Where have I been? Keeping things together at home and working on me, I guess. It’s been a crazy couple months through the holidays. Other than constant, nagging colds, I’m feeling pretty great these days. I had a post-baby goal weight in mind to reach by my 35th birthday (January 25th) and am happy to report 130 days after I started I have already reached (and passed) that number! 27lbs and counting! I finished 10 weeks (one quarter) of Pilates classes and found some muscles that haven’t worked much since my first pregnancy. I used the MyFitnessPal app and meticulously counted calories. I kept trying to walk at least 10,000 steps/day as the weather got colder. My helpful go-to foods were Angie’s Sweet and Salty Kettlecorn, diced oven ready chicken breasts (on corn tortillas with cheese), Kroger Arctic Blaster ice cream bars (because ice cream), pretzels with cottage cheese, and Chobani CocoLoco yogurts. I’ve decided to keep working hard (with the exception of Christmas week), and see where I end up. I’m feeling a lot stronger/fitter but took my first Cardio Barre class a few weeks ago and realized I still have lots of room for improvement. I don’t think I’ve had my heart rate that high since who knows when. I almost hurled. I’m going to need to work up the courage to go back. 😉
The boys are doing great. We had constant colds from October through December which landed Christopher on antibiotics. The poor guy just couldn’t shake it, and I wish I would have taken him in to the Dr. sooner. Two days into a 14 day course of antibiotics and he was like a whole new person. Sorry mama didn’t take you in sooner little dude! Christopher is very opinionated as most 2 1/2 year olds tend to be. He needs choices in which clothes to wear, what he eats, and what activities we do. No forcing Christopher to do anything he doesn’t want to do. His favorite snacks are graham crackers with milk, “stripey cookies” (aka Keebler Fudge Strip Cookies), and chocolate milk. His favorite show is currently Octonauts. When he isn’t fighting a cold he sleeps ok, but unfortunately that hasn’t been very often lately. He’s prone to coughing fits and night terrors, both of which have me rolling out of bed to “nuggle” as he says. “Mommy can you nuggle me?” or “Mommy you hold my hand?” are phrases I don’t mind hearing, but just wish I didn’t hear them so consistently at 2am. The night terrors are just something we’re living through. I had them as a kid, and there’s no consoling a toddler during a night terror. Thank-goodness William could sleep through a train hitting our house so he doesn’t seem too phased by it.
Andrew spent quite awhile doing his own little army crawl, but in the last week has transitioned to regular hands and knees crawling. He now proficiently crawls, sits, pulls himself to his feet and is starting to creep along the couch. We went from crawling to pulling up super-fast. One morning over Christmas break he made it around the Christmas tree, through the bookcase under the desk (twice), and crawled several times through a box fort Jason made with the older boys. He LOVES his big brothers! He’s eating solids but still doesn’t have any teeth. The two bottom ones are SO CLOSE to coming in though…I can’t wait for a little toothy smile! A few of his favorite foods are graham crackers, yogurt melts, and baby puffs. He loves the bathtub and alternates sitting or crawling through the water. He had his first real cold this month as well, but seemed to come through it pretty good. He smiles pretty much constantly or as my mother put it recently “Andrew smiles because his eyes are open”.
William is getting bigger every day. He is starting to occasionally express interest in/excitement about going to kindergarten in the fall. We found out this week he has been accepted to the dual immersion (English/Spanish) program our school offers, so he will be learning half of the time in English and half of the time in Spanish. I’m super excited for him (and us). I am much less worried about him being behind than I am about him being bored, so I think this is an exciting opportunity. If I understand correctly, since he was chosen (via a lottery system) for this program, his younger brothers will be automatically enrolled if we choose. Time to brush up on my Spanish!
Christmas was wonderful. Man did I spent too much. Turns out I just love shopping for other people and having three boys and a new niece to shop for makes it pretty fun. We also bought ourselves a black Friday present and upgraded to a new 40″ TV. While that might not sound huge to some of you, our old was was only 26″ so this is great! We took the boys and handed out candy and cards to all the neighbors. The boys had a good time going door-to-door. Our neighborhood has lost a few good neighbors this year, but I’m certainly thankful for those who remain. This year I got the white Christmas I’d hoped for! We woke up to several inches of new white snow to make the day extra festive. The boys were so excited to play with the presents they opened that I almost had to prompt them to get through opening all their gifts. Christmas day we had a small family get together at our house which was also fun.
I have been on 3 different antibiotics since December 27th to finally kick the sinus gunk I’ve been fighting for months. I think I had a deep sinus infection set in as I could feel it deep in my sinuses, had a chronic sore throat, and sore ear canals. The first antibiotic (amoxicillin) didn’t touch it. 2 weeks later I again begged for relief and was told to sinus rinse/nasal spray for 3 days (which did nothing) so I filled a prescription for Bactrim. Within 36 hours it was a night and day difference…but then I broke out in hives. Girl can’t catch a break. Now I’m finishing out my last doses of Augmentin and feel pretty good. What a long haul it’s been.
I think 2017 is going to be a great year! Next week I turn 35! In a way it feels like I’m turning over a new leaf and starting a whole new chapter. I’m thankful to be done having babies, and on track to put my health and fitness back together. The boys are getting bigger and more fun by the day. We have some exciting house projects planned for the year including a new garden shed, new windows, and as much painting as I can make time for. Jason and I are great, and will be celebrating our 8 year anniversary this spring. The days are already getting longer and I’m looking forward to gardening, walks to the park, and warmer and brighter evenings.
