Wednesday, March 31, 2010

I Did It!

So I went from feeling blah and taking that nap, to feeling somewhat better and forcing myself to exercise, feeling a TON better, and then making dinner and cleaning the whole living room/kitchen in an hour so my hubby thought I had been busy all day! Haha! I love it!

In other good news, Lindsay Brin is having a giveaway on her blog for her DVDs. All you had to do was go to Amazon.com and write in a review and then email them about it. I really hope I win! I already have a ton of DVDs, but I would love the prenatal ones since we are looking to TTC (try and conceive) soon. If I don't end up winning, I will buy them anyway. I love her DVDS!

I am going to post new pics this week or weekend. I am pretty excited! I don't know how different I look, but I can feel my muscles forming under my skin. It's pretty cool! I am going to try and get a shot of it for you guys.

Anyway, working out is awesome! I love the energy it gives me. It makes life SO much better. I'm so glad I made the decision to do it today so I could be reminded of it. I hope everyone else is doing well too!

Blah

I've been feeling blahish since Sunday. I just want to sleep all day. Do you ever have days like that?

I am debating on whether to sleep or exercise during Ryan's first nap. I have tentatively decided to exercise. Aunt Flo came to visit on Sunday so I have been using her as an excuse to sleep and be lazy the past few days. Now that I'm even writing about it, I may be tentatively deciding to take a nap. It's awful. I do miss working out. I wish I could work out when Ryan is awake. Blah, blah, blah.

I slept for about 7 hours last night. That is actually pretty good! I shouldn't be so tired. For those of you who are amazing with their time, how do you get out of ruts like this, or not even allow yourself to get in them? I just need some positive thinking. :)

Monday, March 29, 2010

Fun Activities for Toddler

Most days I feel like a horrible mother. I see all these posts or Facebook statuses about all the fun things my friends are doing with their kids, and I feel horrible. But sadly, I can't think of anything to do. Ryan just spends most of his time exploring and playing then eating. So today I said to myself, enough is enough!

I got online and looked up activities for a one-year-old and found quite a few. My goal is to do one a day, at least, and hopefully we can both enjoy them. I want to be a good mom, and I want Ryan to be doing things that help him develop well. He is such a cutie. I love him so much!

Here are the activities I found:

Make play dough and then cut them out with cookie cutters. (I have a recipe if anyone wants!)
Play with measuring cups. Kids apparently love to pour.
I need to buy some balls. We don't have any!
Get some stuff to stack. Right now, he does it on his own in our pantry. As nice as that is, I'd rather things stay in the pantry! :)
Take an empty milk jug and put small stuff in it. Kids will have fun trying to get it out or shaking it.
Give him clothes to take out of the laundry basket and put in another one.
Let him go at the junk mail.
Make small bean bags for him to throw or stack or whatever. (I have a TON of fabric, so this will be fun.)
Let him eat with a spoon or fork at every meal. (I need a splash mat! :)
Go to story time at the library.

Of course these are all in addition to just hanging out outside and exploring at home. I know that it is okay to let kids play by themselves most of the time. It's a learning thing. It's also good for mommy too.

How do you other mommies balance YOUR time with making sure you're spending time with your kids? How much do you play with your kids each day? I need a reality check, so answers would be nice. :) Thanks!!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Spiritual Sunday


Today has been such a weird day. I am feeling very bipolar in my feelings, which makes it hard to follow through on stuff.

I got a call last night from the choir director inviting me to choir practice. It is at 11 am every Sunday. That is usually when I am preparing my lesson so normally I can't make it. My friend Julie Anne said that I just need to prepare my lesson earlier! Of course! So that was the plan, but I ran out of time yesterday.

I was still going to try and make it today. Sundays are Jared's day to sleep in. I normally prepare my lesson when Ryan goes down for a nap around 9:30-10 am. Since choir is at 11, I would have to prepare it earlier and shower earlier.

Well I got up this morning and it just wasn't happening. I was so cranky and tired. There was no way I was going to finish my lesson and shower and take care of Ryan all before 11 am. So I gave up and took a nap when Ryan napped instead. I got my lesson ready and showered all before he woke up. Jared went home teaching at noon so that made it even more crazy. But I stayed calm through it all. Ryan was still eating lunch at 12:55 and I hadn't finished preparing my lesson. Instead of going all crazy trying to get to church on time, I just relaxed. We got there about 1:15ish and still made sacrament! I was so happy. Everything worked out!

