Oh and

The zoo and I have been using my Ipod a lot in the car and it's so funny but they always request to listen to 'our' song. What's even funnier is they know every word and all bop, including Aislinn, their head to the beat!

"Let it Rock" by Kevin Rudolph and Lil Wayne

They crack me up!

Over Booked, not Overwhelmed

It's just getting harder and harder to sit long enough at the computer to put down what's going on. I like to call it over booked, not overwhelmed. I have brought it mostly on myself and sometimes I think I'm going to hyperventilate but some how I make it through! What doesn't break me right?

I am officially CPR and AED certified as of Wednesday night. Michelle and I went together along with Amber and her mom and I have to say I really enjoyed the class! The instructor was very witty, very thorough and easy to follow. The AED was SO cool and being a gadget girl myself I know want one in my home! LOL

First off the girls are both sick. Aislinn has a bad rash from all her diapers (where is that stuff coming from) and is in so much pain when we have to change that she cries out every time "ALL DONE, ALL DONEEE" That's what Mike always says when he changes diapers and boy has she picked that one up and it's soooo sad, just so heartbreaking! Both her and Teagan have bathroom issues and yesterday Teagan came down with a high fever and all she wanted to do was lay on the floor. Fever broke right before dinner, but this morning her eyes and nose are flowing like a faucet. She is such a trooper, they both are!

Mike left early this morning for 5 days in Maui for work, smwork... He has to do two 20 min presentations and I think that's it? Maybe host a few happy hours or dinners and then it's all his time. Must me a hard hard life, right? I'm going somewhere next for 5 days and I don't know where but I'm going! ;-) 

Caden and I have a 2 mile fun run we are doing tomorrow morning, London's Run. It's in memoriam of a young girl who lost her life to cancer and the proceeds go to help fight cancer. They do a banana pancake afterwards, but he says he would rather make it for his football game, so we will rush to Hamilton after it. Thankfully I have Julie tomorrow morning so it will be a Caden and Mommy morning.

I have so been loving his new smile and listening to his little lisp. He is just so adorable!

Riordan has a birthday party to attend in the afternoon but we aren't going to be able to make it due to the lack of hands and it going to be such a long day as it is. I haven't told him yet and he hasn't brought it up. I know he will be sad to miss it though.

He had both Speech and OT this week. He didn't want to do his gross motor work in OT, bear crawls, crab walks and such, but when we got home he was doing it all over the place and even said he'd do it for Ms. Tracy next week! OT is at 8 am and it is so tough to get up to Mesa for it. I have training at 6 with Joe, then rush home to not get out of the car and drive him out and it takes us 40 mins. In fact we were a few minutes late yesterday, but they were so understanding.

She still didn't have his report ready but said he tested high for sensory and social skills which was just a huge validation for me and so glad we are where we need to be. Other than not wanting to do the ground work, he did do everything else and enjoyed it. Lots of giggles and smiles from him, so beautiful to watch.

Mike and I had an impromptu double date with our friends, the Kern's, Monday night at Blue Wasabi! It was so much fun and we ordered SO much food it was so yummy! Tuesday night my friend Jen and I went to Chelsea's Kitchen and had the most wonderful time with good talks and again yummy food. We love all the same things so it was fun to share!! I can't wait for us to go out again! We are such foodies and just so enjoy new places and fine food! I had sushi again Wednesday night, but at Ra, with Michelle after our class. I'm feeling rather large this week with all the sodium intake and on a major lemon water cleanse! Was supposed to go to Kona again last night with my Boot Camp Babes, but with Teagan down, I just felt so awful for her. Mike was at a dinner meeting, so I cancelled with Mandy our soon to be new sitter for nights, and said I would have her come this weekend. I am going to need the mental break for sure.

So next week will lead up to our much anticipated snow vacation to Flagstaff!! We will leave Friday and come back Sunday! SO can't wait! We have all our snow gear and I hear you can rent snow sleds pretty much anywhere up there. Considering we are limit on cargo space that works great for us! Our family John, Amy, and Maddy will meet us up there and we are just so excited!

