Family Pics- 2009

Our neighbor's daughter, Malissa, took our family pics last Saturday and my sister, Ashleigh, helped pick out some favorites and tweak a couple for me. I had found this really pretty trail 3 weeks ago with beautiful fall colors and knew this was where I wanted to take our pics this year. It's only about 1 mile from our house. Fall is my favorite season for many reasons. I love the cool, crisp air. I love to wear sweaters, as weird as that sounds. I love cuddling up in a warm blanket with hot chocolate. I love that winter hasn't hit and I don't have to worry about driving in snow or ice... yet. I love soups and stews, and making pumpkin cookies and bread. I love that we start heading into the 'holiday season' with Halloween so close, and then Thanksgiving and Christmas not too far behind. And of course I love fall because of the red, orange, and gold colors everywhere. I went on a great run Saturday and found myself in awe of the beautiful colors all around me. I better soak it all in because I'm sure in another couple weeks the leaves will be gone and snow will be here. (PS For some reason, the uploaded pics are not as clear as the originals and the coloring looks 'off' compared to the real copy. Weird.)

Needing a Kick in the Butt

Our family has been dealing with some stress and big changes lately. Jake started a new job last week, working as the Executive Director and Staff Attorney for a non-profit organization that fights to protect Utah's forests and wetlands. He is excited about this change but it has taken a lot of time, prayer and faith to get us to this point. He's taking a huge pay cut and we have had to re-evaluate our lives and figure out what is most important, deciding the difference between genuine needs and just plain wants. We are trying to adjust and make this change work and it's going to be hard. Jake and I have put a lot of thought and prayer into the decisions we are making for our family and we feel, so far we are on the right track. We also know that a lot can change very quickly and so we are just trying to live in the moment, and having hope that no matter what happens in the next week, month, or year from now, we will be okay and it will all be for the best.

So... amidst all the chaos in our lives this past month, my exercise and diet got put on the back burner and guess what... I GAINED 5 lbs! Yes, I'm actually announcing this to the world. I need to be held accountable for my actions and so I'm using this post to re-dedicate myself to working out and eating 1500 calories a day. I sort of jumped back on the wagon last week and went to the gym twice and ran over 5.25 miles on Saturday. My butt-kicking officially started today, though. I ran 2 miles on the treadmill and then did speed interval training for another 2 miles. (As a side note, I love speed intervals! You burn more calories when you switch it up, instead of running the same pace for miles on end. When I say 'speed intervals' I mean I run 1 minute at 7.5 mph, then slow it down for 1 minute, then crank it to 8.0, then fast walk 1 minute, then 8.5, then fast walk, etc. I get up to 9.9, the highest you can go on a treadmill, then I bring it back down. I'm amazed my legs can run that fast without me losing my footing, falling off the treadmill and smacking my face on the floor (yes, I've thought about this!) Anyway, try the intervals. My friend Shana loves them too and says she has got down to her goal weight and toned herself by doing a lot them, so benefits all the way around!) Anyway, back to my workout. Then I did the cross country course on the elliptical for 20 minutes. Then I worked on strength training for 40 minutes and felt pretty good about what I did. I want to focus more on strengthening my adductors and abductors, something I feel will help me stay away from another IT band injury. After my workout I came home and opened my daily plate calorie counter on livestrong.com (highly recommend this website!) I made myself a fruit smoothie for breakfast (1 pear, 1/2 banana, 70 cals of strawberry yogurt, and about 10 ice cubes.) It was pretty good. Usually I throw in some apple juice too, but ran out a few days ago. So my smoothie was 241 calories, so 1259 calories left for the day. I'm jumping right back in full throttle and am pretty dang motivated to get these 5 lbs. off me (and maybe another couple more!) With the holidays coming up, I feel I need this attitude to keep the lbs. off. Anyone else want to join me?!

(PS The pic above is the most recent fam pic I have of all of us, taken about a month ago. We were hanging out with some of our best friends, Shawn and Amei, the night before they left for Toronto. Shawn started his post-doc there last month.)

Birds and the Bees- Revisited

I swear I don't provoke these conversations with my kids... they just happen! Last night Jake was at a board meeting so it was just mommy and the kids all day. It was Emma's turn to pick the book before the kids went to bed and she chose the shark book Ben checked out at the library last week. They wanted to read about the insides of a shark (probably because there were some awesome and gory pictures of shark intestines, etc.) Well, Emma pointed to these two pics and asked what they were. They were pictures of the male and female sharks genitalia. So I explained that. Then Ben asked how girls pee since they don't have a penis.

