Stupid Move

So I did something I rarely do this morning, I stepped on the scale. Now I am so MAD at myself!!! I hate the scale, I really do, most of the time I don't let it get to me but this morning I'm having issues :(

Again, I know I am by no means a big girl, but the scale read 145 which is six pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy weight. Now I feel the need to lose about 15 pounds and get down to 130. Poor Kyle had to deal with my ranting this morning, he tries to make me listen to him and understand that I need to not pay attention to the scale, but today that wasn't happening.

Why do we even own a damn scale?? I do not have the build of a skinny girl, I have muscle on me and I am proud of it. I also know that the increase in working out that I'm doing will help the fat become muscle, muscle weighs more than fat so I shouldn't expect a big weight loss. But it SUCKS!!!!

Tomorrow I'll be stuffing my face with Thanksgiving food, so I better make sure I get a run in today. I did the eliptical yesterday and my crappy abs :) We did not start the P90X program this week, we are waiting until next week.

I guess everyone will have bad days when it comes to getting in shape, I just don't deal with mine very well. So there, now everyone knows my weight and that I'm a whiner.

Cousins

Bella and McKayla enjoy each other I think.  Bella likes to imitate McKayla, as seen in the pictures below :)  They are such cute and silly little girls!

Limits

When it comes to running, I think I make up my own limits for myself. For instance, I have sworn for years that I can't run outside when it is freezing cold, how can anyone breathe that cold air and run comfortably?

At the hospital on Saturday night while visiting baby Tanner, Leah was there and had done a 5K that morning. She said she loves running in the cold, it's so much easier to breathe and she was shocked that I don't run outside in the cold.

So yesterday morning Kyle was nice enough to take Bella grocery shopping with him so I could run. Kyle was assuming I would run indoors on our treadmill. Oh no, I ran outside in the 24 degree cold!!! It was AWESOME, I wore just enough clothes to keep myself warm, and I think I ran better than I ever have.

I guess I just need to try things out rather than think I can't do something right away :) I'm so pumped, now I know I can run outside at least once a week on the weekend, keep up on my eliptical workouts during the week on my lunch hour, and do the P90X workouts in the morning before work.

Running tights are something I desperately need to invest in, they are so expensive!! Thank you EBay, I will be purchasing some soon :)

Tanner Steven Carroll

I am proud to introduce my new nephew, Tanner Steven Carroll.  Tanner was born on November 21st, he weighed 8 lbs. 14.5 oz., was 21.5 in. tall, and he is the sweetest little baby boy!

Proud Grandpa

Proud Grandma

Proud Aunt Steph :)

Tanner a little upset after getting poked in the foot :(

Proud Uncle Matt

Aunt Steph doing a feeding.

Check out the dark hair like his mommy :)  I love you Tanner!!

Twilight

So I did it, I went to Twilight on opening weekend with our roommate David, his friend Kelly and my sister Mindy......it was AWESOME!!!!

We had to wait in line for like an hour because it was jam packed with teenage girls.  David headed for popcorn when we got let go to go the theater, Mindy and I were seriously TRAMPLED heading into the theater.  It was a mad rush of scary, screaming teenage girls.  I think I was traumatized by the experience, also when Edward came out in the first scene I thought the screaming would never stop.

But it was AMAZING - very close to the book, not exact, but the movies are never exact.  After seeing it, the cast is all perfect for their parts, although I think Rosalie should have been more beautiful, but she did great at being a bitch :)

Enjoy the movie my friends, even if you don't approve of Robert Patten as Edward, I thought he did a fabulous job.  Oh yeah, Emmett is MINE!!!!

Happy Birthday Baby Shim

Today Jenn will have her water broke at 8:00am, so at this moment she is in the process of birthing Baby Shim!!! Soon we will have a name for sweet little Shim and know if I will be taking a lot of pink or blue stuff up to the hospital tonight :)

Today is quite chilly, 0 degrees with the windchill in the morning, BBBRRR!!! But it's so beautiful outside, the sun is shining, the wind is calm, a perfect wintery day.

