2011

Happy New Year! Last night Jared said "It's the last day of the decade." This got me thinking and I realized that in the last decade.....we both graduated from college, got married, bought 2 houses and had 3 kids. Wow, what will the next decade bring???? None of the things I just mentioned that is for sure. :)


I read an awesome excerpt from Max Lucado's book "When God Whispers Your Name". I think it takes care of any resolution that I could make this year.

Enjoy!

For the next 12 hours I will be exposed to the day's demands. It is now that I must make a choice. Because of Calvary, I'm free to choose. And so I choose.

I CHOOSE LOVE...

No occasion justifies hatred;
no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love.
Today I will love God and what God loves.

I CHOOSE JOY...

I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance.
I will refuse the temptation to be cynical...the tool of the lazy thinker.
I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God.
I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I CHOOSE PEACE...

I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.

I CHOOSE PATIENCE...

I will overlook the inconveniences of the world.
Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I'll invite him to do so.
Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray.
Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I CHOOSE KINDNESS...

I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone.
Kind to the rich, for they are afraid.
And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I CHOOSE GOODNESS...

I will go without a dollar before I will take a dishonest one.
I will be overlooked before I will boast.
I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.

I CHOOSE FAITHFULNESS...

Today I will keep my promises.
My debtors will not regret their trust.
My associates will not question my word.
My wife will not question my love.
And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I CHOOSE GENTLENESS...

Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle.
If I raise my voice may it be only in praise.
If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer.
If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I CHOOSE SELF-CONTROL...

I am a spiritual being...
After this body is dead, my spirit will soar.
I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal.
I choose self-control. I will be drunk only by joy.
I will be impassioned only by my faith.
I will be influenced only by God.
I will be taught only by Christ.
I choose self-control.

Love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
To these I commit my day.
If I succeed, I will give thanks.
If I fail, I will seek his grace.
And then, when this day is done,
I will place my head on my pillow
and rest.

Semi-Resolution Post

Last year I did a resolution post. I managed to accomplish some and some of my goals remain undone and still need to be pressed towards. One of the things I am participating in this year is the "500 in 2010". It is a challenge by a fellow blogger to walk/run/bike 500 miles in 2010. It averages out to appx 10 miles /week. I though this would be just the motivation that I need to stick to an exercise routine. If anyone is interested I think you can still join in. We are only one week into it. I did 15 miles my first week and am pretty excited about it although many of the runners will kick my butt. I am trying to keep the ultimate goal in mind. Here is the link.

As far as other resolutions our Pastor kicked off a series last week called "Live Like You Were Dying" by Gary Smalley and it has already been a challenge. One of the premises is to love God with EVERYTHING and love other as yourself. Just those two things could take a lifetime. There is a ton more to it but I already see it changing mine and Jared's walk a bit and that is exciting. It is giving me new "goals" each week and some are quite challenging.

I have yet to sit down and write out some things I would like to accomplish this year that are just small doable things like read certain books, upload a ridiculous amount of pictures and have them developed (gee, that one sounds familiar), spend more time with friends, sew a few things (maybe even a quilt *yikes), date my husband more, etc. etc., etc., I really do love a new year but what I love even more is that God gives me a new day every morning. Trust me I need that! :)

Is it May??

Wow, I popped over to one of the blogs I read (oh, so, many of my sentences start that way) and her top post said May 2nd. I thought "hmmm? I know that you can post and then save it for future dates and it will publish automatically, but why did her post for May 2nd publish already?". Long story short, I though we were still in April. Yikes!!

Jared and I hit Target tonight after I convinced him to purchase THE work out DVD that would CHANGE. MY. LIFE. (insert sarcasm here). I have actually, for the most part, stuck with exercise since the first of the year and although I have dropped some weight I have more to lose and I was needing fresh inspiration. Free classes are still going on at my church and they are HANDS DOWN, the. best. workout. I have EVER done. Lucia, aka the work-out queen (according to yours truly), KICKS YOUR BUTT! I LOVE IT!! (Have I used enough CAPS and Exclamation points yet?) The problem is I truly find it difficult to get out of the house to work out consistently so I decided to continue power walking, which I LOVE, and work-out DVD's which I find kind of boring. I am a sociable kind of gal and when I talk to my DVD's they don't talk back. Bummer!

OK so I did a couple of P-90 X workouts with Mindy that were awesome but it is her system and I can promise you that I cannot commit to 6 days a week/60-90 minute workouts each time. The two times Mindy and I did this our children were sitting on us and climbing through our legs. Not working. I tend to be an all or nothing kind of girl so I wanted to find something else that was practical for me.

