Plural words

Cooper:  Mommy, daddy told me when there are lots of gooses they are called geese and when there is only one they are called gooses.

Me:  Yes, that sounds about right.  Did you know that when there are more than mouse you call them mice, but if there is only one you call it a mouse?

Cooper:  Well what do cats chase, like on Tom and Jerry?

Me:  They chase mice.

Cooper:  No they chase mouses because they only go after one.

Me:  Well then you have to say the cat will chase one mouse.

Cooper:  I like learning new languages.  Sometimes I know the words and sometimes they are new words.

Hydration, wishing wells, dreidels, and pork chops

(Some of this is a repeat from facebook.)

Me:  Charlotte, Cooper, here are your water bottles if you are thirsty.

Charlotte:  Good, I need some hydrating.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Me:  I kind of wish you would stay in your own bed at night, Cooper.

Cooper:  You need to go to the wishing well and see if your wish comes true.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Chris:  Okay, Charlotte, enough spinning around please.

Charlotte:  But I want to be a dreidel!

_______________________________________________________________________________

Cooper:  Can I use pork chops to eat this? (points at his rice from Chipotle)

Me:  Do you mean chop sticks?

Chris:  We don’t eat mexican food with chopsticks.  We use them for chinese food.

Cooper:  Is this mystery food?

Chris:  No, it’s mexican food.

Cooper:  I don’t remember where we put the pork chops.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Thanksgiving 2012

We were expecting to have close to 20 people come over for Thanksgiving this year.  I love when we have a full house, and this year especially since it’s the first one without my dad.  We decided that we should probably cook a ham in addition to the turkey so that we had enough food to feed everyone, plus enough leftovers.

I got up at 7:30 so that I could start prepping the Turkey by 8 and then put it in the oven by 9.  I start by browning the sausage and making the stuffing.  I stuff the turkey and wrap it in foil.  At 8:30 Chris went upstairs to take a shower and I turn the oven on.  We have touch screen dual convection ovens made by LG.  It sings to us when it’s done pre-heating and when the timer goes off.  I LOVE our ovens.

About 2 min later after turning the oven on it makes a not-so-singing beeping sound and says ‘Error F-9.  Call the serviceman.’  ON THANKSGIVING.  WITH A RAW STUFFED TURKEY SITTING ON MY COUNTER.

I frantically start touching the touch screen everywhere and it doesn’t respond at all.  I open the top oven and look inside – nice cold oven.  I open the bottom oven and look inside – nice cold oven.  You know because surely looking inside will make the error go away? I look from the turkey back to the death error screen and back to the turkey.  I can feel the panic rising inside.  I HAVE 20 PEOPLE COMING OVER TO EAT DINNER IN 7 HOURS!!!  I have to cook a turkey and a ham and my ovens aren’t working.  How does this happen ON THANKSGIVING??!!?  There is no way a serviceman will get here in time to fix my ovens.

I race upstairs and stand in the master bathroom.  I attempt to stay calm and tell Chris “I am really, really trying to not panic, but the oven says error F-9 and I don’t know what to do.  It’s Thanksgiving and we have 20 people coming over and I already stuffed the turkey.”  He just says “It’s okay.  I’ll be right down.”

As I’m going back downstairs I realize I have the internet!!  And Google answers all of my questions, so surely it can fix my oven.  I Google F-9 error dual ovens LG and Google tells me that it’s an error with the door latch system, which may need to be reset or replaced.  Same issue though – call the serviceman.  However the second hit is from an owner that said they flipped the breaker to reset the power and their oven worked again.  I finally start to breathe normally – maybe we can fix this after all.

Chris comes downstairs and I tell him what I read and he immediately goes out to flip the switch.  And we attempt to turn the lower oven on again.  It preheats just fine and sings to us at the end.  I am so, so relieved to hear my oven sing again and I put the turkey in at 9, right on time.

But remember the whole 20 people are coming over so we’re cooking a ham too?  Around 1:30 I turn the upper oven on and a couple minutes later the error comes back and shuts both ovens off.  MY TURKEY STILL HAS ANOTHER 1.5 HOURS TO COOK.  And I need to cook the ham too.

So I go flip the breaker and try again.  Same error.  Flip the breaker again and decide to try the basic oven setting instead of the convection setting thinking maybe that will help.  It doesn’t give me an error F-9, but it won’t heat the oven either.  I call Chris (he’s on his way to get his grandma).  He tells me to call my friend (who is on her way over to my house for dinner) to ask to borrow her oven.  I cannot fathom how I’m going to cook in two different places so I’m thinking we will skip the ham just won’t have leftover turkey.

Then I realize that the ham is already cooked and just needs to be reheated.  AND GUESS WHAT WE HAVE THAT IS MADE EXACTLY FOR REHEATING THINGS??  A MICROWAVE.  So I cut the ham up and microwaved it, which worked just fine.

So Google and a microwave saved us from having takeout on Thanksgiving.  Technology.  It’s awesome.

And we had an incredibly delicious dinner, everything turned out so well and tasted so good.  I accepted help when it was offered and despite going for a run that morning and cooking all day I wasn’t nearly as exhausted as I have been in prior years.  I credit all of that to being truly in shape. 

I am so happy to have spent the holidays with my inlaws, my siblings, and my friends.  It was a really awesome holiday.

Coyotes

We had dinner with the Faris family tonight.  After dinner Maile started telling Cooper and Charlotte about the coyotes that howl at night.  Cooper proceeded to force us to have the longest monologue/conversation about coyotes I’ve ever heard:

Cooper:  There are coyotes.  I’m scared.  They see me through the glass.  I don’t like their black hair and yellow eyes.

