One of the most exhausting things in the world……having a conversation with a toddler. My child is obsessed with the trash man, trash truck and trash bin. The trash bins outside not the small trash cans in your house.š
I have no idea why. Thatās just his thing right now and he talks about them non stop. Every conversation, no matter what itās about, you can expect him to bring up something about a trash can or the trash man. If he hears a truck outside, he yells out ātrash truck!ā It could be just a regular, non commercial truck and he still yells it.
If you take him on a walk he will point out every single trash bin in the neighborhood. EVERY SINGLE ONE! What could be a 10 minute walk turns into 30-40 minutes because he has to stop so many times to point each one out. And heaven forbid the lid be left open on one or the front side not be facing out. He will let out a gasp as if something terrible just happened, point to the trash can and tell you the lid is open or itās not facing forward.
Iāll be honest, it was funny and adorable at first. But now itās a little tiring. I keep hoping every day something new will peak his interest and he will start talking about that every day. I need a break from hearing about the trash men, truck and bins! š³
Call me crazy but one of the hardest things Iāve done lately is say goodbye to our house. Yes we are building a beautiful new house and we will make so many more memories in that one. But that doesnāt make letting go of this one any easier.
Iāve never been more attached to somewhere Iāve lived except one house I had when I was younger. I lived there from age 2-13. That house was incredibly hard for me to leave. I still drive by it when I happen to be anywhere near the area. I just have so many amazing memories at that house. Iām sure the people who own it have seen my car and wonder why this weird woman randomly stops by once a year (sometimes twice) to stare at their house.
As for our current house……Was this our forever home? No. I always knew that. I didnāt love the inside layout. I knew weād outgrow it fast. But itās where we brought our babies home from the hospital. We watched them learn how to crawl, stand and walk in that house. We watched them grow so fast in the short time we lived in it. Thereās just so many memories in this house.
Before we left I did a few small things. Iām a sentimental person so I had to leave our mark before we left. Ryder loved our pond so much. So I took out one of the pond stones, wrote the boys names on it and placed it back in the water. Yes the water will eventually wear away at the writing, but weāll always know it was there. In one of the closets back in a corner hidden from the eye, I wrote the letter of all of our first names. I also put a heart for the pups. I didnāt have enough room to put their letters so they got a heart instead. Yes Iām aware if the new homeowner goes to paint the closet they will paint over the writing. But again, we will know it was always there.
Goodbye was not easy for this house. I honestly never realized how attached Iād gotten to it. Signing the papers over to the new sellers was literally like a knife in my heart. But the buyers have a child around Ryders age so I know he is going to love the house and yard as much as we did. The idea of another child loving it makes the let go a little easier. I hope they have as many wonderful, fun memories in that house as we did. š
Ever gone on a diet and felt achy during it? Sort of those body aches you get just before you actually get sick? Well, thatās not uncommon. So what causes it?……
When you eat unhealthy foods for a while, your body builds āimmunityā to these junk foods. Thatās why you donāt feel any major discomfort after having eaten them for weeks, months or years. Once you remove these foods from your diet, your body can actually go through withdrawals. Your body became addicted to these foods so itās a shock to it when you remove them. Symptoms can include body aches, anxiety, exhaustion, irritability, jitteriness, and tiredness.
A lot of people who get these symptoms while dieting feel like their diet isnāt working due to the symptoms they experience. What they fail to remember is that dieting isnāt easy at first. You have to get your body into a routine. They often feel this discomfort, get discouraged and immediately want to feel comfort. They remember how junk food was a comfort feeling for some of them, so they go right back to eating it.
Donāt get me wrong, I eat my fair share of junk food. However, I eat it in moderation. I may eat a burger and fries for dinner one night. But all my meals before that are healthy. I donāt do an entire day of eating terrible. If I do eat terrible one entire day, my body goes into a shock and I actually get an achy, tired and uncomfortable feel. Itās one I can actually feel in my muscles and stomach.
