Fatty

So I'm back, not as soon as I had hoped, but back nonetheless. We still do not have internet at our house, and the thought of blogging from my phone sounds incredibly frustrating, so for now I have to remember to take my laptop to school on days when I have something to say.

Miss Kaelyn is going to be 3 on the 25th of this month, and party planning is in progress. I'm having slight anxiety over being mom to a 3-year old, especially one who isn't potty trained! She is being such a major stinker about using the potty. I have been reading a potty training book that matches training methods to your child's personality type. At the beginning of the book I filled out a quiz to determine which type of personality Kaelyn has. The results were "strong-willed child." I then flipped to the section about potty training my strong-willed child and so far the gist is that I cannot force my strong-willed child to do anything, I can only wait til she is ready. If I show any anger or frustration toward her during potty training, it is only saying to her, "here are my buttons, push them whenever you want." So basically, potty training has to be HER idea, not mine. Great. Ty and I joke all the time that Kaelyn is going to go off to college in diapers. Sadly, it's really not much of a joke! Even Brylee used the potty for the first time a few days ago, and she's only 19 months. I am open to suggestions, but am feeling pretty pessimistic at the moment.

And this is what's going on with me.

Lately I have finally been somewhat serious about getting back to my pre-Kaelyn weight, or preferably less. Last summer I began working out regularly and eating better, and I did lose weight but quickly hit a plateau and had no idea how to get over it. I stayed at the same weight for the last several months, and then I started the hCG diet. Now, I am NOT an advocate of fad diets or quick fixes, but I did a lot of research on this diet and it intrigued me to the point that I thought I might as well just try it. The point of the hCG (yes it's a hormone produced by the placenta, kind of creepy I know) is to "reset" your metabolism to the point where you can eat just about whatever (after the diet is over) and your weight will remain stable. The diet is very strict, only 500 calories a day with absolutely no sugars and no oils. It's probably true that anyone eating only 500 calories per day will lose some weight, but the hCG prevents your metabolism from slowing; it actually speeds it up to where you burn between 3500 and 4000 calories a day. Sweet! I have been on the diet for about 3.5 weeks now, and in the first two weeks I lost 15 pounds. There was even one day when I lost 6 pounds literally overnight. I was thrilled and amazed and stayed really motivated, but lately I have been cheating and am finding it hard to get back on track. I haven't really gained any of the weight back, but I am definitely not losing anything right now because of the cheating. The first few days of the diet were really hard. I was hungry and fatigued and depressed about the bland meat and gross dry veggies. Amazingly I got over it and was feeling great until the temptation to cheat became too strong, and after I cheated once, it was hard not to cheat again. I only have less than 3 weeks left on the diet and I have not reached my goal, although I am now at the same weight I was when I got pregnant with Kaelyn (down about 25 pounds from last January). Hooray! If only I could stomach that grotesque fish waiting for me in my refrigerator. Seriously just thinking about it makes me want to vomit. And I typically love fish.

Also, I have decided that I am going to become an avid runner. Actually, I decided this a long time ago but this time I'm going to do it. I know, you're probably all scoffing inside, but bigger and more sedentary people than myself have become marathon runners, so why not me? Runners seem to have it all, and I want it. I'm currently doing research on what shoes I should get. There are way too many to choose from. Don't know if I need stability, cushioning, flexibility, whatever. Now if we could just get rid of this darn snow so I can get outside!

I guess I owe everybody an explanation

I can't decide if I should give up on blogging completely or if I should try reviving this thing. I won't be writing in my private blog anymore, I'm sure you all have figured that out by now, and honestly I'm not sure anyone will even be reading this since it has been like 6 months and I told everybody I wouldn't write on here anymore. But, here I am. Some stuff has happened over the last several months and while I don't feel the need to provide details, I will just say that Ty and I have decided to give it another go, mostly for the kids but also to see if we could get that spark back that was so strong so long ago. Things are not perfect by any measure, but we have both made some changes and some improvements and we continue to work on it.

