Baby Dept open for business

Ha! The title of this post is misleading but I thought it was funny. By baby department, I don't mean my belly! I'm referring to the 20+ totes we have in our living room and diaper boxes filled with miscellaneous items that we're selling. I don't think it's a good thing that Matthew & Emily have the same number of totes with Matthew's clothes ranging from NB to 4T and Emily's are NB to 18 months! Anyways, I feel like I've been running a baby department store as I've sorted, photographed, repacked, uploaded photos and sent to potential buyers, had potential buyers visit my home to look through our stuff and met other buyers to drop off purchased items. We're having two people coming over today, two tomorrow, one on Sunday and meeting someone on Saturday to drop off stuff. Haven't had many problems and so far everyone has been very satisfied with what they've gotten, other than this one lady who has/is very difficult to arrange transporting the items. She negotiated price, agreed to buy them then admitted she didn't know where my city was or even how to get here, then said she can't meet anywhere because she takes care of a baby during the day then asked if we would ask our friends who work at Mayo to transport the items and meet her husband at Mayo, then after an arrangement had been made she decided that was the best time to ask questions about the items to see if she really wanted them. Part of me hopes something goes wrong when I try hooking up the music/vibration system that goes on the pack 'n play so I can tell her it doesn't work because she most likely won't want it anymore and I can just be done with her. Ufda!

Anyways, enough of my complaining. Things have been pretty normal around here with the exception of me spending 3 whole days going through baby clothes (and I'm not nearly finished!). We had our family pictures taken along with Matthew's four year and Emily's eighteen month pictures so I can't wait to see those! It's about time we'll have a framed family photo on our wall!

Matthew still likes school though I don't think he's a big fan of having to get up early. He's been dragging in the mornings and I usually end up having to help him get changed so we can get out the door so now he likes to tell me I have to help him all the time so we're not late, even when we're not going anywhere or have plenty of time. The days he is in school he tends to behave better at home, to some degree and he is usually pretty good about using his manners. On Friday I always ask myself why we didn't send him to preschool another day but remind myself I'll be happy not having to go out in the snow and cold on those days. Needless to say, Friday's aren't a lot of fun around here.

I don't remember if I mentioned we're replacing some of our windows. I talked to the contractor yesterday and he said the new ones were ordered and our install date has been pushed back slightly because they got rained out last week and then a couple of his workers were sick. Right now we're looking at the first week of November. I have set a deadline that our basement will be done before then and I'm not willing to budge on it this time. Hopefully we'll be able to make a lot of progress down there, soon. It doesn't help we have things scheduled 3 weekends in a row. We also have to figure out a way to pick up Emily's dressers then I have to strip the paint and repaint them before she can use them. It will be nice once the house projects are done for a while; I'm sure there will be something next year since we want to paint the living room, dining room and Emily's room.

Well, I think that's enough for now. We're expecting a lady to come pick up the changing table so I need to end my little break and get back to work.

The Shred, days 3 & 4

Day 3: Each day seems to be getting a little easier. We are in no way ready to move on to level 2 by any means, though. I've been doing a little more of the modified exercises in the middle section so I can do the more challenging ones at the end and feel like I'm finishing strong instead of "barely finishing." I've noticed it has been easier to breathe further into it too. I was not really sore after Day 3 except my left arm was hurting and I think that's a combination from the exercises and from sleeping wrong.

Day 4: I've been feeling run down and really tired. I didn't sleep well Friday night because I was up with Matthew who needed a bath & change of bedding. I just felt "off" and even took a nap in the afternoon. By the time it came time to do our exercises I told Brian I didn't want to sit out but felt I should so I don't get burnt out, especially with the first week of school and ECFE coming up so we'll have a busy week trying to adjust. Brian did the exercises alone and isn't really sore today. Hopefully we've gotten over the hump and our bodies are getting used to this. Hopefully I won't be too sore tomorrow after taking yesterday off.

So far we haven't seen any weight loss but I didn't expect to quite this early. I don't know how many levels we'll complete by the time we're done but we're at least getting the exercise we need and hopefully will see results soon.

The Shred, day 1 & 2

I thought it was be good (at least for me) to document this little journey we decided to take called the 30 Day Shred. We have 2 days down. During the first session we laughed quite a bit, mainly at ourselves because we are severely out of shape. I didn't know what to expect for the first day and was already struggling by the time warm-ups were over. NOT a good sign. Brian and I struggled through the entire 20 minutes. We had to change our weight sizes (he took mine and I went without) a couple of times. We were sore the next morning but I think Brian was worse. He had a hard time doing anything and joked after we were done that he wouldn't be able to run a mouse the next day.

Day 2: Brian used my weights and I used Matthew's wimpy 1 pound weights. It usually didn't feel like enough weight but I didn't have any other options. I also have to keep in mind that I have 2 kids to attend to during the day and one of them needs to be lifted quite often so I have to make sure I'm not completely useless. I made it through the workout a little easier and wasn't ready to be done by the end of warm-ups...progress! I also didn't have to stop as often for a quick breather but I did have to stop because my legs hurt so bad. Brian seemed to do better with the lighter weights and didn't stop as much either. Then as soon as we were done, we had to attend to a puking kid (again).

I don't know about Brian but the goal of this is not to hit a certain weight. I need my clothes to fit and need to get in better health in general. I didn't have any problems losing weight after Emily was born but now my body is telling me I can no longer eat whatever I want, when I want and I'm gaining easier than ever before.

So, here's to day 3 and hopefully making more progress!