THREE!!!

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Happy 3rd Birthday to you, our beautiful Olivia Rose. You are the sweetest little spirit, the most perfect little sidekick and absolutely, positively, the BEST thing that has ever happened to us. We love you to the moon and back ❤️

(You guys, she’s THREE!! 😭😭💔👧🎉🎈😍😍😍)

A Baby and A Track Suit.

For her first birthday, one of my bffs, Steph, got Olivia a Puma track suit. It’s the cutest and funniest little thing, mainly because it’s a minitaure version of something I know that Steph would wear. I had never put it on her because, really, when would be a good time for a baby to sport a track suit? Olivia isn’t doing anything athletic anytime soon….unless you call running around like a maniac, athletic….(which some might.)

Anyway, last week, Steph came over, and we were doing wedding stuff, and just hanging around, laughing, talking, you know, girl stuff, when I decided to give Olivia a bath. Afterward, Steph suggested that we put the track suit on her. How could I object? When else would she ever wear it?

When I put it on her, we both about died. I swear, this kid gets cuter by the second and with her walking around in this track suit I just…let’s just say in that moment, not a whole lot could have been better than Olivia in this track suit.

So the first few pictures are from that night. We combed her hair that way on purpose (of course), and it just made the outfit that much better. I let her sleep in the pants, and then when we woke up in the morning, I decided to add a bow, and take a few more pictures…how could I ignore that beautiful natural light we get in this place (a.k.a how can I ignore taking MORE pictures of my child in a freakin TRACK SUIT)?

Also, she basically looks like Dominic’s twin 95% of the time (not fair!) and this photo set just proves that.

DSC02516 DSC02520 DSC02526edit DSC02527edit DSC02528edit DSC02538edit DSC02542edit DSC02545edit^Appropriate model side shot, obvi.^DSC02557edit DSC02558edit DSC02562edit^Okay, can we just talk about how FUNNY this picture is?! She really looks like she’s posing! I swear I didn’t have her do this on purpose!^DSC02565edit DSC02568edit DSC02572edit DSC02591edit^That is a Dominic face, my friends.^DSC02593edit

I mean…….why is she so freakin awesome?

 

Have a good Wednesday!

xo,

Katie

Weekend Review.

I cannot believe that this past weekend was the first weekend of Spring and it was so chilly out. Although the sun was shining, that was the only time we were able to go out and enjoy the weekend without feeling extremely cold.

Spring, where are you? We have never been more ready for you.

Friday:

Dominic had Friday off, which we always love. I slept in, and when I finally woke up at 11:30am, we had coffee, and blueberry pancakes and relaxed all morning. We had big plans to go to the mall to do a little Easter shopping, but instead, we stayed in and had a lazy day.We had a lost marathon (we’re OBSESSED!). It was great. Around dinner time, my dad came over, we ordered pizza, he stayed for a bit and then we continued our marathon.

Oh and Olivia in the refrigerator:

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Saturday:

We started our morning the same; breakfast, coffee, Lost (I’m so serious when I say we’re hooked). Dominic got ready for work, and Olivia and I got ready to go out with my sister. We went to Wal-Mart, and then to…you guessed it. THE MALL. If it’s any consolation, we went to a different mall this time, and with a purpose. There’s a bigger H&M there, and I really wanted to get her a few things that I had seen on their site (H&M, WHEN are you going to let me online shop?!), but the line was literally out. the. door. and we were like hellllllllllllll no, so we walked around, visited the Disney store (Olivia didn’t want to leave, and I was so proud), a few other baby stores, and we even took Olivia on the carousel. I thought she was gonna freak, but she was actually quite calm. We stopped at one more store, where she was mesmerized by the jewelry, and then we left.

Also, baby toms? I can’t take how cute she looks in them.

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Olivia and I went with my dad to wash his blankets at the laundromat, and she was running around, tiring herself out. By the time we got home, it was 9:30 and she was out in ten minutes. My favorite.

Sunday:

On Sunday, Olivia and I woke up early to meet up with the girls. We had two different appointments to look at bridesmaid dresses, and I was so excited! The first place we went to was a dud. It was shady, rude, and way too money hungry. We regrouped, and went to the place for the second appointment. Muchhhhh better. Our consultant was polite, friendly, and so much more fun. We found the PERFECT dress within a half hour. Here is my first piece of wedding advice on this blog, although it’s more of an ‘ism’. A weddingism. Anyway, here is goes: You will most likely walk in with a list of things you want, and absolutely don’t want, and you will walk out with something totally different, and with at least one thing that was on your ‘absolutely do not want’ list. In my case, I walked out with everything I said I didn’t want, and I am so happy. The dress is perfect for each girl, it wasn’t expensive, and they ALL love it (which is sometimes, the hardest part). After we did measurements, we parted ways and My sister, Olivia, and one of our bffs, Michelle, and I went to get lunch. I love catching up with Michelle because we don’t get to see her often, and we every time we’re together, we do nothing but laugh.

