Two...and then the honest truth

My sweet Ethan is two.  Two.

Finding the words to describe my feelings for my baby has never been my strength.  How can I explain or even put into words how incredible it is to be his mother?  How can I explain how deep my love is for him?  How thankful I am for him every single day?  He sure isn't perfect, but neither are we.  He is SO perfect for us.

At two, Ethan can do so much.  He has such a huge vocabulary and speaks in clear sentences.  He loves music and to sing and dance.  He loves the water and running through the grass.  Seeing the beauty and wonder of the world through his eyes has been a wonderful experience for me.

But oh my goodness, this child is teaching me this summer.  Teaching me what it means to have patience.  That it is time for the REAL parenting to begin.

I'm going to be really honest here...Ethan has been challenging this summer.  I swear, he woke up on his 2nd birthday and somehow, he knew, he was now supposed to be in the "terrible twos".  I was ready for it, but man, it happened FAST.  One day, my sweet, cuddly bubba, and the next day...well...

I've broken down his behaviors into 3 categories:
1.  "It's MINE"- I hear this phrase like 10,000 times a day.  It is hard to be around other kids, because I know he will get possessive over every single item he comes across.  I know it is totally normal, but it still embarrasses me.  I've tried to explain taking turns, but a meltdown still occurs every. single. time.
2.  Boo-boos- We have hit a pretty fragile stage.  When learning to walk, the kid took a ton of spills and was able to brush it off.  Now, I swear, he wakes up with boo-boos.  He always needs to me to "kiss all better now" and, of course, I oblige.  I hope to find a place of balance, so we don't have a 10 year old that still needs his parents to kiss his boo-boos. But for now, I'm kissing every single one of them.  I just keep telling myself that there will be a day where he won't ask.  And then I'll cry :(
3.  The random temper tantrum/crying/whining- He doesn't want to wear socks, he doesn't like how the lawn mower sounds, he hates his tshirt, his milk has a red top, I could go on and on and on.  And I know this one isn't going to stop anytime soon.  I've had more wine in the last week than I had in the last 6 months.  Holy cow, the whining causes wining!

I've totally scheduled tons of things for us to do this summer.  We have only had about 2 full weeks together this summer, and we have done so much.  Zoo, concerts, music class, parks, swim lessons, camp, play dates, splash pads.  We get out of the house every single day, which definitely helps, but gives us tons of reasons for tantrums and freakouts.

Yesterday, my mom told me that my expectations for him are just too high.  He is two and this is how two year olds act. I've been thinking a lot about that comment.  Were my expectations for this perfect summer (like we had last year) just too high?  Should I set a low expectation for every day and be happy if it turns around?  I definitely need to find a balance, so I don't find myself becoming frustrated with him (and myself) every day.  And so I don't become an alcoholic ;)

I absolutely adore my child.  He is spirited, smart, observant, outgoing, and caring.  He gives the best hugs and kisses, and I love when he sings with me each night.  He is absolutely the best thing that has happened to me, and I thank God every day for allowing this precious being to be in my care.  I hope to do everything right as his Mommy (but I know that I don't/won't).  I just hope he knows how hard I am trying to give him my everything, because that is exactly what he is to me.

*And of course, today was the best day we have had all summer.  Camp in the morning, a nice lunch and nap, followed by some time at the neighborhood pool.  Minimum tantrums and tons of kisses. :)

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HELLO June!

It's June!  WHAT????

May was a complete whirlwind.  May is my favorite month for many reasons.  First of all, it is the last month of school.  It is super crazy and busy at work, writing report cards, grading, and wrapping up the school year.  BUT once you get through it, you are FINISHED for 10 weeks!  May is also the month of Mother's Day, Ethan's Birthday, AND my birthday.  Finally, we ended the month with my little sister's wedding!

