Exercise, nostalgia, and being an old lady magnet

So I've been walking more the past couple weeks, but so far haven't gotten off my butt to get on the elliptical. I'm thinking it'll be way easier when school is done, but in the mean time I've got to figure out some way to fit it in. There's just SO many things to do in a day and I've been SO exhausted, I don't know how to do it. It seems like I don't have enough space in my brain to think of all the things I'm supposed to be doing. Besides feeding/changing/playing with the baby, feeding kids/husband, driving back and forth to school, taking dog out, attempting to keep the house in order, paying some amount of attention to my husband, remembering to have Ethan do his homework, working with Ryen to get him to eat, and occasionally using the bathroom or taking a shower...I have to remember to not eat crappy food and drink enough water and exercise too. Its all so overwhelming to me, I'm not sure how to do everything. Its looking more and more like I'm gonna be posting that picture of myself in a bathing suit at the end of June since I can't for the life of me stick to any of my goals. Prepare yourselves now...

Ok, on to other things... I thought it would be a cool thing to make a dvd of video of the kids for our mother's for Mother's Day. So Clint borrowed some video capturing equiptment from work and we worked together to make this dvd that has picture montages with music along with video of each of the kids. It turned out really great. But looking back at the pictures of the boys when they were little made me really sad. They used to be so cute and sweet, and now they drive me insane on a daily basis. Where did those precious little boys go?? And why the hell did they leave these heathen children in their place???? *sigh* I can't even remember when they were that small anymore, they are so grown up looking now. And the pictures of them together, they looked like they had such fun together...anymore they can't stop yelling or hitting each other long enough to enjoy each other's company.

Speaking of cute...I think my kids are pretty darn cute (but what parent doesn't think their own kid is the cutest that ever lived???), and I know that other people think my kids are cute, I've heard it over and over and over again ever since Ethan was born. Somehow Clint's genes and mine combined to make beautiful children, whodathunkit? I'm really glad that my kids aren't ugly to other people...but seriously, I'm SO sick and tired of people making comments about it. Ever since Katelyn has arrived its been worse, she has made me an old lady magnet. I cannot walk through the grocery store or walmart without being stopped several times by people wanting to go on and on about how adorable she is. 80% of these people are little old ladies. They have to stop and look at her and talk to her, and then talk to me about their kids and who they know that has red hair, yadda, yadda, yadda. If I'm lucky I'll only see them once, but usually I'll see these same people over and over again in every other aisle. And if I have all the kids with me its gets even more annoying. First they'll see the boys and talk about their hair and how beautiful they are, and then right as I'm about to escape...they notice the baby and it starts all over again. Ugh, I just want to do my shopping and get out of the store people!!! I know, you're all thinking something is seriously wrong with me. Who doesn't want to hear about how cute their kids are?? Maybe it wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't hear it every flipping time I'm out somewhere, but these 6+ years of constant "look at the red hair, where do they get the red hair from, he/she/they are so cute, you have beautiful children, hey "X" (while grabbing their friend/spouse/etc who is with them) look at how cute these kids are" has just been too much, I feel like we're some sort of circus side-show..."Come one, come all, look at the abnormally adorable children in aisle 5!!" I don't even know what to say to people anymore, "thank you" is getting a little old and "yeah, yeah, I know, cute, red hair, get over it" seems a bit rude...any suggestions??

Water, water everywhere...

and yes I did drink! I didn't actually measure my ounces, too much going to and too forgetful of a brain to do that. But, I knew how many times I needed to refill my cup for the day to get what I needed and almost every day I got at least the minimum in.

And now the goal I've been putting off...the one I've been dreading figuring out how I'm going to actually be successful at. Can you guess?? Yep, its the increasing exercise goal. These days I can't seem to even get the most basic stuff all done in a day...anything extra just doesn't happen. So I have no idea how/when I'm going to actually get any exercise in. I know this is the goal that I NEED the most so I HAVE to do it, but just thinking about it makes me tired.

The book lists different levels of activity and even though I haven't been exercising in weeks I don't really fall into level 0, but at the same time I don't think I do quite as much as is listed in level 1. I'd guess I'm at about a level .75...yeah, yeah, I know that sounds ridiculous. Anyway, my goal is going to be for this week to get to at least a full level 1. So, I'm going to get in as much walking as I can - walking to get Ethan from school most days, walking the dog more, parking further away, etc. And, I'm going to aim for 3 days of 15 minutes on the elliptical. If I can do the elliptical as well as the extra walking that it would put me slightly above a level 1, which would be even better. Slow and steady wins the race right? Maybe if I make baby step increments in my exercise it'll be easier...maybe.

And the results are in...

And I did so-so last week. There were a couple nights I did eat past 8:00. But when I did eat something it wasn't as much as what I had been, so at least there was some improvement.

I kinda slacked on the healthy breakfast, but only because I wasn't in the mood for oatmeal everyday and we were out of almost everything else since I never made it to the grocery store.

New goal for the week, hydration. I'm aiming for 80-100 oz of water a day.