New Years Week+End Rewind

Since I have jam-packed this week with a catch up of posts, I will recap our New Years weekend and what has gone down this week today for you. 

M worked until about 3 PM on New Years Eve. On Wednesday last week Noah was having a rough day and to make matters worse, we couldn't find his pacifier in bed, so to bed he went without out it and surprisingly he didn't seem to care! However we have since learned there are repercussions to him not having it which include 30 minute naps and early wake ups in the morning!! So needless to say on New Years Eve, Noah was not up late, but we tried our best to make the best of his early evening with a special tub celebration! He wasn't too sure at first, but then loved it once he saw it was a light in the water and it changed colors!

Once the little guy was in bed, M and I tidied up a bit and I watched the movie The Intern on the box. It was really good!!! M was working on his new smoker and then played some xbox games I'm sure! I went to bed around 11:30, but stayed up in bed and watched the ball drop with M. I was asleep shortly after! 

New Years Day was super laid back in comfy clothes all day long! We really just spent the day as a family, which was nice and low key! We also attempted our first family selfie of the year... I won't tell you how many shots we had to take to get this mediocre one, but it's us. Gracie is only looking because we said who's here and Noah is yelling Grandpa - meanwhile Grandpa is nowhere near being home..

After Noah went tthe bed, I conned M into playing Dice Poker wth me and sure en go I started the year out with a win!! 

Saturday morning M had to run and do a job for a farmer, so he dressed Noah up in his coveralls and off they went, giving me the morning to work on laundry and some other things around the house! 

Saturday late afternoon we had some friends over with thier 3 boys for dinner. M was itching to try out his smoker, so we did up steaks, and roasted potatoes on it and then did green beans and a Cesar salad as well as a fresh loaf of bread we made. J & S brought dessert which included this delicious cheese cake with fruit and cupcakes for the kids. Check out my new dessert plates!! Not that you can see, but they say "have your cake and eat it too".

They left just before we started Noah's bedtime routine, but it was a nice afternoon/evening and dinner was pretty great! 

Sunday morning we baked bran raisin muffins for breakfast, as well as put on another loaf of bread! We worked up in Noah's room hanging shelves and got his laundry put away. 

I ran into town to get some groceries, which was crazy busy - no wonder I don't grocery shop on weekends if it can be helped. 

When Noah went down for his nap, I decided to tackle a little DIY project for book shelves in his room, since I was struggling with finding the right baskets. I had b get this fabric months ago, not sure what I would use it for and then I realized it was perfect for Noah's room. Our theme is Noah's favorite things, so you can expect to see baseball, trucks, tractors, dogs, outdoorsy stuff, boating, etc. I know it sounds crazy, but it's really coming together! 

I'm really proud of how these turned out. I'm not the best sewer, so when they ended up the same size as each other, I was really impressed! I will say the only downfall is the amount of books they hold. I thought it would hold more. So are trying to figure out a way to remedy this. But here they are:

M's parents came over for dinner and of course Noah loved playing with Grandpa! We have to try to get in as much time this month with them before they head south! 

After they left I decided to bake some banana muffins too!! 

Monday was back to work for M. I got the call from the dentist informing me I would need to see the dental surgeon. I ended up with an appointment Tuesday to see the surgeon.

It wasn't the best news, it's still gotta come out sooner than later, but it all has to be cleared by my OB next week. Booking the procedure was super tricky for this month, as we have a lot on the go and are trying to plan vacation for February. But we found a potential date that would give me a week recovery, so once it's all cleared by my OB, we are good to go with that. 

I will say Noah has been a champ this week with his behaviour. He is back to normal, apparently our rough week last week has resulted in a little boy with working listening ears, that and we are past Christmas haha. 

Wednesday night we had dinner at the farm, set up their box, and fit bit and then I worked with my MIL to learn how to do the books and payroll while they were gone. It feels nice to have something to focus on aside from maintaining the family home and Noah! 

Last night was the first night of the 21 day fix for myself and second night for M. I'm hoping to get in 4/5 workouts a week if I can, but even if I get 3 in I'm happy. 

