Color Me Rad 5K

This past Sunday, June 17th (Father's Day), was the Color Me Rad 5K. Lily and I registered for the race and then found out a few of my co-workers also signed up, some with their kids as well.

It was soooo much fun. The weather was beautiful and it was a really great race for a good cause. It benefits the Special Olympics. I was very hesitant and nervous about the race with being only 3 and 1/2 weeks post partum. I hadn't been out for a run since I was about 8 weeks pregnant with Laney. I was worried about not being able to finish the race and being very sore the next day from not "training" for it.

I finished the entire race with no problems at all. It felt great to complete the 5K without stopping for any breaks or feeling like I was going to die. I felt amazing as I crossed the finish line. I was a little sore the next day, but not as bad as what I was thinking. I can't wait to get back out there and run again. It was definitely motivation to get me back into my pre-pregnancy running routine.

I am looking forward to participating in this race again in the future if/when it comes to my area again. It wasn't a timed race, since it's for more for the fun! I forgot to set my app on my iPhone to time myself :( I know for sure that it was less than 40 minutes though! Here are a few pics:

This weekend was fun, exhausting, and overwhelming. Trying to get all 4 kids out the door with everything that they needed and wanted for a trip to the playground seemed impossible. Packing up toys, food, and necesseities took quite a while with 4 little kids. We did it though. We made it to the playground where we had the freedom to roam the equipment, run as fast as we wanted, and scream/laugh at the top of our lungs b/c we had the playground all to ourselves. We enjoyed a picnic, small game of baseball (or "Mom throw the ball so I can hit it with the bat please"), swings, slides, monkey bars, zipline, running the bases, kicking the dirt, and finding rocks.

Laney was a gem the whole trip. She slept ever so peacefully in her stroller while the boys and Lily ran wild. Our playground trip was enough to make the boys fall asleep in the 3 minute car ride home. It was a fun and enjoyable weekend. All of the hard work included, it was totally worth it.

Laney Rose!

Laney Rose was born on Tuesday May 22, 2012 at 1:58 am. She has been a true blessing and the best completion to our family. It feels great and comforting to know that we have a beautiful healthy family of 4 kids and can officially say that our family is complete. Labor with Laney was the quickest of the 4. I was in labor for 4 and 1/2 haours before she made her appearance. She weighed a whopping 9 pounds 9 ounces, the docs were estimating her to be 8ish pounds (HA). Her apgar scores were 8 and 9. It was love at first sight, like it has been with all of my deliveries. It's such an amazing and overwhleming feeling of joy and accomplishment to witness such a miracle take place. Laney has been the best baby. She's eating well and sleeping like a rockstar already. She wakes up once during the night to eat and that's it. She has been very calm and content, which is amazing with all of the noise and chaos from the 2 little guys running around non stop all day. No complaints at all. The boys love Laney to pieces. They want to hold her all of the time. Logan is just in aw over Laney. He's always asking about his baby sister, "Is Waney okay?", "Where's me baby seester?", "Surprise, here's my baby seester." Lincoln always wants to "pet" her or "feel" her. He rubs her head like she's a little puppy, but I guess it's his way of showing his love for her, lol. Lily is floating on cloud nine. She is very protective of Laney, esp when the crazy little boys are around her. She is an awesome big sister and helper. I'm so happy and excited for her to have a little sister. Laney has brought such joy, more love, and happiness to our family. I am so thankful and grateful for each little blessing. They all melt my heart. I'm thrilled to have the summer off with them, but have to say that I'm already sad thinking about even having to go back to work at all. I'm loving every second of being a mom to 4. I wouldn't change anything. Life is good!

Happy Birthday Logan!

Happy 3rd Birthday to my big, but still baby boy Logan! I can't believe it's already been 3 years since welcoming him into this world and our family. He has been a true blessing to this family. He keeps us all on our toes. He has brought such joy, excitement, and happiness into this household. It has been amazing to watch him grow and mature over the last 3 years. He has definitely settled down some with his craziness and fearlessness. My heart and nerves thank him for that. Logan is such a fun and loveable child, full of so much enegry. He is one amazing kid! I'm excited and anxious to watch him continue to grow, mature, and develop. I hope this is one special birthday for him, he deserves it!

House work!

David and I have been wanting to replace most of the appliances in our house since we moved in a little over 2 years ago. All of the aplliances look to be about as old as the house (over 100 years old). We finally went out for a "date night" a few weeks ago and picked out all new appliances. They were delivered last week and have been slowly getting installed. It feels like we're a bunch of kids in a candy store.

We also had the newly built stairs and landing stained. We still have a big list of things to get done in this house, but this has definitely been a great start. Now I can finally start painting all of the rooms on the first floor, hopefully before this baby arrives!

I'm back!

