We're Baaaaaack!!!

We actually got back late last night, but I've been busy with unpacking and the whole "returning to normal" thing. We've had an awesome last week or so. My 27th birthday was last Wednesday and I got a mountain bike and a Wii. I was surprised and ecstatic. We then left early on Thursday for Grand Junction. The girls did terrific on the drive. They watched movies, ate snacks, and napped on and off. It was amazing how well it went. I was worried for nothing.
Once in town my car decided to take a dump on us totally unexpectedly. This changed our plans a bit but we rolled with the punches. We saw tons of family members, went to see Horton Hears a Who, and enjoyed our time back at the hotel. Having the girls in another town all by myself and staying at a hotel alone was much easier than I had imagined. I was forgetful at times and kept leaving important things different places, but it all worked out.
We went to IHOP where Tea ordered Who Cakes which I have to admit were pretty impressive. The girls were on cloud 9 surrounded by their cousins and Grandparents. In a way that was a nice break for me. They basically entertained themselves while I got some down time with the adults.
Each night when we got back to our hotel they basically passed out. Nobody had difficulty falling asleep and I had a little time each night to just unwind. The weather cooperated for the most part and we spent a lot of time outside. This was nice after being cooped up for so long. Overall it was a very nice vacation and I hope we get to go back soon.

Again??

Today I spent most of the evening sorting clothes. I HATE this chore more than any other chore I have to do. Twice a year I go through about 12 boxes of clothes and pull out the ones that are seasonably appriate. You would think that at this point there would be a method to my madness. After doing this for over 3 years I should have a wonderful organizational system that would make the process a breeze. Nope. Just a bunch of clothes thrown in boxes. *SIGH* I have a feeling as soon as I have all the spring and summer clothes out it'll just snow again.

So Close

I am officially 10lbs from my goal weight. I never would have believed I'd even get down to the weight I'm at, so I guess I'm pretty happy. It's weird though, like I've mentioned before, once I get down in a healthier range I have trouble sometimes sustaining focus. Yesterday and today were hard days for me. Holidays can be so tricky when you're watching what you're eating. Even though I don't feel I over ate I do feel like I over obsessed. I don't like to spend more time thinking about food than I spend eating it. I'm sure I'll find a balance it'll just take time.

When I started this whole "weight loss journey" I was considered obese. I really was. I didn't feel obese and I'm pretty sure I didn't look obese either. But the numbers don't lie. Now I am in a "normal" weight range and I have a healthy BMI. The only reason I still want to lose 10lbs is I want to meet my original goal. I've worked to hard up to this point to just throw in the towel here. If I lose 10 more lbs and decide that I need to gain a little back, I'm sure that won't be a problem. I'm a little nervous about being out of town for several days as I won't have near as much control over my meals as I have at home. That's part of the whole process though, learning to adapt. I need to get back to the gym......

Happy Easter

Big Plans

I'm very excited for this weekend. Easter is by far one of my favorite holidays. I always do my best to make it special for the girls and this will be Boo's first so all the more exciting. Tomorrow is Chiggie's last day of school before spring break. Next week (Thursday) we will be travelling to the western part of the state to visit family and friends. The girls are excited beyond words. We haven't made this trip in almost 2 years so it's definitely time. I really need to get out of town too. I plan to do some shopping and just enjoy the extra time with family we haven't seen in a while.

We're all feeling much better, but there is still the lingering stuffy noses and late night coughing. I can't wait until I can breathe through my nose again and my stomach muscles aren't so sore from coughing. Next week I will be better about posting and pictures. I really need to get some new pictures up. In due time....

Lookin' Up

I think we're finally finishing up this nasty virus. Tea was pretty sick last night and Midge wasn't feeling great today. I'm actually relieved that they just went ahead and got sick before our vacation next week. I was able to get some stuff done today that was really stressing me out. I even got all of my shopping done for Sunday. Whew, just in the nick of time.

If It Weren't for Bad Luck.....

Seriously I would have no luck at all

• Two out of the 4 girls have fevers higher than 102.
• Red juice got spilled on the carpet today. Twice.
• The toilet overflowed and I couldn't find the plunger. I ended up having to use my hand.
• It's already snowed twice this week.
• If I don't finish cleaning my house tomorrow I'd be better just to move and start over.

Survival Mode

I cannot accurately describe how sick I feel. I have a high fever and all of the symptoms of influenza now combined with vomitting. I was chilling unbelievably last night despite the fact that I had the thermostat set to 80. On top of all of that Chiggie relapsed, hard. I contemplated taking her to the E.R. last night, but we made it through. This is soooo hard.

It Got Me

I've been hit with this nasty virus. I had a terrible time going to sleep last night. My chest felt tight, my nose and throat burned, and my eyes were killing me. I survived the night and got up and somehow mustered through getting Chiggie ready for school. I maintained a fever the whole day despite popping meds left and right. Please pray this passes quickly!

Oh yeah, and before I forget, Tuesday night Boo cut her first tooth. The bottom left front!

Without Further Delay...

Fiona and her kittens are doing wonderfully. Lucky for me she is an awesome mother. She handled everything beautifully all by herself. It was amazing to watch and Chiggie even got to see a bit herself. The most difficult part was getting her and all of the kittens safely out from under my bed and into the upstairs bathroom where they wouldn't be disturbed. I can't wait until they get bigger. The girls are going to have a blast playing with them. We have good homes for all of the already, so we just get to enjoy them for the next six weeks. This week has been another rough one for all of us. Chiggie has missed the last two days of school due to having a high fever, chills, and a headache. This means we've all been trapped inside. We're all going crazy. The other girls have very minor colds and I'm really hoping that's as far as it will go. If everyone is healthy this weekend we'll be doing something active for sure. I haven't even been able to go to the gym and that drives me nuts. At least it's not our spring break yet!

