Another post, I know!!

I just keep posting like crazy, but lately I have found so much to write about. So read if you want I guess! ;)

Last night I ran. And can I tell you something...after that half marathon I did last year, I ran only a few times. I didnt lose any weight running (back then) and although I liked it, I didn't really love it.

Until last night.

So yesterday I had to take care of some car stuff and couldn't go to my morning aerobics class. All day I wanted to work out, but things just kept coming up. I was determined to do something and ran into a friend at the store who said a group was going running at night. I decided to meet up with them. Something must have happened at the last minute and no one could come anymore, but I still went.

I ran all through my neighborhood. Maybe it was that I was getting away/out of the house from my naughty kids (and they were especially naughty last night). Maybe it was that I had no music, just the sound of silence where I could collect my thoughts. Maybe it was that this time running I am in shape and can actually RUN.

But I ran. And when I was done, I didn't want to be done. I realized I could keep going, so I did. I did the whole pattern through my neighborhood again. I wasn't ready to be done, but my hubby was sick so I decided to come in and check on him.

But I ran. And it.was.AWESOME! I loved every second of it. I was faster than last time. It was so relaxing and refreshing at the same time. It was just so great. And I came home refreshed and renewed. I can run, I can run! ;)

Oh Sunday.

Have I told you how much I am enjoying this age with Keaton?! I was talking with a friend the other day and said out loud that I have really been enjoying this age with keaton, followed by, "I wonder why I can't remember this age being this fun with Brayden. I didn't really seem to be sulking it up like I am with Keaton." That's when I remembered that by this age, Brayden and kyler fought 90% of every single day and I was actually quite miserable. But I am really LOVING every second with keaton right now. He makes the best faces and has the best personality!!

Now, Sunday. Sigh. We all knew it was coming. Our ward HAD 750+ people. 110 babies under the age of 18 months. Our primary (at 250+ kids) was bigger than the branch that met in our building. We all knew our ward was going to be split. It needed to be split. We wanted it to be split. However, we also knew it would mean getting separated from some friends. The good news, we all live close, in the same neighborhood. It's not like Arizona where someone in your ward might live several miles away. When I say in the same neighborhood, I mean, like two streets over. Seriously. For reals. So I will still see my friends. It will be fine. I just won't get to see their smiling faces every Sunday anymore...although when I think about it, it was usually in a crowd of chaos down the hallway in a shoving match to get past to the next class. ;0 Sooooo, here's to a new chapter. I will miss all of you my friends. Don't be strangers. Love you ALL.

Now, what should I be for Halloween this year? I am thinking I must dress up. I just must this year. Ideas. Please.

Updates all around

So my day started off with a not so motivated workout. I did not have a headache this morning, however I was so afraid of getting one that I didn't give the workout my all, but I figured its okay to take it easy after the horrible migraine I had yesterday. Anyways, remember that post last week where I rambled on and on about people not showing up for scheduled appointments and not calling? Well today I had to leave aerobics ten minutes early to meet with an appraiser for our refinance and you know what?? He called exactly when he was supposed to show up to say he was running 10 minutes late. And then 10 minutes later he actually showed up and apologized again for being late. That, my friends, is real customer service. I understand people run late and things happen, just call me so I am not waiting around forever wondering whats going on. I am SO happy with the service I got today ;)

After the appraiser left, I had an appointment with my doc. Now, just a few days ago I was talking with a friend about doctors. There are doctors everywhere, but a good doctor is hard to find these days. And I think its hard when you have had the best of the best in the doctor department, and then move and have to start over, only to compare everyone to the service you are used to. Nothing can compare to the best when you have had the best. But you have to deal with what you have. I searched around after we moved here and am mostly happy with all my doctors. My primary care is great. He believes me. He takes me seriously, is sensitive to my needs and is honest if I need to be told to do something. Soooo he ended up giving me a shot for my headahce for the day that immedietly took it away and I have felt great the rest of the day, other than being a little drowsy. As far as future headahces, he did some blood work to check for diabetes, celiac, low or high thyroid, dehydration, etc. etc. Hopefully we figure it out from the bloodwork (and hopefully its something simple like dehydration) but either way, I am hoping to get to the bottom of it. I picked up a perscription for some good headache medicine tonight to help me with the next few headaches until we figure it out. But I love that my doctor is really on my side, doesn't just want to give me a temporary fix, but a long term fix. Thats all I can hope for.

