I don't have any new pictures to post but I thought I would update you all on the last few days. We all went to Harrison this last Saturday just for the day since Dan is still doing the paper route and is unable to stay the night. We got up and we were out the door by 9:00 and got there around 11:00. I had to pack my lunch and all the snacks that I needed for the day since I am restricting my calories which was a good thing because I didn't want to be tempted to eat all the good food that Dan's mom cooks! Dan's parent's bought a house to flip so Dan and I went to the house while Dan's mom watched the kids. Dan helped me texture the walls in the hall way until about 4:00 and then I decided that since I would be driving home (Dan is usually too tired to drive considering he gets up at 3:00 to throw papers and then was up all day helping his dad) that I needed to take a nap. I guess is was much needed because I slept until 7:00 and I felt great afterward! I think I really needed the nap because of my work out regimen during the week...I am SO not used to getting up at 5:15 five days a week (more on that below)!

Dan's mom decided to keep Caleb for Dan and I for a few days. So he has been at his Granny's since Saturday and I probably won't be getting him back until Friday...I have to say that it has been a nice break. I think this is the longest he has ever gone without me! I will definitely be missing him once Friday comes though!

Ariel and I have been having a good time hanging out. I have really wanted to get out and do some shopping with just her but yesterday we had 60 mile an hour wind gusts and then it dropped from 61 to 23 through out the day and today it's supposed to be pretty cold. So I have been just trying to relax as much as possible and clean up a bit around the house.

Fit for a lifetime is going good. This week has been tougher because my body is craving the things that I used to eat but I have not given in!!! I am getting up at 5:15 on Mon, Wed and Fri. and then on Tues, Thurs I get up at 5:30. Mon, Wed, Fri I do 20 minutes of cardio on intervals meaning I move up a level every minute for about 5-6 minutes and then go down, work my way up and then go down...and so on until I reach my max at the end and then cool off. Then I do various weights afterward all in interval reps. I work two areas of the body each day (chest, triceps, legs, shoulders, back and biceps) and try to increase the weight that I am lifting each week. On Tues and Thurs I do 45 minutes of straight cardio. Yesterday I jogged the whole time, I thought I was going to die at the end! I haven't run or jogged that much since high school! After 45 minutes of cardio we do 5 different ab exercises at 25 reps each. I have been pretty sore but it is just becoming part of the routine now. My "diet" is going good. I manage to stick between 1200-1500 calories a day with one cheat meal a week. My cheat meal last week was AWESOME!!! I went to Granite City with a bunch of girls from church on Friday night and I got the Bedda Chedda Burger topped with TONS of cheese, bbq sauce, bacon with a side of waffle fries! Yum!! Needless to say, Dan had a lot of leftovers to eat the next day since my stomach has shrunk so much I wasn't able to eat that much of it. By the way, don't go to Granite City if you want a burger...it WAS tasty but I ended up spending $16 after tip, and that was just for the burger and a drink!!!!!!! WOW!!

Dan is home from work today. He started on the privacy fence in the back yard this past Sunday and he took his last day off of work before his new year starts to try to get some more done. It will be a chilly day outside for him to do it but he says that he loves the cold weather and since Caleb isn't around he can get more done!

Well, I am hungry so I am going to go eat my bacon, egg, laughing cow cheese and english muffin sandwich...they are SO good!!

Blake and Lauren's Paintings

They are also added to my other page: http://peek-a-booimages.blogspot.com/

Ready for Church

Here is my pretty girl all ready for church last Sunday. My grandma made this sweater and bonnet for her! SO CUTE!

My Little Super Heroes

Caleb was trying to look unhappy...even though he wasn't!

Busyness

Things have been busy around here. I have tried all week to get this house cleaned up so that I can get some free time to work on Blake and Lauren Huggins' paintings (by the way, the Huggins are all at home and they are all doing well!!! Praise God!! What a Miracle!) for their nursery walls. Today I cleaned the house from top to bottom all before noon...scrubbed 3 bathrooms, vacuumed the whole house, cleaned out the fridge and pantry, mopped floors, dusted, organized the toy room, cleaned the kitchen and the oven, and cleaned the downstairs windows...all this while trying to keep the kids occupied. I felt guilty all morning for not playing with the kids but I was on a roll and just wanted to get that stuff done! So while they were napping, I watched TV! Something I hardly do while they are napping!

These pictures were taken a few days ago...notice Caleb's new quilt on his bed that my grandma made him for Christmas. Eventually the bed that is in Caleb's room (the white one) will go in Ariel's room and the quilt that my grandma made for her will go on it. And the red twin bed that is in Ariel's room now will be Caleb's. This transition will happen once Ariel is ready to move out of the crib...probably a year from now. In the third pic, Ariel was playing in the toy room and there is also a picture of her room (just in case anyone was curious as to how their rooms look now that I have hung blinds and got the window darkening under control).

