Join the "Real Moms" Club!

So my friends Jeigh and Evelyn started this revolution, and I've decided to join! So here goes. The goal is to make my blog a little more "real". So instead of the overview of all the nice good pictures and all the fun stuff going on in our lives and only posting what I *think* people should see on my blog, I'm gonna "keep it real"! Here's my top ten "real mom moments" that I wouldn't admit to on a daily basis, but nonetheless are true mommyhood things in the Beardall household! Ready to be realistic? Here goes!
1. My 19 (soon to be 20) month old little boy still has his bottle. Yup. Ugh. That is horrible to admit, but totally true. Although in my defense we nipped the binky habit early, and he only drinks his milk from his bottle, and everything else with a sippy. On the other hand however, I think I just have been too lazy with actively getting rid of it! It's hard admitting your kids are growing up!
2. I only get up and get dressed, fully showered, hair and makeup about 4 days a week! The other days I DO get a shower at some point in the day though it may not be until 7 at night. Admitedly those 4 days I do actually get all ready are sunday and the three days Blake has preschool! To actually keep even that schedule is sometimes way exhausting.
3. I regularly drop off my daughter to elementary school in my pajamas and glasses. See number 2 on this list in case you're confused. I'm sure she'll hit that point soon when she'll be embarrassed by that. Argh. I bet my primary kids at her school don't claim me either! Oh well.
4. My kids have spent a day or two totally vegging in front of the tv in their pjs. As a mama you just have to spend all day long on other things sometimes!
5. I clean my house constantly. It drives me insane to have a cluttery messy house. And even if I clean the rest of the house awesome, the playroom usually looks like this! And even when I do clean my house, it is wrecked again within a few hours. I do clean more when I know someone is coming over, and try very hard to keep my messy house from showing. But it is a mess quite constantly, because guess what--I HAVE KIDS! and they LIVE HERE!
6. I don't like to cook dinner. Ryan cooks dinner about 95% of the time. Isn't he awesome? He also wakes up the kiddos in the morning and sets out breakfast for them and packs Emmalee's lunch every morning. In terms of meal prep, I make lunch for the boys and myself, breakfast for myself and Jarom, and sometimes dinner if I'm in the mood to cook. Which is rare, remember? Yup. Scandalous huh?
7. I start many projects and don't finish them. I call myself a 90%er. I get about 90% of the way done with a project and can't seem to finish them, ever! I do eventually finish them, but not usually in a timely manner. Yup. Terrible. I know.
8. I feel incredibly guilty taking time during the day to go workout. I feel bad leaving Ryan with the kiddos while I spend an hour at the gym. But going and working out allows me to feel better about myself and in turn helps me be a better mama and wife.
9. Sometimes I really get frustrated that the ward has us working in such time demanding callings. Ryan is the scoutmaster and I am the primary president. Ry is gone every wednesday night and several weekends for campouts and mutual and meetings and I am constantly spending time working on primary things and feel as though I always have to be there on Sunday. I have my days when I just wish I could focus on my family more and have my family home. I do really love my calling and would honestly probably go crazy if I didn't get to work in that particular calling, and my husband does an awesome job with the scouts, but it is hard to find the balance between my own little family and our church responsibilities sometimes. I guess honestly I find it hard to believe that members complain about taking on simple callings, let alone bigger ones. But I'm willing to serve because I know we are where we need to be right now.
10. The thought of having more kids in the future is a frightening one to me a lot of the time. I do want to have one or two more kids, but I feel totally overwhelmed with the three I have A LOT. I have a hard time being patient with my whiny daughter and my 2 active little boys. The more kids I have equals more work I have to do (dishes, laundry, etc.) and the smaller my house and my monthly budget gets. We do want another baby in the very near future, but I must admit that it is a constant stress and debate for me.

Yup. SO there you go. Keeping it real! Whew! Oh I almost forgot! Here's my "righteous double chin" pic! YAY!

My goal

I set a goal for myself during the middle of january this year. Not so much a new year's resolution, just a goal. I wanted to see if I could actually follow through with it and make a positive change in my life. I would really like to have another healthy baby in the near future and since my last pregnancy didn't quite go as planned (got pre-eclampsia with Jarom) I want to make sure that the next one goes okay since you have a higher risk of getting pre-eclampsia again in following pregnancies. So I decided to take a stand on my weight. For some reason the last year I put on 20 extra pounds. I figure it probably has something to do with that late 20's metabolism shift, but it put me over a weight I never wanted to be at, and I decided I wasn't gonna take that sitting down! My goal is to lose that 20 pounds before I get pregnant again. And if I can take off some more past that-- that would be great too! So I started going and working out while the kiddos had swim lessons at the rec center. I started off running half a mile, walking half a mile, and then doing 20 minutes on the eliptical. I got in the great habit of going 4-5 times a week.The first week I started doing this, that workout literally pushed me. But I decided to slowly push myself and keep going. I'm now on week 11. For my workout now I run 1.3 miles plus a warm up and cool down lap, and I do 30 minutes on the eliptical. The last few weeks however I have fallen to only 3 or 4 days a week. I pushed myself every week to up how many laps I would run, moving up about a 1oth of a mile every couple of weeks. It feels great to go run and that I am able to pound out that 1.3 miles just like that! I have such a hard time actually getting up and going to go workout but once I am there it is just awesome! Why is it so hard to start things and keep going? So far, I have bounced a little on the scale, but have definitively lost an actual ten pounds. It's frustrating to see shows like the biggest loser and hear of other people dropping weight like crazy really fast, and only see that 10 pounds in 11 weeks, but I reassure myself that a 1 pound per week average is still quite healthy and respectable. I'm just one of those people who wants results instantaneously and it is frustrating to not see a huge difference when I've been working so hard. But I'm resolving to finish this and get down to a better weight and get healthier for my next baby. Half way there! Wish me luck!

Spring?

So today, which happens to be the middle of April, the weather in Cody Wyoming was actually tolerable enough to warrant "spring" activities outside! Crazy huh? I feel like we have been in winter for years now, and have been dying for the spring and summer season. I seriously think that winter affects my mood and my motivation to do things. I need sun and sunlight, and warm fresh air! Ah! So I seriously spent the entire day outside working on projects in my yard. We put in a walkway from the front to the back gate by the camper, where previously we just had mud! It looks sooooo much better! We also lined the front and side flower garden with river rock and mulch, and it looks like a new yard! I feel like I actually got something accomplished today. What a great day.