I just felt bad I didn't make it to choir. I will try harder next Sunday.

I got up and beared my testimony today. It has been such a long time since I've done that. I haven't had the "get up and do it" knot in my stomach for a long time. I thought, oh fast sunday, I am so glad I don't get those knots any more. Then I thought, well you haven't really done any "missionary work" (what I talked with my primary class about last week), and this would be a great opportunity. Well shoot. Here come the knots!!! So I got up as fast as I could. It was shaky, but the important parts were there. I even teared up. It's been awhile for that. I heard once that it should be called "burying" your testimony. They more you bear it, the bigger it grows. So yes, my heart and soul feels full today.

But I also feel weird today. I told my primary kids I was having a blah day. Don't you ever have one of those? I asked. Some said yes, and one girl said emphatically, NO! She is such a happy girl; I totally believe her. I hope I end today on a good note. I am happier than I was this morning. We'll see. :)

I am trying to do new exercises at night to strengthen my core, and as I do those, I am going to try and remember to say my prayers as well. A 25-year-old mother should never forget to say her prayers. I have much to be grateful for and much that I need. I forget that I have my Heavenly Father here with me at all times to talk to. I need Him. Praying at night will help me strengthen my role as a mother and wife and as a homemaker (what a tough job that is!) This is my spiritual goal this week.

I will try to get back on this week to talk physical stuff. I'm pretty excited about how things are going so please look back for more updates!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Spiritual Sunday

Sorry this is so late. It's been such a crazy couple of weeks. That said, this is going to be short.

I just wanted to say how much I love church. I am loving my calling more and more, and Jared was so nice to take Ryan out and I just listened and felt the spirit so warmly. There are so many things I want to be better at, and I am just reminded about it at church each week.

My teaching companion was released this week and called to the Primary presidency. So that means that I no longer can attend Relief Society until I get a new companion. You would think I would be disappointed, but I totally am not. I actually like being able to teach alone. My teaching companion was AMAZING and I usually felt like I was teaching along with meeting her expectations. I also felt like my class liked her better, even if that is true or not. This past Sunday though, my class was amazing. I dealt with them when I needed to, and we had a lot of fun. I taught them about how to be a missionary even when you're a kid.

I told them the story about Ammon and King Lamoni, and then left out the part about chopping off all the arms, but told them they should ask their parents about it. One boy was SO interested! He wanted to know what it was I wasn't saying. I told him it was violent; of course, he loved it more. I wonder if he did go home and ask him mom about it. He doesn't come as much because he doesn't like church, so I hope the class was fun for him.

I told the kids that I need to work on being a better missionary as well. I am teaching them basic principles like prayer and about Jesus Christ's life. Lately, I have been horrible with my prayers. I would love to get into the habit of saying them morning and night again. So what I realized is that I need to learn from these as well. So each Sunday, I am going to try and do what I ask my kids to do. It should be fun. No, so far I haven't done anything missionary like. I have a few more days this week though! :)

I would like to learn more about the bible, so I have a goal to start reading the New Testament soon and hopefully finish it in a year or so. Is that possible? I hope so. :)

Things are going good. I am still stressed in many areas of my life, but I'm hoping to organize it better so things will be less stressful. We'll see how it goes!

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Keep It Simple

Well we finally did it. We took a look at our finances (when I say we, I mean me and Jared. Amazing isn't it!?), and made a budget.

Good news: We made a budget and we have enough to cover our needs.
Bad news: We only make enough to cover our needs. AND we don't have a ton of flexible spending. If only our HOA didn't include cable so we could get rid of it!

The only thing that we could get rid of is our phones, and we'll see with that one. I need texting to talk to my mom (a lot of it) and then I want to be able to make calls if I need to. We used 240 minutes out of 750 last month. Yeah, I'm thinking we don't need that many. But our phone is through Tmobile and you need to have a plan that is at least $50 to have it. Have you seen those Digis billboards? Internet and phone for $20?! We are considering that. Like I said, we'll see.

We can also eat out less. We have already been doing better this month so we'll see how it goes. I hardly eat out, but Jared hates sandwiches (why can't he just love them!?) so lunch just isn't cheap for him. But eating out is way more expensive so we have budgeted that as well as grocery store spending. We also put a cap on home improvements and decorating and all other stuff. I'm excited to see how we do at the end of April.