Yesterday, I watched Hailey for Shannon Allen while she went and had her ultrasound done at the Women's Clinic. We were all hoping and praying that this one (since it is her third child) would be a boy. Low and behold she is having girl number three! She says that if anyone wants to make donations to her wedding fund she would greatly appreciate it! The baby looked great and I think now that the shock of having another girl has settled, she is very excited to have a healthy baby inside of her.

Ariel is doing much better since she has had three full days on antibiotics. The past two nights she has gone to bed like normal...change her into her pj's, milk while rocking and singing to her (she would just push me away the past few nights and cry while I did this), brush her teeth and then put her down with no tears! She is soooo much happier now!

Tomorrow Dan has leaders training in the morning at Church from 8-12 and then I have my first meeting at the gym for Fit for a Lifetime at 1:00. They will be taking pictures and measuring body fat and inches and weighing us tomorrow. I went today and stocked up on all the food that I will need. Thanks to Leah who let me borrow her food journal, I knew what I needed to buy. I will keep you posted on the progress I am sure because that will probably be all that I think about the next 12 weeks!

I don't think I told everyone this last week but we finally got a tenant next door! Hallelujah! Now we are getting their rent checks to help with our mortgage. They are a really nice couple in their early fifties. He is a truck driver during the week and she is a manager at the Sam's Club home office. Their kids are grown and they have no pets. It's just her Mon-Fri so their place is very quiet. I am sure they can't say the same for our side because of our kids who tend to be loud at times. We are looking into ways to soundproof our walls (even more than they are) to help muffle everyday noises. If you happen to drive by our house on the weekends, you will see the semi that our neighbor drives parked in the driveway...at least it is white and it matches our house!

Caleb is learning to write his name. He does such a great job. He still tends to write his A's like H's and he adds an extra line now and then to his E's but he is still doing wonderful! I used the "tablet lines" to help him get his letters straight, this helps him a lot.

Here's daddy's little monkey!

And the kids playing in Ariel's room.

Ariel's 15 month appointment

Ariel had her 15 month appointment today. She weighed 20lbs, 14oz (25th percentile) and her length was 30 and a half inches (50th percentile). She has an infection in both ears so the dr. gave her a perscription of amoxicillin (second round in her life) and hopefully she will start feeling better. She has been so cranky and fussy the past few days...she has even been crying herself to sleep during her naps and at bed time...which is unlike her.

Bowling

We met at the bowling alley last night for our connection group. It was a blast! We all met with the kids and let them play a round with the bumpers up. None of them had played before but they all did really well and their attention span was great! Caleb's score was 54 and mine was 63...I am terrible at bowling! Dan did make it over 100...I think it might have been around 114 or so. We will definitly take Caleb back! My mom ended up keeping Ariel for us since I thought that she wouldn't have had much fun and it was great to be able to spend some one on one time with Caleb.

Caleb blowing his hair in the hand blower.

Figuring out wich ball he wants to use

Dan explaining how the scoreboard works

Caleb and Elijah waiting their turn to play

Dan helping Caleb with the ball...he did so good...he even kicked it a few times!

Watching the people next to us play

Caleb and Olivia picking their ball out

Olivia...the prowess bowler

Olivia's bowling stance...maybe I should have taken some tips from her!

Our Preggo Bunco Girls!

I play Bunco once a month with a group of 12 girls from my church. Over half of them are pregnant! Here is a picture of 6 of them (Leah wasn't there). From Left

to right Andrea Shoppach (she actually had her baby today), Shannon Allen, Mandy Bean, Tiffany Lee, Leigh Fox and Natalie Knoble. Needless to say, I will have PLENTY of babies to hold within the next few months!

New Years Resolution Here I Come!

I know for a lot of us we have set some new resolutions for ourselves this year. Mine is to eat healthy and to get in shape. I know how I am and I know that I couldn't do this feat on my own so I am signing up for 12 weeks of intense body toning while being on a restricted healthy diet at the gym, all lead by a trainer. I will be meeting with another lady at 5:45am Monday-Friday and we will be there each morning for about an hour and a half doing exercises and weight training. I also have to eat 5 small meals a day and record each item of food that eat. I will also have a restricted calorie amount a day. Sounds fun huh?!?! I am excited! I know that it is going to be probably one of the toughest things I have ever done (besides child birth!) but I am looking forward to seeing a transition in myself and to hopefully be back into my pre pregnancy clothes (that I haven't seen on me in about 2 years) by the summer. I have a dear friend who did this last year and the results really paid off for her! I will let you know how things go. The training begins on the 19th.

