I Quit the Bean.

Well its working. I’ve been kicking my own butt. I lost the extra I gained and a couple more too. Grand total = 8 pounds until shopping spree. YAY! I find my new scale really encouraging. even knowing I lost .02 is encouraging to me. It really helps that we are starting to get into fresh fruit season. There is not much better than a juicy nectarine or some uber sweet pineapple. Ive been eating salads and fruit like they are going out of style.

AND I quit drinking coffee. a whole week know and I don’t really miss it. I’ve been drinking lots of tea and trying to switch back and forth between rooibos, green and earl grey when I want a nice cuppah. I’ve become the master of iced rooibos tea. Thanks Pluckymama! And no more pop for me either. I think thats making a big difference too. Pop = junk food. Water = healthy food. Simple math right. Its way easier to eat good without adding those into my diet.

I learned to make gyoza dumplings(kinda like wantons without the soup) at the community kitchen. They are awesome. I only ate 3 cause they aren’t diet awesome, but I made a whole bunch for Morgan and he loved them. I just keep adding to my repertoire of Asian cooking. I love the community Kitchen. It rocks my sox.

We thought Emily had chicken pox this week. She got all spotty and grumpy and scratchy and…well mostly grumpy. We took her to the Dr. and she said it was most likely a virus that was giving her a rash. YAY! lucky us. I was figuring it would be our luck to be the 1 in 100000000 parents whose baby after getting the chicken pox shot would get the chicken pox. I guess it wouldn’t be too bad because we all had it growing up. At least she wouldn’t remember it.

This morning Em woke up at 5 and cried for a bit and then again at 7. I finally got her up at 7:30. I was not impressed with my tiny tot for waking up so early. She even went to bed late last night. She normally sleeps until 9:30. Looks like we are in for another schedule change. seriously…every time I think I figure her out it changes again. That’s the way it works I guess. I’m hoping to keep her schedule a bit later still. That will work the best with our schedule. Plus I don’t want to give up my gym time before she gets up. Its way harder to go if she’s up. It will work out ok I’m sure.

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Hot guy sitting on the beach with a diaper bag. Do I know how to pick em or what?

Kick my own butt.

I’m feeling like a bit of a defeatist today. I’m trying to figure out whose will power I was borrowing for the first two months of the kick my butt weight loss thing. Cause obviously I had to take it back. I’m doing ok, but Id really like to keep kicking my butt. Now is when I cross the line from doing ok, to doing awesome. Something Morgan said that I’m trying to keep in mind “This part of your race will only be won by self talk”. I’m finding this part of the journey the hardest. I keep wishing someone else would do this for me. Like when you are at the theatre in the best part of the movie and suddenly you have to pee really really bad. Thats when you wish someone else would go for you. Ok so back to motto one.”I have to do what I should do before I do what I want to do.” Motto two. “My body is not a trash can.” I need to stop treating my body like my tastes buds are the rulers and only they matter.  There. I think I just needed a little pep talk. Maybe I ll print some awful pictures of me and stick them on the fridge so I can see how far I’ve come.

I don’t like to record what I eat. I find it tiresome, but I think I need to start doing that again. I had a free version of FitDay online and I used to use that, but then I bought the more advanced version, and it was way more work to keep it updated. Maybe Ill start the freebie again. Recording what I eat keeps me oh-so-accountable to eating great. I don’t like to write down bad stuff so I don’t eat it. Alright enough “maybes”. I’m just gonna get my act together.

Starting now! Emily is waking up so I’m going to go make her a superb dinner and then I’m going to remember that I deserve a superb dinner too and make it! AND I’m going to drink a butt load of water! AND we are gonna go for a walk! so there.

No pics today. First day without em. Cant be too predictable.

Goal-pdate

Croc-xperiment day 2.

Crocs

I cut it close to wearing my crocs out in public today. They are just so darn convenient to slip on if you have a baby/diaper bag/purse/anything in your arms. We’ll see how this goes.

Ok and on to Goals…dun dun dahh.

Body Break

Goal 1: “Keep fit and have fun” (thank you and Hal Johnson & Joanne Mcloed…dang now I’m going to have the body break song stuck in my head). The last 2 weeks have been somewhat disastrous in the eat good department. I think if it hadn’t been for a series of unplanned exercises Id be…well larger. I had my first real gain since I started in January. Added a nice 5 pounds back on. Grr stupid ice cream. but I’m back to normal life, whatever that is and back to the gym. I got a new scale that is digital and reads to .02 of a pound. Its encouraging because you can tell if you even loose .02. I loathe the scale at the gym its so inaccurate. If you stand on it funny it reads screwy.

