Sunday, June 16, 2013

Rob

One person that doesn't get a lot of mention on here is my hubbers. I think he kind of prefers that. He's thought about adding to the blog before, but really only feels like he has something to blog about when he needs to rant on something and then he doesn't want to be a ranter. Is that a word? His biggest rant, worthy of bloggerland discussion, was the Easter jelly bean problem in the past few years. Jelly Belly is out, store brand and Starburst had taken over and he was TICKED! It really is the important things.

I'd like to talk about him for a sec. Because its Father's Day and he needs a spotlight. Rob was a dad when I met him. He had a Pomeranian mix that thought he was human and Rob was the best dog dad I've ever known. He and Curt were an awesome team. When Rob came over to my house for dinner, so did Curt. When we went on a trip, so did Curt. That dog, to this day, took up a major part of Rob's heart. When we lost Curt, it hurt worse than I ever expected it to. I know it hit Rob far worse. Curt will always always always be in his heart.


Rob had daddy duties far before most dads. At 7 months pregnant, I started having contractions and was put on bedrest for two months. Coming home to a wife that has, literally, been laying on the couch ALL DAY and has not talked to anyone and is depressed, isn't fun. I know it isn't. He did it for 2 months straight.
One day I asked him to bring me some M&Ms, meaning a small package of them. He returned with a 5lb bag. He dealt with 5 trips to the hospital, some of which kept us there all night on the monitors and sent us home at 7am, just in time for Rob to take a shower and go back to work. He brought me magazines, books, family, and food. He cleaned the house, played board games with me, brought me a lap top, rented movies, rubbed my feet, provided a stop watch for contractions, did whatever I needed.
One of the hardest experiences of our lives was the day Rylan was rushed in an ambulance to the hospital when he was 8 months old. It was hard. I was blessed to have this man by my side. I was still hormonal, and blaming myself for letting Ry get that sick. He was my shoulder and more during that time. When I started getting sick, and they moved in a sketchy family with us to share the room, he gladly offered to stay nights with Rylan and asked my parents to take me home so I would sleep. 
Life got better with our sweet baby. 
Ry was seriously a happy kid and Rob's total twin. Just when life had settled down we decided to spice it up a bit............
22 months into parenthood, we had Max, another happy baby prone to respiratory funkiness. He came with lots of goos and smiles and reflux.

He just happens to share a love for the same team as his daddy
We Wuv our Wob(Daddy) so much. The kids literally shriek with joy when he pulls in the driveway in the evening. I'm glad he's been my parenting pal these 8 years.

Memory lane....Quallsy style
Poor Curt. You can see how ticked he is



Clones












It has sometimes been hard. It has been joyful many more times. I have had a best friend through all of it.

Monday, June 10, 2013

I love my children. Say it, rinse, and repeat.


Y'all know I love my kids like a fat kid loves cake, right? That I pretty much don't remember what life was like without them. That I pretty much devoted an entire blog to talking about the goings on of our household and 9 times out of 10, the goings on are about my kids? Just felt like I needed to preface this post with how much I love these two children.


ZOMG THEY ARE MAKING ME CUH CUH CUH-RAZY!!!!!
This little munchkin lifted my dress up in the middle of church yesterday, exposing the back half of the church to my dimply, ugly butt and old, ugly gray cotton unders.

-Have I mentioned that we go to casual service and I usually wear khaki pants, capris or sometimes even jeans, but yesterday had gotten up and ran and was feeling slightly sassy and a tiny bit thinner and wanted to put on a nice dress?

-Have I mentioned we are going to a new church and a lot of people are just getting to know us?

-Have I mentioned that we usually sit in the back and this one time we let Ry pick the chair and he sat way, way way further up in church, allowing more people to get the awesome show.



This little munchkin has decided that he doesn't want to go to bed. Bedtime is equivalent to "hey Sara, do you want to be pregnant again?" in my brain. The pure thought of putting him to bed makes me cringe and remember all of the pain of the past.  He doesn't want to sleep in his bed anymore. We've made him a nice pallet on the floor, but he has to get up about eleventy hundred times to ask for water, food, a different place to sleep. He suddenly wants to cuddle. He needs to be read a book. He is really really hungry. (sidenote: we offer him cuddles, food, books ALL.DAY.LONG). We have a safety knob on his door that makes it to where he can't open his door from the inside. If shit really hits the fan, we close his door and let him scream. If its an extra special night, he gets out of his room anyway, and comes and hands us the dismantled safety knob. Kid is MacGyver. 

If, by chance he goes immediately to sleep, like he did last night, because he was soooo tired from no nap and playing in the sprinkler all day, we are treated to a midnight showing, and hours (yes I said and meant hours) of needs. Water. Food. A different place to lay. A cuddle. A book. He is really really really hungry.

I keep reminding myself that when Rylan went through these antics, we had a small baby and I was still nursing and recovering from Death Fever (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever). We can do this. We can do this. We can do this.



