Happy Halloween!

Abby was the cutest cow you've even seen for Halloween. Nate's Aunt Sharon and Cousin Melany bought Abby this outfit as a Baptism gift as they said they couldn't pass it up due to how adorable it was. I agree that she was just too sweet looking in it.

Her first trick-or-treating experience was filled with love but no candy. :-) We stopped by Sharon's house to show her off and visit for a bit, then headed to my sister's house to visit with her, Haylee, Bo, Mom, and Dad before they left to trick-or-treating. Then we headed home and Abby went off to bed! It was a short night in her costume, but it was still fun to dress her up, take pictures, and get an idea of what the next coming year's of trick-or-treating will be like.

My cute cow and her Dad. I love how she even has little black hoofs. And, yes, I know that her purple shirt doesn't exactly match the outfit but it's her Halloween Kitty shirt and, since I didn't feel like buying a new shirt just for this night, it matches the holiday at least.

Trick-or-Treating at Aunt Sharon's

Her face shows her hesitation on what the heck is going on.

This is her "I'm not happy" face. She's been a bit of a Momma's girl lately and Sharon was trying to get Abby to crawl to her. Abby didn't want to have any of it.

Katie, Haylee, Abby and I. Haylee was a beautiful looking Cinderella.

31 Days of Exercise: Day 24-31

Yeah, so. The idea of blogging every day in October about my workouts to motivate me TO workout didn't work out like I thought. Mostly due to two factors that culminated in one outcome. Nate intensely studying for his Professional Engineer (PE) exam and Nate going to North Carolina on business travel for a week. This meant that in the month of October I really ramped up on my Abby time. Since Nate began the big study push in August I've taken Abby during the day (which is my job), most week nights, and the majority of weekends so that Nate could work or study. Once October hit I was surprised at how the next little step of increased study intensity affected how much I had Abby. I went from having Nate help out sometimes to no Nate at all. And the week that he was in North Carolina was really, really hard. This meant that by the end of the night I had barely enough brain power leftover to watch Netflix on the laptop, let alone blog my thoughts on here. So I stopped blogging. sigh. Oh, well. All my intentions were good and that's all that mattered. Maybe next year I can do better!

For the record days 24-31 included very loooonnnnnnggggggg walks with Abby in the stroller. Anything to get out of the house and pass the time by until she was down for the night.

I just realized I owe quite a few blog posts...Abby at the Harvest Festival, Nate's PE experience, Abby's First Halloween, Abby's development milestones (and there have been many!), and maybe a few other things that I'm missing right now. My hope is in the next few weeks to get this blog updated on everything I'm missing so you can be caught up to date with our lives. Until then!

Random Pictures

Here's a few pictures from Abby's life of late.

Abby and Grandma out at lunch. I love their happy faces.

Uh oh. Someone has learned how to pull themselves up into a standing position.
Looks like Mom and Dad need to lower the crib.

A girl after my own heart. She was playing in the pantry  and I watched her reach into a 12 pack container and pull out the can. Then she tried to drink from it. Looks like someone's been watching what Mommy does with these pop cans.

I'm now pulling myself up to stand all the time!

Abby Stands!

My goodness but it seems like Abby is just racing through some milestones lately. She went from all fours to crawling to now standing!. Yep, she can stand on her own (so long as she's holding on to something, of course).

Oh, yeah, and Go COUGS!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 23

Today I took Abby to the Harvest Festival (post about that to come) so my exercise was walking around carrying her and running after my niece, Haylee. It was lots of fun!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 22

Today was a hard day. Nate was finally back in town from his North Carolina trip, but was jumping back into studying. It was hard for me because on the one hand I had Nate back, but on the other he wasn't available for anything. So Abby and I went on lots and lots of walks. Pretty much anything to keep me away from Nate so I didn't bug him with my chatter while he was nose to the grindstone in his books.

Abby Crawls!

My Abby is crawling! (Well, she has been for a while but I kept forgetting to get it on video so this is the first video that shows it.) Look at her go!