So today, needless to say, was a much better day than yesterday. Now did I do anything today other than lay around and be lazy? No. Yesterday wore me out so much that I felt so exhausted today. My house is still clean though...at least that's what I keep telling myself. And now goodnight. ;)

Memories

My friend Kate had her triplets 2 weeks ago, and they have been home for a week now. I was sooo lucky last night to meet them and hold the smallest one, Logan. I think Kate was so sweet to let me handle Logan because he is the smallest, and he is also on oxygen. Both Brayden and Keaton came home on oxygen, and seeing and holding him brought back SO many memories. Logan is actually just about the size that Brayden was when he came home (Logan was weighed yesterday, 5 pounds, 1 ounce). I got to change his diaper, feed him a bottle and then change his little outfit. BTW, Kate is super mom. her kids have not had to have formula yet cause she has been pumping and nursing and has the best organized system for these boys! It is amazing! Logan was so sweet and it was something I looked forward to ever since Sunday when I planned the trip. I feel so lucky to have gone. I did not bring my camera or take any pictures because it was so late but I do have some adorable pictures of the boys that I stole from Kate! ;)

The boys when they were born.

Cute mommy Kate giving Logan his first bath at home (and might I just add with sincere jealously that Kate looks AMAZING. She looks better after having triplets than I did a year after having one! Way to go Kate!) Can you believe how tiny they are??
Thane, Weston and Logan.

Sooooooooooo adorable!!!

And on a separate note, I have been having the worst headaches lately. They really have just been a dull pain off and on for two weeks straight. Not one long continuous headache, but at some point in every day I get one. I can't put any association with it. Sometimes its when I wake up, sometimes its after I work out, sometimes its just smack dab in the middle of running errands or something. I've thought it was allergies, but I have taken medicine for that and it doesn't help...plus I have had allergies before and can tell this is a different type of headache. I've tried drinking more water, eating more protein, taking all kinds of ibuprofin, excedrine, etc. Nothing seems to do anything!! Today it turned into a migrane. I woke up with a terrible headache, but after breakfast and ibuprofin, it was barely there....until around 1pm today. Oh boy, it came on so strong I thought I was going to throw up. i almost did, like 5 times. I just laid on the couch and then when I went to get Kyler from school, I cried the whole way home and was trying so hard not to because I knew it would just make it worse, and it did. So finally around 4 I took a percocet I found (we have a few leftover from Keatons birth) and it barely dulled it. I was so dissappointed. Percocet, by the way, is my dream drug. I.Love.It. It doesnt do anything for Cortney, but for me, it makes everything in life wonderful. Don't worry, obviously if I have some from Keaton's birth, I don't take it for fun. But you must know how HUGE it is that it did nothing for me. So bummed. So I added some more ibuprofin to it later on and now my headache IS gone. I am literally terrified for tomorrow. I am so worried it will come back. So even though I am sure it is something small and silly, I am going to make the trek to the doctor as soon as I can (calling first thing in the morning) just to make sure I am doing everything I can in the right direction for ridding myself of this awfulness! Wish me luck!