Our laptop completely crashed on us about 2 weeks ago. We were back and forth on the phone with HP for what seemed like years, but were finally able to get them to take the laptop back for repairs. Their service was amazing. Everything was shipped overnight free of charge to us and we were physically without our laptop for about 4 days. The new and improved laptop arrived just shy of 1 hour ago.

I felt so lost without it. I hate depending on my phone for all of my internet activity. It's just not the same. Anyway, I have lots of catching up to do on many things!

Taxes Done!

I completed our federal and state taxes using Turbo Tax. So simple, easy, and cheap. They're done, now bring on the refund! I can't wait to purchase paint and put a dent in our "to do list" before this baby arrives. Thank you Turbo Tax, see you next year!

23+ weeks

I will be 24 weeks on Friday. I feel great! I've found the energy to get back into my running and sometimes walking routine. I've been trying to get the kids outside in the jogging stroller as much as possible. It feels great to get out and move about. I miss running like I was before finding out that I was pregnant. I hope to get right back into my old routine after I deliver and am cleared by my OB.

This pregnancy seems to be going so slowly for me, but I am definitely not complaining about it. I seem to get more and more nervous/anxious about labor and delivery with each pregnancy. I am petrified of full term status with this pregnancy.

Although, I am very excited and ready to complete my family. I thought I would be sad about this being my last pregnancy and maybe it won't hit me until after delivery, but I'm looking forward to it as of right now. I'm ready to enjoy watching them grow and mature. I'm ready to enjoy and spend as much time with them as possible.

Random picture!

I love this picture of Logan, it makes me giggle everytime that I look at it. We recently purchased a laptop for Lily because she has been receiving homework assignments that require the internet (we only have an iPad, 2 iPhones, and non functioning PC in the house). She loves playing with the webcam and Logan falls right into her traps. They're just so cute and loveable. They keep me entertained and full of life. I love them!

Big time slacker here

I haven't blogged in over a year. Awful, I know. Things have been beyond crazy and busy around here between the 3 kids, David and my work schedules, school activities, after school activities, etc. It's been NUTS around here I tell ya!

I have been waking up on my own every single morning around 4-5 am for no darn reason. You'd think being 23+ weeks pregnant, that it's because I had to pee or am uncomfortable. NOPE, none of the above. It's insane and by 6 pm every single night, I'm ready to crash from pure exhaustion. Anyways, this morning when I stumbled downstairs at 4:15 am, I started browsing the internet and came across my neglected blog. It's been so long that I was forced to 'recreate' my blog. So, here I am starting over from scratch.

Hopefully, I'll be able to keep up with it now that I have a functioning computer and all of the time in the wee hours of the morning to do so. Now, I'm off to catch up on years of blog posts that I'm behind on. TTYL!

Why can't I just win the lottery?!

If it's not one thing, it's always another. Our list of need to replace items is getting longer and longer. A washer and dryer have been up there for a few weeks now. Now we can add a dishwasher, refridgerator, and computer. The holidays have hurt our pockets big time shortly after my maternity leave. We have some major catching up to do and have been working our butts off to get there. It's just frustrating when we start working towards one thing and then something else comes along with it. Overtime is forbidden at my job. David's job offers it about once a month, if that. We've cut back on things and started budgeting big time. We are determined to get back on track like we were before Lincoln arrived. It's just going to take some time, patience, and hard work!

Can I handle all of this??

So, we continue to fight our battle with thrush (oral yeast infection), since Lincoln was 5 days old (he's now 4 weeks). Lincoln has been taking Nystatin for almost 4 weeks now. It was almost completely gone, just 3 little spots left, and now it's back full force. I'm also being treated with Nystatin since I'm breastfeeding. We've been sterilizing everything DAILY, washing EVERYTHING after one use, practicing careful hand hygiene, and I just started an acidophilus supplement. It is beyond frustrating. The nursing has been feeling so much better for me and hasn't seemed to affect Lincoln at all. We just bought all new pacifiers. I feel so bad for the poor little guy. He doesn't appear to be in any discomfort, but is definitely annoyed with taking the medication. So basically, breastfeeding has been a major pain in the ass. By the time I feed him (half of an hour), change/burp him (10 minutes), and then medicate himself and me (20 minutes- I have to clean and air dry my breasts, along with medicating) it takes a good hour-hour and a half for every single feeding. I get about 45 minutes-1 hour of "free" time between feedings. The night time feedings are tough. Since everything takes so much time, I have gotten a second wind of energy by the time I finally get Lincoln back to sleep. None the less, I'm exhausted!
On top of all of this, I'm struggling to fit the needs of the other 2 kids in, along with housework, and time for David. I feel overwhelmed and guilty. I don't want David, lily, or Logan to feel left out. I want to make time for everyone and everything. I'm hoping that it will all become easier with time, esp. after the thrush is healed and not taking up so much of my time. There are so many things that I want to get done around the house before going back to work in October, I hope I can find time for it.
As tough as it's been time wise, I LOVE it. I love being the Mommy to 3 precious little lives. They are amazing, precious, loveable kids. I wouldn't change any of it for the world, except i would love to be a stay at home mom :)
David's been working full time and trying his best to help, but it never seems like enough to me because I'm so overwhelmed. I feel so guilty for nagging him. He tries, he really does. I'm a perfectionist and a little OCD. David is the complete opposite, he's laid back and relaxed about EVERYTHING. There's also not much he can do when it comes to the thrush and breastfeeding, which have been the most frustrating!!
We'll see what time and practice bring!!!

