weigh in

I haven't weighed in since a week before Thanksgiving, so I decided to bite the bullet and just do it. My weight watchers expired, so now I just have my trusty scale. I didn't think that I gained weight, but didn't necessarily think that I had lost either. I was SO nervous and was just hoping not to gain. Well, I lost 7 pounds since my last weigh in!!!! I was so excited! My weigh loss since starting is now 21 pounds! Now, realize that it was a different scale and I weighed myself in the morning (after breakfast) in comparison to in the evening like weight watchers. I also didn't have clothes on. Taking all of those into account, I probably lost around 4 pounds actually. Still...I was happy! Weighing myself once a week is so good for me, because even if I can't see the weight gain or loss in my clothes, it's a good motivator. I have 11 pounds to go to be where I was before I ever had kids. I would still like to lose another 15-20 though. Chad and I are having a contest to see who can lose the most weight before we leave for Christmas break. I think I am now winning! My goal for next week is 2 pounds.

siblings

This was taken this morning in the bathtub. I am so thankful that my kids love each other and enjoy being together! When we brought Mia home, I was a little nervous about how Kian would respond to her. I knew Aiden would be a fantastic brother. Kian has surprised me. He loves his sister so much and is quite gentle with her. Aiden and Kian love to play together and also love to tackle (what brothers don't!). It is such a joy for me to see my kids interact with each other!

Family pics

We had family pictures taken a few weeks ago. The kids didn't cooperate oh so much, but we still got a few that I really liked. Here are a couple of them. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving

I know I am one week overdue with a post. Sorry. I ended up getting strep too and was very sick. I decided that I really shouldn't run the 4 mile race (seeing that the previous 2 weeks were hit or miss with exercise due to everyone's sickness and I was sick myself). I also didn't go to the weigh in because of having to go to the doctor's for Kian and Mia. However, I am happy to say that we currently are sick free in our house! So, I really don't know if I've lost any weight. I don't think I've gained or lost really (which based on the holidays, I am ok with that). My goal is to lose another 7 by the time we leave for Chad's family on the 24th.
Thanksgiving break was great! Chad's mom came to visit for about 6 days and we all had a great time. I went shopping on Black Friday and got most of our Christmas shopping done. I put up the tree on Friday as well. We truly had a great break.
However, now on to "real" life again. I am in a Christmas concert called Festival of Lights. It's a huge production and has 6 performances. It's 1 week from today and rehearsals are CRAZY! Chad has tons of basketball this week, so we are quite busy right now!
I just took Kian to the doctor today to recheck his ears to see if his ear infection was cleared up. It was, but she still heard the heart murmor so she wants us to get an echocardiogram just to be safe. Tomorrow we go in to the hospital to have it done. Please pray for Kian. He has to be very still while he has it done. If you know Kian, he doesn't like to sit still all that often! Thanks!

Weigh-in

Last night was my Weight Watchers meeting. I lost 1.8 lbs this last week. So I've lost almost 15 lbs. My goal is another 10 by Christmas. Sometimes it's a little frustrating seeing how far I still need to go, by my focus needs to be the journey and making the right choices a little at a time. It just comes off SO SLOWLY! I know, I know, celebrate the loss, right?!
It was been another week of sickness in our household. I took Kian and Mia to the doctor yesterday. Kian had had a fever for 4 days and Mia's pinkeye wasn't going away even on medication. Well, Kian has strep throat, and ear infection, and the nurse practitioner heard a heart murmur too. Mia still has the pinkeye and also has an upper respiratory infection. Both now are on antibiotics as well as Mia is on a dfferent eyedrop. Maybe by Thanksgiving we will all be healthy again! I am really praying that Chad doesn't get it. He is already so busy with basketball and teaching.
Chad and I have to make a decision soon if he is going to continue his masters at the speed he has or if he should slow it down. It needs to be made soon, as he would have 2 classes during basketball season. He only has 4 classes left (I think) and I just want it done with! However, there are lots to consider: finances, time (being the busiest time of the year for us), etc. Please pray we make the right decision!
Anyways, Tuesday is going to be my next weigh-in, so Wedsnesday I will update!

new day, new beginnings

I am thankful for new days and new beginnings. I just read my last post and I am so thankful that emotions pass, but God's faithfulness endures. To give a quick update, I went to the dentist on Thursday and he found that my roots were very inflamed, but there was no infection. So no root canal. YAY! He determined that my pain was being caused because my bite was off because my new crown was too high. He tried to numb me twice, but it didn't take. Instead of shaving that tooth down (which would have been ridiculously painful), he shaved my bottom teeth. Now when I bite down, it's not the first tooth I feel. Who new something so trivial could cause so much pain? Anyways, he thinks the pain will subside over the next couple of weeks and he wants me on a strict ibuprofen schedule. It has been feeling SO much better since then. Thanks for praying!