I blogged a couple of times about doing the Whole 30 during the month of May.  It was a tough month, because we had a lot of celebrations, but it was a perfect month because I LOST weight instead of gaining it.  I ended up losing 6.5 pounds during the month, and actually 5 of them were during the first week.  It was pretty amazing to meet my goal just in time for my sister's wedding.  Since then....welllllll....not so hot.  I feel like it's been a downward spiral for the past week (snacks, pizza, cookies, etc.) and I'm already starting to plan to start another clean eating challenge.  I just don't have will-power on my own, and for some reason, a clean challenge makes me do it.

We celebrated Ethan's 2nd birthday in the middle of the month.  I can't believe my sweet boy is TWO!  We celebrated with a little Elmo party (although he really isn't as obsessed as he was when I chose the theme) of just our immediate family.  Since I went a little overboard with his first birthday party, we decided to keep it small this year. 

When I started the Whole 30, I had every intention of following it, EXCEPT for on my 30th birthday.  Yup, I turned 30 a week ago.  All I wanted for my birthday was a fiesta with my closest family and friends, a Qdoba bar, and margaritas.  And baby, I got it.  I had such a wonderful night, and feel so lucky to be healthy and have reached this milestone year.

After I came off of my birthday hangover, it was time to celebrate Ali's wedding weekend.  It was an INCREDIBLE weekend.  Tornado warnings during the rehearsal dinner and not a drop of rain on her wedding day.  Everything was perfect and I swear, she was the prettiest bride I have ever seen.  Ethan was a perfect angel (except for getting the tux on, which we knew would be a fight), and he walked down the aisle like such a big boy.  We are so happy to have Kyle in our family and our post-wedding lives to get back to normal :)

Now it is finally time to enjoy my summer vacation off with my little man.  We are booked with stroller-fit classes, swimming lessons, music classes, and mommy-and-me camp.  Excited to experience summertime with my family and friends!

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Whole 30 - Two weeks down

(forgot to hit publish on this yesterday)
Today is technically Day 15 in my Whole 30 experience.  I started on Wednesday the 1st and today is Wednesday the 15th.

So far, I've lost 6 pounds.  I should be THRILLED with that amount (and overall, I guess I am), but I lost 5 pounds the very first week.  I guess I just thought I would have lost more this past week.  One of the Whole 30 "rules" is that you don't weigh yourself.  Well, you can take away my dairy and carbs but you can't take away my scale.  I weigh myself every morning and have continued to do that on Whole 30.

My clothes are fitting much differently.  My size 8 pants are too big and some 6s are pretty roomy and starting to hang in the tush.  Annoying, but in a good way!

I have made some new recipes that I want to remember so I will link them here:
Steak with mashed cauliflower and brussel sprouts
Chicken drumsticks with veggies
Crockpot Chili (I am using turkey instead of beef because that is what's in the freezer)
Time for Dinner steaks with grilled veggies and side salad (I took a pictures of Mike's...mine was without cheese)

What I love (and hate because of the time it takes) most about Whole 30 is trying new recipes and foods.  Before this month, I had never made sweet potato chips, kale chips, chicken drummies, cauliflower mash pots, spaghetti squash, brussel sprouts, and my VERY FAVORITE, frozen banana "ice cream" (frozen bananas, almond butter, and water blended up).

I can't believe I am over halfway done with this thing.  It is much easier...although I have had many many temptations.  I find it easiest to say that I am lactose intolerant when ordering things are restaurants to make sure they don't use any creams or cheeses in sauce/on salads/etc. 

Anyone out there doing Paleo/Whole 30?  I'd love some more links to good recipes.  Can you eat the Aldi's fruit strips?  (I love those things.)  What do you drink other than water?  Those of you that finished Whole 30, how did you ease back into "normal" clean eating again?