Adults:  Coyotes are afraid of people and they are far away.  The fence is too big, they can’t get in the backyard.  No need to be afraid.

Cooper:  But I’m afraid.  They are scary and big.  They will scratch me.  Do coyotes like people?  Do they like kids?  Are coyotes in Colorado?  Have you ever seen a coyote?

Adults:  No need to worry about coyotes, you are safe.  I’ve never seen a coyote because they are scare of people, but they do live in Colorado.

Cooper:  The coyotes will get me when we go to the car.  Will you carry me?  They are fast!

Adults:  Coyotes don’t like dogs or people or cars.  They stay away from our houses.  You will be just fine walking to the car.

Cooper:  [Rather, rinse, repeat all the way home and all night until he fell asleep.]

So over the coyotes.

Congrats to the Faris Family!

Che isn’t blogging much anymore, but they have a new addition to their family!  We have been able to spend some quality time with them over the last few weeks cuddling their new little one, Paige Darby.  She was born on October 26th and is super adorable.  Cooper in particular pays a lot of attention to her, wanting to hold her and asking a lot of questions.  Congratulations Mikael, Che and Maile!!

Wet, Moist, Dry

Chris and I went to Dallas for a wedding this past weekend.  We stayed at a really fun hotel that was like a loft, Nylo.  While we were there we were going to buy some alcohol to have a drink in the room.  However after driving around in a few strip malls and seeing NO liquor stores we thought maybe we should look up the alcohol laws.  Come to find out the city we were staying in was a ‘moist’ city and only sold beer and wine at grocery stores and convenience stores.  Other nearby cities were wet, and sold liquor at liquor stores, but only between the hours of 10 am and 9 pm.  Other cities were completely dry.  We both thought it was absolutely crazy in post-prohibition times that it was so difficult to obtain alcohol.

And what we couldn’t understand was the reasoning since bars and clubs were open and served until 1 am.  It’s safer to consume in public than in private?  And what exactly is the difference between drinking a six pack of beer or a few cranberry vodka cocktails?  Bizarre I tell you.

Anyhow, you can see pictures of us at the photoblog.

Synopsis of Brave-by Cooper

There are two bears. The queen bear is nice and the mean bear is mean. The frog puppet makes a good bear shadow and the pot makes a good bear roar.

Pesky zippers

Cooper: I zipped up my pee-pee this morning.

Me: Well that doesn't sound very good. I bet it hurt.

Cooper: Yep. I screamed but you didn't even hear me.

Me: Probably because I wasn't home. You should be careful.

Cooper: Yeah daddy told me I have to wear underwear.

Me: I think that's probably a good idea.

Parent Teacher Conferences

The kids have a new teacher this year and she is really awesome.  She pushes the kids to do the things she knows they can do and the kids seem to really love her.  Both kids are doing very well.  They know all their letters and numbers, can count to 20 and are starting to know most of their sounds.  They can also write many of their letters and numbers.  So amazing!

Cooper is able to follow rules well, engages in conversation, and can sort and group objects.  Sometimes when he runs he falls, which is likely due to his quick growing (hello size 7 & 8 clothes!).  Cooper needs to spend more time working on his fine motor skills, including holding a writing utensil properly and cutting with scissors.  He hasn’t yet decided which hand he will use and switches between both hands for just about everything – eating, writing, cutting, throwing.  It always seems awkward for him to write with his right hand, and he also writes in mirror image when he writes with his right hand.  I’m thinking he may turn out to be a lefty.

Charlotte does well with rules and transitions, holds a writing utensil properly, runs smoothly, engages in conversation, and can group/re-group objects.  She needs to spend more time focusing on the task at hand, especially when counting, writing her name, and being independent at snack time and getting dressed.

New Family Member

We have wanted a second dog for a couple of years now, but we’ve just been too lazy and limited on time to search for a new pet.  So when Josh moved to a high rise apartment and found he didn’t have time to be a proper pet parent to his Boston terrier, we quickly agreed we were happy to take her. 

She was house trained already, same age as Scout, and Boston Terriers are well known to be great family pets, very sociable with kids and other dogs.  Josh had named her Miley, but since Mikael and Che’s daughter is named Maile as well, we knew we had to change her name.  However, we thought it was cruel to rename her at age 6, so we modified her name slightly to Smiley, cause her little face always looks like she is smiling.

She is such a fun little dog.  She is OBSESSED with fetching her ball and can play fetch for hours.  She can jump so high she can clear Charlotte.  She is just generally super smart and super loving.  She bonded to Chris and Charlotte immediately, while Scout remains at mine and Cooper’s side.  She and Scout are still learning to live with each other, mostly it seems like they tolerate each other.  We are so happy to finally have a second dog and such a great one that fits right in with us.

Nanny gone

I forgot to post yesterday. Sorry about that.

Ali's last day was yesterday and since she had an appointment late afternoon she was already gone by the time I got home. I didn't get to hug her goodbye and say thank you. I am so, so sad to lose her as our nanny. She will be missed very much.

For now Chris is home with the kids until we find a replacement.

Drinking and watching election results

No time to blog anything important…I’m busy drinking wine and watching election results!!  I am glued to this site:

http://election2012.npr.org/bigboard/president.html

Adoption discussions

I really love when I get the opportunity to discuss adoption with the kiddos (here was the last time they asked).  The conversations seem to happen more frequently lately, I think because they are understanding more and can ask the right questions.

