Five Years Old

This big girl is five today.
 

Miles decided to photo bomb this shot. 

Yep, that's right, Jaycee is five years old now.  My where has the time gone?  It seems like only a short time ago that we were celebrating her 4th birthday.  She is growing and learning new things everyday and keeps us young (although we don't always feel young).

When she turned three, I started a birthday interview that was very basic.  I figured that I'd continue with the tradition.  Here is the interview I had with her this afternoon at lunch.  The red answers are from last year when she turned 4, and the blue answers are from this year.  I wrote down the first answer she told me and how she said it. 


Birthday Interview - Five Years Old
                                                     
 1.  What is your favorite color?  blue      red                
 2.  What is your favorite toy?  soccer ball        horse
 3.  What is your favorite fruit?  oranges     orange
 4.  What is your favorite TV show?  Clifford     Cat and the Hat
 5.  What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  Mac & Cheese     sandwich
 6.  What is your favorite outfit?  pink Animal Dress     dress
 7.  What is your favorite game?  Toy Story Matching Card Game     Candyland
  8.  What is your favorite snack?  cookies     Peanut Butter on a spoon
 9.  What is your favorite animal?  bear     zebra
10. What is your favorite song?  Overcomer by Mandisa   The King is Coming by Newsboys  
11. What is your favorite book?  Diary of a Fly     Berenstein Bears
12. What is your favorite movie?  Tangled     Shark Tale
13. What is your favorite cereal?  Peanut Butter Balls (Generic Reeses Cereal)     Cheerios
14. Who is your best friend?  Corbin     Erikya and Corbin
15. What is your favorite thing to do outside?  chalk     chalk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas     Christmas
17. What is your favorite drink?  milk     milk
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  cereal     toast
19. What do you like to take to bed with you?  bear & dog     horse and dog
20. What do you want to be when you grow up?  I don't know     a Big girl


Some things haven't changed really that much at all, but she sure has.  We've been blessed to get to share the past 5 years with her.



Newborn

 

 



 

 

One year

 Two years

Three years

Four years

Five years
 

 

Losing It - Progress

About 3 weeks ago, I shared the beginning of my journey to losing weight and gaining a healthier lifestyle.  This is not an easy journey to go through and it is quite humbling to put out my struggles with weight, emotional eating, and feeling content with myself the way God sees me and not the way I see myself. 

Seeing myself the way God sees me is a lifelong battle.  I have a hard time with that.  Most of the time I compare myself with others without taking into account what I've specifically been through and that God made my body shape this way for a reason.  I'm not saying that I have to be completely ok with an unhealthy weight, but I am saying that losing weight has to be more about seeing myself through God's eyes and not about what the number on the scale says. 

I’ve had a lot of distractions and temptations these past few weeks.  Miles going into the hospital was hard for me.  After coming home, he was super clingy, even more so than he already was and refused to let me leave him when I went anywhere.  Tom and Jaycee started school.  This changed my flexible schedule into a routine, which is ultimately good, but was a hard transition for us all.  Needless to say, making time for exercise and trying to maintain my goals were really challenging.  But, I was determined to stay on top of my goals even with the challenges life produced. 

Here’s what I’ve been working on:

·         I’m exercising 4 times a week on average.  My favorite workout right now is Zumba!!!  If you haven’t tried it yet, you should really just take at least one class.  I know a lot of people tell me that they aren’t coordinated, but with Zumba, it doesn’t matter, as long as you’re moving.  Oh, and another plug for Zumba, the music is great, time flies by, and before you know it you’re doing the cool down and stretching. 

·         I’ve lost a total of 13 pounds since late May / early June.  That’s not quite 1 pound a week, but it is something and as long as it doesn’t go in the other direction, I’m pleased.

·         I’ve cut back on my pop intake.  I wish I could say that I’ve completely given it up, but that is still a HUGE temptation for me.  It doesn’t help that I live close to a Sonic and QT.  But it is just one more way for God to show me I need him more than I need the caffeine in the pop.

·         I’ve limited the amount of bread and pasta I’m eating.  I’ve found that those foods work against me and my weight loss efforts.  I’ve instead tried to include more fresh veggies such as lettuce wraps instead of a traditional sandwich or just not eating the noodles.  This doesn’t happen all the time, but it’s a start.

·         I finally signed up for a Bootcamp.  In September, I’m getting up at 5:00 am and heading to the Y for this class once a week.  I actually really liked it and it might be my new favorite, but I still love the music that Zumba offers.

