Slowly but Surely

So, it's time to write on here about some changes I am making in my life. One day about a month ago, I woke up and decided that I was tired of being overweight. I realize that I am not obese, but overweight enough that I don't like the way I look in, well, anything. And, since Annabelle is almost four years old and I have now gained back any weight I lost by giving birth to her, I decided it was time to do something. But, since I also know that if I do anything rash, my body will go into complete shock and I will throw my hands up in defeat faster than the French, I decided to do slowly. The first thing I decided I needed to give up was my complete dependence on caffeine and carbonated drinks. This was going to be a huge mountain for me to climb as I absolutely love Coke, Diet Coke and especially Diet Dr. Pepper. Actually, my mouth is watering right now just from typing the words. It was also going to be hard for me because Adam doesn't really feel the need to rid himself of these yet, which means they were going to be in my home. But, I did it. Here's what I did. I bought a 20 oz. bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper (mouth watering again) and drank the whole thing. (Um, how is this getting off of cokes?) Anyway, then I filled it with water. (after washing it out thoroughly) I discovered that I really don't like ice cold water. I like room temperature water straight from the tap. Call me crazy, gross, whatever you like, but I won't really drink water that is really cold. Anyway, I remembered reading somewhere that an apple in the morning did more to wake you up than coffee would do, so I started each morning with an apple. An apple, my bottle of water and yes, two Tylenol. The first three days, I must admit, were pretty terrible. I had killer headaches, which weren't necessarily relieved with the Tylenol, but Excedrin was the only other thing I had in my house and, of course, what does Excedrin contain? Say it with me-CAFFEINE!! So, since I was trying to get off caffeine, taking Excedrin seemed a little counter-productive.
Well, it has now been one month that I am caffeine free and I can honestly tell you that I have no regrets. In that one month period, I have only had a Sprite like twice. (I don't really like Sprite unless I am throwing up) I have really only had water and SoBe LifeWater. A big accomplishment.
So, earlier this week, encouraged by ability to actually stick to something, I decided my next phase to the healthier me was to exercise regularly. When it comes to exercise, I am sporadic, at best. I always use my kids as my excuse. Not a good example that I am setting. And, since the most convenient place I have to work out would charge me $12 for child care each time I go, I use that as an excuse. The apartment I live in has an exercise room with a convenient playroom for children next to it. So, Monday morning, the kids and I head to the exercise room and I told them we would go to the pool after that. I did the eliptical for 13 minutes (just couldn't make it to 15-sad) and then started lifting free weights. Well, after 10 minutes I realized that the playroom for children is only helpful if your children actually play in it. And, I was tired of telling Sebastian to get off the eliptical and Annabelle to get off the treadmill, so we went to the pool.
When we got to the pool, I decided to draw from my water aerobics experience (when Christine and I were pregnant with Lily and Annabelle, we did water aerobics at the Y-fun times) and run in the water. This was a perfect option. I was exercising and I was in the water and could watch the kids. I ran for 45 minutes straight! It felt great. Then Tuesday, I did the same thing (minus the insanity in the workout room). I ran for 45 minutes in the water.
So on Wednesday, it's supposed to rain, so I got up and, once all the kids were up, I left Zoe in charge and ran around our apartment building. This is nice because I'm still right there if they need me. I ran four laps and walked four laps. It felt great!! I did it again on Thursday and as soon as I get home today, I'm going to do it again.
I am hoping to keep this up. Once the exercising is a habit, then I will change my eating habits. Really my eating habits aren't terrible and I can tell you that these past few days I have eaten better because I don't want to ruin the exercise I did. At any rate, I will post any weight loss. We don't own a scale (ours broke and I wasn't really itching to get another one!) but we will purchase one so I can monitor my progress. Slow and steady...