We also booked Polar Express this year together for the Saturday after Thanksgiving! What a magical time that is going to be! The girls will be 2 and I can't wait to see every one's faces!! Such a quaint town it's in. It has been since Teagan was 9 months that we went last. Such a wonderful tradition to begin with them!! We haven't seen them since Christmas and I am missing my Malloy's!

My sister! She has a date to be induced if baby doesn't show before hand! Next Wednesday evening! She will be 40 weeks and she is SO over being pregnant, as we can all 'fondly' remember this time. I'm so tempted to fly in, without her permission, and be there for the delivery if she makes it to Wednesday!! I wasn't in town for Garret and just want to be there for her like she was for me with the boys. Once baby is born, she then will be put on an aggressive treatment most likely for her cancer, so anyone with coupons for formula, please let me know!

I have been studying pretty regularly for my exam and hoping it retains well ;-)

Also been working on my first assignment of exercise for camp. It's funny I will remember things at the most inopportune moments! Like in bed or driving the car! Why/How does that happen? It's like writer's block!

So with all this going on my new career, my physical therapy, working out with Joe, working out in Boot Camp, Riordan's therapy's and then dance, school for the boys, football, Mike gone, London's Run, some very gross diapers to change 8 times a day and tears tears tears when it happens, I think I may collapse when Mike gets back.

Caden's new smile

He is just so adorable, isn't he?!

Our week!

I'm so behind! But wanted to post!

I left you hanging with a new journey for me!! I am officially becoming a Boot Camp Babe Instructor for where I have been Bootcamping since November!! It's no secret that fitness has become a huge passion of mine again, one that was lost while having children and eating a lot of brownies. I was so involved whether I was doing kick boxing, karate, or working with a Personal Trainer and playing sports on top of it all. 

I have almost come to a full year of being active again and can't imagine not having it in my life anymore. Being that I have done with having children, will keep in line for sure! ;-)

So beginning in February, I will train with Andrea on Tues/Thurs nights and then in March I will teach those nights by myself!! I am in the process of becoming AFAA certified as well! We have so many great ideas, which includes Michelle and Andrea's friend Amber, as a team what we can do to help motivate women and bring them back to who they were and increase their self confidence and better their health!! 

You may think that 'where does she have the time' But seriously, if you have known me since I was a child, I have always been busy. Sitting still makes me crazy!! I have always held two jobs since I was 15!! So why not now?! I still get to be at home with my children and be around other people and be motivated by them as well! It has been such an emotional year for me to rediscover who I am, who was lost being a mom and a wife. I am also Heather!

I have had such a tough journey the past year and have to say that I am so glad that I stayed the course as much as I got depressed and frustrated with injuries.

I am so proud to exclaim that I have officially lost FOURTY pounds since the end of February and FIVE pant sizes! I started at an 18 and I am now an 8!! I know a lot of you think, well that was pregnancy weight. Not really. I gained 10 pounds AFTER having Aislinn. As much as brownies for breakfast, lunch and dinner may taste divine, they catch up quickly. That and White Chocolate Mocha's ;-) I ideally now, of course would like to get down to a size 6, what I was in High School which would be about 10 more pounds. It's all in my belly and after a nice little tummy tuck from excessively saggy skin in the belly from 4 very large children, I will probably get there for sure. So this ends my losing weight diet and now I will maintain and what happens, happens. I make such better food choices since August and weirdly all the crap I used to go to for comfort, just makes me feel ill when I eat it! 