Tonight Cooper said to me, “When Charlotte grows up and has a baby in her belly.”  And I immediately thought, well that’s not necessarily what will happen, so I told him “Unless she decides to bring a baby home like how she came home to our family.  She didn’t grow in my tummy, she grew in another woman’s tummy.”

Cooper said, “Yeah, in your sister’s tummy!”, and I confirmed that yes that was true.  Then he asks, “Mommy, did Charlotte crawl all the way home?”  I smiled and said, “No she didn’t crawl home, she flew on an airplane.”  He asked why and I told him that sometimes when you adopt the baby is flown on a plane with a very nice person called a social worker.

Charlotte finally piped up and asked, “What’s a social worker?”  I told her that social workers help children find their way to the right families.  She then asked, “And your sister couldn’t come on the plane?  How come your sister couldn’t come?”  I explained that she was busy taking care of other important things, but that Charlotte didn’t live with my sister before she came home to us.  Cooper immediately asked, “Where was Charlotte before?”

I asked if they remembered seeing our friend Tiffany at Target.  I told Charlotte that she lived with Tiffany and Michelle before she came to live with us and that’s how we met them and also Josh, Ambyr and all of their kids.  They seemed to be content with all of those answers and so just like that the conversation was over. 

Alexander sleep over

Tonight I babysat my nephew, Alexander, for a sleepover. He is so adorable. He had lots of fun with the kids. They jumped on the beds, tickled each other and 'booped' noses. They also all fell asleep in Cooper's room. I love that they will grow up together!

Nanny

We found a nanny a few months ago, Ali.  We really, really love her and so do the kids.  She is incredibly responsible, helps make our lives easier and adores Charlotte and Cooper.  The first few weeks the kids would cry when we would come home because it meant that Ali was going home.  They would ask about her all weekend and when she was coming back.

We are so very, very sad.  Ali has a sudden personal situation that requires her to move home to Chicago.  This means we are starting the nanny search again.  We also need to figure out how to transition the kids because we know this will be very hard on them.

Blogging everyday in November

I plan to blog everyday in November!  Between here and the photoblog (which I need to catch up on badly—I still have Cooper’s bday photos to post!!!) you’ll see me around at least once a day.

Also going on November?  Chris is doing Movember and growing out the rest of his facial hair.  I’ll be sure to take pics!!

Not much to post today except that it’s been over a week and I’m still sick.  Went to the doctor yesterday and I have a mild case of bronchitis.  I’m so over feeling exhausted and the coughing.  I haven’t been able to work out for a week and half and I’m feeling so anxious because of it.  So, yeah, mentally I’m not up for writing much tonight.

Oh and the kids are obsessed with sleep overs so tonight I moved Charlotte’s mattress into Cooper’s room.  Let’s see how the night goes!

Magic Show

Cooper:  I’m ready to make magic disappear.

Daddy:  Okay, go ahead.

Cooper:  Abracadabra alakazoo, it’s in your ear.

Daddy:  Your coin?

Cooper:  For being a good sport, you can keep my magic penny.

Daddy: [laughing and smiling] Okay, well thank you.

Cooper:  I’m going to make Charyotte disappear with my magic cape.  Abracadabra, alakazoo!  Charyotte disappear!

Charlotte: [runs out from under his blanket and hides behind the chair]

Cooper:  Ta-da!

Daddy:  Awesome, where did she go?

Cooper:  Abracadabra, alakazoo!  Charyotte come back!

Charlotte: [runs from behind the chair and gets under his blanket again]

Cooper:  Ta-da!

Daddy:  You’re really good at magic, Cooper.

First snow

We woke up to this and the voice was so much like ‘But it’s Christmas morning!!!:

Me:  Cooper get back in bed and be quiet.

Cooper:  BUT IT’S SNOWING.  CHARYOTTE IT’S SNOWING!!

Charlotte:  [from dead asleep next to me]  It is??!? [hops out of bed and yanks open the blinds in our room]  IT IS SNOWING!!

And running dialogue:

Charlotte:  Now we need our Christmas tree up!

Cooper:  Can we go play in the snow?  In the grass and in the sandbox?

Charlotte:  Can we go sledding?

Cooper:  Can we have hot chocolate after we play in the snow?  We might be cold.  And sit by the fireplace?

Tattoo Conversation

I got my old tattoo re-done.  Here was the conversation this morning with Cooper and Charlotte:

[Cooper came to hug me and I told him to be careful because I got a new tattoo, which I then showed him.]

Cooper: :gasp: Wow!  How did they take the other one off?

Me:  They didn’t, they just put the new one over the old one.

Cooper:  Can I touch it?

Me:  No, it needs to heal first.

Cooper:  Cause it’s still wet?

Me:  Well, it still hurts.

Charlotte:  Who painted that mommy?

Me:  The tattoo artist.

Charlotte:  What’s his name?

Me:  Chunk.

Charlotte:  And he paints all of the tattoos?

(Also funny - the other day Charlotte asked me why I wear my tattoos to bed, as though I can remove them and put them in a drawer.) 

Gigi Tales

My mother-in-law has been our fill-in nanny until our nanny starts mid-September.  She has been wonderful and the kids love having her around.  I think she looks forward to getting back to just being Gigi, instead of babysitter (which requires discipline instead of lots of spoiling).  Here is the story she sent me via email:

As a Gigi I have the privilege of taking my babies out to lunch.  As we were getting out of the car at Chick-Fil, Cooper and I have this conservation:

Cooper:  (as he is hugging me and giving me a kiss)  Gigi, I love you sometimes.

Gigi:  You love me only sometimes?

