Justin's First Birthday!

     This week has been a whirlwind of activity!  I seriously don't think that I have been this busy since I was student teaching!  Monday I did all of my normal activities, i.e.: took care of my son, went to the gym, worked on my weight, etc.  but I also worked on cleaning up my craft room (dining room) and began going through my closet.  Tuesday I did all of the same plus found my self cleaning out Justin's closet (which took a while considering I still had craft stuff and some of his non-fitting clothes filling the bottom) so that I could put a bookshelf in there for all of the books that have been taking over his room!
On Wednesday I continued working on my dining room plus I cleaned out my fridge and babysat my very gorgeous neices, Abi and Leah, in the evening.  It was such a blast to have them here!  I sincerely love getting to spend time with kiddos who love to be rough housed with, Leah went crazy over the fact that I was tickling and playing with Justin and wanted some attention too!   I also picked up pictures from Sam's club so that I could finally finish the white frames, which I have been collecting for years to put on our newly painted walls in the basement. Then Thursday was really crazy as my carpet was put in. 

      After the carpet was in I really wanted to put up all of the frames I just finished, so I designed my green wall in the basement.  Nate was amazingly helpful as he has the know-how when it comes to putting holes in his new walls. : )  Friday I made cupcakes and then Natalie came over in the evening so that we could decorate them together; it was so much fun!  Saturday I spent most of the day, after going to yoga, cleaning my house so that it would be good to go for the party.  Justin's party turned out awesome!
       We started with pizza and salad for the grandmas.  Then as everyone in our wonderful family started to show up we had tons of fun showing off our newly finished basement.  The enjoyment of having my family there to celebrate little Justin's first birthday was truly a blessing and I am so glad that they could all live so close and be able to enjoy the occasion with us.  We enjoyed those fun monkey cupcakes and then opened a plethora of presents provided by the guests.  I think Justin now officially has more toys than his father has tools.  I cannot believe that he has grown so fast and this past year has been the hardest and yet the most wonderful of my life.  I love you, Justin.  I am so glad that you are a part of our family.  Daddy and I enjoy your antics, giggles, and dancing everyday.

Getting Ready for Justin's First!

My goodness it has been a very busy weekend!  Nate had Friday off and we started the day by calling the carpet lady, who we have both decided to give a vote of "no confidence", she told us that they will measure on Tuesday and come lay the carpet on Thursday...one less thing to be worried about this week!  Then we went shopping to find an electric fireplace/entertainment center to go with Nate's new TV.  At which point I was still deciding what color to paint our accent wall in our new family room.  We also went and looked at a few furniture places since we will be needing something to plant our seats on.  Also I received an add in the mail from Sam's club and I wanted to get Justin's new carseat, which you see here, and so we stopped there.  I also haven't been feeling to terribly awesome so I never made it to the gym which then gave me guilt complex and I didn't sleep Friday night.

 Tal was baptized on Saturday morning so we quickly got up and got going instead of having our normal laid back go.  It was wonderful and afterwords Donalee had the most scrumptious brunch for us!  Thanks for all of your awesome hard work, Donalee, you constantly amaze me!  After the shin-dig, Mom and Grandma Hayes came back to my house.  Nate was changing Mom's oil and Grams came to check out our almost finished basement!  The two ladies helped me decide on a color for our basement wall, it helps to have another woman's opinion.  Then we actually went back to Merlin's and bought the fireplace, and my Natey took me to Sizzler for supper.  I had the broiled salmon and it was incredibly good!  After which we ran to Home Depot to actually purchase the paint that went on my accent wall, it is green and called artichoke heart.  As you can see we after we took the carseat out of the box it left an empty box which has been entertaining both baby and daddy all weekend! :)

     Today we had a pretty lazy morning.  I made veggie omelets for breakfast, and then we got ready and went grocery shopping.  I really had to make my list because meal planning is our bonus for my food challenge this week.  After shopping, Justin went down for a nap and we painted the wall in the basement, set up the new TV, cleaned up all of the mess in the basement, and planned dinner.  When Justin woke up I cleaned out his closet, at least the bottom, and he now has a bookshelf!  I think it was a brilliant idea to put it in his closet, if I do say so myself.
     I know that this week is gonna be really hairy week with all that I want to accomplish before Justin's party on Saturday.  I get the feeling that I am gonna be a little stressed out.  Plus tomorrow is our first weigh in for the challenge and that makes me nervous.  I hope that I have lost at least two pounds in the last week.  I really want to make my goal of 15 lbs in the 8 weeks so that I can earn that bike trailer.  I want it so much so that Justin and I can go biking this summer.  Here's to healthy eating and living so that I can change my health!

   

Oops! Missed a week lots to say!

 So much to say!  My goodness I cannot believe that I missed a week already!  Justin is running everywhere...not just walking!  His gate is still slightly wide, but he really has it down.  He has also started the fit throwing stage when you tell him 'no' about anything that he wants to do.  He loves to laugh anytime that he hears laughter, especially if it is mommy who did the original laughing.  He is always smiling and a very happy little guy.  Earlier last week however, he was not at his happiest at he caught the flu at daycare.  I did take him in to the doctor on Thursday and that was the diagnosis.  He also had some runny eye goo going on and the doc said that he must have a bacterial infection in his eye...please note: attempting to put eye-drops in an eleven month old babies eyes is NOT an easy task!  These vacuum pictures are my favorite!  I left the vacuum on while I went to the garage to quickly shake a rug, and came back to find him doing the vacuuming!  It is easy to see that the vacuum is on because of the light.  I was laughing so hard I had tears streaming down my face...especially since he wouldn't give it back to me!  I am gonna love having a child who digs vacuuming!  I really love his sweet little personality!  As for the cold, he seems to be getting better; Yet he is still rather stuffy and has the runny nose.  I hope it doesn't turn into a sinus infection.  You can see by the other picture that he loves to get in odd places and play. : )
     As for myself, the workouts seem to be going really well, and the actual challenge starts tomorrow.  It should be wonderful.  I really want to get rid of this extra weight and feel better.  It is not just a physical thing, it is also emotional.  As I slowly begin to lose the weight I feel better and better.