This and That

I know it's been awhile since I've blogged, everyday life gets me so busy! We haven't been doing much in the Dean household. I've been taking the kids swimming quite a bit since the weather has gotten nicer. We have a new activity pool that is outside and has a water slide and all sorts of fun stuff for the kids and my boys absolutely LOVE it there. I even took Taylor in last week and she enjoyed herself! But to someone's request here are some pictures of the kids from the last few weeks!

Taylor's first time outside in my parent's hot tub with the family! She liked it in there too! As long as it's not too windy she's okay but as soon as the wind picks up it is no longer fun!

My boys enjoying their ice cream sundae on Father's Day! Connor is still talking about that nice man who gave him the ice cream sundae and how we need to go back there to get another one!


Taylor in one of her super cute bikini tops! She loves to sit in that chair! As long as she is sitting up able to look around at the world she is most likely happy!


Zachary being cute, and yes I know he needs a new haircut, it's on my list of things I need to do!


Taylor hanging out waiting for mommy to quit taking pictures of her! I swear when I put her in that outfit everyone thought she was a boy! I went to a baby shower that day and not one person thought she was a girl!



For some reason Connor is looking so big in this picture! He is having such a good time making his sister laugh and cooing at her!

Taylor's first taste of baby food, she wasn't too sure of this new idea and after a couple spoonfuls she spit it back up!


Again looking super cute in one of her bikini's!

Me, me, me

It is very rare for me to post pictures of just myself but today my friends is a special day. I am a daily step on the scale kind of person and today when I stepped on the scale to weigh myself I have officially lost 50 and a half pounds in the last 15 months! I am so incredibly happy with myself that I can accomplish weight loss and do it in the same year as having a baby. My self esteem has improved in leaps and bounds which for me is a good thing. A little insight on me is that I have never in my life felt completely confident in myself. For many years in my childhood a person wrecked my self esteem. I got told on a daily basis that I was fat, I was ugly, I was worthless. I felt like such a bad person and that I didn't deserve happiness. I kept it all inside and took the pain out on myself. I did things that to this day I still have the urge to do when things get stressful. So after Connor was born I basically just let my body go. I kinda just assumed the weight would come off and when it didn't I just again assumed that this was the way it had to be. Exercise had never been a word in my vocabulary in those years. Then I got pregnant with Zachary and the weight gain continued. I felt gigantic and so not happy with my body but I didn't know what to do to change it. When Zachary was about 6 months old I got a coupon for a free one week trial to my parent's gym so I figured I'd try it out and so I went. 5 of my 7 day trial I was there and I was a little shocked that after each workout I was feeling a little bit better about myself and was starting to have a clearer image of what I wanted to accomplish within myself. Once my one week trial was over I took another break from exercising but I found out about a job opening at our local pool/fitness center. I got the job and the second day on the job I was in the fitness center working out. I have to say it was incredibly embarrasing at first. Here I am well over 200 pounds busting my a** on the treadmill. After a few weeks of just walking on the treadmill I mustered up the courage (cuz no one else was in the room at the time!) to actually try running on the treadmill. And once I took up the running that is when I really started to see the weight come off. I lost 25 pounds in a matter of two months but then the unexpected pregnancy came into the picture. Since I was so focused on weight loss and seeing other moms who were pregnant and exercising I made a goal within myself to continue to exercise. I exercised until I was 7 months pregnant and then I got lazy and did nothing at all the last trimester. I was anxious for her to be born so I could go back full force into working out and when she was 3 weeks old I made myself find the time to go in and exercise. I'm very happy that I can motivate myself and that I am realizing that I am worth it as a person and that I do have something to offer this world. So with my weight loss goal closer than ever I'm very happy with my body and what it can accomplish, so yay to me!! :-)

Slowly but Surely

Slowly but surely Taylor is putting on some weight! The first shot was taken when she was 6 weeks old, the second shot is 12 weeks, and the third shot was 16 weeks. I can't believe how tiny she looked at six weeks!

Hmmmm

So I decided what the hell I'd give Connor a haircut a few nights back and since his cousin just got a mohawk he wanted one too so we gave him a mohawk. After it was all done he whined and said it looked different than his cousin but I tried to explain to him that he has lighter hair color than his cousin so it might look different because of that. That answer seemed sufficient enough for him for now :-) I actually really like the mohawk and I think he looks good with it!

Zachary decided that the prime spot to fall asleep in would be with Taylor and he had to have his hand over her like that. She was sleeping peacefully until Zachary started moving too much and then she awoke as he fell asleep. But at least she was all smiles after waking up!

I always love all the pictures I see of little baby feet so I thought I'd try my own version. Taylor didn't want to cooperate too much but two out of three sets of feet aren't too bad for getting a good shot ;-)

Nothing new to report with me. Same stuff different day. Still taking the kids to the park and to the pool quite a bit, I gotta do something to occupy these kids time cuz if we sit at home all day and do nothing they aggravate eachother and therefore aggravate me which makes no one in the household very happy :-) I'm excited for this weekend, hopefully the weather will start to clear up cuz Asa and I are supposed to be going to the outside activity pool with my brother in law and my niece and nephew! Shall be fun!