My journey begins

I have been wanting to lose weight for a very long time (About 7 years, 1 month to be exact). Ever since my first child was born. I have signed up for a women's weight loss program with a personal trainer at my gym. Today was my first day, and it was painful. Weight, body fat testing, measurements, caloric goals, physical activity goals etc. etc. etc. But I'm going to do this. My reasons??? I want to feel comfortable in my skin again. I want my kids to learn healthy habits. I want to do fun things again without feeling self concious. I want to go to my husband's 20 class reunion next summer and feel that he's proud to have me on his arm (not that he wouldn't anyway....but I want to feel it myself). I want to stop missing out on family fun time because I feel too fat. I want to be healthy and happy. And a million other reasons. What are the down sides to losing the weight? I won't be in my safe little comfort zone that I've been in for so long. That's all.
Wish me luck. I'll post pictures of my progress (if I get real ambitious).

Siblings......*sigh*

Erik's primary teacher told me the other day about an experience she had with him in class...She was teaching a lesson on faith, and in the middle of class Erik raised his hand. She called on him and this was their conversation:

Erik-I don't like my sister.
Sis. Stevens-I'm sure you love your sister. She might make you mad sometimes, but I'll bet you love her.
Erik-No, I don't like her. Not even a little bit.

Sister Stevens let it drop and continued with her lesson...about fifteen minutes later, Erik raised his hand again.

Sis. Stevens- Yes Erik.
Erik-I guess I like my sister.

Needless to say, faith kinda went in one ear and out the other that day.

Long time, No see

I haven't posted since January??? Really?! Wow, time flies!
Today is the last day of school for the kids and I'm not NEARLY as excited as they are. Any ideas on how to keep them busy and out of trouble through the summer??? Tim and I took a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico last weekend. It was tons of fun! Thanks to my mom for flying in to watch all three kids while we relaxed!

Great Big Muscles

Erik flexed his arms and told me that he has big muscle bumps like Uncle Darin....keep working on 'em bud....maybe someday.

ERIK

UNCLE DARIN

Connor

Huh?

I'm starting a book entitled "Did that just come out of my mouth?" What is the strangest, silliest, funniest thing you've had to say to your kids that you never thought would come out of your mouth???

Sense of accomplishment

Just a quick post....then I have to go feed my baby. I finished my first race this morning. It was a 5K, and I was able to run the whole thing, which in itself was a big accomplishment, but I also took 3rd place overall. My hips are killing me and I'm hungry as all get out, but I did it!!! I've got a 3K next weekend and then another 5K. I'd really like to try a bike race sometime!

Food Storage Web Site

For those of you who are interested in actually using your food storage, I have a great website for you. www.safelygatheredin.blogspot.com It's a blog by a lady who posts about food storage. Every Friday she posts a new recipe using EXCLUSIVELY food storage items. There's also a list of past recipes so you can go back and browse. I've made a couple of the recipes and they taste really good! The curried lentils over rice was yummy. Most of these recipes are pretty healthy too. Take a look!

Updates

Thanks to Uncle Scott's running program I am now able to run a half hour without stopping! I know that doesn't sound significant, but to me it IS! I have also started a biggest loser competition in my ward! We started on Saturday with our initial weigh in, and I've lost a whopping 0.5 lbs. I'm excited about it though!
I also went jet skiing for the first time on Tuesday. It was a BLAST! It's pretty cheap too. I guess it only cost about $100 to rent the jetskis for the entire day, and the company brings them to the lake to you, and then comes and picks them up when you're done. Sweet Deal! We took the kids out on them too. Ashley didn't like it because she said she got too cold (it was about 95 degrees out, so I didn't quite understand that), but Erik LOVED it. Tim said he kept asking him to go Faster, Faster!!! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures. :( We had a great time, and the Lake was only about 5 minutes from our house. It was actually a little cove off the snake river, but I still had NO idea it was there. There's a swimming area roped off and a boat launch and a dock and everything....now that I know about it, we'll be spending a lot more time there!

Breast Feeding Pros/Cons

Pros:
-You don't have to treck down to the kitchen to make a bottle in the middle of the night
-You don't have to pack up bottles and formula if you need to go somewhere
-The longer you breast feed, the less likely you are to get breast cancer
-Immunity Boost for baby
-Bonding with baby
Am I missing anything?

Cons:
-The scale won't budge (this is true for me anyway, can't seem to lose weight)
-Baby sleeps longer with formula (which equates to more sleep for mom)
-Dad can't help with the feedings
-I can't go see movies or anything else that takes more than 2 hours
-It's inconvenient, and embarrassing to nurse in public
-Baby can be sensitive to foods mom eats
Am I missing anything?

To wean or not to wean, that is the question. Is three months enough? What do you think?

Goals

I'm starting to get pretty excited about running, which hasn't happened in.....well, ever. I did cross country track in Jr. High....and hated it. That might have had something to do with the fact that we trained with the high school runners who were much fitter and faster, and I always felt inadequate running with them. Well, I've learned to only compare myself to me now, and I'm enjoying it finally. I have started Uncle Scott's training program (Thanks Scott!), and will be running the Pocatello 10K on Sept. 5th, and the 10K in Shelley for Spud Days the following weekend. I'm also planning to do a half marathon in Surprise, AZ the end of January. I've found that little goals are the way to go. I've also realized (and this has given me amazing motivation), that when I get through my first race it will be the biggest accomplishment of my life (a little pathetic, but definitely note worthy). So wish me luck! I'll need it!