Historic events on Shim's birthday are:

Plymouth Colony settlers signed the Mayflower Compact.

North Carolina ratifies the United States Constitution and is admitted as the 12th U.S. State.

Thomas Edison announces his invention of the phonograph, a machine that can record sound.

The first issue of the French magazing Elle is released.

Shim will share his/her birthday with:

Marlo Thomas
Goldie Hawn
Nicollette Sheridan
Troy Aikman
Ken Griffey Jr.

I really can't wait to meet you today Shim, you have an amazing mother, father and big sister. Tons of Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and we are so ready to meet you :)

My Evening.....

Consisted of giving Isabella a wonderful bath, another fantastic tea party, and of course some silly pictures :)  Bella is so much fun and I love her to the moon and back.

Frustrated

First off: Tybalt is an amazing dog, very loving and protective of his family. He loves Isabella very much and has done AMAZING with her since she was born.

Last night we had an issue, Tybalt was in his crate, we had gotten home and hadn't let him out yet. Isabella was standing at his crate talking to him, a lot of times I have to get her away from the crate because she thinks it's funny if she hits it and makes him jump. Tybalt is like any other dog normally is, don't mess with them when they are in their crate, it's their space and it's mean to do that to them.

So like I said, Bella was talking to him, maybe touching the crate. Tybalt lunged and growled at her, I freaked out a little bit. I got Bella away from the crate (she thought he was playing) and Tybalt immediately laid down in his crate and looked at me like, "oh god I screwed up". I was so upset that he would do something like that, we have said that if he ever acted aggressively towards Bella we would have to find another home for him. Kyle was beyond upset when he got home, he had a long talk with Tybalt and Tybalt had to stay in his crate all night.

This morning while we were getting ready Tybalt was laying on the guest room bed hanging out with me. Bella came into the room and was talking to him, she started shaking her hand in his face and he nipped at her. He didn't bite her, it scared her a little bit, but then she thought he was playing again. I called Kyle and he is again beyond upset.

I don't think that Tybalt is purposely acting aggressive towards Bella. Bella is starting to get very bossy with him and thinks she can do whatever she wants to him. So tonight we are going to let them play together while we are both with them to see how the interaction goes. I feel that Tybalt doesn't fully understand his limits with Bella and Bella doesn't understand her limits with Tybalt. It's going to be fun trying to explain to a two year old girl and a three year old boxer that they need to play nice and not boss each other.

I LOVE Tybalt, he is a wonderful boxer. I really think this is a little bump in the road and we will get over it, we just have to set better limits for Bella with Tybalt.

November 20th

So today if little Shim is born he/she will be sharing the day that:


New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the bill of rights.

Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.

The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war.

The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, was launched.


Shim could share his/her birthday with:

Robert F. Kennedy
Joe Biden
Bo Derek
Joel McHale

We are all very ready for you to arrive Shim, especially your mommy!!

Yay For Me!

I did 25 minutes on the eliptical again and some crappy abs, and I feel awesome :) One good thing is that I do continually work out between my breaks, so it doesn't take more than a couple of workouts to notice subtle things.

• My tummy layer is a little bit smaller already.
• My arms feel slimmer (I know, I'm weird, but they do).
• I just plain feel good :)

I'm actually looking forward to being able to use our treadmill this weekend, that is MAJOR for me! Once I got into running outside so much I HATED running on the treadmill. I actually created a mental block against it and I couldn't do more than 18-20 minutes on a treadmill. I'm hoping being I'm so anxious to run that it will be different this time around and that I can run at least a couple times a week at home.

Another great thing I've accomplished so far this week - NO TAKE OUT FOOD! I know the week isn't over yet, but normally I would give and have eaten a lunch or dinner out. Kyle and I are really trying not to eat out, we want to save extra money and it's not the best for you obviously. BUT - I am not totally taking it out of my diet. I am a weirdo and I LOVE fast food so I can't completely ban it, but once a week should be my limit.

So tonight on our menu I think I'm going to make some baked tilapia with greek seasoning, rice, and some sort of veggie. It sounds boring, but it's really tasty, and the rice we make is rice-a-roni - see I won't totally limit myself, because I can't I'm not a dieter!