Cooper:  Yeah, cause sometimes I have to love Mommy.

Gigi:  That makes sense.

Cooper:  Yeah.

Competition

Before bed we let the kids watch a short show in our room. After the show is over the tv goes off and we do to their bathroom to brush teeth. For the last several months Cooper has had a tantrum because Charlotte races him to the bathroom and wins. We explained that he's just going to have to run faster.

In the last couple of weeks we've noticed no more tantrums. Upon closer inspection Cooper is winning the race to the bathroom. And before the race begins this is what we overhear:

Cooper: Charyotte I need you to turn off the tv now.

Charlotte: Otay Coopeh.

As she gets up to turn the tv off, he books it to the bathroom and always wins. Charlotte seems oblivious and doesn't really care about winning. How's that for strategy?

I see squares all around me

Cooper announced "when I put my fingers over my eyes real hard and then move them out of the way I see squares all around me!"

Funny, I see the same thing! I love when they let me see the world through their eyes.

Blogging from iphone

Testing to see if this will work.

The kids love taking self portraits on the phone. Let's see if I can post directly from the phone.

Dead like the deer and now he’s dirt

We drove by the hospital that my dad was in when he died.  The kids are very aware that this is THE hospital.  The conversation went something like this (I’m going to leave off the kidspeak because it will be easier to follow):

Cooper:  That’s the hospital where grandpa is!

Me:  That’s where grandpa was, yes, but remember grandpa died so he’s not there anymore.

Cooper:  Yeah grandpa is dead.  He will be dead for a really long time.  Like the deer on Gigi’s wall.  Gigi’s dad killed that deer and it is dead for a really long time.  Like grandpa.  The doctors couldn’t help him no more.  So he is dead. (Obviously Gigi had to explain the deer head on her wall, LOL.)

Me:  That’s right, grandpa got sick and grandpa is dead like the deer. [OMG, did I just say that??]

Charlotte:  Your dad is dirt now, right mommy?

Me:  Yes grandpa is dirt now. [Ashes are kind of like dirt, no point in attempting to explain.]

Charlotte:  And he’s in the mountains cause we put him on the ground.

Cooper:  And he is really dead, like the deer.

Charlotte:  And we are sad.

Me:  Sometimes we get sad when we think about not being able to see grandpa anymore, but we can still remember all the fun times we had with grandpa.

Charlotte:  Yeah, he pushed us on the swings!

Don’t laugh at my poop, Charlotte!

 

Cooper: If I cwose bofe sides of my nose, air comes out my ears! Watch!  Charyotte, watch!

_______________________________________________________________________________

Cooper:  Mommy, my tummy hurts.

Me:  Cooper, why does your tummy hurt?

Cooper: From the money.

Me:  You swallowed a coin?  Why did you swallow a coin?

Cooper: Cause it went down my froat.  It hurt my froat.  Can you get it out?

Me:  I can’t get it out.  You’re going to have to wait until you poop it out.

Charlotte: [giggles, giggles, giggles] It will be in your poop, Coopeh! [giggles, giggles, giggles]

Cooper:  Don’t waugh at my poop, Charyotte!  It not funny!

Me: Well it is kind of funny, Cooper.  Maybe you shouldn’t swallow anymore coins.

Charlotte:  [giggles, giggles, giggles]

Cooper:  Stop waughing Charyotte!!

The nanny search is on!

So I posted here about Chris going back to work.  Changes are the norm for a start-up company, and for this one in particular, the have a new name.  They are now Trelora Real Estate (here is the background on the name change).   By only charging a seller $1700 flat fee, rather than a percentage of the home price, Trelora is well on the way to successfully changing the real estate industry.  The Denver Post and 9news have both done stories on the company and it is a blast to be a part of the ongoing growth.

So Chris’ role as changed several times at the company.  He will now be working as a Sales Director, finding new clients.  This will require him to work a normal 9-5 type of schedule.  This means we are on a hunt for a nanny!

We are using care.com to help us with the search.  We posted a job and had 25 applicants!  We also posted on FB, and a few friends posted on their FB on our behalf.  This resulted in another 4 individuals being interested, for a total of 29.

This weekend we interviewed 10 of the top candidates.  What an interesting process!

Candidate 1 – Fantastic young woman with a lot of daycare center experience with 3-4 yr olds, but never a nanny.  Kids said hi, she was at ease with them. Good meeting.

Candidate 2 – No, just no.  No personality, no interaction with the kids.  Previous jobs were babysitting.  Just moved from out of state, doesn’t know where she lives or way around the city. Babysat for autistic twins and activities included ‘X-box and kinect’ and snacks included ‘flaming hot cheetos’.  She really wanted to know if the kids would eat broccoli and also if she could wear scrubs.

Candidate 3 – Has been a nanny for two other families.  Very easy going and experienced.  Confident and polite.  Kids were friendly.  Good meeting.

Candidate 4 – Really, really impressive.  Has nannied for long periods with other families.  Seems firms but very kind.  Very experienced both with children, being a nanny, and came across as very mature.  One of the top candidates.

Candidate 5 – Kids were yelling her name before she walked in.  Cooper immediately drug her outside to play with their cloud dough.  Made her a raspberry sundae while she comfortably did imaginative play with them.  Cooper immediately said “We want you to babysit us” which melted her heart.  The kids didn’t want her to leave and asked if she would come back.  I told them maybe in a few weeks and Cooper said ‘No, now!’.  Wants to go back to school, so this could be a risk for us if she’s not available come January.  She was an easy favorite for us and for the kids.

