claire update...

Little Claire has relapsed. I'm tearing up even typing those words. Sarah and Nathan are two of the strongest people I know and their faith is amazing. I know that they will get through this. Every day I pray that God will take care of them, I have always believed that things happen for a reason, that there is a plan. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers, and if you don't pray, whatever you do in situations like this, please do it. Sarah left me a message last month when Bryce was in the NICU offering encouragement and she wrote something that has stuck with me, she said that it is hard to not be able to heal our children with our own hands, but God's hands can and will heal them.

monday afternoon project...

Yesterday I was reading through my blog list and read Jodie's post on a Valentine's Day craft. I have been looking for something to do with Brianna that wouldn't take tons of time because I have at best 2 hours between Bryce's feedings (that is if he goes to sleep after he finishes his bottle). I thought this looked like fun, so after lunch Bryce was taking a nap and I sent Brianna upstairs to do the same (of course she didn't nap, but did play quietly), and got the stuff ready to do this project. I grated the crayons and decided I was going to try to do a heart-shaped wreath using the kids' handprints instead, so I cut out the heart that we would glue the handprints onto. After nap time Brianna was very excited to work on the project so I let her sprinkle the crayon shavings onto the wax paper and she kept saying "that's cool!" when I ran the iron over them. After they were done I set out cutting out handprints (and footprints in Bryce's case, have you ever tried to trace a 2-month-old's hand...not easy my friend). This process took far too long in Brianna's opinion, she just wanted to glue. Anyway, here is the end result, not fantastic, but still cute and of course still hung up on our wall!

weekend update...

Whew..is it Tuesday already? Man, where does the time go? Since I've been home with the kids it seems like the minutes/hours go slowly, but the days/weeks fly by.

Anyway, this past weekend we had a great relaxing and fun weekend. Friday night I went out to dinner with a couple of friends and to a movie (Marley & Me) the movie was fantastic, if you go to see it, remember your tissues! Saturday I decided to take Brianna to watch a dance competition. (My friend Amanda's sister Steph is the coach of the Lake Park dance team and they were competing). We got there about 9am, just in time to see Lake Park perform their first routine. They were fantastic! Brianna sat so still just watching and clapping, it was adorable. After a while, while we were watching the hip hop competition, she starting dancing in the bleachers and pretty much hasn't stopped dancing around the house since. She even says to me "I want to be a dancer". What a kid. We got home about 3 Saturday afternoon and relaxed for the rest of the day. Saturday night, Brianna crawled in bed with me and we both read and then she fell asleep book in hand. As Bob likes to frequently say "she is my daughter" because most nights you can find me just like this.

love-hate...

I have a total love-hate relationship with...the gym, more specifically...the stairmaster. The gym is one of those things that, once I am there...I love being there. I love pushing myself just to see how far I can go, I love that it is time just for me. I can put my headphones in, crank up the music and run, walk, climb, or pedal until everything is gone from my head. And sometimes, I can actually read a book while I'm working out and not feel guilty for reading because there are so many other things I should be doing. Yesterday I read half a book while riding the recumbant bike...HALF a book, in an hour...no interruptions..

Anyway, back to my point, I love the gym once I'm there...but I hate getting there. Granted it is pretty much my only way out of the house these days, but getting my gym clothes on and out the door pretty much takes all my willpower these days. I've been through this before, I know that the more I work out the more energy I have and the less I'll be tired, but before getting to that point I know I'm going to be sore and really tired, I'm not sure I have the strength to battle through the bad part again.

In reality, I should have been working out all through my pregnancy, I had ambitions to gain no more than 25lbs. HA! Through week 18 I gained only 5lbs. At my 22 week appointment I gained 9lbs. NINE! and the rest of the pregnancy pretty much continued along those lines. I did nothing differently, I ate the same things as I did at the begining of pregnancy, but I just kept gaining weight. Granted, I was definitely lazy and didn't activly try to keep my weight down, except for watching what I ate. Then Bryce was born and he only weighed 5lbs 7oz....I gained 43lbs. Seriously, how does that happen?

(Wow, this is becoming a very scattered post...back to my point...I swear)

Last week I made my first trip to the gym since Bryce was born. It was packed, because I got there at 5pm (worst time ever to work out). Pretty much the only thing open was the stairmaster. When I first joined the gym I wondered why it looked like people were going so slow on the stairmaster, I mean...it is just stairs right, how hard can it be. And then I used it for the first time....holy hell, I wanted to die after about 2 minutes. After a while, I could do an hour on the stairmaster without wanting to die. It wasn't easy, but I could make it through and burn a decent amount of calories doing it. So last Tuesday I hopped up on the stairmaster and set it for 30 min, I figured I could do that...I couldn't possibly be that out of shape. WRONG! The machine started, my heart rate shot up and I was sweating and then I looked down at the timer, all of 2 minutes had passed. I pushed my way through 15 minutes...but no way could I go 30.

I love the stairmaster because it is a great workout that burns a good amount of calories, but I hate that every minute on it feels like an hour. I hate how it makes me feel when I'm on it, but love how I feel when I actually make it through an entire workout.

Our new insurance gives a $20 credit for my gym membership if I go at least 12 times/month. I have to go 10 more times before the end of the month to get my credit (yes, that is almost every day), so you can bet the stairmaster and I will be seeing a lot of each other in the near future. I just need to push through this initial frustration and anger...I worked really hard to lose this weight the first time, I don't want to have to lose it again, but I do and I will and hopefully sooner rather than later I'll be back to pre-baby weight and then I can work on all the rest of the weight that has been hanging around for far too long. To be honest,as much as I hate having to lose this weight again, I'd do it in a heartbeat for this little man.

new year, new baby, new look...

I still don't know if I'm completely satisfied with the new look or the name yet, so I'm open to suggestions if you have any. I'm trying to give myself a daily reminder to appreciate the small things. Anyway, I'll try to write something of substance at another time, but for now, let me know how you like the new look, I was trying to simplify...I strive to make things as simple as possible these days...ha...I don't think it is working because instead of using one of bloggers templates which would have changed up the look in about 5 minutes, I had to find a template and then mess around with it to get it to my liking (or at least to an acceptable point). I guess there is always tomorrow to try to simplify things. I'll be back to write about my rekindled love hate relationship and more about the kids (of course), but for now I'm off to watch 24 with the hubby.

claire...

Please if you have time say some prayers for little Claire. If you are unaware of who Claire is, she is the 1 year old daughter of my high school classmate and friend. Last year she was diagnoised with cancer, her first round of treatment went well, but it seems now she needs some more prayers. Go here to read for yourself and please keep that beautiful little girl in your prayers.
Thanks everyone!

quick post...

Hello all...just wanted to write a quick post to update you on Bryce's check up that he had last Thursday. He is doing very well, eating like a champ (now that he is on formula) and as of last Thursday he weighs 8lbs 10.5oz! We were shocked. We knew he had put on weight...but were amazed by those numbers. He is in the 15th percentile for his age, so he is still on the small side, but he's catching up. I know I have much to update and pictures to upload...I hope to maybe get the pictures uploaded tonight (no promises). I actually do have a lot to write about but just haven't had time to put down any coherent thoughts. Plus I'm hoping to get a new look to this little blog in the near future as well. Stay tuned...but until then...here is a picture of the kids from today.