I am still going to school and I applied for the nursing program last month. If I get in, I will start in August. If I don't get in, then I will have to rely on the grade I get in the microbiology class I am currently taking to get me in in January. I am ready to get this whole school thing over with. I feel like I have been doing it for SO LONG. Even when I'm done with the RN program, I still won't be done. I'm estimating that I will be well into my thirties before I can say that I am completely DONE. Suck.

Here are some cute pictures of the girlies. Can you believe how big they're getting?

So if any of you happen to check in and are reading this, cool! If not, I don't blame you!

Will update again soon. Maybe.

August

WOW the end of the month came fast. We celebrated 2 major milestones.

First, Brylee turned 1!

August 3rd was her birthday, and we spent some time at Riverfront Park that day.

Both girls loved riding the carousel and cried each time it stopped.

These first three pictures were taken by my sister Meg. She's pretty much amazing and is now accepting clients for any kind of photo shoot your heart desires. She can photoshop some mean body jewelry on political figures and she can really work it with the tripod. She'll be arriving in the blogging world shortly.

The remaining pictures are my doing.

This was her cake. Dark chocolate Oreo cake with white chocolate frosting. Recipe found here.

A week and a half later, the girls went on their very first long road trip!

We went to Provo during my only week off from school.

Kaelyn and Brylee watched lots of movies and we took lots of breaks to run around and play.

A normally 12 hour drive took us around 16 hours.

Not bad, I say.

(My apologies about Kaelyn's buckle. I blame Julianne)

Some sights along the way:

No pictures were taken in Utah (regrettably).

No pictures were taken of Brylee blowing out her birthday candles (even more regrettably).

I have video footage though, and will be sharing it someday.

Since today is the last day of July, I decided it was time to update the blog so I can average at least one post in each month (even though it's been almost two months since my last post). Waiting one more day would make me a failure! So here are some recent pictures of the girls:

Don't let that sweet smile fool you--Brylee is learning how to push my buttons and test my patience. She whines about just about everything. She wakes up 3-4 times each night (I swear she does it on purpose, not because she actually needs anything). I can't eat a meal in peace, because if there is food involved she will constantly tug at my clothes and try to climb all over me and whine and scream in my face until I give her a bite. And then it starts all over again until the next bite. I find myself sneaking food when she's not looking or only eating when she's napping. Even if it's right after she gets done eating and has a full tummy, she'll still whine and cry if someone else is eating and not sharing with her. It makes me crazy. I mean, look at the kid. CLEARLY she's not malnourished or underfed. So why must she bug me and hassle me to the point where I'd rather starve myself?

Other than that, she started walking earlier this month and has 5 teeth now, I think. She sure is cute when she decides to be in a good mood.



Kaelyn still has an impeccable sense of style and a hilarious little personality. She likes to "help" mommy by sweeping the whole house (carpet and walls included), rearranging the DVDs in the bookcase, pulling every last pillow off the couch and onto the floor, among many other things. She likes to ask questions, especially ones like these:

"What does hair say?"

"What does a tree say?"

"What does a cookie say?"

She loves to tell me about everything, like how she likes the bathroom door or she likes her hands, and she never hesitates to come running to tell me about how Brylee tooted. She's a silly girl.

As for me, I'm hopeful that the next couple of weeks won't be as bad as the last couple of months. I was going to school Monday through Thursday and working Thursday through Sunday, every week. I never had a day off and anytime I had a spare hour or two, I sure as heck didn't want to spend it cleaning my house or taking my kids to the park. I was beginning to hate myself and feel guilty about never being around, so I quit my job. I already miss the income and the people I worked with but I'm sure I made the right decision by leaving. My dad told me that my kids need me more than I need a few extra bucks, and he's right.

Finals week was this week, but I won't be done with my CNA class for another couple of weeks. We are currently doing clinicals at the hospital, and I really like it there. We already did 5 sessions at a nursing home, and things are much more exciting at the hospital. There's more of a variety of patients and more things to do there. I am still unsure if I want to work as a CNA (I'm only taking this class as a prerequisite), but it's comforting to know that I will be certified in a matter of weeks and there are lots of CNA jobs available if I need to start working again.

