Camping

This last weekend our family took a little adventure and decided to go camping.

Yes, you heard me right. We decided to take three children under the age of five into the wilderness. And yes, I agree with you, we are a little bit crazy. But S and I both grew up camping and it's something that is important to us to introduce our boys to. Some of my best memories growing up are of spending days up at Antelope Lake, swimming and boating and roasting marshmallows and riding our bikes down to the little general store at the entrance to the campground for mid day ice creams. I remember wandering in the woods, making up stories and adventure and just getting lost in nature.  I want my boys to have those same kind of memories, and that means letting my fears and worries take a back seat.

(Seriously though, how can a mama not be a little worried? A huge body of water, steep hills, rocks and cacti, fire......) 

But everyone survived and I think our boys are well on their ways to being little outdoors men!

We recently acquired a pretty cool pop up camper from my in-laws, which made camping with kids, especially a baby, a whole lot easier. We all got to sleep inside, the big boys and S in one bed and R and me in the other. Much better than a tent, considering R is still waking up a few times a night to nurse. It was nice to have a place to change clothes and diapers, and even just get out of the sun and sit for a few members. It was definitely a far cry from our college camping days, where we slept in the back of cars and the only supplies we brought was beer!

 (nursing in the great outdoors!)

We're lucky to have Lake Pleasant less than an hour from our house. It's easy to get to, close to home in case of an emergency, and warm enough to camp at even in March. I admit, I would prefer to have pine trees as opposed to cactus, and I would love to take the kids and S some of the place I used to go as a kid, but it still a nice little lake and a way to get out of town. We went up on Saturday afternoon and spent the afternoon fishing and playing in the water (way to cold for me to swim, but both of the boys went in no problem!) and then lit a fire and did hot dogs and smores for dinner. The boys were in heaven, eating food that they never get and staying up way past their bed times!

 It was fun. It was dirty and there were some tears and I may have lost a few years of my life when L2 stumbled at the waters edge and almost plunged headfirst into the lake.... but overall, it was great. I know it will get easier as the kids get older and we are able to let them off their leash a little, but for now I"m enjoying showing them the ropes!

I was really surprise that both of them went in the water. It was pretty cold, and L2 wasn't a huge fan at first, but they both spent quite a long time splashing around. L spent almost an hour "fetching" sticks that we would throw out to him..... it was pretty cute!

So, overall, camping was a success. It as also a good test run for our big camping trip in April when my family is here. (Yeah, you think we're crazy going with three kids? On that trip we will have six kids!!!)  I think we got most of the kinks worked out of the camper, and mostly I feel a lot more confident about how the boys, and baby R, will handle it.  So, I'll leave you with some more picture of our adventure!!!

My fitness journey

So, here's the thing:

Loosing weight is hard.

Loosing baby weight is really hard.

Loosing baby weight after your third baby and after your poor body has basically been stretched and ballooned and expanded out of an sort of normalcy..... well that sometimes feels impossible.

I'm not going to lie, one of the hardest things about pregnancy for me is letting go of control of my body. I've always been an athlete, I've always been relatively thin, and I've always struggled with self-esteem issues when it comes to body image and weight. Thankfully over the years I feel like I've gotten a handle on my self-esteem issues. I know that strong is beautiful, and healthy is beautiful and bringing three beautiful babies into this world is the most beautiful thing of all.

But that doesn't mean I don't struggle when I feel like I don't recognize the body I see in the mirror. (Stretch marks? Really? I feel like that's a mean joke the universe plays on women. As is stretched skin and wide hips  and deflated boobs aren't enough) After I had L the weight came of relatively easily and my body bounced back, despite a 50 lb weight gain. With L2 I gained 50 lb again, and that time the weight did not come of nearly as easily and I never felt like I fully bounced back. I made it a point to be healthy and mindful of my weight gain with R, and managed to only put on 17 lbs. As of now, my weight is back to my pre-pregnancy, a few pounds under actually, but I need to work on toning and tightening. I was able to get back to the gym at 2 weeks post partum and at 8 weeks I started the Insanity program. I did insanity after L2 was born and was impressed with how strong it made me, so I was ready to challenge myself again.