Aiden is fully healed from strep and it seems like we may (knock on wood) be healthy again in our household. He has his first loose tooth. It will be interesting to see how he responds to pulling out his loose teeth. What are teeth going for from the tooth fairy now-a-days? :) It's kinda hard sometimes for me to see my kids continue to grow up. Aiden is getting so tall and he now wears size 7 and size 1 shoes. My mom was right, time goes by faster the older I get!

Mia is quite the mover, although her crawl is quite unorthodox. It's hilarious to watch, but it gets her where she wants to go. She still doesn't have any teeth, but has started eating a little of "real" food. She loves cheerios!

Kian's vocabulary continues to improve which tends to make him even funnier. He can be quite the stinker, but he is one funny boy.

I took most of last week off from exercising because of my tooth, so today was my first day back to the gym at 6 am. I have not been very motivated this last week. Exercising really does keep me more motivated for the rest of the day. Why does it seem to be so hard to lose weight, but so wasy to put it on! Discipline in all areas of life can be so difficult, but I know it is well worth it. Thursday is my next weight watchers meeting, and I promise to post my results from it on Friday. Here's to being disciplined!

One of those days

Today has been...oh just one of those days. One of those days you hope quickly passes, one of those days you pray for extra patience, one of those days you just try and keep your head above water. My head is currently above it, but barely. Where do I start....hmmmm.

Well, it started with Mia getting up at 5:00 for the first time and then Kian coming in at 6:00 saying he was soaked because he had wet himself. Not the start I was hoping for!

Aiden yesterday was diagnosed with strep throat which meant he had to stay home from school today as well to get the antibiotic in him for 24 hours before exposing him to kids. You would of never known that he was sick yesterday or today. In fact, I almost cancelled his appointment yesterday because he seemed fine. The doctor took one look and knew he had it. He only once said his throat was sore and that was the day before. Anyways, he is on the mend and seriously stir crazy.

I have been really struggling with pain in my tooth that the dentist just put a crown on a month ago. It is hurting so badly, that my tongue can't even touch it and forget about chewing anything. I am so frustrated and worn out by this pain. I am on an antibiotic to see if it's an infection, but I finally called the dentist's office and asked to be seen as soon as possible. I have a great dentist, but I have horrible teeth. I have been taking 2 extra strength tylenol and 4 ibuprofen every 4 hours for the past 3 days (which if you know me, you know I do NOT like taking pills unless it's necessary). Today the meds haven't touched the pain. Tomorrow afternoon I am going to Goshen to go see him.

All that to say, we have run out of food and I needed to get groceries, so I decided (stupidly) to go grocery shopping with all 3 kids since I will be gone all day tomorrow. I dropped lunch off to Chad and off we were to Krogers. I had tried to organize myself with a list and had all of my coupons ready, but Krogers is in the process of a major renovation, so everything is not where it used to be. Mind you, Aiden and Kian are completely stir crazy and Mia is now hungry because this trip is taking so stinking long. Mia is screaming in the cart, Aiden and Kian keep touching each just to bother the other and I am painfully walking every aisle trying to find what I need. I had a bottle with me so I gave that to Mia as we walked along. We finally made it to the checkout with my ridiculously full cart and the cashier asks me for my Kroger card (which is attached to my keys). I look in the diaper bag and my keys are gone. I had given them to Mia to play with when she was fussy and Aiden told me she dropped them in one of the aisles. SERIOUSLY? Could this trip get much worse??!! There are now people in line behind me and all of my stuff is on the counter and I go to start to look for them. Thankfully I found them about a minute later in an extra pocket in the diaper bag. I go back to the checkout all the while Aiden and Kian are basically trying to tackle each other in the cart. "just get out of here, just get out of here" was my thought process. I was praying that God would give me a large amount of patience.

We left, had lunch and now the boys are having quiet time in my bedroom and Mia is taking a nap. I really shouldn't say "quiet" time with Kian, who I just told to stop jumping on the bed. Bedtime is going to be early tonight!

All that to say, it's been a rough day and I am holding back the tears as I write this. Please pray for me to have patience with our kids especially since I am in a lot of pain. Please also pray for my mouth, it's hard to focus on much else right now. I go to the dentist tomorrow at 1:45. I have a feeling I will be getting a root canal, but we'll see. Thanks friends!