Almost unpacked!

Our family moved into our new house about 3 weeks ago, and we are getting close to being unpacked! It was a little slow going when both boys were home all day, so the grandparents really helped out watching them while I figured out the plan in our new house!

We live in a little neighborhood in Edina, and we have loved it so far! Great neighbors, great yard now, and there are a few parks that are really close to our house. The boys have really loved the change, but I think they are at a great age not to care about that stuff anyway.

I will get some photos up soon!

Oh...Boy!

Cooper and Miles are on fire these days, growing and developing at a rate that I think is sometimes hard to keep up with! For months I have been a little concerned, because Cooper wasn't talking at the rate the other kids around us were. That...has changed! He is now using 3-5 word sentences and really exploding in vocabulary! I would say that 99% of the time it is great, but there is still that 1% that I forget he is repeating things, especially while driving! "Oh, come on!" is a phrase that I don't want to hear out of his mouth again, so I guess I will try to drive a little happier with him.

Miles is so eager to walk that he is pushing anything he can pull up on around and kind of falling from one object to another to make smooth transitions. I would say in a few weeks he will be a machine! He already crawls all the way upstairs by himself (with my hovering above him!), and kind of mutters a few words. I LOVE this phase. I would have to say, it is my favorite so far for little Miles.

I guess it is true that 'it will happen when it happens'. I can't stand advice like that - because I am a results driven person, but it is true with kids. They are such unique characters. What happens with Cooper has been so different than what Miles is serving up!

Updated photos will be posted soon...

Nutritionally Deficient?!

Lately if Miles (9 months) goes silent while playing he is usually busy doing one of two things: digging potting soil out of one of our house plants and eating it, or playing with the water in the toilet! Yeah, you read that correctly...he crawls up to a toilet and pulls up to stick his hands in the water and play, and sometimes will even bring a toy over to dunk in! I am just tired of pulling soil out of both klentched fists and his mouth and wiping toilet water off of the wall, floor and his body!

Not only don't I want him doing either of these totally disgusting things, but I don't know whether he is just curious or that he is not getting something nutritionally out of it! I remember one time the vet told my mom that our dog was eating weird things to get some nutrients that she wasn't getting in her regular food. Can the same be true for babies?

Either way, I guess I have to get rid of houseplants for a while and make sure that keeping the toilet seat down is part of Cooper's potty routine from now on! I just fear if I take these activities away - what will be next?!?

Gearing up for a big move!

Well, 2 years have passed and James and I are moving on to our next house! I can't believe it! We are so impulsive, it is sick! Our house is perfect, big and new - but one thing led to another to another...and now we are going on the market in 4 days! I guess my nervousness about the whole thing is just keeping the place looking great with a husband that travels all of the time and two little boys that think it if funny when they pull out all of the contents of my purse onto the foyer! I think we may just start living on one level of the house, and just keep the rest ultra-clean!

Our move will hopefully get us into a house around the same area, but more yard, better school system (no, I am not home schooling!) and just a better quality of life. I want a yard with enough space that I don't feel like if I yell at the boys for hitting each other I don't have to worry that 100 neighbors are virtually in our backyard with us.

First, we need to sell this house! Any hints on keeping your sanity while you do that are welcome!

Dating After Kids

Someone told me when I was pregnant with Cooper how important it would be to keep dating after we had him, and I couldn't really understand it! We had been married for 5 years, spent a lot of time dating at that point, and now we had this new little baby that was way more fun then going to a movie with same-old James. When Cooper was about 6 months old we tried a few times to go to dinner or something quick and have a babysitter come watch him. I remember sitting at Cheesecake Factory and crying because I missed him! We didn't date much when we were a one kid family.

Miles was born, and then it was a problem of 'who can we leave our toddler & infant with that can handle the demands of both?', so we were home bound yet again for a few months! Grandparents are amazing, but I felt like I was abusing their generosity when I would have them entertain my boys too many times.