Thursday, June 6, 2013

Workout Wednesday (on a Thursday)

Its week 6 of my Couch to 5k. This, my friends, is officially longer than I have ever stuck with the C25K. I swears. I look forward to being the kind of girl that does not give up, cause I've kind of always been a giver upper. At least when it came to diet and exercise.

Todays workout:
5 minute warmup (around 3.7 mph)
5 minute jog
3 minute walk
8 minute jog
3 minute walk
5 minute jog
5 minute cool down (around 3.5 mph)

After doing the fat girl bounce walk/run, I come home and get Lola a do the cool down with her, just to feel like a good Dog Mom for 5 minutes.
When I came home, both kids were still asleep, which is the second miracle, the first being that I got up and worked out at 5:30 on a non-work day. So, I had the most blessed weights session while I watched Extreme Weight Loss on the DVR. Non animated TV? I'll work my A$$ off for that!!!






What's this, you might ask? When I do weights and such, I often get lost in the numbers. I'm often fixing bowls of cereal and sippee cups or talking to Rob before he leaves, in between sets and I forget what I've done and what I have left to do. I know doing SOMETHING is better than doing NOTHING, but I want to hold myself accountable and SEE PROGRESS. So I starting putting a mark for every set I do. 15 bicep curls gets a tick. 15 situps gets a tick. 30 second plank gets a tick. yada yada yada. Somedays I do more arms and less legs. Somedays I forget to work my abs altogether. Some days my legs cry for mercy.  My goal is to have one more mark than the day before. Today I had 23 marks. That means I did 345 of SOMETHING. The number 23 cannot be divided by 3, so obviously I failed to do 3 sets of every exercise, but oh well. I failed to do any sets of any exercises for way too long, I'll take 23. I feel like I did a good mix of squats, lunges, planks, situps, and arm exercices. I badly need to up my weights. If possible, I do both 5lb weights in the same hand, but nobody wants to drop a weight on their head, so sometimes its just safer to stick with one.

So.....anytime my body wants to catch up with my endurance and lessen that waistline and BONUS the number on the scale....I'd appreciate it!!!!


Wednesday, June 5, 2013

The $5 challenge

Truth be told: I don't like the size I am in at the moment. Based on the brand/store, I wear a 14 or a 16. I am actively trying to eat better/workout more to reduce my size. Those two things put together make me want to spend zip zero zilch on new clothes for myself. Because of this, I find myself buying crap at Walmart that is thin and ill made and doesn't really look great on me just so I don't have to spend too much on myself. Well, I had a work function that required dress up clothes. It was unseasonably cool that evening and I needed pants. I had no dressy pants. None. I thought I had one pitiful pair but I could not find them. I ended up wearing a skirt with no pantyhose in freezing cold weather. And I didn't really like the skirt either.

One day, I'm trying on another crappy pair of pants at a cheap store and I have an epiphany. The $5 challenge. One thing people that lose shit tons of weight love and hate is that they have to constantly buy new clothes and it gets expensive. So, as I'm trying to lose weight, and losing weight, and losing more weight, I am going to go to thrift/second hand/consignment stores and buy something for $5 or less. It can be anything from jeans to a belt, to shoes, to jewelry, to a shirt, to a scarf. Anything. 

WEEK 1-Civitan Shop Bryant, AR
A.N.A. shirt-$3
Don't mind the awkward angle or the bright light above me. Ever since I let Rylan take my post workout pic a few weeks ago, he's declared himself my official photographer. This shirt is cute on its own, but a tad busy for my usual black tshirt wearing self, but with a little cardi over it, its adorable.

Week #2 Goodwill Store, Mountain Home, AR
Wedges-New York and Co
$4

Week #3 Savers, North Little Rock, AR
Earrings-$2
Necklace-$2
I guess I kind of cheated and got two things, but they were a set and should have been sold as such, in my cheap opinion!!!!!!!

So, for $11, I have a shirt, shoes and jewelry and I love them all and actually wear them. And get this? The first two? Name brands. Not shotty main cheap stuff. Sometimes its hard to find something, sometimes I get disgusted because I STILL HAVEN'T LOST INCHES and I'd really like some shorts or capris, but I persevere and always find something. And its me time. Everyone needs some me time. This is mine. 

I love this challenge to myself. It keeps me hopeful and excited about the times that I have and will find amazing deals and nice clothes in a room of junk. It feels like a scavenger hunt. And, let's be honest, fat girls hate dressing rooms. We do. We'd rather have no clothes than risk clothes being too tight. This challenge keeps me honest with myself. If I'm not looking at sizes and realizing certain sizes are too small, I can con my brain into believing I'm doing okay. Not fitting in clothes, or better yet FITTING in them, keeps me aware of my progress and my need for further progress.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Summa Summa Summatime

I love this time of year. When it finally gets warm enough for sandals and shorts every day, but before it gets so blistering hot that even your knees sweat by 8am. The boys and I have been loving being outside. They really love the pool and haven't seen a need to frolic in a sprinkler like they loved last year. Until yesterday, when I got out this little. Its really supposed to mist and cool you off while you work outside, but with a 4 and 2 year old, it is obviously a toy. 
 What the what MOM?
(please disregard that I put my eldest in a too small outfit and my youngest in a too big one)
I kinda like it

This could be fun

It feels so good when it hits your face

Let's do this

No shirt? No problem!!!!!

