The Brothers' Love

Yesterday, I was chatting with Justin about how someday he might have more brothers and/or sisters (not preggers right now, just making conversation with my toddler). It went something like this:

me "Justin, isn't it so fun and special to have Nathan as your brother?"

Justin "Yeah."

me "Someday, you might have another brother or sister. Wouldn't that be great?"

Justin "Yeah. (insert concerned, thoughtful look) Would Nathan still be here then, too?"

Sweet Justin was only excited about the possibility of future sibling(s) if Nathan was included in the mix. I guess he thought I meant we'd have another sibling, as in... trade out Nathan for another baby. Oh, the sad thought!

These boys keep falling in love with each other more and more and I'm so grateful. They bless each other just by being in each others' lives.

Book Giveaway

Three posts in 2 days... I know, not like me. But wanted you guys to have the chance to get a free book.

TwoSquareMeals is hosting a book giveaway for Advent. We just ordered the book last week per her recommendation, so we can't apply for the drawing- ahh shucks. More chances for you to win! She's giving this book away... so if you'd like to try for it, simply post a comment on this post... make sure you provide her with your email address if it's not already on your blog, if you have one. She's drawing them out of a hat. Maybe you'll win the book!

Thanks for being generous with something that blessed you, TwoSquare!

And if you haven't checked it out yet, TwoSquare has a great blog... her posts have a variety of topics... Mommy issues, social justice, spiritual parenting issues, humorous/endearing memories with her kids, music, literature, and more. We used to be in a mentoring relationship... so I wish I could take the credit for all that she knows and does. However, she is yet another example of how the teacher has become the student. Most of my favorite mentoring relationships have turned upside down like that!

Hope one of you wins the book!

For Bod or Bust (or Pecks)... Post Thanksgiving Edition

Hi friends!
So how are you doing with your goals?! I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself... considering it was Thanksgiving! I didn't overeat, I exercised (ran with a little more distance than the previous week) almost every day. I enjoyed an amazing across-the-sky rainbow here before we left and gorgeous farm/mountain views at my in-laws. However, I did no abs... it's a bit difficult to do those outside of your own home, ya know?! How are the rest of you doing?

This week's Bod or Bust (or Pecks) award goes to my Aunt Betsy... for losing 40lbs+ last year doing Weight Watchers and for sending us a yummy (and healthy) dessert recipe last week. Congratulations, Betsy! Thanks for joining us! Your award is a large pumpkin... I'll toss it to you now, get your hands ready!

Traveling with Children

Hi friends!
On this morning after our return Thanksgiving travels, I want to share some humorous wisdom received from my friend Kelly. It is wisdom in regards to traveling with children, and as I sip my cup of coffee and squint through my foggy eyes, I'm brought to laughter with its perspective. For those of you also (enjoying) travelling with your little ones over the holidays, hopefully it'll do the same for you.

"Travel with kids is an adventure, not a vacation. Really, it's like childbirth. In the middle of it, you think, "I will NEVER repeat this experience," but then the memories fade and you even look forward to it next time around."

Thanks for sharing Kelly! Hope you don't have to get up 10 times tonight and that you get some sleep soon!

We travelled to my in-laws and had a good time. Justin started falling apart Friday... the missed sleep and over stimulation catching up with him. Doug and I started falling apart at the same time... for the same reasons I presume. Nathan sleeps in our room when we travel. And he loves to moan and talk throughout the night. He's the loudest sleeper on the planet, we're sure. We do look forward to their sharing a room someday, but we're convinced we'll have to don Justin some ear plugs in order to weather Nathan's noise.

Doug's auntie and family live down the street from our in-laws and we spend some time with them as well. Think farm country, lots of cows, slower pace, etc. When I called Aunt Moira (and the rest of her 9-person family) to make our visiting plans, she said, "The only thing we have this morning is skinning and butchering the dear we just received from some friends. This afternoon we have some friends (family of 7 + pregnant mama) coming over, but they can't come until they receive their hay delivery." Hmmmm, interesting. Words I would never use to describe my day! It's always fun and insightful to be around folks who live in different worlds then we!

Happy post-Thanksgiving, everyone!

For Bod or Bust (or Pecks) Continued

In this eve-week of Thanksgiving, how are ya? As we head into the eating/visiting with family frenzy, I'm wanting to remember to enjoy myself, try a little of everything, stop when I'm full, and take every advantage of going for walks and playing outside with family.

We have a couple new folks joining our healthy venture: Melanie- all the way from Thailand... making our group truly international since Laura is in too. Welcome!

Our "tip of the week" comes via another newbie Katie P... check this out to map out distances for walking and running... tres fun, mon amie! Thanks!

Marshall has had a great week, running his longest distance EVER- 5.85 miles! Marshall qualifies for the first ever MakingRoomForMore Pecks of the Week Award. Congratulations, Marshall! Keep a look out for your free Dunder Mifflin Anti-Nipple Chafing Cream, coming soon!

