26 things for 26 years

Over the years my feelings towards birthdays have changed ... As a child it was all about the party and presents and then it became about the party and now it's all about time with my family. I used to count down to my birthday starting September 1st .. Doesn't happen anymore. I used to think I should have a "birthday week" .. Not anymore. 

My 25th year was a fun, trying and wild ride. We found out we were expecting our second little one a few months before my birthday, we decided to sell our townhouse and move 25min north, we lived with my brother in law for 2 months during the move. We moved into a our new house when I was 32 weeks pregnant, we welcomed our second little lady into the world. So many amazing things happened... We are so lucky to have each other and our health.

I decided to set 26 goals for my 26th year! 

1. Drink at least 5 glasses of water per day (I am horrible about drinking water)
2. Paint our kitchen. 
3. Run 2 half marathons.
4. Drink only one cup of coffee per day.
5. Do the 9+1 to qualify for the 2016 NYC marathon!
6. Finish my personal training certification.
7. Plan and go on a kid-free vacation for Chris and I to celebrate our 5th anniversary. 
8. Keep kitchen counter clutter-free! 
9. Cook dinner at least 4 times a week. 
10. Buy a new fridge & Redo kitchen floor.
11. Become active in church. 
12. Prioritize monthly date night with Chris. 
13. Pay off our SUV loan and buy a new car! 
14. Teach Beth to crawl and walk!
15. Teach Madison how to skate!
16. Read 1 book a month .. I am open to suggestions.
17. Lift heavy at twice once a week.
18. Stick to a budget. 
19. Make sure all my mascara is off before going to bed .. Black marks on pillows aren't pretty. 
20. Eat clean 80% of the time. 
21. Travel to a new place.
22. Continue working out and getting into the best shape of my life.
23. Spend more time working on letters and numbers with Madison. 
24. Have a weekly movie night with Madison with our phones on do not disturb... Even if Chris is working.
25. Put in a play structure in for the girls. 
26. Make our bed every day, and teach Madison how to make hers. 

These goals are all over the over place, sorry for that! 

Check back in 6 months to see the progress!

Back to enjoying my tea before the girls wake up and we start our day. 

Xo's 

6 months

Elizabeth

Weight: 12lbs 5oz (updated 9/11/14)

Length: 24 1/4in (updated 9/11/14)

Milestone: lots a new milestones reached! Beth's rolling all over the place and using her feet to push herself around on her back. She is so close to sitting for longer periods of time by herself!! She has 2 teeth and 2 more are starting to come in!  

Sleep: At night it's great 10hrs straight! We are working on a nap schedule. Luckily Beth is a "go with the flow" kinda kid and will nap no matter where we are. We just need to work on the times!

Eating: Amazing! I don't think I've been able to say that about her eating but wow! She can eat! We introduced cereal almost 2 weeks ago and she loves it! She even tries to feed herself! She loves squash, sweet potatoes are the latest veggie so we will see how she does. Last night was the first time she had them and she didn't seem to mind them!!

Diapers: 2's, this won't be changing for a very long time!

Clothing: Still 3 months.. Finally 3-6 months from gymboree and gap are starting to fit! This girl is a petite little peanut. At this rate Madison's first Christmas dress she wore at 3 months till fit Beth!! 

Mood: She is a happy baby!!! She's not overly fussy and she's not clingy!

Loves:

• Food
• Bouncing
• Rolling around 
• Sitting in her seat infront of the fan in only a diaper!
• Bath time with her sister 

Hates:

• Not seeing whats happening around her.
• TEETHING!
• Getting stuck when she rolls herself into something 

Madison

Our little munchkin starts ballet & tap next weekend!!! She is also starting school on Thursday! She's moving on up from the 2s room to the 3's! She is so excited to get back to school.. She has already picked out her outfit for the first day and has her back pack packed and hanging by her door!

We are in the midst of planning her 3rd birthday.. I am still in a little shock that she's going to be 3! Where did this baby go?