See Max run

He's such a sad child

This is his silly face

Figured the blog needed a few pics of these cutie patooties.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Oh Wheat. We miss you.

I posted a couple weeks ago that Max is doing some dietary changes to see if taking foods out affect his reflux. He's been off dairy for over a year and we've got that down. I have a lot of people that help me find coupons for the kind of milk they can drink and he's never really known life with pudding and ice cream and such, so its not as hard.

Baby boy likes wheat. We went to a birthday party tonight and I had to keep him from getting a cupcake and it almost broke my heart as much as it did his. We'd planned ahead and brought him some marshmallow sticks and let him have some spoonfuls of frosting, but he was still sad.

He'd really like a Nutra Grain bar. And some Golden Grahams.

I'm trying to eat clean for weight loss and just my overall well being, so I had already started cooking healthier and planning meals that didn't have as much processed STUFF, was going light on the flour/sugar and dairy, so dinner has been easy. Breakfast, lunch and snacks are a different story. The boys LOVE to eat Eggo waffles on the way to school on my workdays and "bars" are a favorite snack. My gluten free correspondent, Michelle, has been uber helpful to give me names of the most palatable gluten free breads and such and I've just had to rearrange my thought process when I plan meals and snacks. Lots of applesauce, nuts, cuties, oatmeal, and dried fruit go down the toddler pieholes.  One night I had to make 4 versions of the same meal. The base was patty melts. Rylans was dairy free (on a bun, no cheese), Rob's was regular (bun, cheese), Max's was dairy free on gluten free bread (no cheese, Udi's bread) and mine was sans bun and cheese on a bed of sweet onions. We're making it work.

I'd like a glass of wine or 10.

In case you are wondering what $35 buys in gluten and dairy free products, I have a photo to show.
1. Beanito chips (these are weirdly delicious)
2. Van's waffles ($4 for 6 wittle waffles)
3. GF English muffins
4. GF soy sauce
5. GF bread
6. Quinoa pasta
7. Dairy free chocolate chips

Not much. We love that little squeaky voiced cutie though, so its worth it.

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Memorial Day

This is a week late, but oh well. We had so much fun in Fayetteville last weekend. We saw my two sisters (and family), Rob's niece Devin, and our much loved close friends Justin and Debbie and Drew and Becca. I have missed all these people so much. It was a busy weekend, full of children that don't sleep well out of their own bedrooms and such, but it was a great weekend.

First off, my kids need a trampoline. I need trampoline injuries, like I need a hole in my head, but seriously, there was jumping, and more jumping, and more jumping, and SO. MANY. SMILES.
Zoe
Look at that smile on Rylan, this is his happy place. Trampoline and cousins, the perfect mix.

And this is Rob's happy place. A shaded area and a child that stayed still for 5 minutes.

This is the best I could do getting a group shot. The big kids playing. Next to Rob is Becca, a friend that Debbie and I met in the dorm at college and she's holding Henry. Henry gives Max a run for his money, that's fo sho. He is fast. Not pictured is Becca's very nice and funny husband Drew. Drew and I have trash TV in common. He once had Becca text me to remind me that Teen Mom's new season was starting. I love friends like that. Always watching out for you!
Justin and Debbie are on the end. They love all our kids like they are their own. Debbie and Justin's love story almost matches Rob and I's so much its a little weird. We all went to high school together. Debbie and I were friends. Justin and I were friends. Justin and Rob were friends. None of us hung out together at the same time. Debbie and I went on to room together in college for 5 years (we were thiiiiiis close to being common law). After college, we took a trip to Fayettville to see friends and I called Justin to come to meet up with us and tah dah!!! Wuv. Twoo Wuv.   Then Debbie and I were at a bar one night and the singer said his name and Debbie realized he was from our high school and went to say hi. Rob happened to be there with this high school friend/singer and there began our love story. I probably wouldn't have even gone over to talk to them if Debbie hadn't said hi. So Debbie and I accidently manufactured each other's marriages. I did the math and I've known Debbie since I was 12 and Justin since I was 15. Thats almost 20 years a piece. We. Got. Old.

Something magical happened that night. We got a family picture were we are all looking at the camera and smiling. We happen to be riding a rhinoceros, but you get what you get, and you don't have a fit


After 3 days of non stop action, we got home and by 6:30pm, we all looked like this.

Actually, we found Max, butt naked sprawled out asleep on the floor of his room next to his bed. That, my friends is the sign of 1. a good weekend. 2. weirdness