To Be A Kid!

Just doing the morning

dishes and I came across

this "finished" bowl of cereal.

Is it just me, or does this

make you want to

be a kid again?

Did you figure out

which cereal this is yet?



Fronica x

-.8

It's Monday!

AKA weekly weigh-in

"Funday"...

...or not so fun,

when the number

doesn't even reach

negative one.

Curiosity, excitement

to see if my hard work has

produced any enlightenment!

The day is new

and the week too,

what will the blessed

scale do?!

Step on up

to speculate,

while I wait

to see the dreaded

-.8!

THAT AIN'T SO GREAT!

MAD!

SAD!

Why is it

this bad?!

280+ minutes

of jogging

and 7 days of

religious

food logging

have now sadly

left me blogging.

Anger is gone,

I have now moved on.

It is what it is.

I cannot let it affect the day.

Because then the kids would pray,

for their mom to stop acting full of dismay.

Everything is going to be okay!

You see,

I am free!

I can choose to be sad

or mad.

I can also choose to be happy

and glad.

I choose to be happy.

What's the point

of being mad?

It only makes you and everyone feel bad!

Hard work everyday

little by little, will soon add up

and fill your cup.

Our final goals will be reached.

Of course, you probably don't

need it to be preached.

Just stick with it,

stay strong

and you will find

things start to move along.

Use motivation

and

determination.

You will need to cope

and use hope.

A

strong mind

will also come in handy

and make you feel dandy

when you eventually find...

...a loss of that massive be-hind.

sincerely,
Fronica x

The above picture is from:

http://www.drgourmet.com/loseweight.shtml

I don't actually know much about that

website.  I looked at it for a couple

seconds.  It says it's free,

but I didn't test it out to

see if it was true.

It could be worth looking at.

I personally like:

http://www.caloriecount.about.com/

It has great tools.

You can enter in

your current weight,

then you put your goal weight.

It gives you a suggested date

to reach your goal.

It is also free!

Go have a look

for yourself.

If you have an iphone 

you can search for and add an app that is

a calorie counter, if you are

 more of a technology person

this method may suit you.

I'm very old fashioned and just

stick with a small notebook

and a pen!

A page from my food log

looks something like this:

H20: III  

Banana: 100

1/4 c. oats: 75

activia: 65

etc.

I add it up as the day 

goes on.  I put tally marks for

each bottle of water I've drank.

I aim for 4-5 bottles a day. 

Good luck to anyone

working towards a goal :)

 Summer is just around the corner

but there's still time to reach that goal!

In fact, there's always time to reach it.

Five

Kyle,

you make us smile,

nearly every day,

with the things that you say.

This is true,

I didn't use the word

"smile"

only to rhyme

with "Kyle",

it sincerely

fits your profile.

Strong.

Helpful.

Sharp.

Joyful.

Loving.

Cuddler.

Loveable.

Tough,

and

*maybe*

even

a tad

bit

rough?

: D

All those words

and many,

many more

simply

add to your score.

You are a star,

and you are going

far.

IF

you always

remember

who you are.

Happy 5th Birthday.

We love

*every*

*single*

*thing*

about 

YOU!

Love,
Mom x

Baby Blessing

Dawn and Dad

Her happy day!

Flying High

 

This picture is from the following website:

http://combatsportpsychology.blogspot.com/2008/04/runners-high-gains-traction.html

Flying High

Shoes laced
ready to go,
put on
my running face.

Out the door,
this is not a chore.

My feet
hit the street,
only to find
their own beat.

Thoughts begin,
until they settle,
in a place
where no one else
can meddle.

*Euphoria*

I am strong.
I am invincible.
I am free.
I am flying,
without
even trying.

No pain.
 No strain.
Only another world,
I now obtain.

Running takes
me there!


This picture is from:
http://www.everymantri.com/everyman_triathlon/2010/12/video-a-runners-high-wins-getty-images-mishmash-music-video-remix-competition-.html

As for the poem,
that is all mine.

Thank Heavens for Horses!

This is so fun!

On the land behind our house

they have recently

put 2 new horses back there.

It used to be just

used for sheep.

Myself and the kids

are thrilled to see

horses outside

our windows.

We love it!

Did I mention that

the horse is my

all time favorite animal?!

It's always been

a dream of mine

to own our own

horse one day :)

If anyone else shares

that dream here's

a little info. on it:

http://horses.about.com/od/buyingyourfirsthorse/a/horsebuyingfaqs.htm

Thank heavens for

the horses

in the backyard.

They have broken up and

and brightened up

our days :)

The boys love to go

out there with some

carrots and

feed the horses.

The horses love it too!

Brooke LOVES

looking out the window

at the horses

she gets really

excited when she

spots them.

Grandpa is here too, makes it

even more fun!

Dawn is not yet impressed

by this.  This is how

she spends her

time amidst the

excitement:



Dawn's Day!

BIG mama!

Before picture :)

Saturday, February 12th 2011

6:45 pm

Dawn Lark Saurman

has entered this world!

...only 10 days late...

I think she was putting

off her arrival as long

as she could, in fear

of having to come to our

family.  In the end,

she couldn't put it off any longer.

We finally got to meet her!

Run of events of the day:

4:30 am water breaks.

