2017 Resolutions

We have a fun filled day planned today.  I spent the morning relaxing in the bath while catching up on YouTube videos, then we ran the first mile of the year.  We were going to do the Polar Bear Plunge but the kiddo really didn't want to and they are not doing it the normal way so it's going to be insane with way to many people.  The rest of the day will be watching the Seahawks game while I get caught up on laundry.

As usual I have a few resolutions.  You may see a few on here from last years on here but I figured a good way to stay on track might be to do a blog post at the end of each month giving a status on how well I am doing on them.  It might hold me a bit more accountable.

*Do long runs each weekend with family - Since Thanksgiving we haven't been doing real well on the long runs.  Our weekends filled up pretty quickly, it's rainy, cold, and get's dark earlier, but no more excuses.  I love running as a family so I want to keep up with that.

*Work on the House - This is one from last year.  We did some slight updating of the bathroom, but we really have big plans for the house as a whole.  We need a new couch, we really need to gut the bathroom, and the yard needs some work.  We will re-do the kitchen but that will probably be in 2018.  We only have two trips planned this year, the Light Side run in January and the Dark Side run in April so we will hopefully have some money to really do substantial work to the house.

*Keep staying healthy - I feel so good since the hernia surgery and it really helped me to learn to listen to my body and to eat right, however Christmas has been a bit tough on me.  I have eaten way more than I should have and most of it hasn't been to good.  I gained 7 lbs since Disneyland in November oops.  I think I am going to do weekly weigh-ins here on the blog as well as weekly work outs.  So to start I am at 168 lbs as of this morning.  My goal is to be 150 by our trip to Disneyworld and 144 by the end of th year, I hope I can do it.

*Date my hubby again - This sounds weird, but with all of life stresses the hubby and I have kind of put our relationship on the back burner.  I really want to make time to spend with the hubby just the two of us.  I love him so much and I want to nurture that relationship.

*Stay on top of chores - I spent a lot of the last week organizing, rearranging, purging,  and deep cleaning the house.  I love the way the house looks and feels right now.  My goal is to create a chore calendar and keep up on it.

*Blog more - Of course another one from last year.  I did a bit more on the blog this year but not as much or as quality as I would have liked to.  I really struggled a lot last year with being kind of lazy and uninspired.  So this year I hope to do more and come up with a schedule of interesting things to blog about.

*Start vlogging - This is something I have wanted to do for a while, but I am really scared to put my face out there.  I have been practicing and I think I have a way to start them without putting my face in the vlogs.  Maybe I will put a few out there and see what everyone thinks.

*Play games as a family - One thing we really like to do is play games but as the kiddo has gotten older it's tough because of homework.  He struggles with his ADHD when it comes to sitting still & focusing on homework so it's a fight to get him to do his work, and then we eat dinner and it's bedtime.  We should plan every other Friday or something to just sit down and play games.

*Read more - I love to read but over the last two years I have not been reading as much.  I get overwhelmed with the choices of books and I am worried that I will spend money and hate the book.  My goal is to buy a new book each month and read it.  Some will be on my tablet and others will be real books.

*Get more organized - I love making lists, it actually calms me down, but when it comes to keeping a calendar I struggle.  I forget to look at it.  I think I am going to take 5 minutes each day to keep it up to date and figure out what I have going on for the week and stay on top of it.

*Take better care of my skin - I have always done a pretty good job of taking care of my skin but lately not so much.  I need to start doing masks, putting lotion on, using my lush bombs, put night cream on, etc.  In the summer my skin is really nice but in the winter it's so dry and it hurts.  Any ideas for good products is accepted.

*Purge - I did a pretty good job or purging this year but I still want to do more.  I also want to stop shopping as much.  I want to buy quality over quantity.  I will do a blog post about this soon.

Do any of you have any resolutions for the new year?  I hope everyone is having a fantastic start to 2017.

Happy New Years Eve

I hope everyone is having an amazing New Years Eve.  We just finished up some fondue and are watching Zootopia.  Then we will watch some of the specials on TV and head to bed so we can get up early to do a run then the polar bear plunge.

2016 had some up's and down for us but all in all it wasn't to terrible.  I got a few of my resolutions done which you can see here.  I am hoping to do a lot better next year.  I got healthy, ran a lot more, got a PR, purged and got a bit more organized.  There are still a lot of other things I need to do though.

I am going to head back with the family and finish up our movie.  I hope you all have a safe and awesome New Year.

Excited yet stressed

I am so excited for our trip in 13 days!!!!  However I am a bit stressed about it as well.

One of the downsides of having older vehicles is when both of them decided that they need work at the same time 😢 So that is going to cut into our trip money.  We might have to cancel one of our dinner reservations which on one hand sucks but on the other hand doesn't.  With the reaction that the kiddo had in November we are planning on bringing some good things that the kiddo can eat to help keep his ADHD in check.  I will let you know how that goes.