I haven't had coffee in since February, except on Thanksgiving Morning and boy was that a mistake. I drink Green Tea three times a day, water, water, water, water, and a little bit more water. I cut out all carbonated drinks on a daily basis since October!! Yes that includes my daily Red Bulls (since November). Don't need them anymore for my daily 5 am wake up call either! Now I will have them in a cocktail ;-)

I had my first brownie in 3 months a couple of weeks ago and then had more last week, but feel no craving to keep going! It's so cool! What I do always crave is fruits and veggies! I eat a ton of spinach as well at least 2 cups a day. The darker the leaf the better. With that I still get a weekly treat of Chick Fil a whether it be the Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich or Salad. And I still sneak in a couple of fries with it, how you resist waffle fries!

So if I can do it, the worst sugar tooth in the world and loves all foods that are 'bad' for me. SO can YOU! Put that brownie down and give me 10 push ups! Girl ones to start ;-)

Next, Caden lost TWO teeth this week, on Tuesday, at school!! He pulled them out himself! Once during rest time and the other during a movie!! He is so cute and love his little lisp he has going on! The tooth fairy brought him 2 dollars, even though he lost one of his teeth before going to bed! We also put out a glass of water and in the morning the water had changed colors and her glittery dust was in there!! So cool, we knew she really had come! That was the longest wait ever for those teeth to come out! Months!!

Riordan has had a speech therapy this week with Teagan and Aislinn present. Yeah, that was fun ;-) And then on Thursday he had an OT Evaluation. Even though I didn't bring him in at the time of when it was worse for him, she is pretty sure  would have fallen under Sensory Integration Disorder. She commended Mike and I with our parenting with never stopping with kisses and hugs even though he was so opposed to them, compromising on shirts and shorts when it was 32 degrees outside, having trash cans readily available when he would eat, and helping with is anxiety in most situations. She had definitely recommended that he be in OT as well for at least 3-6 months to fine tune his issues. He chews on his fingers and his nails a lot, he still has such anxiety, and still has issues with fabrics and tags. She was so helpful in just one visit! 

However, he is extremely stubborn as well. What I mean by that is for 40 mins he will yell and scream for me to move his milk cup because he doesn't want it. I won't do it, but finally put it in the fridge and exactly one minute later he wants it back. She's going to research it more, but thinks he gets it from his dad ;-)

So every Tues/Thur morning we drive 40 mins to his new office and stay for an hour while he plays and doesn't realize he is learning! I have decided not to put him in Kindersteps next year, so he's not overwhelmed again by a large class size and he will be in a 12 child class at Wee Blessings. Hopefully by Kindergarten he will anxiety free and ready to interact on his own choice, not by being prompted, pleaded with by us,  or approached by a teacher or child.

Okay, I'm throwing Kelly a baby shower tomorrow morning, I have a girls dinner tonite and my house is a wreck. I will post a pic soon of Caden's new smile and update more this weekend!!

Finally a diagnosis!

YAY!!! Great day!

First and foremost, I do not have a Stress Fracture, confirmed by X-Ray!

Praise God!! Seriously I have been down enough, I don't know how I would have handled that info. However, had I kept testing it with my runs I would have been there probably in a week! Timing is everything right?!

I have tendinosis (tendinitis) for sure like was thought by me and my PT. However, his course of treatment wasn't working for me in order to get me up and running again. It's not his fault, he's not a Sports PT, but I should have been sent to a Sports Doc a lot sooner. Love him none the less though.

Bursitis confirmed as well in the hip and should go away once my gait is corrected from the tendinosis and my new sole inserts!! I have to work my way up in them, one hour, once a day then work it up to two and once I can be in them for 4 hours then I can work out in them. I did one hour already and let me tell you my legs were so tired from the correction, but holy moly what impressive support they gave for my very low arches. I'm pretty much flat footed, thank you babies!

So with that all said, I am on complete and total run rest for 4 weeks while I'm in intensive physical therapy with ASTYM treatment which will quickly aid in healing and get me up and running for my Ragnar in 6 weeks! Dr. Davis sees no reason that I won't be healed by then and running my three legs, which are easy ones thank you Angela for the sensitivity to my injuries! She's the best! I have a 4 mile and 2- 3 mile legs to do, piece of cake. Really I would like it to be more, but baby steps back in , baby steps!! (slap the legs for wanting to do more!) 

