The New Year's Progress

It's been awhile since my last post. It's hard to believe that it's already the middle of January. On January 5th Steven signed his contract with Martin General Hospital, making our move back to Martin County official! Steven will begin work mid-August and right now we're planning on moving in July. There's so much to do in preparation for this move; just thinking about it all is very overwhelming, but hopefully with a lot of help from the grandparents and good friends we will get everything done. Steven called me on the way home from signing his contract and said, "I'm really excited about our future!" What wonderful words to hear your husband say.

I joined Viquest Fitness Center in December and started consistently going this month. I am now working out 4 times/week, which is a huge deal for me. I want to get healthy! I'm 30 years old and I want to be able to enjoy my children, to run around with them, play outside with them and to go the beach without being embarrassed. The first day I went to the gym I was nearly paralyzed by intimidation. I walked around the track so many times because I didn't know where to start on the fitness equipment. The first time I got on the elliptical machine I could hardly last 10 minutes without having to stop and within 3 weeks I'm already up to 25 minutes! I do strength training plus cardio twice a week and just cardio the other two times a week. The crazy thing is that now I'm really enjoying myself and trying to figure out how I can go 5 d/wk. I think the greatest thing is I'm not only changing my exercise habits, but also my eating habits. I'm thinking completely differently about food and amazingly, it's not torture. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely hard at times. The grocery store and gas stations are the toughest; it literally feels like the ice cream, cakes, and candy bars are calling my name - they're such temptations. I'm trying not to be so strict on myself that I go off the deep end and completely binge. I know that if I stick to it, I'll see results and the results are what make it worth it! The greatest thing is that I've found that while I'm walking on the elliptical machine or doing the rowing machine, I can use the time to pray for my church family, family and friends. It's been a sweet time to fellowship with Christ and be connected to the body through prayer.

Meredith and Berkley are doing great; they're healthy and growing taller and smarter with everyday. Meredith has finally gotten two molars and has started biting, AH! Still trying to figure out the best disciplinary action to deal with the biting, any advice is most welcome. I'm hoping that as their communication skills increase the biting will disappear because right now she bites when she's frustrated because she's not getting her way or Berkley took a toy of hers. Generally they play together very well and just love entertaining one another. Here are some recent pictures.

With my mom, grandma


Meredith has gotten extremely picky about her food and it's difficult to get her to eat a substantial amount. Yesterday morning I tried giving her an audience to show them how she could eat her food. It worked like a charm! Her stuffed animals are "D" (the bears), "Bob" (the dog) and Zebra.


Berkley looks like a natural with the basketball! I found out that Mima and Pen-Pen both played basketball. My Nana and Uncle Phil were great basketball players as well, so who knows what the future holds for our little Berkley.


Meredith was drawn to the soccer ball. Gotta love that smile!


Here's Berkley saying "TOUCHDOWN"


Here are Meredith and Berkley playing together this morning. Meredith loves saying "Elmo" when she looks at her shirt and the Superman shirt is all about mommy, yes, I LOVE Superman!