Date at the Farm!

We have some really wonderful people in our church here from all different backgrounds. It's such a neat melting pot of folks from all over the country in all walks of life. One sweet woman invited us and a friend to her farm just outside of town, and I have to say, she is probably the hardest working woman I know!

Yesterday, Oliver and I went on a date to "the barn" (according to Oliver) and he just talked all about cows, goats, and chickens the whole drive there, and was about jumping out of his skin when we pulled up to the house. He was so excited until we actually got around the goats...then it got real! They weren't predictable talking cartoons, and they were bigger than him! He was glued to my side for the first 20 minutes or so

 Then, out of the blue, he decided he wanted to hold one of the babies born earlier this week!

 This baby is one of twins born to "Rue." 

Here's Rue giving me a surprise kiss!

Oliver was initially scared by the older kids (goat kids, not human kids) who were "bottle babies" and jumped up on us in hopes of a bottle. It didn't help that my purse looked like the pail the bottles are brought out to them in either, ha ha! These babies were nursing and so didn't jump up, and Rue is a SWEETHEART and very good mamma. Oliver really warmed up to these guys, and was very excited that the two babies were brothers "like me an IAN!!!" and that made it all ok.

 

 The little girl in this picture is Charlie. We've known her family since our med school days in Lubbock! Since the twin boys weren't named yet, it was decided they would be called Oliver and Charlie :)

And the chickens! She let the chickens out and Oliver got to hold one of the fresh eggs! He was very impressed that one of them was blue.

And they have soft feathers!

And on our way back to the house, Oliver and Oliver played briefly :)

Photo Update

Its been a while since I've updated with family pictures so I thought I'd add a few of my favorites since December. The photo qualities aren't awesome and staged just so...they're very candid and cute (says I)

Christmas 2012...just a few from the tons we took :)

Good Christmas Morning!!

Oliver is in his favorite Batman pajamas here, and his new superhero cape and mask, then his new bicycle helmet (to go with his new roller skates he got). He was very excited to be wearing ALL of it for the morning!

Looking at this picture of me is sort of weird NOW since I've lost a good 10 pounds since then. Yay!!

Bath time! These two cuties LOVE taking baths, especially together. They are absolutely CRAZY in the tub, my goodness!! Wow, that rubber ducky looks so realistic and like it was really there, huh?

At Gammy and Papabear's house - I was so excited Oliver actually NAPPED with me! He hadn't done that for at least 18 months! And I was so excited I fell asleep too, ha ha!

My current favorite picture of my men :)

Like father like son. These two can sleep anywhere, anyway, anyhow - and even better with each other

And this one is from today...Oliver fell asleep eating dinner after a full day of playing with all kinds of friends from 9AM-5PM with nearly no break, and certainly no nap. He was snoring when I took this picture. And yes, that's dumplings, shumai, and soy sauce for dinner of which Ian ended up eating his own and everything on Oliver's plate.

I definitely need to take more pictures...my stash is getting low! But I do have some hilarious video that blogger won't upload, so I'll send that privately to family. Mostly Nich and the boys playing, the boys wrestling, and them dancing and singing to Gang Nam Style...

Love You Forever

I have to let them do this to their hearts' content at least once at this age! My babies acting out the cover of one of my favorite children's books:

Oliver in our bathroom in Lubbock

Ian in our Temple bathroom

Looks like fun, huh!!

Health Notes

I don't think of myself as having a particularly addictive personality, actually I'm pretty good at starting things but I bore easily and decide to do something different. It has served me well in many ways in different circumstances, not so well in others as you can imagine. But I've noticed I've definitely developed what I believe might be my first addiction. And it's a boring one at that. Health. Yep. A six letter word that to many should only have four. Ha ha ha!

Anyhoo, I decided to get serious back in June 2012 and have gotten much more fit and healthy. I've dropped 22 pounds in these past months and now that I've incorporated more workouts besides walking, (added yoga, total body workouts and just recently Pilates) I've noticed less back pain - a problem I never had until I had babies and was carrying them around all the time. I've never been truly "unhealthy" - I've always been inside the range of a healthy weight, although right at the edge of overweight 22 lbs ago. But I've been remembering all the things I was ever told, and then doing research myself, and I have found some fun facts. I've decided to write them down in one place so I can refer back to it to help motivate myself...although fitting back into my "skinny" clothes is DEFINITELY motivation! The GREEN is where I started in June, the RED is where I currently am and the PINK is my ultimate goal

1. Your waistline should be no bigger than half your height (I'm 5'4", 64", so I can't go above a 32" waist) 34"  27.75"   25".  In my 20's it hovered around 23-24"...so never going to see THAT again.

