11 Month Update

Yesterday Aspen turned 11 months old. We are already planning her first birthday party next month. It is still kind of hard to believe that we are at this point. She is still so tiny and it just doesn't seem right! She has made a lot of progress in the last month. She popped another tooth finally. She has gotten a little fussy during teething and we have given her some tylenol a couple of times, but other than that she is doing pretty good. Still sleeps great for us. She is eating 3 meals a day and still 100% breastfed. I have actually stopped pumping now but I have more than enough frozen to get through the next month and it is so nice to not have to pump anymore. I still nurse her in the morning at night and the weekends, for now and it is working pretty good. Her favorite foods are cheese and bananas, although she also likes yogurt, chicken, turkey and potatoes. We will introduce grains after her birthday. She is moving all along the furniture and we had to put the baby gate up because she silently climbed half-way up our stairs the other night. She is playing peek-a-boo, giving hugs, and blowing kisses. We all love her so much and just can't believe how big she is getting!

Swim Time

Throughout the summer my sister has been coming over 1-2 times during the week to bring the boys by to swim. It is nice because usually they take Everly in and I don't have to go in. She loves it and it is a nice way to break up the week. She has also gotten a lot more confident in the water so that is good too. Seeing how good of swimmers the boys are definitely helps. We had a lot of fun taking some video of the kids with the GoPro. Everly and Teddy both loved jumping in with the camera in their hands but Teddy must have gotten too excited because he kept pressing the stop button while he jumped in. Teddy loved looking at the camera underwater and was basically swimming to catch the camera at one point. I need to work on (Justin needs to work on) making sure I am in more of the videos because I am behind the camera in almost all of this and I want to make sure I am a part of these memories, too! Enjoy! 

Sedona Video

I already posted about our quick trip to Sedona HERE but I finally got around to compiling a little video from our trip. I didn't have a ton of footage but I think it still turned out cute. It is so pretty up there!

Weekend in Review

This weekend was a good one and fairly productive, too. On Saturday morning I slept in (6:30 a.m.). Lately Justin has been running/hiking on Saturday mornings and I have been resting and it has been working good. My sister invited us over for breakfast so we headed over there. The kids played for a while and then we went to a quick story time at the library. Aspen went down for a nap while Everly and I went for a quick shopping trip. Justin is starting to work on building us a kitchen table so he worked on that while I did some cleaning and the girls napped. He finished up the cleaning while I went to mass with Aspen and then afterward we headed to the splashpad and ate "Whole 30 compliant" Chipotle. On Sunday morning I went out for a short run as my body is still adjusting and then had a nice breakfast at home. Everly and I did some grocery shopping because she loves the kids area at the grocery store. We got some organizing done in Aspen's closet and I even did a little work in my closet too. We went back over to my sister's for dinner. We tried to do a clay craft with the kids but basically ended up making it ourselves. I am missing the girls already!

Mae and Aspen (7 months apart)

 

Cam and I on the ipad and Aspen at story time 

Making zig-zags at story time

Splash pad Life

 

lazy #1

lazy #2

Making minion clay. Didn't work out so great so Everly made birdies.

Baby Playtime

Aspen recently got some new toys to play with so we tried them out. Everly was so excited to open up the box. She then decided to sit in the box and call it her boat. So basically we won double time here because Aspen got new toys and Everly got a box. All of the toys are from Lamaze which you can find almost anywhere now. The toys range in appropriate ages depending on your child. Aspen's favorite toy was definitely the fishbowl. It is a really cute little toy and we were practicing her putting the fish "in" and "out." With Aspen being the second child, we probably don't do enough structured play like this to work on her fine motor skills so these toys are great for getting us to do that. She also got a soft book which is great because she puts everything in her mouth right now. The other two toys have clips for the stroller or car seat. I like to clip them on highchairs at restaurants also so you are not constantly picking toys up off the ground. One is a little baby doll which she absolutely loved. It has a little rattle on the front and she was even giving it hugs. The other is a dragon that you can pull and release. When you release it the wings make a clicking noise. Most toys like that just vibrate so it was cool that this made a different noise. She is still not totally sure about it but I bet it will entertain her on car rides. Considering almost everything Aspen has is second hand this was really fun for her!

the four new toys

Everly in her boat.

