The end of a Swing

 I love my Friday nights catching up on all the blogs I read. I am still working on watching some Vimo videos I want to catch up on. I love sitting down and reading, finding inspiration and just catching up for an hour.
This week was a little nostalgic for me :( I spent the week pricing baby/toddler/kids clothing for the PTA Bargain Bonanza sale. I priced 300 items (I could have doubled that but they cut me off at 300) and each little sweater, shirt, jammy, onesie, sock, bib and hat held a dear memory for me. I think the toughest ones were all Wyatt's clothes. I think because the girls clothes I have seen several times over the years. With the boy clothes I have not seen them since the day I put them in the bin. Dang that kid was dressed well & always looked way cool. It broke my heart to see all the tiny things he wore when he was a sweet little baby boy, then the chubby phase, and believe it or not he was a CHUB, then back to his little skinny self.

getting a fresh cut 2 weeks ago at Bill's...note to self, Bill's + a Saturday at noon=CrAZy!

It killed me to go throw these items and think someone else may wear these clothes, I wanted to keep them ALL. I.JUST.WANT.TO.FREEZE.TIME. just for a year or two...just to hold them close a little longer...i cant let that baby get any bigger...

this little dupa is ready to crawl & it will kill me!

This baby is on the move, she has not technically crawled, she can scoot herself backwards and turns herself in circles or rolls to where she needs to get to. Each day I think today is going to be the day, I tell the ladies at daycare if she starts to really crawl, push her back down and call me immediately so I can come see it in action FIRST. She is so big now, eating big kid food, jabbering and even plays a mean game of catch and calls fro the ball. I love her sweet little voice.

My weekends have been spent in a gym. I AM SO PROUD OF THIS GIRL! She has been working hard & I could not be any more proud of her for that. She is #10, yes, that is the 9 year old who is taller than the coach. 

This is what my car looked like today as I dropped my 300 tagged items off to the sale

goofy there is making a silly face, she is a beast, i mean joy!

You cannot really tell from the pic, but it was full of bags of clothes. That bigger item is the swing. Yesterday Mae was swinging along, today it is sitting in a gym waiting for someone to purchase it tomorrow am. It makes me sad, almost like Toy Story (note to self to blog about the giant stuffed Simba) that I have just abandoned that swing. It held each of my precious treasures, rocked them to sleep, allowed me to make dinner, switch a load of laundry, pack a lunch, clean up clutter, read a blog, gather my sanity...that swing was a dear friend to me, held it's battery life, played the annoying songs on three different sound levels, and new the pace each kiddo like to swing at. Now there is just an empty space in the corner of my living room, it is weird.

Have a great weekend!

Basketball/Volleyball Saturday

This baby was a trooper. She spent all day today watching/sleeping through her oldest sisters basketball & volleyball games. I must say her oldest sister did great. I am so proud of how well she played! Granted, they did not win a game out of the 5 she played, she put in a ton of effort. I have to remind myself she is playing older kids, while that is great in the long run now it is frustrating. You would think I would take a picture of the older sister during one of her games today, but no. Tonight though, I am one proud mama.

I work out....

no I don't, but this girl does!
 

