SNOW!

Last Friday Isabella had her post-op hospital visit for her arm,finally!So we travelled down to Stratford on Thursday and stayed with our awesome friends the O'Dea family :) Char and I have been friends for....15 years or very very close to that.And Phil and I have known each other for...12 years.This makes me feel old haha.But now our kids play together and its so cool!On Friday we got up bright and early and drove to Palmerston North (not a town I want to see again,I feel like a city snob,but give me a big city anytime thats not in the middle of the podunks :p ).Isabella's appointment was all of 10 minutes (seriously 12 hours of driving over 2 days for 10 minutes),the dr confirmed they didnt get all of the malformation which is causing the weird bumps and bruising to come back.So they may have to operate again,but for now if we have any concerns we get in touch and have annual visits to get it all checked out.She was also given tape to put over her scar to try and flatten it out,but the dr told us when she gets older if the scar bothers her they will operate and fix it which is great.

On the way home we detoured and went to Mount Ruapehu  .The weather going through Ohakune wasn't overcast but nothing horrible so we continued up the mountain...yeah it was super raining,windy and freezing!haha well the freezing part I expected.But Steve and I were determined to not have gone nearly 100kms out of the way to not get out and play in the damn snow!

 Sienna could not stop eating the snow!

 Isabella kept climbing up the hill,she had so much fun sliding down it!

 Isabella having a rest half way up

 Sienna sliding down the bottom

 Steve and Sienna.Siennas face is all screwed up because of the rain pelting her face!

Getting ready to slide down :)

It was so much fun,but it lasted all of 15 minutes!My face went numb,and when we got back to the car and tried to take Isabella gumboot off she had gotten ice in it and it had frozen around her leg!Not cool.Will definitely go back next year when its a sunny day :)

blegh...sorry!not a fun post

This is going to be a 'woe is me' post I think :p Please bare with me,and hey its my blog,I can moan if I want haha!

Having to stop running has REALLY thrown me!I've gone for the odd walk over the last few weeks but nothing major.I had started to feel pretty good about my body and now its just gone to hell (feels like it anyway).I hopped on the Wii this morning (because its pooping down with rain,and I don't feel like getting wet :p Thank God-really-for the invention of the Wii!),and I wouldn't normally even talk about my weight and how much it actually is...
BUT this is starting to get a bit ridiculous.Before I had kids I could eat like nothing,and yes gain a bit of weight but within a fortnight of controlling what I eat and only occasionally exercising I would drop two clothing sizes,no problem!!!Yeah...being pregnant for 18 out of 24 months changed that :p And because I breastfed for a year and a half after Sienna I didn't watch what I ate at all!Naughty me.Feeling like I'm now paying for that.

I know I can't do what I want (which is to stop eating entirely!),because that is not healthy,nor achievable long term,and just not treating my body how it deserves to be treated (I may not go to church any more but it still sticks with me that my body is a temple and I need to be kind to it).My Dad has Type 2 Diabetes and Haemachromatosis (however you spell it lol),he has had a heart attack and a stroke and hes only 59 (?I think).My Nan who I adore had a heart attack a few years ago,and honestly she is such an inspiration,she is in her very late 70's and after yo-yo-ing with her weight her whole life lost A LOT of weight!My Mum has also yo-yo-ed with her weight for as long as I can remember,has had to have 2 (and soon a 3rd) joint replaced and is in a hospital program to lose weight.My brother has Haemachromatosis.My Dads parents have both had strokes and heart attacks...seriously the list goes on and on...Needless to say hereditary wise,I need to look after myself..I know this,yet find it so hard to stick at losing weight!It is so incredibly frustrating!!!

At the moment I tend to find an excuse to not go outside and walk (thank you God for all the rain lol).So I thought maybe something a bit more achievable would be using the Wii on the days the girls are at kindy.Today I did 40 minutes of the step class (did 5200 steps),did 2 minutes of boxing (sounds pitiful BUT its hard core lol),did a couple training things for the baseball,then did all the exercises the physio gave me to do,AND 80 crunches!Phew...my muscles are sore.On the days the girls are at home I'll put them in the pushchair (while I can,they are over the weight limit for it now) and go walking.
I don't know,I feel like I'm just whining a bunch,and I apologise for that!I just feel like all my motivation (with doing the marathon) went out the window when I was told I couldn't run,and the thought of walking 21kms by myself is NOT appealing haha.I know I can do it,and heck by the time May rolls around I should be able to run even a few hundred meters at a time,its just right now I cant see it happening.And I REALLY REALLY REALLY feel like I need to more concentrate on losing some weight first...Now to stick to it!

So I am not confident enough to put a photo up of what I look like right now,but I will admit my weight...80.5kgs!Crikey!!!I had gotten down last year to 77kgs. I'm only aiming for a kg at a time.The Wii (evil thing sometimes) told me I should be 52kg.Now when I was 18 and anorexic I was at the smallest 58kgs and I did NOT look good!I guess ultimately by Christmas I would like to lose 10kgs but the mood I'm in right now I cant see it happening haha.
So I guess today is the start of this actual weight loss journey,wish me luck!


-on a side note,now to tell Steve!He hates me thinking I need to lose weight!
-annnd is it a good thing to cut out carbs?The only ones I have are weetbix for breakfast and rice or potatoe with dinner.Or is it just better to have smaller quantities?