Afterward, I picked up Dominic, we went to the

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Afterward, I picked up Dominic and we ran to the laundromat to wash our blankets. I totally forgot that his best friend (and best man, and Olivia’s God Father) and his girlfriend were coming to spend the night and I wanted the blankets to be nice and fresh.

I wasn’t feeling so hot so when we got home, I fell asleep on the couch for almost two hours. Seriously, literally just knocked out on the couch with my coat and boots still on. His parents had stopped by and I felt terrible that they were there to see us, and I fell asleep. They had just gotten back from a little vacation to Wisconsin and brought Olivia back two pairs of baby converse, and a pair of Minnetonka mocs! They are so cute on her.

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Around 9:30, David and Trisha finally got here and we let Olivia stay up so that she can see him. We don’t get to see them often so we try to make the most of the time we have together when they’re here.

I honestly thought that she was going to be shy, but she ran right up to him and they were playing and laughing and kissing. Seeing them together, and how he is with her, just solidifies even more that we made the right decision in making him her God Father.

Side note- after I took these pictures, my camera died and I cannot find my camera charger anywhere! I’m already going through withdrawls and actually plan on going to by a new charger this afternoon.DSC02611 DSC02614 DSC02618

After Olivia finally went to bed, the four of us stayed up and talked, laughed, reminisced, with our bloody marys in hand.

It was such a nice way to end the weekend, and I am hoping for a great week!

xo,

Katie

10 Things Friday.

Dominic and I have reached a new chapter in our lives: we get to start buying Olivia gifts for Holidays. As nice as it was to NOT have to worry about splurging on items for our baby because we knew she wouldn’t get what it was all about, we are so excited to be able to give her presents now, and see the look on her face when she receives new things. We actually started said chapter on Christmas when we bought her this (which she loves!), and now with Easter being right around the corner (I cannot believe we are about to enter our last week of March!), we are very excited to fill an Easter basket for our girl. We’ve been talking about what to put inside, and while there won’t be a lot, the items we’ve been talking about will be special, and candy-less.

In case you need a few last minute ideas, these are ten Eleven

candy-less easter ideas

1. Chalk. These are perfect for the Holiday. Nothing says Spring like chalk!

2. Bubbles. We introduced Olivia to bubbles already (we play with them inside) and she loves them. I can’t wait until she can chase them around the yard!

3. An Easter book. Olivia is lucky enough to have gotten this already, so I actually have my eye on this one (I loved it when I was little).

4. A Puzzle. Any kind, really. This Etsy shop has beautiful, more intricate puzzles!

5. Slide & Sleek. These are just cute and Eater-ish.

6. Play Doh. These smell like lavender and are home made, but you can also go with the good old regular stuff.

7. Stickers. I hope I’m not the only one who thinks this is a good idea…..

8. Blocks. I really love these wooden blocks, but I have also looked into these as well.

9. Annie’s Homegrown Cheddar Bunnies. Perfect Easter candy-less treats. They have tons of flavors, but cheese-anything is my jam.

10. Headbands by Little Hip Squeaks. I want these headbands for Olivia So. Bad. (maybe even a set for myself ;) How cute are they?! I’m obsessed with all of the different patterns. I love to support small businesses so I cannot wait to purchase something from this shop. They also sells baby blankets!

(And one more…just because.)

11. A Stuffed Bunny. I think this one is pretty obvious.

Happy Friday!

xo,

Katie

My first ever call to Poison Control.

Monday night, I found Olivia in the corner eating something.

It turned out to be a sponge for Dominic’s shoe shiner.

Usually, we keep Dominic’s shoe shiner in a little drawer in our coffee table. Olivia likes to play with it when she comes across it. It’s always sealed shut, and it’s pretty hard for her to get it opened, if she tried, which she doesn’t. She usually just bangs it against the coffee table to hear the loud sound, which we don’t mind. I think she went to do the same thing this time, but realized that it was a different texture than usual, liked that it was soft, and put it in her mouth.

