Even though I wanted this blog to be about tracking the lives of my little ladies, I figure, "Why not let it be about ME too?" During a particularly stressful time in my life I spoke to a woman who I trust and really admire. I was telling her about taking care of the girls, going to school, working full time, taking care of the house and being married, and she said, "So at the end of the day, you've been so busy being mom, Mrs. Carlton, a wife, a daughter and a student that you've lost Beth." And that rang so true for me. I LOVE my life. I cherish my daughters, am completely in love with Andy, feel blessed with my family and find fulfillment in my career. But I also think making time for me and my thoughts and things that make me happy are important too!
So, one thing I did in 2009 was to start working out religiously. Starting in June, I exercised 4-5 times a week. I ended up losing about 15 pounds and am at the goal weight I set for myself about 10 years ago. So, go me! :) And I really want to maintain it. I stopped exercising religiously in November. I could come up with a list of excused as to WHY, but that is not important.
I need to exercise. I love it and it makes me feel strong and confident. The only thing that gets in the way of me making time to exercise is me.
I got a little burned out doing the same DVD's, so I need to refresh my goals for the next 2 months. 8 weeks....not long at all!
So here's the plan: 2 days a week at the gym doing running/sprints on a treadmill for 30 minutes and then 15 minutes of strength. one day doing the 30 day Shred DVD at home, and one choice day (dvd of my choice or gym workout of my choice).
I feel it is doable! And my long-term goal is to sign up for a 5K. GULP.
A place for me to reflect on life as a mom, counselor, wife and new runner.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Update on the girls!
We just celebrated Christmas and New Years with the girls and our large extended family. What a fun Christmas it was with Emily being 3.5 and Hannah 1.5. We hosted 3 Christmas celebrations here, 4 including our own family in the morning. It was busy, busy. busy but loads of fun.
Emily is loving being a big sister and is quite nurturing towards Hannah. She is excellent at sharing, except when she's tired! We are working on figuring out whey she STILL won't sleep through the night. I honestly cannot remember the last time I slept all night long (well, except for last night because the girls were at Grandma and Granddad's...hell yeah!) Emily asked Santa for a Barbie doll for Christmas and was beyond thrilled to see it on Christmas morning. It is also her least frequently played with present. Her most favorite gift this year? The game Pretty, Pretty Princess from her Uncle Dave. We play it daily.
Hannah is our wild child. She falls on a daily basis and climbs anything in sight. She has quite an arm on her too, throwing everything in sight! She is starting to talk a lot now too, and can say:
Oh no
uh-oh
yes/yeah
no (especially NO mama!)
thank you (day-doo)
I doooo
kitty
hi
please
juice (deuce)
pee (i peeeee...anytime she sees the toilet)
dada
mama
emmy
night-night (nigh-nigh)
baby
all done
and a bunch of strung-together gibberish!
Emily is loving being a big sister and is quite nurturing towards Hannah. She is excellent at sharing, except when she's tired! We are working on figuring out whey she STILL won't sleep through the night. I honestly cannot remember the last time I slept all night long (well, except for last night because the girls were at Grandma and Granddad's...hell yeah!) Emily asked Santa for a Barbie doll for Christmas and was beyond thrilled to see it on Christmas morning. It is also her least frequently played with present. Her most favorite gift this year? The game Pretty, Pretty Princess from her Uncle Dave. We play it daily.
Hannah is our wild child. She falls on a daily basis and climbs anything in sight. She has quite an arm on her too, throwing everything in sight! She is starting to talk a lot now too, and can say:
Oh no
uh-oh
yes/yeah
no (especially NO mama!)
thank you (day-doo)
I doooo
kitty
hi
please
juice (deuce)
pee (i peeeee...anytime she sees the toilet)
dada
mama
emmy
night-night (nigh-nigh)
baby
all done
and a bunch of strung-together gibberish!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
It's only Wednesday?
Seriously? Man, this week is dragging. I miss the girls so much by Wenesday night, because I have my graduate class on Tuesday so I go from 7 on Tuesday morning to 6 on Wednesday morning without seeing my girls! :(
It's almost like they are oxygen for me. When I'm apart from them for too long I feel out of balance and I need to be with them to feel right again. What a powerful love being a mom has shown me. Who else in this world do we love more intensely than our own children. It's an amazing gift.