SO

I was catching up on one of the blogs I read (see, I told you) and I saw that she had started Jillian Michaels "30 Day Shred". She started it because another blogger challenged them to stick to 30 days. I thought GENIUS! It is a 20 minute workout. I am IN! I can do that during the boys nap and still have some down time. SCORE! So my wonderful husband plunked down the $15 (along with ridiculous amounts of money for diapers) and I plan to do it for the next 30 days. I told him that if I don't stick to it than he gets a massage every night for the following 30 days. This will be ALL the motivation that I need! J/K!!! Well, not completely, because 30 consecutive massages. YIKES!

My 33rd birthday is exactly one month from today so that should be motivation as well. The problem is I though the 2nd wasn't until Monday so technically I should be doing the work-out right now. If you are reading this and feel like joining in I would LOVE IT. I am planning to start Monday. Say a prayer that Jillian doesn't KILL me!!

I should add that after posting about my little health scare I had a follow up visit and my primary care doctor does not believe that my blood pressure/vision problem was related to lifestyle (ie diet and exercise) but my previous bout with pre-eclampsia. I was pretty bummed about this b/c I was hoping that I could lose a few pounds and not have to be on bp meds. I took a week off of working out and had a pity party and then realized that this was crazy. Working out is good for me and so is losing weight so I got back on track last week work out wise and plan to push forward as I have mentioned. Apparently, they are finding that women who developed pre-e during pregnancy are having reciprocal health issues. I guess we will see and to be honest I am hoping my Dr. is wrong!!

Who's Your Daddy?

Well, according to my sweet, son Eli, this is:

and this picture below is: (yep, that's Jesus)

Also Snook from "It's a Big Big World" (He's a large sloth on the show if you are not familiar. I should mention that Jared is FAR from a sloth.).

Yes, Eli has gotten to that point where men are all Daddies and women are Mommies. Older men are all Papa and so on and so forth. So far the "Mommies" have all been VERY attractive women. So I have lucked out. I am sure at some point the reverse will be true and I will be some female equivalent of the sloth but for now I am cute little birds and pretty women. I like this kid!!!

On a completely unrelated note the weather here is gorgeous today. It is 65 which is 20 degrees above our average. I took a beautiful, long walk with my boys and my 80 year old neighbor. It wasn't exactly heart pumping, to say the least, but it took about an hour and it has to be good for us to get out and breathe in that fresh air. My dear friend Stephanie called and asked me to go on a run with her this evening. I am a tad nervous but said I would give it a whirl. We ran together PT (pre-twins) and completed and 8K with my sister. Stephanie is my friend who has 5 kids, home-schools one of them, leads a bible study in her spare time AND just completed "Power 90 X". To put this in perspective I sit on my couch and watch the infomercials for this particular work-out and laugh at how ridiculously impossible it looks. Yeah, the run should be great! :) J/K Steph, I love ya! My goal is to make it one lap around the park jogging (what I do CANNOT be called running) and I will be a happy girl. I'll let you know!

Eli and Alex with their actual Daddy. And while he is not "Jesus" :) he is a wonderful father and husband and I have been married to him for SIX years on Saturday!

The above picture is of our first day home together as a family. Eli had just been released from the NICU after his 3 month stay and we were all finally under one roof. Praise God! These pictures of our first few hours home with them still melt my heart and I am sure they always will. As I am sure every NICU parent knows one of the hardest parts of their stay has to be the first day you leave the hospital without them. You aren't loading them into carseats for the first time. You didn't nervously drive them home like you had always envisioned. And then you come home to a nursery that you have been planning for several months with your arms empty, your heads full of doubt and your hearts unbelievably heavy. I cannot explain how much of a blessing their homecoming day was for us. I am so thankful God gave us these boys! Wooo, I got a bit more sidetracked than I had planned but their 2nd b-day is coming up and I have been thinking about their birth SO much. :) Bear with me for the next month or so!

Queen of Procrastination!

Yes, that is me. I have had the photo "issue" (for lack of a better word) hanging over my head for quite some time. I tend to be the type that needs a plan and if I am unsure about what to do I just DON'T. Unfortunately, this means that a lot of things get pushed back and then sometimes it means that I do them quickly to get them finished and it is not what I'd imagined. This is not one of my favorite things about myself but it is something I have learned to accept while pushing towards changing it. If that even makes a bit of sense. I guess as "they" say "knowing is half the battle".

So today I sit down to upload pics for our albums and realize that after last year, when I ordered about 600 photos and SWORE I would NEVER do that again, I have DONE THAT AGAIN! I haven't developed pictures in a year. Literally! And as you can see I am taking the time to blog about it which means I am, again, procrastinating. See isn't it lovely this self realization stuff? The improvement that I did make from last year is that as I upload my pictures onto my computer I have been editing them. This will save me a ton of time and I am glad that I didn't procrastinate on that particular task. I also backed up my photos (actually Jared did) and there is no danger of them being lost which is a huge relief and something that was looming over me until it was completed.