With this intense PT it's 25 mins of stretching with 10 mins of ASTYM. Imagine a plastic spatula scraping your skin with pressure to increase blood flow and to break up scar tissue. I am physically bruised on my calf, which Kristen said might happen! So crazy! But my leg feels awesome today. Yesterday I could barely walk! She said it would take 4 treatments before I would feel a difference, but my body is responding quickly! YAY again! Seriously I'm almost in tears to finally see some light! I will see her twice a week and then on my own, I have to do stretching 3-4 times a day, 10 mins at a time. After my PT for my back, I'm used to this regimen!

I also can still do my training schedule that I have been doing. Bootcamp with Andrea, Sessions with Joe twice a week, and my hour of cross training 6 days a week to keep up my endurance and cardio! Hurray for that! Just nothing that causes pain and I should be golden!

I go back in 4 weeks for a reassessment with Dr. Davis. Yay for finally taking the time to get checked out. Boo for not doing it sooner, he said he could have had me in PF Chang's if I came in after the Irongirl. Hind sight is 20/20 right?!

And

such a lot of info in an hour and oh yeah, probably some PT as well for him since he has some motor skills that are more of a 3 year old than a 4 year old... most likely because he had tortecollis as an infant and we knew that we would probably have to revisit PT because of it... 

i said, no wonder he's so grouchy, i would be too with all his issues when you lay it out on the table like this! beautiful boy!

Already falling into place

I have an appointment Thursday at 9 am to see what the heckle is going on with my leg! Finally! They were SO nice at the office too!

Riordan had his speech eval and his in for therapy for a little while now. Joy also wants him to get an OT Eval done and thinks he would benefit from it as well. He has a lot of sensory issues and perfection issues. If things don't go perfectly planned then it's the end of the world. Now this is no different from most 4 year olds, but it's something he is hard on himself with, doesn't let it go and it creates anxiety for him. She could see it instantly in when he knew he got questions wrong and such today in his speech eval. Also, he has tactile issues and fabric issues and it will help him work through it too. Plus he has transition issues, not nearly as bad as they have been, and I think a lot of that has a lot to do with his school with Ms. Angela being it's so much more a one on one experience. So we will check it out and see if we think it will fit him. 

She also recommend a psychologist that specializes in anxiety in children. Most of you who know Riordan, know that this has always been an issue.  He so wanted to play soccer last fall, but after two practices and literally screaming at me because he didn't want to practice and definitely didn't want me near the other children. She had mentioned that team sports would probably be an issue and then I shared this with her. She was so spot on, it was incredible. She had him pretty well figured out after that hour. I think though if we got him on a team where he actually knew the children then it might be easier to transition him into a sport. 

Caden had that, he always played with friends, so of course it would be easier on most children. He is over soccer though and wants to play football! So fun will that be!

She did throw out a possibility of aspberger's syndrome after I told her what his 4 years of life had been like, but near the end of the session she was thinking not so much. But I won't rule anything out  for now. Seriously up until he was 3, I was convinced he could be autistic. So many different reasons too that amounted up to my own little evaluation, which is why I was so shocked and amazed when he began to blossom into his now self since then. Any who, I'm just glad I finally got the ball rolling on this and I honestly can say, if I had done this a year ago, we would be no where fast because he would have never interacted the way he did today.

He had us both cracking up, making jokes and just being so silly once he warmed up, which didn't take long at all!

So we are making brownies, my goodness they smell incredible and we are having brownie sundaes in a bit! I'm really taking it easy this week with my exercise regimen too, giving my body some time to recoup from the hard core training I have been doing for the 1/2 marathon that I know won't be doing. Really shouldn't be getting crazy with the brownies, but it is only for one day ;-)

Tomorrow night we have a really cool class at church on all the different religions. A comparison and evaluation of sorts. Then Thursday night I'm headed to the movies again with Kelly and Kristi to see 'Bride Wars'. I promised Kelly we'd get out every week till baby Allison comes! Friday night I'm going to head to the expo for the race, I think I already said that and Saturday I'm getting my very long roots done! Yippee! I really need to get a nice massage in there some where too. I haven't had one since September, way to long!