Candidate 6 – Super nice, really enjoyed the conversation.  Not sure she’s the right personality fit when compared to the other two candidates.  (recommendation from friend)

Candidate 7 – No call, no show.

Candidate 8 – Instantly at ease with us and the kids.  She just fit.  Has lots of nanny experience that would make it easy for us since it’s all so new to us.  Kids loved her and she engaged them quite a bit.  Another easy favorite for us.

Candidate 9 – Has a young daughter that the kids loved.  Easy going. Not as much nannying experience.

Candidate 10 – Cancelled last minute due to family emergency.  Unable to commit to us so rescinded application.

Now we have a tough decision.  It comes down to Candidate 4, 5, & 8.  They all would be amazing.

Well child check up–Age 4

We had our yearly check up with the doctor.  I seriously love this pediatrician – Dr. Michael Kurtz at Advanced Pediatrics Association.  He is fantastic with the kids, interacts with them as patients/doctors normally do, and listens to us as parents.  The kids also really like him.

The kids were looking forward to their doctor appointment and wanted to show off everything they could do.  They are both healthy!

The only follow up we have is to schedule an appointment for Charlotte with a food therapist.  I had noticed a few months ago that she struggles to bite into food properly with her front teeth.  She sort of nibbles and tears at the food and uses her side/back teeth.  I asked the dentist about it and they didn’t seemed to think that her thumb sucking/overbite could be the problem. 

Also when drinking, she can only take one drink at a time.  As in fill her mouth with the liquid, set the cup down, swish the drink in her mouth and swallow, then repeat.  She can’t drink continuously or gulp her drink.  I noticed it when I was helping Cooper drink out of a plastic water bottle and he gulped several drinks down.  Then with Charlotte I attempted to hold it the same and she started choking and coughing.  It happens with drinks with straws too.  I couldn’t recall her ever having an issue drinking continuously from a bottle though.

The doctor was concerned that the combination of the drinking and eating quirks could result in her aspirating food or drink, which would be very dangerous.  Also given her history of speech therapy, she could have problems properly manipulating things with her mouth and tongue.  He thought it best to be on top of it and send her to the children’s hospital for the testing.  We need to just make the appointment for testing to see if she needs therapy.

With that here are their recent growth charts.  Charlotte’s gained almost 3 lbs and grown 1 inch in a year, while Cooper has gained 6 lbs and 4 inches in one year.  If Charlotte stays on trend she will likely end up around at 5’3” – 5’4”.  If Cooper stays on trend he is likely to end up at 6’4” - 6’7”!

Workout progress

So I never thought I would make so much progress in so little time.  I fully expected it to be the end of October before I could write about finally reaching my goal size (8). I’ve learned how to eat healthier, I’ve learned how to get strong, and I’ve learned how to appreciate what my body is capable of, rather than being focused on what it looks like.  So here’s how I did it.

My rules were simple:

• If I can't do it for the rest of my life then I don't want any part of it.  That means unreasonable workouts, restricting food/starving myself, or cutting out entire food groups are all a no-go for me.
• I work hard at workouts that I enjoy and fuel my body properly.  I eat at least 2500 calories a day and still lose inches and pounds.
• I don't deprive myself, I enjoy eating out with friends and family, I still drink alcohol, I still make time for friends, family, and sleep.  Although this has been a learning curve to find the balance.
• My goals are not based on what the scale says--only I see that number.  Everyone else sees how my clothes fit or how my muscles look.
• I'm not doing this to look good but rather to be strong and healthy.  All of this is defined by my goals:  fit into a size 8, have 23% body fat, do 1-25 unassisted pull-ups, do 60 push-ups, bench press 130 lbs and run 3 miles.

I started using MyFitnessPal (MFP) app last December 2011 where I started around 196 lbs and a size 14. Through calorie restriction alone (due to exercise restriction from the hernia) from Dec - Feb I lost the first 15 lbs.

Then I started back to workouts at the end of February after bedrest/recovery from surgery with only a couple of days of light cardio. By the beginning of March, I built up to 30-45 min of cardio 4x per week, plus pilates 1 day/wk.  At that time I switched out the cardio for Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred to test how strength training would go.  After about 2 weeks I got bored with the program and found it too easy, so I started more rigorous strength training at the beginning of April using Butt Bible (free on youtube).  I completed that program after 6 weeks. 

In May I cut down my workouts from 6 days/week to 3 days/wk and stopped doing pilates class because it was too easy.  I started loosely following New Rules of Lifting for Women and New Rules of Lifting for Abs.  I focused on lifting heavy, at 4-8 reps for 3 sets using compound lifting and doing high intensity interval training cardio 3 days a week.  At the end of May, I continued my strength training but added in running/walking 3 miles using the Zombies Run! app 2 days a week.  In July I started playing volleyball once a week.

I eat 2500-2800 calories a day and target 130 g of protein, which puts me at a 50% carbs, 25% fat, and 25% protein ratio.  The big successes that have had nothing to do with the scale:

• I've gone from a size 14 to a size 8
• I am at 26% bodyfat, down from 33%
• I went from 3 push-ups on my knees to 12 standard push-ups on my toes.  If I take about 60 sec breaks every 8-10 push-ups I can do 55 standard push-ups.
• When I started I could bench press 24 lbs and now I bench 95 lbs
• I used to shoulder press 16 lb and now I press 60 lb
• When I started I could only squat with body weight – 196 lbs.  Now I can squat with an extra 105 lb
• I could only hold a plank on my knees for 15 sec, now I can do them with elevated feet, or up on my toes with one arm out for 90 sec.
• I could only run/walk 1/2 mile and now I can run 3 miles in about 33-36 min with no walking (depends on how hard I lift!).
• My resting heart rate was about 80 bpm and now it's about 60 bpm.