Stats and Randomness

Sooooo I have been wanting to post a "before" and "after" picture of me for a long time, but I just can't seem to find a good "after" picture- and I had Cort take some one night...yeah, they did not turn out so good. I am super picky when it comes to pictures of myself. So I am just posting a bad picture of myself and a good picture or myself, both with me and other people. But I think you can see the results in my face especially:

Before: this is in February (in Hawaii, with Cortney)

After: taken 3 weeks ago with my niece.
Total pounds lost: 32. I dropped 3 1/2 dress sizes (I am alllllmost a size smaller, hence the 1/2). I am alllllmost the size I was in high school, which is ah-mazing, however, I am still 20 pounds heavier than I was in high school. So weird? I know I have gained a lot of muscle along the way, so I am not sure how much of that is in that 20 pounds? I was NOT going for my high school size folks, I just wanted to be my pre-pregnancy weight. Which, by the way, I still have 3 pounds to go, HOWEVER, I am now a smaller size than I was pre-pregnancy...so like I said, I think things have shifted around here to make things different as well as muscle build up. I am HAPPY with myself! I don't care what my weight is anymore as long as I can try and maintain this size. I dooooo want to lose that extra 3 pounds so I can get a $50 rebate from my hubby's work through a healthy challenge they did. And I think I can do it. But I am happy with how I look and more than anything, I just feel good. I feel myself. I feel healthy with the choices I am making in what I eat and how I work out, etc. Thats all that matters! ;)

Soooooo...now for the randomness. This week I have some goals I am working on around the house. I am getting ready to make some more wipey cases for a boutique, and clearancing out some older cases. I have stinkin awful headaches every stinkin day (I think from allergies) and the medicine I take for it makes me tired. BOOOOO. I LOVE Brayden being in preschool. It's awesome. Tomorrow night I get to hold my friends triplets for the first time- WOO HOO. I am now going to be teaching aerobics twice a week and am going to work up some new routines this week. Woot. I am missing my sisters today, especially as I saw my neighbor chatting with her sister this morning.
And I think today I am definetly going to take a nap! YAY! Happy Monday everyone and have a great week!

Lizzy's Lazy Day

Today turned out to be a somewhat lazy day. It really wasn't supposed to be that way, but it was definetly needed. I am an on the go person. I am not a homebody. We are always home for naps and typically home all afternoon and evening. But in the mornings, I am gone. Aerobics, running errands, kids to school, etc. So when a repair man asks to come in the morning, I say yes, because I really want to repair man to come and I will accomodate his schedule...HOWEVER, I do have to do a lot of rearranging and rescheduling to make it work. Just because I am a stay at home mom does not mean I am at home with nothing to do and all the time in the world to just wait for a repair man to show up. So here's the deal. I find out last week that today a repair man is supposed to come and start working on our shower mess. He is supposed to come between 9-10am today. Fine I say, I'll be here. And so I was. Kyler got a ride to school, I have Angie (the other aerobics teacher) take over my part of aerobics today. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I am also missing the class myself and the workout. It's fine. it's worth it. Whatever I needed to do was fine...

Now, anyone who knows me really well knows that I am an on time person. I am a 10-minutes early-is-on-time kind of person. But I have learned to mellow out since having kids. There are many occasions where it is out of my control and I don't freak out if I am late anymore (to most things anyways! ;)) And you honestly wouldn't know that I am upset about being late because I never let it show and I can let it go easily. Anyways, so this issue, today's issue, is not about being on time necessarily. It's about me canceling my morning and waiting and waiting for not only someone who doesn't ever show up, but never calls either. An hour and a half after this repair man is supposed to show, I call the company. The guy who I have been working with says he will call the guys and call me back. He does and apologizes for them not being there. I am not mean to him on the phone. All I say is "I cancelled my entire morning to wait and now we have to reschedule, so how can I be sure this isn't going to happen again?" I was very nice about it and he was very nice to me. So why didn't his guys ever call me to tell me they were running behind? Where is customer service anymore? Just because I am a stay at home mom does not mean I am at home twiddling my thumbs with all the time in the world to wait for people to not show and not fix my problem. Did I tell you that this is the 3rd company in the last 3 weeks that have been a no show for me?? Yup. That's right. The first plumber for our problem 'I'll be by in the afternoon tomorrow." Afternoon came and went and I finally called him later that evening in which he apologized a million times. Okay, no problem, I can let it go. Then the next repair man for our tiling problem is a no show. Then this today. So what if I was working a full time job and took off work to come home and wait for the no show repair man? Money out of my pocket, time wasted. I understand problems arise. Customers end up taking longer than expected. People run late and it's okay. Just call me. Even call me late. Just call me sometime. Just apologize! Geez peoples!! Where is the respect?