I think that it was an honest mistake on Dominic’s part. I mean, we all know that he would never do anything to purposely hurt her, obviously. I’m sure that he was rushing to clean the house (as we do when his parents, or my family, or really anyone, comes over), didn’t even realize that the lid wasn’t on the shoe shiner, and just put it in its usual spot in the drawer.

In all honesty, I didn’t even think to contact Poison Control first. Instead, I called our doctor’s office (well first I called my grandma), who then directed me to poison control.

I was so ashamed to have to even make the call, but the woman who helped me was really nice….and it didn’t sound like there was any judgement in her voice, which was a plus. She told me that as long as Olivia was still drinking/eating and wasn’t showing any signs of being bothered or in pain, that she was most likely fine, but just to watch her for a few hours. Thank god.

As soon as I got off the phone with Poison Control, I sent a text to Dominic and said “We really need to start watching what is in Olivia’s reach. Anything that we wouldn’t put in our mouths, shouldn’t be in reach for her to be able to put in hers.”

I then realized that although Dominic and I have child proofed, and made sure that the really dangerous stuff was either out of reach, or correctly locked/covered up, we quickly forget that the small stuff needs to be checked (and re-checked) just as much. We didn’t even think twice about putting the shoe shiner in the coffee drawer, which she goes in every. single. day.

I have already started going through the whole house, at Olivia’s level, on all fours, and re-checked to see what she can get to at her reach. We plan on re-re-checking, again, this weekend (as well as get some spring cleaning done, hopefully!) because although the woman on the other end of that line was super super nice, and calm, and helpful. I hope to never have to call them again.

Have you ever had to call poison control for your little one?

xo,

Katie

P.S. you should always have the Poison Control number handy. On your fridge, in your cell phone and even on your computer. In case you don’t know it, the number is 1-800-222-1222

P.P.S A picture of Olivia, for good measure. She was having a hard time staying asleep in her crib last night, so I let her sleep on the couch while I wrote and listened to Pandora (please run and check out the Lumineers Station for calm, beautiful music, and/or the Jimmy Eat World Station for a bit of High School nostalgia…I usually switch off every couple of songs so that I can enjoy the best of both!). Also, do sleeping baby pictures ever get old? Nope.

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A Baby and Her Fave Cousin

One of my bffs, Michelle, all the way from kindergarten had a baby 4 years ago. I will never forget the day that she told me she was pregnant, the days through her pregnancy, and the day I got the news that my niece, Elianie, was born.

When Eli was born, Michelle and I were living together. I was obsessed with Elianie. She was the best thing to happen in our lives and I can still remember the little baby that she was, just laying in my arms so perfectly.

As she got older, and when Dominic and I started living together, we loved having her over. We’d babysit her all the time, and I just loved watching them interact. We took her places, taught her things, fed her all the junk food (sorry, Micha :P), we treated her like she was our own (we actually still do).

I honestly thought that once Olivia was born, she’d act out a little bit, maybe act a little jealous, but she proved me wrong. From the very beginning, she was so wonderful with Olivia.

I consider Olivia very lucky to have Elianie. I know that as they get older, they are going to be super close, and I know that Elianie is always going to watch out for Olivia, and teach her so many things. For that, we are so grateful. Elianie is a beautiful soul (just like her mama) and Michelle is doing a fabulous job of raising her, as a single mom, no less.

*some of these pictures are really bad quality. Also, Olivia looks weird in some of these…I get to say that because I’m her mom.

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^First time meeting each other^IMG085edit IMG082edit IMG-20111215-WA0002edit IMAG1385edit 4-292B10B3-1208013-800 IMG_20120715_212719 DSC04116edit^One of my faves. I also have the BEST video from this day…I’ll see if I could upload it.^DSC04102edit DSC04155edit 20121031_162354edit DSC01436 DSC02479edit DSC02499^Another one of my faves^

Olivia is OBSESSED with Elianie. Every time Eli comes around, Olivia immediately lights up, and Elianie ALWAYS has Olivia laughing all the way from her toes (I can’t even get her to laugh like that!) The love that they have for each other is so clear, so special, so incredible. I really do hope that they have each other for the rest of their lives.

Happy Wednesday and Happy First day of Spring (even though it doesn’t feel like it in Chicago)!

xo,

Katie

Eye Update.

On Friday Dominic and I were finally able to bring Olivia to her eye appointment. I had accidentally missed the last appointment so we’ve been waiting a while to see this doctor!

