henry is 10 months!

our gorgeous little babe is 10 months today

i can hardly remember life without him

but the thought of him turning one in a couple months makes me so sad

henry now has 5 teeth, three on top and two on bottom

he is a pro going up the stairs

and yells at me when he wants down so i can go get him

he loves loves to eat

he whimpers if i don't get his bottle to him fast enough

he will not be left out of family meals

and happily eats anything and everything we give him

including tomatoes, green pepper, cornbread..anything he can find on the floor..

as long as it doesn't have milk in it, we give it to him

he is really easy going

which is funny because he was by far the fussiest newborn/baby we'd had

but now he's go with the flow

he loves attention from his siblings despite their constant smothering

he loves to be outside

and he loves baths

i am in love with him

and so grateful he's ours

my 2015 goal to get healthy

consider these "before"  pictures

it may seem a little late to be talking about new years

and my goals and plans for 2015

but i needed to give myself a head start

and get focused before i wrote it all down here

.....

first of all, i turn 30 this year

that's a little weird and scary but it's happening

and by my 30th birthday (hopefully MUCH sooner)

i hope to lose at least 30 pounds

i am already well on my way and i've been replacing bad habits with good

and making progress

i am excited to lose accumulated baby weight

and feel better about myself

.....

michael and i are running another half marathon in may

i'm really excited to run another race with michael

we start officially training next week

....

we are planning to go to hawaii this summer

or another equally awesome location

just the two of us

we haven't gone on a real trip together since our honeymoon

and other than a night or two each pregnancy for a nearby babymoon

we haven't really left our kids much

i'm excited to spend some time alone with michael 

....

i need to focus on me a little bit more

i am coming out of the fog of having my 5th baby

we're wrapping up a lot of projects on our house

and i need to get healthier so i can feel better about myself

being a mom is hard

being a mom to a lot of kids is even harder

there's hardly a chance to eat some meals let alone exercise

but..

in 2015 i have the goal to not drink soda/slurpees

i am drinking a ton of water instead

more than i ever have in my life

and i have been running consistently for a couple weeks

this week before we start our training schedule 

i'm running 3 miles monday through friday

i am not eating in the evenings and eating smaller portions all the other time

and as of this morning i'm down 10 pounds!!!!

.....

i am not an obese person by any means

and it's natural to gain weight during pregnancy

but i've found it's easy to gain more and more weight with each pregnancy

and then being a busy mom, buying a house, renovating it, wanting to use food as a stress relief

it makes it super easy to be overweight

and having 5 kids gives you the perfect excuse, too

but i don't want to be

i currently fit in size 8 jeans and size small/medium shirts

but i'm so excited to get back in my size 4 and 6 jeans

and small/extra small shirts

i'm only 5' 1"
when we got married i weighed around 125
and it's gone up and up and up
maxing out with baby henry at 200 lbs
and now i started this little journey at 161.8 (boo!)
as of this morning i'm at 151.8 (woohoo!)
but hope to get to 130 if not better

holding on to a bunch of extra weight makes me feel crappy

and i don't like looking 5 months pregnant all the time

i am excited for this year 

to focus on my health

i don't know if we're having any more babies

but i'd like to be in better health and shape either way

rather than just waiting to get even bigger

and trust me, the weight is way harder to get off each pregnancy

i held it together pretty well for babies 1-3

then when eleanor had her milk protein allergy and i suddenly had a lot of kids

it's never been as easy

i couldn't find the motivation to care or really try and i was nervous i never would

but now! i've found it and it feels so good!

one major thing that has made it so much easier is that olive finally gets to go to preschool
4 days a week rather than 2 and it's given me such a good structure
not to mention 2 hours ALL BY MYSELF while she's gone
and henry and eleanor nap at the same time
it's glorious
and i usually eat lunch, run and watch a show while she's gone
it's been life changing
finally a little relief after all these steady hard years
.....

here's what i looked like right after michael and i got married

no double chin! no looking pregnant!

i'm excited to feel like me again
even if the new me has a different body shape than the old me

even if it takes a lot of HARD work!
trust me...it's been really hard
breaking bad habits is really hard
but we're doing it!!!
(michael's joining and supporting me. love him)

PS this is not to say anything about anyone else
or their weight or size
this is just for me
and my own journalling purposes

sunday best

pretty hazel wanted me to flat iron her hair

so she could see how long her hair is

eleanor's hair was so cute in braids

until it dried and got a little crazy

she wanted me to get my picture taken and not her

 while i was sitting on this stool henry decided to climb under it

he does this all the time

and never likes it once he's done it..

happy girl

noah picked his outfit out all by himself

so cute!

and he kept dancing while i took his picture

eleanor joined in

early morning jam sesh

boy picture

girl picture

it's possible we have a little too much time on our hands before church

as proved by all the pictures

but i love our long, lazy sunday mornings

the discovery center, guidos and our sweet rental car

last night we dropped our van to get fixed and picked up our rental car

it's a brand new yukon and it's pretty sweet

 today we decided to buy a pass to the discovery center for the kids

but first had to drive by the capital because eleanor loves it so much

 see how happy she is?

 the kids loved the discovery center

there was so much to do

 the girls especially loved this pulley chair

 me and the little baby bear

he was a super good sport riding in the ergo the whole time

the bubbles were also a big hit

 just doing the weather 

 right before he fell asleep on michael's back

 the kids also loved the little grocery store

i'm glad we bought a pass

there is so much to do that they couldn't get to it all in one day

 then we went to guidos for lunch

everyone loved it

despite their unhappy faces..

 i loved seeing hazel sit just like i do :)

 we went to the mall for a little shopping

and then stopped at lowe's for paint

and the kids got tired of waiting

so they played with the sunroof

 i got a little tired of their shenanigans

but we love this car

it's a fun change from a van

i made us dinner tonight

and michael went out and played with the kids

they loved it 

and it made me happy to watch them while i did the dishes

i am getting excited for warmer weather so we can spend more time outside again

a few little things

 i love that olive wears her tutu to bed with her pajamas

she was showing me some ballet moves, too

eleanor is the best

she is the FIRST one to get her jammies on 

almost every night

and she's TWO! 

sometimes she does it before we even ask

she's also the first to get her coat and shoes on whenever we're going somewhere

bless her and her sassy pose

eleanor told olive she'd catch her

but luckily olive said, "i'm too heavy!"

 i love hazel's nightstand covered in books

 yesterday michael gave blood for the first time

 then he asked if i wanted to come give blood, too

on the way there eleanor and i saw the helicopter and airplane

accompanying president obama

and once i realized that's who it was i excitedly told eleanor

and she responded for the first time ever, "NO WAY!"

i loved it

 the lovebird blood doners

 hey o!

 after i gave blood at michael's work

i went and got olive from school and then picked noah and hazel up

and realized i had michael's keys and my keys

so he wouldn't be able to get home

so i was trying to take his keys to him

when i got hit by a truck

that got hit by a little car

driven by a woman who was accelerating and looking out her window

despite me being stopped waiting to go through a light...

 we only got damage to our trunk

but the lady in back's car is trashed

i'm amazed she was ok

 the truck in between us didn't have any noticeable damage

 luckily everyone was ok

and we made it to ballet on time

eleanor has a little obsession with this little baby

and the baby's mom is super nice to let her hold her newborn every week

 olive chip clipped her nose this morning

 just for fun, obviously

 i made a potato leek soup for dinner

and when the kids got home from school they helped me make whole wheat pretzels

they loved helping me