Happy Birthday to Nate

 On Monday the 18th, Nate and I went on a fun double date with our friends, Brad and Jenn. Nate and Brad had birthdays within a couple weeks of each other, so we wanted to celebrate together. We met at the Portland City Grill for dinner (plus free dessert for the birthday boys) and then we went to their house for some yummy Key Lime pie that Jenn made.

 

The restaurant had great food and an awesome view of the city.

 

 

Photo above from yahoo images.

 

 

 

It was really dark in there, so I had to adjust the coloring on this pic.

 

 

For Nate's actual birthday, we decided to do a donut cake. I know, it's pretty fancy. ha ha

 

They had to help blow out the candles, of course.

 

 

Paige had just gotten home from swimming lessons, in case you're curious about the swim suit in the middle of February thing.

 

Nate is a great dad and a great husband. He works so hard for our family and I am so incredibly thankful for him.

 

 I LOVE YOU, NATE!! 

It's makeover time!

 

 

 

 

Beautiful!

Nate

 Nate has been extra busy with work the past few weeks. His job isn't the kind where you clock in and clock out, so even when he's home, he is often still busy with e-mails, phone calls, etc. It's been a big adjustment from his last job, where he didn't have nearly as much work to do. I'm so thankful for him and how hard he works for our family. And I'm thankful that we are still so happy together after almost 9 years. Phew. :)

Paigeeeee!

Paige is our little model. She likes to pose, if you can't tell. We took these pictures right before school yesterday. She's such a funny, smart little girl. She is very aware of everything going on around her, which definitely keeps Nate and I accountable for the things we say and do.

 

Paige is learning so much in kindergarten, and it's fun to hear all about it when she comes home. She is so excited about reading, and she always asks us to read books with her. This year had been a huge adjustment for her. All-day kindergarten has not been easy. Paige is the youngest in her class. She turned 5 just 6 weeks before school started. Although she generally likes kindergarten, she definitely gets tired by the end of the day and she's had a hard time learning to stay on task at school. I think half-day kindergarten would have been much better for her, but oh well. Although this year has been a difficult experience for her (and for me), I hope that it will just make her super prepared for first grade. :)  She's such a fun, creative, smart girl and I'm excited to see what the future will hold for her.

 

 

 

Katers

Kate is gonna be 3 next month. I can hardly believe that. I know every mom says that, but really... I feel like she is still my little baby. She is growing up so fast, trying to keep up with Paige. She speaks really well and she's just so cute. She loves dressing up and doing make-overs. Whenever we turn on dance music, she drops whatever she is doing, runs to her room and comes out with a princess dress. And then she runs to my bathroom, puts on some eye shadow (in random swipes across her face) and she's ready to dance! It's pretty cute.

 

 

She's holding a play camera we found at Target. She saw it there one day and would not stop talking about it for days. I thought she would forget, but nope. I finally decided to buy it for her and she loves it. She walks around taking pictures of us all day.

 

Halle Bug

 

Halle is a good little eater so far. She seems to like almost everything I've given her.

 

Also, she has just started sleeping really well at night. She's 9 months old now, so it's about time. I put her down at 7:30 or 8 PM, and she normally just wakes up once at around 5 AM to eat and then goes back to sleep for 2-3 hours. She slept for 11 hours straight two nights in a row last week, and that was amazing. I forgot what it was like to sleep through the night. I woke up and panicked, thinking something must be wrong, but nope... she was sleeping away. Don't be too amazed though because up until a month ago, she was still waking up 2-3 times a night. I finally decided to do the dreaded "cry-it-out method" with her and it worked like a charm. I absolutely hate doing it, but that's what has helped all of my girls learn to sleep well.

 

 

I love this little girl. She is such a sweet, happy baby.

The question I hoped she would never ask...

It's no secret that I struggle with my weight. My fitness blog is evidence of my ups and downs in that department. I've been having a hard time losing this 10-15 pounds of baby weight (let's be honest... it's cupcake/cookie/ice cream weight) since I had Halle 9 months ago. And I complain about it to Nate somewhat often. (Poor guy.)

But I have always tried my best to never mention anything about my weight, dieting, dissatisfaction with my body, the word "fat", etc. around my daughters. I would never want them to worry about their weight, or feel like the way they look is the most important thing, or anything close to that. Especially at such a young age. Yes, I know it's hypocritical of me to obsess over my weight, and then not want them to grow up with those same tendencies.

Today I learned that I haven't done as well as I thought at protecting them from that negativity. Out of the blue, Paige came up to me and said, "Mom, am I getting fat?" And she looked down at her tummy.

I just stared at her in shock, with my eyes wide. Maybe for some people that question wouldn't be a big deal, but for me it was. She's 5 years old!

Then she said, "Just tell me. Because if I am, I will eat more vegetables."

I said, "No, Paige. You're not getting fat. Why would you ask me that?"

And she said, "Everyone gets fat sometimes."

What? I don't know where that came from, but I feel awful about it. I guess kids are bound to hear stuff like that at school or on T.V. or whatever, but it still worries me. I have always told myself that my girls were going to have healthier habits and a healthier body image than I do. But how can they if I don't set the example?

I like to watch The Biggest Loser and I've noticed that so many contestants say that their biggest motivator is their families (ie. being around to raise them and setting an example for them). I get that. I feel the same way. Before I had kids, I wanted to lose weight and be fit mostly because I wanted to look good. (Who doesn't?)  But as a mother of 3 girls, a bigger reason for me wanting to lose weight and be healthy is because I want my daughters to have healthy, active lives themselves. I don't want them to struggle with their weight and body image like many girls do. I've been thinking about this for a while now.

I'm trying to be a better example. I feel like we eat pretty healthy meals, but we do eat too many "treats." Lately, I've been making green smoothies as our treats, so that's a good start. And Paige and I have been going on walks together, which is fun for her.

Yes, I JUST posted a cookie recipe this morning. I have a long way to go.