Phone hospital,

they tell us to come in, after

a couple of hours.

Settle our kids with a friend to

watch them,

and head to the hospital.

Outside the hospital, just

hanging around.

We went walking to
try and 

get some contractions

started.

The first thing we
noticed on the wall
after entering
into the hospital
wing:

(take time to read
the WHOLE page
under the fellow's
picture)

Upon arrival and checking

in, we were issued the

first very important

resource for the day:

We arrived to our first

destination of the day

around 7:45 am.

A room,

which consisted of

4 beds, seperated

by curtains.

We had 3 neighbors

to start the day off :)



After we settled in

the midwife

told me I was a

rare American

and must not like

McDonalds

as much as the

other American's.

I told the midwife

I was planning

to receive an

epidural as

part of my birthplan.

The midwife

then tried to persuade me

to use the birthing pool

instead.

I wasn't too keen

on that and had

it no where in my

plans, so I

kindly replied,

that I definitely wanted

to do the epidural.

To this the midwife

replied

I may not be

able to get it

because if I have one

that means one midwife

has to stay with me

and there are not enough

midwives on shift

to handle that.

I was crushed

when I realized I

 may not be able to have

the epidural as I had

hoped for.

I had felt enough

pain from my other

deliveries to know

I was perfectly happy

not to feel it again :)

Next, checking

the heartbeat of the

baby with this:

(the purple instrument)

The midwife put her

ear on one end,

and my large belly on the

other end.

After listening

to the heart beat on

an actual monitor

for 30 minutes.

They unhooked me

and carried on

taking care of

other patients.

We were sitting

there, still waiting

for contractions to start.

We decided to go

walking outside, around

the hospital and hoped

for something to start.

Came back from our walk,

went back to our partitioned

room.  Eventually

contractions did start.

They became

more intense

and regular.

I started

timing contractions with

my watch for a while.

We hadn't seen the midwife

for a while.

Things were moving

along.

I was doing quite

well with my breathing,

feeling pretty

confident in that.

Though feeling more

pain.

After a while, we

met the new midwife,

as they changed

for the new shift.

She was very kind

and began working on

getting my blood work

done in order to

make sure it was okay for

me to receive an epidural.

I asked how long it would take

the blood work results

and she said it would be

one hour.  I slightly

or largely panicked

and thought I

definitel wouldn't have

the epidural in time.

In taking my blood

there was the biggest

needle I'd ever seen

inserted into a vein

I never knew

existed. 

One try on one arm, OUCH!!

Didn't work.

Tried the other arm.

OUCH!

Didn't work.

One more try in that same

spot,

OUCH!!!!!!!!!

Still no luck.

They had the anesthetist

come over and she ended up getting

it in on her first try...

my 4th time to be tested on.

I've never actually

hurt badly from

having my blood taken

before.  There's

a first for everything.

Good news, the midwife

gave me some antibiotics

that I didn't think they were going

to give me.  Definitely

made Luke and I both

happy!

The midwife offered

me gas and air.

I said no thanks, I don't

think I want to

try that.

Then she said,

you'll never know

unless you try if

you like it.

I said, well,

okay, I guess it's

worth a try.

They moved us to our

own room for this.

On the way to

moving Luke noticed

a strange scene.

(I was too focused on

contractions to pay

attention to my

surroundings).

Apparantely there was

a schizophrenic

Polish

man who

snuck into

the labor and delivery

ward.  He

walked in right

behind a worker.

He said there were

people after him.

I guess they were able

to take care of that situation.

We made it safely to our

next room.

I tried the gas and air

and I must say,

it was NOT for me!

I only inhaled once

and had more

then enough of it.

I could still feel

all the pain,

but felt like I had no

control.

I had been doing

really well with

my breathing until

that point and

felt too out of

it to even breathe

calmly to help

get through the contractions.

Thank heavens the

gas finally wore off.

Finally after what felt

like FOREVER

my blood results returned

and we were okayed for

the epidural.

 I was 7 cm

when they gave it to

me.

What wonderful

relief!

Only 20 minutes

later I started asking,

hey what happened to the

epidural?!

I need more!

It's gone!!

We were back to square

one with the pain!

Fortunately Dawn was

born VERY quickly after the

epidural wore off.

What a beautiful little baby she is!

8 lbs 15.5 oz.

We are so happy to have

her into our family.

After having the baby

the hospital usually

releases you 6 hours

after.

Since she was born

in the evening, myself

and the baby just ended up staying

the night. 

So, the baby

and I were taken to

another

4 bedded

room.  We had our

partitioned area

with the curtain.

This is where myself

and 3 other new mums

and their babies stayed up

all night listening to the lovely

chorus of our babies.

Luke was sent home,

as they do not

have the dads

stay the night here.

We were under

the impression we would be

leaving that morning,

but ended up

waiting 12 hours

for the pediatrician to

come to allow

us to be discharged.

We literally sat for hours,

thinking we were leaving

at any minute.

No one checked on us

during the whole day

except later that

evening around 5:30.

All that matters, is we

made it home,

BIG sigh of relief

to be in your own home

again!!

The children adore

their new little sister!

Brooke adores

her almost too much :)

We have to keep a close

eye on her mothering

intuition to this new real

life baby toy she's discovered.