Happy Fathers Day to the best Dad ever!

No,this isn't for my Dad!Though I was nice and text AND rung him.

This is a post about Steve.He is such an amazing Dad for our little girls.From day dot,he has been there.Even during my pregnancy with Isabella he would spend ages (I would like to lie and say lovingly stroking my stomach) drumming on my stomach,to which she would boot him back!

Our girls adore him so much!When he isn't studying,working at the uni or at the hospital (which I'm sure you can imagine leaves not much time) he doesn't go out with mates or anything,he spends time with the girls.Countless times I'll walk into a room and they will be snuggled up watching a movie,reading a book or sprawled on the floor building some elaborate building with the Duplo.He has taught them to love music (at first that worried me because he made a CD for Isabella when she was 18 months that included Kanye West lol,but she loved it swearing and all!),because of that they are forever playing their guitar or playing on the bongo drums.He always without fail makes time for them,and it shows in how they interact with him.

I have always wanted our girls to have an awesome relationship with Steve,partially because I didn't have that with my Dad.And they do!Isabella told me one night that 'Daddy is my handsome prince and I want to marry him" Talk about melting my heart!!

So Steve,if you ever read this (haha),you are one amazing man and the girls and I are so blessed to have you!

haha not the greatest photos,but they are ones Steve took the time to take with just him and the girls :)

Fishing

Last Sunday we went out to Raglan to spend some time at Steve's Nana's house (his mums mum).We all love going out there,not only does she live right next to the beach,but Nana is so relaxed and the girls have a ball out there.Steve looks to his Nana as a bit of a mother figure and adores her,as do we all!
The girls had been screaming at each other while climbing a tree in the yard so Nana suggested we take the bait catcher and take the girls fishing down at the wharf,so we did,because after all, Nana's know best!

 The girls dont want a bar of Mum and Dad when Great Nana is there to hold hands with :) Moments like this that we treasure so much.

 Isabella sat with Steve for all of 5 minutes before getting bored and going off with Great Nana to watch everyone else fish.

 Sienna,for a 3 1/2 year old had amazing patience....

And the patience paid off when her and Daddy caught this little boy!

We put it back in the ocean after a while,but Isabella and Sienna had a blast carrying him around and talking to him.They both decided he would miss his mummy and asked Steve to put him back in the ocean :)

We've decided to make this a more regular thing (along with the movies,bowling,library,playgrounds etc).Next time we'll go out earlier in the day and hopefully catch something a bit bigger.Isabella has already told me we have to go fishing again because Billy (our cat,which is more like a dog) wants to eat the fish!

Bowling fun!

Also in late July we took the girls bowling for the first time.It was so much fun!!!

 Not the clearest photo,Isabella was concentrating on pushing that bowl as hard as she could!

Sienna knew how to pose :)

I am loving so much that our girls are at an age where we can finally get out and have fun doing these things!We do still have to explain what behaviour we expect of them while we are out,but at least it means no tantrums or anything which is awesome.Sienna asks literally every day if we can go bowling,its adorable!

Movie time

Ok so slack Mum that I am,this was over a month ago!

But in July we took the girls to the movies for the first time,to see Ice Age 4.

We were worried they would misbehave,but they were perfect little angels and had such a great time!They have been asking a few times a week if they can go back.Haha trying to teach them going to the movies is a treat,but planning on taking them to see Madagascar later this month :)

 Isabella shaking Sid's hand :)

Sienna unlike her bis sister,who ate a whole box of popcorn through the movie!,didn't finish her's so held onto it the whole way home,was so cute!

Forrest cant run any more :(

I haven't done a post in a little while,so am going to do a few tonight :)

On the running front,well its not going!I went for a run a few weeks ago,came home and decided to rearrange the lounge (yes I constantly do this!Maybe its an obsession now?!).We have an old metal steamer trunk that is currently being used to store all our documents,and after 7 years of marriage that's a lot of documents!Anyway clever me went and got in the correct stance to move said trunk and something in my back made an awful crunching sound,and right around my back and front it was super painful!I thought I had ruptured the scarring from my c-sections, couldn't walk for a few hours.After a week of not walking or bending over Steve told me I had to go to the physio.Good thing I did,turns out I had had a joint pop out in my lower back,ouch!
The physio was awesome and got it back where it belonged and gave me a bunch of exercises to do.BUT bad news was he told me I was 100% to not do any form of running for 3-4 months.Kind of puts a massive spanner in my plans for the marathon.He told me (and rightly so) that because I had two kids so close together it would take longer for my muscles to get toned up and be able to cope with running (here I can imagine Steve laughing,which he did when I told him!He cautioned me to walk for a few months and build my fitness level up before running.I should have listened haha,but no I'm stubborn!I always feel like if I cant do something straight away it means I'm fat and lazy....totally not true,but that's my screwed up brain for you!).

Unfortunately in the week I hurt my back I got the flu pretty badly,so I haven't been out walking as much as I would like too.But am slowly getting there :) Still going to do the marathon,but may have to walk most of it.Even though I'm disappointed,I know I cant afford to be hurting myself,and this needs to be a goal for me.And at the end of the day if I can walk it,then I can walk it!At least I have two working legs right!