Well, those are my updates.  I have more goals for this next month, but right now I’m pleased.  I still don’t like my body and wish certain things were not there, but my clothes are fitting me better, old clothes are actually fitting again, my legs are toned, I have more energy to keep up with my kids, I feel good about being active and healthy, and I am excited to be sharing my journey with my 4 year old daughter.  She asks me if I’m going to exercise and when can she come with me.  Her and I have also started doing some very simple Yoga moves before she goes to bed.  It’s a kind of special time for the two of us.

October

I have plans for what to do this next month.  Mainly I want to keep up with what I’ve already been doing, but maybe kick it up a notch.  Starting in October, they are offering another Bootcamp class 3 times a week for the next 3 months.  I really want to do this!!!  Also, I took a schedule from the Y close to my house and saw that they offer a class at 5:30 am every morning, so I want to take those classes on the days that I don’t do Bootcamp.  Otherwise, I plan to hopefully lose about a pound a week, tone, and firm up my body a bit.  I also plan to do a better job of tracking what I eat and being more organized so that I choose fresh fruits and veggies instead of other things that are probably not as good for me.
If you ever want to join me for an early morning class, you can find the North Y’s schedule here.  I keep track of what I eat here.  I will leave you with some motivation that has helped me.

 

Losing It

 This summer Tom and I decided that we needed to make some healthier choices in our lives.  I can’t tell you exactly what prompted this decision, but I do know that it was about time.  As we were thinking about how we could make that work, we decided to make a few small changes for the summer and build a healthy habit that we could continue throughout the school year.  Here are a few of the small changes that we decided were doable financially and would fit into our lifestyle without a drastic change to where we wouldn’t currently meet our goals.

I love finding Bible verses to help me meet my goals.  I've scattered a few throughout this post for encouragement.  I really need to blow them up and scatter them around my house when temptation hits.

Small Changes:
1.  The first thing we decided to do was to join the YMCA.  Living where we do, we have so many different options for the Y, that this was one of the easier decisions we had to make.  We made a pro and con list (which we rarely do), prayed about it, and decided that it would benefit our whole family and not just Tom and me.  So, one change done.

2.  We added more fruits and veggies into our diet.  I recently discovered My Fitness Pal, and began tracking my calories.  This was an eye opener.  At first I just started by tracking everything I ate.  To my surprise, I was taking in a whole lot more calories than I was burning off.  So I found new ways to cook veggies and add them to our meals instead of the more starchy variety of veggies like potatoes.  I also found ways to use fruit as a dessert or special treat for the day.

3.  Get Moving.  We both set goals for ourselves to exercise at least 3 times per week.  I have been loving Zumba, and try to attend at least 1 class every week, if not more.  The other days, I have been working out on several different cardio machines that the Y has to offer.  We have also been trying to do more active things after dinner than we used to.  After dinner is mainly a time for us to hang out with the kids and unwind.  We’ve been trying to be creative about things we can do now that it’s so HOT to be active after dinner.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

4.  Sugar.  I have this love/ hate relationship with sugar.  I love that it adds to my food, but I hate what it does to my body, and how hyper it tends to make my daughter.  So Tom and I tried to take a sugar break.  Now when I say that I don’t mean that we excluded it completely.  Remember, we are not into extremes, since they only make us feel powerless when we fail.  We decided that we would do good to exclude pop from our diets.  That is one area where there are a lot of calories and sugar that just isn’t needed at all.  So we set a goal to avoid it for a week, and we made lots of tea with natural sweetener like honey or agave nectar.  I know it is still sugar, but not nearly as much and not the refined sugar.  I must say that we have done very well with this until the last couple of weeks.  I guess we need to set a goal again. 

5.  Books and Goals:  The last thing or should I say the first thing I did was found a very encouraging book that shares a lot about the struggles with losing weight and getting healthy in this fast food world of ours.  The book that I’ve been reading is called Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure.  She shares very honestly her struggles with her weight while she was in front of the world on TV, and where she gets her strength and motivation to stick with things.  She also shares her plan for healthy eating.  I really appreciate her Bible verses she shares to help in staying motivated while on this journey.  She share very practical plans and tips for losing weight.  Losing weight isn’t easy, and it requires small changes gradually over time.  I have to keep telling myself that.