There is what I call the ādiet hump.ā For me itās always around week 3 or 4 of my diet. I start to feel achy and I get tired and discouraged. I think to myself how much I hate this feeling and I just want to lay on the sofa with a box of pizza and Chinese food. But once I push past those thoughts and a few days of the achy, tiredness passes, I feel better. Things get easier after that hump. My diet becomes more of a routine and easy to follow. I donāt crave unhealthy foods as much. My body actually feels stronger after.
Diet and weight loss is not easy. It honestly takes a lot more mental work than people realize. Itās not 100% physical when going on a diet. You have to keep yourself on track and not let what may be withdrawal symptoms, set you back if they come on. For me a lot of āself talkā is involved. I tell myself regularly āI can do this.ā Itās a lot of mental pushing. But itās worth it on the end. Especially to wake up feeling better every day. Having my stomach feel clear and not heavy and bloated. To not have my joints an muscles ache when I try to get up or sit down. With two kids under 3, I need all the strength and energy I can get from this body!
Iāve never been a morning person. I donāt like getting up early. Donāt get me wrong, I can! I have no problem waking up early, getting dressed, getting my kids ready and fed, etc. Getting up isnāt the problem. Itās that I donāt WANT to get up early. š
On the weekends, before kids, I slept in till 9am. During the week when I worked in marketing, I slept till 7am and was in the office around 8/8:30am. I changed jobs, became a teacher and I somehow got the āluckyā school that started classes at 7:30am. So I had to be to school around 6:15am. That meant a 5am wake up, because it wasnāt a close drive like my previous job. š³
I think god was preparing me for children of my own when he brought me the early morning teaching job. Because I now have children who get up between 5-6am ready to play! Iām still not a morning person, and I would love to be able to sleep in every once in a while. But I wouldnāt trade it for a minute with my little ones. I love getting up and starting my morning playing with them. š
Howās potty training going in our house? Well my toddler prefers to poop in the yard like the dogs instead of going in the toilet like a big boy. So Iād say itās going well. We are just taking a small detour. š
My kid does things on his own time. He walked one month after crawling. He woke up one morning and started talking. He literally had me so worried he wasnāt going to talk. He got to 2 1/2 and still wasnāt talking. Then out of the blue he just decided ok todayās the day Iāll start talking and it hasnāt stopped!
So no Iām not pushing the potty training. Iām letting him do things on his own time. Would I like him to be potty trained right now? Absolutely! Diapers arenāt cheap. But often times when you try to force a kid to do something they wonāt or actually take steps in the opposite direction. So Iām just letting him tell me when heās ready. We encourage it and talk about it, but never force it.
Iām not exactly sure why he wants to poop in the yard. It is a little odd, Iāll admit that. But he does love his dog. And maybe heās just intrigued by the fact that she does it outside. I donāt know. Iām just trying to laugh it off for now. Because one day when heās older, and potty trained, itāll be a great story to tell!
Its starting to look like a house! They have started framing out the second floor! Itās so cool to walk through each room and be able to see room size, windows, etc.
While walking through the house we have actually had some new ideas hit us. We have a few changes we want to make and are keeping our fingers crossed the builder says theyāre still doable.
Thereās nothing but a slab and framing up, but the house looks so beautiful to me! I love how quiet it is out there. No one can build behind us so at night when in the backyard you just hear the crickets and frogs. Itās so peaceful.
Itās going to be really hard to be patient with this build. I want to move in now!!
Living with mom after 30….. Ok itās not exactly as sad and pitiful as it sounds. š We are building a house. In order to get our old house ready and on the market, we moved out of it.