Major Update!!

David and I bought our first house back in February '10. It's needed a lot of work and is our everyday project, but we love it. We're doing remodeling, renovations, and making it "home." The house we purchased started off as a multi family unit and we converted it back into a single family home. We now have a 6 bedroom, 3 full bath house. It's huge compared to the last place we lived, a rented 3 bedroom, 2 full bath house.

We also just welcomed baby #3, Lincoln Matthew, into this world on July 22, 2010. He is great! He looks a lot like Logan, but is now starting to grow into his own look. He's such a calm and happy baby so far. He's still in that eat, sleeps, and poops phase. Lily and Logan always try to talk and play with him, but of course he shows no interest in them yet. The big brother and sister love him to pieces. Logan sometimes too much. He doesn't quite get it yet! We're all still slowly adjusting to having another family member.

Life is great now. David and I both continue to work full time, while trying to find time to spend with the kids and each other!! I'm on maternity leave until October and then I'm hoping to go back part time. We'll see how that works out. Our plans for now are to continue working on the house and loving these little joys in our life as much as we possibly can!!

Finding our dream home!

After David recently started his new job, we were both happy to finally be able to pay off our debt in a short period of time. We have been anxiously and excitedly waiting to pay off our debt and start looking for our dream home.

David has been searching real estate websites daily looking for homes of our liking. We love the area that we are in because it's quiet, friendly, safe, and convenient for us, but it's expensive to live here. So, the frustrating part has been finding something that is affordable and perfect for us. 

We recently came across a listing for a duplex in our area that is in our price range and has a lot of potential. David is in love with this place already. There would be a lot of work involved. I've been contemplating whether I want to pursue a house that we could really make our dream home with a lot of work, money, and remodeling. Or if we should continue to look for that dream house that already exists out there, ready for us to just move in.

We've made list after list of the good and bad things of both ideas. David and I both feel comfortable with the idea of buying the duplex, turning it back into a single family home, and remodeling it to our liking. The house is in good condition and we'd be able to live in the house in it's current state.

We've already been pre-approved for a loan. We're having David's cousin-in-law (Steve) do a walk through to get his opinion and thoughts. He would be the one to help us with all of the remodeling and converting the duplex back into a single family home. If all goes well with this walk through and we get Steve's blessing, we're going to put our offer in. The house has been on and off the market several times in the past year. The original price was a lot more than what it is now. Our realtor feels that we have a great chance at getting this house.

I'm excited, happy, anxious, and nervous all at the same time. Excited to finally own a home (we've been renting for 4 years now), happy to purchase new items for the new house, anxious to start making memories in a new place with my family, and nervous that I'm going to be overwhelmed with remodeling decisions and whether they're the right decisions or not! 

David and I have been looking forward to the day that we'd finally have a home to call "OURS!" I'll post pics soon!

What a workout!

I am so out of shape since I got pregnant with Logan last summer. I can only handle about 15 minutes of any workout before I feel like I'm dieing. Thanks to a co-worker, I tried a Jillian Michaels workout this morning. I've had on demand for like 3 years now and never knew that her videos were on there, for FREE. Well, the workout kicked my butt. It was good though. It was simple and just my pace. I felt like I could keep up with her. I had to take some breaks to catch my breath since I'm basically a beginner all over again. I felt like I accomplished something. I just hope that I have the motivation and energy to keep up with it.

Logan slept on the couch the whole time I did my workout, which gives me hope that I'll be able to find the time to workout with 2 little ones at home. 

Here we Go!!!

So, this is my very first time blogging EVER! I will try my best!

This weekend was the first in a very long time that I didn't do any housework. I sat/lounged around and relaxed with the kids all weekend. It felt great. There was laundry to be done, bathrooms to be cleaned, baby clothes to be packed away, and dishes to be done. David worked all weekend. Lily and I enjoyed the beautiful sunshine yesterday morning for the whole 2 hours that it made it's appearance, while Logan napped. We had severe thunderstorms last night, so it was a big slumber party with everyone in our bed. We enjoyed chinese takeout and homemade bagel and english muffin pizzas. The fun is over and it's time to get back to work tonight. 

This is a picture of Lily and I enjoying the 2 hours of sunshine Saturday morning. 

This is a picture of Logan that Lily and I took. We had fun playing around with the camera today. We created our own little backdrop with a bed sheet. It took many tries to get Logan to cooperate with positioning. He's not a big fan of "tummy time."