If you've ever done insanity, or any of the Shaun T fitness programs, you know they are pretty fricking hard. Especially when you are chasing three times little ones around. And breastfeeding. And changing diapers. Truthfully, by the time I got to week 6 and the "max" portion, I wanted to quite so bad. But I didn't I stuck it out, and I'm pretty happy with the results. I still feel like I have aways to go, and I want to continue getting stronger and tightening everything up, but I"m feeling good and motivated after finishing this program and I'm ready to dive back into yoga and running and weights. I'm even signed up for the Lozilu mud run in April!

OK, I"m going to share my "before" and "after" pictures. This is hard for me to do. I hate how I look in the 8 week picture. I know I was pretty newly post partum, but it's still hard for me to look at. I feel better about the 16 week picture, I think I have slimmed down and am looking more toned. It definitely motivates me to keep going! Oh, and the bottom picture is a pair of my pre-pregnancy jeans from before L.  I love these jeans, but they are tiny with no stretch and I never got back into them after L2. I pulled them out and tried them on the other day and was thrilled when they fit!!!

four months

My little bubs is fourth months old, as of yesterday.

Four months. I know I seem astounded each time I do a monthly update, by the truth is, I am.  I can't believe this tiny, helpless baby that I gave birth to just a few months ago is suddenly a smiling, rolling, charismatic little baby.

So, what is R doing at 4 months? Well, he's trying to crawl, if you can believe it. This is even earlier than L started trying to crawl, and he was pretty early. I guess he does have two big brothers running circles around him and he's trying to catch up. He's rolling all over the place, but when he gets on his tummy he starts grasping whatever he can with his hands and pulling his knees up under him. He's managed to scoot a little bit,  but he gets so frustrated when he can't get as far as he wants to.

He's full of smiles and giggles, and he's happiest when he's being hold. If he has to be set down he likes when L or L2 get down with him and keep him company. He's sleeping "OK". I think he's probably the "worst" sleeper of all the boys.... although I don't think he's bad by any means. He is very spoiled with our co-sleeping. He starts the night in his bassinet after his 9:30 feeding but around 12-1 every night he comes into bed with me and he stays there all night. He wakes usually one or two other times throughout the night, but we just side nurse and fall back asleep. I know I should probably nip the co sleeping in the bud at some point.... but the truth is I love it. And it makes my life easier to just be able to roll over and nurse him while he's sleeping right next to me. And I love it. I love having him next to me and I know all to well that he's growing up fast and it won't last forever, so I"m going to enjoy it while I can.

We're still exclusively breast feeding, and I' still making a ridiculous amount of milk. Seriously, I only pump twice a day (once after his morning feed because I"m still usually really full and once at the 9:30 feeding because S usually gives him a bottle of pumped milk at that one) and we have a freezer full of milk. For every one bottle we give R I think I freeze 5 bags of milk. I know I probably won't need it, but it makes me feel secure to know that if anything happens we have a freezer full of BM ready for him.

R is a very easy going baby. I guess he has to be, since he is the third baby. He really only fusses when he is tired or hungry, and sometimes when he is feeling ignored. When he does fuss he is easy to calm down. He  doesn't mind the car seat or going in the car and he goes everywhere with me and is never a problem.

I'd have to say the only problem we are having with R right now is he is growing to darn fast!!!!

30

Oh my gosh..... I'm 30.

30.

30!!!!

Do you know how strange it even feels typing that number? I don't think I've fully wrapped my head around it yet. Yesterday I celebrated my freaking 30th birthday. Goodbye 20's..... it was fun.

I"m not going to lie.... I've had a heard time with this birthday. I've actually been kind of dreading it. I don't know why I had such a hard time with it, it just seems so final. Like, that's it. You are now really, truly an adult and there is no looking back. It's sound old to me. Like when I was 28 with  kids, I felt like a young mom..... I don't feel like 30 with kids has the same ring to it.

It's silly, I know. And S did an amazing job planning a beautiful and special weekend for me, which definitely helped. On Friday night he surprised me by planning a surprise happy hour with a bunch of my friends, and then taking the kids home so I could go have a drink with some of my girlfriends. Something I hardly ever do these days is go out without S and the kids, and while obviously they are my favorite people to be with it was so great to be able to catch up with my girls with no distractions around.

On Saturday S let me sleep in a bit, but then woke me up and loaded us all into the car without telling me where we were going. Once again he surprised me, this time by taking us all to the Renaissance Festival. Phoenix puts on a big Renaissance festival every year and I've always heard how fun it was, but we've never gone. It was a blast, and the boys got such a kick out of it. The weather was perfect and it was the perfect birthday surprise because it was something totally new for all of us!

