My My, how time flies

Does anybody else feel like they just graduated high school, like, two years ago?
  Very often I feel like I'm still a teenager. Not in the irresponsible, immature way, but in the young way, you know? If that doesn't make any sense, then clearly, you don't know.
I say this because as of yesterday, I am 24 years old. Still early 20's, but a year older than I was. I'm not upset about it. That will most likely come later, around my 29th birthday or so. It's just, I don't know, surreal, I guess. 24 years old, married with 2 kids, I'm living my dream!
 
 Speaking of birthdays, mine was awesome! On Saturday, Stephan and I left our young'uns with Bebe and Papa and we went on a super fun date. I tell you what, friends, it was almost like we were dating again. Dinner was full of laughing and talking, just like when Stephan and I first met and were in that infatuation stage that kicks off every good romance. After eating delicious food, Stephan took me to look at wedding bands! (long story short- I never got one, so since this year is our 5-year anniversary, Stephan's buying me one!) We topped off the night with frozen yogurt from Toppings. (*Warning!* putting skittles on frozen yogurt is a bad idea and a hazard! It's like biting into tiny jawbreakers.)
  Then on Sunday, my actual day of birth, Stephan took me to see Beauty and the Beast in 3d, where we snuck in Whataburger for lunch. That night, we enjoyed a yummy home-cooked meal by my momma and ate cake. It was a good weekend, friends!
  Oh yeah, I got some gifts.

   Stephan bought me some beautiful flowers.

 Mommy got me a new scentsy with a lovely new fragrance to go with.

 and the Tracys got me this!! It's the greatest movie musical of  all time. If you claim you love musicals, and you have not seen/ do not like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, then you are a liar, and the truth is not in you. My sister surprised me by driving in for my birthday, so today, if she's not sickly, she's going to come over and we are watching this bad boy!
  I composed this whole post one-handed. Be impressed!

Cabin Fever!

 Click here to catch a glimpse of how I feel.

Fellow stay at home mothers, you can probably sympathize.
This past week, for some reason or another, I have felt more and more stir-crazy. Now don't misjudge me, please; I love my house and my boys and my husband and I thank God that I get to stay at home with my brood and nurture them as their primary care giver. It's just that, with the weather alternating between warm and wonderful and cold and dismal, along with my wishy-washy hormones throwing tantrums in my system, I have felt more cooped up than usual. As a result of that, I'm more irritable than usual. Also as a result of spending most of our days indoors, Noah has been more...hmmm, how to say this rightly,... underfoot than usual? It could be that I'm being hyper-sensitive, but it does seem like Noah is trying to push my buttons sometimes.
  The great news is that Witten has started to fall nicely into the eat-play-sleep cycle that I've been gently encouraging. Though I have been more lax on enforcing the Baby Wise method on Witten than I was with Noah, I am definitely still sticking to it. And so far, it's working great! Witten probably would sleep trough the night from his 10:00 p.m. feeding til his 7:00 am feeding if I let him. Just to be safe, though, I'm still waking him around 3 in the morning to ensure he doesn't go longer than 5 hours without eating. (Dr.'s orders). That probably wont last much longer, though. Those super early morning feedings are getting harder and harder. Besides that, Witten is eating every three hours throughout the day and he is becoming more and more alert as the days go by. Once again, I watch and cheer as he shows signs of growing, yet I am already saddened by it, too. Sure, no one ever said that motherhood would be easy, but they never told me it would often be sad!
   Now, friends, in an effort to cheer myself up, I'm going to get dress and maybe do my hair and put on makeup. Tonight, in honor of my birthday tomorrow, my hunky hubby is treating me to a romantic date (YAY!) for which I get to dress up and look pretty! Not only that, but my momma's gonna do my hair all fancy this afternoon. Hurry on by, morning, so that I can enjoy my afternoon!
   God bless you, dear readers. He is good indeed!

Runny Noses and Roast beef

Today, I am making French dip sandwiches. last time I made them, they turned out pretty nice. I'm hoping for a repeat.
  Noah and Witten both still have runny noses. I'm not complaining, I'm just stating facts. We have had two great nights in a row in which Noah slept straight through, per usual, and Witten woke up to eat then went right back to sleep. Hence, why I am not complaining. A strange things has been going on lately. For the past three or so mornings, Noah has woken up crying as though in a panic or in pain. He calms down once snuggled or fed, but it's still concerns me.
  Now, some pictures:

Noah sitting at the table in his booster seat like a big boy

cousin Julia meets Witten.

Cousin Ashton meets Witten

And a video for your enjoyment. I give you: Noah getting tickled

Sweat is gross

So, the part of my plan to jog my way to health that I knew would happen and that I was dreading has happened. I now remember why I hate jogging folks: it's because I hate jogging. There is no reason beyond that. I wish I eagerly looked forward to me, my running shoes and the road, but honestly, I have to pray myself up to the task now. (Praying works better than trying to talk myself into it, I have found.)
  Sadly, though part of me is wildly overjoyed (the lazy part of me), I have been advised by my doctor to hold off on jogging and abdominal exercises until my 6 week check up. She said go walking and do keigels. Kiegles? Keigles? Apparently, I and my computer don't know how to spell that. Anyways, I shall now be walking briskly in attempt to train up to a 10k in less than 10 weeks. That is a little bit worrisome for me. Oh well, I'll live.

   Anywho, I have to shower. The tricky part is, finding a time that I can take a shower without leaving one or both boys unattended. Good news, though! Stephan fixed the fridge. Now we don't have to buy a new one! Gosh, that guy is handy.