Okay, I'm done venting. So whats the up side to this? Well, since my house was spot less and I had gotten myself all dolled up for the day, I took the two youngin's and went shopping. We ran some errands, came home, had naps. I laid on the couch. We had leftovers for dinner. I went to book club. It was a lazy day. Well, running errands wasn't lazy, but it just seemed so lazy. It was nice. And I felt pretty today...a lot of days lately it seems I am in my aerobics clothes half the day and if I finally get a shower and make up on and the day is so gone it seems almost pointless. But today I was dressed and prettied up by 9! I feel refreshed after having so many busy days to have a day that is more relaxed ;)

And finally, in other big news, Brayden has started Preschool! Officially! And it's awesome!! He started on Wednesday and had a great day. I am excited for him to go back tomorrow and get into a regular full week next week (mon, wed, fri). I think Preschool will be really great for him to grow up and start making better choices...at least that's what I am hoping.

Meds

I know, another post with no pictures. But this will be short and sweet.

Every single night since we brought Keaton home in the NICU (so around 21 months now), before I head to bed, typically around 11pm, I would open Keaton's door, drop a dropper filled with .6ml of amlodapine (high blood pressure medicine) into his mouth, watch him swallow and walk out closing the door behind me.

Every.single.night. And now that is no more. And can I just tell you that I had no idea what a big pain it was until I don't have to do it anymore! WAHOO!! All the vacations carefully packing it away in a refrigerated bag to keep it cold while we travel. All the times of driving the 35 minutes to Primary Childrens to refill the perscription that could only be filled there. Those days are NO MORE! And I find myself at this time of night as I am getting ready to head upstairs, going to the fridge to get out his medicine and catching myself halfway there recognizing I don't have to do it anymore.

And it wasn't that big of a deal. But it is just so much better now that I am done. And not to mention the great news that Keaton can now regulate his blood pressure on his own. They still don't know why his was high. Just something some preemies have from their NICU days that lingers. But his is normal now. And I am happy. And all is well! WAHOOOOO!!!

Where does it go?

This post is especially for my sister, Sarah. ;) Every time I go to Arizona, for some very strange reason, my kids don't eat like they normally do. And so my sweet sis sees my little peanut children, who are small for their ages, and worries about them because she doesn't see them eating very much. I was thinking about this tonight as my kids were getting their FINAL of final snacks for the evening before going to bed. I am going to specifically speak of what Brayden ate tonight, because he is the biggest eater in my house AND the one who never eats when we go out of town...soooo....here is what Brayden ate tonight...

Brayden-

Dinner: 6 chicken nuggets, about 10 french fries, mini ice cream cone.(now please don't judge on the dinner here folks, Cort is gone for like 10 hours tonight (starting from 1:45pm-midnight) so I took the kids to McD's playland for dinner. Yuck, I know!

In the car on the way home: 1/2 small bag whale crackers.

Walks through the door and gets 1 banana. Eats the whole thing.

After bath 35 mins later: string cheese, 1 fruit snack (which he was not supposed to have).

10 minutes later I made popcorn for all the kids. All three kids shared a regular size bag of popcorn. When they were done, Brayden tried to sneak another fruit snack, but when I saw it, I made him put it back and he had an apple. AN ENTIRE APPLE and a yogurt.

Now he is asleep, so I am pretty sure he is done eating for the night.