21 Day Fix Progress

It's been a while since I have updated how we are doing with the 21 day fix!! We are still loving the program! Seriously Autumn is no joke with these intense work outs, but it keeps us coming back each day. This quote is pretty much my mindset these days:

Last time we checked in was after round one, Mike has lost 9 pounds and I had lost 6! Mike also lost 10.75 overall inches and I lost 5.25. Men lose weight soo much easier than women - so not fair haha! It's been approximately two months since the last update and we lost weight inbetween, however we did have some time off in between with vacation and what not. 

So where are we at now? Mike has lost 20 pounds now but has not measured himself recently and here are my stats: 

The weight is coming off slowly and steadily, which is the way it is supposed to. I have a total of 3 pounds to go to get to my initial goal which is my pre-pregnancy weight. My pants from pre-pregnancy are fitting well now which is always a nice surprise! 

I also finally bought a new pair of running shoes so I could stop doing the work outs bare foot! I went with my first pair of nikes. I'm usually an Adidas girl, but I love how light these shoes are! 

They are the Nike Lunar Hyper Workout Shoe XT. Love them so far!! 

We are still enjoying the work outs and we will be upping our weights soon! Infact today I am going to pick up a set of 15 pound weights I found someone selling used! 

We are also considering subscribing to the beach body on demand to change things up a bit, but we aren't quite there yet. It is getting harder to get our work outs in together lately with Mike's hours and we have been skipping the odd work out too but doing walking instead. I'm hoping to start doing mine outside soon now that the weather is nicer! 

The biggest thing for us is portion controlling, and water intake we find. We usually skip the yoga and Pilates, as we just really don't enjoy either one! I have never been a yoga fan, and I am far from flexible, but I am getting better with stretching. 

So we are approximately 3-4 months in and still going strong!! Seeing the results is the best reward and it makes it all worth it!! If you are thinking about getting started, I highly recommend this program!! 

[ Weekend Rewind ]

Soo nice to have positive temps still floating around these parts! The fact that the grass is starting to become visible excites me, but we have a long way to go!

Thursday I found out my sister was able to get us tickets to see Luke Bryan!!! Soo excited for this concert!!! 

Friday night we had our couples night and played some Cards Against Humanity - highly recommend that game haha - we enjoyed some yummy snacks and beer! It was a fun, and easy night!

Saturday morning after breakfast M took Noah for a crop tour to check on the jobsites while I headed into town to make some returns at Carter's (love their return policy) and picked up a new jacket for Noah, as well as few other goodies! 

He is actually starting to outgrow his socks, so I bought the next size up! I also got him a new summer hat since we apparently don't have one! I need to find him a ball cap! 

We actually timed it perfectly and were back at the same time! I was supposed to go to Winners to look for a spring coat for myself, but I just didn't feel like it! 

I finished watching The Judge (I had watched about half of it on our flight to St. Martin). It is an excellent movie!! Highly recommend it! 

The afternoon was spent playing and while Noah slept for an hour and half, I treated myself to the hot tub since my neck was still sore from the day before. I have a big knot in it preventing me from turning my head properly but it's too tender to touch, so heat it is! It felt much better after! 

I also did a little online shopping and ordered myself 2 new books by Robert M. Drake! His books consist mainly of quotes and thoughts, which I really enjoy! Here are a few quotes:

I can't wait for them to come in! I also can't wait for:

-the new baby gate to come in so we can stop tripping on chairs barricading the kitchen! 

-Noah also started chewing on his crib rail a bit, so I bought the crib rail protector. 

-Shutterfly sent me another free offer for a stationary pack! Yes please! 

-While we were in St. Martin they offered me a free 16x20 print! Perfect for the bathroom!! 

Needless to say next week will be a happy mail week! 

Saturday night was spent snuggling with this little cuddle bug:

We watched a boring movie called Stay with Taylor Schilling. I thought I would stick it out and watch it because I like Taylor Schilling but man it was slow and boring! Which reminds me, I bought the new InL3D Box for the TV, so watching movies and tv shows online is soo much easier now!! No laptops wires everywhere, etc. 

Sunday after breakfast we headed to Cambridge to go to Old Navy to pick up a coat I had on hold for Noah! Lesson learned - don't wait until last minute for these kind of things!! Luckily I ended up hitting an awesome sale and got 2 for the price of 1!! As well as a few extras and 

clearance for myself!! 

The red coat is actually going to get exchanged for the next size up, as it fits now, where as the blue one gives him more room to grow for spring! The red one will be great for fall!! 