 

And here is a quick little video of Aspen playing with a couple of the toys. 

Weekend in Review

So, I realized I was really bad and didn't take a ton of pictures of my kids or anything this weekend! I did take several food pictures, though! Sad, but true. I have started playing soccer again on Friday nights to get ready for the outdoor season so I had a game Friday night. It was fun hearing Ev and Teddy cheering from the bleachers. Saturday morning I slept in (!!) and Justin went for a run. We hung out Saturday morning and then headed out to Ikea. We didn't get anything big but a few fun little things. Since my life currently revolves around food (Whole30) I had already planned to get an In n' Out burger after Ikea. It was my first double and it was delicious. Can't wait to have fries again, though. After Ikea we were pretty exhausted. Saturday night my sister brought the boys over to swim. I got no pictures but I took a lot of go pro video that I need to go through. The kids had fun jumping in with the go pro in their hands. On Sunday morning I attempted a run. Once again, my body is still learning how to adjust to the changes I am making. I am going to cut the running back a little while I learn to adjust. We went grocery shopping and got some yummy Chipotle for lunch. After naps Sunday we met my sisters at Target to do a little back to school shopping. Everly picked out a new backpack and it is pretty adorable on her. She is starting preschool in 2 weeks! I normally feel pretty good about the weekend, but this one felt a little short! Ready for the weekend to come back again!
  

We found Whole 30 compliant bacon!

A photo posted by Justin Larkins (@justinlarkins) on Aug 1, 2015 at 12:01pm PDT

A video posted by Justin Larkins (@justinlarkins) on Aug 1, 2015 at 1:05pm PDT

Our new laundry cart

stop growing up!

Our first Whole 30

This Monday Justin and I started our first Whole 30 challenge. If you don't know what it is, the program rules and anything you need to do it are all online HERE. You can also get the books It Starts With Food and The Whole 30 basically anywhere. I checked them out from my library because I am cheap. To extremely simplify it, it is a 30 day program that focuses on eating whole, nutritious foods and cutting out foods that could be having a negative impact on your life. Later, you reintroduce foods to see how your body is impacted and figure out what works for you. It is close to Paleo, but a bit more strict. I had been wanting to do it for a while but did not want to have supply issues with breastfeeding and there was just always something going on that it didn't seem like a good time to start (birthdays, holidays, etc). I am nearing the end of primarily breastfeeding Aspen and I saw a good opportunity with no big events coming up so we finally started it. The reasons that I am doing it are to lose the last bit of baby weight but also to gain a healthier relationship with food (i.e. not having ice cream every night, being able to say no to donuts/cookies, eating better on the weekends). Justin and I already ate pretty healthy. We already ate at home during the week but we definitely had a lot of things to clean up. Today is Day 5 and while it is not easy, it is definitely not impossible. So far, I have learned that I need to just stick with what I like sometimes and not over complicate things. For example, I tried to eat hardboiled eggs and I definitely gagged. I will stick with my scrambled eggs because I like that and it is just as good for me. I am also still learning how to fuel correctly for runs. I went out for a 5-miler on Wednesday and it was one of the worst runs I have had in a long time. Definitely need to eat carbs appropriately leading up to a run. I have definitely not felt hungry but I do miss my treats. My supply has decreased but it had already been decreasing as Aspen has been eating more solid foods. I still want to continue nursing but I have a good backup in the freezer so I am not too worried. I have no energy issues (except for that run) but I do workout 5-6 days a week still so I am sure that helps. As far as what we have been eating, it includes a lot of eggs. We already went through like 30 eggs this week so I have to get more for the weekend. We have been eating lots of meat and veggies with some fruit and potatoes. My favorite things so far are bananas and almond butter, all nuts (no peanuts allowed), scrambled eggs, sweet potatoes, avocados, and green beans. We have been making extra dinner so we have leftovers for lunch and that makes things a lot easier, but we used to do that before this challenge. We weighed ourselves before and also my gym owner let me use the Body Fat Calculator so I will compare that to my results at the end. We also took before pictures to compare with after pictures. I have a feeling I will be gaining muscle just due to the increase in protein I have been eating so the Body Fat Calculator will help with that. I will try to do an update halfway through and then again at the end. It won't be easy, but I am fairly competitive and I started it, so I will finish it. Here are a couple things from this week:

Breakfast: Fruit with almond butter (Costco), veggie/egg scramble, sweet potatoes and a slice of prosciutto (Trader Joes).

leftovers for lunch: grilled chicken, guacamole cup (Costco), green beans and sweet potatoes

Prosciutto egg cups (with spinach, tomato, and onion)

Shutterfly Photo Book

I had a free coupon for a photo book that expires tomorrow so I had to get my act together and finally make a book from our trip to the Grand Canyon earlier this month for my birthday. I ended up using the same template as I recently used for Bearizona but the template was so perfect and Bearizona and the Grand Canyon are pretty close to each other so it makes sense that it works for both. I think it looks different enough anyways. You can see some of my other books here. I have so many and I love them all.

 

Click here to view this photo book larger

Foothills Aquatics Center Video

Ever since Everly and I first visited the aquatics center a few weeks ago I had been telling my sister she needed to bring the boys because they would have a blast. We finally all went last weekend and had a lot of fun. I really wish that it opened earlier (Saturdays it opens at noon) but other than that I love it. We brought the go pro and although I am still learning how to use it, I think we got some great shots. Justin even jumped in off of the diving board with it. While we were there the whistles started blowing and everyone had to get out of the pool because a kid fell (he was totally fine) but that is what Everly is talking about at the end of the video. Teddy asked, "what was that sound" about 90 times even though he knew it was a whistle. Toddlers! I am pretty sure everyone napped fantastically after that, myself included.

Video Update

We took our Go Pro with us last weekend at the Phoenix Zoo for the Winter in July event. We have the lowest model of Go Pro so we don't know what we are shooting until we upload it later. The models with more features are crazy expensive. I finally got around to putting together some of the clips from that day. I am still not that great but someday I will have time to really play around with it more. For now, you get the picture and it is a great memory for our girls to look back on someday.

Weekend in Review

We got in a lot of activities last weekend. It all started off bright and early Saturday morning with a trip to the Zoo for the Winter in July event. We had not been to the zoo in a while and to this event in a few years so it was fun. We got there around 6:15. Crazy, I know! The zoo opens to the public at 7:00 but as members we get to skip the crowds and get in early and it is totally worth it. By the time we left they were using the overflow parking which includes a 10-15 minute walk to even get to the zoo. For the winter in July even they put snow out for the kids to play with as well as in several of the animals exhibits. They gave the tiger a "bloodsicle" but it really looked like a "fishsicle." Everly had fun throwing snowballs and at the splashpad. We also got to see a 4-d 15 minute showing of the Polar Express. Aspen jumped a bit during the show but it was pretty cute and who doesn't love Christmas in July?!? After the zoo it was still early in the morning so we picked up donuts and headed over to my sister's to hang out. Later in the afternoon we went to the mall to get my niece's ears pierced. The kids all did really great at the mall and Mae did pretty good with her ears as well. They had a bottle ready for her and I would say it was less painful then we my mom and I got Everly's done! On Sunday I got up and met my sister's and a friend to run 8 miles at 4:45 a.m. I followed that off with a donut. The rest of the day was spent cleaning/grocery shoppping/napping before we met my family up for a birthday dinner. My birthday was the 10th followed by my sister on the 13th and my brother on the 20th so we headed to Grimaldi's. The pizza was delicous. We had none leftover, haha. We even managed to get a decent group photo which is extremely rare. We ended the weekend with some splashing and rainbow chip cake!

                    

tiger in the background, Aspen sleeping in the Ergo

Winter in July!

 

Splashpad fun!

                    

Mae using Auntie Kim's chin as a binky and Everly holding Mae. 

Left the #nsale with some cute goods.

yes, yes I do.

Sometimes he likes me. 

                     

our squad

twinsies! Justin has a matching suit, too.