becoming balanced

Gigi always says that if something in your life isn't working quiteway you think it should be, then you are out of balance. I also truly believe that you can live your best life if you are balanced spiritually, physically, and mentally. My life, as far as I 'm concerned, is going wonderfully. But, there is always room for growth and improvement!

So, along with my 'new year's resolutions' I have a goal to become balanced.

*Spiritually* Julian and I are going to start a couple's bible study in the mornings during the week and we have talked about going to church. Since he works on the weekends, it has made for a perfect excuse why we don't go. But, we just found out that our old church has a Saturday night service and we think it will be perfect for us. He will get home from work, we will go out to dinner and go to church. This is the start to balancing me out in that aspect.

*Physically* P90x starts tomorrow! EEK! Now that nursing is almost over, I can't use it as a form of exercise. We have a nutritional plan we want to follow (no junk, dessert only 1x/week, no red meat, etc.) I also want to go to health talks on Tuesday's with the Taynor's to help in balancing myself physically.

*Mentally* I feel that there are lots of ways that you can become mentally balanced. For me, coming up with how to achieve this goal seemed to be the hardest. But, as of now I feel, reading my book club books, learning about the candidates for the upcoming election, and prepping for going back to work can all fall under 'mentally balanced'. I have to keep learning and growing.

Here's to a balanced 2012!

Teaching Stuff

I can't believe I have not worked in over a year! My last day of work before I had Ellie was November 19, 2010 (one week before little miss arrived!). I have had the MOST AMAZING stay at home mom experience. But, it's almost time to head back to work and I have to start thinking like a first grade teacher again! I have all these random ideas in my head so I wanted to keep them all in one place, and I figured this would be a great place to keep it all. Anyway, I will be heading back to work March 19th. I wanted to come up with some fun crafts and ideas that would get me through until the end of the year! Please forgive me because this is just a jumble of ideas I have, and I probably won't sort it all out until the beginning of March.

(I obviously watch way too much sprout)

*I thought this was a cute idea to do with the kids for Mother's Day. I usually help them make a bouquet of paper flowers, but this could definitely go with the flowers as a Mother's Day gift.

*This is a great spring activity for whenever we have a nice day!

*Instead for a road trip, I thought this would be good for summertime! I would have them fill out all the things they want to do/see in the summer. They can use it at home!

*If my maternity leave hasn't done a unit on sea creatures, I can do this craft with them during the unit.

*Easy Peasy, we are definitely doing this!

*I love crafts like this, where the kids don't have to be super good at coloring to make it look nice!

*A Weather Chart would be Perfect for spring weather!

*Summer sponge art -- A trip to the dollar store for some sponges!

*Super easy steering wheel for a summer road trip!

*Silly animal headband just for fun!

*Father's Day Pencil Holder

*Who doesn't love Opposite World?

*More ideas for Mother's Day

*I don't know if they would be able to do this mixed up pet picture

*Helping Hands Wreath

That's it for now! I'll keep updating as ideas come to me :)

Eloise update

Eloise had a re-check at the doctor this past week and she has gained almost 1 pound in a month! I am so happy with her progress. The challenge is finding foods that she will eat and keep eating. As of right now here is what a typical food day looks like

Breakfast:

-Yogurt

-Half of a banana

-Half of piece of bread with cream cheese or almond butter on it

Snack:

-The other half of a banana or a stage 2 baby food

Lunch:

-Grilled Cheese Sandwich (she can eat anywhere from half of one to a whole one without the crust)

-Applesauce or a stage 2 baby food

Snack:

-Earth's Best Snack bar

-Juicey (we call them juicey's but they are those stage 2 baby food pouch thingys that they can drink)

Dinner:

-Macaroni and cheese or Stage 3 baby food

-Piece of bread with cheese or cream cheese or almond butter

Dessert:

-Vanilla ice cream and whipped cream

The doctor said to let her eat ice cream with whipped cream for dessert. She doesn't mind the ice cream but she seems to LOVE whipped cream. I guess that's good! No doctor has ever told me to eat ice cream everyday :) lucky little girl!! I also told the doctor my concern that she won't drink any kind of milk (vanilla milk, chocolate milk, whole milk, rice milk, etc). The doctor said not to stress about it and make sure she's eating dairy products and that'll be fine. It really takes a weight off my shoulders knowing that! Whew

Some other Eloise updates:

-She weighs 18 lbs 7 oz

-She nurses only 1x a day (at night)

-She climbs, walks, and tries to run! HA!

-She is in 12 month clothing (some 9-12 month still fit her)

-She wears size 3 diapers and probably will continue to for a while (size four doesn't start until 26 lbs I think? She might be potty trained by then)

-She has been a 'mommy's girl' for the past 13 months. Recently, she has been becoming a 'daddy's girl'. It is great to see her 'run' towards Julian with her arms in the air wanting to be picked up, or to sit in his lap and lounge on him, with her head on his shoulder. I love watching their relationship grow!

Ok, boring post. I'm done.

New Years Resolutions

Julian and I decided to pick each others resolutions. For him, I chose that for every negative thing he says, he has to say something positive. For example, we were driving in traffic and he was being really negative about being stuck in NJ with bad drivers and bad traffic. I reminded him of his resolution and he said BUT, at least we don't live in Iraq. It's a start. For me, he chose, to do p90x 2 with him. Typical male. He thinks I'll look like a Victoria Secret model if I work out everyday. Little does he know I will.never.look.like.that. Oh well, I guess if I expect him to be more positive, I can work out more.

