Day 13

Thursday
9.15.16

I had every intention of moving the lawn today, but it rained. So, instead I took some time out to read, to write, and clean up the inside of the house. It always is astounding to me. I feel like we are pretty clean and orderly. HOW DO I HAVE SO MUCH CLEANING TO DO ALL THE TIME? Our family is complete - though at some point I'm sure a fur baby may enter our lives (Squeak has already been dropping hints). But what if there were more kids? What if there were more adults? For us 5 is the perfect number but good grief - props to you Mamas (and Papas) with more than 3 kids. It's amazing I'm not in PT due to the amount of bending over and picking up of books, toys, clothes, cheerios, children, etc.

Avy's preferred reading position.

All 3 kiddos love their books!

People: I'm going to talk about a person who will likely not be the subject of conversation much on this blog but is one of the most wonderful people I've ever met - my wife. She is witty, she is funny, and she loves me and our kids so very much. She's been away for several days which makes it more of a challenge to get things done in a timely manner, but I know it's hard for her to be away, too. She will FaceTime all of us each morning from the hotel room before she has to go to work, and does sweet things like leaving little notes for Squeak to find each of the days she is away. I may not bring her up often, but she is here and very much a big part of our lives. And in case you are wondering why Squeak's clothes are in a shoe box… we do this to lessen the drama of getting ready in the morning. Each week after her laundry is washed and folded, D looks ahead to the weather for the week and then appropriately packs each of the boxes marked with the days of the week. This has been a huge time and tear saver!

We invited a friend to join us for dinner this evening which was very nice. I'm hoping to schedule meet ups with more friends this year. My friend and I are huge AbFab fans and hope to get together again and have a binge watching party. Anyone want to join us? Drop me a line!

Squeak finds a special note from Mommy :)

Squeak has gotten into the habit of making her bed. She likes to arrange her stuffed mousies.

Milestone for Puff today!

Standing all on her own!

Places/Activities: Today Squeak started ballet and tap lessons. She said she was a little bored but tapped the entire time. We will see how she likes it in the coming weeks. We also made a quick stop at the library to return some books.

Good Deeds: I can't think of any good deeds today… guess I need to step this up tomorrow!

Chores: Do I really need to say it?? Laundry. Two loads today. Some other minor house cleaning - vacuuming and cleaning the downstairs bathroom. I washed lots of dishes, too. That's what happens when you eat all the leftovers on the same day. Lots of dishes.

Reading: I finished Becoming Maria by Sonia Manzano. *spoiler*  I really enjoyed it though I was a little disappointed that there wasn't anything about Sesame Street in the book until the very end.

Me this morning after a 45 minute workout
in all my sweaty glory!

Random Thoughts: For a number of years I always had excuses for not doing something. It was always, "Well if I didn't have to work I would have time to workout in the morning." or "If I didn't have to work I could cook nice dinners for my family." or "If I didn't have to work, I could travel and go places and do things I always wanted to do." So this is my opportunity. I don't have to work for one year. While my most important job and reason for taking off is to raise my 3 children, it doesn't have to be the only thing that I do. I've been making it part of my daily routine to get healthy. We do our best to eat right, but sometimes eating right just isn't enough. Sure, I chase after kids all day (especially Puff - I turned my head for second this morning and that fast she had crawled across the room, reached up on Squeaker's table, and grabbed a handful of markers and shoved them in her mouth - thank goodness Squeak had put the lids on them) but it's good to get in some other exercise as well. My goal is to drop a clothing size by the time I return to work next year. It might not mean that I lose any weight, and I'm ok with that. But I'd like to be in better shape, feel better about myself, and keep a clean diet. It's not easy because we are tempted by so many unhealthy choices each day. I've noticed that length and rigor of my workout play a large role in how well I feel during the day. I need to have at least 45 minutes of solid cardio to get to my optimum "I feel really good" level. Increasing my water consumption has also helped a lot. When I work out I also find that I have much higher energy and I'm less hungry. Go figure. Did you get that pun there?