My advice:  Choose workouts/exercise/activity that you enjoy.  If you have fun you will be more likely to stick with it.  Do some weight lifting and ignore the scale – my goal wasn’t a weight on the scale, it was to fit back into a specific size.  Make sure you eat enough food!!  Whenever I don’t eat enough I get really exhausted, my hair and nails suffer, and I’m unable to complete my workouts.  Also make sure you are getting enough sleep!! 

Next goals:

• Learn how to maintain my size.  I’ve never had to do this before!
• Try some new activities, like adult ballet.
• Bench 130 lbs
• Do 60 push-ups with no breaks, and 100 push-ups with breaks.
• Do at least 1 unassisted pull-up.  Eventually I would like to do 25.
• Do at least 10 unassisted triceps dips.
• Target 23% bodyfat (not sure if this is the right number yet)

Note that the July 2008 photos are about 3 months post baby, but my body stayed more or less between that picture and the March 2012 picture for a few years. I floated between size 14 and size 12 for most of the last 4 years. There was a time I got down to 183 lb and size 10 by 'eating when I was hungry and stopping when I was satiated' and using the C25K app, but I was still very soft and flabby. Now I can feel all the muscle!

Also wanted to show my bare back since I’ve had a lot of muscle development.

Grown up little girl

The kids are both starting to have real conversations with us and with each other.  I love the actual exchange I have with them.  Even if I sometimes wish they would just.stop.talking.already.  We were eating dinner and this is the conversation with Charlotte.

Charlotte:  Mommy, those earrings are beautiful!!  Where did you get them from?

Me:  Thank you honey.  I think I got them at a jewelry party.

Charlotte:   A jewelry party??!?  I don’t think I’ve ever been to one of those.

Me:  [Thinking, you most certainly have not been to one of those kinds of parties.  I mean I am your mother afterall and would know!] Well maybe we can go together to the next party.

Charlotte:  And my brudder too??!?!!

Me:  [Again, I am your mother in case you didn’t realize.  I know you have a brother.] Um, probably not your brother.

Charlotte:  Ohhhh. [insert super sad face and voice here]  Why not my brudder?

Me: Because he will probably knock everything over and won’t have very much fun.  Maybe you and I can just go as a girls night out.

Charlotte:  Okay, mommy!  That sounds like a lot of fun!

Hiatus

So I obviously took a long break from blogging.  And from FB.  And from posting on message boards.  After my dad passed away I just got annoyed with FB and all the posts about everyone’s trivial things.  Not to mention it become a little bit of quote vomit on there rather than truly keeping up with each other’s lives.  I think everyone has come to rely on FB a little too much.  I mean my siblings and I found out that our grandmother had passed away on FB!  Almost a week after it happened.  Unacceptable.

So to grieve privately and not be annoyed, I stepped away.  I was feeling very exposed online between blogging, facebook, and message boards.  Also, I just didn’t have time anymore. I made working out a priority and as a result I had to give up some of my other interests/activities like photography (the hardest), watching TV, and being on the internet.  I’m really glad I did take a break because now I actually want to do some of these things, but only when I have time.

I may do several posts in a day, or I may go several weeks without posting.  It’s just what works for my life right now.

Things I will miss when he gets older

Cooper:  Mommy I want some of your milk.  I want mama milk.

Me:  [thinking how the heck does he remember that] Honey I don’t have any more mama milk.  You drank it all remember?

Cooper:  I want some.  Just go drink a cup of milk and it will go down right in there. [points to my breasts]

Me:  Oh, I don’t think it works that way.  Why don’t we read some books and cuddle instead.

I’m wondering when the day will come that he no longer asks about nursing.  I’m thankful we had such a great experience and were able to do it for so long. 

I will also miss our bedtime chats.  He is so adorable and chatty right before he falls asleep.  He loves having us lay down with him or sit next to his bed until he falls asleep.  I will miss it when he no longer wants me to ‘tuck him in’.

From SAHD to WAHD

Chris is going back to work!

When we were in California he decided he wanted to open a property management company in Colorado. After I finished my MBA he knew that he wanted to finish his bachelor’s degree, but get a business degree instead of political science to help with starting his own business. Chris finished his business degree in December and his official graduation ceremony is at the end of April. I am so proud of him for persevering for over a year to finish his degree.

Because of the laws in Colorado, he was going to have to modify his plan to start up a property management company. Essentially he was faced with a 2 year waiting period and also was required to become a licensed real estate agent. He sought out Josh (dad to the Hunt Six Pack), who is a real estate agent and business owner, for some advice. One thing led to another, and Josh asked Chris to join the Joshua Tree Worldwide team.

This is a start up business, that is on what I believe to be a successful path to changing the way real estate is done. Once the website is up and running (and my husband tells me what I’m supposed to/allowed to say) I will go into more detail. However if you know of someone selling or needing to buy a house, Joshua Tree can save the seller a lot of money (think several thousand dollars) and they are skilled at helping buyers find their dream home in a timely manner.

Chris will start out as a buyer’s assistant and will work toward becoming part owner to get property management off the ground. This is very exciting for him!

For now he will be more of a work at home dad. As the kids have more time in school and he begins bringing in a steady income, we will likely look into a nanny to help with childcare. I’m a little nervous about the change, but I’m also excited about the future for our family.

