Zachary - Terrible Twos!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Zachary!! 

Wait, what do you mean it's not February??  Zak's not 2 yet??  We still have 4 more months until the "terrible twos" officially start?  O.M.G.

In all seriousness, I never believed in the terrible twos.  For me it was always to treacherous terrible threes.  Both of the other boys were fine at 2 and a nightmare at 3.  But Zak seems to have hit this phase much earlier.  I guess it's having 2 big brothers to show him the ropes.

Some of his antics include:

• Climbing on toys to change our thermostat
• Using the step stool to play in (and make a mess in) dish water
• Climbing on the counters to get to his vitamins
• Torturing his brothers (especially Daniel)
• Stealing food off of everyone's plate (yet not eating what he has even if it's the same thing!)
• Coloring on walls, tables, screens, etc
• Not napping

He also did this on the way home from grocery shopping:

That sucker was really stuck in his hair!

But he's also a cutie.  He continues to be so verbal it amazes me.  He repeats everything everyone says.  He loves being outside and playing with his brothers.  His newest obsession is our sidewalk chalk.  He loves to color on our driveway, deck and garage floor (as well as a few places he's not supposed to - see above).  He has a new friend at the gym, he spends most of his time playing with a little girl whose mom takes my classes.  He continues to grow & amaze me every day.

Here are a few better pictures of Zak from the past month:

Picking the perfect pumpkin!

Cheesing after we picked up AJ from school

Mom, can I have an apple??

Spiderman!

AJ Update

AJ is about 6 weeks into first grade and he is thriving!!  I could not be more proud of him and how amazing he is doing this year.  I was worried about him adjusting to full day & eating lunch at school, but he has adjusted like a champ.  He doesn't always eat his lunch (I suspect that is because he's too busy chatting with friends) but he doesn't come home starving so I'm happy.

For those who don't know, we went through a very long evaluation process this summer for AJ and in the end he was diagnosed with severe ADHD.  He started medicine in July and it has been the best decision Adrian & I ever made.  He is still the same AJ, only better.  It is obvious that he can think clearer, communicate better and focus better.  I know this route isn't for everyone, but it is the right route for us.

I love walking home from school with AJ every day hearing all about his day.  He tells me what he learned, who he played with, what people said, which special he had, etc.  I NEVER heard any of that before.  He has  made friends with some of the other boys in his class & they even got in trouble for being too rowdy on the play ground!  I know I shouldn't be happy that he got in trouble, but I'm happy that he has friends that he is playing with...even if they are playing the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Fighting Game."

Walking home from school...all 3 boys love it!  So do I!

AJ is also playing football this season and he is loving it!  His team's season started a little rough, but they finished the season with 3 straight wins and have a very good chance of winning their first playoff game.  AJ plays defense and he plays about half the game.  He has improved tremendously since he started and I am thankful for his coaches working so hard with him and all the kids.  I'm also thankful AJ didn't want to give up when he was struggling and his team was losing.

AJ in his game day uniform

Ready for practice!

We are also in AJ's favorite month of the year.  He loves all things fall and Halloween.  We went apple picking and to our first corn maze a few weeks ago and had a blast.  AJ went to a local farm for a field trip last week and got to pick apples and make applesauce.  In the next 3 weeks we plan to go to 2 other corn mazes, pumpkin picking, apple picking and a ton of Halloween parties!  We are going as superheroes this year, AJ is Wolverine.

Apple picking

Showing how tall he is this year

Goals Update - September

September was a pretty good month, finding our routine with school in full swing.  We are super busy and I'm finding it hard to find time to blog during the week, but here is a quick update on what's been going on.

 Exercise Goals
1.  Do 13 races in 2013 - So I was signed up for 4 races plus a virtual race in September and I only finished one of them, the virtual one.  The foot and knee pain I've been having has been really bad and I finally went to my doctor.  She advised me to stop racing & see a foot doctor.  He told me I had blocked sweat glands "because I'm an athlete."  Best.  Diagnosis.  Ever.  He said wait a week or so and I can go back to racing.  For now, I'm just going to focus on the Fall 5 and 10 mile virtual race series that I'm in.  I'm registered for one more race this weekend, I'm debating that one as well.

2.  Exercise 5 days/week - I was pretty spot on for this goal in September.  I'm not going to go back and count, but I think I exercised all but a few days this month.  I'm really proud that I didn't let my injury stop me, just modified what I've been doing.
3.  Do monthly challenges - I signed up for three challenges in September:  one on Challenge Loop to move my body everyday, one on Facebook to burn 500 calories everyday and one on a blog to get back to basics.  While I met the goals for these, I didn't log them regularly.  But I still completed them so I feel good about that.

Weight Loss Goals
1.  Stay under my calorie goal for the day for 13 out of 14 days - Again, I was pretty spot on with this in September.  I think other than retreat weekend, I was pretty good with my eating.  I stayed under (or at least near) by goal most days.
2.  Lose 1-2 lbs/week - I weighed in at 210 this morning for a total of 8 lbs lost this month, averaging 2 lbs per week.  Yay!!
 3.  Get under 200 lbs by my birthday the 1/4 marathon the end of the year - I'm currently at 210.  Still determined.  11 lbs or bust!

Family/Personal Goals
1.  Declutter this house - I am eliminating this goal.  The house is in pretty good shape after half a year of doing this.  I continue to do what I can, usually one thing per weekend including switching out Zak's clothes, cleaning the pantry out, organizing the front closet and cleaning out the file cabinet.  There is just too much else going on right now.
2.  Read at least 12 books this year - I finished 1 book in September "Same Kind of Different as Me" bringing my total to 12 for the year and satisfying this goal.  I won't stop reading, will see how many more I can finish.  I'm currently in the middle of 2 books, which is rare for me.
3.  Take one picture each day - This has been a super fun challenge so far!  Not like I needed to take more pictures, but it is a really cool way to chronicle the year.  You can check out the pictures on Facebook.  Still going strong with this one, haven't missed a day yet, although some days are harder than others.  In October I'm doing the #sisterhoodshots challenge again, should be fun!
5.  More consistent blogging - I blogged here and there in Sept.  I'm backing off a little on blogging because we are just very busy right now.  I have stopped my weekly workout blogs because I'm not doin ga lot more than Zumba, so it's not that exciting to read about.  I'm still keeping up with the monthly blogs about the boys.  Hope you're all enjoying keeping up with us!