 

So there you have it.  My start to getting healthier and making better choices.  I want to be a mom to my kids who has the energy to keep up with them and to be able to do active things with them.  I already feel so old with the two of them most of the time, but I’m determined to not let it get me down.
Goals:

·         Lose 50 lbs. by the end of May 2015

·         Exercise at least 3 times a week

·         Avoid pop

·         Limit breads and pastas

·         Take a bootcamp class before the end of the year

·         Train and run a 5K by May 2015

Results So Far:  (Since considering a healthy lifestyle change at the end of May and joining the Y in June)

v  Pounds  lost = 1

v  Waist = loss of 6 inches

v  Hips = loss of 2 inches

v  Exercise = 3 times or more each week except for the week Miles was in the hospital

v  Limit bread from lunch and added lettuce wraps

I guess I’m well on my way.  I’m a little embarrassed to share any pictures and to even say that I struggle in their area of my life, but I need the accountability when I feel like giving up.  My weight issues stem from several things that have happened in my life in the past few years where I turned to food for comfort without even realizing it, but I know that I struggle and I need to start somewhere.  I will post updates and maybe even a picture if I get brave.

 

Mira

A Quick Vacation Turned into a Trip to the Hospital

At the beginning of August, we decided that we would like to take a quick trip to visit some of Tom’s family & friends near the Joplin area.  We thought that since school would be starting and our schedule wouldn’t be as flexible that we would like to leave the day after Miles’ first birthday party.  A great plan right?

Well, after the birthday party, we put the kids to bed and began to pack up our stuff for a short little trip.  I had already set aside our clothes and things, but just needed to get them packed up.  It is so much easier to do this when the kids are asleep and when we have used the toiletries.  Things seemed to be falling into place.

The next morning, I woke up with no voice.  This never happens to me.  In all my 10+ years teaching, I think I only lost my voice twice.  I should have known from that, maybe a trip wasn’t in the cards for us, but I thought nothing of it and was ready to get away for a couple of days.  I worked in our church’s nursery that morning, filling in for someone who was gone, and then came home to begin loading up the Jeep with our stuff.  We quickly grabbed a bite to eat at our local QT (that place is really way to close to our house), and then headed down the road. 

We had the DVD player set up for our kids to watch while traveling, since Miles can face front now, they each had their own screen to watch.  Oh my, the luxuries that kids have these days.  I remember playing guessing games with my dad to songs on the radio for entertainment while we traveled.  We didn’t have DVD players or anything like that.  Anyways, usually about halfway through the movie, they will both be asleep and we turn it off, but this time neither of them fell asleep.  I should have seen that as a sing as well, but call me crazy but I just was happy to get out of town for a bit.

We finally made it to Tom’s aunt’s house and were able to settle in for a while.  They live out in the country, so it is nice to just sit and relax.  There were a few toys for the kids, but mostly they chased each other.  Miles was not quite himself and became really fussy and clingy.  I thought he felt a little warm, but nothing unusual.  So at about the time we were eating dinner, he was just super fussy, we gave him some Tylenol to help with some teething.  Later on that night we tried to get him ready for bed, and he just wasn’t having it.   He absolutely did not want to go to sleep.  It had been about 3 or 4 hours since we last gave him some Tylenol, and I realized that we didn’t have enough for another dose, so Tom went with his cousin to get some more.  I decided that I would try to rock Miles to sleep out in the living room while watching TV.  Sometimes that constant rhythm and the dull noise of the TV puts him to sleep when nothing else works.  I thought I’d give it a try.

No sooner had a started rocking, then I felt him jerk his body, and I thought that he had finally fallen asleep and was jerking in his sleep.  All of a sudden, I noticed that he kept doing it and it was in a constant rhythm.  I went into the kitchen to ask his cousin what he was doing, when she saw him and we realized that he was having a seizure.  I became so scared.  I had never seen anybody doing that before.  She quickly called EMS and they told us what to do over the phone until the ambulance got there. 

It seemed like his seizure lasted for a long time, but in actuality it was probably only a couple of minutes.  While I was holding Miles, Tom’s uncle and family prayed for him and circled around him.  I can’t even begin to say how peaceful that made me feel.  My first thoughts up to that point were dark, that I was going to lose another son.  Once he finished the seizure, we headed to the local hospital where they stuck him with needles and ran a couple of tests.  Once everything came back clear and negative, they let us go home at about 1:00 am.  We thought about driving back to Wichita that night, but everyone was so tired, and Jaycee spent the night with his cousins that we just were going to leave the next day. 

Well, since we had such a late night we woke up late that next morning.  We ate a little breakfast and went to go pick up Jaycee from Tom’s cousin’s house.  While we were there, Jaycee was loving the attention from the older kids.  They were 16 and 18.  Miles seemed to be doing alright and I kind of wanted to watch him and see how he was doing before we left just in case something else should happen.  Well, it did, and I’m glad that we were not on the road.  Miles had another seizure and his fever would not come down, so we headed off to a larger hospital with specialists in pediatrics in Joplin. 