2. I got this one from my mom back in my teens, and I find that all the BMI charts tend to support it: For a woman, at 5' you should weigh 100 pounds, then add 5 pounds for every inch above 5'. So ideally at 5'4" I'd be 120 pounds.  146-148 lbs.   124-125 lbs.   118-123 lbs. I would love to amend that to add another 3-5 lbs for every decade you are past your 20's...lol!! In my 20's I was between 115-123...I hope to see that again

3. You should keep enough flexibility in your 20's & 30's to lay your hands flat on the ground while keeping your legs straight in a standing position. In your 40's, to be able to touch your toes, in your 50's your ankles, and your 60 + I suppose it's be able to bend in half at all, ha! Eek!  As much as I love yoga, I still can't lay my hands on the floor (in my 20's I could) although I can touch the floor with fingertips. Definitely some work needed there

4. The dreaded BMI (Body Mass Index or % of your body that is fat). Staying between 18.5-25 is healthy. There are charts all over the place but I have gotten it done by those lovely fat pinchers before    25     22    21-22   In my 20's I was around the 21-22 mark

So, those are pretty basic and easy to keep in mind. I am absolutely looking for tricks to lose the last few pounds and get fit. My goal is to get to my "pink" goals by this June. That's a little over four months and I hope do-able. I guess at that time I'll update the progress on it all. I'm planning to join in on a 90 day fitness challenge with a bunch of ladies from church, and I've toyed with the idea of starting one with my family, although so far that has yet to come to fruition. Of the 2 people I talked to, one was very hesitant and the other is already super fit. Hmmmmmm. maybe I started by asking the wrong people? I have family that reads this blog...any ideas? Interest?

2013 - No Running!

Thankfully I haven't seen many blogs about people's New Year's resolutions, so I'll be original this year...however, every talk show and ad on tv have been hoping to cash in on it though - I zip through the commercials for gyms and diets with our DirecTV, but still catch glimpses of what I COULD look like if I devoted only 20 hours to the gym every week...

Back to resolutions. I've never been one to make them either at the beginning of a year nor much in the middle of one. Pretty much I don't resolve to do much...wait. That doesn't sound right. Surely I plan some things. Well, some things do end up getting done - kids are happy and healthy, we're not in financial ruin - hmmm, $300,000 in the red might sound bad to some people, but I'm told it's not in this case - and I've lost all my baby weight + 5 and have to make the uber tough decision to buy a new pair of jeans that fit my new weight or lose 5 pounds more and THEN buy the jeans, I know, super horrible problem to start 2013 off.

Which brings up resolutions, or maybe choices. Maybe they should call it New Year's Choices. I want to be healthier and thinner, yada yada yada, but since I've lost the weight between last June to December, I now want to figure out healthiness. I've decided to give myself full permission to HATE running. I totally hate it whether it's on a treadmill or out in the fresh air. It's so boring and HARD. Totally not for sissies, and I'm a sissy. This year I have resolved myself to this fact and am no longer trying to convince myself of how the benefits outweigh the suckiness. I'm turning back to Pilates and yoga - relaxing, not that much sweating, and certainly no heart beating out of your chest as you try to suck in air and still be able to carry a conversation. No Talking in yoga - I'm pretty sure it's a rule.

Back to choices. I have found that I miss having close friends. At different points in my life I have made the conscience choice to not make any - like when we moved every 3 years and by the third time, I was done with the making and breaking with friends and thought I'd just wait til college to make close friends again. - I did. Yes, my father was a migrant worker, no I mean worked for Shell oil company. That's right. Oh, I loved the moving around part, just got a little emotionally taxing. So, as it turns out, being the wife of a medical student is similar - we're pulled wherever "they" decide we should go every few years as the journey through school, residency, and fellowships takes us, and again it's taking it's toll. Luckily, as I had built-in friends in my sisters growing up, I have built-in tiny friends in my toddler children :) Still, I find myself wanting to connect again with people. We're only here for another year and a half, then WE get to choose where we go (yay!!!). Not that we have a clue where that is. But I am really excited that my yoga choice is paying off in that area since I have found/created some "yogis" at our church where I may be teaching yoga and Pilates in the new year! I'm sure I'll get to hang around people my age there, AND lose the extra 5, AND get to buy the new jeans! DONE!

But there's always a but. Back to my jeans. Didn't they make a movie about jeans and sisterhood or something? Maybe I should check that out, yeah, probably not. So, Ian is almost 14 months old and we're deciding about our next baby, if there is one, and how we can guarantee a girl. I've been having serious talks with the X chromosomes my husband is supposed to be making. To space out the next one as Oliver and Ian are spaced out, I'd need to get my IUD removed in March. Yes, March. And get pregnant in May. Then I could definitely throw out my new jeans, and my old jeans, and just love on my fat jeans since I don't think I want to spend another 7 months trying to lose 21 pounds again (after the 25 that fell off after I had Ian). The very selfish, vain part of me is screaming NOOOooooo, while the very selfish, sane part of me is screaming NOOOooooo!!! Part of me thinks I have my answer right there. Hmmmm, but who really listens to themselves? Thats not one of my strengths. My philosophy is more the "what would a normal person do, and then do something totally bizarre." But that's the New Year's Choice I'm facing right now. What are y'alls resolutions?