Like I said in the last post about her eyes, they have been tearing since about 2 month. She has a blocked tear duct which basically means she’s producing a lot of tears and majority of them are being blocked, not allowing them to flow through, thus making her have super watery/teary eyes. I constantly get asked why she’s just been crying and 98% of the time, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with her. Our pediatrician said we had to wait to look into it until she was one and honestly, now that it’s here, and we’ve gotten it checked out, I’m not so sure I liked what the opthamologist told us.

When we arrived, she asked us a few questions, grabbed a nurse, explained what she was about to do, and I had to hold Olivia down. She put yellow drops in her left eye (because that’s the one that’s worse) and then she left for a few minutes to let the dye work.  About ten minutes later, she came back, and we had to hold Olivia down again while she put a very long Q-Tip up her nose to do a swipe test. Olivia was crying so hard and I hated it because I was the one holding her down. (While she was crying, her tears were yellow, which was kind of funny. The yellow tears, not her crying, obv.)

After she did the test, she looked into her microscope to see what the swipe test revealed. It confirmed that she did have a blocked tear duct.

She told us that it can take up to 18 months for the blocked duct to correct itself (our ped. told us 12 months) and that while this is very common in babies, Olivia’s case isn’t as severe as she’s seen in the past. Which is great to hear. She told us that she’d like to keep things as natural as possible, and try to correct it ourselves before talking about surgery.

I guess the reason why I really didn’t like what she had to say was because I feel like this has gone on for so long, and I really just want Olivia to be better already. Sure, it’s not hurting her, but you can tell it annoys her and I don’t like that. While I love the fact that she isn’t jumping at a surgery, because Olivia would have to be put under, at the same time I’m kinda like ‘We’ve been doing this since she was two months old, we just want it to be over already. Just do the surgery.’ 

I know you’re probably wondering why I am pushing for a surgery…. I’m really not. There is nothing I want more than to fix this naturally, because even the mere thought of Olivia in an operation room makes me cry. I am just really stubborn and want her eyes to be fixed already.

But of course we will take the natural route. The natural route includes massaging her duct with a warm washcloth about 14 times a day. My child is going to hate me about 14 times a day for the next month, but I’m okay with that. She’ll thank me later. We go back to see the doctor in one month, she’ll do the same ridiculous test, and then if she thinks it’s getting better, we’ll have to keep doing it and hope it goes away by the time Olivia is 18 months, and if it shows no progression, then we’re going to have to talk about surgery.

Has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?

xo,

Katie

P.S. We put Olivia’s hair in a pony tail yesterday for the first time….she looked so cute (and so much older!)!8ce76bba8ff611e29e1622000a9d0ec7_7

Weekend Review.

Happy Monday, everyone!

How did we get here so fast? The weekends come slowly and go so quickly and it just isn’t fair. Most of my pictures this week are from my cell phone again and I am starting to realize that’s how all of my weekends are. We’re just going from place to place and I just don’t always remember to grab my camera, or sometimes it’s just easier to not lug it around at all. Oh well… I try to remember more often? I probably won’t though.

Friday:

We were supposed to get our townhouse sprayed because we had a problems with spiders a few months ago. Yuck. He came last month and I guess part of the treatment was to come back a month later. Well, the man never came. Which means the spiders are probably going to come back……awesome.

Olivia FINALLY had her eye appointment Friday afternoon. Although I didn’t really like what she had to say, I’m very glad we went in to see her. Tomorrow I plan on writing about our visit.

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After we left the doctor (which took forever, by the way), we went to Corner Bakery for lunch, swung by the house to pick up our overnight bags, and headed up North to my Aunt and Uncle’s house. I love going up there, don’t get me wrong, but that ride was killer. Actually, I think it only sucked because I wasn’t feeling too hot, there was traffic, we were in the car all morning, and last weekend we spent a lot of time in the car, too. Anyway, once we got there everything was fine, we talked, laughed, ate a nice dinner, and then Olivia, my Aunt, and I went to Target and Wal-Mart to get clothes for the 5k.

At Wal-Mart, we found a baby backpack, of course we put it on Olivia. She loved it and she looked sooooo freakin cute! She walked around the whole store with that thing on and everybody loved it. She’s such a ham just like her daddy.