Hannah is showing a young obsession with shoes. It is so funny! Every morning before we go to daycare I put her shoes on her feet. And when we walk by her shoe basket, even when she has shoes on her feet, she finds her second pair of shoes and yells "MIne! MINE! MINE!" She would wear both pairs of shoes if it were possible. I'm thinking I need to start saving for her future shoe addiction...
It's almost like they are oxygen for me. When I'm apart from them for too long I feel out of balance and I need to be with them to feel right again. What a powerful love being a mom has shown me. Who else in this world do we love more intensely than our own children. It's an amazing gift.
Hannah is showing a young obsession with shoes. It is so funny! Every morning before we go to daycare I put her shoes on her feet. And when we walk by her shoe basket, even when she has shoes on her feet, she finds her second pair of shoes and yells "MIne! MINE! MINE!" She would wear both pairs of shoes if it were possible. I'm thinking I need to start saving for her future shoe addiction...
Friday, October 16, 2009
Finally Friday
Thank goodness Friday finally came. What a long week at work. Love my job so much, but it has been a draining week for sure.
Emily continues to struggle to sleep through the night. She is doing far better about staying in her bed once we put her to sleep (mostly, I think, because we are more firm with her about that). But she'll come into our room in the middle of the night to "cuggle", which was cute when she was 2 and little. Now she's 3 and a half and takes up a lot of room since she sleeps all spread out. The other night she threw such a massive tantrum at 4 am because I told her she had to go back to her own bed. She screamed and cried so hard she woke Hannah up. Not fun!
Tonight the Vigues came over for dinner. I love watching the girls interact with their friends. Hannah just wants to be included in whatever the big kids are doing, and 9 times out of 10, Emily plays dress up with my old dance recital costumes. Even Luke was sporting a pink, lacy dress tonight! I love our little family and the memories we are making with our girls.
Emily continues to struggle to sleep through the night. She is doing far better about staying in her bed once we put her to sleep (mostly, I think, because we are more firm with her about that). But she'll come into our room in the middle of the night to "cuggle", which was cute when she was 2 and little. Now she's 3 and a half and takes up a lot of room since she sleeps all spread out. The other night she threw such a massive tantrum at 4 am because I told her she had to go back to her own bed. She screamed and cried so hard she woke Hannah up. Not fun!
Tonight the Vigues came over for dinner. I love watching the girls interact with their friends. Hannah just wants to be included in whatever the big kids are doing, and 9 times out of 10, Emily plays dress up with my old dance recital costumes. Even Luke was sporting a pink, lacy dress tonight! I love our little family and the memories we are making with our girls.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Back again!
Ok, so I kind of suck at blogging. I really wanted this to be a permanent record of the Carlton family life...so I'm going to try to do a better job of recording our happenings!
Hannah is 15 months old. She is the sweetest ray of sunshine. Her little smile makes her cheeks get even bigger and she smiles with her whole body. She was starting so scream and/or grunt when she wanted something, which loses its' appeal rather quickly. But now she has learned how to sign for "please" and she says it like "peas" in a raspy whisper. So cute! Now we ask her to say please all the time...and she's so proud of herself!
She is also imitating counting, so if we say "one', she always repeats, in a low whipser "twoooooooo" and she bends her knees at the same time. Two is pretty much the only number that she knows, but it's so cute and we are so excited about it! :)
Emily is 3.5 going on 14. Three is a tough age, but it's so fun at the same time because she really is starting to develop her own personality. She loves to put on shows for us...sometimes a dance show, sometimes a singing show, and other times a fashion show. She is quite the performer! She is doing ballet with Miss Laurie and she loves it, especially her tutu. And now her hair is finally long enough to put into little pigtails which are "just ravishing" as she tells us.
Emily is a wealth of scientific information. Yesterday, while driving home from the dentist with her (along with about 6 different prizes she got at the dentist, good lord!) she informed me that apples help you poop. Now that we all know that...I'm off to bed!
