My Love

This is one of my favorite pictures of Eric and I. We were just dating in this picture. It was taken at a fall retreat with our old church. Just looking at this picture brings the feeling of love striaght to the front of my mind. Eric is a wonderful person. When we got married, I imagined what kind of a husband and a father that he would be and he has far surpassed my hopes and expectations for both. I know that we have the kind of love that not everyone finds in their lives. God has been very good to us. We are getting ready to celebrate 5 years of marriage and I can honestly say that I am more in love with my husband than I was on the day that I married him. I love you Eric!

Sisters

I never had a sister and even though I was always okay with that, I still always thought it would be cool to have one. It is a joy to watch my girls together. They are so cute together. Sure Alissa is still too little to show preference toward her siblings, but I can tell you that both Andrew and Anna can make her smile and laugh better than anyone else. I hope that these two beautiful girls will always know how much they are loved and how truly beautiful they are both inside and out.

The Kids

Here's one of my favorite recent pictures of Andrew and Anna. They are total buddies and I can't think of anything that I love more than that. I hope and pray that all of my kids will always have a close friendship with each other. I know that they are so little still, but it is a joy for me to cultivate their relationships with each other. Andrew loves to be the big brother. We have tried to encourage him to be a teacher to Anna. He has definitely embraced that. He loves to teach her about what different animals say. And you can see the thrill on his face when she actually does what he is trying to show her.

When I had Andrew I guess I just assumed that each child that followed would be the same as him. Of course I was wrong. Anna could not be more different than Andrew. How boring would it be to have kids that were all the same. Anna definitely adds some spice to our lives. She is so great to have around. It's funny cause you think your life is fine before your children arrive and then once they're here you think, "how did I ever live without them?"

Exercise

Alright, have you ever tried to work out to a home workout DVD with a crying infant in the same room? I just did that! Here I am trying to embark on a new weight loss journey after having my third and final child who is 5 months old. I'll admit that I'm no where near having the stamina that I once had to work out, but all I wanted was a good 20 minute work out while the kids were napping. I had to settle for one kid napping, one kid at least quietly in his room and my infant who just woke up from her nap. "Okay" I thought, "at least she'll just sit there and watch me while I work out." Nope! She cried the whole time. I did work out though. I tried to get my work out in while Andrew (3) and Anna (1.5) were up and about, but that ended quickly in a dispute over which of them got to stand up on my aerobic step... which incidentally I needed to use but couldn't because there were two toddlers on it. Getting in shape looks very different with 3 kids under 3 years old than it did with no kids or even one. That includes the nutrition aspect. A concept that I have claimed in hope of success with my weight loss is having a fail proof kitchen. This is a concept that came from Dr. Phil (just so that I'm giving credit where it's due). Basically for me that means cleaning out the kitchen of everything that is a stumbling block for me. I have to say that before kids this wasn't so hard, but now that there are three of them (two of whom eat 3 meals, plus snacks), it's hard to not have any junk in the house. By junk I mean gold fish, ghrahm crackers, juice, etc... Those types of things are things that can be just empty calories for me.

It's all about discipline. At different times in my life I have displayed certain measures of discipline. In some areas of my life I do well, but this is just an area that I can't seem to conquer. Today I made a choice that I hope will turn this all around once and for all. I confided in a girl friend and asked her to hold me accountable for my weight loss. This is the first time I've done something like that. It was really hard, but I trust this friend and I know that she wants to see me succeed.

Naked

All right, so after multiple accidents with my potty training 3 year old, I discovered that he doesn't care if he pees in his underwear. There is no motivations for him to wear his cool Cars underwear that we call "unders." He still pees in them and then I discover later. Last night I asked him if he had an accident (it was obvious he had) and said, "Yes, two times!" So, upon this discovery of his lack of care to this process, I decided that he needed to just be naked.
This morning when he woke up, I made him be naked as long as we were inside. He did not like this prospect, which made me sure that he just wanted to go in his unders or his pull ups. I think this might actually work. He's bright for 3 years old and he understands the explanation for being naked. So, we try once again!

We played outside this morning with our friend Robert. We are having to play early in the morning so that the kids aren't outside in the dead heat of the day. Even playing in the morning though we still have to have the water out. We fill up the little pool and put the sprinkler on and let the kids just get wet. It's the most fun and Robert's mom and I have some good quality conversation and adult time. But now, we're in and the Anna's watching a fun Blue's Clues about music and Andrew is playing on the computer. I'll go fix lunch now.

My goal for today for myself is to workout while the kids are nappin today.