The last half of the week, I slacked off in the walking/running department. Doing okay in the eating department though. How are all of you doing with your goals??

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Multi-Tasking

I've always considered myself a multi-tasker... but after becoming a mommy, my multi-tasking has reached a whole new level. Tonight after the boys were in bed, I found myself:

doing a load of laundry
sipping a glass of red wine
listening to the quiet hums of the boys' monitors as they drifted off to sleep
listening to Poetry Speaks to Children on CD- thanks to Nina's recommendation
emptying cooked, pureed, and frozen raisins and dried apricots out of ice cube trays for Nathan's baby food
cooking green beans in the microwave
dreaming up my next blog post
imagining spending my 6th anniversary with my sweetie in February

Yes, all at the same time. These are the moments I think I am really amazing. I mean, when will the next Nobel Peace price go to a parent, I ask you?
What are some of your favorite multi-tasking moments?? Do share! I can't grant you to Nobel, but I can grant you public access for the rest of the world, via being read here on the www!

For Bod or Bust (or Pecks)

Thanks for embarking on my winter wellness challenge!! "Winter Wellness Challenge" speaks of the meaning of what we're doing but sounds a bit dorky. So today I've come up with a better title of our little venture... "For Bod or Bust (or Pecks)"... it has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?! Pecks were added because our little community is co-ed by nature (or nurture?).

Here's how it will work. The beginning of every week, I'll post with our new little title as the subject so you'll get your cue. I'll post my successes and confessions. You chime in and comment on yours as well. Hopefully, commenting to each other at the beginning of each week about the last week will help remind us to get on track for the coming week. We'll continue this through the winter months or as long as it is helpful. If others would like to chime in, feel free... just be sure to let us know your goals as well. For the 6 of us, let us know in your comments if you've written something about it on your blog so we can read. I've put my successes and failures at the bottom of this post... so feel free to get started and add yours in a comment to this post. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for better ways to make this work. Thanks for joining with me! I look forward to hearing how your last week has been!

Here are the takers:
Two Square Meals
Marshall at Joy in the Margins
Diane at SleeplessinGreensboro
my Doug (blogless)
Laura
Laura is in Honduras and can't easily post a comment because she has limited bandwidth down there. I'm not totally sure what that means, but I do like saying the word "bandwidth." Maybe we'll name our 3rd born "Bandwidth." (don't worry... there's no 3rd yet.) Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Summary of our Goals
Two Square Meals: I need more exercise, more water, and fewer sweets.

Marsh: I plan on running 3 X's a week, followed by sit ups and push ups (gotta get ripped), and I am contemplating training for the marathon that is planned for Gso in May.

Diane: I'm trying to snack on better options-have more fruit available, etc. So, I would love to maintain a healthy diet, exercise 3 X a week with some ab and other toning exercises at least 2 X a week.

Doug: I'm gonna do push ups and sit ups 3 times a week, increasing each week. I'll even try to get Justin to lay on my legs for sit ups and back for push ups.

Laura: The one thing that is lacking is an ab workout. I am going to try to work out my abdominal muscles regularly. (Check out Laura's web page- linked above- for more info on all the exercise she gets naturally, living where she lives.)

Me: walk/run for 20-30minutes 3-4 times/week.do some sort of ab workout a couple times/week.during nap time, reduce my large snack to a small snack.say "no" to after dinner snacking, most nights.try to eat slowly, paying attention to when I'm full... decreasing my portion sizes as appropriate. try to focus on eating more fruits and veggies, cut out some cheese and crackers, save the dessert-urges for really good homemade ones... stop wasting them on candy corn and the like. continue to drink lots of water.

---------------------------------------------
My successes: I've walked/run every other day ever since last Sunday... so 5x! I've gradually decreased my walking distance and added running distance. I've felt great! And I totally rock because it's been COLD when I leave at 7:15am... last Thursday it was 24 degrees when I left! I'm still only gone for about 20 minutes which is ridiculously short. So this week I want to work on increasing to 30 minutes. I've also done some ab work 3 of those days. Generally done better eating, but
Confession time: I had a few extra handfuls of candy corn and ate 5 pieces of pizza yesterday! And I need to drink more water... would help the headache I have right now!

Knit Happens

I've had the knitting bug for a couple months. Was it the crisp evenings creeping into my den? Was it the desire to create, the need to make something with a starting point and a finishing point with my own two hands? I think it was a combination of the two, along with the urge to do something fun for myself that didn't directly meet anyone else's needs in my family. Just for me.

Last week I hauled up my knitting box from the basement... uncovering piles of yarn, my favorite knitting book Stitch 'N Bitch (from which I lifted the title of this post), and my beloved needles.