Oh my. Here we go again. I actually don't mind these talks and appreciate the fact that Ben is comfortable and confident enough to ask me these questions. I just tend to be quite an open person and like to say things how they are but as my kids have grown older (and pick stuff up from Jake and I very easily) I have developed a buffering system, which of course should be there. So I'm very careful these days about what I say to them. Anyway, so Ben and I had a good long chat about the male and female anatomy which lead into another discussion about puberty. Ben at one point asked me if girls have bladders, "you know, the sacks that fill with water and has a ball in them." It took everything in me to hold a straight face and not laugh at that one. So I explained the difference between bladders and scrotums, and now he's not confused anymore. I just pray none of these conversations come out during Sunday School. ;)

Speaking of great mommy moments, I had another one yesterday with Josh. I took Emma and Josh to the park and decided to take a pic of Emma on a bridge. Within the 15 seconds it took me to pull my camera out of the case, turn it on and snap the picture, Josh had found a pile of dog poo and grabbed it with both hands. We were about 5 minutes away from our van, which had my purse in it (which carried my antibacterial wipes and purell.) So, it made for quite an interesting morning. Josh kept asking to hold my hand and didn't understand why I wouldn't. I decided just to carry him (hands away from him and me) and Emma and I raced to the van and made it there very quickly. Don't ask me what he was thinking. He sees Truman's poo and never touches it. Granted, this didn't look like Truman's so I could see his confusion. Either way, it was a very gross moment that I hope doesn't happen again... ever. (We can only hope, right?!)

Migraines

I had always thought migraines happened to stressed out menopausal women and I guess I thought I was immune to them... until the past couple months. I have had 3 or 4 migraines since March and the worst one happened this morning. I was eating blueberry pancakes for breakfast and noticed I had this weird blind spot in my right eye. I couldn't see out of half my eye (and I've learned via the internet that those blind spots are called 'auras') Within a few minutes my head started to pound on the left side, behind my eye and left temple. I felt tension down my neck and shoulder. I downed some rapid release tylenol, hoping that would make it go away fast, but it didn't help. I was miserable and felt absolutely sick. Jake and I drove to his parents' house and I had my head in front of the AC the entire way, trying to breathe in and out slowly so I wouldn't puke. As we pulled up to the house I got out of the car and made my way to the bathroom and threw up half my pancakes. When we got home I closed all the blinds, shut myself up in our room, and went to sleep with a cold washcloth over my eyes. I can't even remember the last time I felt this ill! Hard to believe your body can get this way all because of a stupid headache. I've been reading more about migraines, the causes and symptoms, and it's interesting stuff. My very first one was just 6 months ago and each time it's happened I've noticed I get an aura right before the migraine hits. (It happened once when I was driving, scared me out of my mind having blind spots... very dangerous!) From what I've read it's hard to pinpoint a cause but some factors that could contribute to them are hormonal changes (no, not on my period right now, just in case you were wondering), stress, diet, exercise, lack of sleep, etc. Hopefully this doesn't become a common occurrence. This morning was just awful! Anyone ever had one? What makes them go away quickly?

PS Thanks for all your advice on my last post. It was fun reading about your experiences and reading your advice. I think we just need to be honest and open, willing to answer whatever he asks... not too many details, but enough for him to understand. Anyway, thanks everyone!

The Birds and the Bees

Ben and I had an interesting conversation at dinner time tonight. Here is how it went down:

Ben: Mom, how big are babies when they are in the mom's tummy?

Me: Well, they start out very, very small and then get to be a normal sized baby when they finally come out. Do you remember how big Josh was when he came out of my tummy?

Ben: Yes. So, I know the baby exits through a hole in your tummy (technically true for me because I had them all c-sections). How does the baby get in there? Does a ghost come into your tummy and then it turns into a baby and starts getting bigger?

Me: No ghosts. Actually, a daddy has some special seeds and the mom has a lot of eggs in her tummy. When the seed gets in the egg it makes a baby. Then the baby starts getting bigger and bigger and comes out when it's big enough to live outside of the mommy's tummy.

Ben: Do I have seeds?

Me: Not yet, but you will when you get older.

Ben: Whoa. That's crazy! So... how do the seeds get to the eggs?

I sat there for a second, staring straight at him and wondered how far I should take this. The protective mother in me, wanting to keep him naive forever, decided to say...


Go ask your dad. ;)



A few seconds later Ben then says "Speaking of seeds. Mom? When are we going to plant our garden?"

Wow, that conversation came out of no where. Ben is my smart little guy (will be 7 in December) and I'm just wondering how long it will be until I'm giving him a full Human Development 101 course. So, I ask you all... when did your parents teach you about the birds and the bees? Did you feel it was awkward? Interesting? What could have made the situation better/easier/etc.? I would love to hear your opinions and advice. I'm entering a strange new world of hard-to-answer questions now and I feel I need to be more prepared than I am.

Sam Tsui

I found this on Youtube this morning. I was watching clips from the new Fox series "Glee". (Yes, I'm already hooked and it hasn't even started it's regular season yet.) I love how the cast performed Don't Stop Believin' and this kid, Sam Tsui (not on the show) posted himself singing the same version of the song (and yes, he is singing all 5 parts. You can't see him singing the 5th part because the screen is cut-off.) He's dang good! Enjoy.

Ben and the 'ladies'

So, Ben started 1st grade last week and has been loving every minute of it. He is no stranger to the 'little ladies', which I posted about last year. Today after school I took the kids to the grocery store. I asked Ben how his day was and here is our conversation:

Ben: It was fun. I talked a lot with Ashton. She sits at my table.
Me: Good. So Ashton is a girl?
Ben: Yep.
Me: Is she nice?
Ben: Yes.
Me: Is she pretty?
Ben: (with a smirk on his face) Yes... but not as pretty as you!

Well, good thing I have that boy trained. ;) I think he's definitely going to be a ladies-man and we are okay with that... just no kissing (as we instructed him today at dinner.) Love it.