Taylor and AJ Christmas!

So we just had Christmas time, and it was a lot of fun and a lot of driving.  We're also doing all the hoops and steps to buying our new house.  We went up to Nicky's families house on the 24th and spent time there until the 25th...then drove to my families house, where we stayed until the 26th.  So 3 days, 2 nights away from home with a Taylor and an AJ...

Boy were we glad to be home.  We had a weigh in, and things went ok for me.. I weighed in at goal, Nicky weighed in 10 pounds over goal... So not such a good week for her.  It's ok, we'll get her back on track as long as she's committed.  We took pics and did our weight measurements... I'm anxious to see the over-time progress.

For Christmas, Taylor got an awesome red Tricycle and AJ got a fun blue ride on toy.  They also got clothes, books, dolls, and trucks.  At home they got a 'boom box' that is virtually indestructible so they can listen to music out back or in the play room during the day.

Feeding Himself

So tonight I was feeing AJ and he started getting upset.. I couldn't figure out what he wanted.  Nicky to the rescue.  We put the food I was feeding him into a bowl and gave him a spoon..he wanted to feed himself!

So cute, and he's just about 13 months old.

Updates few...

Well, lately the big focus has been getting a house.  We've looked at quite a few places, found one we liked, and got an accepted offer.  Now it's time for inspections and appraisals and loan documentation and the like.  More updates as we get them but I'll show you the listing.



Very exciting.  Also, over the weekend, Nicky went to her mom's house to help clean in preparation, and I had both kids on Saturday... Nicky is a strong person, I couldn't do this day in and day out... a day here or there is ok, but on the long term I'd go insane.

Aj's first birthday party, Buying a house

Soo AJ had his first birthday party on Sunday, we had Linda and her Mom, Natalie and her 3 boys, Steve and Si, Nicky's parents, Aunt Krista and Uncle James, Star and Tim all show up... It was very cute, AJ loved looking up at the streamers.  We played Pin the nose on the Elmo and made S'mores.  All in all Nicky is very good at party planning.  When you read this, I'll have put pictures on here too, I just know if I don't write this now I won't get it done and another day will go by without an update.

We're also looking at buying a house, putting an offer in on the first one tomorrow.  They're asking 300 and we're bidding 250... to try to get a conversation going.  The house looks nice, and I hope we get it, but I'm being realistic.  Very exciting and yet sortof nail biting while you wait for the process to proceed.

Home buying, and kids!

Firstly, I'm getting bad at updating this thing regularly.  We've had a slow couple of weekends and just not a lot to write about.  Weight training continues, I'm still stuck at 6 chin ups, but my squat and bench numbers keep climbing.  We're only running 2x per week, 35 minutes per run.  We decided that between the cold weather and the fact that we're on a weight training cycle, we wanted to do a little less running.  Our Ironman jog stroller is really working out well, I'll try to remember to take pictures tomorrow when we run.  Nicky is still struggling to get a chinup, but she gets closer every time.  We're planning to buy a door mounted chin-up bar.  If we 'grease the groove' I know we can get her there.

Recently we started talking about buying a home, so we've started talking with a realtor and a mortgage guy.  Hopefully soon we'll have some cool stories about houses we've seen and want to buy.

It snowed here last night... but Nicky had a big bucket of fail and I don't have any pictures to show you.  AJ picked up a new phrase.. he says "GO GO GO".  He's walking really well and learning to feed himself with a spoon.  He's stopped drinking 100% formula, and we're mixing 50% formula with 50% whole milk.  It's funny, when Nicky changes him he twists and turns and rolls.  When I change him, he lays there peacefully while I change him.  HA HA!

The other day, I was laying down the law with Taylor, and she started to argue.  I replied "I love you to much to argue".. without missing a beat she replied "No you don't love me to much to arg-me".  Sigh, she's going through that phase, everything is no, you don't, and no I don't.  She's able to turn on the computer and navigate to her Nickelodeon flash games all by herself.

Killer Workouts!

Nicky and I have started a new weight training routine.  It's called the "Stronglifts 5x5" and you can find information about it here.  We're on the 2nd day of the new routine and it's kicking our butts!  We're lifting more than we ever have before and we're moving quickly from lift to lift.  It's a lot of fun, and the really cool news is, I've never been able to do a chin-up, and now I can do 6 of them.  I know that's not much to a seasoned lifter, but for me it was a huge mental barrier.

The great thing about it is it tells you exactly how and when to up your weight, which was always a stumbling block for me with previous routines.  I love simple workouts that aren't complicated and keep things changing so it stays interesting.  Nicky is soooo close to doing a chin-up I know she's going to be stoked when she does it.

It's very weird eating more now, because we're hungry more often.  I don't want to jump back up in weight, but I know SOME weight gain is required if I want to progress.  I just am super paranoid about not gaining a bunch of fat and undoing all the progress I made.  I just have to keep reminding myself that I know how to do it now, and if I find my body fat % going up, I can make adjustments.  I'll keep this updated as to my progress as a way to keep myself honest.