The sign is out front. The pictures have been taken & its out there on websites now! I can't believe we finally did it. Its been a lot of work to keep the place clean and in shape for a showing with a toddler running around here. Can't really pen her in, so its just doing the best we can at this point.

There is so much I have to do to keep the house straightened up and cleaned, plus more that I need to do if & when we get a showing, that I had to write myself a list. I am going to transfer that list to my phone so that I have it all the time. I know crazy.

I still need to get my truck ready to drive around with a toddler & two Labradors when we do get a showing. They could just stay home in their crates if they didn't bark like mad when people came over.

I'm still getting up at 5:30 am to workout on the treadmill, then shower & dress so that I can begin my day of cleaning. I try to at least get 30 mins to sit and have a cup of tea before the wee one decides she is going to get up for the day. Between the cleaning & cooking plus chasing after Miss Mess I am exhausted by 9 pm. On the plus side I have been sleeping much better! Too bad I still don't feel like I get enough sleep.

Since I started working out I am down a pants size (from 18 to 16) & the new pants are starting to feel lose all the way through already! If this keeps up by the end of the week I will be wearing a belt to keep these up & in about another week after that I'll need the next size pants (which will put me at the smallest I've been in 5 years).

Portion control has been a goal for me. I'm trying really hard to keep them small & eat a few small snacks a day too. I'm really trying to get healthy right now. Do I have a goal to be a certain weight? not really. As weight would be nice to lose, I'm more looking for being healthy. I do love to see the numbers go down whether they be pounds, pants size or just plain inches (wish I would have measured my inches before). I'm just happy to see  & feel that my clothes are fitting better. I am feeling better. I have more energy to chase the wee one and hope to have more with every step I take to getting healthier.

Well, I need to go change someone's diaper! Oh, and finally get her off to sleepy land, then I can clean up the lunch dishes, take the dogs out & get the mail. Guess I could throw in there picking up the toys she pulled out this morning!

House Update

We are moving along at a good pace now. We are about a month from breaking ground. I can't believe it! We have the flooring picked out, although after picking out the cabinets I do need to change the tile in the master bath so I can get the countertop I want. We picked out the cabinets & most of the countertops. I think we have decided on getting the cushion close drawers with dovetail for the kitchen. Our trim has been picked out too. I need to decide what I want for my granite countertops in the kitchen.  We also have all the appliances picked out. There is still a lot that needs to be decided, but our contractor is in the process of securing the construction loan.

The townhouse is finally ready to go onto the market! Our realtor is coming over tonight for us to sign the paperwork & will put our sign out front tonight! I can't believe we are really selling now. This day seemed like it was going to take forever back in November!

In other news, I am down a pants size! I've been on my treadmill 6 out of the last 8 days! I haven't felt this good in a long time.

Well, the wee one beckons!

9 Years Ago, Already?!

It has been almost 10 years ago (at the end of April) that I met my wonderful husband. Almost 10 years ago, someone tried to set us up and I said no because he wasn't my type! We did, however, become really good friends. He threw mints at me over a cubicle wall. He took me out to lunch to celebrate a promotion. He was the one I talked to about a lot of things. Things that if I had known then what I do now, I probably wouldn't have told him because I never thought in a gazillion years that we would date let alone marry!

Then 9 years and 2 days ago, we decided to hang out after work for the first time. I had to postpone due to some ex issues (yes things I talked to him about that I wish I hadn't if I had known the future). Then I had to postpone due to work the next night. He decided to stay Friday night, so we went out (9 years ago to the date).

This was not suppose to be a date, just 2 friends hanging out, though I guess it turned into a date. We saw the movie Catch Me If You Can & then we went to play pool. I had a little too much to drink and we ended up going back to his hotel & talking into the late night/early morning. He was the perfect gentleman. It wasn't until I was leaving to head home that he kissed me. I was shocked and a little confused because he wasn't going to be back for 3 weeks. He was a nice guy, but I had never thought we would date because honestly, he lived in Iowa and traveled the country for work. I had been burned before by a long distance boyfriend. I just wasn't sure I wanted to take that chance again.

 As we all know, I did take that chance. I never regretted it, not even when he was gone for a month or more at a time. My husband from day 1 has always treated me like I was a princess. He's always given me the best of him. Its not that we don't have our tiffs because we do. We almost split a few times before we even got engaged, but we always pushed through and talked things out. Our love for each other has helped us over come a lot.

My husband has given me more than I could have ever imagined in my life. He helped me get out of debt before we married. He got me 2 wonderful dogs. He supported me when I was out of work. He gave me a beautiful engagement ring. He gave me, my beautiful wedding of my dreams. He gave me the honeymoon of my dreams too! He made my dream of motherhood come true. He supports our family while I get to stay home with our daughter! He is letting me design & pick out everything for our dream home (within reason & budget of course). He supports me in every adventure, idea & what not that I can dream up. He was there with arms wide open when I got the news of grandpa having cancer. He was there to support me through the struggles I had with breast feeding. He was the first to suggest I go see a lactation consultant. He is the one supporting me now with my healthier me campaign. He's the one that gets me up in the morning to workout & the one to gently remind me that I want to be healthy when at that moment I want a sweet that I shouldn't have. He's the one that suggested I check out the gym and see about a nutritionist if thats what I want to do. He's the one thats willing to pay for a personal trainer so that I will go workout at the gym. Its all of this and so very much more that I love my husband.

So 9 years ago, I got lucky to have snagged the greatest guy ever! So even though our wedding anniversary is still a month away, this day 9 years ago is one of the best days of my life, because it was the day we got together. Its a day I will never forget!