This also means that I've had to baby proof the bottom few inches of my house as if she spots an item within her reach it goes straight into her mouth. The positive side of this is that my floors are cleaner than they've ever been. Always a silver lining!

31 Days of Exercise: Days 14-21

I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the 31 days of ... blog posts. Nate has been gone in North Carolina for work this past week so by the end of the day with Abby I had enough mental energy to read forums or watch TV but not enough to blog myself. Know that this past week I've stuck to walking (with 2 days of no exercise). Abby moves so fast now that I' haven't been up to walking on the treadmill without someone to entertain (read: keep her occupied elsewhere) and haven't had the energy to walk while she's been sleeping. So it's been walks around the neighborhood or at Howard Amon Park. Thankfully Nate gets back into town today! While there's still another week of studying before his exam, just having another (speaking!) human in the house will be of great help.

Abby Makes a Horn

I thought this was hilarious! Abby was playing so awesomely by herself so I was working on some housework. After a bit I noticed that she was making this horn blowing sounds that sounded like she was blowing on or through something so I decided to take a peak. What I found was AWESOME! Abby had crawled over to my breast pump bag and had pulled out one of the pump pieces and was using it like a horn as she blew through the one end. I never imagined that this might be used as an imaginary trumpet. I got a good couple of giggles out of this one.

Abby's Found Her Nose

Abby has learned that when she breathes out her nose it makes a sound. So she does this loudly and often. It's too cute! I also love how, in trying to look into both my eyes, the video makes it look like she's majorly cross-eyed. I have fun sniffing my nose at her and having her sniff her nose back at me. She's just a hoot.

I Just Love Her Smile!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 13

Another tough day to get in some exercise as I had a MOPs (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting this morning, then Nate came home early from work. I like having Nate home, but it does upset the routine of the day. :-) So Abby and I got in a walk around the neighborhood before dinner. I'm missing the treadmill and hoping that I'll be able to get in a session here in the next few days.

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

If You Give a Mom a Muffin

by Kathy Fictorie

If you give a mom a muffin,

She'll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

She'll pour herself some.

Her three-year-old will spill the coffee.

She'll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she'll find dirty socks.

She'll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan for supper.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She'll look for her cookbook ("101 Things To Do With a Pound of Hamburger")

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.

She'll smell something funny.

She'll change the two year old's diaper.

While she is changing the diaper, the phone will ring.

Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.

She'll remember she wants to phone a friend for coffee.

Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.

And chances are...

If she has a cup of coffee,

Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

31 Days of Exercise: Day 12

Another early morning walk to Starbucks. One of these days Abby is going to sleep in past 6am. Oh, yes, she will.

31 Days of Exercise: Day 11

Today my exercise included carrying an extra 20 pounds (that'd be Abby) while mowing the lawn. It was really cute, too. I had her in my Ergo (baby carrier) on my back for the first time (normally she'd be on my front), and I think she loved it. I could feel her little head peaking around my shoulders as I moved along the lawn. Then suddenly her little head felt pretty heavy on my back. Finally her little arm fell along my side. She was asleep! It's amazing how she's able to sleep in the oddest of spots...on my back, in the sun and wind, while the loud mower roars in her ears. :-)

I've noticed that since Nate has been studying mornings and nights it's harder to get in a treadmill workout as Abby tends to be fussy and wanting attention. There's only so many times you can jump on and off a treadmill to entertain her before the workout becomes pointless. In addition the days are getting yuckier which means going outside isn't as available as it once was. I know I need to suck it up and do it, but I'm still working on that motivation.

31 Days of Exercise: Day 10

sigh.

Today I didn't get any exercise in. I didn't even do enough household chores to consider that exercise.

sigh.

