This is My Forties

I am uploading a few more new videos. Check them out on the sidebar or in bigger version on my Youtube channel (link on top). I am still uploading right now, but I think I'm almost done. It's hard to pick just a few, but I know kids aren't as cute to people who aren't their Mommy ;)

Last time I tried to take Josh to see Pendleton-King Park it was closed so we went back out today. We didn't stay too long because it was another hot Georgia day and the gnats were driving us CRAZY. There was a new playground there that Noah really loved. Bosley loved it, Tristan loved it, I loved it... we always love being out :) I think Josh had fun too, especially when we pulled up to the pond so he could play with the fishes (haha). We're just big kids. ALSO!!! I have some exciting news.... No, I'm not pregnant. Well at least I don't think I am. I haven't taken a test in awhile. ANYWAY... Tristan is starting to walk!! He is taking a few steps at a time and is struggling his little butt off to try and stand upright from sitting without any support. He's getting pretty good! I tried to get a video, but for whatever reason he will only walk to me. He also has a tendency to get so dang excited that he won't stand up and catch his balance before takin...

Here are the boys reading books together. Noah is adorned in his green goggles which I assume are filling in as reading glasses. Tristan is more interested in eating the hair off of Hugs the puppy than feeling the softness. We were playing "city" with all his Little People stuff. He has a castle, the farm, the garage, a quarry, and a racetrack. Noah was soooo excited when we built the fence around the farm to keep the animals inside. He kept telling Tristan he was wrecking his yard... and Tristan was. Wrecking things is what babies do best. Noah was upset because his pyramid was small. He felt defeated, I guess. Maybe he needs more megablocks :) Then he can build a HUGE pyramid and be a happy architect.

I had a nice yoga session this morning. I got to drink my coffee and eat a bowl of cereal. I should feel great, but I don't. I am really dreading this Dr. appointment... and it's not even for me! I hate when my babies get shots. I hate having a Dr. tell me their opinion on everything like their expertise somehow goes beyond a child's physical health. I am prematurely stressing out, but this is what I do. I stress before and then when I actually get there I am prepared and fine. I have written down the vaccines Tristan is supposed to get so I know what to expect. I am not getting him the RotaVirus vaccine. He's practically 1... although just going to the stupid hospital will most likely expose him to the mutated cold. He's a strong boy. OK time to get ready. More later... Everything went fine. The doctor was cool and this hospital is much less crowded and more organized than the one in SA was. Tristan is 19lbs 6ozs and 29 1/4" long... I think that...

First of all... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VITA!!! Hope you had an easy flight back to Texas. Well I don't really feel sick at all today. I can tell my lymph glands on my neck are working overtime, but they're doing a good job! I am still doing the morning exercise and my walks, eating real well, drinking a lot of water, relaxing when I can. Maybe I will avoid Michelle's evil cold! I am not looking forward to going to the hospital on the 28th for Tristan's Dr. appt. Hospitals are hotbeds for sickness and disease. Why can't they have separate areas for people who are well and just getting a check-up. I've never been a fan of seeing a Dr. when I'm well... unnecessary stress in my opinion. I'm already stressed out about it :P Boooooo. But, it has to be done. Hopefully the doctor isn't a total jerk. I like the more hippie naturalist kind of doctors that listen to mothers and don't treat them like idiots. Other than the midwife that delivered Tris...

MELON FACE!!! BOOOOOOOO!!!! hahahaha We actually did scare Alex when she got this melon face as a picture message. No one ever expects a melon face. On Friday night I left for Ohio to surprise my sister Vita for her birthday. Our other sisters were there too, Janine flew in from Florida to surprise her. We had a great weekend full of laughs and hilarious pictures. We have so many inside jokes in our family. We took a lot of "sister" poses. I think out of the 50 or so we might have been seriously posing and smiling for one or two. That's how we rock (dedicated to Jake) in our family. Well this is it for the "good" ones that I had on my camera. And now for my favorites... the dumb ones!!! YAY!! :D Here we are pretending to be impressed with a passer-by for an Abercrombie and Fitch ad. Here we are pretending to talk about Janine while Janine pretends she's not laughing. Here we have the 2 youngest daughters carelessly pushed aside by the older sisters...

So between the yoga, crunches 2 times a day, and my nightly walk/jog my body is hurting. It's not as bad as the old muscle failure days in the Army to be sure, but it hurts. I think it feels great. This was my old Army stomach. Will I ever get it back to the 6-pack it once was? Maybe... I am using this picture for motivation to work through the pain. OMG look at those eyebrows!! LOL! I think I want my hair cut that short again, but layered. Hmmmm... We went to the mall to try and find a formal dress for the ball and boy was that depressing. Gone are the days when I would put on any dress whatsoever and look great. I just need to get used to dressing my new body. I don't think I'm fat, just not as small as I once was. It's just a part of life. I swear those mirrors in the dressing room were widening though haha. I also tried on my senior prom dress and it still fits! However, it's tight around my ribcage of all places. I must have huge lateral muscle...

I actually woke up this morning at 6am and did my Yoga. My alarm is set for 5:50am every day this week (except for the weekends) so I hope I can reach my goal. In other, even less interesting news I am going to clean like a madwoman today. I notice that when I wake up early and exercise I have a lot more energy to get things done during the day. I also tend to get out fairly early to do my errands. Unfortunately I found out yesterday that Sam's Club isn't open to regular folk until 10am. Lesson learned.

