New Year's resolution

Shaun and the kids don't know it yet, but I've dubbed 2012 the year our family gets organized! I'm not sure if any of you readers know this, so I'll let you in on a secret...having 3 kids less than three years apart makes life kinda hectic, lol. I'm not complaining about it; I love it. The only problem is I feel like things are out of control around here. I'm not a good housekeeper *shock* I never have been, and having kids just compounds that fact.

I'm setting a New Year's resolution to get this house running like a well oiled machine. I've attempted this before but now I've got a plan, and a plan that is manageable that I can start in small steps. I'm going to try FlyLady's process again and adapt it to our family needs. I'm now meal planning a month at a time, clipping coupons weekly, and making a healthy dinner nightly. I have set times each week for studying, cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry - that I will stick to, most importantly.

I might throw out some posts dedicated to organization this next year to help keep myself on track.

Fitness update: month 5?

Month 5, or something like that, lol. I'll keep this one nice and short. I'm still working out. Most weeks 3-5 days per week I'm running, lifting or swimming. Wednesday I ran 6.53 miles and I timed the first 6.2 with the result being 8 mins 30 seconds faster than my 10K race on Thanksgiving! What's even more amazing is that I was only above my training Zone 3 for a bit under 10 mins and I didn't once go above my Zone 4. When I first started working out I hit Zone 5 a lot (that's above 201 bpm for me). That shows a good heart/lung improvement.

I'm still losing the weight too. I'm kind of wishing I had done before and after pictures. There's a fairly big difference. I've now lost more than 50 pounds since the day I had Sophia, and almost 40 pounds since I started actively trying to lose the weight. I'm a little over 2 pounds from my goal weight.

Any runners out there reading this? My second toe on my right foot has been giving me troubles post run. It feels bruised, kind of under the nail area. Is this a shoe issue? A stride issue? A my-foot-is-just-whack issue?

Christmas videos!

Here are a few videos of the kids from Christmas. The first one is from when Santa arrived at the Eineke family Christmas (he visits for a bit every Christmas eve). The next two videos are from the same night, when Santa visits with each kid (except Sophia since she was already sleeping). The last video is from Christmas morning. Shaun and I camped out in the living room early to catch Evie and Lex's reactions to Santa having visited overnight.

Photo summary of the past month

Best buds.

How the dinosaurs actually disappeared.

Soon after two teeth appeared.

Om nom nom!

Evie at her dance recital.

Being a goof.

A *graceful* goof.

Yep, those dance lessons are really paying off.

Opening presents with great grandpa.

First of the celebrations for the season.

Books!

I think I've already read each of these books multiple times.

Trying to get them all to pose together.

*HUGS*

Our little slice of the season at home.

Dance!

Evie's first dance recital was today! Here are a few videos for your viewing pleasure. Sorry for the bad camera work in a few places. I was juggling Sophia while filming and she kept trying to grab the camera.

[Or not for the Mickey video...since the music they dance to comes from Warner, they've blocked it.]

Fitness update (overdue)

Sooooo I said I was going to update this monthly. Ooops, guess I missed last month. No worries, though, I'm still working out and (trying) to eat healthy. As of today I am 6 lbs away from my ultimate weight loss goal. That's 47 lbs lost since Sophia was born and 33 lbs lost since I started working out and trying to lose the weight. I'm feeling great!

I still run. I'm still a slow runner. Honestly, I highly doubt my ability to be anything but a slow runner. I just don't know how to go fast. I'm switching up my training from heart training to speed training these next couple of weeks (or I'm going to switch it up every couple of runs) in hopes of getting faster. I ran my first 10K last week on Thanksgiving. I didn't come in last place, but it was close enough to make me cringe. I keep telling myself that at least I'm getting out there and running. I keep the motto of "I'm lapping everyone on the couch" - but it's hard to keep the motivation up when I run so freaking slow.

I've been lifting 3 days a week too. It's going good. I'm getting better at the two specific lifting circuits I'm doing. The first day I could only get through 4 sets and now I can do all 8 sets without getting out of my heart rate range. Each set used to take me 10 minutes to complete and now I'm down to 5.5-6 mins each. It's an improvement I'm happy with.

Next up: more of the same. I'm going to keep up the running. I'm planning to run the New Year's day Polar dash 10K. I'm hoping some speed training between now and then will show a much improved run time for that race. Depending on how that race goes, I may move up the date of my first half marathon. I didn't realize how many there are in late winter/early spring here. Still going to keep up with the lifting too. If it gets too routine and "easy" I'll be adding weights. I'm not sure when I'll officially be taking a PT test. I'm hoping not until the weather gets warmer. Not because I couldn't pass yet, but because I think I'd be faster running in 50-70 degree weather instead of the 10-20s.

In the spirit of the season

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