Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Special Visitors...part 1

At the end of last month we had some special guests at our house. My younger sister, Kim and her two boys, Anthony and Andrew came to stay with us! We had a lot of fun with them and got to do lots of really cool things. Here's a quick recap:

Saturday, June 24th: Aunt Kimmie and the boys arrive! They drove 9 hours to see us. Aunt Kimmie made great time and surprised Mommy before the house was cleaned!
Sunday, June 25th: We went on a special tour of the White House!! It was really cool. Later Mommy, Daddy, Anthony and I got flooded in at The Holmans house. We had to wait an extra hour or so before the firemen would open up the roads and let us drive home.



*more pictures to follow later...blogger is'nt letting me add any pictures now! (grrr!).

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Thanks, Mrs. LeaAnn

I am now living my dream!! I am a stay at home mommy!! I've longed for this job since I was a little girl playing house with my sisters and dressing up our cats in baby clothes, taking them for rides in our baby stroller, etc. This past March I had to do one of the hardest things ever. I had to go back to work after giving birth to the sweetest baby girl. I dreaded the day before Faith was even born. I knew it would be hard and it was. The only comfort I found was knowing it was temporary (3 months) and that our daughter would be staying in the very loving arms of our dear friend, LeaAnn. We had the "ideal" situation for any working mom. I worked half a day Monday and LeaAnn kept Faith in the morning. Murray kept Faith all day Tuesday. LeaAnn kept Faith all day Thursday. Her daughter Joanna was there in the morning until time for Kindergarten. Her niece, Shannon was there in the afternoon after her preschool let out. The three of them loved on Faith the entire time they were with her. It was so fun to see her watch the "big girls" as they tried to get her to smile! LeaAnn was the biggest blessing to us during those three months. She loves babies and is EXTREMELY gifted with them. Faith enjoyed her time with Mrs. LeaAnn. We enjoyed knowing that she was in the care of someone who loved her almost as much as we do! Thank you, LeaAnn!! You made that last stretch of work bearable!! Now we can do playdates together!! You are a blessing to us still!!

Here I am with Mrs. LeaAnn. She's the best babysitter!!
The girls! L to R: Joanna, me, Shannon. I loved playing with them!!
Joanna is so sweet and does such a good job holding me!

Shannon gives me really great hugs.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

July 4th!!

We went downtown to the National Mall to watch fireworks this year. We watched them from the Pentagon last year but wanted a closer view this time. When the Hinckleys invited us to join them we eagerly said yes! It was such a neat experience....a "must do" for those that live in the area because you not only saw the amazing fireworks show with the Washington Monument in the background, you FELT the fireworks!! It was so cool!! We set up "camp" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial...
When we first arrived, Faith decided to catch some zzzzs to make sure she didn't miss the big show.She was all smiles after she woke up!
She played with her friends George and Gillian for a little while.
Here we all are from L to R: James, Gillian, Ramona, George, Murray, Jaime and Faith. What fun to experience this with great friends!!
The Hinckleys (they are veteran firework show watchers...they've been making the trek downtown for many years!)
The Sandersons (we are standing at the same spot where Murray proposed in November 2003. It was fun to share that story with Faith)
Watching the fireworks show with Daddy!

She couldn't take her eyes off the show!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful experience as well. We love our country and are so thankful for the freedoms we enjoy. We love to celebrate our nation's birthday each year!!

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Confession.....



I am overweight.

I have been feeling fat (like almost every other American girl past the age of 13) for the last few months. However, the mirror began confirming my suspicions so I decided to investigate. I went to the following website http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ and had my body mass index calculated. Sure enough, my number fell in the "overweight" section. Now, this post isn't an attempt to fish for compliments. I SERIOUSLY don't want those. In fact, please don't say, "but you look fine", or "you just had a baby" because I may be tempted to believe you and catch some more couch time and stack on even more weight. The reason I am admitting my weight status is for some accountability. In all honesty, I don't feel like I "look" that overweight with clothes on. But I know that I am. I FEEL overweight. I can't walk up a flight of stairs without being out of breath. I feel a lot more body parts jiggle when I move. I am tired a lot more than I used to be. So for those reasons I have decided to take action. Murray and I have developed a "body awareness plan" to help get us back in shape. I wanted to start it on July 1st so that I could track the duration easier plus I think all diets, exercise plans, etc. should start at the beginning of the week (or month). I started off with all these rules (mostly inspired by Oprah's 12 week weight loss plan) but realized that just wasn't realistic for me. So I trimmed it down and decided to commit to the following:

1) Eat breakfast every day.
2) Eat one healthy snack between lunch and dinner.
3) Eat mostly healthy meals (one day to indulge a little).
4) No food after 7:30 pm
5) Complete five 30 minute workouts a week.
6) Drink six 8 oz. glasses of water a day (build up to 8 glasses).

That's it! So far I am doing great (as of day 2). #s 4,5,6 are proving to be the "tough ones" but I am determined to follow through!!!

The reason I am posting about this is for a little accountability. I have tried to start up something like this for awhile (always on a Monday) and by Tuesday I had quit and was saying, "maybe next Monday".... and so on. So now that more than one person knows I have more motivation to actually follow through this time! I plan to give a weekly blurb to help me chart my progress.

Here's to a healthier me!! Anyone care to join me????

P.S. A special thank you to my sister, Shellie, for finding us a nearly new jogging stroller for $20. She's the QUEEN of finding deals at rummage sales!!! I now can get out and go with Faith which will make #5 a little easier for me.