After two days of Abby being at babysitters (Grandma and Aunt Katie) and then a third day of a messed up schedule, she'd declared enough was enough. Today was a Mom required day. In addition to that it rained pretty hard all day today so going for a walk was out of the question. So I guess today's lesson is that sometimes life creeps up and causes enough issues that exercise isn't possible. What's important is what you do with tomorrow. As tomorrow is another busy day (Bible study, driving Nate to/from work due to our second car at the shop, and hopefully picking up the second car) I'll need to be that much more attentive to getting in some exercise so today's no exercise is a fluke and not the beginning of a habit. Wish me luck!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 9

Ouch. I'd forgotten what it was like to stay up late (and get up early) two nights in a row. Today was difficult but I managed to get in a 25-30 minute walk at the end of the day while Nate was studying and I was trying to keep Abby entertained and up until bedtime. I really didn't want to walk but when the open opportunity presented itself I went. I'm pretty proud that I got in even that little bit as normally I would have parked myself on the couch and just not gone. Go me!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 8

Today my best friend in the whole wide world got married! Yeah!

As festivities started as 9am with hair and make-up and the party didn't end until Nate and I went home to Abby at 10pm there wasn't a whole lot of time to do at-home exercise. So I'm counting the mad dancing I did tonight as exercise. It was a good reminder that exercise isn't always about boring treadmills or uninteresting walks. Sometimes exercise is really, really fun!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 7

Today I went for a lovely walk with a friend. She and I meet up every (or most) Friday mornings with our daughters for some Mom bonding. It's a great chance to talk about all the awesome stuff going on in our lives, vent about our frustrations, and catch up one-on-one which can be hard to do in a large group. Her daughter is old enough that she's able to express her joy at seeing Abby and Mrs. Carstens. :-) It was a little slower today as Danica is still fighting a cold, but the important part wasn't how fast we went but how much our friendship grew. And that's your hallmark moment for the day!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 6

Today I was thankful that walking counts as exercise. Abby had a bad night last night (we didn't get to bed until 1am) so by the time we got up in the morning Nate was running out the door to work and I just didn't feel up to having Abby chill on the ground next to the treadmill while I worked out. Then I just got caught up in cleaning house and chilling while Abby napped that it suddenly was 4pm. Since I had to return a book to Walmart and pick up a few items I decided to put Abby in the stroller (under many warm blankets), pray that it didn't rain, and power walk to Walmart. It went great! The only thing I should have reminded myself was to slow down a bit before we got to the store as when I was standing in the returns line I had sweat running down my face. Oh, well, it was worth a good giggle.

31 Days of Exercise: Day 5

Nate gets a big thank you for supporting me during this challenge. He's currently studying for a big exam (Professional Engineer) that he takes at the end of the month (fingers crossed and many prayers said for a passing grade!), but he still takes the time to watch Abby for me so I can get my exercise in. It's especially helpful that he takes care of her when she's at a stage where she wants either constant attention or needs reassuring 'pick me up and hug me' moments. Which means that Nate really can't study when he's watching her which cuts into his time. So THANK YOU great husband of mine!

Today I did another treadmill workout and towards the end I had to giggle. When you're at an incline of 10 for a great majority of the workout and then you go down to an incline of 3 for a cool down it starts to feel like you're walking flat. Then when you go to an incline of 0 you get the sensation of walking downhill! At least I did. A fun ending to a decently intense workout. I'm three treadmill workouts away from needing a new iFit card. So I'm debating between the Get Fit Level 2 card or the Lose Weight Level 1 card. Both are around $30 so cost doesn't enter into the debate. Hmm - will have to do a few more online reviews to see which one might be more up my alley.

31 Days of Exercise: Day 4

I'll admit that I almost didn't get a workout in today. This morning I had Joy (Bible Study) and was in the infant's room helping with childcare (each group helps out one week per session so that all Mom's can enjoy each other's fellowship without having to attend to little ones), which meant that I had to be at the church at 8:30am. Normally I don't even get up until 8am so this was a stretch. (Funny story - Abby's had a rough few days of napping which ends up being a rough night of sleeping. This morning at 1am I woke up to Abby crying, walked over to the monitor, turned it off!, and got back into bed. :-) Nate had to nudge me and ask if I was going to get up and feed her before I realized what I'd done!) Anyhoo - so working out this morning wasn't going to happen. I thought I'd try to work out during her afternoon nap but was just enjoying the solitude after caring for 8 babies this morning (between me and another lady). Then Nate got home, next I had to run off for a final fitting for a wedding I'm in this weekend, and finally dinner needed to be cooked and eaten.