Hello there

Sorry I've been MIA for the past few weeks, I have been busy enjoying the last few days of summer before the craziness of work and school starts! As I sit at our table drinking my morning coffee and watching the buses go by I figured I should probably take the 10min of peace and update you all! 

This coming week will be our transition week.. Starting to get out of the slower more relaxed mornings of summer and into the extremely well planned time efficient mornings of fall! Since we now live 20 min from Madison's school (also my work and her camp) being able to get out of the house on time is crucial! Even being 2 min off could put us behind one of the many school buses on our road!

Madison starts school next Thursday so we have some time to work on the routine. The tough part is going to be adding the new stuff... Beth's breakfast! Last week we introduced solids into Beth's diet and so far she is loving it. She had only had oatmeal and squash so far but she's doing great! 

 

Along with that big change we are also getting ready to chase her around the house! She will be 6 months this coming weekend and she is rolling everywhere, and when on her back uses her feet to push herself around. Madison is already trying to teach her how to crawl!

We've had many adventures in the past week.. We went to the zoo for the first time as a family of 4. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be! The girls were great!

We went to the pool to celebrate Ryan's 2nd birthday!

And then we got to celebrate his birthday again at what Madison described as "the best birthday ever"... The truck that Ryan's aunt and uncle got him may have something to do with that!

Beth took last years birthday present for a spin.

I finally laced up my sneakers and ran another race. It was the "Labor on Labor Day 5k" in our old town! I was a little nervous as the course was hillier then anything I've done. I had a goal to set a new PB.. My previous was 38:07 so I was hoping for 36!  I was beyond shocked when I crossed the line at 32:07 (unofficial time- will update official when it's posted). 

My mother in law was nice enough to bring the girls and stand and cheer at the finish line in the gross humid weather!

As many of you know I am running a 10k and 1/2 marathon at Disney world in February... This is also known as the Glass Slipper Challenge.  You might also know I am running for an amazing charity called "Noah's Light Foundation". 

Since September is pediatric cancer awareness month and I am running for a pediatric cancer chartiy I hoping to raise the bulk of my funds this month!!

Please head to this link and make a donation! Any amount is great!! 

https://www.noahslightfoundation.org/donate/index.php/component/civicrm/?task=civicrm%2Fpcp%2Finfo&reset=1&id=426

Have a great week :)

Xo 

And it's back up...

Welcome to another Friday Fit post!  Last week I was happy to share that I finally broke that plateau my scale was stuck at well.. After a very unmotivational start to the week the scale is back up.

I feel like women will understand my feelings a lot more then men about this past week. For 2 days all I wanted to do was eat!! Eat junk, chocolate bars, donuts, pizza and anything else you can think of. I also had no motivation to work out!  All that combined made for a horrible week fitness wise for me. 

I woke up Thursday feeling more like myself and hit the gym for a great work out.

 I had big plans for the day- workout, clean my whole house and spend some time with Beth while Madison was at camp carnival.. Well that went out the window when on the way home from the gym I got a call from the camp nurse - Madison had a fever and was complaining her throat hurt. So off we went to get her and take her to the docs where we found out she most likely has coxsackie. Joy. 

My motivation was gone again all I wanted to do was cuddle with my sick little munchkin and help her feel better.

After the girls were in bed I took 20min to myself to write down my goals for the next month, 3 months, 6 months and year! I did this in hopes of sparking that light inside and giving me the motivation to get back at it! 

Last week I shared that I am going to be competiting in a Bikini competition in April BUT today I am going to share my goals for the up coming months. These are the goals I wrote down last night and I can't wait to get back at it today!!

1 month

- focus on eating clean 

- exercising daily (with rest days)

- run a sub 35min 5k on Labor Day

3 months

- complete my first 10k

- continue eating clean

- fit back into my favorite jeans from before I got pregnant with Madison.

6 months

- still eating clean

- complete a few 5ks

- run my first half marathon 

- be happy and confident 

1 year

- maintain a healthy body weight and image

- complete 1st bikini competition maybe more

- complete 2 half marathons

These are just a few goals that I have set for the next year. You will notice I dnky mention lose weight, that's because I am going to try to not step on the scale for the next 16 days. I am going to focus on the changes my body makes through clean eating and exercising! 

