Let The Pain Begin...

I went to the gym and worked out for the first time in a long time today! Felt GOOD! I worked with a trainer since they give you some free sessions when you sign up. He was nice and really helpful. The gym I joined is great in that they give you the 2 free sessions in the beginning and then every month they switch up your program for you for free so that you keep progressing towards your goal. I'm just really hoping I look dramatically different by my birthday...I'm still gonna stick with it after that of course, but MAN do I want fit back into all my clothes!! I can't afford a new wardrobe!! lol My next appointment is Tuesday and we do all the measurements and weight check then. =( Boo! It will be cool later to see the progress I've made cuz we'll do it once a month tho.

The Plan....

Ok, so I've had two babies and gained some weight...this we know! Ugh! Since we are not having another baby for awhile I have joined a gym in an effort to get my body back!!!! My goal is to lose a good amount of weight and inches by my birthday...I don't want this body when I turn 30!!

My first day is tomorrow....we'll see how it goes. I really, really want to stick with this goal and feel better about myself and look better by my birthday! =)

ALOHA!

Before the rain washes away the details I will write them down here for you! First let me say that our trip to Hawaii was WONDERFUL!!!

We left Friday evening and arrived in Hawaii late Friday night. By the time we got back to the hotel we passed out like the tired parents of small kids that we are!! lol

After sleeping in a bit, despite the noisy window a/c unit in our room, we got up and headed out for our first day of a romantic vacation in 7.5 years!!! We started with breakfast in the hotel restaurant, outside in the 70+ degree weather! Ahhhhh!

Then we tried our hand with the local transit system, cleverly named TheBus, to get to Pearl Harbor. Over an hour later (but a bargain at $2.25 ea) we arrived!! To find out that all of the 4500 tickets were sold out to see the memorial. *sigh* But we did get to see the USS Bowfin Submarine and that was really neat! Then we made our way back to Waikiki to plan the rest of our adventures and check out the beach! We ended the day with dinner at Planet Hollywood, drinks at Senior Frogs and watching some amazing little girls sing for money on the sidewalk! Fun!!

Next morning we were up bright and early to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. Of course we got some yummy breakfast first. =) Then we loaded up in a van to go to the bay...we were the only non-Aussies in the van! Well, except the very knowledgable and funny Hawaiian driver. It didn't take long to get there, but when we did all we got to do was take some pictures from above the beach. It was closed because of jellyfish. Dang the bad luck!! I guess they come closer to shore about 9 days after a full moon, and that is right when we happened to travel to Hawaii. So we decided to get some coffee and head to Waikiki beach!! Not too shabby!! It was a beautiful day! Nice and warm and the water was perfect as well! We stayed for quite awhile before going back to get ready for the luau! =) The luau was at Paradise Bay and was really fun! We threw spears, drank some fun drinks, watched hula dancers, saw them take the pig out of the pit...and then the show!! Which was pretty darn cool! They make it look so easy!! But let me tell you its not! Nathan volunteered me to go on stage...by myself! AH! And I did! I shook my booty up there in front of all those people, alone! And I did approximately ONE of the five moves they showed me! lol Not as bad as the fat guy with no shirt, a coconut bra and grass skirt that went on after me! lol After the luau we walked around a bit in Waikiki and had a beer at The Yard, which has like 160+ different types of beer!!