Time to get serious!

Okay been a while since I checked in. Just no time!

My leg is back in a bad place. Time to get serious and I found a Sports Medicine doctor nearby that I hope to get in with this week. Gotta find a place for the kiddos to go, Mike is soooo busy, but it will have to work out. Bursitis is back and sharp pain in lower leg is back, which scares me, that's more a sign of a stress fracture. This doc is the director of the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Run, Doc for ASU Women's soccer team and all Chandler High School. Thinking he might be qualified. If not happy, will get a second opinion with a practice in N. Scottsdale.

I have a huge exciting journey in the works, and will want til it's finalized to talk about it and I need to be healed!! I'm passed being depressed about not running the 1/2 marathon this weekend and just need to get on the right road again.

I think I will go down to the expo on Friday and check out all the vendors and grab my swag though even though I'm not running. 

Pat on the back for me though.  I snagged a ticket with some friends for Mike to go to the Playoff game on Sunday! Since I can't run, I was going to go to church and then this came up for Mike and he had talked about going. I think he's pleased. It's with the dads from flag football and the only requirement they have given him is he has to wear an Eagle's shirt ;-) He's all for it! 

We have been busy with well checks for Caden, Riordan, and Aislinn with Dr. T. They all really liked him and I really like how he is with the children. Helps he has young ones himself with a third on the way! Today I will be taking Riordan for a speech evaluation. Pretty sure he will be freaked out at first, but once he sees all the toys and games he will hopefully relax and chatter away. Julie will be here so the girls will stay home and it will just be he and I. He got bonked pretty hard in the face yesterday at the playground with a swing. It was still red and swollen last night, so it might be a bruise today. He finally would look at it before bed and started laughing the stinker.

This past weekend I had a stay over in Scottsdale with my friend Rebecca from HS and we had such a great time! We hung out in our room for close to 4 hours talking, drinking champagne and getting ready for a big night out for her going away/birthday soiree! Then we hit the W hotel for dinner at Sushi Roku and then drinks and music upstairs. Her friends are great and we all had such a great time. End of the night, we met a couple of guys (I was working the room all night for her scouting out a good guy with a good heart) and bam, that's where he was! I was so impressed with this guy. Complete gentleman, unlike a lot of the men upstairs who were definitely on the prowl, and I told her this is the one to keep her eye on. They met last night for drinks on her actual birthday! Can't wait to hear how it went!

*Spoiler Alert*

Let's see, last week was such a whirlwind but to just touch on things. I saw a movie with Kristi and Kelly, and had dinner at Bravi before hand. Yummy pear and gorgonzola salad! We saw 'Marley and Me'. Although I was pretty certain how it was going to end, it still got me. Tissues were definitely needed for the movie. When I got home, I couldn't help but want to hang out with Sully. Poor girl, she is soooo neglected. Since the movie and I have been making a concious effort to pay more attention to her though.

I took a tour of Wee Blessings Preschool and I needed tissues for that! I can't believe we found a home for Riordan and Teagan and in a school so much like how pre-schools were run back home! I decided it would be easier to have him there with Teagan for it's still a small class size then what Kindersteps would be 12 vs 25 and I wouldn't be breaking my neck to make it to Teagan in time after picking him up.

Okay, more later, I'm late going to met Joe for training!

Feeling like we are getting things done

So after too many incidents the past year that have led up to a big huge decision for us, we are leaving our much loved pediatrician's office. It has nothing to do with her as a doctor or a person for that matter, just comes down to office staff, office policy, and simply it's just too big for us and we don't have the warm and fuzzy feeling we got when she was a smaller practice. We are so happy for her success and wish her even more, but for a lot of pro- reasons we are moving to my primary care who is a family physican. He is a guy, which the boys will absolutely love and his office is literally less than a 1/2 mile away. He has a small practice as well with intentions to stay in this area for this area. He used to be easy for same day sick visits, but is now gotten popular and is usually a next day availability which is okay for us too.