Healthy and Strong

Chris and I used to spend a lot of time together working out and being outdoors. We were also younger and could eat what we wanted because our super high metabolisms took care of the extra food. Once we had children, our time to workout was greatly diminished and the whole getting older thing was a reality check for us on ‘eating whatever we wanted’.

There was always an excuse for me: I just had a baby, my milk supply would drop, I was sleep deprived, I had a new stressful job, my abs had some medical issues that prevented working out, I broke my toe, I had tendonitis in my ankle and so on. Chris and I are often motivators for each other, and since I wasn’t interested in working out, he wasn’t either.

Chris went from a size 34 to a size 36 (tight) and from 190 lbs to 237 lbs. I went from a size 8 pants, medium shirts and 160 lbs to a size 14 pants, L/XL shirts and 196 lbs. Neither of us liked how we looked or felt, but neither of us felt committed to eating healthier or to making time for a real workout schedule.

Last May Chris and I both started working out again by doing the Couch to 5K program. I think we were somewhat motivated by seeing my dad’s health in such a declining state. We both completed the program, but neither of us saw much change in our weight or bodies, except for maybe a 10 lb drop. Then I started a new job in August and then we went on vacation in September and everything fell apart again. We gained the weight back. I had hernia repair surgery in October and was on restriction from exercise. In November after starting to heal from surgery I decided I needed to make a serious change. I just didn’t feel like myself.

Just as I committed to a workout schedule in early December, my abs started hurting right near where I just had hernia repair surgery. Back to the doctor I went and I was informed that I had a recurrent hernia. I had to wait to have the second surgery because of the holidays and to allow more healing time from the first surgery. That meant a longer exercise restriction time.

So I got serious with My Fitness Pal (MFP), a smart phone app to help you track food and exercise calories. I figured if I couldn’t exercise, then I could at least learn to eat healthier. Back in September we had cut out red 40 from our diets because we noticed that it negatively affected Charlotte’s behavior. By cutting that out we had already cut out a lot of processed foods, which was a jump start.

We switched from regular pasta to quinoa, from ground beef to ground turkey, to all organic fruits and veggies, and started making dinner with a lean protein and two veggies, instead of one veggie and one starch. We also reduced how much we ate out.

By tracking my food using MFP I was able to see that I was eating close to 3000 calories (and some days way more than that) which considering I was maybe burning 1900 calories a day, it was no wonder I had gained so much weight! I kept tracking my food and exercise (daily walking to/from the train) and from December to middle of February my weight dropped from 196 lbs to 183 lbs.

After healing from surgery, I got back into working out. I started with very light cardio 2 days a week for 20 minutes. Then I increased it to 3 days a week for a full 45 minutes of cardio. After another week, I started 30 Day Shred for 2 days and did cardio 3 days, plus an hour of Pilates 1 day a week for 6 days a week of working out. This was only 5 weeks after surgery, at the beginning of March.

After 2 weeks of 30DS, I got bored and switched it out with other workouts. I started weight training/cardio 3 days a week, and at home workout videos like Butt Bible and P90X cardio videos 2 days week, while still going to Pilates for an hour once a week. I have lost another 5 lbs, but more importantly I am back in a size 10, I feel stronger, and more like myself.

Chris has been lifting and doing cardio 5 days a week. He is working on converting fat to muscle, so his results have been more in how he looks rather than in weight, inches or clothing size. He is at 224 and his size 36 are starting to get a little big.  He too is feeling healthier and more like himself.

The kids have come downstairs to workout with me sometimes (I go to the local recreation center and use our home gym for my workouts), and they do all the movements with me, or at least try to. Charlotte asked me the first time ‘why we are doing this, mommy’ and instead of saying ‘to look pretty’, I said ‘to be healthy and strong’. Now when we take them to the gym daycare, or if they are running around outside, they mimic right back to us ‘I have to get healthy and strong.’

I might be brave enough to post before/after pictures as I get closer to my goal. Mostly I’m just happy to fit back into some of my favorite (smaller) clothes and overall feel healthier.  I’m ladyace2078 and Chris is ace2078 on MFP if you want to add us as a friend.

I grew in your tummy

Language development and cognition has impressed me with my two children as they’ve gotten closer to 4.  They are asking so many more questions now.  We have always been very open about Charlotte's adoption through books, pictures, and adoption related shows (like Ms. Sunny Patch Friends).  We don't dwell on it, just keep things factual.

Cooper was talking about 'when he was a baby in my tummy' and I asked if he wanted to see pictures.  So we (me, Charlotte & Cooper) looked at my belly pictures from pregnancy and they laughed because they thought I looked funny.  Then Charlotte gets excited and says, 'And when I was in your tummy too!  Where are those pictures mommy?'.  For a second my heart caught in my throat.

Then I remembered that she doesn't quite understand.  Here is what I explained:

"Honey, you were already born when you came home.  You grew in another mommy's tummy.  Her name is Angel and she is my sister."  Charlotte asked 'What that mean?'  I said, 'You were inside her tummy.  Do you want to see a picture of your birth mommy?'  She got excited and said yes, so I took them over to the family pictures and showed them several pictures of my sister.  Then they moved on to play with their toys.

It was actually easier than I thought, although I'm not sure they quite understand.  I'm guessing they will continue to ask more questions though.

______________________________________________________________________________

As a follow up conversation about a month ago:

Cooper:  Mommy, I was in your belly when I was a baby, right?

Me:  Yes, Cooper you were.

Cooper:  But you didn’t eat me, right?

Me:  No, honey I didn’t eat you.

