and give the baby a bath. Alex later fessed up that she was trying to shove a pacifier (which Dylan does not like) into her baby sister's mouth to get her to be quiet.

NOPE, that was not the naughtiest thing!

Last night the girls really want to see the 11 year old neighbor girl. There had been no activity at their house all day and she saw that her dad was home then. I told Alex that we would go outside after Dylan woke up because she had just fell asleep. The girls were watching cartoons and Dylan was asleep in her bouncey seat. I took advantage of the moment and went to my bedroom to fold laundry. I come out to check on them just in time to hear Dylan start screaming, from a dead sleep. At first, I thought she was having a dream - but then it progressed and got worse. Taylor first tells me that she hit baby in the eye. It comes out shortly that ALEX flicked her sleeping baby sister in the eye to get her to wake up so she could see the neighbor girl sooner. REALLY?! If you turn off the baby's vibrator on her chair, she wakes. If the girls yell, she wakes. But NO! Her sister thought that it was somehow a good idea to hit her baby sister in the eye while she is sleeping! WTF?!

Have I ever mentioned that I am glad she starts preschool soon, very soon.

New recipes!

So, I have made a commitment to be healthier, so I went through an old issue of Healthy Cooking Magazine to pull recipes. (My Grandma bought us Taste of Home subscriptions and when she passed, my Mom decided that with her inheritance it was her roll to pay for my and my sister's subscriptions, but switched to Light & Tasty which later changed to Healthy Cooking.)
Here are a few that we have made in the past few days. Wheat Germ Streusel Banana Muffins - this got top reviews from all of us. I have to admit that I could not find wheat germ, so I skipped it - but the streusel is the best part! Fruited Mixed Greens Salad - to my surprise this was actually liked well by my kids too!!! They did not like the walnuts, and Taylor did not like the rasperries, but they ate it better than I expected! I did add a chicken breast to Wade's and mine and split one between the girls. I didn't want it to be a side but a meal.
Tonight, I made the Texan Ranch Chicken Casserole which was a big flop in my house. Taylor refused to touch it, Alex ate 3 bites and asked if she could be done.... Then they ate a yogurt instead....
Much to my husband's dismay, I picked all of my recipes for this month (or I should say, pay period - I plan meals & shop every 2 weeks) from this magazine. My goal was to keep dinner about 400 calories so I can lose weight. So far, so good. Today I slacked from running but was down to 187 (17 PG lbs to go!) and probably 22 to my goal and 10 weeks to do it.

Here are a few other light recipes we throw into rotation:
http://halfmysize.com/index.php/recipes/cheesy-chicken-macaroni-cheese-casserole
http://halfmysize.com/index.php/recipes/crockpot-cheesy-chicken-spaghetti
http://halfmysize.com/index.php/recipes/broccoli-cheese-tater-tot-casserole

So, what is my goal weight?

When I was doing Weight Watchers last year, I think the top weight for my height of 5'9" was 169 - by current BMI standards. So, of course, this was the goal - 165-169 or so. I think I got down to 160 at one time....

Well, I found an old calorie counter book. I wanted to look up calories in the tomato, onion and avacado in my salad. Well, the book was published in 1972 (before I was born). According to the chart in that book, my top weight should be 158 lbs. Now, it may be doable, but harder to maintain.... lets be real. How many Moms of 3 (or more) kids can really be that small? If you can, I hate you. Okay, not really, but you are the girl we all wanted to be in school. Oh - wait - that was me in school! Having kids has certainly messed with my metabolism. I think I was 145 when I graduated high school and maybe 150 when I got married (but I worked out 1-2 times a day and ate 1500 cal/day to acheive that at 27!). Just to compare, I never tried to lose weight or watch my waist until I got engaged. I was 165 when I graduate college and I age whatever I wanted, but I also played softball and had team practice 3-4 hours a day.

I guess what caught me by reading this old book was how the standard of slim has changed so over 35 years. I have set my goal of 2 lbs a week, 2000 cal a day (since I am nursing!), 300-500 a day calorie burn AND to reach my goal weight by November 1st! I am not sure if my goal will be 158, 169 or maybe somewhere in between.... all look better to me than 189-194 that I have been fluctuating since June.

Pics of the kids

So, here is an easy update to my blog... Alex & Taylor goofing around. Such pretty smiles!
The littlest princess thinking Daddy is SO funny!

Smiling in her princess shirt....

Don't we all have pics like this that the kids dressed themselves?

I've let her go out in a dress and rainboots before... the husband is a little embarrassed at that.

Here is Dylan's picture that will be on the screen at church Sunday at her baptism.