After the festival we came home for naps and then S had a softball game to go to. When he got up home we stayed up late (for us!) watching Downton Abby (Great show!! Have you seen it? If not, you should.) As much as I loved going out with the girls the night before, nothing beats being at home in comfy pj's, curled on the couch with my boys!

Anyway on Sunday, my actual birthday, S let me sleep in again. (Let's be honest, for a mom of 3, sleeping in is pretty much the ultimate gift!) Then he made me a lovely breakfast of french toast, bacon, strawberries and whip cream, and mimosas. And he gave me my gift.

I was shocked!!! I've wanted an Ipad forever and I can't believe he got me one! My S is a keeper! After presents and breakfast we took the boys to the Lego movie. It was super cute and we went to a theater we haven't been to in awhile. The theater had been remodeled and had all reclining leather chair. It was so comfortable and so easy to nurse R when he got hungry! After the movie we spent the afternoon relaxing at home and then went to sushi for dinner. S took today of work so we could once again stay up late, which was so nice not to have to worry about going back to real life today! 

Overall, it was probably one of the best birthday I've ever had, even if it was one of the harder ones. But the more I've reflected on it, the more I've realized I did pretty much everything I could have hoped for in my 20's, and I"m the happiest I could possibly be going into my 30's. I'm leaving my 20's with two college degrees, a home that we own, no student debt, a husband who I adore more than anything, three beautiful, healthy sons and the ability to be a stay at home mom. I can't say there is anything else I could ask for at this point, and it's exciting to think what my 30's will bring.

A late Valentines Day update and a trip to Cali

Ugh, sorry again for the lack in updates lately. Seriously, my life feels so crazy lately, I feel like maybe I should just re0name the blog that..... "Sorry for the lack in updates".... catchy, no?

But, in all seriousness, hopefully things are going to settle down, at least for the next month or so. We've literally had major stuff going on every single month since R was born, and finally in March we have nothing on the calendar! I've got to say, I'm a little excited for some down time! Anyway, last week we went out of town yet again, this time back to California. It was more than just a vacation though, my in-laws actually gave us their old Coleman pop-up tent, so we went down there to tow it back. I'm actually pretty excited about it. S and I both love camping, but it's harder to go with three little ones when you're trying to sleep in tents and the back of cars. The tent has a queen bed, a full bed and a twin bed, in addition to a table to eat at, a stove and a sink. And it's in pretty great condition! I don't have a picture of the actually one we brought home, so you will just have to trust me that it's pretty sweet. And with all of our weekends open in March, we're hoping to test it out soon!

Anyway, it was a nice little trip, and it also happened to fall over Valentines Day, so we got to escape for a little date night with just us and R. (I know I could leave R, he will take a bottle of pumped milk just fine, but I"m still just not ready!) I also made it a point to do a fun activity with L the week before we left, so we baked cupcakes and got Valentines for all his friends in his preschool class. I'm worried L has been feeling a little left out lately, with all the attention on the little ones, so it was nice to have some "mommy and me" time with him.

And, is has to be said, I pretty much have the four most handsome Valentine's ever! And how lucky am I that I get to have four Valentines each year!?!

Well, that's pretty much it for this update. We didn't do much in California besides relax and enjoy the beautiful weather, and I've found myself being petty awful on the picture taking front. While I want to make sure I capture all of our memories, I find when I'm hiding behind the lens I tend to miss a lot of them. So I'll leave you with a few pics of my handsome boys!

3 months, a first haircut and some more

Wow, how much have I been slacking on the blog? It was so easy when I had the "weekly" update to do..... but now suddenly the days and weeks are flying by, and not only have I not taken any time to blog, I feel like I have barely picked up my camera!

So here's an update on life these days. First, baby R is THREE months today. I'm honestly baffled by this. I love watching him grow, but I really wish it would slow down a little. Tonight I packed up all his three month clothes, as they are all officially too small. He is now wearing 3-6 months, and in a few brands just 6 months. I bought a lot of 3 month clothing when I was pregnant, thinking it would be forever before he even got to wear them.... and now he's outgrown them!

R is really a sweet baby, and very easy. We are still exclusively breastfeeding, and I love every second of it. I have a hefty freezer supply going (probably over 200 ounces) just from pumping a few times a day between feedings. I'm still producing a ton of milk, which is nice because it gives me a sense of reassurance to have so much saved up just in case of an emergency! It also makes me feel like when he gets a little older we might be able to sneak away for a night and leave him with the grandparents and he will still have milk!