I also got myself this shirt just in time to start up round 3 of the 21 day fix! I was pleasantly surprised to find myself an extra pound lighter since finishing round 2! 6 more pounds go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight! 

Excuse the make up free look haha! 

The afternoon was spent playing and putting away laundry! We are pretty much caught up now! Noah also spoiled us with having a 2 hour nap!! He had some stellar hair afterwards too: 

I was happy to see The Kardashians back on! Yup just admitted that dirty little secret on the blog haha. I'm not even sure why I enjoy that show, but I do!! 

That's pretty much our weekend wrapped up! Tomorrow Noah has his 12 month shots - only a month late! Soo not looking forward to him feeling crummy afterwards! Mikes parents also get home tomorrow night! 

Monday Already??

Clearly this week is going to zoom right on by while I'm coping with Noah turning one THIS weekend!! This seems like such a big deal to me and I can't even pretend to not be a little sad about it, although I am super happy at the same time! He seriously is just the best thing that has happened to Mike and I - we are soo blessed!!

So this week we will be party prepping and getting ready for Noah's big day!! Much like we did this past weekend!

Friday night was low key. We went into town to pick up my car (oil change) and grabbed some groceries and dinner!! We came home, ate and then hung out!

Saturday morning we got up, had breakfast and then we braved Costco on a weekend! It's always dangerous when M comes... We spent too much money, but got most of the things I needed for the party, a few extras,  aside from produce, which I will get later this week somehow! Noah had some crazy hair going on while we ate out for lunch!

Saturday afternoon M and I cleaned out behind the bar while Noah napped and then I decided to try a little Pinterest project! We all know how I love Kelsey's spinach dip, so when I saw a recipe on Pinterest that said it tasted just like it, I had to try it! I followed the recipe up until it called for a tablespoon of red bell pepper, well I assumed this was a spice... And couldn't find it at the grocery store, turns t they meant fresh! Oops!! My bad! So our recipe didn't have this! I also forgot to put the cayenne pepper under the cheese on top.

But it was soo yummy!!! We will totally make this more often!! It was also soo easy to make!!

Gracie was tuckered out after her walk with Daddy and Lily while I put Noah down. Up next was the Dirty 30 work out! I actually really enjoy that one!! We have also gone back to following the meal plan instead of calorie counting because we weren't dropping the weight like we expected to that first week of round 2! 

After our work out I watched the movie The Best Of Me, which is another movie based off of a Nicholas Sparks book. I love all his movies! This one was good too and without spoiling the ending completely, I wasn't expecting that ending!! 

Sunday morning Noah woke us at 5:30 with much surprise to our eyes, he was sitting there looking at us (through the monitor)! Sitting being the biggest shock! He just learned to sit up on his own Friday but we still weren't expecting to see him sitting up in his crib!! Little bum! He had his bottle and went back to bed until 8 and I slept in until 9! 

We met C and S for breakfast at 10 and had a nice catch up! Then we worked away at laundry! Grandma and Grandpa popped in for a visit with Noah before his afternoon nap and they had fun playing! 

It was a nice low key day!! We finished up the night with yoga and then I watched the Grammy's!! 

Loved Taylor Swifts dress! Loved Gwen Stefani and Adam Levines performance!! I was happy to see Sam Smith win and of course Beyoncé!! I was happy to see Miranda Lambert win best country album! I don't get the Kayne West interuption... 

Behind Again!!

My intentions to blog daily are clearly falling behind! I'd like to say this will get better, but with a little boy on the move, time is precious around here!

Noah learned to crawl on Friday!! We couldn't be happier! He is a lot happier being able to move freely on his own and a lot less frustrated. Granted he would still prefer to walk over crawl, he can move about and that is big! Now he is working on pulling himself up on everything! Baby's really don't keep! 

Plans for Noah's party are in full swing! If you have me on Pinterest you would have likely guessed our theme to be Elmo! 

Another thing I have been working on is attempting to stop a 4-plex from going up in my back yard... Well not MY backyard, but on the lot behind us. I feel like I am back in the law library with all the research I'm doing, but the research is paying off and hopefully we can stop the application from going forward as it will cause a lot of parking issues, community safety, etc. We had a meeting Friday night with some neighbours and came up with a game plan. 

