The first of many, Dip-Luck

Friday night we had our first of MANY, Dip Luck Girl's Night over at our place. Between getting Brinley to bed, and Ellie nursed, I was back and forth all night. Ryan was so wonderful to help me out and manage the kid chaos. Turns out, Ellie just wanted to be with the girls, and Brinley was just wanting to be challenging and be 3 years old! (post on that later...).

to familiarize you of what a dip luck is,

Dip Luck:

noun

various types of dips brought to a special dinner where women will eat and eat and eat and laugh and laugh and laugh until midnight.

Basically, I love all these women. There were so many dips, I don't even think I tasted all of them! and we sure did some fun story telling! Who is hosting the next dip luck?? 

the girls

Janette (and her baby belly!), Katie, and April

Melanie, Carli, and Hannah (she's due in less than 2 months!! eeee!!)

Darin, Mary Anne, and Joanna

Hannah and me

lately with Brinley

Brinley has continually surprised me with the transition of Ellie coming into our family. She has never shown any sort of resentment towards her. It is all love, lots and lots of sisterly love. She loves to kiss her. Or ask me if she is awake or asleep, happy or sad. She is always concerned when she is crying. I love that. On the other hand, her tantrums have gotten bigger and more explosive. Not more frequent, but just bigger. She feels very....entitled. That word just sends shivers down my spine. Like most of America (ahem, the election), feels like they are entitled to a lot without having to work for anything. Similarly  Brinley feels like she is entitled to a lot without doing the work. I am doing my best to teach her that she doesn't always get what she wants right at that very second, or ever for that matter. Her requests are usually simple, but if I'm feeding Ellie or doing something for Ellie, she gets angry fast. Yikes. That girl is something else. Quite the diva if I do say so myself. Just like her mama :-)

On the brighter side, she is always making me laugh. She says the funniest things. She loves to dress up in her old and very small Halloween costumes. The kitty cat is a favorite :-)

We hit the 4:30pm funk everyday and if it is nice, like it always is in Florida, we go for a stroll outside. My friend let me borrow her baby K'Tan wrap and I love it. Brinley likes to take her baby stroller and find rocks along the way.

see? total diva.

I am doing my best getting her more involved at meal times. She is a great helper, but I am just a taaaaad bit on the ocd side when it comes to messes at dinner time. I like to clean as I go and keep my workspace as organized as possible. The other night we made homemade pizzas and she loved helping. It bonded us and humbled my mama heart a bit. She just wants to help. Gotta remember that always.

I couldn't believe it the other night when I was about to leave for the store, that I have never been out of the house with just Brinley. It was past her bedtime, but I took her to Publix anyways. She lounged in the car cart the entire time and we just had so much fun. And I honestly felt so refreshed shopping with her and not having to worry about Ellie or how I was going to carry the groceries up 3 flights of stairs with a toddler and a baby carrier.

I love this girl so much. She is growing up so quickly, but she is the sweetest, kindest little thing. She has the biggest heart towards everyone and everything. She is so stinking smart it scares me sometimes. She loves to ask what words mean, "momma, what does disgusting mean?" and then she will say things are disgusting 100 times that day. She is constantly learning and doing and saying new things. Love this girl!

Letter to Santa

A rite of passage in childhood.

Brinley's first letter to Santa. and yes, we really did mail it to him. He got it last week :-)

isn't she cute!?

I recorded down everything she said. Pretty funny.

kisses for the letter

she was so excited

you like how I did the alternating colors? yep, cool Mom here :-)

WO: week 1

I took a generous amount of time off from when I first posted about my goals about getting into shape. After Thanksgiving week, I felt determined to get to the gym. Remember, I'm not going for the lbs because I know that when I stop nursing Ellie, those pounds will shed quickly (hopefully like they did with Brinley). I am working out to tone up this bod. My initial goal was to train for a half-marathon in February, but it landed on a Sunday. It is so hard finding runs that do not happen on the Sabbath. But, I didn't want that to frustrate my goals of getting into running shape. I am going to do my best to keep up with a beginners running schedule for the next 6 months and see if there is another run sometime in the late spring time.

Most of the schedules that I've found are for people who have been running at least 15 miles a week for a few months. Well, this mama hasn't run in a LONG time. Basically over a year and then some. I am starting off slower than these schedules, obviously!

My running days this week:

Tuesday:
It was my first day out the gate. I got onto the treadmill and walked for 5 minutes at a 2.0 incline at 4.0 mph. I picked up the speed and lowered the incline to 1.0 and 5.0 mph. I ran until I hit 1.5 miles. It was so refreshing! Sure, it took me 20 minutes to get to my goal, but I didn't stop. If I felt tired, I would lower the speed by a couple notches, and then pick back up when I felt better. I was surprised how strong my heart felt. My body? Flabby and jiggly. But, my incision felt great. Meaning, it didn't hurt one bit!! I stretched afterwards and did some weight machine that worked my arms :-)

dead after running/2 sports bras did the trick

Wednesday:
Ryan got home from school at 4:30 and I rushed to the gym knowing that if I didn't go then, I wouldn't go later. I biked for 10 minutes at a high speed, mid intensity. After I got my heart pumping and was sweating a bit, I jumped on the treadmill and ran for 20 minutes. I again made it to 1.5 miles and then walked for 5 minutes, slowly decreasing my speed. I did a few free weight exercises afterwards and felt really strong! Ambitious me decided to try doing a sit up. Yikes. My incision doesn't hurt running, but booooooy did it pull trying to do a sit up.

dinner with spaghetti squash!

Friday:
Another great running day. My body felt pretty sore after 2 days of running and one day off. I pushed through and ran for 30 minutess off and on. It was so refreshing to hit that 2 mile marker! After I stretched, I did a few free weight exercises.

My goals this week:
1. to run at least 2 miles 3 times a week. If I make it to the gym for the 4th time, that would be awesome.
2. my weight hasn't changed from 150, but I seriously feel like my body is already toning up and tightening up. Rewarding, baby!
3. I ate pretty clean this week, except for Saturday night when Brinley and I went on a date to the store and came home with some ice cream :-) Now that I am burning about 400ish calories a few times a week, I am eating MORE. Holy cow I am starving all. the. time!
4. I am drinking a TON of water. It feels so good to be continually hydrated.
5. As for my body image and confidence, it is getting there. I will feel really good when I can finally fit into my jeans comfortably and feel like my booty isn't as huge. Time, girl, time.