I would really like to be able to save at least $100 a month until we're decorated and then more afterwards. It sounds pathetic huh? But it's something. And I would like to start a life insurance policy for Jared, as well as an IRA. The main problem is all the decorating we are wanting to do. It's expensive! and I'm even being cheap about it! So I have come up with my motto for decorating: Keep It Simple!

With this in mind, I don't need to compete with everyone in my complex. I just need to decorate enough that it looks nice. It doesn't have to be WOW nice, because face it Shirley, we can't afford that.

We painted our entertainment center a dark brown and bought a wall clock. Now I just need shelves, decorations for the shelves, and pictures of our family and a picture for our dining room. I also would like to get a bench for our hallway and then some hooks to hang coats on for when people come over. Before that though, I need to get some rugs for our super long hallway. I am going to try and pay for all of this with my income that I am bringing in. It isn't much at all, but it is better to use that and remind me to keep it simple and take it one month at a time.

I have also decided to paint my bedroom. My sister-in-law said she would help me, as long as it was before a certain time, so I am going to take her up on that deal. The problem is that I have to buy a bed set so I can match the colors up. Right now our bed has a red and white 80's quilt on it. So comfy, but I am not painting my room BRIGHT RED. The bed set will be quite expensive probably, so I will have to pay for that first. I wish that I had a ton more money to spend on decorating, but I don't. It's okay. I have a nice house and home and I am grateful for that.

Oh and another thing I want to add is that we didn't pay our tithing last month so I could buy some stuff. After going over our budget I am going to be sure that we pay this month. If anything, it will make me feel better and more grateful for the situation we are in. I really can't complain. I have a wonderful husband, the best baby in the world, a warm home, and plenty of food to keep me fat. ;) I think paying our tithing will remind me of this. And maybe someone will write out a check for one million dollars to me for being so cute. Haha. jk!

So if you were wondering, yeah, the search of awesome non-mom jeans is at a halt. Maybe I can get some for my birthday. That's only two months away! I think I can wait until then. :)

Thursday, March 11, 2010

GiveAway!

I'm having a give away! Every one is doing them these days.

The winner of the give away gets to come and decorate my house!

In all seriousness, I know no one wants to win this, I really need some one who knows what they are doing. I just went to a woman's house in my ward and her house was decorated so cute! I don't know what I am doing. There is so much to buy. I wish a designer was in the family. Sigh.

Does any one with a cute house want to come and share their knowledge? Thanks. :)

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

New DVDs

So I took some more pictures since it's been over 3 weeks, and there isn't much difference. It's not surprising because of my neck hurting and then having the typical girly issues. The good news? I'm still 135! Which is awesome because when I wasn't working out, I was eating like a pig.

We have no bad food in the house right now. Kind of sucks, but it's good. I really could use a huge chocolate shake and a piece of cake and a donut. How I love donuts...! BUT I'm being good. And it's really really hard. But I want to lose another 5 pounds and so there goes my fun eating. Sure I can eat an orange, but it just isn't as good. Can you tell I'm really struggling with this!? haha.

I took some pictures of me not flexing so you can see what I really look like. I didn't feel like the last pictures gave the truth. I wish I had taken some of me flexing before. That would have been awesome.

May 2009

6 weeks working out, March 2010

May 2009

6 weeks working out, March 2010

I also took some of me flexing, but I look worse than before. I guess either I gained inches or I didn't roll my pants down far enough. Oh well.

3 Weeks after working out, Feb 2010

6 weeks working out, March 2010

3 Weeks after working out, Feb 2010

6 weeks working out, March 2010

6 weeks working out, March 2010 (I added this one because of the lovely view of the love handles)

I tried P90X last night and thought it was awful. It was all high fitness stuff, which I didn't particularly like. And a lot of it was impossible. If it's impossible now, how do you find the motivation to keep going? Also it gave me a HUGE headache. We did the Core Synergistics, which had us on the floor a lot. I HATE being on the floor that much. Plus it was a full hour and that's too long for me. I wanted to do it with Jared so I waited until Ryan was put to bed and worked afterwards. I didn't get to bed until after 1 am. Working out this way just isn't going to work for me. Sorry Jared! He will do okay on his own though.