Weight loss

Though I am ashamed to admit it, I've got about 70 lbs. to lose. 60 from my pregnancy with Ashley (that I never lost), and an additional 10 from my pregnancy with Erik (which I lost a bit of the 30 I put on then). Good news....I've lost all of the weight from Connor's pregnancy. Anywho, so begins the updates on my weight loss to keep me motivated. 70 lbs. here I come, or here you go rather. Wish me luck!!

rut

Ever feel like you have NOTHING interesting going on? That's me right now. Monotony rut. Same thing every day. Same routine, same worries, same challenges, same everything. Any advice?

The Metamorphosis

Tim has a REALLY neat tradition with the kids that he started back when Ashley was born. Ashley was born on his 30th birthday, so he thought it would be fun to have a picture with her every month of her first year, and then every birthday after that to document her growth. He's
continued the tradition with the boys. He loves to put the pictures on slide show mode, and watch the metamorphosis of the kids. Here are a few examples from Ashley and Erik's metamorphosis, and the first picture of Connor's. I won't post all the pictures as I'm sure you don't want to see every photo snapped from my kids lives!

Tim and Ashley- 1 month

Tim and Ashley- 6 months

Tim and Ashley- 1 year

Tim and Ashley-2 years
Tim and Ashley- 3 years

Tim and Ashley-4 years

Tim and Ashley- 5 years

Tim and Erik- 1 month

Tim and Erik- 6 monthsTim and Erik- 1 year

Tim and Erik- 2 years

Tim and Connor- 1 month

I'm such a wimp

Wednesday I took Ashley to Kindergarten Roundup to find out the necessary information for next school year. I realized I'm a wimpy mom when they took all the kindergartners to the classroom for games and cookies. I turned around in my seat watching Ashley leave and almost started bawling! My baby, my baby, where are they taking you? Homeschooling wouldn't be SO terrible, would it? I hear that your first and your last are the hardest to let go of. Everyone cry with me in September!

Connor's Blessing

Update

Okay, Connor is 2 1/2 weeks old now, so I guess it's time for an update. Connor is doing really well, he's growing fast and is very healthy...or so they tell us at the doctor's office. He's had an infected umbilical, but we've been treating that and it's fallen off and healed up now. He's got a cute little outie...I don't know if he'll think it's so cute later on, but we love it. I got mastitis, and got over that..whew. He's a good little eater and sleeper. He is a fast eater, which concerned me at first. I had heard (and my other two followed the trend) that a baby should eat about 15-20 minutes on each side. I'm lucky if I can get Connor to nurse for 15 minutes....total. But he put on 1.2 lbs. in a week, so I guess he's getting what he needs. He wakes up twice at night, once at 1 once at 4 and takes a half hour total to eat, have his diaper changed and go back to sleep, so I'm not hurting too much there. Everyone keeps asking me if the baby is wearing me out. Give me a newborn anyday!!! Somebody needs to tell me how to deal with my 2 year old...he's the one wearing me out!

The other day, I couldn't hear Erik, which is never a good thing. I though he was downstairs with Tim, so I went down there, but he hadn't seen him. Guess where I found him....sitting in the sink, in the bathroom applying my makeup. I had to spend a small fortune replacing most of what he got his hands on. I'm happy to report I kept my cool pretty well. In fact Tim commented that he was impressed that I didn't "pinch his little head off". It was a near thing.

Today, I got a call from the 911 dispatcher. Erik decided we had an emergency, I guess. I told the dispatcher we didn't have an emergency.....YET. I realized that might not be a very wise thing to say when I remembered those calls are recorded. So for the record...I'm not going to maim my son....I promise. At least not today.

One word

MASTITIS!!!!!

Connor James Tremayne

Here he is! Connor James Tremayne! 8 lbs. 5 oz. 20.5 inces long. All went well. He's a happy mild little baby, and I'll post more when I'm not pecking at the keyboard with one hand cause I'm holding a new baby in the other......such is life...now...I guess.

Almost there

Well, we've just about gotten through it. The Piano Recital is over and done with, and went off without a hitch, except Erik smashing his finger in the church door. (Can't wait for another little boy :)) We've gotten through Tim's, Dad's, 60th b-day party, which was at our house on Sunday (switched from the night before the induction, thankyou Tim). Today I finish up my visiting teaching for April, and get some of the last minute shopping done (which mom tells me not to do, she can do it when she gets here- do I ever listen????). And tomorrow Mom flies in to try to make me sit down and relax (it won't work, I bet you it won't). Then......Thursday morning....6:00 A.M. we're in the hospital getting pitosin pumped into my system. If everything goes as smoothly as it did with Erik, we should have a new little hurricane added to our family by noon or 1. I'll post pictures when I get a spare second.....which could mean NEVER! Grandma Renee bought me a magnet for my fridge which reads "Mothers of little boys are busy from SON up to SON down". Hopefully I can get at least one picture posted for you all. WISH ME LUCK!!!