I haven't really trained as well as I should have.  It is really hard to work out when it's dark, cold, and rainy outside.  I had planned to take the kiddo running each day of vacation this week but I wanted to clean and play with the kiddo so that hasn't happened.  I also haven't been eating as well as I should.  The hubby got me a HUGE bag of kisses which is probably my favorite chocolate candy and I have pretty much been eating those and homemade spritz cookies from Christmas.  Not a good thing.  I really want to finish the challenge and I am scared I won't.  I have never done a challenge before.  The hubby says I should be fine but you never know.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas I know that we did.  Here is to a fantastic New Year!!!!

ADHD is the Devil

I said I was going to be a bit more truthful and open in the blog so here goes.

The kiddo has ADHD.  We started taking him to see a counselor a little over a year ago because his anxiety had gotten way out of control.  He wouldn't go to movie theaters, he wasn't riding any of his favorite rides at Disney, he was afraid of the dark, etc.  The final straw came when one morning he was to scared to get into the car and go to school.  So we did some research and found a counselor not to far from our house.  After some interactions with him she asked if he had been diagnosed with ADHD.  To be honest I was shocked.  He had some problems concentrating in school, his handwriting was atrocious but he was a smart kid with a big heart and as much as I hate to admit it, I had a preconceived notion of what ADHD/ADD kids behaved liked.

So around March of this year we took him to his doctor to see about what our next steps were and to see if he could be tested for ADHD.  After talking to the Dr for a while and getting some information on it I was starting to see that he very clearly has it. Not only that but we also found out that he has a condition known as amblyopia which means he never learned to see out of one eye.  So not only were we dealing with the ADHD diagnosis but now he had to wear an eye patch and glasses every day.  I have never felt like such a failure as a parent as I did those first few months after the diagnosis.  What could I have done to prevent this, how was I contributing to this?  Did that soda I have when I was 6 months pregnant cause it?

Luckily the kiddo is extremely bright and he gets it.  We have sat down and explained to him what ADHD is and different ways to help him manage it.  I remember when we met with his pediatrician and he asked us what was up the kiddo said "I am here to find out if I have ADHD"  We chose to not medicate him when we first found out.  We did this program called PCIT with his counselor which he just recently graduated from.  However, the biggest thing we changed was his diet.  We have taken processed foods and foods with dyes in them completely out of his diet.  He has been so understanding about it and he even reads the labels to see if he can eat certain foods.  It's kind of sad in a way because I feel like I am depriving him of a lighthearted childhood, but I feel like it's what's best for him.  We have found a ton of really good recipes and there are a lot of things out there now that  use natural ingredients to color things (ex: beets, carrots, etc) He had improved by leaps and bounds and when we met with the teachers earlier this year they said that other than a few minor issues in math he was doing amazing.

Flash forward to our trip in November.  We tried really hard to keep him on his diet, we bought him the few all natural snacks they sold in Disneyland (all 3 of them) but we still had regular meals that he had to eat.  We stayed clear of most everything that we knew had dye in it, the cupcakes, anything colorful etc but it didn't work :(  It was really eye opening to see him act the way he had less than a year ago.  We almost kind of forgot how bad it really was.  He was all over the place, he couldn't sit still, he couldn't finish a full sentence, he was high anxiety, he was emotional and getting him to sleep was a fight. Then we got back and we got the emails from the teachers.  He isn't sitting down, he's refusing to do his classwork, etc etc.  It was heartbreaking.  He had worked so hard and now it felt like we were back at square one.

The hubby and I started talking about the possibility of putting him on medication and we are torn.  I have heard some statistics where if you don't put the kids on it by the time they are 10 or 11 they are more likely to become addicts, then other reports of the kid just turning into a zombie.  I honestly don't know what to do.  We want to do what is best for him but we honestly don't know what is best.  So after some discussion we decided that we would put more of a focus back on his diet.  The hubby and I have the next two weeks off so we are going to focus on really purging his system and go 100% back on the diet and stay on top of his vitamins (he takes Omega-3 and a pro biotic which we have also found helps him a lot)  We will then schedule a follow up with his pediatrician and evaluate if we should do medication or not.

If anyone has any stories or advice I would love to hear about it.  If there is one thing I have learned it's so helpful to talk about it and find other people who have been through this or are going through it.  It makes you feel less alone.

Becoming my best self and revamping

I got really introspective when I started thinking about how to be positive and make changes to be my best self and in doing so I realized a couple of different things.  I realized that I don't feel like I am being my authentic self.  I feel like I am kind of phoning it in lol.  I want to be so much more than I am right now.  I feel like there are a lot of different aspects of my life that have turned me into who I am today, some of those are good and some of those are bad and I really need to weed through all of that.

What I have decided to do is rather than take like a piece and focus on that I am going to sit down and list out what things make me happy, who I want to be, what things I can get rid of in my life that I don't need, what I want more of and then ways that I can make those dreams a reality.