Instead of doing P90X, I went to Mom's Into Fitness. It's a website run by Lindsay Brin, the author or Shed 5 Fast, and has a ton of other stuff on there. I decided to do the Boot Camp DVD's (for postnatal) and the Core Firing Sequence Method (it says, tummy tuck without the surgery! We'll see... :). I am very excited to get these and try some other stuff she has. I did the Dance one she has and I didn't like it as much. The moves were kind of hard to follow. I prefer actually working out than dancing, who knew? She is also running a deal that if you buy 3 DVD's, you get 15% off, 4 DVD's you get 20% off, and if you order over $49, you get free shipping. The Shed 5 Fast DVD is also on sale for 20% off. I think that deal goes until March 15th. I hope these all get here quick!


Just a quick shout out about my other endeavors... they are slowly coming along. This week is dedicated just to my office, so I am not allowed to do anything else. I hope to post a picture of a beautiful, organized office on Monday. Wish me luck! Please... :)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Resolutions

I am in a super big funk right now, if you couldn't tell from my last post. I am just feeling pressured and stressed and that makes me want to give up on stuff.

When I am stressed, I stop doing stuff and then get bored and then I eat and laze about. Today I didn't exercise. I just didn't want to. And I ate brownies and chocolate shakes. What is a girl to do?!

Well I asked Jared to start taking care of the finances. We will need to sit down and go over them, which we've been needing to do anyway, and he will do a good job. I'm better at reminding him than I am myself. I guess I'm a natural nag.

Also - since I didn't work out, I didn't shower, and I think that affected the turn out of my day as well. I don't feel as accomplished. I did a lot this morning and then the rest of the day sucked. It actually wasn't bad in the getting stuff done category. I took pictures of Mister and then made his birthday invitations, that rocked, and I did the dishes. Yes the place is still a pig sty, the white laundry that is folded/strewn around by stinkerface is still on the floor in front of the stairs, but that's okay. Tomorrow is a new day. I think that is why I am drinking a chocolate shake now. Better get it in today! :)

Here is what I NEED to do this month:

1. Sew curtains for living room
2. Reupholster ottoman
3. Plan party (food, decorations)
4. Paint entertainment center
5. Decorate living room area (slightly)
6. UNPACK OFFICE (shouldn't this be at the top of the list?)
7. Move finances crap over to Jared's shoulders

Part of the stress is that my job has started taking longer, leaving me less time at night to do stuff. I need to find something to do about it.

I was thinking about how stressed I am and realized that there is something I am forgetting. In my lesson to my primary kids a few weeks ago, I told them about how Heavenly Father is here to help them, they just need to ask. We set up a maze and blindfolded them and I told them that when they needed help to just ask. Both of the kids preferred to do it on their own, even with constant reminding. It took them a lot longer than it would have if they had just asked. I guess we are more like that in this life than I thought. So I need to come to my Heavenly Father and ask him for help. I am not sure what to ask for, but at least to feel at peace with what is going on in my life and to not be so stressed out to the point of being lazy and binging.

Me and Jared are going to be starting P90X and are going to try and do it at night. I don't know how we are going to work it, but we are going to try. The next two days will be my last with Lindsay Brin. I have loved her videos. She has been so awesome! She just had a baby about two weeks ago and is blogging about her after baby body. It is completely honest and she shows you what to do to get back into your pre preggo body. I love it. I will look back to her blog when #2 comes. Her website is www.lindsaybrin.com.

Thanks for listening to me ramble. Any supportive comments would be awesome!

Super Frustrated

I am feeling so frustrated right now!

I feel like I don't have time for anything, therefore everything gets done horribly, or not at all!

Now that Ryan's birthday is coming up, there is so much to do for that. I NEED to get my office unpacked and organized, but it keeps getting pushed out of the way by things that actually have deadlines.

I had the thought today that maybe I should quit working out for a bit. I tried to do it while Ryan was awake, but he kept playing with the TV. I just don't have time for everything I need and want to do.

I just paid our credit card, seeing that we had missed the payment. I forgot about that ONE end of the month payment and it cost us $39. If my desk and the mail was more organized, it wouldn't have happened. It's crazy in here. I really have no idea where a lot of things are and that is not good.

Sometimes I really wish I wasn't breastfeeding so my mom could come and take Ryan for the day. I really think I could get it all done in one day. It would be exhausting, but it would happen.

I haven't exercised yet today because I had to make Ryan's 1st birthday card. His party is on the 20th and I have to get the invitations out ASAP. Before I made that, I had to make him a shirt to take pictures for the card. I'm finally done with it, but there is still plenty more to do like dishes and showering and, oh... my office!

Do you think if I just pray for help, it will magically pop up? It's worth a try...