Jesus Fish
Goal 2. Growing in my relationship with God. Being a real god chaser. I just got back from a steady stream of conferences. Sometimes those moments are real thrive and dive things. This year it really felt like a solid upward movement. I had some really awesome words spoken over my life. All really consistent too. The words “adventure” and “artist” kept coming up. All from different people. It was a cool thing for me. I had shelved a few thing to work on other things and so now I’m back in the groove.

organizing
Goal 3. Get organized in 2007. My oh-so-thoughtful-in-law’s got me these awesome hangers and shelving units. They have revolutionized my closet space. Its awesome. We switched from the drawer system to the hanger system and I’m loving it. Its working out rather well. Morgan and I are even sharing(miracle) one dresser for sox and skivvies too. Its super. Next we have to work on the basement because Morgan was being helpful while I was away and reorganized stuff into the walkway. Thanks hunny.

"Croc-xperiment"

I feel like Ive taken a blog sabbatical. Ok so now I’m back. I have hardly even been at home in the last two weeks. Between Avalanche and the Streams conference Ive been gone way to much. It was good, but I am really happy to be home. hopefully I don’t verbally puke all the latest stuff on you.

Ok…Game plan. I’m going to leave my goal update until later today or tomorrow. That way I can talk about fun stuff and Emily. Ok blue forty two…hut hut hike!

Firstly my gorgeous little daughter has a new gorgeous little boy to bully. His name is Issac Gordon and he was born last week to one of my bestest buddies. Go see his picture cause he is adorable. And click this pic too. Way to go Leah!

I was only gone a couple of days this weekend, but Emily learned like three new words while I was gone AND decided it was ok to wear hats. Yay my mom! So now she can also say hat, hot and out(because she is always being told “get out of there turkey”). I wonder what new ones she’ll learn this week. I think Ill have to update the Emily Page and put in an Emictionary.

While we were in Kelowna we got Emily a baby doll. At the beach last week she loved playing with Jada’s baby doll. She loves it. Its so cute cause she walks around holding it and hugging it and giving it huge kisses (something she is now very good at). We also got her a couple of hats and books and a bunch of new bigger non-plastic melt-in-the-dryer bibs.

I’m doing a “Croc-xperiment”. I got a pair of rip-off brad crocs. Those sandals everyone and their cat are wearing.( I looked, but I couldn’t find a picture of a cat in crocs sandals). So my experiment is to see if they are as comfy as everyone says they are. Or to find out if there is any reason to be wearing them in public. We say this lady walking down a hill in Kelowna wearing Crocs and walking with 2 hiking poles. Like was she hiking to Alaska or what? It was weird. So far I’m finding them fairly comfortable. I also got a pair of .33cent flip flops or thongs (as we always called them). so Ill trade back and forth and let you know the conclusion. My hypothesis is that both pairs of sandals will be equally comfortable and that I will end up wearing my crocs out in public by accident.

Well I have oodles more to blog, but I’ll get to that. Slow and steady wins the race.

Emily at the Beach

Poop Smith

I’m taking a breather from packing to blog. I’m trying to get loads of things done for Avalanche this weekend. I’m soooo excited though.

I have a great Emily story this week. We had our friend Elisha come over and take pictures of us down at the park. There were so many mosquitoes that we couldn’t stay long so we went back to our house to just relax and play with Emily. It was bed time and so Emily had just finished her bottle and I took all her clothes off to let her run around in her diaper before putting her jammies on. It has been so hot this last week, so I decided Em could run around nudey buns for a bit cause she is all done her”business” bybedtime, plus I could take the opportunity to take some good nudey pictures for her baby book. About 5 minutes after I had taken her diaper off she turned and looked at me with this look that said “Here I go” and gave a super grunt. I hucked the camera on the couch and ran for the diaper bag. I grabbed a diaper and didn’t really even unfold it much before franticly trying to put it on her while she was standing up. I had exactly 1 second to spare. I just made it in time for Emily to poop a gooder. At that point Auntie Leesh says “I’m never having kids!That was sick!”. Anyways. It was pretty funny. I think Ill think 2 next time I decide to let Emily run around nudey buns.

