Parenthood Adventures: Happy Fall!!!

Hey Everyone,

Do you feel what I feel? Fall is in the air. Apple orchards, pumpkin patches, (and latte's) and sweatshirts. I just love everything about fall. The colors on the trees, the crisp air, not having to apply sun screen. Can I get an amen? We are doing well here in Maple Lake. Enjoying birthday parties, being outside, and fall colds. Boo on the last one.

Stella:
Well, Stella is 5 months old now. How that happened is beyond me. She continues to be a wonderful baby. Unfortunately she has now caught Ruby's cold. Ruby never had a cold this young, so it is new territory for me. Stella is still very happy and I just continue to suck snot out of her nose. It never ends. It does make nursing kind of difficult because she can only breathe through her mouth. Big time bummer. But, she is handling it like a trooper and not getting upset. She is rolling all over the place and kicks her legs as hard as she can hoping to crawl. It is such a relief knowing that everything in our house is already baby proofed. Before we know it, Stella will be crawling and getting into things. She still has all of her long dark hair and her eyes are increasingly brown every day. I can't remember when Ruby started doing this, but at some point when we would lay Ruby down she would just stick her thumb in her mouth and fall asleep. I think it was probably around 6 ish months. Stella is much harder to get down. I usually have to nurse her to sleep. A lot of times I will lay her down and stick her paci in and she will think it is play time. There are times where I have to stay in her room and just keep my hand on her stomach while she settles down. She is still waking up about twice a night. In the morning if she wakes up and Ruby is still asleep I will just bring Stella in bed with me. Sometimes she will fall back asleep. She doesn't nap very well in her crib, which is the direct opposite of Ruby. Ruby only really naps well if she is in her crib. Most of the time Stella will fall asleep on her own in the rock n play. Whatever works, right? She continues to be a joy and she continues to look JUST like Ben. I hear a lot of people say she looks a lot like Ruby and while I see it a little bit, I have to disagree mostly. Maybe it is just because their personalities are so different. Stella is much more chill than Ruby. :)

Ruby:
Ruby had her first sleepover at Grandmas on Saturday night. I kept calling to see how she was doing and kind of expecting to hear that she wasn't doing so well. I was wrong. Every time I called she was having a blast playing with her cousin Liam who was also staying over. She was spoiled by Grandma and Auntie Sarah, and even warmed up to Uncle Jason. She had so much fun that this morning she didn't wake up until 9:15. She woke up with some extra sass that I'm going to equate to Grandma hangover, teething, and having a cold. Ruby is talking a lot, but I think my favorite thing about her talking is her saying, "Gross!" Whenever there is a mess or a dirty diaper she will just say, "Ew! Gross!" Ruby went potty for the first time last night as well. I have been extremely lazy with potty training her. We always set her on her potty thought before her bath and last night by golly she went! Ben and I went crazy and she started clapping. It's a start. Now I just need to get by butt in gear and go after it. I'm thinking either over MEA break or Christmas break when I have Ben here to help out we will try. Ruby was the first in our family this season to catch a cold. Wiping noses is the name of the game. Hopefully it doesn't last too much longer. I can't believe that in 4 months, Ruby will be 2. Sweet, sassy, and very silly Ruby.

Ben:
Ben is back in school and liking his new job. He is doing great things with the alternative school. I think it is very difficult, but Ben is so good at what he does and has a heart for at risk kiddos. He sees his job more as ministry as well, which makes it a little easier for him. Ben has given up sweets for the most part. He allows himself to have two sweets a month. He has done really well so far! I'm proud of him. He is working so hard on getting our basement done. He is pretty anxious to get it done by MEA break, which is in a couple of weeks. He has an incredibly handy family. They have been so awesome coming and helping finish. We are just SO close. I'm excited to have a livable basement, but I'm equally excited to have my husband back. Every weekend is usually spent working on the basement, which is a huge bummer, but we are saving a ton of money by him and his family being able to work on it and finish it themselves.

Me:
I have been working very hard to get healthy. After having Ruby and after my dad passing away, I just kind of let myself go if you will. Putting myself last most often and eating things that were fast and not healthy. I also think getting pregnant with Stella right away created the mindset of well, I guess since I"m pregnant I can eat whatever I want. I don't know why so many people use that time to eat whatever they want and as much as they want. Or maybe it was just me, I don't know. Anyway, a friend of mine introduced me to a new healthy program and it has actually stuck. I've decided that since I"m turning 30 in a month, this will be the year of getting healthy. I absolutely love the program I'm following. It is SO SO easy. It's basically portion control and exercising every day. I do an exercise video for 30 minutes every day. It is SO much easier for me to workout from my home versus going to the gym. It's cheaper too! I think I forgot that I actually really enjoy exercising and eating healthy. It has been a real game changer for me so far. I see eating healthy as being healthy versus eating healthy to get skinny. Losing weight is a big bonus, but it isn't why I'm doing this. I'm eating healthy so that I can have energy and be the best mom and wife that I can be. Let's be honest...being a mom is so hard and drains all of your energy. However, I have found that if I don't put myself first, than I can't care for my girls the best that I can. SO, that's it...Anne is getting healthy. It feels really good so far! I will keep plugging away. On another note, Ben has totally gotten me hooked on agate hunting. Agates are rocks. Yep, I go rock hunting. What has become of me? haha. It is so much fun though and so relaxing.

That's all I have for you today. I hope and pray all of you are doing well. I encourage you all to get healthy and be the best you....however that looks! You won't regret it!