Let it snow....again

I really dislike snow. I don't like the cold. I don't like being stuck in the house with the girls. We are missing story time for the second time in two weeks. BUT it is so pretty here. Our property is beautiful all the time, but the sun coming up though the trees and casting shadows on the snow is stunning. No picture I could ever take would do it justice. But here's a pic nonetheless.

Project 33: a challenge

So, I didn't want my resolution to be "I'm going to lose weight this year." I just had a baby (well, not "just" since she's five months old tomorrow) so I do have weight to lose, but I didn't want to focus on that. I want eating better and exercise to be my focus. But I didn't have anything specific in mind. Until Saturday. John told me about this program that can help a person do 100 pushups in 6 weeks. So, I looked it up (googled 100 pushups). I took the initial test Saturday. I did 7. Not too bad all things considered. So, that puts me in the second level of training. I start today, doing the program 3 times a week for 6 weeks. In theory, at the end of 6 weeks I should be able to do 100 consecutive pushups. Will I? Who knows. Only one way to find out! I assume it will take longer than 6 weeks (if I can't complete a workout, I'll have to do it over until I can), but I do want to try.

I'm also knitting something for myself! It's a wool/alpaca blend shrug with bell sleeves. I'm almost done with the first sleeve. I'm hoping to finish it in a week or so.

Argh, my coffee is cold. That's the only time I wish we had a microwave. (we had a built in at our old house, and didn't buy one when we moved as there isn't much counter space here.)

I must need more sleep!

So last night, Mary was in bed and I was holding Ellie on my lap while she slept. It was almost time for me to go to bed, but I decided to look at some old pictures of Mary. I was looking at pics from around the time we moved. I seriously cannot believe that I pretty much packed everything myself (John did the basement and odds and ends, but since I was home all day every day, I did most of the packing) and moved, etc with a 17 month old baby! Then I looked at pics from after we moved, as we settled in, etc. I found this pic:

That was around July 4th, 2007. We'd taken a similar pic in 2006. I was thinking, yeah, 2008, we took one too. I thought about the 2008 pic and honestly, seriously thought....HOLY CRAP!! We forgot to put Ellie in the pic! Dang it! Where was she? Why wasn't she in the pic? Was she napping? Who was holding her? Why didn't I get her and have Dave hold her????? I was really upset. And why wasn't she in the 2008 pic? BECAUSE she wasn't born yet!!!! She'll be in the 2009 pic though:).

Three years!

I seriously cannot believe that Mary is three years old today! We had a huge party for her yesterday. Eighteen people in our tiny house, but it worked out fine. The party was a lot of fun, but Mary was a bit overwhelmed. She loves her presents though. We played all day today. John and Mary got to go out in the snow a bit too, but it was too cold to stay out too long.

Three days old! (she still makes this same face at least once a day)

Three years old! (and totally overwhelmed by 16 people singing to her)

Notice how I'm singing and trying not to bust out laughing as I keep her from running away? Good times! And see the cake? I had the chocolate icing on it, and got the pink out to write "Happy Birthday Mary!" on it. But she wanted to help. I told her she could watch. That didn't satisfy her. I told her I WAS going to write it, and she needed to stay back. Then I realized that was awful, and that if she wanted to decorate it I should let her. John watched as smoke was coming out my ears. Okay, not really. But it was close. I still wish I could have had it MY way.

Miss Ellie learned a new trick in honor of Mary's birthday!
Three or four days ago I noticed Ellie could almost sit up. Then Saturday she could do it for 30 seconds. Today she could do it for a minute or two. Mary was about 7 months old when she could sit up like this. We're amazed! Ellie is growing up too quick.

rewards

Being a stay at home Mom has to be one of the hardest jobs on earth. I'm overworked and underpaid for sure. But the rewards make it the BEST job on earth.

I've never been more proud of anything in my life.

Ellie pictures and an updated project

Ellie Ruth--4 months old and growing up so fast I can't believe it.



One of my house projects is to finish this my swatch portrait inspired by the purl bee. I started it a while back but wasn't happy with it.

I took it down, painted the hoops (except the plastic one which I need to replace), and added a couple new ones.

I can't figure out how to get them to hang flush with the wall. I think it's because our walls are textured. If I figure it out (and by "I" I mean John since he's better at things like that than I am), I think I'm going to do a bunch more and cover the entire wall. It's in our bathroom. The door on the left hand side is to our bedroom.

I'm thinking of going up and out both directions. Plus I have a few more ideas for embroidered ones I want to hang.

Well, crap, Ellie's going to be up any minute and Mary just fell asleep on my lap.

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.