June Updates

When I did AJ's post at the beginning of the month I thought, "This is a good idea, I should write a post every month on the day the boys were born.  Just a quick update on what they are doing, or a story of something funny they did."  Well, it didn't work out great for June, we've been kinda all over the place this month.  Here is a quick update on all 3 boys, then hopefully next month I can do them separately.

AJ
AJ already got a post this month since he had such an exciting month with graduating from preschool & turning 5 & all.  The rest of the month we have spent just enjoying not having a school schedule.  He played T-Ball & loved it & now wants to play soccer & gymnastics in the fall.  He just finished a week of VBS at a local church & is still singing & dancing to all the songs from that.  He got a bunch of new video games for his birthday & is loving his one hour of video game time each afternoon to play with them.  Coming up in the next few weeks he has soccer camp, Safety Town & another VBS.

Daniel
Daniel is being a typical 3 year old, I always love him, but don't always like him.  :)  He is really keeping Adrian & I on our toes & seeing how far he can push his limits.  He did a lot of the same things as AJ recently including T-Ball & VBS.  He is also really enjoying his new role as a big brother.  He is all about "the baby."  He gets SO excited every time he sees Zak.  He loves on him, plays with him, talks to him, kisses him, etc.  It is really precious to see him being so nurturing.  He also continues to love the outdoors, spending huge chunks of time out there, with or without the rest of us.

ZacharyZak is now 4 months old, although he is playing the role of a 6 month old so I can take him to the gym nursery.  He has perfected rolling from his back to his stomach & is now scooting all over the place, trying to figure out how to crawl.  He is also working on sitting up & learning how to hold his bottle.  He continues to be a chill, happy, easy baby.  We get SO many compliments on how happy & smiley he is when we're out with friends & family.  He loves his big brothers, they get the biggest smiles.

1/2 Marathon Training - Week 2

Well, this was a much better week for working out & training.  I LOVE going to the gym!  I have been saying all week that I'm a gym rat trapped in a fat girl's body.  :)  I enjoy everything about it, the classes, the people, the fact that my kids are in childcare for an hour, reading while I walk/bike, sweating, etc.  This week I will be going every day to the gym while the big boys are in VBS in the morning.  I'm also in a little contest with a few friends to see how loses the most weight & inches in the next month & I'm hoping to kick butt!! 

I also had my first training walk with the MIT group.  I challenged myself to stick with the 17:00 pace group (which is my goal speed for the 1/2) & I did it.  I was really pleased with how well I did & am looking forward to the next few months of training with the group.  I have to miss this week for work, but will still be getting my long walk in this weekend, somehow.

Here is how the past week went:
Mon 6/11 - 2.0 miles on the treadmill, 15 minutes on stationary bike
Tues 6/12 - rest day
Weds 6/13 - 2.1 miles in neighborhood, Zumba class
Thurs 6/14 - 4 miles at Sharon Woods, Dance Jam class
Fri 6/15 - 2 miles on treadmill, Total Body Conditioning (TBC) Class
Sat 6/16 - 3 miles with MIT Group, Dance Jam class
Sun 6/17 - rest day

Totals so far:

Total Miles: 21.35

Average Pace: 17.48 min/ mile

1/2 Marathon Training - Week 1

So if you haven't seen on Facebook yet, I have decided to train to walk the Columbus 1/2 marathon on Oct 21st.  Yes, I may have lost my mind, but I'm actually REALLY excited about this!  I really enjoy the race atmosphere & I also do a lot better with my work outs when I have a goal to work towards & a plan to follow.

So I joined the local Marathoners in Training group & planned to start with them at their kick off on June 2nd.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  Looking back I realize deciding to start this big plan the weekend I was hosting 2 birthday parties & having the first week be the first time I was alone all day every day with 3 kids wasn't my smartest scheduling decision. 

So I did what I could this week.  I also decided that Zak looks old enough to sneak him into the gym daycare (their rule is 6 months & older), so that helped give me more times to work out, but also gave me more options including Zumba classes which I LOVE!  All in all it was a pretty good week exercise wise.  Not exactly what I had planned for the walking, but I have 4 1/2 months still & plenty more miles to get where I need to be.