In the past 3 or 4 months we have established a Tuesday night "Date Night" together, and we have the best girl babysit our kids. She is a teacher, so she not only brings in an educational aspect to things, but she also knows how to keep their attention and multi-task. The best part about hiring a babysitter is that when you pay someone for their job I feel better about being 15 minutes late, or the boys having a hard night. Even though I still feel bad, she is at least getting paid to put up with it!

James and I do something on Tuesday nights together without the boys. We started out by just doing errands, things that we couldn't fit in throughout the week. Now it has really evolved into doing the things that we used to do before kids that we took for granted...watching a movie (any movie!), going to dinner, working out, just sitting at Caribou and talking. It is great, and although we used to only talk about the boys when we were alone, now we hardly do!

Whoever said that we needed to make time for ourselves...thanks! You were right! We have really grown to look forward to a night a week where we don't deal with baths, fighting over having to eat dinner, or crying about going to bed!

Our 'Spirited' Child

That is the term that the pediatrician used when she was talking to us recently about our 2 year old, Cooper. She said that he was 'spirited', which James and I took as just that. We often mock her wording in situations where he is running around crazy in our house or throwing a tantrum...'oh, he's just spirited!' She even recommended a book, Raising Your Spirited Child that would help us understand his needs, and our plan of attack for raising him.

I think of Cooper as kind of a Labrador puppy. He can't be put in the house all day and be expected to behave - he needs to be taken out and run to make him tired enough where he will listen, behave and sleep at night! I don't mind this, because we have found that it works 90% of the time, and he is a much easier kid to deal with when he is active.

There are many days when James will get home from work and I will say, 'Cooper needs to be taken out and run.' Meaning he needs to go to an open space and burn off energy. We either go for a walk/run with him to the park when the weather is nice, or we go to an indoor park when we need to stay indoors. Even a trip to Target will help burn some extra energy.

Don't get me wrong, I would rather have a super energetic kid than one that needs to be motivated, so we aren't trying to change him. We are just trying to manage him so he can not only run around like a crazy person, but also have the focus to sit at the table to do an activity or learn numbers and letters.

Oh karma,...you trickster!

Potty Trained!

Yes, it's true...Cooper is officially potty trained! It took one long weekend to get into Pull Ups and really understand the rule of telling us before he goes instead of going in his diaper, a lot of potty treats for when he did tell us first, and now we are in big boy underwear!

It has been all week, and only 2 accidents!

Cooper is happy, because he is sporting some new Cars and Thomas the Tank Engine underwear, and I am excited because I can get his Diaper Champ out of his room and I have one less thing on my weekly Target list! One down, one to go!

Cutting Caffeine!

Caffeine withdraw is something I don't remember from having the boys. I never remember the headaches being this bad or the dehydration being so apparent when I stopped drinking coffee and pop when I was pregnant.

Maybe it is because I had something to be excited about, whereas this time I am just doing it for the health of it. I haven't had anything caffeinated since Saturday, and still the pressure is intense at certain points of the day.

I didn't realize exactly how much I was drinking until sat down with my good friend, Lynn, and she told me about all of the sugar and calories in one of my Skim Mint Conditions from Caribou Coffee. I wasn't just drinking one, either...but 2-3 LARGE ones, with an extra shot of espresso in each! Not only was that almost $16 a day in coffee, but it was also the only thing I had for breakfast, and enough sugar for a week! I was drinking an average of 10 shots of espresso per day, not to mention the pop and other drinks.

I am now really focused on drinking a lot of water, and just keeping the warm delicious drink out of my mind. I have heard that it can take a week, so I know that I have time before the light at the end of the tunnel. I am just excited that I don't need to drink coffee anymore.

Miles, our little swimmer!

Miles loves the water! I shouldn't be surprised - he has always loved the tub, and my in-laws keep their pool really warm, so it isn't so shocking when he goes swimming.