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Whole30

On May 1st, I decided to start the Whole 30 challenge.  1 month without alcohol (see how I put that one first) dairy, grains, sugars, and legumes.  (Shopping List)

Why would I want to do this?  Honestly, with only 1 month until my sister's wedding with about 5 pounds to get to my goal, I felt like this program would help me out.  I've never had much of a sweet tooth and Mike and I generally eat pretty clean.  My problem is that I am Ethan's garbage disposal.  I finish his mac n' cheese, take a little handful of his goldfish, and "taste" a bit of everything I give him.  Extra calories that were just adding up. 

I am now 6 days into the program and it really hasn't been horrible.  I mean, yea, I miss the convenience of more processed food.  I have a comfortable set of recipes and this program has definitely forced me to try new things.  I've only done this since last Wednesday and I've made so many new things.

Pretty obsessed with spaghetti squash, kale chips, sweet potato chips, and banana "ice cream" (frozen bananas with almond butter).

From left to right:
Egg muffins with mushrooms, onions, and bacon
Mixed greens with steak strips, tomatoes, guac, and salsa
Scrambled eggs with peppers and salsa, turkey bacon, avocado
Chef salad with turkey, bacon, hard boiled egg, avocado, and salsa
Spaghetti Squash (with zucchini and chicken)
Rotisserie chicken, asparagus, and peppers with guac
Kale chips
Sweet potato chips
Banana "ice cream"

There is a cute little timeline out there that says how you should be feeling for each given day.  Right now, I should be in the "I just want a nap" phase (which yesterday was the "Kill all things" phase), but I don't feel that way at all.  I really have felt totally normal since starting this diet (other than hungry the first couple of days).  I mean, I could always take a nap, but nothing anything out of the ordinary.

People have asked me if this is SOOOO hard.  So far, it hasn't been.  The hardest part has been preparing.  The shopping, cooking, chopping.  That's been the hardest part.  But the actual act of not eating dairy and cheese hasn't been bad.  I'd like a glass of wine, but I will get to have one in a few weeks.  It is just a month.  I won't die. (I keep reminding myself of that over and over again).  I love this quote from the website...

"It is not hard. Don’t you dare tell us this is hard. Giving up heroin is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You won’t get any coddling, and you won’t get any sympathy for your “struggles”. YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE not to complete the program as written. It’s only thirty days, and it’s for the most important health cause on earth – the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime."

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When will I ever blog again?

Dramatic, I know.  I just go through spurts with this whole blogging thing.  Life has been so busy (AND WONDERFUL) lately!  I have so much to share and so much going on.

-Ethan has completely exploded with his language and is even speaking some full sentences.  He is absolutely amazing and it is incredible to have real conversations with him. SO MUCH FUN!

-He will be 2 next month.  What?!

- I enjoyed an amazing spring break vacation with my girlfriends in Florida (only to come home to a snowstorm and snow day).

-More painting and decorating is going on around our house. 

-I'm planning a wedding shower and bachelorette party for my baby sitter.  Wedding is in 2 months! 

-Thinking about opening an Etsy shop as my "summer job".

-Can't believe that SUMMER will be here in less than 2 months.  WOOT WOOT!

-I turn 30 at the end of next month.  Oh man!

So much to blog about....so little time. 

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Life lately

Text dump ahead with random pictures added in...

Whew, I cannot believe that it is already March.  Working a job that goes full-time from August to May, I cannot believe I only have 3 more months of school!  Like students, teachers LIVE for summer break, and that anticipation and excitement has only magnified since having Ethan.  I think about how much he has grown since last summer and how much fun we will have at the pool, the Zoo, Magic House, and the splash parks.  Our new neighborhood has a pool and I'm sure we will be there everyday!  (Mama's gonna be tan this summer!  WOOT!)

My sister's wedding is coming up and we are now prepping for showers, bachelorette parties, and wedding prep.  We are SO excited for Ali and Kyle to finally get hitched!  Mike took their engagement pictures but the fabulous Michelle from Untamed Heart will be shooting her wedding. Ohhhh....and I cannot wait to see how cute Ethan will look in his little tuxedo!  We have some work to do though...he was screaming bloody murder last night when we tried to put it on him.  Oye!