Our Weekend Alone

I just realized that I never wrote about our weekend ALONE! By alone, I mean all four kids were out of town from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon and Adam and I were absolutely alone. Last year, Adam and I attended a wedding for his cousin in Texas and our four kids were in three different places, and the day before we left, Zoe came down with strep, so she was crying when we left her because she felt terrible, and we were flying standby so we got stuck in the Houston (Hobby, not the big one) airport for 8 hours (not an exaggeration) and since we were stuck we weren't able to get any of the kids until Monday. (Yes, I realize that is a run-on sentence, but it loses something if you break it up) Anyway, aside from that weekend, Adam and I haven't been alone since May 2002. Not kidding. We went to Tuscon, AZ for an amazing week in May of 2002. We moved into our first house in July 2002, got pregnant with Sebastian in Sept 2002 and the next three years were a blur of pregnancies, nursing and babies. And then we had four kids and three of them were under the age of 3, so there was no chance to ever be alone! So we were pretty excited.

Friday morning, my mom picked up the three littles and drove to Nashville to meet Adam's dad. Zoe had been with them that week. So, my mom exchanged Annabelle for Zoe. Annabelle went to Adam's dad's house and my mom, Zoe, Sebastian and Jude headed to Memphis to my brother's house. Awesome!

All day Friday, I went to Adam's office and worked. I really enjoy doing this, as I feel like I am contributing to getting his business going and it's fun. So, we got to go to lunch together. We came home and then went shopping for Jude's birthday. After shopping, we went to eat at Red Robin, which was yummy. And then we went to see a movie. We have a 2nd run theater here so we went to see Wolverine. I love all the X-Men movies so this was fun.

Saturday morning, I got up and went grocery shopping. I know, sounds so very exciting, but it was fun because I was alone and it wasn't midnight! I almost always shop late at night, otherwise I at least have the ten year old with me and she talks non-stop.

Then we headed to Atlanta and took in a Braves game. I've never been to a Braves game and we had such a great time. It was so much fun just being together and having uninterrupted conversations!

Sunday was church. We just got up, got ourselves dressed and went to church. I think we were completely showered and ready to go in like 45 minutes total. Seriously. After church, some friends took us to lunch. Those of you with large families know that you never get invited to lunch with anybody! So that was so nice.

Then I went to get Annabelle and the other kids came home on Sunday night. I was very ready to see them and missed them. My batteries were recharged and I was so appreciative of the break!

Jude's 5th Birthday

I cannot believe my baby boy is 5 years old! We had a great day celebrating and ended the day with friends and family at Pump It Up. We had a blast! And, the kids are still enjoying the "loot" this morning.

So, in honor of his birthday, I thought I would write some stuff about him. If you would like to read his birthday story, it can be found here.

Jude is such a funny kid. He has more self-confidence than a five year old should be allowed to have. He walks with his chest sort of puffed out with a strut and he owns any room he enters.

Since he was little, I have called him Jude-a-licious, which is sometimes shortened to Licious or just Lisch. A couple of months ago at soccer practice, I said something to him and called him Licious and he said, "Mom, don't call me Licious at soccer!"

This past weekend, he announced to us all that no one is to call him cute anymore. He said, "Since I'm five years old, you have to say I'm handsome or cool. Five year olds aren't cute!" Sorry, but it's so cute that you told me not to call you cute!

Jude is also my child who is very hesitant to admit that he 's done anything wrong. Sebastian will do something and you ask him if he did it and you get an immediate, "Yeah, I did that." Jude will say, "Will I be in trouble if I did?" Then he will confess, but he just wants to know what he's up against first.

Jude would prefer not to share anything. And, when he does share, he has to establish that the item he is sharing is in fact his, not yours, lest you forget and try to keep it forever. When he lets Annabelle play with something, for instance, the whole time she has it, he tells her, "That's mine, but I'm letting you play with it."

Jude is very competitive (just to prove he doesn't just look like Adam, he also has his personality) and very athletic. He also does not give up until he accomplishes what he was trying to do. I have seen him in my mom's backyard by himself for an hour and a half until he could successfully hit the badminton birdie over the net. Sebastian had given up 15 minutes into the exercise. Jude kept on going until he could do.

Jude loves to swim and can jump off diving boards and swim himself to the shallow end, which is a skill we just learned this summer. He swims underwater and just naturally started a free style stroke when he swims. It really is cute, just don't tell him I called him cute.

