Let's talk about me.

I am 99% sure that in this picture I am telling Abby to "share" her Care Bear with Ellie.

Taken 7.4.10, waiting for the fireworks to start.

Since this is my blog, I'm going to take this time to grace you all with my random thoughts and things that have going on with me lately..... feel free to skip this post if you only read my blog for the kid stories/pictures (mom + dad).

• I am pleasantly surprised with our apartment.  As you know I was very nervous about moving to an apartment because I've only ever lived in one once, when I was in college.  It was great then, but I was nervous about moving our family from a house to an apartment.  All in all, though, it's worked out really well.  Of course it has its downsides, and probably the biggest one (for me) is that there is a real lack of natural light in our home, which I really miss.  Our house in Augusta had great natural light (lots of windows/glass doors) and I miss that.
• I really, really, really want to decorate our house nicely. I want it to look put-together and coordinated and lovely.  After the kids go to bed I spend hours looking at pictures of house interiors and I love so many different things that I don't know where to start, which style I want to do, how to bring everything together, etc.  It's really frustrating.  Some days I want one thing, and then other days I want something different.  Or, there are some things I know I want, but Garrett isn't on board with them.  I also feel really stuck because of the things we have now.  I like some things we have, but most of them I could be happy to get rid of, but obviously we can't afford to just redo a whole room at once.  I just don't know how to decorate a room piece-by-piece.  I can't visualize a finished product unless I have everything in front of me.  Today I went to several stores looking for throw pillows in a desperate attempt to lighten up our apartment.  I saw a couple that were okay, but nothing I was visualizing beforehand.  Then I saw a couple that I really liked, but I was too afraid to buy them because I was afraid that it would force me into a certain "style" or certain colors for the rest of the room, and I wasn't ready to commit to that yet.  I'm so lame.  So anyway, I ended up leaving all the stores empty-handed because I was too afraid I would buy the wrong thing.
• Getting a paycheck is extremely exciting.  Garrett has gotten two paychecks so far and it feels so great to see money coming INTO our checking account... money that is OURS and not a loan!  AND, we don't have any tuition bills to pay... first time that's happened in the (almost) six years we've been married (BYU, then medical school). (SIX?? I'm old. Or, I got married really young.  Yeah, definitely the second one.)
• I am the Primary chorister at Church.  This means I am in charge of music time for the kids ages 3-11.  I also go into the nursery class and do a little music time with the 1-3 year-olds.  Last week I went in there for the first time, not really knowing what I was doing, so the teacher helped me out by telling me which songs they usually sing, etc.  "We have to start with this song," she told me.  So we started with a certain song that lists all the kids' names (I don't remember any of them), and then I asked what else they like.  "Ohh," she said, "they LOVE to sing 'The Wise Man and the Foolish Man.'"  "Ok," I said, "let's sing that."  So "we" sang that one and I say "we" in quotations because it was just me.  The kids just stared at me while I sang song after song that they apparently "LOVE to sing!!".  Fun.  
• We have been eating a lot of fish lately... Garrett goes fishing just about every Saturday morning and has been coming home with about 8-10 fish each week.  We've been making fish tacos, which are SO good!
• I've been working out like crazy lately... I am getting desperate to lose the last of this baby weight.  It's hard to say how much I have left to lose because my weight fluctuates so much.  I'd say I have about 5-6 lbs to lose in order to get down to my "best" pre-Ellie weight. (the weight I was when we went to Maui two years ago).  I'd love to lose another 10 lbs after that - that's the goal anyway.  We'll see.  It's just so frustrating!  I am pretty conscious about what I eat every single day - I am pretty careful and I rarely eat any sort of dessert or candy (sweets just aren't really my thing).  I also work out a lot.  Garrett and I have been going running about 3-4 times a week.  I don't run far, only a couple of miles, but it's been so hot that it's all I can handle!  On the days we don't run (and even sometimes on the days we do run) I also do a workout video here at home for 45 minutes or so.  It's just frustrating because you see tv shows of people who have to lose 8 lbs in a month or 6 lbs in two weeks, so they go to a "boot camp" type person who whips them into shape by making them go running, lift weights, and eat right.  And then at the end of three, weeks, the (enter random article of clothing here) fits! Um, hello, I've been working out regularly (and sometimes intensely) for the last 6 months and I would be thrilled to lose a pound a WEEK! I would be thrilled to drop ONE PANTS SIZE!  My body just does NOT lost weight easily.  It's really frustrating!  Granted, I am back in my pre-Ellie clothes but it's been a YEAR since she was born so I would hope so.