But besides his resolution for me, I'm giving myself one. I want to strengthen my relationship with Jesus. I have just found so much with the little I've studied so far that I want to keep learning and growing. I'm not quite sure how I am going to go about this resolution but I think it's fair to say I want to live a more Jesus centered life. It's the least I can do. I want to read more and pray more and just learn more in general about my faith.

2011 was an amazing year! I am excited for what 2012 has in store for me! I have a feeling this is going to be a great year!

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The things we do in VA

This trip has been a pretty typical Virginia trip. We started with a great Christmas celebration when we arrived. We looked at some old Christmas photos on the tree! This is something I plan on doing to my tree next year!
What a great place for a collection of photos!


This is not a Christmas picture, but I love this one! Julian is so cute



We also did our typical chic-fil-a for lunch! This is a Virginia tradition for us! It's not like we don't have them in NJ, but for some reason we never go when we are home. Honestly, it is probably a good thing we never eat it at home! But, treating ourselves is always fun!!


Julian and I also took a trip to Charlottesville and left Eloise home with her Gigi for 4 hours! (might not sound like a big deal, but for me, it is) You never know what Gigi is going to do when left alone with her grandchildren!! This time, she Gave her almond butter on bread, and put coconut oil in her hair and picked out her cradle cap. When we got home she was covered in almond butter and her head was one big oily mess. The things that happen when Gigi's in charge! But, we now have something else Eloise will eat and all her cradle cap is gone! (sidenote: she didn't have much cradle cap, but I'm glad to see it go!)


Whenever we are in VA we tend to get our oil changed and get Duke groomed. Well, the grooming went smoothly but the oil change turned out a little weird. We dropped it off at 8:45am Tuesday morning and got a call around noon that everything went fine with the oil change but when they were pulling it around, they hit another car and busted up our bumper and light! Haha! They brought it to a body shop and they had to order a part! Crazy right? So we couldn't go anywhere with Eloise because they had our carseat until Thursday late afternoon. Minor inconvenience but we got a free oil change and carwash!

On Friday, We took Kate and Olivia to the children's museum and had a great time!






During arts and crafts, Julian painted Olivia...







Another typical thing in Virginia is to have a bunch of dogs under your feet constantly! This picture is the usual Duke, Hank, and Hope. I forgot to take the picture when Tucker was here, too.




It's New Years eve tomorrow and we have nothing big planned. Maybe some drinks and games with Julians family. We are having a good time but I'm already excited about heading home! There is NO place like home.

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13 months!!

Wowzers - wasn't it just your birthday? I feel like this month went super duper fast! Anyway, these are some things you're doing at 13 months:
- You nurse only twice a day ( in the morning and before bed)
- You can find your nose, your head, and your belly when asked. You also like to point out these body parts on other people!
- You 'shh' duke when he barks! If I say, "what do we say to Duke?" you'll reply, "sh sh sh".
- I think you've been saying 'drop' to duke when he takes your toy.
-you are officially a walker! You took your first steps unassisted on November 28th and you gradually stopped crawling. You barely ever crawl now!
- you learned how much fun opening gifts is!
- you fall asleep for both naps without being rocked. Sometimes at bedtime, but not always.
- you are an extremely picky eater and it tends to drive me a little crazy. You have a hard time trying new things. You did try a cinnamon roll Christmas morning and you liked it!
- you don't like any kind of milk so far. I've tried rice milk, whole milk, vanilla milk and chocolate milk. What's been working best is sneaking a tablespoon of milk in your water. My plan is to gradually add more milk.
Baby girl, you are officially not a baby anymore! You are a toddler! You aren't big in cuddling anymore and you want to walk everywhere! I love your new independence (except during diaper changes). I can't believe how you grow and change everyday! I love you monkey girl!!
Pictures to come..




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happiness

Things that are currently putting a smile on my face:

* My early Christmas gift---A Shark steam mop. Not only does it steam and sanitize my hardwood floors but it is super easy to use and it vacuums! The best part of this is that it was on my Christmas list and Julian got it FREE using our credit card points! I love free gifts that I actually want :). I love that it doesn't use harsh chemicals and I feel like it does a much better job than a wet swifer. Anyway, it is definitely putting a smile on my face every time I clean the floors!

* The next wonderful thing putting a smile on my face is Christmas decorations around the house that have sentimental value. I have my mom's old Christmas China (about 1,000 pieces of it, but we only use a couple things as of right now). Every Christmas when Julian lugs out that huge cardboard box full of it, I look at it and smile remembering all the times as a kid we ate Christmas dinner on this china. The other thing that has memories attached to it, is my family's old Nativity. My grandmother bought this for my mom when her and my dad first got married and I remember playing with it as a child. All the arms and heads are glued on because they have been broken many times. But, I don't care that it looks beat up, it has great memories attached to it. I googled the company because it is missing the angel, but it is from 1978 and they aren't making the same nativity anymore :(. Oh well, I still love looking at it.

* Eloise being a dancing fool makes me smile! Every time she hears music she dances and its super cute. She opened a Christmas gift early from my sister and she got a drum filled with other musical instruments. She likes to make the music and dance. SOOOOO CUTE!

*Christmas cards in the mail are one of my FAVORITE things during this season. I love getting them and look forward to the mail each day. This year, I crafted a Christmas card wreath and it came out GHETTO (Thanks, Pinterest. How come things look so easy on Pinterest and then when you make them, it comes out looking like a toddler did it? ew). Anyway, I probably will try and make a new one next year or buy one I saw in a magazine that I LOVED, but for now, it works! I love all my Christmas Cards!!!