Once we got to the hospital, they ran another round of tests on Miles, poking and picking on him, but told us that he had a Febrile Seizure.  That is when a sudden high fever causes a seizure, which is the body’s way of attacking a virus or other ailment.  I was glad to know what it was, but there was no answer as to what was causing his fevers.  After checking and running a lot of tests, the doctors deduced that it was some sort of virus going around that had to run its course.  In the meantime, we were treating the fevers aggressively with Tylenol and Ibuprofen every three hours.  One thing that the doctors in the hospital in Joplin said to us was that the doses on the bottles that we gave him were not enough for him.  Since Miles is a bigger kid that most his age, he needed nearly double what the dosage on the bottle required.  They were very helpful in giving us a sheet to use for the future.  I was so thankful for that and was so concerned about overdosing him, that I didn’t even think about under dosing him.  Which is why the medicine was not really doing its job to keep his fever down.  Once his fever dropped below 100, we felt better and the hospital decided that we were able to go home.  We quickly went to Tom’s cousin’s house to pick up a sleeping Jaycee and drove all the way home.  Since both kids were asleep, we felt like things would be ok for us to be on the road.

It was not the vacation that we had planned, but we were so blessed to have Tom’s family to help with taking care of Jaycee.  That was one thing we really didn’t have to think about.  She was super spoiled by the older kids.  We were also glad to see Tom’s friend, and chat with him for a bit.  We’ve got to try to make another trip there sometime soon.

 

the Ehrlich’s

Construction Birthday

Miles turned one a couple weeks ago, but we've had some other things happen that left this post being a little late getting out. 

We decided that since Miles is always knocking things over in a destructive way we would have a construction birthday theme for his first birthday.  I found some awesome decorations from Hobby Lobby, and along with the help of Pinterest, we had a theme on our hands.  Tom also helped too.  Most of the time he just lets me plan it out, since it's kind of my thing, but this time since it was more of boy thing, he felt like he had some great ideas to contribute.  I was glad for the help.

I got a lot of ideas from the internet, and chose to do a simplified form of them.  I wanted to do more, but this was his first birthday and I really didn't have the time to go all out this year.  His first birthday kind of snuck up on me without me realizing it.


This was the dresser and decorations that I bought at Hobby Lobby.  I chose to do cupcakes this time and made a small cake for him to dig into.  I found some black buckets at the Dollar Tree and kept the drinks with ice in them.  I used a solid color plastic tablecloth and stapled it to the top of the wall as a background.  Most of the decorations I found at Hobby Lobby and used solid color plates, napkins, and spoons.  It was a lot of fun.

 

 

Tom had a sawhorse in the garage, so we used black posterboard and put a caution sign from the construction pack I got and the added some old tools from Tom's dad.  It was kind of bittersweet that we had Miles' birthday party on what would have been his dad's birthday.  So Tom wanted to incorporate some of his things into the party.  They made a nice addition.

We had another sawhorse on the driveway so that people would know to go in through the front door, along with a balloon bouquet.

My favorite thing to do for birthdays it to make my kids' cakes.  My dad did it for us, and I guess I want to continue the tradition.  I chose to make cupcakes for everyone else and a baby truck cake for Miles to save myself some time.  I cut a regular sheet cake into the shape of a truck and used cupcakes for the tires. 

We decided to strip Miles' down and take off his shirt for the big event.  He has never had cake before, so it was quite the treat for him.

He's got a look as if he's wondering what we are going to do with that thing.

YUMMMMMM!!!

Jaycee had to join in the fun too.  She loves cupcakes.
 

Sticky fingers

This was what was left of the cake after Miles was done with it.
 

Tom threw him in the tub, high chair and all.
 

Opening gifts.  Not sure he was really into this part of the party, I think he was still in a cake coma.
 

Our family
 

Playing with his new toy.
 

There's a smile.

We went outside for a bit to let the kids run off the sugar from the cupcakes.  Miles decided that sitting in our crunchy grass was good enough.  So we started singing and clapping with him.  Gotta love this guy.

After his birthday, we decided to take a quick trip to see some of Tom's family and friends near Joplin.  We ended up having to cut our trip short b/c Miles has some problems with high fevers.  But I'm so thankful for this little guy and the added blessings he has brought to our family. It has been fun to watch him grow, learn, share, and play with his sister.  I love watching his face when he is trying to figure out how things work and roaming around the room looking for the next tower, building, or blocks that he can knock down.  We call him Destructor around here, but we love him.  It was a lot of fun celebrating his first birthday.


the Ehrlich's

One



Today Miles turned one!!!! 

 

 

 

So, I'm a little late getting this post out, since his birthday was actually Tuesday.

 



The time has really gone by too fast.  I can still remember going to the hospital and checking in for a C-section.  I remember being really scared and completely at peace all at the same time.  There must have been lots of people praying for us.