Cooper:  Charlotte wasn’t in your belly. She was in that other mommy’s belly, Angel.

Me:  Yes she grew in my sister Angel’s belly.

How to spell TV

Cooper:  S – O – N – Y.  Dat how you spell TV!

Charlotte:  S – O – N – Y.  It say TV!

Cooper:  essssss – oooooohhhhh – ehnnnnnnnn – Y (?).  It say TV!!

Blue Milk

The kids love playing pretend games now.  They especially love giving me action figures to act out scenes with them.  This time I was Jessie and Cooper was Buzz (from Toy Story in case anyone lives under a rock).

Jessie:  Keep me safe, Buzz!

Buzz:  Come to my house!

Jessie:  Where is your house?

Buzz:  On my planet!

Jessie:  Where is your planet?

Buzz:  Outer space!

Jessie:  What is the name of your planet?

Buzz:  Milk.

Jessie:  What color is your planet?

Buzz:  Blue!

Jessie:  Is it always blue?

Buzz:  Now it’s green!

Jessie:  How did it turn green?

Buzz:  I painted it all over, green.  Like my room will be.

My dad

He insisted upon moving back into his house (the bank gave him a home modification loan) despite our protests about his continued declining health and worry that he can't live alone. We moved him back in last Wednesday January 18th. I saw him Thursday evening and was very worried. I took the kids over to see him on Friday and again was worried. Savannah moved the rest of his stuff  on Saturday and saw him then.

She went to pick up the vacuum and found him unconscious next to his bed on Sunday.  She called the paramedics and then called all of us.  He was checked into the ER with a 78/50 blood pressure and a 33 blood sugar.  When we visited him on Sunday he didn’t look good at all and couldn’t remember the last couple of days.  His blood pressure had increased to 98/46, but his heart rate remained high at 120-130 bpm.  His creatinine (measures kidney function and should be close to or less than 1) was 1.85, which meant his kidneys weren’t operating well.  The troponin levels were high, which indicated either a recent heart attack or a risk of heart attack.  The nurse said that he had been down long enough that muscle tissue began breaking down and his kidneys were struggling because of it (rhabdomyolysis).

They decided to move him to the ICU.  The last thing I said to him was ‘I love you’ and he said the same thing to me.  That night while I put Cooper to bed, he told me, 'Mommy, grandpa needs me to see him. I need to see him mommy.'

I went into work on Monday because I was expecting to have a second hernia repair surgery on Wednesday January, 25th.  I finished everything up and let everyone know that my dad was in the ICU.  I went to the chiropractor and put my purse/phone in the locker.  I was sitting in the building lobby waiting for a massage when I checked my phone.  Two texts, one from Savannah, one from Chris ‘Call me ASAP!!!’.  I knew.

I called Savannah and she could barely say it.  They had called her and told her to get to the hospital immediately to make medical decisions.  Then they called her back 5 min later and said they couldn’t revive him.  I broke down.  I called Chris and told him to meet me at the hospital.  I told the massage therapist I had to go and they asked what was wrong.  I blurted out ‘My dad just died, I need to go.’  I stopped at Paradise and ordered lunch.  Then I don’t remember the walk to the train.  As I was waiting for the train I realized I probably shouldn’t drive.  I told Chris to pick me up at the train station.

It was quite possibly the longest train ride of my life.  I was really upset but didn’t want to completely break down and I was starving.  Finally I got to the station and we drove to the hospital.  I ate some of my food on the way, but felt sick to my stomach.

We got to the hospital and went up to the ICU.  None of us wanted to see him.  We all wanted our last memory of him to be of him alive.  The nurses told us the doctor would be up soon.  Eventually they shuffled us to a tiny room that felt like a closet.  Since it’s a teaching hospital the student doctors came in to tell us that the real doctor would be in soon.  Finally the doctor showed up.

We immediately asked why they tried to revive him because he had a DNR in place.  She said he was coherant enough the night before to tell them he wanted basic CPR but no ventilator.  The doctor said that he very likely had a heart attack sometime on Sunday.   He had a very severe blood infection which caused his liver to stop working, then his kidneys.  He wasn't breathing well and then his heart slowed down and stopped.  They attempted CPR, but could not revive him. He was only 58.

We told the kids that night. That was by far the hardest thing I've ever done. We are atheist so the conversation went like this:

Me: Do you remember we went and saw Grandpa on Friday? We had so much fun with him, right?
Charlotte: Yeah!
Me: And do you remember that grandpa got really sick and went to the hospital yesterday?
Charlotte: Oh no! What happened?
Me: He got really, really sick. The doctors tried to help grandpa, but he was just too sick. And grandpa died. This means you won't be able to see him again. Last Friday was the last time you got to see and talk to grandpa.
Charlotte: Oh no! Oh no!
Me: But we can always remember all the fun times we had with him, and talk about him, and look at pictures. And it's okay to be very sad or talk to mommy and daddy about it.
Charlotte: Okay. Are you sad mommy?
Me: I am very sad and I might cry a lot because I'm sad. But you can give me a hug to make me feel better.

Mikael and Che brought us dinner and Maile came over too.  The kids were sitting at the dinner table and this is the conversation the kids had with her:

Cooper: Grandpa just died. He was sick, so sick. And he died. We can't see him anymore. He died. But we had lots of fun with him.
Charlotte: And we are sad. The doctors couldn't help him. He died.

I don't think they really understand what it means yet.  I'm so glad he's not suffering anymore, but I am really, really sad.  We are having the celebration of his life at our house today and then we plan to spread his ashes near his grandfather’s home in Central City.