• In HAPPIER news... I finally, finally got the stroller that I have always wanted. (I know how that makes me sound.  I'm a mom, ok?).  This may sound dumb (ok, it does) but ever since Ellie was born I've been struggling with how to take the girls out and about.  I got a double stroller that was highly recommended, both online and by friends, but I just hated it!  It was incredibly hard to steer, it was heavy, it was bulky, and it was ugly. I felt like I was pushing a bus.  I just didn't like it at all, so I didn't use it much.  And thus, I didn't GO many places because I didn't want to carry around two little kids that wanted to be held and carried.  I really felt like this old stroller was holding me back from going out and doing things. Also, I hated that I had to have this huge double stroller and keep my single stroller... since we are living in an apartment that just couldn't happen. Enter: the new stroller.  This baby is awesome.  See, it's a single stroller at first glance.  However, when you have a second child, there is a jump seat that you add underneath the first seat, thus making it a double stroller.  A double stroller that pushes and feels like a single.  It's great!  My only regret is that I didn't buy it years ago when Abby was born (although the reality is, I couldn't have afforded it until now.  And I didn't know about it then.).  And before you go thinking I went out and spent all this money because Garrett is a doctor and suddenly has a paycheck... no.  I saved up my own money for a LONG time and bought it all on my own. :) Garrett would never have let me spend our "real" money so frivolously.  And just as a sidenote, this stroller also doubles as a jogging stroller, so that's how we've been able to go jogging together. Oh, and I bought it (new) on ebay, so I got a great deal and free shipping. ;)  So, for one price, I got a single stroller, a double stroller, and a jogging stroller all in one (for a cheaper price than your traditional top-of-the-line jogging stroller). I'll post pictures of it soon. I am completely in love with it, if you can't tell.  Best purchase I've ever made. Literally. (PS - Emma, last night I had a dream that you owned 32 different strollers.  Seriously-- they were all hanging on hooks in your garage.  All different brands, different types of strollers, etc.  It was insane.)
• And speaking of running with Garrett.... by the time I run 2.5 miles, he can run 3 miles pushing a stroller.  I am so slow. Oh well - I am okay with that.
• Most days I am car-less because Garrett takes my car to work.  His car has been giving him a lot of problems lately and while he is usually able to fix it, it's not something he can just get under the hood and fix.  The car actually has to be jacked up and he has to change his clothes.  So, it's pretty embarrassing for him to have to do that in the doctors' parking lot (plus it's difficult to do when people are parked next to you.  Plus, the last time he fixed his car he accidentally crossed some wires and gave himself third degree burns on his hands, so... needless to say we are on the lookout for a new car.   Well, new to us.  We'd be happy to buy a Camry with 100k miles on it.  It just needs to get him to and from work, and it needs to actually start up. :)  Of course, on days when I need the car I could just drive him to work, and that would work out pretty well on this rotation (ICU) but he starts his medicine rotation in August and that one's going to have some crazy hours.  I can't exactly pick him up at midnight, and I'd rather not get up at 5 a.m. and drag the kids into the car to drive him to work.  So, we'll see what works out.  The unfortunate thing about Virginia is that the cars have to pass inspections,  so we can't just drive a certain Rodeo with a cracked windshield that his parents currently have.  I supposed we could fix the windshield but frankly I think that that's the least of it's problems.  But hey, at least it starts, which is a lot more than we can say about Garrett's current car.

Anyway... more posts coming this week.  Ellie's birthday, fourth of July, new stroller, etc.