This is something that has been KILLING me lately, I cannot get my mojo back and it is bumming me out. It is a long boring story, but if I type it, well then maybe it will bring me back, here goes.  Before I was pregnant with Mae I was running so good, training for the Chicago Marathon was one of the best experiences of my life. Most of that was due to my amazing running friends and how much fun I had with them. After 10-10-10 I stopped, I didn't do much while pregnant, some yoga and walking here and there, but I would watch people running and would be so jealous, because I wanted to. A week after Mae was born I was walking, 2 weeks later I ran 3 miles, then I slowly but surely was going 4-6 miles three days a week with a longer one in there. I ran a half when Mae was 2 months old, then another half November 21st...that half killed me. I was burned out and said I am done running for awhile. That was fine because I hate running out in the cold, and it was getting cold out, so I was fine with my break.
The week after Thanksgiving I started weight training, this was for several reasons, but mainly because I am weak, I always have been and hated that. I cant stand my arms or the way my triceps blow in the breeze! I knew I needed to weight train in order to try to reduce the fupa and get some sort of shape back in my life. Enter my great pal Andy. Fitness, weight training is his life. He studies it, obsess on the perfect form, knows the science behind what foods to eat and when, he is disciplined. I think I was his science project, but I was good with that, and I was lucky to have him help me, I couldn't have asked for a better, non judging, honest, ethical person to train me.  The first day I went to gym I was totally prepared for this new venture and was excited about it! I left frustrated and annoyed, because I SUCKED at it. I could not even squat a 12lb rubber bar let alone the real bar. I had to drop so low to dead lift 9 times out of 10 I feel over because I could not keep my balance. A pull up, well that made me laugh! Not Andy though, he was convinced I could do this, and each week I got stronger, was squatting with real weight on the bar, dead lifting off the ground where I was supposed to, and was doing 30 pull ups each workout, that is with assistance. THEN.I.HIT.A.WALL...not a dry wall, but a hard, cinder block, cement wall! I weighed myself, was chubbier than ever and was gaining weight by the day. NO my clothes were not fitting better, NO I did not feel better I was crabby and done.
(I will say I did go to yoga, and felt a ton stronger though, i could hold planks, and do push ups, that was fun!) Weight lifting was bringing me down hard, I realized I was working out half the amount and a quarter of the time I used to, and not running was making me super crabby and the poor people that live with me were being affected by that. The weight training was killing my morale and I was not getting that mind numbing run/sweat time. So I stopped, I freaked out and panicked! Andy was not at the gym with me, I was defeated, frustrated, chubby and done.
This week I have ran, mind numbing, sweaty runs, and it has helped me but I know I need to go and pick up the weights again. I need to find the balance of weight training and running and this week I AM GOING TO FIND IT! Sunday morning I am going back into the weight room, and somehow throughout the week I am going to get both in, running and weight training. I have to, for my own sanity, I need to balance both somehow. I have let Andy down, and believe me, Andy is not the person you want to let down.He told me 'I didn't think you were a quitter' and although I did not either, I was. I had gotten so frustrated and freaked out I had quit. Quit doing both things that made me feel much better.
So...if I publicly state it here, to my 3 followers, then I cannot quit again. I do not want to be a quitter, or a weak, floppy arm tricep girl. So my week of quitting weight training is over. I have taken 7 days off, and I cant let that happen again. I WILL find the best running/weight training combo that works perfect for me, and I will find it THIS week!  Heck, if I quit I will never look like the girl above!

Elf

We cannot stop watching this! 

Probably not appropriate for a three year old, but J loves this move! She has watched it on her way to and from school all week and any other random times in the car. We actually sat in the parking lot at Costco so they could finish the movie, just to start it all over again when we returned to the car.

Best lines

Marry Christmas!

time is slipping away...

and I just want to STOP it, ok maybe just slow it down some. This baby is 5 months old today! WHAT!?

When did this happen? She is a food eating, getting ready to roll over big old baby. I snuggle her closer & kiss her a zillion times more just because I feel that precious time slipping through my fingers :( That sweet baby sweat smell after she has been laying on me long enough to work up that sweat...dang, i love that and it is something i am just not ready to loose yet. I mean, clearly, she is the smartest baby in the world. She knows when I walk into the room, she is lifting herself up to sit up. She is eating new food, she is doing more & more everyday and it breaks.my.heart.

J has been doing "ballet" this year. I wish I could type it like she says it "Bahhhhllllaaaa"I don't know if she will ever be on the stage for The Nutcracker, but she sure does have a mean plie. (J is the one in the middle)

Meanwhile...her brother who was SO thrilled to be at his sister dance social decided it would be fun to retrieve the balls from the pool table pockets. (The pool table was in the same room as the dance show) This lead to Wyatt's hand being stuck inside the pool table pocket. At first he was wiggling around, then I noticed a look of panic on his face. He then asked for help as we are quietly trying to not make a scene in the middle of the show & wiggle his hand free. That wasn't working and by this time he was getting pretty scared, he told me his hand was never going to come out. About 3-4 people had gathered at this point, again the dance social is going on, and one very nice woman went and got him a glass of water to settle him down a bit. By this time Todd was working pretty hard to figure out where his hand was stuck exactly & telling Wyatt which way to move it free. About 10 minutes later, and about 5 dances of the show, his hand/arm pop out. Bright red and pinched pretty good he was free, and sat quietly for the remainder of the show.
If you were ever curious to what the inside of a pool table looks like please refer to the pic below. Todd took this to try to figure out where he got his hand stuck and be able to tell him how to maneuver it out. What did we do before we had the iPhone!