So today was getting medical transfer forms filled out at the office and then having to call them to book new patient/well checks. Then for Riordan I got a speech evaluation booked, finally! I met my goal on that on, today was the day! So Riordan goes to see Dr. T on Thursday morning and then Caden goes Thursday afternoon and Aislinn goes the following Monday and then Riordan is speech that following Tuesday. Aislinn also has an allergy appointment in February now as well. 

It feels great to get all this booked. It is so hard to be on the phone and do new patient bookings, because they need all kinds of info. Everyone did really well though!

My bursitis feels really good today. In fact since I was treated for it, I have not experienced any sharp pain in my hip. It's just still a bit sore. So laying low till it's completely healed and my tendon, which is just taking so long. Very frustrating. It's a hard spot to stretch, which is what I think it needs at this point.

Back at bootcamp this morning and we had a lot of running, but I kept myself busy doing things that wouldn't impact my leg directly. We have a great group of women, yet again! But really missing my carpool buddy, Tracy! Please come back ;-)

Mike is off at the Fiesta Bowl today and so we are just enjoying a laid back afternoon. It's weird having Caden home and Riordan went to school. I kept thinking I need to get going to pick him up, silly me! I don't have Julie tomorrow, so I may attempt to take the three younger to Tumbleweed to get in a good cardio circuit. If that doesn't work out, then I will just do the elliptical at home, but it's just not as good as a machine as the gym. Spoiled for sure.

Caden, for his birthday, got a few g.c.'s to Target and a couple of items to return for we had them already, so he had a hefty amount of money to spend. I was so proud of him. We talked about big items vs. small items and he picked out an MP3 player and a new game for Playstation! Riordan had gone with us, and that boy is so sweet that he offered to give one of his gift cards to Riordan! Thankfully Grannie had sent two g.c's for Wal-mart for their birthday's so I bought them off of them both and gave them the money for it so Riordan definitely wasn't feeling left out on the shopping trip. Riordan got a cool Hot Wheels Shark thingamajib. He loves it, that's all that matters ;-)

Just a bit ago I was calling for Teagan and couldn't find her. I eventually did, on my bed, sitting up, sucking her thumb, naked, with her coveted pillows and blanket, asleep. It was so adorable, of course I got a picture. I have promised to polish her toes, which I must do right now before I forget again! She's awake, so off I go.

Depressed is an understatement

So I have been having pain in my hip when I run the few miles I run.

I go in to see Brian and I now have bursitis. It's an inflammation in the hip, due to me changing up my gait to 'try' and not cause more injury to my ankle while it heals. 

Here's the depressing part.

I can't run till it heals. Healing time is who knows, but around 2 weeks to 6 weeks.

I did catch it extremely early and today is a better day already. No shooting pain, just very sore.

There is no way I can run the 1/2 marathon in 2 weeks and all I have wanted to do for two days is cry. 

Who knew that I was going to love running this much. It's so hard for most people to understand, but it has become such a passion of mine. So whatever passion you may have, imagine being told not to do it at all. Thankfully, if I play my cards right and obey these rules, it won't be forever either. I'm going to go and see a podiatrist as well to get a look at this tendinitis and see if we should be doing anything else for it. I still hope I can run the Ragnar in February.

So yesterday I ate a brownie for the first time in 3 months. Even better I ate a brownie sundae with vanilla ice cream and all! (I'm not a big fan of ice cream, but holy smokes was it amazing!)

I needed to do something and it sure did help, although I did have a huge sugar high and then crash to where I fell asleep for almost 2 hours!