Here is my exercise for the past week with my training week 1 in bold:
Mon 6/4 - 2.1 miles in neighborhood, 25 minute Wii Fit workout
Tues 6/5 - 35 minute Wii Fit workout
Weds 6/6 - 2.1 miles in neighborhood, Zumba class
Thurs 6/7 - Dance Jam class
Fri 6/8 - rest day (not intentional, but I worked 2 more hours than I thought)
Sat 6/9 - 2 miles on treadmill, 15 minutes on stationary bike
Sun 6/10 - rest day

Stay tuned for weekly updates & please hold me accountable!!

The Week of AJ

Last week was a very big week for AJ! 

First, on Wednesday, May 30 he graduated from Flying Colors Preschool.  They had a cute & simple ceremony.  The kids walked in to the graduation music in adorable hats (I cried).  Then the kids that are moving on to Kindergarten, including AJ, got a diploma from their teacher (I cried).  Finally, the kids sang & signed 2 songs for the parents (I cried).  I'm working on getting through our pictures, but here is one of them walking in.

Then on Saturday, June 2, AJ celebrated his 5th birthday!!  We had a party that day for some of his friends.  The weather didn't really cooperate so we had a mostly indoor party.  The kids still played mostly outside, and in the pools we had set up.  Everyone had a great day!  Here is a picture of the boys & the cake.

We are SO proud of AJ & the little man he is becoming.  He says & does funny things on a daily basis.  My favorite memory (other than these 2) of the past few weeks was just last Friday.  Zak woke up crying & I got up & was quickly getting ready for the day.  I turned off his monitor so I didn't have to listen to him cry.  When I went in to get him, AJ was in there, leaning into the crib & rubbing Zak's back.  He had turned on his crib music toy as well.  When he saw me he told me he was trying to help calm Zachary down.  It was very, very sweet.  :)

Freezer Cooking

As a lot of you know, I LOVE freezer cooking.  It has been helpful in so many ways, most recently when we had baby Zachary.  Between having friends drop off meals for us & having a fully stocked freezer, I barely had to cook for weeks.  It. Was. Awesome.  We are still working on our freezer since I have had some time off from work, I've been cooking more & saving the easy prepared meals for when our schedule is busier.

Many of you have asked how I do my freezer cooking, so I'm going to give you some of the resources I use.  Really, the best thing I found is when you make something, make double & freeze half.  I do this mostly with soups & casseroles.  I also overcook at holidays (a bigger turkey or ham) & then use those leftovers to make meals & freeze.  This past year from Thanksgiving & Christmas I made 2 turkey soups, turkey pot pie, ham & bean soup, 2 ham & pasta casseroles.  Plus we ate for days on the leftovers.

Another huge source of our frozen meals is Dream Dinners.  I can't say enough good things about this place.  You go in & they have a bunch of stations set up & in about an hour you make 12-13 meals, each either 3 or 6 servings.  Then you go home & stick it all in your freezer & you're set for weeks.  This can be a little pricey, but when you look at the cost per meal & per serving, it's very close to what you spend in the grocery store & it's already set up!  This is a great way to stock a freezer very quickly.  And they frequently do Groupons or similar deals so that makes the price even better.

Here are a few other sites I have used for freezer cooking inspiration:

RelishRelish
This is a pay site, but well worth the money.  I use this site for my weekly menu planning (crucial!) & they also have monthly freezer meals.  The cost works out to $5/month if you buy 6 months & again they do discounts through Grouponhttp://www.groupon.com/, etc.  Starting last Oct, I picked 3-4 freezer meals each month from this site & Adrian & I would take one day each month & make & freeze them.

The Marathon Mom
This is a parenting site I follow & she was pregnant at the same time I was.  She was freezer cooking & gave me some yummy ideas including the already mentioned pot pie.  Her chicken spaghetti is also FANTASTIC!  It's probably not the most healthy meal, but total comfort food & everyone in my house loved it.

Money Saving Mom
This is a blog I follow on Facebook for couponing help but she is also a huge freezer cooker.  She is currently wrapping up a 4 weeks to fill your freezer challenge (she did it through May).  I would like to do this one month, but couldn't get it together for May.  You can see all her recipes for the whole series or get ideas & pick & choose.