It wasn't until Nate took Abby for a bath that I was able to jump on the treadmill. Holy Hannah! You know how sometimes when you're working out you reach a point where there's a big jump in intensity to get you to that next level? I don't know if I was hitting that jump or if working out at night instead of in the morning was that much different but it felt like the treadmill was running me! Well, in the end what mattered was that I had another successful day of exercise. I'm liking this challenge so far!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 3

Are you tired of reading these posts yet? :-)

Today I actually had energy in the morning! Normally, I wake up to feed Abby around 4am or so and put her back to sleep and then fall asleep myself. After which I pass out so hard that when Abby wakes up at 7am Nate gets up to get her as I'm dead to the world. I stay this way until he brings her in to me to feed around 7:30/8:00am. Today she woke up at 7am and I found myself practically bouncing out of bed to get her. I brought her back and nursed her then started thinking about how and when I would exercise. I figured since I had so much energy the when would be now and the how would be the treadmill since it was right there. So I jumped on for week 7, session 2 of my iFit workout. It was another great sweat session! Plus, it was nice getting it done first thing in the morning so no matter what I did the rest of the day I knew I'd at least worked out. Tomorrow will be a different story as I have to be at Joy (Bible Study) at 8:30am as I'm signed up for childcare this week. So I'll be needing your good thoughts to have the motivation to exercise in the middle or end of the day.

31 Days of Exercise: Day 2

Abby woke up at 5:30am, we nursed, and I put her back in her crib. Upon returning to my room I realized she was still wide awake, and making enough sound that I was worried she'd wake up Nate (who had a night of restless/little sleep), so I went and grabbed her and took her to the spare bedroom in the hopes that she'd fall back asleep in my arms. No luck. So we got up and I decided that my second day of exercise would be to take her for a walk. I bundled her up, got her in the jogging stroller, and walked up to Wal-Mart then over to Walgreens before returning home. All in all we were gone for about 45 minutes. It was a nice morning, but I can definitely tell that Fall is on its way. The air was chillier and a lot crisper than before.

A successful second day!

31 Days of Exercise: Day 1

Another blog I read had a link to a fun idea. It's Nester's 31 Days of...Challenge. The premise is that for the 31 days in October you blog every day about the specific topic you've chosen. This couldn't have come at a more opportune time. See just last night I was trying to psych myself up for a challenge to exercise every day in October to try to kick up my exercise routine a notch. I typically try to get in a treadmill workout on the weekend and at least one day during the week as well as a long walk with my friend Danica. Lately, that's been it. 2-3 days a week. Lame! Especially when I used to intensely work out for 5-6 days a week. So I made a challenge for myself to exercise every day in October. No minimum time required, but it has to be true exercise (not the fake 'oh I'll walk around the block at a stroll' kind of exercise). Then I saw this challenge and thought what a perfect way to encourage myself. If I have to 'prove' I exercised every day by posting about it, I'll probably do it! So, I'm attempting this challenge. Prepare for an onslaught of boring blog posts. :-)

Today I did Week 6, Session 3 of my Power Walking iFit card on the treadmill. When Nate and I bought our treadmill there was a 'free' iFit card included in the purchase. At first I thought this was kind of lame, but after using it I'm really liking it. Basically it's a Jillian Michaels' (from The Biggest Loser) automated workout, which means that I push GO and 30 minutes later I stop. During that time the speed and incline increases and decreases per Jillian's instructions to give me a decent workout. This has been nice as my left knee and hip took a beating with this pregnancy and still have a tendency to pop and give-out unexpectedly. This workout card is good for 8 weeks (three sessions per week) so after I finish this one I think I'm going to buy either the Weight Loss or Running for Beginners one. I previously used the Couch 25k running program to train myself to run 5ks and I was pleased with the results. With the fall/winter weather approaching, though, having an indoor running plan would be nice.

Well, that's day 1 of 31 Days of Exercise. Wish me luck for the next 30!