30% Success!

Well, my #NaBloPoMo challenge didn't go exactly how I planned. However, with a 30% success rate (9 days out of 30), I'm going to call it a win!

The last couple of weeks have been pretty sensational around here, so how's about a quick update?

Here ya go:
1. Adelyn is starting to be the cutest baby ever. Besides Graham, of course. Equal levels of cuteness.

2. I interviewed for a teaching job that I definitely, absolutely knew that I wouldn't get. Just wanted the experience. So of course they offered me the job.
3. Prayed, talked, and prayed some more about the job. It will require some pretty major changes for our little family.
4. Visited the school. Talked to the teachers. Talked to family, friends, and God. Found a promising rental house. Found a solution for the childcare problem. Accepted the job offer.

December proves to be one of the busiest months in recent memory. My husband will be moving to the house we own but have been using as a rental. I, along with the kiddos & my mom, will be moving to El Dorado for my new position as a biology & chemistry teacher.

So, for the semester, I will be THREE HOURS away from my husband. I know that many other families deal with longer and more serious separations. We have plans to spend two weekends a month as a family, but the hubby really needs those other weekends to get the rent house ready for one of three scenarios: move in a new set of renters, move us all in if El Dorado is not a permanent choice, or sell the house for as much as we can.

In the midst of all these changes, I am introducing a new family advent tradition. Pinterest has given me lots of suggestions (read: overwhelming amount of suggestions) for how to do an advent calendar, and this year I am just trying a few different things to see what works for us. Today our first activity was starting to build our felt Christmas tree. It is going to be so cool for Graham to decorate (and redecorate, and redecorate...) his own tree, without having to hear us scold him for touching the breakables on a regular tree. Pictures to come once we have the tree up. :)

Also, I never shared any "thankful" posts on my blog, Facebook, or anywhere else for that matter. I was too busy showing my friends and family how thankful I am for them. But while I've got a few moments, I just want to share a couple of thoughts.

I am thankful for cold winter nights in my warm bed with my beautiful family.
I am thankful for the friends and family that I can always count on.
I am thankful for a husband who both drives me crazy and loves me like crazy.

I am thankful for love.

And I am thankful for you, dear reader. I pray that you are blessed with as much love as you can handle as we enter this hectic, wonderful Christmas season. 


{Still curious about NO Sugar NOvember? 40% success. Or pretty close to that. Yeah...}

Sugar Rampage!

Yeah. So. Um.

Lots of sugar today. Lots of sugar consumed - by me - today. It started this morning at church with a delicious, amazing brownie. Because everyone eats brownies for breakfast.

Then when we got home we didn't really want to cook lunch. Big bowl of off-brand "Corn Pops" it is.

Tried to stave off the insane sugar craving with some red seedless grapes. No dice. Drank some Sunny D.

And then, whilst digging through the diaper bag looking for a medicine dropper, I found a stray bag of leftover Halloween candy. One mini Reese's cup, three snack size Three Musketeers, one little Milky Way, and a tiny Kit Kat later, I hid the wrappers in the trash can under a paper towel.

SHAME.

AND GUILT.

AND DELICIOUSNESS.

Tomorrow all my sugar cravings will be answered with a big ol' glass of high quality H2O.

And the rest of those red grapes.

Blessed Sleep

Alright, alright. So I haven't been doing so hot keeping up with this #NaBloPoMo challenge this week.

What I have been keeping up with is sleep. Blessed, beautiful sleep. 6 hours of sleep, to be exact.

My precious little girl, at a mere 10 weeks old, has been sleeping 6 hour stretches at night for about the past week.

Usually, my most productive cleaning-blogging-Pinterest browsing time is during those hours when my other family members are asleep. Hubby is snoozing, toddler is snoozing, baby is snoozing...you get the picture. Every once in a while, however, I go to sleep at the same time as everyone else, which still doesn't mean I'm going to get a full night's sleep.

A few nights ago I fell asleep along with my family, and didn't wake up at all until SIX HOURS LATER. That's right folks, my little girl slept a full six hours, uninterrupted. I honestly don't remember the last time I slept a solid six hours.

I've been milking it for all it's worth.

Now that I've had a few nights of really good, refreshing sleep, I'm back at the midnight grindstone.

After I click "Publish", I will finish dishes, sweep (again), move a load of clothes to the dryer, and pat myself on the back before tucking in for the night. And hopefully sleeping in in the morning.

(NO Sugar NOvember update: I'll give you a few guesses as to how well this is going. If you think it's not going well, you guessed correctly!! Yay for you! I will say that the times I have added sugar back into my diet, I've noticed a significant drop in my energy levels to accompany that little feeling of failure. I can really see that this is going to be a battle, but I know my body is going to function better when I am not weighing it down with a ridiculous amount of excess sugar. (Did you know that 8 ounces of Coca-Cola has 25 grams of sugar?!?!))

Toddler Cardio & Because I'm Dedicated

And because I don't want to get another day behind. In the past, when I've started slipping on a challenge, I usually give up. I guess my reasoning is that if I have failed a little bit, I might as well fail completely and truly earn that guilty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Not so this time. Not so.

I am determinedly and doggedly continuing on.

So, in order to truly make this a useful and inspiring post, I am going to teach you the secret to my daily workout routine.
 

original image courtesy of www.cleancuisineandmore.com

Toddler Cardio Workout Routine:

Step 1 - Announce that you are going "bye-bye".

Step 2 - Chase toddler around with two shirts on hangers. Let him pick his favorite, which he then pulls off the hanger. Bend over to pick up the shirt every time he drops it on the floor. Repeat 3 times.