Monday we decided to get up early again to go snorkeling, but didn't even make it into the van before hearing that the beach was closed again. *sigh* Oh well, next time right?!! So we went back upstairs got ready, packed up and went and got our rental car early to drive to the North side of the island. It was a lovely drive...and short too! It would have taken even less time if the speed limit was higher! lol We ended up at Waimea Bay, which has some of the awsome waves that surfers long for! We got lunch and then headed to the beach! The water here was way more fun and even a little warmer! There were really fun waves to play in and it was a really warm sunny day! We spent as long as we could there, but since we had already gotten a bit burned the day before we had to call it quits after a few hours. We got back in the car and drove back to Waikiki via the East Coast...soooo gorgeous!!! We even saw where they film Lost! But didn't stop there. We went to Ala Moana Mall to kill some time, eat and get some souvenirs before heading back to drop off the car and take a shuttle to the airport. It ended up taking forever to get home, but we both passed out on the plane so it wasn't too bad. It was great to see the boys again!!! Keagan wouldn't stop hugging us and saying he loved us "too Daddy, too Mommy!" Jack looked a little confused but seemed happy to see us too! lol It was a fantastic trip and we definitely want to go back!!! And maybe see some of the other islands too!! =)

Nice try!

Well, it was a nice thought, but losing lots of weight in a week and a half is just not happening. I lost a few though and the cabbage soup I made for the diet was actually really good!!

I'm super excited about our trip! I wanna live it up!! I went to see if I could find a new swimsuit today. Why o why did I torture myself that way?? Ugh and yuck! I realized that I am beyond sick of being fat and I am going to be 30 in July....and I DO NOT want to be both. So my birthday present to myself is gonna be a skinny me!!! Gonna join a gym when we get back and start getting my body back into shape!!!

Anywho....until then I will just have to photo shop my Hawaii pics and blur out the fatty lookin parts! lol!!! Hawaii is gonna be so fun!!!!!!!!

Hawaiian Getaway

SURPRISE!!!! In true Nathan-fashion he planned and booked a surprise Hawaiian getaway for us!! Because he is a fabulous man! It will be the first time since our Honeymoon that we have gone away together, just the two of us! It will also be the first time that I have spent a night away from either of the boys (it actually made me tear up at the thought of it, I will miss them so much!) I am so excited though!!! I have only been through the airport in Hawaii, when I was 15, and I was too afraid to go outside because I thought I would get lost!!! Lol.

So, here I am faced with the ultimate female dilemma...I need to lose weight and have like a week and a half to do it! Fantastic!! So I WILL start running, doing an ab workout and eat a cabbage soup diet. My goal, to lost 10 lbs before we leave!!! At this very second I am motivated, but we will see if I can hold onto the motivation beyond this moment! Maybe a picture of me from when I was skinny to look at will help me...or should it be a picture of me now with my post baby fat I want to get rid of???? I think I'd rather look at the skinny pic! Lol.

Okay, that is the goal. I will keep the blog updated with my progress, hopefully there is some!!!! And FAST!

The Beat Goes On...

Hey people! It's January, almost February!!! Crazy! Jack is almost 4 months old now and he is just the sweetest baby!!! We are so blessed....I prayed when I was pregnant with Keagan that he would be a happy baby, full of laughs and smiles. Anyone that has met Keagan knows that he is exactly that!! With Jack I prayed that he would be a happy boy as well, but that he would be calmer and more laid back like his Daddy. So far he is just that! Such a good baby!!!!!

Anywho, so what are we doing now you ask??? Well, Nathan and I are house sitting my parents next door neighbors house until May. So, we still don't have our "own" place, but it is so nice to be just our little family after so long! Nathan and I are both in school (me just part time). It's tough because it has been so long since I have really tried to retain any information. lol I also feel like I have a handicap baby-brain!!! Seriously! My memory is horrible these days! I hope that I can get into the program I'm working towards. I am hoping to get into the Diagnostic Ultrasound program in Bellevue eventually. Although, the more I read about it the more I am intimidated by the whole thing. It is a ways off though, I have at LEAST a year before I can even apply!!!

So, the boys are great! Growing, healthy and full of giggles!!! Nathan and I have lots of pics on FB.

Peace

And Baby Makes....FOUR!

So, I should have written this post about a month ago, but..I've been busy with a newborn and a rambunctious 2-yr-old...plus we've already established that I am not the most dedicated blogger. Again, I apologize.