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We also bought and made chocolate chip cookies and blueberry scones and stayed up until about 1am, while Olivia slept on the couch, just talking about everything….one of my favorite things about going up there. I love talking to my aunt. Although we were so into our conversation that we cooked the sweets a little too long… Lucky for me, I love my chocolate chip cookies crunchy :)

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Saturday:

I woke up Saturday feeling terrible. Let’s just say, being a girl is the worst sometimes, if you know what I mean. The 5K started at 8:1o so we had to wake up really early, get ready, and bundled and out the door very quickly.

I have never ran a 5k before…and I didn’t really practice for this one either. But I will say, it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Granted we walked more than we jogged, the distance itself wasn’t too bad. The weather on the other hand. Ouch. Mother Nature wasn’t holding back at all that day. It was cold, snowing, and so icy. I wish I would’ve worn another pair of pants and remembered my gloves. Dominic, my cousin, Cody, and Olivia stayed inside and waited for us to be closer to the finish line to then come out and cheer us on. Olivia had mittens on and seemed very nervous to move her arms while wearing them.

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We finished in 50 minutes, which isn’t the best, obviously, but I was happy to have finished in under an hour and hey, at least we did it. 

We celebrated by picking up Starbees, and then heading back to the house for some breakfast and muchhhhhh needed relaxing time. We were so exhausted and so sore.

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We literally spent the entire afternoon on the couch, watching a really weird show on the Discovery Channel, and then apparently the 3 of us fell asleep at one point. Photo courtesy of my cousin, Cody.

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We headed out at about 2:45pm and made the drive back home. Funny story: We were walking out the my Uncle’s front door talking to them as we were walking and we’re like ‘okay, bye!’…….and then we realize my Uncle still has Olivia in his hands. “Um, babe, we kind have to bring our daughter with us.” My uncle: “No you don’t!” And slams the door on us. I can’t believe we both walked out without her! Whoops O:)

Anyway, we told my dad that we would be back in time for dinner, and he was craving pizza, so a pizza party we had. Olivia was definitely not mad about that, as one of her absolute favorite things to eat is pizza. Actually, she just really loves the sauce and the crust. Same thing, right?

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We gave her a bath, did our nice little bed time routine, and then put her to sleep. Afterward, Dominic and I decided to have a nice little Netflix night in bed, and we started a new show. Lost….. Oh. My. God. We watched 6 episodes before our eyes started burning and even though we were so tired, we didn’t want to stop. So far, we really like it. Clearly. Has any one else watched it? I can’t believe there are 6 seasons!

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Sunday:

On Sunday I woke up feeling even more sore, which I totes knew was going to happen. Dominic let me sleep in, and then I finally was up at 11:30 when my sister stopped by, followed by Nick and Nancy.

They brought lunch, we chit chatted a bit, Dominic got ready for work, Olivia and I got ready for a birthday dinner at my Grandma’s, for my Grandma, and then we were off.

We love it there.

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What we don’t love is a St. Patrick’s Day headband, apparently:

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Also? This is the very first Holiday that she wasn’t dressed for the occasion. The mint green onesie was seriously the only green clothing she owns! Shame on me.

Our little niece, Elianie, was there and Olivia is obsessed with her. Eli kept asking Olivia “Do you want some cake?” in this little baby voice and Olivia was laughing from her toes, I wish I would’ve caught it on video.

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My Uncle always jokes about him taking Olivia with him back to his house….this time he put her in one of his bags he was taking home. Smooth.

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After we left, we visited my sister at her job, hung out with her on her break and then made a trip to our beloved Target. Also? Baby toms. Need I say more?

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When we got home, Olivia was very worn out. I put her in her pjs, gave her some milk, and she was out cold without even playing with her toys or reading a book.

And then mama got to relax in the peace and quiet with a nice cup of tea and some graham crackers. Fave snack ever.

How was your weekend?

xo,

Katie

10 Things Friday.

Happy Friday, Friends (And Happy 16 Months to Our Girl! So crazy.)!

Olivia has been such a peach lately and I think it’s because of the amount of sleep she’s finally getting at night. It only makes sense to celebrate those two facts by talking about her this week.

These are the ten things………

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1. She always laughs when she hears other people laugh…even if it’s just on the TV, or even if we’re not laughing with her.

2. When she wakes up from her nap, she throws things at the door to let me know that she’s awake. On Tuesday, she threw her sippy cup and scared the crap out me (and when I walked in she looked at me and said, “Uh oh.”)

3. She LOVES to cuddle, especially while we’re sleeping.

4. Her favorite color is yellow.

5. Baby girl has MOVES. She lovessssssss to dance. And the best part? She doesn’t even need music. She dances on cue with or without tunes and she has a blast doing so.