    Peace and joy to you, my brethren.

When the going gets tough

Friends, I see that more often than not, my blog updates are brief descriptions of how my life is blessed, good, sweet, and rosy. For those of you who don't actually know me, you might think that my life is nothing but sunshine and daisies, no matter what situation I'm in. Well, folks, today I'll share a secret with you: I am human.

 *gasp!*

No, seriously, I am not perfect and neither is my life. I am not being deceptive, though, when I update my blog with good news and happy tidings, because I am truly blessed. I can honestly say that, even if my life was a wreck, because of God's love for me and my salvation through the gift of His Son, I am blessed, blessed, blessed! And because my God who loves me has been so good to me, my husband, and our family, I gladly report of His work in our lives in order to give Him glory.

     But friends, I am so far from perfect. Aside from the serious things like my sinful human nature that I have to battle daily, I am one lazy, undisciplined bump when it comes to caring for my person. And by "person", I mean health. I'm as vain as the next chic when it comes to looks. I will spend hours making sure my hair and makeup are as close to flawless as possible. But when it comes to fitness, I have long considered it a pipe dream that would be a wonderful, yet impossible achievement for me. There has been one time in my life when I felt close to what I think being in shape feels like. My fitness buddy Aubrey and I worked hard to look our best for the beach a few years back. And then I got pregnant and lost that. Then I got pregnant again, and my goal weight scooted even farther down the scale from where I stand. 

  I tell you all this, readers, not to coerce pity from you, but to share a side of me that I don't brag about on my blog. Yesterday, Aubrey and I went jogging. It was day one of week two of our "couch to 10k" fitness plan, and I was stoked. Not only did I have new shoes, (thanks mom and Melissa), but the weather was warm and I had already completed one week of jogging/walking a mile, so I was certain that two miles would be completely do-able, if not easy. Sad to say, I was wrong. After a 5-minutes warm up walk and three laps of jogging around the track, even with a walking break included in the exercise, I almost threw up, called it quits and went home early, leaving my devoted accountability buddy to finish the jog by herself. I could start listing reason why I wasn't able to finish; The wind was blowing against me, I gave birth three weeks ago, I have a sore throat and I think I'm coming down with something, and so on, but even to my own ears, those sound like excuses. 

    As I told Noah yesterday after returning from my failed run, yesterday was a bad day for Mommy. Besides my miserable jogging experience, Witten was having terrible gas pains (which I have deduced stemmed from my consumption of super cheesy soup the night before) and was being uncommonly fussy, and Noah was also showing signs of an oncoming cold. Add those factors to my feelings of discouragement and disappointment in myself, and I was one glum mom. Those feelings led me to crave cookie dough, a sappy movie, and a warm blanket. I was even nursing the fledgling idea to throw in the towel on the whole thing. If I can't complete two miles, how on earth am I going to do six? 

 I prayed yesterday. The Bible says I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. While I do not doubt that, after failures like yesterday, it's hard for me to believe it. But I'm not going to give up. Today, I'm gonna lace up my new running shoes and try again. Tomorrow, even if I fail again today, I'll do it all again. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right? God help me, I really want to be healthy. I have children to live for. I have a husband to look good for. I have a goal to reach. Lord, help my claim Your promises. Give me strength, give me perseverance, give me endurance. Please help me, 'cause, as usual, I am helpless without You. 

    And that, friends, is a candid peek into the imperfect side of life that I often choose not to blog about. You're welcome.    

update

I have kinda jogged a mile every day this past week. Monday through Friday, I and my accountability partner/bestest friend Aubrey, jogged/walked a mile on three different tracks. I realize that this may not be that big of a deal to all you healthy folks out there who run miles regularly, but to a cardio-hater such as myself, I see this as a fantastic beginning to a glorious path to healthiness and skinniness.
  Meanwhile, back at the house:

 If you keep an energetic toddler cooped up too long, they start doing weird things. Things like yoga poses under the dinning room table, or climbing on things that they have never climbed onto before. That is another reason why I'm glad I've committed to this fitness regiment I am doing: it gives me reason to get Noah out of the house to hopefully burn of some energy. I love my little nutter-butter.
    This next picture contains the three things I love most (that can be captured on camera).    

 That right there is my handsome husband and his two mini-me's. (I tell people that maybe someday I'll get to give birth to a child that looks at least a little bit like me). I'm glad to report that Noah has started to show signs of being completely adjusted to having a new baby in the house. His naps and bed time have returned to normal, meaning he gets in bed and goes to sleep without trying to come out of his room time after time, much to the annoyance of his parents; and his attitude towards his brother is so loving and full of concern that our only problem now is making sure he doesn't harm Witten in his efforts to snuggle him.
   Well, friends, I fear that I've boasted too much. I know I should be bragging on nothing but my weakness, as Paul said, especially since everything I have is a blessed gift from God and not at all the result of my doing. Therefore, I shall continue to give mad props where it is due: to my heavenly Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank You, God, for all of it.
    Weekend!

how to wear out your toddler

 Step 1:
Initiate interaction with playful banter.

 Step 2:
Child will probably counter-act with feigned sleepiness. The proper response: enjoy a brief moment of snuggles.

 Step 3:
Making faces is a good way to entertain.

 Step 4:
 If all else fails, tickling will result in joyful laughter and plenty of squirming and wiggling. This will tire the child to a point of exhaustion, should you stick with the tickling long enough.

Step 5:
Congratulation! You have successfully worn out your child. Now finish browsing facebook in peace.

And Witten's all like, "Yeah, Whatever"