Thankfully I can still crosstrain and weight train. Just nothing at all with impact. At this point if I continue to run with the pain I will ultimately put myself back into my SI pain because it can and will cause my hips to shift with the impact and flinching from the pain.

This is killing me! I know I will get through it, but right now, it's like Christmas has just been taken away. Stupid concrete at Stupid Irongirl. And stupid me for running 3 miles outside of my usual pace. Lesson learned, more than ever.

But to brighten my spirits, I had lunch today with my girls from small group at Paradise Bakery. Before we knew it we have been together for 2 1/2 hours! Such a good time and we can't wait to get together again.

Tomorrow I am going wedding dress shopping with a friend, from church as well, for an event of renewing your vows. Pretty cool! We won't be able to go though, our sitter isn't available. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

What a great day we have had! I am so behind on posting so this will be a long one ;-)

Let's start with that I am still injured from the Iron Girl run. I had nerve damage, soft tissue damage, severe shin splints and now dealing with a bad tendinitis issue. The injury's will never cease and these 3 almost 4 weeks have been torturous for me to not run! I did finally break the rules and ran 2 miles on Sunday and 3 on Tuesday and I was hurting again. But know now it's just tendinitis, which I have dealt with before, I finally see the light again.

P.F. Chang's 1/2 marathon is in 18 days! And then I have my 181 mile 12 person team relay, The Ragnar Relay~Del Sol at the end of February. I just finally meet my running coach and team lead yesterday for it. Angela, is awesome, gave me some great tips with distance running and I am looking forward even more to this next challenge! I hope to be back up in good distance again by next week and use the PF Chang's now as training for the Ragnar since she wants me to get up to 15 miles at one time logged in before Ragnar. This injury has been more tough on me than my back, because I was really enjoying the time to myself. It was almost like mediation and nothing gives me that full body reward like a run. I have been cross training every single day, but I have lost 30 seconds off my time even with it. Hopefully I can gain it back pretty quickly. I have been seeing my Physical Therapist for help with healing for almost 2 weeks now too. It's been really nice seeing Holly and Brian again! Such great people!

I am signed up for a 3rd month of Bootcamp along with twice a week with Joe, plus my cardio on my own. It's crazy really that I'm still keeping with it, but I'm so determined now with my new goals! I missed my year end goal by 5lbs. BUT I can't believe I got this far! I am officially down 35 pounds. My whole goal now is only 10 to go, since I'm so close, I'm not calling it a bonus 5 anymore and just going for it ;-) This is hopefully met by Jan 30th! 

I am back on no sugar after having some for about 10 days. Some days were bad, and the sugar highs and crashes were making me feel like crap. I actually slept badly too! So definitely in moderation, but going for another 15 days without it. 

Last night we went to our friend's, the Jones' home, for a family New Year's Eve party. It was so much fun! Got to hang out with a few of my girlfriends, the children all played so amazingly together and Steph had S'Mores for them to make! Okay I had TWO of them and by golly they were soooo yummy. Marshmallow is my weak spot along with brownies. Very very hard for me to say no.

I have had a few dates with each of the olders, taking them out for ice cream, lunch, and such. We had a mommy all four date on Monday at Chick Fil-a and that was a day that will stay with me forever. A little boy got lost. 3 years old and for 20 minutes the mom was of course in a state of panic. It was so hard, I wanted so badly to search outside of the store, but how could I with all four.  I have to say, everyone there moms and employees, were so amazing. Immediately after she had realized he was missing, the cops were called. No time to waste. I honestly don't ever remember seeing her oldest. I remember seeing her chase around her 1 year old. 

What had happened was she was chasing the 1 year old, phone rings, she takes the call. She said she had just told her 3 year old to put his shoes on, they needed to go. She turned her back to get the 1 year old and when she came back, she couldn't find her 3 year old. All of our first instincts were to check the play area up top. Not there. Then we all started to worry he wandered out of the store and then more fear that someone actually took him. We asked her if he went in the car. She says that he can't open the door, besides it's locked. So some employees start to check the other stores, and people start to walk behind the store and behind the shopping center.