Miles has definitely brought some changes to our lives.  There were many days when I had forgotten what it was like to take care of a newborn, and now he is all over the place walking, crawling, and looking for any open door or gate. 

For his birthday, I thought that we should do something a little out of the norm for the day.  I've learned from experience that life is so precious, and I want to make the most of the time that I'm given.  So we loaded ourselves up and headed down to Watson Park.  We are so lucky to live in a city that has so many fun things to do, and places to visit.  After living here for the last 13 years, I still think there are places that I haven't explored yet.  This park has a lot of kid-friendly activities, and we ventured to enjoy them.







This was the train that we rode.

 

 

 Jaycee & Miles on the train.

 

 

 Miles found a tic-tac-toe game that he could play with.

 

 

 

 Miles started walking a couple of weeks ago.  Of course we had to follow the yellow brick road.

 

 

 Jaycee wanted to show me her dance moves.

 

 

Then we checked out ponies. 

 

 

Later that day, we went to The Donut Whole.  This is a fun place where they make specialty donuts.  I discovered this place last year before Jaycee's birthday, and I think it might be an annual tradition I do with them.

 

 

Gotta run.  But we are having Miles' birthday party on Saturday.  I'm hoping to keep things simple.  Check back later for more pictures of our little man's first birthday.

 

 

 

the Ehrlich's 

Summer Fun



This summer has turned out to be quite busy.  I couldn't for sure tell you what all has been occupying our time, but we've had a lot of family time and fun hanging out in our simple home. 

 

Earlier this summer, we took to the tradition of making our summer list again.  Summer has always been a time when we work on those projects that we don't get to during the school year because of lack of time or just not a time of year to work outside.  This has become a fun family event, and now that Jaycee is old enough to be able to include some thoughts and ideas, she had joined right along with us.  It is fun to hear what she thinks we should get done over the summer.  We started this tradition so that we would be more intentional with our time and not waste it away.  I must say that with me being a list person and Tom being very task oriented, this plan has been awesome for us!!!  There is something so great about checking off those things you plan to get done, and seeing what still needs to be done and planning our time to include those things.  Ahhhh!!!

 

So, here are a few things that we really wanted to accomplish this summer:

 

- Join YMCA                                                                          

- Garage organization

- Frisbee golf                                                                           

- Deep clean the house

- Dropzone area                                                                       

- Eat more fruit

- Attend kid's summer movies                                                 

- Visit friends

- Visit area water parks                                                            

 - Miles' birthday party

- Exercise (hence joining the YMCA)                                     

- Thrift stores

- Swimming lessons                                                                 

- Women's Bible study

- Library story times                                                                  

- Photo projects

- Parks and playgrounds                                                           

- Sewing projects

- Bake new recipes                                                                    

- Walk with friends

- Date Nights                                                                             

- Nature center

- Grandma's house                                                                    

- Softball

 

These are just a few of the things we have wanted to do this summer.  I would have loved to have gotten pictures of them all, but sometimes you just get to live life and the camera stays in the car/ purse.  That's just how it goes sometimes.  But I hope that my kids will remember the great times we spent this summer chillin' together.  We've had a lot of family together time.

 



 

 My little boy is really fast!!!!  He has just been growing like a weed, and I knew that walking would be next on the baby agenda.  Jaycee absolutely loves Miles (a little too much for his liking sometimes), and she has been wanting to help him learn to walk.  Maybe she thinks that he will have more interest playing with her if he starts to walk.

 





 One of the things we wanted to do this summer was to visit our local nature center.  Luckily for us, Great Plains Nature is close by.  I had been saving the heels of our bread.  You know the end pieces that we don't ever eat for just a time to feed the fish and any other animal that should happen to come along.

We ended up seeing more turtles than anything else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also decided to take this time to let Miles get out of the stroller and practice his walking, with a little help.  He has been doing awesome at this whole walking thing.  I'm not in a big hurry for him to walk, b/c I will be chasing him that much more, but it is fun to see him learn and grow.  

 

 

This duck jumped right up on top of the railing and was not scared at all. 

 

It was so cute to see how this Mama duck took care of her babies.

 

Another huge turtle.

 

What a cheesy grin!!!

 

 

There is still more summer fun to be had, and this is just a little snippet of what we do all day. 

 

The internet and digital photos have not been friendly to me very much and as I become frustrated, I tend to give up for a while until I get the nerve to figure out the problems.  Mainly, I use nap times to do these things, and when that time is very precious, I usually find other things that are more pressing of my time.  Keep reading an following us and I will really try to be more consistent about the updates.

 

 

 

the Ehrlich's