You see, all these elements of knitting are beloved to me because of their sentimentality. I picked up the craft for a road trip my husband and I took just over 3 years ago. I hypothesized that I would need something to do for all those miles. Our road trip took us from here in the Blue Ridge Mountains all the way to Banff, Canada. My memories include balancing my book on my lap and knitting scarves for all the women in our families for Christmas presents... all the while thankful for all the straight, flat roads which kept car sickness at bay! Doug and I figure I drove about 2 hours that ENTIRE 2-way road trip... all ~5,000 miles. I was happy creating and clicking with my needles... so proud of all my new, little creations. Doug was content keeping the wheel straight and pointing out all the hawks off the side of the road. It was such a special time for us... completely uninterrupted on the roads and in the woods in both Banff and Glacier National Parks... only to our sharing more of our history, observing the gorgeous settings, wondering about the communities we traversed, and dreaming of our future. It was during that trip that our Justin was conceived, unbeknown to us at the time. And in the backdrop of all these memories is yarn.

"What am I making?," you might ask. Well, I started and stopped several things in the last week. Originally, I was determined to knit with my leftover yarn. But today I decided I needed a new skein of yarn in a new color. What I was wanting to make just wasn't clicking with the available choices. And as any knitter knows, it is no fun to knit if you aren't excited about your yarn. So I headed over to a discount craft store- I'm no yarn snob... synthetics are preferred around here. And with my new-very delectable- yarn, I returned to start something new. And you'll have to wait and see (or read) once I'm finished recreating this small nook of the world.

For now, just picture my cute little knitting bag, made for me by a dear friend who first inspired me. It hangs on our little Doug-made coat rack by the front door... with antique wood casters and hooks and door knobs. Amidst the cars and trucks and music shakers and Dr Seuss books and balls... the bag brightens the room and reminds in thankfulness of an earlier time in my story that helped bring me to where we are today. And I imagine it will beckon me to itself in the coming days... massaging my own hands and mind, for every knitter knows... Knitting is a ministry for both the one who receives the finished product and the knitter herself. I'm in need of some knitting ministry. So with open hands, I put myself at the feet of the yarn and the One who first Created in the first place.

WHO'S WITH ME????

I'm finally motivated. Not only have I invested in new running/walking shoes, but I've also walked/ran 3 times this week... and I've managed to say "no thank you" to Doug's offer to share his cheese and cracker snack, most nights. I'm still receiving small glasses of red wine upon availability.

Since we moved in this house, I have not exercised beyond taking care of the boys. This summer, it was too blasted hot. And with my milk supply issues, I felt like I needed to focus on staying hydrated for sweet Nathan... who by the way weighed in at 24lbs 4oz at his 12 mth well checkup yesterday!! I'm not sure if I can totally trust the accuracy of the scales, but I think it's safe to say that he's gotten his weight back!

He's my only legitimate excuse. The other one is my illegitimate excuse: laziness.

I'm now in the process of weaning Nathan, so I can no longer use him as an excuse... and I'm excited in general to feel more in shape. After just a couple days of walking/running, I found myself bouncing on and off the floor with more jump in my step. I just felt better. I really did. I'm excited now to feel stronger, more toned, etc.

So here's my little plan:
walk/run for 20-30minutes 3-4 times/week.
do some sort of ab workout a couple times/week.
during nap time, reduce my large snack to a small snack.
say "no" to after dinner snacking, most nights.
try to eat slowly, paying attention to when I'm full... decreasing my portion sizes as appropriate.
try to focus on eating more fruits and veggies, cut out some cheese and crackers, save the dessert-urges for really good homemade ones... stop wasting them on candy corn and the like.
continue to drink lots of water.

Maybe just maybe I'll sign up for a 10k in the area in the early spring as an added incentive, but I don't want to rock the house too much just yet. I'll start with the above plan and see how I do.

I hope I will then:
fit in my clothes better
feel stronger and have more energy for life with my boys and men.
just generally feel more healthy.

Notice I do not have a "goal weight." I'm actually not sure how much I weigh right now. And I largely don't care too much about numbers. But I know my muscle tone is in the negative. My days of a six pack are surely over, which I'm totally fine with... gaining 2 precious boys was certainly worth the trade. But I would like to feel more toned and lose my mushiness. If I could just lose those love handles that I feel shaking when I run (lovely image, huh?!), I'll be so content.

I'm thinking this would be much more fun to do "in community." So, WHO'S WITH ME? Post your goals as a comment on this post OR link us to your blog and post your goals there. If there is interest, then I'll post how I'm doing with my plan roughly weekly. Maybe I'll even get creative and post some inspiring information about nutrition and exercise. Come on you fellow mush-pots... I've talked to many of you about nutrition and exercise and know that you struggle with this too! Let's get stronger and more healthy for ourselves and for our families! Let's treat our sexy bods with a bit more respect as children created by an amazing God! Are ya with me??