Gaining and Losing

Hello Readers!

I just wanted to comment a little on the gaining and losing of weight we've all done in the last year or so. Obviously Maggie has gained 17 pounds since we moved here and she weighed... oh, an ounce? :) And Norah has gained too. I don't remember what she was at 1 year, but I think it was around 19 pounds. She now weighs about 25 and a half pounds. I know they say kids gain much less once they hit 1 year, but Norah has only managed to gain 2 pounds since 18 months. I'd like to think it would have been 3 at least, but she got the flu and wasn't eating much of anything for a few weeks. We're over that now, and I'm much relieved. She's back to what she was at before she got sick. So she's got about 3 or 4 weeks before her doctor appointment when we get her "official" 2 year weight to add a little more. I will not feed her garbage though! She eats a lot of fruits and veggies. She does like noodles, but will only eat a bit of meat. We don't usually keep a lot of cookies and junk food around, and Norah usually gets a "happy" (healthy) snack if she asks for a snack.

Tim has been working hard to lose weight also. Being on crutches really prevented him from doing a whole lot of exercising at the beginning of our time here though! So, overall I think he's lost 25 pounds. That's pretty good! And I'm currently at (drumroll please!) 1 pound less than when we arrived. Don't laugh, it's deceptive! Remember, I did gain 30 pounds from August through February! I'm pretty happy that I've been able to lose all of it, plus 1 more... and I'm still working on it. It is surprising to me how the same weight can look so different before kids, after 1 baby, and after the second. Wow! I don't have a lot of time to exercise, no car to get anywhere, and it's much too hot these days to run or walk with the girls. So all of that is mostly through what little I can get here inside and watching what I eat.

Here's our hope for the next year... the little girlies keep gaining and the big ones keep losing. I know I want to lose 10-15 pounds yet before I'm completely at my long-term goal, and Tim plans to keep working at it too. We'll see how far I get before the inevitable 3rd baby comes along. We're not working on that just yet though... but it is in the not-extremely-distant future plans. :)

This may be our last post before we leave in just a week. We'll catch you all up when we get back online at the end of the month, and will for sure have pictures of Norah's 2nd birthday party to add.

A Week and a Half?!

The girls head out to Fort Wayne on July 22nd, that's next week Thursday already! Wow! This year has gone by so quickly, we can hardly believe it's almost over. With all the packing we've been doing lately, it's hard to enjoy the summer but it's too hot here anyway to be outside. Poor Norah has been such a trooper. I haven't gotten her to the park in about a week, and it's been a couple days since we went swimming too. Hopefully we can get the pool set up today since Tim is off. One of us can be out with Norah and the other can get some packing done in peace. That doesn't happen much! Of course, with all the boxes and piles of stuff everywhere the place looks and feels a little cluttered. I can't wait to have everything unpacked and put in its place again when we get to our new home. It will be so nice to have all the space, and a huge yard, and a big old garage to store stuff in! Here's what we have going on in the next 10 days:

Monday 12: Tim's last "day off," Tim's parents drive to Fort Wayne (so many people get to see our house before we do!)
Tuesday 13: Tim's last council meeting at Peace, Tim's parents fly to San Jose
Wednesday 14: Tim preaches up in Coarsegold
Thursday 15: Lady's Bible Study and potluck
Friday 16: We join Tim's parents in San Leandro, must be 90% done packing!
Saturday 17: Tim's Aunt's birthday party in San Leandro area
Sunday 18: Tim's last Sunday and reception
Monday 19: Yosemite one last time with Tim's parents
Tuesday 20: Last day to pack and get everything in order
Wednesday 21: Heading to Santa Cruz for the day, staying overnight in San Jose
Thursday 22: Girls leave from San Jose at 6:30 am
Friday 23: Boys pick up Josh from airport, drive back to Fresno, pick up trailer, load and leave

With all these trips, I'm not sure I can keep everything straight. I'm going to be doing a lot of packing and unpacking bags and suitcases and snack coolers. This whole move has been a logistical nightmare! It should be a real adventure when the 4 of us girls get to Fort Wayne on the 22nd and discover all sorts of things we don't have until the guys arrive late on the 25th. Thankfully, Tim's parents are stopping there before coming to CA so they're leaving towels, pillows, and sheets at our house. And we have some wonderful friends who promised to make sure we have things like toilet paper and bread when we arrive. Whew! It's going to be a whirlwind two weeks!

A Day in the Life...

Norah is thrilled to "go get her!" after Maggie's morning nap.

We're practicing sitting up. Maggie is getting better each day. Now she can sit up for a couple seconds with no support before she tips, or gets too excited that she launches herself backwards.

Let's play dress up!


The following day, Norah baked cookies with Mommy during Maggie's morning nap. It's kind of our time and I try to do something special or different each day with Norah.

Fun with My Girls

Maggie enjoys rolling over both ways now... when she wants to anyway.

The Bumbo is waterproof, making time in the pool so much more fun for all of us.
Sometimes Norah loves her sister a little too, um, aggressively. ;)
She made this face EVERY time I poured the water out of the little watering can. Ha!

Maggie's First Cereal

Norah Swings Maggie

Maggie Squeals for Toy

Our happy little girl, who will squeal in delight at anything and everything!