This morning I couldn't fall back asleep after Josh got up at 5. I made coffee and putted around. I wanted to make some breakfast, but wanted to wait until the boys got up. I decided I should just go lay back down. I was flipping through the channels and lo and behold I find Yoga. Apparently on Oxygen at 6am they "Inhale" so I got up and did me some yoga. Yoga is pretty difficult, but I loved it! Also 6am is a great time for me to exercise. Josh is at PT and doesn't get back until around 7 (when Yoga is over), the kids are still asleep. I even had time to take a relaxing shower and blog! I don't have a Wii fit yet, but I would much rather do yoga on there (no commercials). I am determined to get back into shape. I'm not talking about losing weight. I just want to be strong again... and toned. My goal is to drop 2 inches from my waist in one month. It's about time I got rid of the baby flab. I miss my abs. I've been doing crunches and s...

Well Noah loved all of his presents!! Thank you to everyone for the birthday surprises and well-wishes. He plays with WALL-E, his sandbox, and his easel all the time. We had a pretty low-key birthday. We made strawberry muffins for breakfast and went out to the Macaroni Grill for dinner. Noah said he wanted Spaghetti for his birthday so that's what he got. He didn't eat any of it like always. They had about 10 tables too many in that place and it was making both Josh and I really on-edge. The waiter was going to bring out a piece of cake for Noah, but he took too long and we couldn't stand the crowd anymore so we just left. We hadn't told Noah so he was none the wiser. Otherwise we would have had to stay for cake, of course :) We went out to the Atlanta zoo the next day. I barely took any photos at all because I was stressed out. Unfortunately we happened to go out there on "family day" in Atlanta. Every Atlanta resident or GA employee received s...

Here's one of Tristan standing up, getting into things. It's really easy to put Noah and Tris both up in Noah's room and just let them make huge messes and get into things. I think Tristan learns a lot through messes :) The famous raspberry face. He will do the little phbbbt sound back to you if you do it to him. Maybe not all the time, but a lot of the time! It's fun :) He was angry that I wouldn't let him eat my camera. I took the opportunity to get a shot of his 2 new bottom teeth. That brings the total to 8! He's been a great teether. I don't think they bother him too often. I've had to give him the occasional motrin when I can tell they really hurt... or maybe some baby orajel. But, overall he's still his usual pleasant self. Noah's birthday is tomorrow! He keeps reminding me :)

Well Tristan is 11 months old today. I can't believe it!! How did this time go by so quickly :( Still no walking, but he stands up on his own all the time. He's pretty stable too. He still has a voracious appetite. This morning he had applesauce, a whole banana, and 2 blueberry waffles. How is this even possible?! Then he had a nice poop-out too. Fun for Mommy :) I guess he was bringing in the new month with a back full o' poo and a morning bath. He's been showing a lot more interest in faces. He will poke you in the eyes and nose with his tiny baby tentacles. He gets all the pots and pans out and plays "band" with his brother. He must be more fun now because Noah will tell me "Tristan's not tired he wants to play with me in my room". My Mom started a family photo scavenger hunt on the weekends. I like to call it Scavenger Saturday. We are given a list of things to find and a lot of us participate and then upload them to flickr. ...

We're back from Karrie's! It was one stressful day, but everything went well and Karrie still has Kiley. I was asked a lot of questions about the military in cross examination. I knew it would happen. Luckily I was able to get my point across that despite what people might think, moving every 3 or 4 years is really not that bad. People assume we move much more often than we actually do. Not only that, but WE don't have to move. Just the military member does. The military cannot tell your family what to do. I was also asked if Karrie is ever excessive with her discipline. Obviously not, or I'd never leave my kids with her. I probably would have turned her in myself if I believed that. I felt bad for the dad. He's actually a great dad. No one would deny that. But, there is just something about a Mom. I'm sure he's upset about the outcome. I'm sure he only pursued this because he was afraid that the military would take Clint really far away...

I added a couple new videos to YouTube . There are direct links to them on the sidebar. Check 'em out! I am going to be adding even more so keep a lookout. I took a few cute ones today.

I forgot to tell you all about a little incident that happened the day before we left. Heather and I were taking the boys and dogs on our daily walk. Everything was going as normal. Dogs were sniffing around, strollers were rolling along with captivated babies in tow, Noah was running in circles in the grass near us. Noah had gotten a bit too far and a car was coming so I had him stop and wait. He decided it would be a great idea to pick up a rock and throw it into the road. Of course this was exactly as the car was driving past... a customized orange Charger with chrome accents and nice rims. The rock hit the pavement and bounced perfectly, smacking into the expensive rims. SH**!!! (I didn't say the full word) NOAH MICHAEL! GET OVER HERE!! I was not patient with him at all. He got spanked right there because he KNOWS better. I can't tell you how many times I've told this child not to throw rocks at people, animals, objects... or even at all. The car slowed down...

We just got back from a week-long visit with Gpa and Gma B. Josh and I got to help a bit with the new house. It felt good to have something to paint again, especially since Gma was watching the bebes ;) We fished in the pond at the new house. This of course made Noah extremely happy. We didn't catch anything, but we had fun anyway. I think it was just too hot for the fish to be hungry and active. We then went camping at the lake, rode on the jet skis, did a little toobing. Noah couldn't stop talking about making s'mores so we allowed a couple late sugar-filled nights. I think Noah really needed that alone time with Mommy and Daddy. We had fun making goofy faces and giving each other kisses :) Tristan didn't sleep too well in the camper, but we survived on what little sleep we were able to get. I think I fared better than Josh, but that's because I'm used to sleep deprivation from the munchkins. Their camper is sweet!! We all slept quite comfortably i...