We have done so much to the house since last time I did the new house tour.  I'm thinking about doing another update post to show the progress.  Of course, there is always so much to do, but we ar finally to a place where things are feeling good.  I will be hosting a shower here for my sister in a month so we have a bit more painting and decorating to do.  We have spent quite a bit of money on new furniture recently so I am trying to pull back on the reins a bit with what we still need to do. 

Wedding season is now upon us.  Mike had engagement sessions on Saturday and Sunday this past weekend.  But thankfully, this year, he is only taking 1 or 2 weddings a month.  Since it is not his primary source of income (and he totally overdid it last year), he wants to scale back a bit to spend with me and E.  This makes me SO so so happy.  I am so thankful that he kind of fell upon this talent of his.  It was able to help us buy this home and I am forever appreciative that he works so hard to support us this way.

I'm still working on the weight loss.  My Fitness Pal has been my best resource this far...loving all of the accountability, support, and motivation from my "internet friends".  I am only 4.5 pounds away from the weight I wanted to be at my sister's wedding.  I know I will get there so I'm making a loose goal of hitting my wedding weight (which is now only 9 pounds away).

My 30th birthday is right around the corner and I will be going on a trip with my girlfriends soon for our "30th birthday trip".  I cannot wait to be on the beach in warm weather, and though I know I'll miss my buddy and hubby, it will be so nice to spend time with my best friends and get the chance to relax.

So happy March.  Super excited that the snow has all melted and warmer weather is on its way.

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BicBand Winner!

WOW...I have a lot of fit and active readers!  Thanks for sharing how you keep in shape and get exercise.  Definitely got a lot of new ideas.

Congrats, Tara!

Email me your address and I'll get it in the mail ASAP!

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I did it! (and a giveaway)

I did it!  Today, I officially hit my 20 pound weight loss.  It all started last year (January 24, 2012) and one year and 3 weeks later, I finally met my first BIG goal.  20 pounds!  I promised a giveaway so here we go.  One of my favorite things!

It is a BicBand (my favorite headband EVER...doesn't slip) and the only chevron one offered on the site. It is a little "Christmas-y" but not really.  The pink and lime green give it a fun, cute feel.  All you have to do is comment and I will use the Random Number Generator to choose a number on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20th! 

What is your favorite workout? Do you run?  Crossfit?  Yoga?  Videos at home?

My new goal is to lose another 10 by my sister's wedding in June.  Let's do this!

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Preserving Memories

Something I have never been good at is organization.  I am a self-proclaimed hoarder (I mean, not as bad as the people on TV but I HATE throwing things away) and have been known to have piles of "stuff" all over the house.  My OCD husband can't stand it and gets great joy out of throwing stuff out (asking first, of course).

I decided to upload all of our pictures to Shutterfly.  That way, I could order prints, create books, and have a place that would store all of my pictures.  (Wishing I would have done Flickr too because when Shutterfly doesn't exist anymore, a bunch of my pictures won't either.)

I have two 12 by 12 Shutterfly albums- one of my pregnancy photos and one for Ethan's first year.

When I was pregnant with Ethan, I was inspired with all of the pregnant mamas taking weekly pictures.  Although I never posted them, I wrote a few sentences and posed in the basement each week and described how I was feeling and what was new that week.  I had to turn into a complete nag to get my husband's help but I am so happy with how our little project turned out.  (MAN, I got big!!!)

 Once Ethan was born, I knew I would need a baby book.  I searched the shelves at Barnes&Noble and Borders, searched Etsy, and look up online-templates and nothing fit what I had in mind.  So instead, I created my own through Shutterfly and I ABSOLUTELY love it...all 111 pages of it.  I kept a Word document to record all of the monthly "happenings" and just cut/pasted it into my album where I needed.  Here are some of my favorite spreads:

I also create 8 X 8 books for each of our professional photos sessions.  I always try to keep an album created in my "cart" because Shutterfly often offers free 8 X 8 books.  For Ethan's Goodnight Moon photos, I added the words from the book to his pictures and he loves to hear the story and see picture of himself.  So cute!

