What We've Been Up To

We've been pretty few and far-between with the blog posts recently, so I thought I'd write a little mini-update of what's going on with us so far in the new year!

#1 We're still working on losing weight.
We started Weight Watchers together back in August and have each lost about 30 pounds! Definitely exciting and something to be celebrated. I forgot how good it felt to be forced to buy new jeans... and stuff that hasn't fit me since before I was pregnant with Kenna is fitting again, and that's fun. We both have about 40ish more pounds to go though, so we are trying to keep at it. As can be expected, Christmas time threw us off track a little bit. Who wants to count points when all those cookies are around? Since we have such flexible day time schedules right now, we've also tried to take advantage of the chance to make diet/exercise a priority as a family, like taking walks around the mall (avoiding this cold weather!) and cooking dinner together. Since I have 40 pounds left to go to my goal weight, Matt surprised me with this really sweet idea:
There is a $5 gift card waiting for every 5 pound increment I have left to lose, and each time I lose 5 pounds I get to use one of the gift cards (or I can save them to have $40 to spend when I reach my goal)! So now they are all lined up on the fridge as a reminder every time I get the urge to snack aimlessly. How sweet is that? I thought this little "system" was a really sweet and creative way to show me his support! I love that the "almost there" one says enjoy, and then the very last one looks like a celebration!

#2 We've gone on two dates in the past two weeks!
This has been a lot of fun, and a big treat for us- our awesome Sunday School class gave Matt a gift card to Outback as a thank you gift for co-teaching, so thanks to them we were able to have not one, but two dinners out! Our good friends Brian and Mandy (and Kate and Thomas!) gave us a gift card to a movie for Christmas (they know us too well!) so we were able to go see Twilight: New Moon (I know, I know) and Leap Year (excellent and we highly recommend it!). Kenna got to play with her grandparents one night and our lovely friend Joanna another night! Surely two bloomin' onions in one month is not so good for the weight loss thing, but man were they good! Maybe we should have saved one for Valentine's Day...

#3 Catching up with the Amersons
Our good friends Asheton and Tracey were in town right after Christmas and we were able to hang out with them for a few hours and see Kenna and their daughter Bailey play together! Kenna and Bailey are two days apart in age and haven't seen each other since last June when they were just 7 months old!
As you can imagine, these girls are much bigger now, and had a blast pretending to talk on the phone to each other. Even though we interrupted both their naptimes, they had lots of fun playing and chatting (so did their parents!)
I love this photo of Bailey, and had to laugh:
because it reminded me so much of this one of Kenna- at church waiting for the Christmas Eve service to start.
"Why are you still taking my picture, Mommy?" Where do these sassy little attitudes come from? (Don't you love that little bow holding on for dear life to one little hair? It lasted all of about 10 minutes on her head). PS girls- stop growing up so fast.

#4 Otherwise being entertained by our child.
Kenna, as usual, is a ham and so much fun to be around! Every little stage just seems to get cuter and more fun, even as her little temper and personality grow as she tries to figure out her world. She is still not walking on her own quite yet, but I am sure it is because I have told her we're going to start potty training when she does! She's into lots of girly things right now- she loves shoes and jewelry, and tries to "put on" anything and everything by looping it behind her neck... especially my scarves. She must be going through a growth spurt because she is eating everything in sight- she eats all of her food and then comes to our plates for more! She is such a people person- she loves to laugh and does great with church nursery, babysitters, and bigger kids. Her favorite toys right now are phones of any kind- whatever she can get her hands on. She really loves to throw a toy and then chase it down (yes, our kid likes to play "fetch") and sometimes she'll even play it with Pontouf! They are great friends, and Kenna thinks it's hilarious when Pontouf chases after a toy she's thrown. She loves to jabber and sing- we love imitating the little songs she makes up, and I can't wait until she can express her sweet little thoughts (for us to understand) with that sweet little voice.

Some not-so-fun things that we are disciplining right now are throwing food, taking her bib off in the middle of meals (especially frustrating during messy meals with messy little fingers!) and screaming- not as in crying, but as in loud bursts of screams when she wants something/can't reach something/ can't make something do what she wants it to do. She is fighting to not take naps, but we're still using the cry it out method at naptime and bedtime, which is really sad sometimes, but always works. She cries no matter what when we put her in the crib, but she usually cries for a few minutes and then settles down.

#5 Getting back on track.
It's hard to get back into a "normal" schedule after Christmas. There's something sad to me about taking down all the ornaments and decorations, so the house has been in kind-of a cluttered, half-cleaned up stage for a week or two. I'm always trying to figure out how to best optimize our space (especially the living room, since it is where we truly "live" most days!) since we have an active toddler now. I usually hit a "spring cleaning" phase early in January or February, and for me cleaning really is more like organizing and rearranging. Hopefully I have not driven Matt too crazy with asking him to help me move furniture! We are so blessed to be here and have loved making it a home. I try not to put too much stock in life feeling "normal" as so many things have taught me that there really is no normal! Matt and I have both started daily devotionals- he's doing My Utmost for His Highest and I've started going through Streams in the Desert, both of which have been really good so far!

Here are a couple of pictures of us from Christmas that I meant to post before.Headed to church on Christmas Eve:
And Kenna opening her stocking on Christmas morning at our house (yes her "stocking" is a little paper gift bag- read a funny story about our stockings here!):