Well I should get back to packing and getting last minute details all done like dinner. Catch ya on the flip side! Oh and I finally broke 170!! Its 169 for me.

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It's Gonna Sparkle

I’m getting so excited for Avalanche. Its this youth conference we go to in Kelowna. We leave Friday morning. I didn’t get to go last year. It was this whole “have a baby while leading a youth trip” thing that wasn’t so good. I turned out I had Emily like 6 weeks early so that was ok. anyways. I’m really excited to go this year. We have a huge group to take. Until last night we were short a guy chaperone and a van. Then this guy we know phoned with both. YAY!! I’m really sad that Morgan cant go because of work. It would have been so great. I hate it when you cant get holidays when you need them. Most of the jobs I had would let you have time off whenever you wanted it. Never paid time off, but who cares so long as you don’t miss something. Actually I remember missing Avalanche several years ago to work. Morgan and I worked at the same place and so only one of us could go. I drew the short straw. Haha.

So back to Heroes. Last nights episode was good. It ended good too. Now only 1 more episode till season finale. What to do what to do? hmmm enjoy the summer thats what I’ll do. I pretty much watch nothing now anyways. I never have time for T.V. ok. one more YAY! for Tivo. I think it needs its own category. Yep. I’ll have to add that.

I’m still going to town on my house. Its gonna sparkle…or at least look good. ooo I just remember I was gonna clean the fridge. I’ll have to get to that. We might go take pictures today with Leesh. I hope so. I need more pictures of me that actually look ok. I have this awful picture of me on a mouse pad. Well Its actually a good picture of my cousins and I, but I’ve lost so much weight that I think it looks yucky/not healthy. Its a good reminder for me of where I’ve come from.

People keep asking when I’m gonna get pregnant again. I don’t think people will ever run out of awkward questions to ask at social gatherings. At least I don’t get asked what I’m gonna do with the rest of my life anymore. I hated that one. My dad’s like, old :) and he still doesn’t know what he’s gonna do with the rest of his life. As for the answer of when I’ll get prego again…I need to get healthy first. I want to start a pregnancy at a good weight with better eating habits. I’m not into being sick for the whole thing and not being able to walk at all because of my S.I joint. I cant imagine doing that with Emily to take care of. So no, not for a while.

Thought I’d do a Gracie Montage!

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Final 10!

I got halfway through a post yesterday when Emily woke up and the rest of the day was shot. I went back to my post this morning, but found it to be rather boring so I deleted it and we are starting fresh.

Emily has the worst attitude today. Its crazy. She keeps freaking out over dumb stuff. Dealing with Toddler temper tantrums isn’t very fun. I’ve read so many different ways to deal with them, but I haven’t found something that fits us yet. Thankfully its nap time and I get a few moments reprieve. Grr. I think she’s waking up again. What is this?? AHH!
I have been overhauling my house. It was in serious need of a good cleaning. I’m going away for the long weekend and my in-laws are staying with Emily so I wanted to make sure the place wasn’t icky and cluttery. Man its relaxing to walk around in a clean house. I think I’ll even clean out the fridge today. I spilled a box of baking soda everywhere and I’ve been putting off cleaning it up. It looks like it snowed in my fridge. Or like a snow globe that has yet to be shaken.

Perfect segue into…

Sylar on last weeks Heroes. Its ok if you didn’t see it cause Sylar went psycho and killed his mom. Who does that. Seriously. I’m stoked for Heroes tonight. Only 2 episodes left. This is the only TV show Ive ever watched that I haven’t missed an episode. YAY for Tivo! Thats not true. Morgan rented the first season of 24 and I watched all of that. Loved/Hated it.

Oh yeah and guess who won the challenge at my gym. ME! I lost the most inches at the gym in the last 2 month. I won some candles. oooo. Plus even tho the last 2 weeks didn’t go so great I still lost a pound. I’m in the final 10 baby yeah!! I know everyone says those are the hardest, but I didn’t do so great on the last ten and now I’m back in the game. I’m pretty excited about it. Yay Me!

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Gotta Get a Maid.

It rain today. It seldom does that here. I really like it when it rains. Everything smells so fresh and clean. Its fun. I went for a long walk today and listened to my ipod. It was really relaxing, just walking in the rain.