What are your short and long term goals?  New moms what are your goals - walk with your little ones, eat clean, baby yoga?   

Happy Friday! 

Fit Friday

Well I am very excited because I FINALLY shattered that horrible plateau! 

2lbs gone!!!

Wooooooo .. If there was a camera in my room you would have seen my happy dance which was a lot of arms swinging and jumping up and down, and lots of "Wooo whooo"ing.

So this past week one thing that changed was my workouts.. I have incorporated more weights and most of my cardio is coming from doing HIIT! I will need to pick up my running soon to train for my races but this week I was focused on trying new things to break that plateau!

         5months postpartum baby#2

I was so excited to get my new heart rate montior - polar ft60. I was previously using the Ft4... I wanted the extra features that the ft60 comes with and so far I am loving it! It gives me that little extra motivation to push through a tough workout!!

So about that big fitness goal I mentioned last week.. I am having a hard time revealing this goal to people because 1. I am not sure how they will take it and 2. I don't care to listen to them question it. 

I have decided I will be doing a fitness competition in April (bikini division). This means over the next few months I will be training for both that and my races! 

I have a lot of work to do.. Weight to lose, muscle to gain and awhole lot of toning to be done. Strict workouts, strict diet (5 yummy meals a day :)) BUT I am prepared for the hard work and I am really looking forward to transforming my body and see what I can do! 

Wooo. Feels good to get that out.

I will post my progress on this blog as I hope to use this to keep myself accountable during this process!

What are your goals? 

Walk more? Eat cleaner? Cut out soda?Let me know in the comments!

Xo's 

5 Months!

Elizabeth

Weight: 9lbs 9oz (as of July 18th)

Length: 22 1/4inches (from 4 month check)

Milestone: (new topic) ELIZABETH ROLLED!! She rolled from her front to her back and is so close to rolling from back to front.. she gets stuck on her side!

Also TODAY... Her first tooth cut!!! 

Sleep: Amazing! She is doing a solid 10 hours every night!!!!

Eating: Great! Her pediatrician and gastroenterologist both agreed to hold of on trying solids until 6 months because so many changes have been made to her diet already. She will be starting cereals, veggies and fruits in September. 

She has figured out how to hold her own bottle which is a blessing to us!

Diapers: She is wearing 2's! Not because she needs that size but because she is very sensitive and the 2's give her a little "breathing room".

Clothing: Still 3 months.. and 0-3 months! Anything 3-6 is massive on her! We are getting alot of use out of all the 3 month clothing!

Mood: She is a happy baby!!! She is really only fussy when she is hungry or wants to be changed!

Loves:

• Madison singing to her
• Facing outwards to see what's going on.
• Eating.. if she sees a bottle she gets to excited!

Hates:

• Not seeing whats happening around her.
• TEETHING!
• When daddy leaves her.. this girl is such a daddy's girl!

God Bless Elizabeth

This weekend was a special weekend for Elizabeth as she was baptized!

 Her baptism was thrown together in 11 days.. we kept it small and it was perfect!

Elizabeth was baptized at Our Lady Of Perpetual Help church where Chris was baptized, she wore the same gown that Madison wore AND my father, 2 aunts, 1 uncle, my 2 brothers and 2 of our cousins also wore it! To make it even more special it was actually my oma's wedding dress that she made into a christening gown. All the names of the people who have worn it are stitched into the bottom. 

The priest compared it to the Stanley Cup.

 Beth's god parents are Chris' brother Pj & Chris' cousin Lindsay! 

Lindsay (Aunt Lala), Uncle Pj, Father Fernan, Chris & Kim

 Yes, that is Father Fernan feeding Elizabeth, before he blessed the beautiful diamond cross that her god parents gifted her with.

Beth, Mom & Opa

Beth & her godparents.

 I love this photo because it shows just how proud Madison is to be a big sister!

Hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

xo's