Jude is a very affectionate child who loves with his whole heart. He plays well with everyone in our family. He has a quick wit and loves to make people laugh. I love that boy!

Zoe's Hair

A friend of Zoe's invited her to spend the night last night and while she was there, the mother colored both girls hair with purple streaks and some blond highlights. (Yes, she asked my permission first and I said, "Sure...it's only hair." I really like it! I wasn't sure what to expect at all, but it looks really good and very stylish. She was very excited. Thanks, Melissa!

4th of July and What-Not

We had a really good 4th of July. I was supposed to work at 4 pm so, we decided to get an early start on the day. Adam's office needed a small refrigerator and Target had one on sale that he liked. The Target closest to us was sold out of them so we headed to the Cleveland Target and got it. Then, we went to McKays, which is a HUGE warehouse full of books, music and DVDs. We had so much fun. Adam's new office has one wall that is floor to ceiling shelves, so he decided to put old books on it. Not law books, just books in general. We found a bunch of them at McKays that were like $3 or so a piece. I looked through the homeschooling section, but we had all four kids with us and I needed to have some undistracted time in that area. I picked up a cute math book that is also a cookbook for kids, so they learn fractions and other math concepts and then they get to eat what they have created. It's really cute and I think everyone will enjoy it.

After McKays we went down to Adam's office to install the refrigerator and coffee maker and put his books away. His office is really starting to take shape nicely. I'm so proud of him! Both of them are super busy, which is so great. And, he is really enjoying what he is doing. He is also being the office manager, so he is spending some of his time doing that too and he likes it.

After that, we came back to the house and went to the pool for a little. I went to work at 4:00 and at 4:03, they told me that I could go on home if I want to. Um...let me think...BYE! So, I came back home! We went over to my mom's and grilled out and then shot fireworks. We do that every year and it's always so much fun! We had a great time!

Then, this morning was the 4th of July program at the church and then our Sunday School class got together for lunch and fellowship. It was fun-we have a small class, but we really care about each other and pray for each other. They are special people.

So, that's about it...life at our house hasn't been too exciting these days...we're just adjusting to Daddy's new job and schedule and getting ready for the fall. On the homeschooling front, I have made a few curriculum decisions, but not everything yet. I have a math curriculum for Zoe, a science curriculum for Zoe and a reading program and handwriting curriculum for the boys. I also decided on the umbrella school I'm going to use. So things are slowly coming together. I'm still excited, but also getting nervous as the time to really start approaches. God is good and He will give me the strength to do what needs to be done. I can't wait to start!

July 1st

Well, July 1st is here! Adam wrapped things up at the old office yesterday and started at Markel & Major today. I cannot believe it is here! Of course, with this move comes a little apprehension and nervousness. But, God has provided so far and I'm confident He will continue to provide for us.
In preparation for this move, I have picked up more hours at Target. Here is one area that God has already provided for us. At Target, I do Human Resources. Well, our store is only allotted so many hours for each area of the store per week. There is a full time human resources person there already and she is guaranteed her forty hours a week and then I get what is left. Usually, I get my hours by working one or two four hour HR shifts a week and then a couple of cashier shifts to get the additional hours. Well, she will be on vacation part of this week and part of next week, so I am getting all HR shifts this week and next! Of course, that means that the next paycheck will be bigger and will help carry us through this unknown period. Also, one of those shifts is on the 4th of July, which means time and a half because it is a holiday! God is so very good!
Other than that, not much is going on here. We go to the pool almost every day and all of the kids have become very good swimmers. It's funny to watch them and to think that only Zoe could swim in May. Now, the boys can do handstands and swim everywhere. At the beginning, Jude always wore floaties because he felt more secure, but now he doesn't wear them at all and just swims all over the place. Annabelle still wears her floaties, but that is just because she can't reach the bottom of the pool. She loves the water. And, last year, she wouldn't even get in the water fountains at Coolidge Park (fountains that shoot out of the ground)! It's lots of fun and we are all very tan! :)