My butt is feeling fantastic right now too - thank you eliptical machine :)

Missed The Mark

So yesterday I was emailing Jenn a little bit, trying to be silly and hopefully make her laugh a little. I told her that it's gotten too cold and now Shim just doesn't want to come out ;) She is being a TROOPER, she was at work yesterday and I'm sure will be there today. I just can't believe how amazing Jenn is, we all know how I handled going past the due date with Bella, I made it one whole day!

Jenn is so laid back, I know she has to be anxious, but she is doing such an amazing job of not really showing that. I show her everyday how damn anxious I am for her! I had predicted that she would start laboring at 4:15am this morning, I was wrong.

Here's my plan, I'm going to see what amazing things happened on each day from this day forward. I'm going to have fun with this and hopefully Shim will decide to end my fun today or tomorrow or just very soon :)

So today is November 19th, so Shim could be born on the date that:

President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the military cemetery dedication ceremony in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Afghanistan, Iceland and Sweden joined the United Nations.

Pop group Milli Vanilli are stripped of their Grammy Award because the duo did not sing at all on the "Girl You Know It's True" album.

In Des Moines, IA Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies were born alive.

Lewinsky scandal: Need I say more?

Shim could share his/her birthday with:

Larry King
Ted Turner
Calvin Klein
Meg Ryan
Jodie Foster
Kerri Strug

Getting Serious....Again

So it's time..............to finish off toning up my body. This is a touchy subject for me, I've said since I got pregnant that I would get my body back after having Isabella. I did lose all of the baby weight in 9 months, I was damn proud of myself to wear a bikini in Hawaii 9 months after I had her. Then the goal was to do a marathon in October, the summer got crazy and I didn't run a whole lot and decided to put off the marathon until next year.

Our roommate David is moving out this weekend, which means that next week Kyle and I are starting our morning workouts. We got the P90X program two years ago and haven't used it yet! It is the one system that Kyle truly believes is a good plan and will work.

What I usually do when it comes to working out is I start off going at it 110%, then I get bored/busy/tired and stop. I'll get my body to the point of my idea of perfection and then bam, I stop working out, eat like crap and get jiggly again :(

I am by no means a big girl, but I've got my layer over my tummy still, the thighs that could be smaller, the arms that could jiggle less, the sagging boobs that need to be lifted, get the idea? All of these little things that totally bother me about myself, I just can't take it anymore!

I vow to do the workouts, listen to Kyle and STICK WITH IT!!!! I am going to blog about this a lot, because I think it will help me stick with it.

Today I did 25 minutes on the eliptical on my lunch hour, I got 4 miles (man I wish I could run like that ;)). Then I did some abs (my ENEMY) and I'm feeling pretty good.

So here we go, on my journey to body "perfection".....

Vase Trial 1

So Missy and Ed have set their wedding for September of next year.  I'm obviously super excited for them and happy to help them plan their long distance wedding.  Missy has a lot of cool ideas, red and black being one of them.  I offered to cover some vases for her to see if she would want to use them for the reception.  So this one is my first attempt, I actually really love it.  Too bad I didn't have any good flowers to put in it for the picture and the second picture is blurry, oops!

Grandpa Schmitz

My tribute to a wonderful and amazing man.

Grandpa Schmitz was a huge bright star in my life, seriously, just the most loving, caring, amazing, supportive man. He was tragically taken from us by cancer many years ago this month. Sadly enough I do know how long ago but it's all kind of a fuzzy blur as I seem to have somehow managed to block a lot of that time from my memory.

My grandparents lived in a little house down in Arkansas in Ozark Acres. I was lucky enough to spend a couple of weeks with them one summer. I had so much fun spending that time with them. I got to go swimming in the lake every day (it was a bad lake though and caused me ear problems), I made one friend that I got to hang out with all the time, we ate at King Catfish, we played Bingo with their friends, I helped Grandma make pies, Grandpa was always willing to play card games with me. Grandpa really always wanted to make sure that I was having fun.