He's nursing about 5-7 times during the day, and then waking up once at night to eat. He wakes up around 2, eats, and then goes back in his bassinet in our room. Then he usually wakes up again around 4 and just wants to be cuddled so he comes into bed with me and we co-sleep until morning. I know it might be a bad habit, but I love sleeping next to him.

He's all kinds of smiles these days, and also starting to do a cute little laugh. He thinks mommy and his brothers are especially funny. He's still not a big fan of tummy time, although he does like to lay on his back on his play mat  and bat at this toys. He's rolled from back to tummy a few times, but it's not consistent yet.

Overall, he's just lovely!!!

In other new, L2 finally got his first haircut! I was not ready for this, and I thought his cute, fly-away, baby curls were the cutest thing ever.... but Daddy insisted. He's two, so I suppose it's time! He did not enjoy the experience at all..... I felt pretty bad for him actually! 

But now that the initial trauma seems to have passed, I have to admit, he looks pretty darn cute. And like such a big boy! He doesn't look like my little baby anymore!

And finally, a big part of the reason I have been MIA is because we took our big trip to Reno a few weeks ago. Because there are now four of us to buy plane tickets for, which is incredibly expensive, we opted to drive. I was dreading the drive (12 hours, 3 kids.... no thanks!) but it wasn't as bad as I expected. We drove to Vegas and spent the night and then made the longer haul to Reno the next day. R only woke up twice to eat and be changed, and for the most part the kids were pretty patient and kept themselves entertained.

I took literally like no pictures in Reno.... it was a bit of a whirlwind and packed with activity, but needless to say we all had a blast. I got to catch up not only with my family, but also with lots of old friends, and it was a great get away for S an the kids too.

I'm sure I have more pictures on our actually camera, but I'm too lazy to take the time to pull them off right now, and I feel like if I don't get this post written it will never happen! So here's two cute ones from my phone, one of R and Gramps and one of S, L and baby R all sleeping in together one morning! 

Well, know I feel like you are pretty caught up on whats been going on around these parts! We have a busy month coming up.... my parents are coming to visit, w have Valentines Day, we are going to Cali for a weekend and it's my (gulp) 30th birthday! 

two months

This post is coming a few days late, but as of the 3rd of January my sweet baby R is two months old.

Seriously, time?  You need to slow down a little.

But, as bittersweet as it is, I am loving watching this little guy grown into himself. He is just starting to give us sweet smiles. He does lots of "sleep smiling", but you have to work for his awake smiles. When he does give them he does this cute little half smile. He also gets super smiley at about 3 in the morning right after he has spit up on me..... apparently that is funny!

H has tentatively found his hand and he has been enjoying chewing and sucking on it. He also gave himself a hickey last week by sucking on his arm during tummy time. Speaking of tummy time, he's not a fan. He fusses and moves himself around until we flip him.

His head control is getting much better and he's not nearly as "newborn" floppy. He's also making more cooing sounds and they are so sweet!

He's goes down for bed around 9:45-10:00 and lately has been sleeping anywhere from between 1:00-2:00. It's nice that we're getting a little longer stretch. After his 2:00 AM nurse and a diaper change he goes down until between 4:00-5:00 and then he starts moving around and I bring him into bed with me. We do a little "side-nursing" and doze until it's time to get up. Lately this has been around 7:45, as the older boys are sleeping later!

He is a very sweet baby, and also pretty easy. If he gets upset he usually just wants to eat, get changed, or be held. There is not much that can't be fixed with him with a cuddle. He loves being wrapped in the moby when I do stuff around the house and when we are out doing errands. He also thinks his brothers are pretty funny, although after a few whacks to the face he is a little more hesitant of L2. L is a great big brother, he is always willing to give him a Binky or get me a burp clothe.

We are still exclusively breast feeding, although I also am pumping to help build up my supply and build an extra stash in the freezer. I make a lot of milk, so our freezer is practically full, but it makes me feel reassured that if I"m ever not here for some reason he can have a bottle and still be getting mommy's milk. S does usually do the 9:45 feeding with a bottle. It gives me a little break and it also gives Daddy and baby some bonding time.

So happy two month birthday to my sweet baby! We love you so much!!!