I'm branchin' out, y'all!

Yesterday, we had a date day for our anniversary. Kathy, Tim's sister, took care of the boys so we could have some time out and about. We went to the Quarry. We did a little shopping, mainly places I couldn't maneuver with the boys by myself but have been needing to go. We went to a sushi place for lunch. Tim doesn't like fish of any kind so we never go to sushi places. But Tim knows I enjoy it, so he insisted we go. He just ordered a non-fish dish and I was able to have a wonderful roll. I'm not sure if I appreciated the sushi more or the quiet atmosphere without having to worry about anyone throwing all their food on the floor. Tim was on his best behavior! :-) After lunch we went to the movies and finally saw the Avengers. Once the movie was over, we went to the fancy grocery store to pick out some fun goodies. Quite the romantic date, huh?

All that's fun and all, but let's talk about what I wore! I decided I wanted to wear something that I have had in my closet for over a year but have never worn before. Mainly because the material is not a toddler-wrestling, baby-drooling, diaper-might-be-leaking-friendly material. Along with this dress that I had never worn before, I incorporated two styles that have been around forever but I haven't tried yet: leggings and a wide belt. I felt so uncomfortable at first because it was new to me so I was afraid I looked like someone who was trying to look somewhat trendy. Tim just told me to own it and be confident. So, I did...or at least I tried! :-)

So here's my outfit:

Ignore my weird arm in the one picture. I was trying to decide if I wanted to go hand on the hip or not and ended up getting the picture mid change!

I still have about 10 pounds or so of baby weight to lose and a ton of toning to do, so of course that's what I see when I look at these pictures, but I also felt cute and it is causing me to think through my outfits a little differently. Tim has always told me that my confidence, or lack thereof, can make or break an outfit. Maybe more than incorporating new trends I should work on incorporating a little more confidence in my outfits!

Anniversary

6 years of marriage

5 moves

4 years of pharmacy school

3 different pharmacy jobs

2 precious babies

in 1 short year

And still going strong!  I am so thankful we got married 6 years ago today.  There have been incredibly tough times but there are have also been the most wonderful times during our marriage so far.  I wouldn't want to be living life with anyone else!  I love you, Tim!

An update

I thought I would let you know how my new plan is going this week.  First off, the getting up early worked for the first two days.  I was up and going at 5.  I worked out, had my quiet time, showered and got ready all before Tim even got out of bed!  Then Charlie ate and I emptied the dishwasher, started laundry and prepped breakfast for when Robby woke up.  I felt very in control of the day and all morning I was able to just play with the boys and I wasn't trying to fit housework in also.  The afternoons and evenings went well.  But Wednesday and today I've had a headache when I woke up, so I decided it would be best to sleep an extra hour or two.  Yesterday, I didn't get a workout in until the end of the day when I just did one super quick.  Today, the morning was frustrating and I was rushing around trying to get things done so we could get out the door.  Thankfully, both boys took a nap at the same time so I was able to workout then.  I've finally gotten to the point where I actually feel better on the days I workout, not just more exhausted like I was at the beginning.  But based on how this morning went, tomorrow I will be back to my early rising!  It really did make everything go so much more smoothly!

The load of laundry a day is actually really nice.  I've kept up with that really well and instead of feeling like an entire day is spent folding laundry, I get it folded in 5 minutes and I'm done with it for the day.  I will admit, the first day I did just one load I had the hardest time deciding if I should do a light load or a dark load.  I stood in our closet looking back and forth at the piles of laundry trying to figure out which I should do and if I would be disappointed that I didn't choose the right load.  Haha!  I'm very happy to tell you that it all turned out well and the world did not implode based upon my decision to wash the darks on Monday and the lights on Tuesday!  :-)

The meal planning has been WONDERFUL!  I feel so prepared and not worried about deciding what to fix.  In case you checked out the recipes that I posted, I will let you know how we felt about them (since they were all new recipes).  Sunday, Tim liked it but I didn't.  The ranch flavor didn't mix well with the parmesan flavor, in my opinion.  Monday, the pizza cupcakes were great.  Very easy and Tim was able to take them to work Tuesday for his lunch very easily.  I have gotten on a kick of making several foods in muffin tins to help me with portion control.  It's worked very well.  Tuesday, we didn't have it because Tim's parents brought us dinner.  Easiest dinner of the week!  :-)  Wednesday, I fixed the pasta I was going to fix on Tuesday.  I liked it but it needed more seasonings.  Maybe some basil or oregano or something.  Tim doesn't like mushrooms but he picked around those and he didn't like the shrimp that was in there.  I will make it again, possibly with chicken, but definitely with more seasonings.  So, I'm just going to skip the enchiladas this week and do them next week.  I'll let you know how the recipes for tonight and tomorrow night go.  I'm really excited to try the mongolian beef!

