The Challenge

So the gauntlet has been thrown. By whom you might ask? My hubby, that's who. I think he was tired of hearing me whine about my lack of slenderness or lack of being in shape. Whatever the case, he has challenged me to a dual. So here it is:

He says that he can get 6-pack abs BEFORE I can lose the weight I gained from the baby.

I think he knows that I am an extremely competitive person. (I think that comes from being the youngest of 7 kids.) I am most competitive when it comes to my husband and he knows that. So I'm not sure if he is really just tired of hearing me whine or he knows me so well that I need a challenge to excerise or he just wants me to lose weight. Whichever it is, it is working!

The thing is is that I only gained about 10lbs with Amelia and I only have about 3lbs to lose to get back to the weight I was before I was pregnant. So that shouldn't be too hard. It's the fact that I was NOT the weight I WANTED to be when I got pregnant so I am trying to lose more. I want to lose 13-15lbs and I am shooting for a flat stomach. So, here are the starting weight and measurements:

I wieghed and measured myself yesterday and I was 153 1/2lbs and my waist was 33in. BUT my FAT, aka "Love handles", around my stomach was 35 1/2in.

Can I do it? We shall see. I started a couple of days ago and I did a bunch of sit-ups and push-ups.(I would set a timer for 10 minutes and when it went off I would do 10 sit-ups or crunches and try to do at least 10 push-ups. Woosie, I know.) Then I went for a run/walk with the dog for about a mile. Yesterday I did about the same, but I went for a walk with the dog in the afternoon. And last night I played basketball with a bunch of ladies from 8:30-10:30. I am feeling the after affects of that decision today. OUCH! It was a really good cardio workout though. We have some girls that are still in highschool that play also that make us "old" and out-of-shape ladies RUN. Did I mention I'm in a little bit of pain?!? My body is screaming at me, "WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME?"

So wish me luck! Hopefully it will start getting better before it gets worse....... hopefully........

A shout out to all my friends in SLC...... we are coming down there TODAY!! We won't be there till LATE tonight since we are leaving when Joey gets off work and we will be leaving Sunday afternoon sometime. We might just pop in at church to say hi, so if we don't see ya I think we are planning a trip down there Easter weekend also. I'm excited!!

Pet peeves and pictures

So THIS is just one thing that really BUGS me!

Do you see what it is? It's not the HUGE pile of dishes that I have to wash or that I have to wash them. Have another guess? Maybe this picture will help........

Do you see the difference? Yes, the amount of the dishes is the same. Notice it yet? If you guessed that ALL the dishes are NOT piled in the SINK, then you win!! (What do you win? An imaginary gold star stuck to your forehead.) It drives me crazy that the dishes get piled up in the sink!! Yes they are dirty and yes they need to be washed, but how am I supposed to fill the sink with water if all the dishes are in it? Or how I am supposed to wash off Elias' tray for his highchair without getting water all over the floor and myself? RINSE YOUR DISHES AND PUT THEM ON THE COUNTER!! I am guilty of putting a dish in the sink every once and a while and since I tell Noah to put his dishes in the sink when he's done I know that there might be some in there occasionally. And since Elias can't reach the sink very well (without the assistance of a chair), can you guess who the culprit might be? I will stop now and just leave it at that........

So on a more upbeat note, here are some fun pictures of my beautiful kiddos.......

Here is a picture of Noah reading to Elias when Elias was only a few months old. I love this picture!!

Now here they are just a few days ago. Noah is 4 and Elias is 2. Noah still likes to read to his little brother.

I just took this one tonight. I set Amelia on the chair because she hates to lay down and I had to pick up the living room really quick. I guess Jack, our dog, wanted to sit with her. I think he is a little jealous of all the attention Amelia gets that he used to get. Silly dog!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Now I understand that it is hard for some kids to say certain words. There are times that I have to really rack my brain to try and figure out what my kids are saying. Like when Noah was little it took me forever to realize what he meant when he asked if he could have "geenaw". I will give you a minute to see if you can figure it out............... if you guessed 'candy' then you figured it out alot faster then I did.

