Growing up...

I have always said to Luke, "one day you will wake up and Ford will be ten". I say it because I know it's true. Everyone says to us, "cherish these days, they grow up fast." "Don't blink, he will be in college before you know it" "if you aren't looking, you'll be a grandparent before you know it" ....... My heart aches so much sometimes to realize that all of these people once laid in bed like I am doing, wondering about their sleeping children; if it is really true that they grow up THAT fast. It seems like yesterday that I had my first horse lesson, first date, first day of high school, last day, got engaged, married, turned 21, moved to Alaska, found out I was pregnant, had Ford, watched him smile for the first time, watched him crawl and walk and run. 

The answer of "do they grow up THAT fast" is simple, they grow up faster then we, as parents, can ever imagine. Ford isn't even two yet and I have cried countless times about the fact that he has out grown his preemie sleeper that Kelsey got him when he was born, that he will never have SO many first again, but that there are still SO many to come. I honestly do not know where the last ONE AND THREE QUARTER YEARS has gone. I know I will wake up tomorrow and he will be married, so it won't actually be "tomorrow" but close enough, at this rate he will be 50 before I can blink! 

I am SO SO SO lucky to have a family that has instilled such amazing memories into my life, so that I knew from the beginning that life goes by WAY to fast for anyone's liking and that if you don't enjoy every second of babyhood, childhood and general life, it will be gone before you know it. 

I enjoy each day and every second that I get to share with Ford, he is such an AMAZING, independent and self assured little man! But no matter how much I adore and love him for the me that I see in him, it makes me so incredibly sad that he is day-by-day slowly letting go of me and learning his own way in this crazy world, I honestly can't imagine how I will feel in 16 years when he is graduating high school, if I feel this way now. 

If I had any advice to share with someone about being a parent it is; really, truly, time flies, there is nothing more special then your children, no time wasted with them, nothing makes you feel more fulfilled in life then watching them figure something out, laugh for the first time, learn to run or climb, no matter how scary it is for us, they become little PEOPLE so fast, you must treasure every waking second and a few (okay, a lot) of sleeping ones too.... If you don't you will wake up one day and realize your kids are grown, even if they aren't even two yet! 

From this....

To this! 

Spontaneous Saturday!

After a morning of cleaning, building and playing with Ford (like normal) we decided to head for Homer. It was a GORGEOUS drive; not a cloud in the sky almost no traffic.

My dad had just gotten through saying, "my day isn't complete, I haven't seen a moose" and one crossed the road about a 1/2 mile in front of us. Then we saw a cow and yearling a few miles down the road.

We stopped at Deep Creek and got some pictures of the mountains and Dad took some of Ford, Luke and I. We walked along the beach in Homer, it was super quite down on the spit because almost nothing is open at the moment. There was not even a breeze, which is weird, but it nice not to be blown around while taking pictures of Ford and Luke. Ford is not obsessed with BALLS. Anything round is, "ball, ball, ball" and him pointing and saying please.... We walked down the pier and every time he saw a buoy he would say, "BALL!".

A couple of our friends have lived in Homer and I had a great time eating lunch with this at the beginning of the week (they were driving back to Anchorage after a weekend in Homer)... Anyway, they said next time we came down here that we NEEDED to eat at Cafe Cups ( http://www.cafecupsofhomer.com ) HOLY COW... I wish I had enough self control to get pictures of food before eating. Some of the best food I have ever eaten. We got their Calamari appetizer, it was a HUGE portion and was lightly breaded and fried, homemade aioli sauce accompanied it with fresh lemon wedges.... Hands down the best, probably freshest and most tender calamari I have ever had. For my entrée I had was FRESH rock fish tacos, AMAZING..... Luke had a caesar with prime rib and Dad had their soup and salad combo. It was all homemade and some of the best food I have ever had. Whitney told me I HAD TO GET DESSERT... I am so glad she told me that because I asked what the desserts were tonight before we even ordered anything else. I had THE BEST PEANUT BUTTER PIE of my life, I do not think I can even attempt to find a place that makes something superior to it nor do I want too.

I am fairly sure that "Cups" will be on our MUST DO LIST every time we go to Homer. I plan on spending my 25th (and golden) Birthday there in July. I am sure that it will become something that we share with people as they come and visit us as well. I wish more owners and chefs would take as much pride in their food as they do at Cups. You can taste the passion and love that is behind the invention of each dish that they produce.

I will make sure that I post pictures of our little day trip, after I load them onto the computer. I got to play with Dad's new T4i. I think I might have to "borrow" it... Forever ;)

What goes in...

I think it's funny how people always have an opinion about how to parent a child, it doesn't matter if it is sleep habits, feeding, play time, car seat choices, etc. I always try and curb my opinion and explain that ALL kids and babies are DIFFERENT! People with 2+ kids can tell you, each is unique and required different teaching, rules and had different issues and strengths then the other children in the family.

One thing that I have always found interesting, is what people FEED their children. I by no means feed Ford 100% organic, no GMO, all hand-made-from-scratch food.... I am lucky to be able to fish, hunt and produce fruits/veggies for our family. Cutting out a lot of the processes garbage you get at the store AND making sure we are putting the minimal amount of antibiotics, pesticides, etc into our bodies.

Most people feed what is easy, fast and somewhat healthy for the family. It is rare that you have a family that has time to make 100% of things and make sure the "food pyramid" is completed each day.