There are things that I know, I love travel, Disney, football, reading.  I love my husband, my son.  There are also lots of things that are in my life that I don't love that I need to just get rid of.  One thing that was hard to come to grips with but that I realized is that I don't take good care of myself because I don't feel like I deserve to.  In going through the surgery and everything it has really dawned on me.  I don't put forth any effort when it comes to  allowing  myself to feel good about being me.  I don't wear makeup, I don't spend money on clothes, I find excuses not do do some of the things I love.   I just feel frumpy, lazy, and I second guess 95% of the things that I do.  I need to change that.  I used to be a girly girl.  I love wearing dresses, having my hair done, having my nails done, reading books that I love etc.  I just don't feel like I really know how to do it and I am so scared that I will look like an clown and people will secretly judge me.  Back in the day I used to get together with my friends and we would go shopping together, do spa days and mani parties, bake together, make crafts, etc.  I just kind of feel like I have lost that.  I really want to get that back.

I also want to organize my house.  I love my hubby to death but his strong suit is not organization, putting things back where they belong or doing chores in a timely manner :)  I mean he has his chores and if I ask him to do it he jumps right on it, but I feel like a nagging wife when I ask.  So I will sometimes feel like "Well if you aren't going to do it then I am not going to do it for you" and then I let it sit until it stresses me out and I get super irritable.

I also realized that I react incorrectly to a lot of things.

So my goal from here on out is to change that.  I am going to change the being my best self series a bit.  I am not 100% positive on how I will do that just yet. You will also see a lot of changes coming in the blog as well.  I tried to have it be this wonderful place where life is grand, here is my travel stuff, etc.  I am so worried about people judging me, that sometimes I will type up a blog post and I will re-read it and say no, there is to much of you in there, to much opinion, nobody wants to see that much of you in there.  I really want this blog to be about me and my life struggles and all.  So in the next few weeks (or months) bear with me while I try to find my voice.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Holiday Season.

Becoming my best self

Do you ever sometimes think your the bad guy in your life story?  I have kind of been feeling that way a lot lately.  I have been doing some really stupid things over the last year and I have become angry, jaded, judgmental, and crazy emotional.  I do not want to be like that anymore.

I have decided to do a series on my blog about becoming my best self.  My plan is to pick one quality or thing I can change to become my best self for a two week period and focus on that and will post about how I did every other Sunday.

The first one I am going to stop my negative thoughts.  I think I might be investing in some rubber bands for my wrist :)

Avengers Half Recap

The half marathon was probably one of the best races I have done.  Disney totally knows how to put on an amazing race!!!

I was super nervous the night before.  It had been almost a year since I had done a half and while I have been training I was still scared.  We had dinner at Wine Country Trattoria then rode Mater twice before heading back to the hotel room for the night.  While I was getting all snuggled up into bed I turned on the TV and Aladdin which kind of helped calm my nerves and I fell right to sleep.

The alarm went off at 3:00 am and I hit snooze :)  There was no way I was ready to get up.  So at 3:40 am we got up and dressed really quick because the sitter was coming at 4:00.  We were pretty much all ready to go minus pinning our bibs on when she got there.  

We grabbed our water and bannana and headed down to the lobby where we each grabbed a bagel and the hubby got a coffee.  About 4:45 we decided to head out to the corrals only for me to realize that I forgot my hair tie & to put deodorant on.  I figured I would be nice to all those around me I ran back up to the room and put on deodorant and grabbed my hair tie then it was off to our corral.  We were in corral G and were surprised how close to the front we got of the corral.  So we hung out for a bit and then it was time to get running.

Heading towards the start line.

Time to start, once you get past the sea of people in front of you that is.

We started the race by running down the main streets and through the backway into California Adventure by Cars Land.

Then we ran through Disneyland and we got to run through the castle.

Star Wars Land!!!

Running through the parks is so much fun.  It keeps you motivated and a smile on your face throughout.  They have Cast Members cheering you on and it's just so pretty. Right before you leave the parks you run through this tunnel that has music playing and projections on the wall.  I always enjoy running through the tunnel. We didn't stop for any pictures with the characters because we wanted to see what time we could get.  

Then it was time to head out onto the streets.  It's a bit of a shock running in the parks to running on the streets.  They still have bands and cheer squads out there and there are lots of people who just come out on the streets to cheer you on but not as dense as in the parks.  I was doing really well until about Mile 8.  I just hit a wall.  We had just ran up a big hill and the course just seemed to be so long.  It was getting so hot (I was wearing running pants thinking it would be cold) and I just wanted water.  We ran past a water station going the other direction and I couldn't stop focusing on being thirsty.  I started thinking that I didn't know if I can do this.

I took this picture specifically because this is the spot I hit my biggest wall.

Right after we ran past the stadium sign there was a line of people decked out in 20's attire dancing and chearing us on and there was a group of Vetrans there as well giving out high fives..  That was exactly what I needed at that moment.  I was fully energized and excited and knew I would finish the race.  

All of the people lined up cheering us on

Ant Man

A shadow selfie :)

Look it says Disney Way.  Almost there.

Right before hubby's watch died :(

Coming close to the finish.

I took this not only for the 13 miles but I loved the Dory Sign

Time to sprint to the finish

We ended up finishing with a time of 2 hrs 50 minutes my best half yet.  We did the Jeff Galloway method of intervals and I think that helped out a lot.  We run for 2 minutes walk for 30 seconds.  Although we did run the last 2 miles with no intervals because we wanted to get a PR.

I cannot wait for the Star Wars half in January.  Very nervous to do the Rebel Challenge though.