Well this has been a recent occurance since Amelia was born. Both Elias and Noah have had a hard time pronouncing her name. Noah really has to annunciate her first name, 'A-mill-ee-a' or sometimes he leaves out the first letter, 'Mill-ee-a'. He pronounces every syllable. Elias slurs her first name together, 'millia'.

The fun part has been listening to them try to pronounce her middle name, 'Naomi'. Noah, when asked what his sister's name is will respond with, "A-mill-ee-a Wyoming". Yes, I said WYOMING! We then tell him her name is not 'Amelia Wyoming', but 'Na-o-mi'. He can say it if he really concentrates, but most of the time it comes out as Wyoming.

Now Elias pronounces it even funnier! The other day at church a sister that was sitting behind us held Amelia during sacrament meeting. Joey was holding Elias and trying to occupy him by asking him him where his eyes were and were mommy was, etc. When he got to asking him where Amelia was Elias leaned over the back of the pew, pointed at her and said, "Millia My Homie right dhere!". Now, as most of you know, children under the age of about 6 tend to not be able to talk in a quiet voice, especially at church. To add to it, he kept saying it over and over again! "Millia My Homie, Millia My Homie, Millia MY HOmie". Yes, he did emphasize the 'O' in homie. The sister holding Amelia just started giggling. Along with most of the congregation. She leaned forward and whispered, "What is he saying?". I whispered back (trying not to laugh out loud), "He is saying his sister's name. Amelia Naomi". She got a kick out of that! What's funny to me was the look on Elias' face. He was so proud that he thought he was saying her name correctly that he was beaming! Too fun!

Accident Prone

So I have decided that my kids are a lot like me. Unfortunatly that means they are a little bit accident prone. When I was 2 I hit my face somehow and my tooth went through my bottom lip. When I was 4 I fell out of a plum tree and broke my wrist. When I was 6 or 7 I was jumping off stairs and broke my foot. When I was 8 my brother hit me in the head with a bat (on accident) while playing baseball. I got 12 stitches. When I was 11 I fell out of a truck, going about 45MPH, wearing nothing but a bathing suit. I was in the hopital for 2 weeks and missed about a month of school. I have broken the growth plate in my foot playing basketball, my finger while playing frisbee (I know, I know), and have had many surgeries. Let's just say I think that my parents are glad that I am finally an adult and have to pay for my own medical bills. ;o) These are just some of the major accidents I have had. Who knows how many times I fell off my bike and scraped my knees and so on........

So my kids........

Noah is 4 and has already broken his arm while throwing a tantrum and has gotten 7 stitches in his head because he ran into the side a tailgate that was down. We went to Walmart a couple of weeks ago and while walking through the parkinglot he ran into the back of a parked Suburban. He was right next to me and wasn't paying attention. As I walked around the car he was looking at his shoes or the ground or something much more interesting than what's in front of him and .........WHAM!.........I laughed so hard! I know that's mean when you child is crying, but it was hillarious! The other day he was playing a smacked his kneecap on the corner of a board. (That really hurts! If you never done it I don't reccommend it.) He was limpimg for a good day. Yesterday he smacked his face on the top of Elias' head and bit to big holes in his tongue. Elias was standing up as Noah was going to sit down and........WHAM! These are just a few incidents. Then there are all the little bumps and bruises that he get for just being a boy.

Elias' injury list isn't as long, but that's because he is only 2. Most of the time he gets hurt because his big brother hits him or plays to rough with him. He fell down 3 cement stairs strapped in his stroller and landed right on his face. (That one I blame on me. I wasn't thinking and then when I saw him going I wasn't fast enough to catch the stoller.) Recently he was running and playing with our dog, Jack. Jack has this rope with big knots on the end of it and was shaking it in his mouth and........WHAM! He hit Elias right in the left eyelid and split it open. It wasn't a huge cut, but big enough to bleed and freak me out a little bit. Now it is bleeding into the rest of his eyelid so it looks like he is wearing purpley-red eyeshadow with 2 little scabs in it.