Swimmers' ear has always been a concern of mine while taking either of the boys for a dip, but after talking with our pediatrician, she has assured me that it isn't a concern if you really dry their ears with a towel or Q-tip after swimming. She also mentioned that if you aren't repeatedly submerging their ears into the water you are also unlikely to get swimmers' ear.

I look forward to really getting him used to the water over the next few months, as we head into cabin time in Hayward! I know that he won't be doing laps across the lake, but since he consists of so much body fat, we could just use him as a floating device!

The Potty Dance!

So, we are in the middle of potty training Cooper, and I thought that we had a pretty great way of celebrating when he told us that he had to potty...we jump around, yell, cheer, and then he gets a 'potty treat' for his efforts!

I thought we were doing well, until I discovered The Potty Dance...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DacxAfN_T-Y

This is the cutest thing to get your kid excited about potty training! What a fun idea!

Enjoy!

Mom's Intuition

Miles had an ear infection 2 weeks ago, and was on an antibiotic for 10 days. It wasn't even a week after finishing the medication that he was seeming 'off' again. I told James that I thought I should take him in, even though he was still happy and not warm. Of course James thought that I was being an over-reactor, and we should just wait to see what happened in a few days.

James left yesterday for a training, and will be out of town for a few more days...so I took Miles into the doctor yesterday just to be sure.

An ear infection in BOTH ears, as well as pink eye in BOTH eyes! Yeah, that's right! Poor kid! No wonder his eating had slowed down, and he is getting up every hour at night right now. I have never had an ear infection, but I have heard that they hurt like crazy and on top of that, his eyes are bothering him.

The good news is that it has been 24 hours, so he is feeling much better, and he isn't contagious. I just can't believe that he has been so good for being so sick. Hopefully we caught all of this early, so he hasn't been in pain too long!

I just thought that this is a perfect example of how a mom knows their kids. I can feel them and tell they have a temperature, or just tell that they are getting sick. When does that happen, at their birth? When you find out your pregnant?

Marathon!?! Oh Geez.

James really wants to run the Twin Cities Marathon again, which is October 4th this year. More importantly, he would like me to run it with him! I ran it with my sister-in-law a few years ago, and the whole time I wished a car would hit me so I could stop and sit down! Now I have had 2 kids, no time and I am getting back into shape...

I have until April 17 (registration day) to really make up my mind, but as of right now...I am going to do it! I will train as much as I can, and see what happens. Certainly not like an elite runner would, but I will stay on course just to say I did it again! Pride thing I guess. It would be great to have our two little guys see their parents in shape and doing something like this, and it would be great to spend some time with James - even if it is pounding the pavements!

Cooper Language

Our 2 year old has turned me into a huge nerd when it comes to expressions that I never thought would creep into my daily life. I imagined that when he started to put a baby spin on words or expressions that I would never let myself fall victim to those things outside of talking to him....

Example "Going night night" = Going to bed.
"Going pee pee" = Going to the bathroom.
"

Doesn't sound terrible? Well, it starts to make you feel like a total weirdo when you say it to friends when you aren't around your child - which was the case one night when a few people met up for happy hour, and I had to 'go pee pee'. Or when James and I finally decide to head upstairs to bed, and we are 'ready for night night'.

It makes me wonder if all moms have these clashes of worlds, and will it go away soon? I don't mind when it happens around other moms, but it has slipped out at times when I could only hope that the people I was with didn't hear me!

Teething...so juicy!

Miles has two teeth on the bottom that both came in within the same week. It has been a month or so, and now he is showing the bumps of teeth coming in on the top. I have been doing some Tylenol if he needs it, cool items to chew/suck on, and of course teething toys. Is there a reason that babies need to drool through their outfits, bibs and MY clothes during this process?!

I would love any advice on ways to curb the amount of liquid that seems to cover anything in a 5ft. radius of our little man, or other ways to control where it goes!

There is a teething idea that I was given during Cooper's days that really worked that I would recommend for eliminating discomfort for any teething baby - Turn over the nipples from bottles and fill them with water and freeze them. They will turn into like frozen pacifiers, and I know Miles loves chewing those as his saliva runs out of his mouth! - Gross!

