Blogs I read...and random updates

I updated the "Blogs I read" on the sidebar. Sadly, I probably read a lot more than that. I get sucked in reading crafting blogs and want to do every craft I see. Not that I have time to of course, but it is fun to be inspired. Hopefully over the next couple years we will start working on our house (a 1965 ranch, still mostly original) and so I've been looking at a lot of home decor crafts.

What else is new? Ellie not only learned to roll front to back this week, but she also figured out she can put several in a row! She only did it a couple times and has now forgotten about it I guess. She's really into her hands (looking at them) and her feet (putting them in her mouth when I try to change her diaper which is really fun!), and she can hold a toy with two hands at the same time.

Mary....gah.....Mary's 2 going on 12. Well, going on 3 really. Her birthday is in less than two weeks. Which on the one hand I am really excited about, and on the other I am totally dreading. I can't believe she will be 3! I want to stop the clock, and to let her be a baby a little longer. But just since Christmas she's grown up. I've noticed, John's noticed and even Mom commented on some recent pictures.

Project 33 is coming along, nothing too exciting to report yet. I did manage to workout several times (5?) this week. I used to be in REALLY good shape, oh, 4 or 5 years ago. I lifted weights probably 6 hours a week, and really watched what I ate. I got really into heavy lifting and I loved it. I am not ready to get back to that yet, but I do see it being a part of Project 33. For now, I just need to do some sort of exercise, which is about weight loss, but also about firming up this "Mommy body" AND really about having 20-30 mins to myself at the end of the day (well, the end of the work day...so far the best time to squeeze in a workout is when John comes home from work then I get to run upstairs all sweaty and still have dinner ready by 6pm). We have our workout equipment in the basement and I blast my i-pod over Mary's yelling upstairs. It's great "me" time and hopefully has some health benefits too.

I have some really good pics from this week, but they are on my other computer (yes, I have two that I actively use) and aren't uploaded to Flickr yet. But here are a few overdue from the holidays.

The third day of Christmas parties, and all pretty worn out:

Mary and her new bike!


Christmas morning:
(You can see Mary's gnomes in the background in their cradles John made. They came out great! Also, yes, that is a 20+ pound cat. His name is Stinky Simon)

I still take more pics of Mary than of Ellie. I need to get better about taking some of Ellie now that she doesn't just lay there like a lump anymore (a cute lump, but still a lump. Sorry, Ellie). I have some good ones from Friday. I'll try to upload them later.

Ugh, almost 11am and I haven't done a darn thing today! Mary and John aren't home and Ellie's sleeping on me. Guess I'll surf some more since putting her down would wake her up.