Those are the big ones I can think of right now.  A funny side story...As I was working my butt off to fill our freezer, I noticed there was more ice accumulating in the deep freeze than normal.  Turns out our seal is broken.  Since we got the freezer for $50 off of Craig's List almost 6 years ago, it has more than served it's purpose.  We are currently trying to eat all the food that is in there & will then be shopping for a new freezer with our tax refund from earlier this year!  I'm SO excited!!

Anyone else have other ideas for freezer cooking?  Any suggestions which deep freeze I should get?

School Daze

So back in January, when I was 8 1/2 months pregnant, I made sure to figure out what AJ & Daniel would be doing next year for school so we wouldn't have another thing on our plate when we became a family of 5.  We had it all figured out...Daniel had done so well with his OT, behavior therapy & feeding therapy that he didn't quality for school age services.  AJ was still struggling with his speech & social & emotional skills.  So what made sense was to send them both to Flying Colors Preschool (where AJ goes this year).  That is our school district's special needs preschool that has classrooms with 8 special needs students & 8 typical students.  AJ would go to the Pre-K 5 class & continue with his speech therapy & working with an intervention specialist as his teacher.  Daniel would go to the Pre-K 3 class as a typical student with an intervention specialist as his teacher in case any of his issues got worse, or new ones popped up.  They would ride the bus together, go to school 4 mornings per week & Zak & I would have some one on one time.  Done and Done!

Then we had a meeting with AJ's teacher in March & all of that planning went out the window! 

Miss Julie told us that AJ was excelling academically, one of the smartest kids in his class.  There was no Pre-K 5 class & he would have to repeat the same curriculum he did this year.  She thought he would be VERY bored & that his attention would wane & he could possibly become a behavior problem.  Her recommendation was Kindergarten with speech therapy & we set up a meeting to set up his IEP.  That meeting was last Fri & I got to meet his teacher & speech therapist for next year.  They are both great women & I think AJ will do great!  He will get at least 20 minutes of one on one speech therapy every week plus additional group therapy in his class room.  He will go 5 days/week in the mornings & he gets to ride the bus (even though the school is only 4 doors from our house).  He is graduating from preschool next Weds & we couldn't be prouder of him!

Also during that fateful meeting, Miss Julie informed us that our school district had changed its preschool program & Daniel was no longer eligible to go to Flying Colors.  This wouldn't have been a big deal except this was the end of March & all the preschools in the area register in Jan/Feb so most of the prime spots would be full!  We decided to first check out the new school district preschool.  They now have the local YMCA running the program & it's a full day program.  There is no busing & it's in the building with the 5th graders in our district.  The cost also quadrupled, from $100/month to $100/week!  This was NOT an option for us!!  So I scrambled to figure out where I could get him in.  I found a few options, but it was hard to work around AJ's schedule for drop off & pick up (at the time I didn't know if AJ would be AM or PM).  Then one day I was driving to a friend's house & noticed the church across the street was starting a NEW preschool.  Jackpot!!  We went & took a tour & we all loved it!  They had plenty of spots, since they are brand new & the program looks fantastic.  Plus the times work perfect with AJ's schedule & it is less than a 5 minute drive from the house.  Daniel will go there Tues & Thurs mornings next year.

I am very happy & thankful this all worked out, but it has been an exhausting 2 months being up in the air about it.  I guess it's true what they say...the best laid plans...

Zachary - 3 months

Well, it's been 3 months since we became a family of 5.  Sometimes I feel like the time is dragging, other times it feels like a blink of an eye.  Zachary has been a joy since he got here, he is really a great baby & completes our family.

We went to the doctor today for a check up & Zak is growing perfectly.  He weighed in at 13 lbs, 12.5 oz in the 60% - he's up exactly 1 pound in one month.  He is 24 inches long & in the 55%.  The doctor said everything looks great, keep doing what we're doing.

We moved him into his own room about a week ago & he's been sleeping great since then.  Most nights he will do 10-12 hours in a row...I duck & hide when I say this to other friends who have recently had babies.  The past 2 nights he's up up in the middle of that stretch wanting to eat & play, hoping to not make that a habit.

Other than the new sleeping arrangements, Zak is working on his head control & trying to figure out rolling over.  We got the Bumbo out of the basement this weekend & he loves sitting in it.  He can see everything SO much better.  I may set up the jumparoo soon, that should be fun!