In our household, I try and limit carbs, starches and sugars. We focus on whole grains, veggies, lean meat, fish and fruit. I do love to bake and drink coffee... I have yet to find GOOD healthy cake recipes and such, so every once in a while you just have to splurge!

The one thing we absolutely stay away from, especially now that we have a child who eats EVERYTHING and wants HAT YOU ARE PUTTING IN YOUR MOUTH... Is Sodium Nitrite.

Sodium NITRATE is found in some plants, when you digest it, it does turn into NITRITE but this is a naturally occurring process. NOW when you get people in a lab creating all these things to make meat last longer, LOOK red... Yes, they dye meat that goes to the store because 90% of people THINK it is fresh if it is red NOT brown. NEWSFLASH... Brown meat is just fine! Green... No, brown, yes!

Anyway, back on topic... Adding Sodium NITRITE to meats helps them cure and last longer (hot dogs, sausage, bacon) ... It is not good for you. I would go on and on but I think this article does a pretty good job! (NOTE; the FDA has tried banning SN from foods since the 70's... So obviously it is an ongoing issue)

http://www.processedfreeamerica.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=355:hot-d..

Family time

We had a blast in Anchorage this weekend for Noah's 2nd birthday party! I can't believe my nephew is TWO!!!! Pretty soon we will be celebrating Makayla's 2nd birthday and then FORD'S!!

It's so much fun to watch them grow and learn new things. They enjoyed sword fighting at Noah's (Pirate themed) party!!

Dad and I (ford too) will be going to Portland at the end of the week, so we can visit my grandpa and Ford can meet him! We are visiting with A LOT of people while we are there and that's fine with me. It's nice getting to see as many people as we can since we don't get down to the North West as much as we'd like. Luke isn't coming, he has to stay and work, but that's okay, it'll still be fun!

Growing, growing, growing...

I am not sure why I thought Ford was still little?! Today I decided to reorganize all of the clothing he has out grown, hoping to condense it a little more then it is. Plus, there is a stack of all different sizes that just never got packed in their respective boxes.

Oh boy was this a bad idea... Opening up the Newborn tote, I started getting flash backs, of how small he used to be. The preemie sleeper that he wore the first night we had him home is smaller then the onesie he is wearing today [pictured below]. Thinking back on the fact that the preemie sleeper when all the way to his feet, brings tears to my eyes. There is ONE newborn diaper left, I guess I kept it as a keepsake, to remember how small me really was. When we had to fold over the front of it so it was small enough for him to actually wear!

I can think back with each shirt, jacket and pair of pants and tell you something about the day he wore each of them. It is crazy to think that in the last (almost) 17 months, he has done SO much. We have so many memories, in this short amount of time.

He is currently feeding HIMSELF lunch next to me, telling me, "All Du" and giving me the sign for "finished"... I don't remember the specific point in which he has gotten to be so independent and BIG... But he has, as much as it breaks my heart that really, he is no longer a BABY, I know in my heart he always will be MY baby, 6lbs 5oz, taking his first breath laying on my chest...

Operation Feel Good

So I have stonewalled myself at my pre-pregnancy weight for the last 15 months. ENOUGH!

Diet, exercise, lifestyle change, blah blah blah. Everyone has their own way and reason to lose weight.

What is mine?

I want to FELL GOOD!!! So I am calling my weigh loss journey... OPERATION FEEL GOOD!

Every woman loses a bit of herself when she becomes a MOM, we go from taking care of ourselves and those close to us (husband, fiancée, boyfriend, etc.) to taking care of something IN us and then another human (or humans) that are PART OF US... We sacrifice, time, sleep, food, etc for these beings. Would I or any other mother I know have it ANY OTHER WAY, no!!! BUT... We all need to do SOMETHING for ourselves and I am getting fit!

My rules for this weight loss are simple;

1) Goal weight is 30lbs lost BUT when I feel good I will maintain!
2) IF I cannot fit into my vast array of jeans when I hit my "feel good" point. I will THROW THEM OUT! I will not mop around that I can't fit into a pair of PANTS!
3) This is 100% for ME! I want my sexy back, I want to FEEL like a woman again!

I am following Weight Watchers and doing Power 90 and Brazil Butt Lift from Team beach body. I highly recommend the workouts and having some sort of food intake tracker. It makes you think about what you put in your mouth!!! I like that I can track my workouts while tracking food. Plus watching activity points rack up is AMAZING!!

My goal is to be FEELING GOOD by May 15th!! I have already lost 3.5 lbs since the 31st so I think I'm on my way!

Fall to Winter...

Now it is freezing on a regular basis. It was 14 degrees in Sterling this AM, I won't lie, I'm glad we are spending the weekend in Anchorage, it was 29 here.

We will be going to the Reindeer Farm tomorrow morning for their Fall Festival, pumpkins, hay rides, pony rides, etc. excited to spend the day with family. I know Ford loves his cousins and I wish we could spend more time with them.

Fall in Alaska is so short, I feel like it was just starting and now it's turing into winter already :( fall is my favorite time of year. I know Ford's birthday is really in the "Summer" but in Alaska it's more like fall by the beginning of September, Luke and I got married in the fall (yesterday was our 4 year anniversary), I love the colors, maybe that's what I love orange so much! Haha.

I can't wait for the dead of winter so we can go to Arizona! Even if it's 60 there it will be AMAZING!