Hannah is 15 months old. She is the sweetest ray of sunshine. Her little smile makes her cheeks get even bigger and she smiles with her whole body. She was starting so scream and/or grunt when she wanted something, which loses its' appeal rather quickly. But now she has learned how to sign for "please" and she says it like "peas" in a raspy whisper. So cute! Now we ask her to say please all the time...and she's so proud of herself!
She is also imitating counting, so if we say "one', she always repeats, in a low whipser "twoooooooo" and she bends her knees at the same time. Two is pretty much the only number that she knows, but it's so cute and we are so excited about it! :)
Emily is 3.5 going on 14. Three is a tough age, but it's so fun at the same time because she really is starting to develop her own personality. She loves to put on shows for us...sometimes a dance show, sometimes a singing show, and other times a fashion show. She is quite the performer! She is doing ballet with Miss Laurie and she loves it, especially her tutu. And now her hair is finally long enough to put into little pigtails which are "just ravishing" as she tells us.
Emily is a wealth of scientific information. Yesterday, while driving home from the dentist with her (along with about 6 different prizes she got at the dentist, good lord!) she informed me that apples help you poop. Now that we all know that...I'm off to bed!
Monday, April 27, 2009
April vacation
Sigh. We just had the most wonderful April vacation. The weather was fabulous and we had so much fun playing with the girls. Here are some updates:
Emily is 3 now. She had 3 birthday parties with a Princess and Tinkerbell theme. She was spoiled beyond means with her gifts and with having her family and friends around. She really enjoys her new Barbie Jeep and Basketball hoop. Emily loves to play outside. She would be out there from sun up to sun down! She plays in her sandbox, rides her tricycle and explores the world around her. She loves to look at the birds and bugs. I think she'll have a real knack for science. Her cousin Gage gave her a magnifying glass and binoculars for her birthday that she uses frequently!
Emily is also working on potty training. She's doing a pretty good job so far! It is definitely a process though. I just got a call at work from her excitedly telling me that she had pooped on the potty! It's the little things that make us happy! :)
Hannah (or Hannie as we call her) is 10 months old. She is so funny and loving. When I pick her up to give her a hug she squeezes my back with her little hands. When she is tired she lays her head down and tucks her hand under her belly...so sweet! She isn't saying too many words, but she is making A LOT of noise! She has this funny little growling sound that she makes, especially when we aren't feeding her fast enough. She is eating SO much right now. She much prefers to feed herself than to be fed babyfood...she adores bananas, cheerios, cantaloupe, and toast!
She is crawling and starting to look like she wants to walk. She smiles all of the time and loves to be around Emily. They have started playing together somewhat which is so nice to see!
I was sad to leave the girls this morning and can't wait to get home from work and smooch their little faces!
Emily is 3 now. She had 3 birthday parties with a Princess and Tinkerbell theme. She was spoiled beyond means with her gifts and with having her family and friends around. She really enjoys her new Barbie Jeep and Basketball hoop. Emily loves to play outside. She would be out there from sun up to sun down! She plays in her sandbox, rides her tricycle and explores the world around her. She loves to look at the birds and bugs. I think she'll have a real knack for science. Her cousin Gage gave her a magnifying glass and binoculars for her birthday that she uses frequently!
Emily is also working on potty training. She's doing a pretty good job so far! It is definitely a process though. I just got a call at work from her excitedly telling me that she had pooped on the potty! It's the little things that make us happy! :)
Hannah (or Hannie as we call her) is 10 months old. She is so funny and loving. When I pick her up to give her a hug she squeezes my back with her little hands. When she is tired she lays her head down and tucks her hand under her belly...so sweet! She isn't saying too many words, but she is making A LOT of noise! She has this funny little growling sound that she makes, especially when we aren't feeding her fast enough. She is eating SO much right now. She much prefers to feed herself than to be fed babyfood...she adores bananas, cheerios, cantaloupe, and toast!
She is crawling and starting to look like she wants to walk. She smiles all of the time and loves to be around Emily. They have started playing together somewhat which is so nice to see!
I was sad to leave the girls this morning and can't wait to get home from work and smooch their little faces!
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