A whole random update of everything...

This blog really is designed to be a place to keep friends and family updated on our lives and I feel I'm past due on making an update.  I have been busy as usual.  For a few years of my life I was doing school full-time while working a full-time job.  I thought my life could never get busier than that, but I was completely wrong!!  I'm still working full-time and a college graduate, but once you add some young kids in the mix you are busier then ever.  Xander and Wesley are only 1 and 3 and depend on me for everything.  I have been told that I will miss these days, but at this point I look forward to the day when they can get their own food and bathe and dress themselves.  After everything I do, there really is no time to be bored, that never happens anymore.  If a parent with a young child says they are bored..then they are not really taking care of that child!!  Jerry and I do love our kids very much and I know they have made our lives so much richer.

 Xander posing for the camera!

 Xander as Plex the robot, he finally settled on a costume.  

  Wesley took off walking about 3 weeks after his first birthday and he is now a pro.  He is very happy and healthy.  He loves his big brother very much.  He likes to do everything Xander does, which is a good and a bad thing!  He has more teeth and was really moody while they were coming through.  His recent milestones are that he can drink from a straw and he can spoon feed himself.  He is very messy, but I am amazed that he is already learning these things.  I feel like my baby doesn't want to be a baby anymore.  He doesn't say very many words yet, just some basics, like uh-oh, up, dada.  I keep trying to get him to say mama but he is taking his time.  I hope he doesn't have speech delays like his brother.  I'm trying not to worry about it too much yet.
  Xander is talking a lot more now.  I understand most of what comes out of his mouth.  He has a big personality and is happy most of the time.  He is mostly cranky when you try to get him up from a nap and he just doesn't want to be awake.  He loves his little brother, but he still doesn't know how to behave around him. This can get very frustrating because I am constantly playing referee.  He pushes him over, hits him with toys and is just too aggressive.  We take away toys and do time outs.  I just hope that this gets better.  I can't get anything done unless I have some way to keep them separated.  Xander is at least halfway potty trained.  Just recently he has finally started going to the bathroom on his own.  Before we had to constantly make him sit on the potty several times during the day, now I think he is finally understanding when he needs to go.  I absolutely hate potty training.  I dread potty training Wesley and just hope it will be better with the second child.  I'm open to any good potty training book suggestions!!
  I am still following the program on Sparkpeople.com faithfully everyday.  I track everything I eat and every exercise I do on my phone and the computer.  I don't know that I can ever give it up.  In part of the program they say that eventually you can cut back to tracking food only every few days, but I can't imagine not tracking I'm so used to it now.  I'm staying consistent and having an average weight loss of 1.5lbs per week. There are weeks where I lose a lot, weeks where I lose very little and weeks where I don't lose, but I'm still losing and so happy to be healthier.  Since June I am 34lbs lighter and loving it.  I love that I can fit in smaller clothes and that when I exercise I feel stronger and more energized.  I think I have reached a new fitness level because of running.  I need to sign up for more 5k's and possibly a 10k if I feel brave enough.  I found an interesting cardiovascular effect to all my running, my resting heart rate has dropped from the 70's to below 50.  My heart beats really slow when I'm not exercising.  I have done research and learned that an athletes heart becomes more efficient at pumping blood and will slow down, so now I have the heart of an athlete!  I'm excited to continue this journey and see where it takes me.  I'm not going for a whole bunch of muscle but I would like to looked toned and have visible muscle definition.  I'm getting there!
  Now that we have great benefits at our jobs and a little more money to go around, Jerry and I are going to have some medical procedures done on ourselves.  Jerry has had a dream of getting his teeth straightened and he will be going to an orthodontist to see how they can help him.  My dream is to get my poor vision corrected.  In January I'm going to get PRK done to correct my eyesight.  There is not 100% guarantee that I will have perfect vision, but I have decided that any correction is better then what I have right now.  I would love to wake up in the morning and just be able to see without feeling around for my glasses.  I hope our dreams will be fulfilled in the next few months!
  Halloween is still one of our favorite holidays.  It is a month of going to corn mazes and haunted houses and a month of decorating our house.  Last year Jerry created a demonic centipede.  This year he made a scorpion.  We had to find a huge  pumpkin and haul it home.  I'm very curious how much it weighed, but I guess we will never know.  He cut it in half to create his creature.  I will post more pictures after the holiday is over.