Really...can I just not have a normal life. Something, everywhere we go. 

1 month later...

I apparently am not too good at this blog thing. I went back to work over a month ago and it has been that long since I have blogged!
My favorite time is running out, Mae is a little over 3 months now and although she is just the sweetest little thing ever, she is no longer a small little newborn. She is just a cute, little, big, baby!

my nights are consumed with her, it is my favorite part of the day, I take her in bed with me and just snuggle her sweet little self until she is fast asleep. I listen to her sweet, rapid breathing. Feel her little chest & back rise & fall. Smell her Johnson's baby self. Watch her stare at me until she drifts, drifts, drifts off to sleep.

I.LOVE.EVERY.SECOND.OF.IT.

MY boy turned 7 and he was so happy to have a lego birthday! He loves legos and watching him put them together is so fun. I love that he can follow the directions and will sit for hours putting them together. What I do not love is how I spent my night last Friday night, going through the whole pile of legos and sorting them all into their own individual bags according to which kit they came in. That took some serious time and I should have added wine into that chore!

I have so much more to post...but time is running out on this evening and I need to get snuggling up with my sweet baby. More to come!

My time as a Stay at Home Mom ends tomorrow, back to work first thing in the am. While I am happy to get back into a routine I am a wreck I have to part with this sweet little baby for the entire day.

She will be close by, waiting for me to come in and grab her for some snuggles throughout the day. I am thankful I have a job where I can see her as much as I like.

I have become a fan of Ellen during my stay at home mom time. She cracks me up! It is now set to record each day.

PreSchool

and she is off...her first day of pre school in a brand new classroom in a brand new building! I am shocked and amazed I cannot believe she is in preschool, I know she is ready I just didnt want to let her go. She keeps telling me 'Mom, PLEASE let me get bigger!' so off she goes to the new emerald room, with new teachers, new work everything she needs!

When I got home I was carrying Mae into the house and she looked right at me & gave me a HUGe smile as if saying 'Mom, this is what I have been waiting for for the past 8 week!'

so here I am in my 4 hours of solitude & Mae time, she is asleep and I feel like I have forgotten to put on a major piece of clothing without someone yelling, whining, or needing something from me. It is crazy that I miss them when they are away...but totally LoVE the time :)

I Scrapbooked!

it is amazing...2 whole layouts!

I love this one, it is Jesse but looks just like Mae. I guess I never realize it until I look at the past picture. The whole reason why I scrapbook.

This layout I have wanted to do for a long time. Tags from all the different clothes that the kids wear. This one I wanted to do because I am constantly finding these tags and the little plastic things that hold them on in the kids bedrooms. They rip the tags off and just throw them on the floor.

Working on binders now to hold all the school items that come home. Yes, I was trying to get them done prior to school starting but we will start with September.

(he really does LOVE her!)
School is back in session! This usually makes me sad each year. I do not like it when summer is winding down, days get shorter, nights get cool, kids back to bed early & up early. This year though...way different story...GOODbYE older two...have a great day!! ok so about 1pm I did start to miss them. I do not miss:

the name calling

the tattle telling

the door slamming

the junk everywhere

the crying

the hitting

the wet floors from the pool feet

the screaming

the capri sun wrappers all over the yard

but I was very happy for them to come home.

This girl is a third grader and I know she will do GrEAT!

This boy is a first grader and is very excited to buy lunch!

Rosa Parks here tried to sneek on the bus on the first day, she got up three stairs before she got kicked off.

but she went down kicking and screaming!

(here is her brother pushing her out of the bus line)

so my days are now dwindled down to 2, two small little people, and only one can talk but she talks enough for all four of them! Jeez...either she just started rambling on or I could never hear her before but GOOD LORD!

I need to write down all the funny things she tells me, todays funny thing was as we were driving listening to the new Muppets album she tells me randomly 'Mom, Mae likes this song' that is not to funny here in type, but when she said it to me it just cracked me up!

There has been lots going on :

Had a shower for Betsy

(listing to LO read Go the F to Sleep) GREAT BOOK!!

Try to keep this one busy

(village green with Fisher)

Hopie was here...I love this pic

(Hopie on the iPad, J on the iPhone)

and this one, I still just sit around an hold her