(It really is just a bad angle, but his smile was too big to not share... he has a neck I swear)

Saturday was spent tackling our to-do lists... Which I will update last months this week, as we are in February now! Crazy!! We cleaned out the mudroom, rearranged it and worked in finding homes for things that were suddenly homeless! It was an all day event! We got laundry done, sorting of bills and cleaned off the top of the fridge and the junk basket lol. All jobs that needed to be done! I also watched the movie Gone Girl - it was pretty good! I am an old school fan of Ben Affleck. The movie definitely didn't end the way I thought it was going to!

Sunday marked the end of our first round of the 21 day fix! I will also post about that this week! We couldn't be happier with the results!! We hung a mirror we had in the mudroom in the bathroom, hung a picture in the dining room, emptied the junk drawer and attempted to go out petitioning as a family, but that was short lived since of course we were getting a snow storm! So M brought Noah and the dogs home and I kept at it! 

When I got home I was surprised to see our new enjo products came in! We are pretty excited to start using them!! After Noah woke up from his nap we headed back out in the snow storm, but in a vehicle this time to head to the farm! Man did it ever come down while we were there! The roads were quite slick on our way home, but luckily it's not too far away!! 

And waking up this morning- we were dumped on! I haven't seen this much snow all at once in a long time! We are in operation dig out! The non-drifted sections are knee high and the drifted sections are thigh-high. Oh and it is still snowing!! Luckily my husband will be bringing over the plow from the farm to clear us out! 

Happy Monday friends!

21 Day Fix

M and I set a goal this year, just the same as we do every year! Actually the goal was the same - to be the best we can be. Both of us were still struggling with post-pregnancy weight gain, yes you read that right, both of us! M was one of those men who gained weight while I was growing baby, except he was without baby.

So if you want to make a change, you need to give up the excuses. Which we had a long list of, time being the biggest one, but we both decided this had to change, we owed it to ourselves!! Yes we live busy lives, and yes somewhat active lifestyles, but during the winter we are not nearly as active! So we needed to find a system to follow, workouts that don't take up much time, but are effective. 

Alison was posting Beachbody's monthly special and that's when it dawned on me, we could do this! I immediately looked up the 21 Day Fix, did some research and decided that this is exactly what we needed!! We didn't want some crazy diet or cleanse (like we did before) but we needed to see results. So of course I got into contact with Alison and ordered us the 21 day fix! 

I knew this wasn't going to be a walk in the park, especially for M, who doesn't work out at all anymore. I do Zumba once a week, which is mainly cardio, and now that I am a couple days in I can say it is nothing at all like the workout I'm getting from the 21 day fix! Since starting the fix, here are my thoughts so far! 

The workouts are HARD, especially hard when you haven't worked those muscles in soo long and I will be honest we both started out a bit discouraged! We also started with the wrong work out right off the hop. Pilates is no beginner work out either. We were supposed to start with yoga! But we survived! We loved seeing the clock on the screen counting the workout down for us. Knowing the work outs were only 30 minutes helped us get through it! We are sore, but it is a good sore to be! I actually said to M, crazy to think I used to be the person that loved this ab pain way back when I had a 6 pack... in high school and I need to find a way back there!! 

Taking our before pics - depressing, yet motivating! Since stopping breastfeeding I knew my belly was coming back, I could feel it! I had 9 pounds to lose at the beginning of December to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight and that changed to 13 in a hurry! It was time to stop this before it got out of control! 

Currently we are on Day 5 and going strong!! I have dropped one pound already and M has dropped 2!! It is an adjustment from our regular routine, but it really just takes more thought into what we are putting into our body's and what we are getting out of them as far as a work out goes!! 

My advice from just a few days in... 

- choose your 3 cheat foods a week carefully. Make sure you REALLY want them! I used one on a hot chocolate and was soo disappointed!! 

- plan your full day meals at least a day ahead so it is less scrambling the day of! Oh and that way you can make sure your portions are distributed evenly! I used to think I wanted my "bigger meal" at dinner, I couldn't eat everything on my plate I had allotted myself! 

- drinking this much water means several bathroom breaks... This should slow down a bit once my body gets used to it! 

- have a snack after a work out! 

So there we have it! I will be sure to keep updating how we are doing. We will be done our first cycle on Jan 31!!