We are redoing the kitchen floors and refinishing the downstairs hardwoods since the dogs nails destroyed them. We would have to be out for a week while all this got done, so we just moved into my moms house. Rather than move back and have to gather up both kids and two large dogs every time someone wanted to come view the house, we figured staying at my moms during the selling process was just easier. The idea of having to scramble to clean up a million toys and the mass amounts of dog hair before someone comes to see the house (possible multiple times a day) just gives me anxiety. Not to mention, with all this Coronavirus stuff still flying around, I donāt want to have to disinfect everything each time after someone views it.
So yup, Iām living with my mom after 30! But not in a sad and pitiful way! š Do say a prayer that we donāt drive her crazy before the house is built. The boys and I are a lot to handle. Their toys alone have pretty much swallowed up every bit of free space the house had.š¤·š¼āāļø
I started my āsummer slim down.ā This year I have a good friend helping hold me accountable. Iām a week in and Iāve done pretty good! Iām someone who does better with a goal. Iām less likely to cheat on a diet or get lazy with workouts if I set a goal to work towards. I think itās the competitive side of me that kicks in. I donāt like to lose. Plus, having a friend give me that little push tends to help.
Iām not doing an extreme diet or anything. Iām simply cutting out a few items that I regularly grab while grazing or boredom eating. So less cheese, less milk (I drink a crazy amount), less sugar, less carbs and less alcohol. I still consume a good amount of carbs. I need them to fuel my body. But Iām aiming to add in more complex carbs and reduce my simple carb intake.
The word diet doesnāt mean youāre going on some strict meal plan. A diet by definition is āthe kinds of foods that a person habitually eats.ā So Iām making little adjustments to my regular eating habits.
My overall goal is less snacking. Iām someone who goes to the fridge to eat just because Iām bored. So Iāll grab a snack when Iām not even hungry. Iām attempting to cut out these extra unnecessary snacks/meals.
My father-in-law gave me the biggest compliment the other day. He said my kids were the most well behaved kids heās ever met. This might not seem like a big deal to most people, but I took it as a major compliment!
I work very hard to help my kids learn to be respectful and kind even at a young age. Donāt get me wrong, we arenāt without our temper tantrums and meltdowns. But those I donāt consider to be completely behavioral. Theyāre typically related to communication struggles and frustrations in understanding their own emotions. So I consider meltdowns and temper tantrums to be more learning and developmental related vs behavioral. Not to mention, they are starting to become few and far between. A majority of ours were due to my toddlers lack of communication since he was struggling with words. Now that heās gotten more words, heās less frustrated and able to voice what he needs. So we saw a significant drop in temper tantrums and meltdowns.
Iāve also worked really hard to change my mindset. I used to get so frustrated with my toddler when he would have a meltdown or temper tantrum. After I learned they were mainly due to his frustration in not being able to communicate, I was able to change my thinking and my actions. When he has a meltdown, I try really hard to talk to him softly, hug him or sometimes just let him be. Sometimes he needs a hug and other times he just needs his space. Same as adults!
Meltdowns and temper tantrums aside, my kids really are pretty well behaved! They listen well (most of the time.) They are good with following directions and doing whatās asked of them. My oldest loves to please people. If you ask him to do something and he does it, he gets so proud of himself. Sometimes I have him do goofy little tasks for me just because I know it makes him so happy and proud to help mommy.
By no means am I saying my kids are better than anyone elseās. Iām just saying how proud I am of them and how I appreciate someone pointing out how well behaved they are. It makes me feel like Iām doing something right and navigating this parenting stuff successfully!
When it comes to workouts, Iām a āsupersetā person. A superset is when you perform two exercises back to back with no rest in between exercises. š¤
I donāt like to do the same exercise movement and rest in between. Iām someone who has to keep moving in the gym. I donāt like down time. So supersets work well for me. I typically do 4-5 supersets which is a total of 8-10 exercises. I do anywhere from 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps depending on the exercise and the weight. šļøāāļø
Obviously this type of workout doesnāt work well for everyone but itās been great for me. Itās helped keep me from getting bored at the gym. I also donāt have time to piddle around and waste time. šŖš»
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