He hasn't been to the hospital for anything excpet being sick, but I'm sure that day will come soon enough. The thing that cracks me up about him is that he can't seem to stay on his feet. He tries to keep up with Noah and just can't. He starts to run and takes about 2 steps and.......WHAM!...... gets up and takes another couple steps and ......WHAM!......down he goes. At least now he puts his hands out to brace his fall. (Yes, he used to land on his face a lot.) The other day Joey said that he is going to have brain damage for how often he hits his head. I giggled realizing that he does hit his head a lot. (Joey didn't think that it was funny.) Life.........why does it have to hurt so much? LOL! I love it!

Amelia has not done anything just because she can't walk or crawl yet. I'm sure that having 2 older brothers will bring many bumps and bruises. Not to mention, she is my child and if she is half as active as I was.........we are going to need good insurance. This picture is the most recent 'cuz I took it today. She's getting big....sort of. Her last weigh in she was 9lbs 13oz and 23inches long. For her wieght and height she is in 10% for her age. She was supposed to gain 55oz since she was born and she has done exactly that.

These pictures are just for fun. I got these lips for Valentine's Day. They were HUGE so I thought I would take pictures.

Dallin

Yesterday's post was a little drab.......to say the least. I think I just needed to vent a little.......... but I did find something good to post today.

Yesterday a very special little boy in my life turned 8 years old. His name is Dallin and it amazes me that it has been 8 years since he chose me to be the vessel through which he came to earth.

This was him then:

This is him now, with his little brother:

Happy Birthday Dallin!!

Nothing real interesting

Sometimes I wonder why I even have a blog. I hardly ever update it and I really don't have anything interesting to say. Life here is pretty much the same. No money, need to find a new place to live (which is hard when you have no money), kids are growing fast, house is always a mess (so it seems), and it's cold and snowy which just adds to the deppression. Feeling a little bummed if you couldn't tell. I should just stop and not wirte until I have something positive to say. I know there is something, but just not feeling it right now.

2 months old already!

Amelia Naomi is 2 months old already!! She had her 2-month appointment today and she is 9lbs 8oz and 23in long. She also had her first set of shots. She did not like them one bit!! When Noah got shots he cried for about 2 seconds and then was fine. Amelia screamed with the first one and then went silent (you know when they are crying so hard they don't make any noise) with the second shot. I looked at her and her face was all aquished up and BRIGHT red! I know it sounds mean, but I giggled at her. She then let out a scream I've never heard her make before. I didn't think that she was capable of making such a sound! Then the 3rd shot just made it worse. Poor baby!

She didn't get to see the doctor though. He had an emergency at the hospital (he's a pediatrician and an OB). I wasn't too worried though. She's growing fine and nothing is out of the norm. I just can't believe that she is 2 months already! Time flies when they are little............

My sister and I were talking about time the other day and she was saying that time just flies after you start having kids. I guess it does because you have appointments to go to and then it's school and ball games and so on....... and before you know it they are 18 and out of the house. (That's what it feels like to me with my nephew. He is 17 and a senior........ I remember when he was born....... that was yesterday......right?)

So I don't have any pictures to post of Amelia right now because I am tired and don't want to download them from my camera right now. I know, I know, I'm lazy. I will put some on here next post though. She is fun and starting to smile for real at everyone. She always has her big, blue eyes WIDE open and then even wider when you talk to her. I don't know if you've seen the movie 'The Dark Crystal', if you have she kind of looks like a Podling. It's cute! She looks so much like her brothers that I still like to put some sort of bow in her hair so I know she's a girl.

I love having a girl though! She's my little sweet pea!!