Back from vacation!

Vacations have to be the hardest time to eat well and exercise! Thankfully, the boys and I were in Florida, so the weather was beautiful and the food was fresh. We went on daily walks...many each day, and we ate fresh fish and fruit at most meals. That has to do something, right?!

Traveling with two kids alone without James was really hard. It was not something I would do again for a WHILE! Although the airline attendants and people in the airport were helpful, the 4 hour flight was super hard. Miles (6 months) had to eat twice, and have 2 diaper changes, and Cooper was long overdue on his nap, so his attitude was terrible and got bored before we were off of the tarmac. Difficult ratio - 2 kids: 1 adult. Not again for a long time.

Is it terrible that I need a break from the boys? Glad to be home!

Weigh in!

I was up this morning and spent some time in our basement working out. I went to do my daily pre-shower weigh in knowing that I would need to share my results on my blog. Claire and I are really trying to see results from our routines before we share our information. We don't want to share stuff that we don't think works.

Well, only one week in, and 3 pounds lighter! Not bad! I thought it may be more, especially since I went from very little effort to working out more and eating with awareness of what I was putting in my mouth! Although I thought it was not as much as I had hoped....I will take it! Let's be serious, I haven't been really going after it like you see on Biggest Loser, even though maybe I should. I have basically just eaten 'better', and worked out 'more'. That's all it takes, just the effort, and I will be one hot mom in no time! =)

The best result - my husband said he was noticing results. That is coming from a guy who is a tough critic when it comes to fitness.

This working out with Miles thing is the best for me - otherwise I can't find the time, or make the time...either way.

Super Bowl Weekend

Well, Super Bowl weekend must be a great time to practice portion control! I couldn't help but 'sample' all of the AMAZING snacks and food that was available throughout the weekend. James and I had friends over on Friday and Saturday, and then family was over on Sunday for the game. We are an eating family, so the kitchen was overflowing with snacks. Most healthy, like smoked turkey, pineapple and veggie chips, but then there were the snack bowls...

Portion control. Something that I am terrible at, but think that may the key to my life of healthy eating. I like ice cream, pretzels and chips. Now I don't have the baby to blame for my overpowering hunger - just blame myself!

It was at least warmer outside, so I was able to be active and get some other things done. I will weigh in tomorrow morning and really get a good indication of how this program is going....my fingers are crossed!

The first weekend!

I get nervous about diet and exercise when the weekend rolls around! Between catching up with friends, trying to run all of our errands and just being at home with the family, things can be a little 'lazy'. During the week I really have to plan out the day, which includes dinner and usually we stick to a good diet for all other meals and snacks.

James wants to have friends over when he is in town for the weekend, which usually means 'entertainment food.' Would you like to go to some one's house for dinner and be served veggies in hummus or other things that a healthy diet includes? Usually we indulge in things we know aren't great while we are in entertainment mode.

To solve this dilemma I will be referring to the numerous magazine recipes that I cut out of Shape magazine, Women's Fitness and other healthy magazines. I know that some may be duds, but again I will share what I find out! Wish us luck, this is a really hard thing for us to transition...we just love great food, which usually means too good to be good for you!

Week One!

This is the start of something really exciting! My business partner, Claire, and I are officially cutting the baby fat! We are the owners of an event planning company, and we both had babies in 2008...which means, busy schedules, short nights and not too much time to workout!

We have decided to do workouts with our new babies, Miles and Lola. They are with us so much that if we are going to workout - they are going to have to do it with us! Miles is 6 months old, and he makes the perfect substitution for a medicine ball. We are working on our moves for a few weeks, and I will certainly share what is working and what isn't working along the way!

With a husband who travels a few nights a week, and swimming lessons for Cooper, our 2 year old and family obligations....I welcome the opportunity to take a few minutes a day to spend alone with Miles, and work on my post-baby body! I will also weigh in weekly and let you know what the results are there too!