They're Here!

Fiona is pleased to announce the birth of her quints! They arrived between 10-11:45pm Monday March 10th. Two are all black, two are black/white/brown, and one is white w/ a black tail. Both Cat and kittens are resting comfortably. Tomorrow I will have pic's and a birth story, but for now I'm off to bed!

Workin' Out

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had much time to update on the whole diet and exercise thing. As of today I am down 30lbs from my original weight on January 25th. I feel better and I'm pretty sure that I look a lot better too. 20 more pounds and I will have reached my goal weight. Truthfully this concerns me just a bit. See, I've never really had trouble losing weight. Maintenance is the difficult part for me. It's so easy to stay focused when you have a goal that you are working towards. Once that goes away it's easy to fall into the "celebration" trap. I tend to gain weight just as fast as I lose it.

I'm not doing any specific diet. Portion control and avoiding obvious high fat foods seems to do the trick here. As far as exercise goes I focus mainly on cardio and try to do at least 30 min's 6x a week. I'd love to do even more than that, but honestly I don't have the time. When it gets warmer out I'm sure I'll try to incorporate fun outdoor activies w/ the girls into my exercise plan. As a matter of fact I pointed out the bike that I want for my birthday to the King today. I also want a trailer to pull that I can put the little girls in. The older girls can keep up amazingly well so then we'll all be able to go biking together. For now I'm pleased with the progress I made and I hope I'm able to maintain this new lifestyle.

Minor Nervous Breakdown

This morning I went out to the carriage house to look for some spring decorations. It's messy out there. Not gross messy, but disorganized messy. The wood pile is stacked, but there are shavings everywhere. As I was sifting through one box I found some stuff that had been chewed up. An old piece of V-day candy, some papers, etc. It was the only box like this, but it freaked me out. What the heck is living out there. Mice, rats, even larger rodents???!!!!!!

If you know me at all you are well aware of the fact that I tend to exaggerate. My imagination does have a history of running wild, but I don't know what to think. The worst part is that the King's not here to go out there and investigate. I can guarantee I won't be doing any investigation of my own. If I found something, none of the kids know CPR and I would surely die of heart failure before a squad could get here. I don't like "pests." They make me feel gross and hopeless. Anybody have any ideas? The weird thing is we do have an outdoor cat and there are several alley cats that go in and out of the carriage house to. But I've never heard of a cat chewing up papers and eating a piece of candy. Help me!

We Survived!

I want a shirt that says "We took our 4 girls ages 6 and under to get their pic's taken and survived!" Surprisingly it went well. Aside from the fact that Tea fell asleep on the way ruining her beautiful hairdo, Boo refused to wear shoes, and there was no way all 4 were going to look at the camera at once, it went without a hitch. Nobody cried, that has to count for something. That and the fact that the photographer told us we were the easiest larger family she has ever done a shoot for.

Afterwards we treated the girls to dinner at the mall and made a quick trip to Target. The time change hasn't effected us at all. It's like it never happened. We made sure everyone went to bed on time last night so that we would be able to go to church today, and they all did great. I love the fact that we will have more daylight now. This has been a long winter.

Still Around

I can't believe how quickly time just seems to be slipping by lately. I didn't even really realize that I hadn't posted for a couple of days. Things have just been crazy busy per usual. I'm tired tonight and couldn't be more relieved that it's Friday. We're taking the girls to get their Easter pictures taken on Sunday and I'm a little nervous as to how that will go. It's really hard to get them all to cooperate at once. Afterwards we'll spend a little time at the mall and have dinner.

Spring cannot come soon enough. I'm sick of the snow, cold, and gray skies. I can't wait for warm weather, flip flops, and shorts. I think the girls feel the same way. They are unbelievably stir crazy. Only a few more weeks until Spring break...

Happy

Lately I feel happy. Really happy. I know how fortunate I am to be a stay at home Mom. I know how hard the King works for that to be possible. I know how great my kids are, struggles and all. But mostly I think I'm just at a really happy place right now. I don't know if it was my thyroid, postpartum issues, or perhaps a little of both but from about September to January was a very hard time for me. I think I adjusted to feeling down just like your eyes adjust to the dark. Pretty soon you don't know any different. Until the light comes back on. It's nice to be able to see clearly again.

Ughhh More Snow

We have at least 4" and it's still going strong. At least we went to the park yesterday when it was 75 degrees and sunny. Too weird.....

It's Never the Same

When Chiggie was around a year old, I took a trip to New Mexico to visit my Dad's side of the family. I hadn't seen some of my cousins for several years and we met each others babies for the first time. One of my cousins was lucky enough to marry into a Baskin Robbins franchise and one night while we were there we had a get together that included a whole lot of ice cream.

Instantly the past came flooding back and we all remembered our favorite flavors from childhood. One flavor that brought back the most memories was bubble gum. We all loved that one. We made sure to try it out for old times sake. Oddly it was awful. No flavor. The gum was freezing (duh) and it just seemed weird. We unanimously decided it wasn't the same for an adult palette. Honestly, as strange as it sounds, that was a sad moment.


Tonight I made it a point to take my girls to Baskin Robbins and order them a bubble gum ice cream cone. They were in heaven. So was I. Childhood is brief so dig in!