February

I have one amazing baby. Today I went in her room to wake her up for the day. She has been severely off schedule lately, so I didn't want her to sleep in late. When I peeked in her room, I was surprised at the sight! Kaitlyn was naked from head to toe, fast asleep in her bed! Sure enough, she had taken off her pj's and thrown them out of the crib, and to make matters more interesting took off her diaper and left it at the end of the bed.

Two things shocked and surprised me. The first is that the pj's were still zipped up, and snapped shut. She had to have carefully climbed out the NECK hole! Second, I could not believe it but HER BED WAS DRY! She hadn't even wet the bed! I really hope she doesn't pull anymore shenanigans, but I guess no harm was done so I let this one pass.

Danelle is an amazing kid too. One thing about Danelle is that she LOVES to talk. Whenever she is home, she is following us around talk talk talking away. She always has something on her mind. You can almost see the thoughts reeling through her head.

The other day, she was watching me exercise on our new/used treadmill we found on KSL. She was pretty excited to see me "get sweaty." I put the TV screen right in front of the treadmill for entertainment when I run or walk, but this day Danelle was talking away, asking questions, and actually making me more tired and out of breath answering her. Finally, I said in a nice way, "wow you like to talk a lot!"

Danelle laughed harder than I expected. She said, "well - I have a lot to say!" I couldn't help but smile and I realized I love her talking. She is so smart and always thinking and feeling something. I love that she can talk to me about anything. She can talk talk talk all she wants.

Life has been changing lately. Shayne is in his last few months of school. This means he has to go on campus and is gone an extra four nights out of the week.

It's been a BIG adjustment to our lives. Now that Shayne has school in the evenings, I am now fully responsible not only for the girls mornings, but bedtimes too. Bedtimes have never been my favorite. I am proud to say though that amazingly enough, we have developed some wonderful new routines and everything is going much more smoothly.

I have to tell you too, I am feeling so GREAT lately. Winter always depresses me. I miss the sun, I miss warm, and the usual yearly expected weight gain depresses me too. Well, like I mentioned earlier, we got a treadmill. It is doing WONDERS for me physically and emotionally.

I started a Jillian Michaels FROM COUCH TO 5K program, and am following it strictly (only adding extra walking time). It might not sound like much but after a week and a half, I can run four minutes straight now. I add another minute tomorrow and will be up to six by the end of the week. The hope is to be able to run 30 minutes straight by the end of the program which is 10 weeks long. I am so excited and proud to be getting more healthy.

My family is benefiting from the treadmill as well. Danelle walks 15 minutes four days a week, and Shayne is also doing the couch to 5k program. I am already noticing him losing weight. It's inspired us to eat better too. I love it. I am so proud of my family.

Kaitlyn is getting healthy too in her own way. We have been trying to get her to a healthy weight. She is small for her height, only being at 2% in her weight... yikes! Her doctor suggested we power pack her food with extra calories and start giving her Carnation Instant Breakfast with her milk for nutrients. She might not be eating more, but she is taking extra calories with every bite and every milk she drinks. I have been giving her V8 Fusion as well for vegetables and extra nutrients. One of these days, I should get a juicer and make my kids homemade healthy drinks.

So there you have it; an update on our family. I am so happy to have February out of the way. January and February are my most difficult months of the year so once they are over I like to celebrate. "Birthday season" is fast approaching and then another fun packed summer. I am still so excited about 2012. :)