Soooo...what do you think? Could we as women ever be so lucky to be able to eat unlimited amounts of food and stay little?? Ever?! I think my kids are not lacking in the amount of food they are eating... Now the substance of what they ate tonight is not something I am proud of (well I guess except for the banana, string cheese, yogurt and apple really)...but when Cort is gone all night on a Saturday, we are lazy around here. And if this is how my children are eating now when they are still small...I can only imagine how much they are going to eat when they are teenagers! I feel like all they do it is eat all day long! Our food bill is large enough already...which brings me to the next issue...what in the heck can we feed our kids for school lunches? Do we really just go back and fourth from pb&J to ham and cheese? I am going to google and get creative cause I wan't kyler to have a nutritious lunch, and have a good balance. At home, sometimes he has salads or black bean burritos, but those don't exactly go well in a school bag/made ahead of time. So...any suggestions, feel free to send my way.

My Life

When Cortney and I were building this beautiful home in which we now reside, we went to the Woodside Homes Design Center to pick out all the goods. Carpets, tiles, countertops, cabinets, etc. We made the decision at that time to upgrade several things, including our Master Bathroom. Now, I do NOT want to sound ungrateful. I love my house. However, after living here for some time, I have realized that we could have put our upgrades into certain things like a 3rd car garage (which now comes standard with no extra cost, by the way, which for us would have been an extra $11,000). I have realized that we could have upgraded some of the cosmetic things later, after we lived here for a while and realized what really matters. Like I would so totally get darker carpet now. We have a nice upgraded speckled tanish color with a brown speckle to it...all these little things come with life experience and having three kids to ruin things. I am not complaining. I am simply explaining this as an introduction to what has happened to our house in the past two weeks. Something that we actually put money into that is literally flushing down the toilet this very minute...(Okay, I am being dramatic...most of it is going to be fixed by the people who created the problem...I'm just saying...)

So we majorly upgraded our master bathroom. We tiled the entire thing, shower and all in a beautiful tile and it is great. Sooooo....downstairs in our kitchen a few weeks ago I noticed the ceiling has some discoloring. Yellow spotting. As if there has been some water leakage there. I pointed this out to Cortney. He figured out that this is right below where our master shower is...NOT GOOD.

We call our friend and plumber Dusty to come out and check it out. He realized almost immedietly that our shower tile was slanted to one corner where the water pools rather than going to the drain. Cortney and I had always noticed this and did our best to guide the water to the drain when we were done showering, but we thought it was supposed to be that way...apparently not. I guess we knew it was supposed to go to the drain, but I just noticed it and never really thought something like that would have been so very wrong and thought it was probably no big deal. So I just let it go. Oh no, it is apparently very wrong. Sooo...now we have not only the whole shower is tiled wrong on the bottom, which by itself, is not a big deal. But we have a leak in the kitchen. This is most likely because of the hole in the corner of the bottom of the shower from where all this water has been pooling (its hard to notice visibly). So we call Woodside. We are directed to a whole bunch of different people involved in the plumbing and tiling of our house. First, the tiling people come out. Then, they send the plumber out. Then the tiling people are going to come back out again.

It turns out the pan underneath the tile in the shower probably has a massive crack in it, probably because of the tiling being done wrong, etc. etc. Thats a lot of probably's if you ask me. I want real answers! REAL. ANSWERS. REAL SOLUTIONS.

This is my beautiful shower now...
This is the first hole created in my kitchen ceiling to check for leaks...

This is what ended up being the holes in my kitchen. Nice. And can you see the stip of yellowing just to the left almost on the edge of this picture. When I showered last night (as I was told to by the plumber to test something), water came pouring down out of this hole and leaked from the yellowing on the left. Good thing I moved the kitchen table out of the way...

So are you thinking about buying a new house now??? Just know that 3 years into a new house should NOT have problems like this. Thats one of the benefits of buying new right? So you avoid the problems that happen in older homes? I guess not so much with Woodside. Repairs are supposed to start happening on Thursday... Hopefully then I can post some pictures that are happier in nature!