January Thoughts

Found this draft I never published from Jan. 2018!!
Needless to say, I did NOT keep up with my resolution as this was 2 years ago! Haha..



One of my resolutions this year was to do a better job at keeping up my blog! I’m going to at least post once a month about life happenings. It’s hard to believe that January is coming to a close already!
Rewind to my last update...we had the most amazing trip to Disneyland and can’t wait to go back! It was probably my most favorite trip we’ve ever taken. I cried happy tears more than once! I can’t think of a better way to spend a 5th birthday, but we’ve all had the Disneyland blues since we got home.

We had a good Christmas—although not the best whilst battling the flu, it was probably the most magical one for the kids so far! They are the perfect ages for getting excited over every detail of the season and they got literally every gift their little hearts could desire! Jon and I, however were really sick for a week each so we didn’t do as many Christmas activities as we usually do, but we squeezed in as much fun as we could!

After Avery’s fall theater class wrapped up she was begging to audition for their production of Mary Poppins. She’s been rehearsing for a few weeks now and will be in 5 of the performances as part of the ensemble. We are so proud to see her be so independent and brave as she drifts into the sea of big kids during each practice. She is by far the tiniest one out there, but she is loving it so much!! The rehearsals are really going to get really intense as the show gets closer but she says this has been the most fun activity she’s done so far.

I can’t believe Jonah is only a few months away from being 3!! He is becoming a real big kid more and more each day! He’s officially potty trained  as of December and to hold up my end of the potty training bargain he is now sleeping in a “huge night night” as he requested. I can’t believe he’s really not a baby anymore but the age he is at is the absolute sweetest and everything he does is hilarious and cute. He’s already planning his birthday and says he wants a Hulk Excavator birthday with Mickey cookies so we will see how his vision changes over the next 3 months.

Life Lately

So this has been the longest I've ever gone since I did an update on here. I never even updated about Jonah's 2nd birthday and that was already nearly 6 months ago!! I'll give a quick summary of life since then.

Jonah turned 2 on April 28th. We skipped a big party this year and just went to dinner with my in-laws and had Cookie Monster and Elmo cupcakes at home afterward. He loved it!! The next day we got him his first big boy haircut, and he looks like a whole new (way too big) kid! He's at the most fun and adorable age! He is the cutest and sweetest thing, but also so mischievous!  He loves big trucks, chugga choo choos, and airplanes like most boys do. Trolls, Sing and Snow White are his favorite movies, and Mickey, PJ Masks and Daniel Tiger are his favorite shows. He copies every single thing Avery does and he treats Dada like a rockstar when he comes home. He's getting more and more independent and wants to do everything himself. He totally failed the three day potty training method and is perfectly content in diapers for now. Jonah is totally Momma's boy and gives the best snuggles. He wants so badly to have sleepovers in everyone else's bed, but gets way too distracted to actually sleep. Jonah is really developing a passion for music and shows some real talent on the drums! He makes us laugh all day and he brings so much joy to our lives! We love you, big guy! 

Those sweet curls!!

Here's some of my favorite pictures from the summer!

Golf Cart Ridin

Visiting a dairy farm

Visiting Mema and Pepa

Avery is counting down the days till she turns 5, because she just wants to be big so badly! Plus we will get to celebrate her birthday at The Happiest Place on Earth, DISNEYLAND!! Ave is still our sweet, sensitive girl and is as funny as ever! After soccer ended, she did a summer hip hop dance class, which she loved, and now is doing cheerleading for flag football and taking a theater class. She wants to try everything, so we are trying to just support her in finding what she is really passionate about! I have actually ended up coaching her cheer team, and have had way more fun than I anticipated and it has made it an even more special experience for her. Avery is reading more and more and is starting to get interested in writing. She leaves us little notes all the time and I want to keep them ALL! It's so precious. I can't believe she'll go to kindergarten next year and I get teary every time I think about our slow days at home coming to a close, but I'm also SO thankful we still have a year of hanging out doing fun stuff first!! 

Our little monster's 1st birthday

Avery's last first day of Preschool!

The last picture I got of her smile with all her teeth!

Right now I am just so in love with both of their ages! At nearly 2.5 and 5, they are absolute best friends, and always ask about and miss the other one when they are separated.  They are both so witty and sweet and talented and make us so proud to be their parents. I just can't stand the thought of them not being these tiny people forever!!!

Enjoying Cooler weather this week!

Meanwhile I just turned 30, and celebrated my big milestone birthday with a trip to NYC with Jon as we visited my best friend from high school, Steph! It was a big bucketlist trip for me, and I already want to go back!! Right now, we are 9 days out from our LA/Disney trip and we cannot wait to see their faces light up as they meet all their favorite characters!! I will definitely post an update sooner than later!

The amazing view of Central Park from our room!

Accidentally twinning with my twin!

Finding Me Again

For the past thirteen months I've been working on my fitness and trying to improve my mombod. I've only lost 11 pounds so far, and I'm not to my ideal body yet, but I wanted to share my progress thus far.

Thanks to countless hours of dance during my entire childhood and a crazy high metabolism, I've always been naturally very thin. I had 6 pack abs at 7 years old, that I'd show off as party trick. I grew up on fattening casseroles and greasy fast food between dance classes, and never lost my flat stomach. 

In middle and high school I was close to dangerously thin at times, yet all I'd eat is junk. Through college my eating habits didn't change, but I was still super active as a full time student and waiting tables/bar tending full time, so I'd burn most of it off. I gained a little weight, but it looked better than teetering on the edge of underweight like I had been.