My most fond memories are of the holidays, for some reason I can remember Grandpa eating the food and just laughing with everyone. That's my favorite memory and it will be engraved in my mind forever.

I loved and still love him with all of my heart. There are many times when I look up into the sky and talk to him, I know he is up there in Heaven and watching over all of us. I feel ashamed if I do anything he might not approve of and I feel so proud if I accomplish something great because I know he is proud of me too.

Grandpa I miss you so much and I always will, I hope someday I can think of you and not cry. I love you, I love you, I love you, and I always will.

Anxious....

So my sister Jenn is due with her little one on Nov. 15th. We all thought she would for sure have this baby early because she had McKayla 21 days early and in a matter of four hours. There is still no little Shim (the nickname because we don't know if it's a she or a him).

I emailed Jenn this afternoon to find out how her doctor appointment went today, no response. So I called her work phone and got the message "Jennifer Carroll is out of the office". So now I have become her stalker and tried texting her to see how things are going, still no response.

I feel bad pestering her like this, I know we'll be notified in a timely fashion once Shim decides to come into this world, but I'm just too anxious!!!

God if I feel this way, I can only imagine how Jenn feels, she's probably at home trying to push on Shim and give him (:-)) a start!

RELIEF

At this moment I feel as though a ten thousand pound weight has finally been lifted off of my shoulders!  My boss' slate won our local union election, whew!!!!

I don't have to worry about my job security for another three years hopefully!

Crazy Relief

After weighing Bella last night before her bath I am feeling a strong sense of relief, crazy relief. She was 22.4 pounds, naked!! When I picked her up from school yesterday her teachers were all excited to tell me that she ate THREE puddings for her afternoon snack, yes THREE puddings. I told them that was fantastic, although I don't think it's such a good idea to feed her more than two at a time.

When Bells was running around the house naked after her bath her belly was so swollen she kind of looked like a child from Ethiopia. I was thinking, is it ok for her to look that way, her poor belly!! I'm so used to my stick child with no belly, it was bothering her a little bit though :(

This morning the belly wasn't quite as big, and she ate most of her oatmeal mixture. It was time to put her in her winter coat due to the freezing temperature of 28 degrees! Her purple 12 month coat from last year fits her perfectly, yay :)

The Griffin Adults - As Hippies

We had so much fun getting dressed up as hippies. Let's face it though, I was happy to be my natural self, I was definately born a few decades too late. I was going to wear a dress of my mom's from the 70's but it was too dressy so I had to wear one of my own :)

My brother-in-law Casey and his awesome face that Mindy worked really hard on!

Mindy as a fairy, her wings were too big and crazy to wear the entire time :) She made this costume with help from Jenn and Jenn's mom, she looked fabulous!!!

So obviously it's towards the end of the night, I've had too much to drink and it's time to head home. Thank you Mindy and Casey for having another fantastic Halloween party!!!

A Panda Named Bells

Bells was ready to head out the door as an adorable panda!

Grandpa had a blast taking Bella up to the houses so I could photograph.

Bella wouldn't say "trick or treat" but she always said "thank you" when she got her candy :)

We think she was one cute panda!! :)

Teeth

So Bella bug has been having some issues. Sunday when we picked her up from Grandma and Grandpa's in Newhall she had a temp of about 100.7. The previous week she had been pooping an awful lot, like 3-4 times a day when Bells is an every other day kind of pooper. I stayed home with her Monday and her temp had gone down but she pooped 4 times on Monday.

Tuesday I stayed home with her again and decided to call the doctor. Turns out that they feel this is all from her getting her two year molars! She has been chomping on her binky for about two weeks, so I have been thinking she is teething but wasn't sure. She won't let me look in her mouth and I learned my lesson, I will never again stick my finger in there so she can bite it as hard as she can!

The really big downfall to all of this is that she is down to 21 pounds! She will not eat hardly anything due to the teeth and pain, then with this poop that comes from god knows where since she isn't eating, is just making it so much worse!! If she goes down much more in weight we will need to get her on an appetite stimulant.

I just want our little angel to be healthy and happy, is that too much to ask???