Happy Early Valentine's day. I am especially feeling the love for my sweet little family this year. Chris is such an amazing father and husband, and my kiddos....well, I am smitten. I seriously think that they are both at the best ages ever right now. I wish I could freeze time and just keep them this young for a long time.
Okay, so I'm not doing too incredibly wonderful. Valentines' week is a tricky one. So now I know that I am a social eater and a holiday eater. Here's the list:
Breakfast-Bagel with cream cheese
Lunch-Leftover spaghetti and salad
Snack-waaay too much popcorn that we were making popcorn ball valentines with.
Dinner-Tacos and homemade pinto beans. Might I add that dinner turned out really gross tonight.
Okay... this may be the last time I post now that I am in the habit of writing down what I am eating.
Breakfast: Cheerios and half banana
Snack: Grapes and carrots (had to resist cookie)
Lunch: Leftovers from dinner
Snack: Cheese and crackers
Dinner Spaghetti with salad
Dessert: Chocolate Chip cookie and handful of caramel corn. I realized that I don't always have dessert at home, but when I am with friends....I eat. Some people are social drinkers. I am a social eater I guess.
Here it goes folks~
Breakfast-Oatmeal with raisins and 1 tsp pumpkin butter.
Lunch-Bagel Turkey Sandwich with 4 kettles chips and 6 oz OJ.
Snack-1/4 sugar cookie and 3/4 cup fresh pineapple
Dinner-Pineapple Chicken/Rice/1 raw carrot
Dessert---I tried to resist, but my friend Adrienne lured me with her Heath ice cream. I only had a tiny scoop. Promise :). It was good though.
The End
So as normal, I gained my nice 5 pounds over the holidays. Nothing new here folks... it always happens. The problem is, I have gained a couple of more pounds in the last week on top of the Christmas weight, and I have no idea how. I haven't been eating too bad, and in fact, I had a stomach bug for a couple of days where I hardly ate anything at all. If any of you remember the "before" picture that I posted last year, I am sad to say that I look the same if not a few pounds heavier (although I did get in much better shape than I was in the picture).
I still feel fine about how I look overall, but since I have a tendency to eat like a lumberjack in the first place, I think that now would be a good time to get my eating under control. I have tried to keep food journals in the past, and when I was consistent.. it really helped...but the consistency thing was hard for me. So my dear friends... I ask for your help. I will be posting what I eat (I mean everything) on my blog for the next few days to help me get in the habit of keeping a food journal. I realize that you could all care less about what I eat, but it will be a good way to hold me accountable and think about what I eat since I have to write it down. I think that once I get in the habit of writing things down, I will be good to go, so help a lady out will you? If anyone wants to participate with me... we could all help each other out, and maybe it would be good to hear about healthy meals/snacks that other people eat on a daily basis.
This picture cracks me up. Not only is Gabe dressed up in full diva attire, but he has colored all over his face (and legs) with marker. So speaking of Gabe being dressed up in diva attire, Gabe really loves to dress up. I attribute it to the fact that he has an older sister who loves teaching him the ways of girliness. I do not worry. Chris doesn't for the most part either, but I think he wishes that I would encourage more "manliness" with Gabe. I don't discourage manliness at all... in fact, anyone who knows Gabe probably has a vision in your head of a little guy who never walks.... only runs and jumps everywhere. He loves to wrestle and growl, which I suppose could both be classified as "manly" things :). He just loves being like Sofia too.
I know that parents play an intricate role in helping kids identify with a gender identity and role. You often hear dads telling boys to stop a behavior, because that is what girls do. You probably don't hear parents as often telling girls not to act like boys, though.
For those of you who have older girls and then boys, do you or your husband discourage "girl" behavior at young ages? I think that gender is essential and that Gabe will be shown the ways of manliess or whatever, but 2 seems like a young age to be pushing it too hard to me. I think that as parents, we sometimes push weird issues/cultural prejudices/ onto our kids, and they pick up on it. We make things that are innocent and sweet into more than they are sometimes. I know that Gabe will grow up to be a great man someday, but at least for a little while longer, I will let him enjoy the innocence of a crown and tutu.
Here are some things that we have been doing recently instead of blogging :).
My sister Kris just welcomed her new baby Relia (my Grandma's name) Lily into the world last Friday, so we headed down to get a baby fix. She is absolutely precious!!
Gabe was in a bad mood when we got there as he had just woken up, but I was very surprised how long it took him to warm up to the idea of my sister having a baby. He clung to me and whined/cried for a good 1/2 hour and wanted nothing to do with the baby. As you can see, he eventually warmed up.
Sofia was ready to hold Relia from the get go. She looooves babies. If you are around us with a baby, Sofia will immediately ask to hold the baby. 
I have had a bit of an obsession with making things out of felt lately. Felt hair clips, little animals for the kids to play with, and now I am on to headbands. For those of you who know me, I am not crafty.... so I am excited to have found something easy enough that I can do :)!
I have been making more of an effort to get the kids outside this winter. Last week we fell in love with Jackson Frazier Wetlands by our house. It is a great walk for the kids, and we are working on toughening Sofia up as she has a rep for whining on walks :). Oh, and I'm really not sure why Gabe scowls in almost every picture. I assure you that he really is a quite happy kid :).
Life is great right now, and I am feeling pretty busy, but good busy. Gabe continues to make us laugh with almost everything he says lately, and Sofia is always amazing us with her insightful comments. More posts to come.