Ok, well I guess I'll post more in another month! Until then...

I Suck

I'm getting really bad at this. I really do want to be better at keeping an updated blog, but whenever I have some down time, I find I'd rather be doing something else.

Kaelyn likes to dress herself these days. Ty says she looks like Mary Tyler Moore in these pictures. I think he's right, only Kaelyn is WAY more stylish.

On Memorial Day, Brylee accompanied us to the cemetery in Moses Lake to visit Grandma and Grandpa. I miss them.


We have spurts of nice weather here and there. We like to take advantage of days like these to go to the park with friends. Kaelyn is in love with the swing and would probably sit in it all day if I let her.

Our chubby princess.

Bloomsday was May 2nd. I only took a couple of pictures, below being one of them. Meg took all the good pictures. You should ask her to see them. They really are fantastic. She took some video footage too. I'm still waiting for my montage she promised me.
I start school again on Monday, so I have a feeling I will go missing from the blogging world again. But don't give up on me completely yet; I'm trying to be better at a lot of things right now.

Reno

Ty and I spent the weekend in Reno, where he was bowling in the national bowling tournament thing. We met up with his parents and several other men he bowls with and their wives. We got there Friday afternoon and left Monday morning. It was an action-packed weekend and we are already missing it! I didn't take as many pictures as I meant to, but here are a few of them:
We stayed at the Eldorado hotel right in the middle of downtown. There were always tons of crazies walking around outside. Drug dealers, prostitutes, bums asking for booze and cigarette money. One guy even stopped me and told me I'd better not have any cash on me because he had just gotten a knife pulled on him down the street a ways. Another time, a girl stopped me and asked me if I wanted to go home with her. I was like ew, no thanks. This is the National Bowling Stadium, where the boys were bowling. It has 80 lanes. The picture below kind of shows how big it is, but it is definitely bigger in real life. Ty didn't bowl all that great and he blames it on the way the lanes were oiled. He says it's different than the way they oil the lanes in Coeur d'Alene. I don't get it. To me, a ball is a ball and oil is oil. And I'm practically a pro, with a high score of 102, so I think I would know. ;-)

The Peppermill casino

Circus Circus. I think this place was my favorite. We played carnival games and won stuffed animals and watched circus shows. I felt like a kid again.

These gals were awesome on their huge unicycles. There were four of them, and they were all synchronized perfectly. They balanced metal bowls on their heads and then stacked them on one foot, kicked them into the air, and caught them on their heads again. Then they were kicking the bowls at each other and catching them, and one girl kicked bowls over her head and the girl behind her caught them on her head. It was really cool. In this picture, you can see the bowls in the air, and she caught them all perfectly on top of her head.

On Saturday, I went to the spa and got a massage. It was very relaxing and I even caught myself snoring a little bit towards the end. After it was over, I had access to all of their other spa facilities so I decided to go sit in the jacuzzi. The jacuzzi is only for women who pay for a massage, so it's in a pretty small room. I walked in in my robe, and there was a gal already in there and she was butt naked. I felt like I should turn around and leave, but thought that would make things even more awkward, so I climbed in and joined her. I tried not to look, even when she was making small talk with me, and it was especially hard not to look when she got out of the jacuzzi a few minutes later. I bet people sit in that jacuzzi naked all the time, but it was definitely a new experience for me!

And here are my girls wearing their new shirts from the National Bowling Stadium, although they fit them more like dresses.

I just want to give a HUGE thanks to Ty's parents for flying us down there and showing us a wonderful time! We had a blast and are looking forward to going back someday.

Also, I want to give a big thanks to my parents for watching the girls while we were away. I know it wasn't much fun for them since one had a double ear infection and the other was teething (I feel bad, but I'll admit that I am SO glad I didn't have to deal with them while they were like that)!