6. She is so clumsy! She falls so much during the day, and she just gets back up, goes a little way and then falls again! She goes faster than her little legs can handle.

7. She is very into books. Finally! We have always read to her before bed and it seems that only in the last month or two has she really started to show interest in what we’re reading to her. The other night she sat on my lap through an entire book that I was convinced she wouldn’t sit through.

8. She would stay in the bath tub all day if we’d let her. Or even the pool. She has loved water since day one.

9. She doesn’t really like juice, she prefers cold milk or ice water. And tea!

10. She is a huge ham. If she sees you taking a picture of her, 9 times out of 10 she will smile for you automatically, or as soon as  you  say “Olivia, say cheese!”

11 (because I couldn’t narrow it down to 10. oops!). She is such a lover. She loves to give kisses to everyone and everything, and it’s how she wakes us up now and we love it. It’s honestly one of my favorite things about her right now.

DSC02510(Olivia at 5 months. This is one of my all time favorite pictures of her.)

These are obviously not the only things that are great about her, I just chose the ones about her that are more current; things she’s been doing lately. It was still hard to choose though (see #11)!

 

What are some of your favorite things about your little ones?

xo,

Katie

P.S. I heard about the whole Google Reader Debacle…I’m on Bloglovin’ and it seems like that is where most people are going, add me here!

Wanted: Motivation.

It seems that I have fallen victim to the cold Chicago Winter, and I’ve got the dreariness to prove it.

My lack of energy, exercising, and eating healthy (per my New Year’s resolution), have all fallen by the way-side and I don’t know how to climb out of this hole.

Does anyone else feel this way?

I signed up for a 5k that I am actually running (read: walking) on Saturday. I signed up because I knew that the New Year resolution inspiration would ware off quick and I needed something to keep me going. Can I be honest? I failed. Or, gave up, is probably more suitable. I gave up before I even tried. I have never run a 5k before and my first one is going to be a complete catastrophe. I am not prepared even a little bit, and when my aunt (we’re running it together) said “It’s just for fun, I’m not really practicing either,” that was all I needed to justify my lack of preparation.

Aside from the 5k, I also wanted to eat better, and cleaner. For lent, I gave up fast/fried/greasy food, and even got Dominic to join me. There is no one I spend more time with than that man and him and I have the same eating habits. We’re terrible. We’re enablers. If only we followed the diet of the other person we spend all of our time with (little miss), we’d be thinner in less than two weeks!

Which brings up another point, why shouldn’t we be eating what (and how) Olivia is eating? We are so set on making sure that she doesn’t know what french fries are, eats a ton of fruits and vegetables, and there is always tons of color on her plate (don’t worry, she definitely knows what ice cream is, we’re not that terrible.) We want our beautiful girl to live this healthy lifestyle but how can we ask that of her if we don’t follow suit?

Well no more.

Diabetes runs in my family. In both of our families, actually. And that is the main reason why I have tried to monitor what Olivia eats so carefully. We don’t want her to suffer with health problems, and we want her to live a very long, healthy, life. I also want need that for Dominic and I. We want to be around as long as possible to watch Olivia grow up into the beautiful woman that we know she’s going to become.

We’ve talked and talked about what we need to do to ensure that we live that long, and the answer was simple: we need to be each other’s conscious, instead of enabling each other to eat unhealthy and not workout (or at least be active), we need to push each other to get to where we want to be.

We’re obviously not going to be axing out all food completely, we’re just eating smarter, and everything in moderation. I’ve already started to pin a few recipes to my Pinterest Boards so that we can eat healthier, without having to switch to a boring boiled chicken and steamed vegetables diet. I’ve also looked into different exercises OTHER than running because running is just not my thing. I really want it to be, but it’s not.

We need to do this for ourselves (hello, we’re getting married in September and we want to look good!) but more importantly for Olivia. We need to be positive examples and stick to the healthy lifestyle that we so quickly push on her. Our unhealthy-ness has gone on long enough.

And if you’re wondering, this post has definitely served it’s purpose. I feel happy, I feel excited, I feel motivated. And it feels good.

xo,

Katie

P.S. Last night for dinner, I made one of my bffs and I Weight Watchers Enchiladas and they were amazing! I ate those suckers up so fast that I forgot to take a picture! I can’t wait for Dominic to try them when I make them again!

P.P.S If you have any recipes, tips, or tricks you really like, I’d love to hear them!

P.P.S.S A little dose of Olivia to get you through your day:

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