Several of you left comments, sent me facebook messages or wrote on my facebook wall with such encouraging words.  Thank you very much!  It means so much to me to have such great friends and encouragers cheering me on in this journey through motherhood!

Wordless Wednesday: My happy hour buddy!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I just want to get one good picture

Mommy: Robby, look at the camera, I want to get a picture of you and Charlie in your matching shirts.
Charlie: I love pictures!

 Robby: What?

Charlie: She wants us to look at the camera!
Robby: What, Charlie?

Mommy: Let's try the bumbo seats.  Robby, put your tongue back in your mouth
Charlie: My neck isn't quite strong enough to sit in this for a long time, Mommy!

 Robby: I bet I can climb onto the recliner!

Robby: I made it!
Charlie: Yay!

 Robby: What did you say, Charlie?
Charlie: Oh nothing!

 Mommy: Ok, this will work, just smile now, Robby!

Mommy: Forget the bumbos, I'll just put Charlie up with you.
Robby: But I don't want him up here!

 Robby: Hey, Charlie, I bet I can find your belly!

 Robby: Yep, there it is!

 Robby: What's back here?

 Robby: What's out there?

 Robby: I think I'm ready to get down.

Robby: Did you get a good picture, Mommy?

On trying to be better

After last week, I realized I needed to make some adjustments. Things around the house get done.  We have clean clothes to wear and food to eat.  But my day-to-day activities are not a routine.  I do things when they are to the point of needing to be done instead of being proactive with everything.  I was looking at this website that I pinned a little while back about habits to incorporate for a better run home.  I was thankful that I already do almost half of the things, but the ones I don't do are ones that I can definitely see how they would make things easier.  First is the getting up early.  When I worked outside the home, I got up every morning by 5:30, worked out, showered, got ready and left the house by 7:30.  I enjoyed the peacefulness of the morning and how I felt throughout the day knowing I had at least accomplished those things.  So, along with waking up early, I'm truly going to start looking at motherhood as my job.  I am going to start getting up, having my quiet time, working out and getting ready before the boys wake up for the day.  By doing this, I will also be better about making breakfast for Tim again instead of him grabbing a poptart as he scoots out the door at 7:15!  I decided to make a checklist of all my daily tasks, that way I can stay on track.  Plus, how wonderful does it feel when you get to put a little checkmark in a little box next to a chore?!  Here is the list I made:

I'm planning on putting it in a frame with glass so I can use a dry erase marker to check things off each day.  There will, of course, be days that I need to dust, deep clean various rooms, or run errands, which is why I left the blanks and can add those in on certain days.

Second is meal planning.  This something I would always think about needing to start, I just never did it!  Right now, I usually decide what I want to fix for dinner by mid morning or early afternoon.  By that time, we're either almost to or right in the middle of nap time and going to the grocery store for missing components isn't really possible.  I would like to limit my trips to the grocery store to 1-2 times a week and I know planning better will help aid that.  Also, I feel like with better planning we will start eating better, also.  So, last night I sat down, perused Pinterest for all those recipes I've pinned and haven't tried yet, and planned out our meals for the next week and a half.  I used this printable that I filled out and put on the fridge.  (I LOVE this site, by the way!  I have all of the monthly calendars printed out and put them on the fridge.  I've also used some of the tags and things.  She just started a store for printables that aren't free.  There is a medication log that I'm planning on getting soon.  I think it will be very helpful with keeping up with meds for the boys when they're sick.)  So, tomorrow, the boys and I are headed to the grocery store with a definite list in hand and a gameplan for the week's meals!  Here are the meals we have planned for the week (all of these are new recipes, so I know Tim will enjoy the variety instead of the same ol' same ol'!) :