Just as the cop pulls up, one of the employees goes, are you sure he's not in the car, I think I saw him in there. She asks me to pull out his picture from the wallet, cause she can't do it. She goes outside to open the mini van. The employee points to the cargo area and she goes around, lifts the hatch and out he comes. It still is so emotional for me as I type. He had been hiding in the car! In the cargo area at that! 3 years old, opened the door! 

As all of this is going on, Caden is very aware of what is happening and is just glued to the mom, watching her every move and the look on his face is such concern. I had a very long talk with all of them after that, and boy did they ever get it about getting lost, leaving mommy, hiding and such. I least I hope so.

We had gone to Party City after that to get our supplies for our New Year's Eve party. That was so cute to watch them decide which item they wanted most and very noisy at that ;-) They picked 2009 glasses and little noise makers! Those glasses were all over ABC's ball drop last night!

That night we had our Feather's Holiday gathering at our friend Rena's home. IT was such a cozy and relaxed evening! We ate so much food, big sugar high for me that I hugely regretted!, and we played Partini! GREAT group game, highly recommend it!

Let's see, Aislinn cut both her top molars, FINALLY early this week too! And she climbs up and down off the couch, the ottoman, and now stands on the bathroom stools and gets down all on her own. She really is a toddler now and I need to stop calling her a baby. However that is hard when you have no hair , tee hee hee! It is starting to get length on it and sometimes it looks lighter than I have thought it was going to be. She is very demanding right now, and loves to screech and scream which is extremely hard on all our ears and patience. Her vocabulary is slowly increasing and she adds a new word about every 3 or 4 days. Her favorite word has got to be cookie. I totally get it! She never has a reaction anymore when she grabs a sippee of milk from one of the olders, so we have lightened up on what she can and can't have when it comes to milk being in it. As long as it's cooked she's getting it in small amounts. We feel very certain she has outgrown it the allergy already.

Riordan is really missing school and all his friends and can't wait to go back on Monday. I keep forgetting to get him to a speech evaluation. I finally think we need some help, as much as I have tried to work with him at home. Every time I call our place though, the vm box is full due to the holidays. So hopefully a: I will remember to call on Monday and b: it won't take too long to get in.

Caden's bottom teeth are so close to coming out! Just when we think we have not long to go though, they just keep hanging on. I keep recommending the string and a door trick but he's not going for it. He keeps counting down to when he's in school again as well. We have been trying to keep them pretty busy with their new toys, coloring, playing outside and such but we can only do so much.

Teagan is really missing dance and is ready to see Miss Mimi her teacher. She is still so painfully shy around other people, but at home she is still the boss. She is such a little mommy to Aislinn and then they totally remind me of me and Jen growing up. Aislinn will pull Teagan's hair and Teagan will in turn smack her for it. But that doesn't stop Aislinn from doing it again and then Teagan will take her down. Kind of funny really, but at the moment it's not.

Mike has a very busy January with work. So we are preparing for no more early days home and a lot of dinners. Whatever he needs to do though, we are so thankful we have a job.

Our January is super busy already with me going on a girls over night to Scottsdale with my girlfriend from back home for her going away/birthday celebration. We will be headed to Sushi Roku at the new W and then hanging at the bar afterwards. Then the following weekend is PF Changs, then the following weekend I am throwing my girl Kelly a baby shower with her mom and sister here at our home. Kim, her sister, is making all the food and I can't wait! I hear she's an amazing cook and is going to start catering her food! Then the last weekend will hopefully find us up in Flagstaff for two nights and some snow fun with John, Amy, and Maddy as well! It's a mini vaca for us, thank God for Hilton Rewards for us to stay there! We are all really wanting to see snow and just can't wait. The boys snow boots came in yesterday and the girls should be in soon! I can't wait to see their expressions and joy or pain ;-) when they see snow! There better be snow!