So I got my act together and went to the gym. I did my weigh in and YAY I’m still down 4 pounds this month. It would have been more if it wasn’t for my psycho couple of weeks, but down is still down. It felt good to still be down. I was a bit worried. Maybe its good that I don’t have a scale at home. I’m hoping to get a digital one soon though. I hate the gyms scale is so inaccurate. Drives me crazy. Well so far being back on the health kick isn’t very fun, but at least I’m excited about it again. Makes it easier to work out and say no to left over easter chocolate.

My week is flying by and going no where all at the same time. It feels like Friday, but its Monday. I guess thats a good thing because I have lots to get done this week. We have a youth service on Sunday and a pie/servant auction to do too so there will be plenty to do to get things ready.

Looks like I’m going to get more time to work on my goal of organizing this week because My in-laws are coming for Emily’s birthday and we have to make a bedroom in the basement again. I’m looking forward to getting more done downstairs. It rarely sees me except to do laundry these days. I know I need a maid. Yeah gotta get me one of those. Haha

oh and I found some other old school pics.

LeLu and Cootie

Problems with Balance.

I’m sure glad I’m not an easily embarrassed sort of girl. If I was I would have died when Emily stuck her finger up her nose and pulled out a big booger at the dinner table while loads of my friends watched. I guess its really helpful that she’s so stinkin cute. For the next little while we are working on getting rid of her crutches. Starting with her gro-bag (baby sleeping bag). Its going to be to hot in the summer so I want her to be used to sleeping with out it. It used to make it so she couldn’t stand up, but now nothing stops her from that. Tonight I put her to bed with out it. We had some tears, but I think it only took a little bit to get her to sleep. Next we are working on her suckey. She doesn’t wear it during the day and soon we will try to get her to nap without it. I don’t want her to be a toddler with a soother. I think it looks silly for older kids to have them. I figure the sooner we can get rid of it the easier it will be for Emily to change.

Im running into this balancing act problem. Tight rope walker I ain’t. I’ve discovered that its next to impossible to balance all three of my goals and life at the same time. It seems I’m great at one goal at a time. When I’m getting healthy I’m the healthy Nazi and when I’m organizing I’m the organizing Nazi and when I’m growing with Jesus I’m the God Time Nazi(if you can even say that). I haven’t discovered how to make my goals balance. I was talking to Morgan about this last night while I was oh-so-frustrated with myself. He figures there has to be a balance too. You cant have a thriving youth ministry, but die ten years before you are supposed to because you don’t take care of yourself. Well you shouldn’t anyways. It doesn’t make sense to do that. I’m not sure how to find balance, but I intend to. Looks like I’m in for some good old internet research.

MC Morgan

Day Trippin

15. Thats right. 15. It’s the number of steps Emily has taken all by her little old self. She doesn’t even need encouraging to walk she just goes and goes. I’m loving it. Ill admit shes quick so it isn’t always easy to keep up, but its still so fun. Shes gotten really good at saying “bye bye” and waving. She says daddy and Mama and bubba and I think she says Heidi too. When we were driving in the car the other day she was singing to herself and we heard her sing the melody of twinkle twinkle. It was super cool.

The next week is gonna be pretty busy again. Tomorrow we are going road trippin to who knows where just because we can. and then on Saturday its Gabe’s birthday so we are gonna party. Theres all kinds of youth stuff this week and then on the weekend its Emily’s birthday and a youth service and I think I’m preaching at church. I’m not sure what I’m preaching on yet, but I hope its interesting. haha.

Ive spent the last 2 days knee deep in paper. We are helping my parents with organizing their office. Its fun. I’m not sure why, but I like organizing stuff it doesn’t matter whose it is. So far we only lost one important piece of paper, but we found it again later. whew.

dang. I just realized that my gym is closed tomorrow. I haven’t gone once this week. Ive been so tired and had meetings and kind of didn’t feel great anyways. I was totally gonna go tomorrow, but now I cant. I’ve been floundering in my goals of late. I think its because Ive been feeling so good about my self its easy to just settle with where I am. I really don’t want to give up so I’m going to have to set some new goals and hop back on the band wagon. I think I need to set some more maintenance style goals. Its too hard to eat like a vegan/gymnast/stick/boring person all the time. hmm. Ill have to give that some thought.

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