I am definitely behind in our vacations photos.  I haven't made a book for Italy (yeah, 3 years ago) or Alaska but they are on the to-do list.

I also like to upload all of my cell-phone pictures to Shutterfly and drag them all into an 8 X 11 book.  I fit 6 pictures on a page but each year, my book gets longer and longer.  Waiting till a good coupon code comes through to order my 2012 book but it is finished and waiting in my cart.

 Back before Ethan when Mia was boss.

I posted about my memory keeper for Ethan from Paper Coterie for Ethan, but I recently purchased another one.  Because I didn't have a place for our wedding "stuff", I decided to get another memory keeper to hold our wedding invitation, program, shower invitations, and various wedding items.

 I had a coupon code (of course) so I ended up ordering a book to keep track of the hilarious things that Ethan says and does.  I ordered it when he first started talking about 9 months ago and I am so glad I did.  He is like his mommy and has A LOT to say.  He is also like his daddy so he is pretty darn funny.  It is so great to have a place to put it all. 

So, that is what I do to try to capture and preserve our family memories.  Although I was completely organized his first year, I can honestly say that more pictures are taken on my iPhone than real camera.  I haven't uploaded anything to Shutterfly (because there isn't anything to upload but cell pics...ugh).  Even though I'm married to a professional photographer, we don't take many pictures of our own family.  Always striving to improve in that area. 

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Things I'm Loving

Some totally random things that I'm loving right now:
BP. Wide Waistband Essential Leggings

This things are awesome.  Super tight and they totally suck it all in.  I love how thick they are and how high they come on the tummy.  Bit of a steep price for leggings but since I wear dresses and boots so often, leggings are totally a staple in my wardrobe.

Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter

The only ingredient is peanuts.  It is SO good.  Mike flies through jars and I really like to put it on a banana before I work out.  YUMMMMM.

Aldi

How did we not shop at Aldi until now?  There is one by our new house and it is freaking awesome.  I can't get over how much money we save by shopping there. 

My Fitness Pal

I have been logging my workouts and food intake on this app for the past month.  I've lost 4 pounds so far (1 lbs a week isn't too bad) and I hope to continue to lose using it.  My username is lhcass if you want to find me on there.  I could always use the extra motivation.

Workouts App

I really like this free app.  When I don't feel like getting on the treadmill or doing 30 Day Shred, I just do a quick full body workout with this app.  I've done it a couple of times and it is really easy.  Just choose a body part (I choose full body) and a time (I've done 15 and 20 minute workouts before bed).  I like doing it while watching Bachelor and Biggest Loser and it makes the time go by pretty fast.

***I am thisclose to hitting my 20 pound weight loss.  When I get there, I will be doing my first ever giveaway.  It is one of my fitness favorite things (I bet you can guess what it is)!!!

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Ethan's Room

Ethan's bedroom was actually the very first room we painted on the very first day we moved in.  We wanted him to feel comfortable in his new home (and sleep) so we wanted to get all of his furniture and belongings in the room as soon as possible.  All of the furniture and prints are from the nursery in our old house. 

BEFORE:  Beautiful, purple checkerboard :)

 

AFTER: We ended up using a pale blue color for the walls.  It is called "Tropical Surf" by Glidden (Home Depot's brand paint).

Much better!  Still need window treatments (I'd love to have red chevron of something) and maybe a mural on the wall above the crib.  But man, SOOO much better.  It is amazing how big Ethan's room is now (especially compared to his old room).  He loves it and so do we!

Next room on the to-do list?  Our BRIGHT green master bedroom. 

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