Here's a super-skinny  me trying on a new bikini I got for my 16th birthday

Here's me on my honeymoon--probably in the best shape of my life/ my ideal weight.

My first year teaching I started working out as part of my daily routine and was it pretty good shape when I got pregnant with Avery. I gained 35 lbs with my pregnancy and I totally stopped working out, and lost all but 7 pounds of it before getting pregnant again with Jonah.

5 weeks pregnant with Avery

I only gained 25 lbs with him and lost all but 2 or 3 in the first couple of months. Then my milk supply dropped and he started losing weight suddenly. I was doing everything I could to build my milk supply back up. I was taking supplements and eating every food known to help: whole milk with ovaltine, Gatorade, tons of oatmeal in the form of lactation cookies, lactation energy balls, lots of "healthy fats" of avocado and coconut oil added to every meal. None of it helped much and I threw in the towel in December 2015. What it did though, was make me overweight and miserable. I felt like a failure at breastfeeding for the 2nd time and now was the heaviest I had ever been aside from pregnancy. I had to buy all new clothes. 

I started my weight loss journey in January with all the rest of the world, and have had the slowest progress ever. All those years of eating whatever the hell I wanted had caught up with me. I meal prepped, joined a gym, and then wouldn't be able to go because my babies stayed sick for what felt like months and I got sick over and over as well. I'd go through patches of staying very motivated and would get discouraged by the stubborn scale and give up for about a month before dedicating myself again. This pattern went on all year. I slimmed down enough to feel OK in a swimsuit on vacation then I fattened back up a bit over the holidays, but luckily not quite to where I began.

Summer 2016

This January I promised myself that I'd at least reach my pre-Jonah weight by the time he's two. The past 2 months I've been the most consistent, as that 2nd birthday is sneaking up on me FAST! Jonah is now 23 months old and I have officially hit my goal weight about 2 weeks ago! I'm not quite to my pre-Avery weight and not sure it will happen anytime soon but it's my next goal!

I'm not writing this to sell you a product, but maybe it'll be motivating to someone. If nothing else it's a reminder to myself to not give up on me again!  Here's what's working for me right now.  For the past 2 months I have worked out at least 3-4 times per week and have been making way healthier choices. I still love junk food and sweets but just let myself have a few bites rather than an entire serving to myself. I don't meal prep but I do try to meal plan heathyish dinners that the whole family will like. I have really increased my daily protein amount and focus on that rather than counting calories. I take at least one shot of apple cider vinegar a day as well as probiotics. I'm sampling some other supplements as well but probably don't take them consistently enough to make that much of a difference.
I know this isn't a significant amount of weight loss when you see so many posts of people losing 50+lbs, but this is my first time to truly struggle with my weight and

for the first time in a long time, I feel great about my body. It's not perfect by any means, but looking at pictures from a year ago, I am pleased with my progress. I love seeing results from all my hard work. I am seeing muscles that I haven't seen since high school! I feel stronger and finally like I've found myself again. While I still have plenty of cellulite and stretch marks, I love my body for making the two most perfect babies and will keep taking care of it so I can take good care of them. It's amazing what our bodies can do!

Weight difference is 11lbs from the top row

Long Overdue

Happy Valentine's Day!! So life with two small kids and two dogs is hectic to say the least, and we've been so busy I've totally neglected my blog. So here's a snapshot of life lately! 

Our puppy, Lyla has grown so much! She's an naughty little rascal that is still chewing up EVERYTHING, having occasional potty accidents and is so full of energy, she knocks the kids off of their feet constantly. But she's so dang cute we can't help but love her. Except Abby. Abby still hates her. Abby has become a grumpy old troll who lives under our bed and barks when anyone trip traps over/under/next-to her bridge. 

Jonah calls Lyla either "Why Why" or "Yay yay"  and Avery calls her Lyla-Boo, which have become her nicknames from all of us.  She probably doesn't even know her real name! 

Jonah is such a hilarious and sweet "big guy" as he calls himself. He is at the most fun and adorable age, and quickly catching up to Avery in size! He is talking more and more and starting to put together some sentences. He is learning to count and can almost make it to 10. He's learning his ABC's and can sing quite a few other songs too. Right now he's really into singing Happy Birthday, Old MacDonald, and Don't Bring Me Down by Electric Light Orchastra. He loves his big sister more than anything and hates daddy's beard. He is obsessed with Elmo and does a great Cookie Monster impression. He says "Owwwwie!" when he doesn't like something, which makes it sound like I'm beating him when I'm just changing his diaper or clothes. 

Avery is such a smarty pants with the most sensitive heart. She's loves telling jokes and making us all laugh. She knows lots of sight words and is starting to read! She can count to 100 with some help when getting to a ten's place. She loves being my little helper with everything. She speaks like a little adult which is just so cute. While checking in with her during a play date the other day she said, "We had a little disagreement, but we solved it." With all her maturity it's easy to forget she's only four. I  find myself holding her to too high of standards a lot of the time and I have to constantly remind myself that she's still a baby too. She is allowed to have emotional outbursts and spill things and need help getting dressed still, without us getting frustrated with her. I'm trying to be better about it, to be better for her each day and give us both some grace, but gosh, mommin' ain't easy. 

Here's some favorite pictures from the past few months.

Our little turkey

Avery wore her Whataburger shirt to Whataburger and became an instant celebrity! They gave her all kinds of swag and wanted to take pictures with her!

Santa!!

Christmas jammies

Superwitch!

Snow day!

Zoo days!

Super Princess and Super Sheriff

Mini Me

Still loving posing on store displays

Jon's 30th birthday!!

Monster Jam