Sunday: Ranch Chicken, roasted potatoes, and green beans
Monday: Pizza cupcakes and spinach salad
Tuesday: Penne rosa with shrimp and salad
Wednesday: Black bean enchiladas and cilantro lime rice
Thursday: Parmesan garlic chicken and roasted asparagus
Friday: Mongolian beef and brown rice
Saturday: Lemon shrimp and angel hair pasta

The last thing that I'm going to start implementing, which seemed rather foreign to me, is doing one complete load of laundry a day.  I usually do all of the laundry once or twice a week, depending on how much we have used.  I start first thing in the morning and get all the loads done and put away by the end of the day.  I'm anxious to see how much easier things feel when I'm doing one load every day, as opposed to 5 loads in one day.

So, tomorrow begins my earlier mornings and (hopefully) better run home!  I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out!

Maybe this isn't for me...

My entire life if anyone asked me what I wanted to do when I grew up, my response was to be a wife and a mother.  I couldn't wait to get to that point in my life and was ecstatic when the time came for me to be a stay-at-home mom.  In case anyone out there is wondering, it's not a glamorous job.  But I've always known this was my calling.  Until this week...

This week was rough.  Like the kind of rough where I was wiping kitchen counters or changing diapers or cutting chicken nuggets or feeding a bottle and just crying uncontrollably.  Robby would just walk around the house whining.  Nothing was wrong with him, he just whined to hear himself whine.  Talk about grating on your nerves!  Then Charlie decided that if he wasn't being held upright, being fed, or asleep he was just going to scream.  The boys napped, but never at the same time and not for very long.   So, I couldn't get anything done and thought I was going to lose my mind.  It was so bad, Tim had to come home Friday for a little bit to help me because I truly did not think I was going to make it through the day.  As I was holding a screaming baby and trying to keep a toddler from throwing all his food on the floor to the dog, I actually asked God why He had chosen me to be a mom.  Maybe I'm not cut out for this "job".  Maybe He made a mistake giving me two boys, especially this close in age.  Maybe I wasn't really called to do this.  Tim got home every evening to a frazzled wife who was begging for help with the boys and no clue what to put on the table for dinner!  I hate feeling out of control, and this week I was, both emotionally and physically.

I dreaded this weekend because Tim was going to be gone.  I didn't know how I would survive not having any help or relief at the end of the day with them acting like this.  He left yesterday morning and from the time he left, things have gone well.  Robby has played happily with all of his toys.  He is using more and more words so it's easier to understand what he's wanting, which leads to less and less whining!  Charlie took a 2.5 hour nap yesterday morning in his crib, then Robby took a 3.5 hour nap yesterday afternoon!  Their naps didn't overlap, which is usually a saving grace for me during the day, but yesterday it was actually a blessing.  Robby and I played with his puzzles and animals while Charlie napped in the morning.  That was the first lengthy bit of time I've had just one on one with him since before Charlie was born.  In the afternoon, I was able to just hold and love on Charlie.  It brought back those sweet memories when Robby was a baby and nothing else was taking my attention from him.  Charlie was content, full of smiles and coos for me.  For dinner, Robby and I split Chick-fil-a and not a single bit of it ended up on the floor!  :-)  Bath time and bedtime happened and when I sat down on the couch, it clicked with me what this weekend was: confirmation.  Confirmation that I AM cut out for this.  Confirmation that He didn't make a mistake with His plan.  Confirmation that I AM called to do this.

Some of the best advice that several of my "been there, done that" mom friends told me when I first had Robby and that I try to tell new moms as well is that everything is a phase.  The crying newborn?  A phase.  The sleeping problems?  A phase.  The teething?  A phase.  The not obeying?  A phase.  The constant whining?  A phase.  It helps to be able to get through weeks like last week when I remember that.  But you know what else is a phase?

The sleeping cuddles

The gummy smiles

The post-bath snuggles

The times when the world stops and nothing else matters

All of it.  As a mom, I have to remember that I have to take the good with the bad and remember that it all comes together to make up each of my boys' childhoods.  The phases turn into a lifetime.