Update on the Huggins

For those of you are curious as to how the Huggins are doing, here is some info below!


Hallelujah, Praise God. Our son is being discharged from critical care. We have received news that he is "going to the floor." We awoke this morning to find that Blake is off of all breathing equipment; no vent, no c-pap, no vapotherm, and no nasal canula. His sats are in the high 70s to low 80s on just room air. We are so excited. His feeds are also going very well. The hospital will keep us on the floor for a little while and teach us how to work the feeding tube and just work with us on his general care. Then... we can go home. We still have a long ways to go through two more surgeries for Blake, but this first one was the most serious. We feel confident that God will see him through those as well. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. We couldn't have gotten this far without each one of you.

Kyle & Christie

www.caringbridge.org/visit/christiehuggins

Charlie Du Bo's Funeral

Yes, unfortunately Charlie Du Bo passed away today. I looked in the tank as Caleb and I were feeding him earlier and he was hemorrhaging. Poor thing. I explained to Caleb that Charlie was sick and he immediately said, "Well we'll just have to get another fish!" Guess it was a good thing that he wasn't too attatched. I explained to him that Jesus was going to take the fish away and in the morning Charlie may not be there. Caleb seemed ok with the that idea. I didn't want him to see me actually flush the poor thing down the toilet...he may start thinking that fish can jump out of the toilet while he is using the bathroom or something silly like that! So I went upstairs and got Charlie out of the tank and flushed him after Caleb had fallen asleep. Good bye Charlie...guess I will be getting my money back and getting Caleb another fish this week!

Weird Weather

We have had tornado warnings all night because of this crazy warm weather that we have been having. One rotation cell apparently went right over us and as I was sitting here at the computer watching the radar on weather.com, nothing was happening. It wasn't even raining outside. It was pretty scary. Of course I had just put Ariel down to bed so when the first round of sirens went off I went immediately to go get her out of her crib. She was not happy that I had woken her up. We had a pallet made in the utility room of couch cushions and some blankets. I tried to lay down with her on the floor but she was so upset with me. She cried on and off the whole time and then as soon as the last cell of storms had passed, Dan put her in her crib and she went straight to sleep. We still have a long line of storms that are just northwest of us now, I hope they stay up there and don't come south! Usually we don't have this type of weather until March. The low tomorrow night is supposed to be 29 and the high today was around 65 or higher! Needless to say I will be up for quite a while watching these storms!

68 degrees in January?

It has been so warm the past two days. It is really giving me spring fever...but not too bad yet as I would love to be able to shed these last 15 lbs left over from Ariel before shorts season gets here!

I took the kids to the park yesterday and let them play in the yard for at least 2 hours. They had so much fun but the wind was fierce! Ariel got knocked down on several occasions and Caleb pretend that he was floating away.

Introducing Charlie Du Bo!

On Monday I did a huge spur of the moment thing that I don't normally do. The kids and I went to Chick-fil-a in Rogers to get some lunch after doing a little shopping and as I was sitting in the car stuffing my face with my last bite of french fries and chicken nuggets (since I am REALLY watching what I eat now and I am back at the gym 3-4 days a week...with every other person who is trying to get off on the right foot after eating so much over the holidays!) I looked over and had this BRILLIANT idea to go to Petco with the kids. I thought that they would both enjoy it since they both LOVE animals. So we go in there with the intention of "just looking" and I realized that I had a 1 gallon fish tank that was sitting in the top of Caleb's closet just collecting dust and taking up space so I asked Caleb if he would like to have a fish to take home and take care of. He got so excited and started jumping up and down! I let him pick his own fish that he wanted which he was thrilled about and then he carried the bag to the front to pay for it.

I was talking to him on the way there and I asked him what he wanted to name his fish. For some reason here lately when I ask him what the name of something is or if I ask him what he is cooking for me when he is pretending, he makes up random things. For instance, he named his bear at Build a Bear, Colley, and his horse that he rides on he calls Pee Pee....yes that is the name of the horse! Today he was making me "Foggy Woggy Dod" in a saucepan for lunch...YUMMY! Anyway, he of course picked out another random name and I started naming off names like, Gill, Gully, Oscar, and Charlie and he said no to all of them but Charlie. He said "I like Charlie but I like Charlie Du Bo better!" So Charlie Du Bo it is! Welcome Charlie...I hope you live a long life...well at least past the 14 day introduction phase that Petco provides for a full refund if something were to happen to you!