Step 3 - Chase toddler down the stairs. Pick up the shirt again; hold squirming toddler in one arm while using the other to put the shirt on him.

Step 4 - Walk back upstairs. Look through all the drawers for a correctly sized pair of pants. No, not those. Those are too small. You should really put those in a "too small" box but instead you put them back in the drawer. Not those either. Those are too big. Really need to sort those clothes, eh?

Step 5 - Search the top floor of your house looking for your toddler. Walk briskly down the stairs to find your toddler standing on his stool at the kitchen sink, helping you wash dishes. Dig through the dirty laundry for a towel to clean up the soapy water on the floor. Change him from the now sopping wet shirt into the shirt that he didn't pick.

Step 6 - Help your toddler put on his pants. Hold the waist of the pants at both sides and bounce your toddler up and down to get the pants on correctly.

Step 7 - Tell your toddler it is time to go. Watch your toddler run outside to find his tricycle. Chase him around. When he is done and ready to really hide from you, chase him to his outside playhouse with kitchen (because he loves "coo-keen").

Step 8 - Drag him, kicking and screaming, from his cooking adventure, then hold him firmly as he flails about in your arms, vainly trying to escape the horrible fate awaiting him in the car.

Step 9 - Spend 5 minutes fighting to get the car seat straps buckled securely.

Step 10 - Realize you are really too tired to go anywhere right now. Let your toddler back out of the car and back into his playhouse.

Step 11 - Pour yourself a drink -- of water. Enjoy that post-workout buzz.

Bonus cardio: Add in a 13 pound newborn and her carseat carrier. She is hungry, has a dirty diaper, and needs to be dressed before being loaded in the carrier and toted out to the car.

Ta-da! Instant workout!!


(NO Sugar NOvember update: Saturday we had a little birthday party for my stepson. I did not plan ahead and had nothing else to eat or drink available. So I ate a *small* piece of cake, and a 100 calorie chocolate popsicle. And a sip of orange drink. Today I drank a 1/2 sweet 1/2 unsweet tea from Chicken Express. It was actually TOO SWEET but I had already paid for it and pulled away from the drive thru, so I just went with it. As with my #NaBloPoMo challenge, I will not admit total defeat due to these minor infractions! Tomorrow is a new day. A day filled with another blog post but not another helping of added sugar.)

Grazing is for Cows

Quick post this morning to make up for yesterday. Had a busy day running around and getting cleaning stuff to work on our rent house, which the last tenants basically trashed.

After I ate breakfast I logged into SparkPeople to track my food and see how well I got the day started. While doing this, the kiddos were finishing their breakfast and I scavenged a bit from their plates. When I added those extra bites, I discovered I had grazed OVER 200 CALORIES.

What craziness.

So, I have decided. No matter how much I don't like food to be wasted, I don't need to fall into the temptation of eating food just for the sake of it getting eaten.

No more grazing. I am not a cow. I'm a mom. And this momma is determined to get healthier.


(NO Sugar NOvember update: Came close to cheating yesterday. Decided to try a Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper to take a little of the edge off. Even though it is artificial sweetener, it was too sweet for me to drink! Made my mouth feel sticky! So, apparently my body is getting pretty used to the whole "no sugar" thing.)

Ghosts From Movies and Other Realizations

Today, when I swept under the high chair for the 229,529th time this week, I realized that it reminded me of a scene from one of my favorite childhood movies: Casper. You remember, the one with Cristina Ricci and the blond-headed boy at the end who every girl totally fell in love with?

Well, there is a scene where Casper's uncles are all in the kitchen, trying to scare away the new "houseguests". They are eating some delicious-looking sweets, but when they chew it it just falls straight through them and onto the floor under the table.

It. Looks. Gross. And it also looks exactly like the floor under my son's high chair. Doesn't that just sound amazingly appetizing?

I did have some "other realizations" when I was coming up with ideas for today's post, but by the time I sat down to write, they were totally gone. But I wanted to keep the title. Deal with it.


(NO Sugar NOvember update: No sweets today! And I thought I'd just point out the fact that I am not counting fruit as sugar/sweets for the purposes of this challenge. I've had some grapes, apples, and a fruit cup packed in 100% fruit juice. Trying to limit myself to one or two servings a day. It is getting easier to resist sugar.

The real test will come on Saturday when I bake a cake for my stepson's birthday.)

Part 2, As Promised

I actually do have something meaningful to write about here. I really do. So here it is: I went to my first teaching interview today.

For those who don't know, I am currently pursuing my Master's in teaching. And now it's time for me to finally find a job that's going to pay me to do the thing I'm getting that degree in. Makes sense.

I interviewed at El Dorado High School in southern Arkansas, and I must say I was impressed. The staff was so welcoming and open, and I really felt comfortable.

I felt like a teacher.

They asked me important questions about things like classroom management and my teaching style, and I answered them honestly, without trying to overthink.

We all had a few good laughs sharing stories about things we had seen in classrooms, and they gave me a tour of their AMAZING new campus. (Favorite thing ever - their lab storage areas have a dishwasher!! Imagine! Not having to hand wash all that glassware!!)

Not sure if they are going to offer me the job. Not sure if I am going to take it if they do. There are so many things to consider.

But no matter what, at least I know now that I can be completely confident walking into my next interview. Because I really do know what I am talking about. Really.

Now ask me again how confident I feel at the end of my first semester, hahaha.


(NO Sugar NOvember update: totally bombed it, as detailed in my previous post. But I drank some unsweet tea and didn't hate it. Also didn't raid my son's Halloween candy.)