Kristen

It's my turn! Just kidding. It's always my turn here. Hee hee.

What have I not been doing? I feel like I've been trying to save the world lately. For one, I'm not the gymrat that I once was. It all started when my knees started to hurt. They both hurt a little, then got progressively worse. I self diagnosed myself (thanks WebMD) with some fancy term...basically an inflamed kneecap. Last weekend, I needed an ace bandage on one knee to even walk correctly. It felt like a tendonitis pain I suppose. All this to say...I have been taking a break from the gym. At one time, I went 4-5 times per week. That was when I had one kid and another on the way. Once Alie was born, it went to 3 times a week. Then down to 2. Now 1. Hmmm. We've had some sickness around here, and I was in bed for a day and a half with a migraine. If nothing else, the lounging was great for my knees. I hardly have any pain at all now. I think I can get back on the gym wagon again.

And it doesn't fail. When I lose the will to workout, bad eating habits will follow. Not that I've ever head great eating habits, but I have been eating absolutely awful stuff lately. (One Day's Example: Poptarts for breakfast, sugar cookies and soda for morning snack, hot pocket for lunch, chips for snack, and taco bell for dinner). The cleaner eating version of me tries to avoid a lot of the processed, sodium laden, and refined sugar filled eats. I actually embrace the "everything in moderation" philosophy. I don't exclude anything from my daily consumption (except trans fats - Blech!), but I do try to minimize certain things. Of course I say all this and I don't think I've seen a vegetable in over a week.

This will all change. I am forcing myself to plan our meals again. It helps with our budget and stress levels. I'm tired of opening the fridge at 5pm, looking hopelessly at the contents and wondering what on earth I can possibly concoct from the chaos within. Five minutes later, the result is simply the question of the hour: "Where do you want to go to eat?"

I can feel all of this too. It wreaks havoc on our finances to eat out so much. I feel yucky when I eat bad too. I'm more moody, tired, and sloth-ish when I eat like this and don't work out. I lose motivation to do just about anything. Pair this with a 3 year old who fights us at bedtime, and a 7 month old teething baby and we have a nightly trip to Disneyland.

Anyway, enough of this tangent. The dust is being brushed off of me as I speak and I'll be back to my chipper self in a week or two.

Changing subjects...I recently started babysitting for my neighbor's three school-age kids. It's only two days a week (Wednesdays and Thursdays) and it's more of an after school gig until about 6pm. My neighbors are paying me and the kids are pretty tame now that they're in school. All they want to do when they get home is unwind. No problem there. Starting this week, I'll also be watching my friend's baby on Tuesdays from 8am-2pm. Makenna is one month younger than Natalie, so it'll be a bit like having twins. Makenna is also super easy like Natalie (I've watched her in the church nursery a few times). Andrew will be at school, so I won't have to worry about keeping him entertained...or away from the babies.

I never intended to do in-home daycare. These are situations that fell in my lap. Both people were looking for someone and having a hard time finding anyone who could do it. I'm helping them, and they're helping me as well. I seriously can't see myself committing to a full-time babysitting gig. I would go absolutely batty if I were stuck in the confines of my house all day, every day. Eak. Plus, I don't want to raise my kids in a home that has tons of other kids in and out all day. I like having things be a little more stable. Picky, picky...I know.

Alright, it's midnight. I've been blogging my butt off for a couple of hours now. I'll add some more things (and hopefully some pictures) in the not-to-distant future.