Jack William Justus has arrived!!! He was born October 6th, 2009 at 2:58am via the natural child birthing process! He weighed in at 8lbs, 5oz and was 20 inches long. We are all doing great now, a month later! Wow, how time flies.

Nathan and I were amazed at how radically different this labor and delivery was compared to Keagan's! Everything happened so fast! I had had a few contractions early Tuesday morning, but then nothing else all day. Just notably more uncomfortable than usual. Then after dinner that night I laid down on the couch (pretty much the only place in the universe that was comfortable at that point) with Keagan and watched some cartoons with him and checked FB. It was really nice, but the whole time I was having mild contractions about 10 minutes apart. I kept waiting for them to get worse, but they stayed fairly mild. I even gave Keagan a bath while having them, and lost track for a little while. At 10:30pm I climbed into bed wondering how much longer it could be before I had this baby....I sure didn't have to wait long. As soon as I got cozy under the blankets my water broke! Figures!! ha ha. So, Nathan and I gathered up our things, informed my mother that we were off to the hospital and got in the car. All the while my contractions were getting stronger and closer together. They were now 3 -5 minutes apart and very uncomfortable!!

Since we had only been to the hospital once before, it took a few extra turns to find...not cool when you're in labor! I'm pretty sure we broke a few traffic laws....but I'm not losing sleep over it! Checking in was super fun through contractions... and no one offered me a wheelchair either! There was no racing down the hall to the delivery room like in the movies. There was me pounding my fist on the counter through each contraction as they copied my insurance info and then having to stop and kneel in the hall on the way to our room through yet another contraction. After I got up I shuffled as fast as possible to our room before the next one hit.

As soon as I got into the bed the contractions got even worse and I was begging for drugs!! Lol! Not something I had pictured myself doing, but everything was happening so intensely fast! When they checked me I was already at 6-7cm!!! I was in labor with Keagan for almost 16 hours and never got past 8cm! So, this was going incredibly fast by comparison. My begging got me a dose of Fentanyl which helped ease my suffering for a little while.

Then came bath time...they say that laboring in water helps ease the discomfort and pressure....yeah, sure, whatever! It may have helped a bit, but once the drugs wore off I was right back to begging again! Lol I got one more dose. The bathtub I was in looked kinda looked like a spacecraft. You fill the base of it, get in, sit down and then it tilts and locks back and you fill the rest of it up. I looked at the dinky little release lever when I got in and thought to myself "I am going to hit that at some point, I just know it." And sure enough, during a doozy of a contraction I tapped it with the side of my hand and the whole tub sloshed forward threatening to spill the ocean of water onto the floor and into the hallway! Fabulous. Did I mention I was having a freaking contraction??? Of course this happened when the only 2 people in the room who knew how to lock it back in place had stepped out! So here is poor Nathan struggling to keep this thing upright to keep the water in, me in the throws of an awsome contraction and the midwifery student scrambling to find someone to help us! Anywho, good triumphed over evil and we got everything back in place just in time to find that I was ready to push!

Somehow I managed to get out of the bathtub and back onto the bed. My pleas for more drugs had fallen on deaf ears since at this point they would have gone straight to the baby and done me no good. Couldn't argue with that one. It took only an hour of pushing and screaming for me to deliver Jack! And he came out perfect!!! It was soo nice to get to hold him straight away because with Keagan it was about 30 to 45min later because they had to close me up and then I was shaking so bad I was afraid I would drop him. So, to get to hold my baby as soon as he was born was amazing!!

Now Jack is one month old and thriving!! Big brother Keagan is not as jealous as I had feared and is very sweet when he acknowledges his little brother. Calls him Baby and kisses his head! He loves to hold him too and sometimes even tries to take him from me while saying "here you go." Keagan seems so huge now at almost 2.5 years old! I can't wait until they can play together. They are going to have so much fun!!!

Anyway, that is our story. We are a very thankful and blessed little family!!!!