Update

So lets go back to the things I wanted to do this year. Here is the list of things I wanted to do.

1. I want to begin and stay working out at least 2 times a week This leaves me at least Sat & Sun when Dan is home, if Madison isn't in a cooperative mood.
2. I want to get the crappy food out of my house.
3. I want to get out of the house more often.
4. I want to be more patient with my husband. I have all the patience in the world for Madison, but not for Dan for some reason.
5. I want to stop letting people get to me.
6. I want to get my townhouse up on the market and my house built.
7. I want to find new things for Madison and I to do
8. I want to have baby #2 (however, some of the other things listed need to happen first)
9. I want get my husband to take a mini-vacay just the two of us.
10. I want us to spend more time together as a family
11. I want us to spend more time with our extended families.

I have been off/on so far with working out. I missed a few weeks because I went to my parents & I was sick, but I am back to using the the treadmill. I have made a deal with Dan that if I go 2 weeks straight with the treadmill I can join the gym and get myself into nutrition counseling & a personal trainer there.

I have gotten most of the crappy food out of my house & its staying that way. I gave up having soda in my house. I'm not saying all the sweets will go, but it will go to the point that I have to make it to have it, which will cut back on how often I have it.

I have been getting out of the house more often. Taking Madison on walks since its been so nice. Its great.

I am still working on patience with Dan.  I think I've been better about it but not where I would like to be yet.

Letting people get to me... hmmm... no one has got to me lately so I guess bonus!

We are almost ready for the townhouse to be up on the market. I'm hoping in the next few days I will finish up the cleaning so our agent can come in and do whatever it is she needs to do to get our house up. We are in the final stages of planning for the house to be built. Our builder will be submitting for the construction loan to build & then we will be ready! So excited about that one!

I have been looking for things for Madison and I to do. I'm researching and trying to find some crafts & learning stuff for us. We haven't done anything different other than going to see my chiropractor.

Baby #2 is not on the way yet. We are on hold because of my liver function test. We have 4 1/2 weeks until I get to re-test for that.

So far no luck on a mini-vacay for the two of us, however, we did just have our first date night since October!

We haven't been spending more time together as a family yet, but we have been running a lot of errands together.

Spending more time with extended family. We need to get on this. We did have dinner with his sister, a couple weeks ago, but we need to do more. We need to get up to his parents and see them. We are going as a family to see my grandparents this weekend.

So as you can see I am making strides, but things are busy and its very hard to do these things with so much going on. I am trying. I want to be better mentally, physically and well, all around.

Shocking - Stunned - Scared

I went for a physical this morning. Totally routine. Yes, I am overweight. Yes, I need to eat better. Yes I have a thyroid problem. These are things I knew. These are things I went to go into talk to my Dr. about & get a recommendation for a nutritionist.

I was stunned when the Dr called me this evening with blood test results this evening. I wasn't expecting it to be tonight. I was scared when I answered the phone because why would they call so quickly? Well, I got my answer. The liver function test came back with issues. Apparently, my liver isn't functioning properly. If you know me, you know I don't drink often, even less now that I have Madison, so why is it not functioning properly. I don't know. I won't have answers for a while.

I was told that I need to stay away from alcohol, tylenol & all NSAIDs for 6 weeks and then we re-test. If at that point its still not functioning properly, we start digging deeper as to what is causing it.

I'm shocked, stunned & honestly, scared! So very scared.

Right now I could use a little good to happen. I just feel like its one thing after another right now. I'm just going to go cry for a bit.

Ramblings

Madison and I came home on Saturday afternoon. We stopped to see Grandpa on our way home. I am glad we went. I am glad we spent some time with him. I have to say that I am comfortable with everything that is going on there.

We ended up going out to dinner that night with my SIL & BIL. It was a nice little dinner until Madison decided that she wasn't having any more of what was going on and had to plant herself in my lap so I could not finish my meal. My SIL tried to take her so I could eat, but Madison decided to pitch a fit, so back into my lap she went. After that no one else wanted to try so we had the nice waitress back up my leftovers and we left. Stinks! Because it was my favorite restaurant & we never go there anymore. Plus they have really good desert, which is what I was really looking forward to, but Madison wasn't having it.

Sunday we went grocery shopping & to look at another house for the siding colors. When we got back it was time for Madison to have lunch. I started doing laundry and all too.

Oh, did I mention my house looks so very different?! The deer heads are done and so are all our famly pictures! My house has an echo now! Its weird and doesn't seem right at all. There is still much to get done. We still need to wrap and pack all those pictures (yes there are tons!), de-clutter the counters & the fridge & then a deep cleaning of the house.

I have also been sick since Sunday. It kind of sucks. It doesn't help that Madison isn't feeling great either. However, today is my last day of laying around because I have appointments the rest of the week.

Contemplating...

So I had been doing good working out while I was home, however, since I have not been there this week, I have not worked out.  I know I need to do more than this. I know I need to keep my butt in gear with all this so I can be healthy for myself, my husband, my little girl and any future children we may have. So I have been doing a lot of contemplating. I think when I get home I'm going to look into a gym to see if I can find one with reasonable membership fees & maybe even childcare so I have no excuse not to go. I also want to look into working with a nutritionist again. Of course, I don't want to spend a ton of money as we are building a house soon.  I will need to have a chat with my husband about all this and see what he says too. I hate this feeling of being so big.

I am hoping I can at least find a nutritionist to work with so if we do decide to move forward and end up pregnant, maybe it can be a help to not gain as much weight & be healthy for myself & growing a baby. I would love to get into a gym too, maybe even get a personal trainer to push me.

I guess we shall see.