My next step after completing our family album is creating one for each of the boys' first year. It will be just of themselves for them to have some day. I got this idea from another twin mom Laura. She also makes her blog into a book as a keepsake (great tutorial here) which is my final project after completing the others that I have mentioned. My goal is to accomplish this by 2010. I am not kidding. I am trying to be realistic. Sure I could say by Summer but I'd be lying! :)

Ok, back to uploading millions of photos. BTW if anyone would like to confess how behind they are on pics or how disorganized, etc. in order to make me feel better leave a comment or if you have a great system that will make me feel worse but will give me some inspiration share that too! :)

Another one bites the dust!

*insert 80's music* Eli and Alex have been discharged from another specialist. Yeah, Baby! Today we saw the pulmolonologist and she indicated that we are on an "as needed" basis with her. She feels that they are doing wonderfully. I am very thrilled. This means that for specialists that we see regularly we are down to 1 and that is the neurosurgeon who will hopefully discharge us when Eli is 2. The pulmonologist did recommend daily breathing treatments to continue throughout the winter but other than that we are doing well. I added the pics below because I am STILL blown away by how well they are doing and how when they were in the NICU I could never have imagined this day.

On a much lighter note, we spent the ENTIRE morning at the hospital for this appointment. We left home at 9:30am and returned just before 2pm so I am hoping for an awesome nap from the boys. Other than that I am just sitting here blog reading and enjoying a warm cafe mocha. Ahhhh. I need it after a morning of fighting snowy downtown traffic and keeping twin toddlers busy in a doctor's office for hours on end. My head kind of feels as if it might explode.

In keeping with my resolutions, I am heading off to do some crunches and some other crazy exercises that make walking painful. :) I started an 8 wk session yesterday that involves exercising (exciting!!) and logging my food intake (not so "exciting"). A lady from church is an instructor and she does this absolutely free so I am thrilled to be a part of it and feel so blessed that my in-laws are willing to watch the boys so I can go there weekly. Although it is a blessing, as I was driving away from there yesterday I noticed that it hurt my legs to push the accelerator!! Did I mention that it is a blessing?? Yeah? O.K. Just checking.

Early Mornings!

One of my resolutions was to get up about an hour before the boys wake and get things done (the main thing I wanted to do was read my bible). My eventual goal is to even squeeze in a work-out. I actually did today but that is only because Jared had to be up extra early (I will not speak of the hour. It is just not right!) and I couldn't go back to sleep. Anyways, don't be impressed because the boys have begun to sleep until 8 which means normally (not today) I am only getting up by 7am. It is not that early. I avoided it for so long because after the whirlwind that is infancy I reveled in sleeping until what was 7:15 and has since become 8 a.m. I felt as if it was the pat on the back God was giving me for the countless feedings, changings, etc., etc., etc., and actually I have NO guilt about that. That stage was awesome. Now, however I am actually sleeping at night (usually) and I have the energy to wake up. I am not seeing a downside to my "early" rising yet. (I know some of you are laughing at 7 being early. My husband works with some older men that get up and to work by 4 A.M.) So, as of day 3, (I know impressive, right?)the house is quiet, my coffee tastes amazing when it is hot and not re-heated in the microwave 10 times eventually to be left untasted and thrown into the sink. Mama is happy and it is great. I just hope their sleeping until 8 continues and that I can push towards....gulp!....6:30a.m. I am not going to push too hard though. Lets not get crazy.

Resolutions!

I've never been big into resolutions as an adult, or should I say I have never been big into keeping them :0. This year, however, it appeals to me. I have started such a new life in the past, hmm lets see, 20 and a half months, since I have become a mom that "stays at home". I have left the "work place", although this is the hardest job I have ever had, and completely changed my idea of what is "important" to me at the end of the day. So rather than spouting out my "usual", you know: get healthy, read my bible more, be organized, I got a bit more specific (althought the aforementioned are all on my list, again) and broke things down according to life areas. I not only made the serious goals, you know the ones that scare you as you make them because you realize that the changes will NOT be fun and will take more work than you care to think about, but also some small easier ones. For instance, read a book on photography, take the boys to the zoo, finish the boy's baby albums (yes, they are almost 2, don't judge me :) ).

The verses that are my inspiration as I take on these goals are:

Ps 90:13 (Moses' Prayer) "Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom"

and

Prov. 16:3 "Commit your every work to the Lord,...".

I am enjoying this clean slate that comes with a new year and I find it a beautiful realization that God offers us this clean slate as we confess our shortcomings to him, not only every year but every day and every moment. I will be honest enough to say that this year as my pastor spoke about the new year I fought hard against my flesh that was saying "don't bother, you can't change" and decided to believe what God's word has to say about it instead. I know it is difficult and I am right there with you but I encourage you to sit down, commit your works to the Lord and then allow him to guide you as you write out resolutions/goals for the new year. My pastor encouraged us, along with confession, to break our routine. Analyze you current routine and be honest about it's shortcomings. This was encouraging to me so I thought I would share. Don't worry I will be back blabbering about my kids soon enough. :)