Oh hey, remember me?

No. 4

Yes, so, this is precisely the reason that I normally do not make New Year's resolutions.  Because here I am months later without a new blog post..BUT!  I am surprisingly upbeat about it.  I am picking this up again and will get my "weekly" posts done as I can and as I desire..I really want to use this outlet to write as an enjoyment and not an obligation.  So maybe some weeks I'll have two or three posts and hopefully by the end of 2013 I'll have a total of 52 resolutions done! :)

On a positive note, I HAVE been keeping up with my previous resolutions pretty well, which is part of the reason that I haven't spent as much time on the computer as I used to.  It feels good!

So my number four resolution is going to be to stick with this 52 Resolution Challenge through 2013-however that looks, and however it works.  I WILL complete this, and I'm excited about again.  As I have been sitting here typing, drinking my iced coconut cream coffee (I mean, genius, right?) I've already had several ideas for some blog posts.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll get another one done tonight!  Two in one day???

FIT!

Week Three

 

 

 

I have to say that I truly believe I was more fit in my third trimester of pregnancy than I am now, three months postpartum.  And I will shamefully admit that in the midst of newborn + toddler exhaustion, I have turned to way more processed and pre-cooked food than I ever want to be a part of my family's diet.  And exercising?  Sporadic. I have been feeling down about all of this lately, so week three's resolution is to get fit and eat healthier.

 

Now let me say something before I go any further.  I want you to know where I am coming from with this resolution.  This is not out of vanity; mostly not about how I look.  (Although, yes, I admit it is a little about how I look...our Hawaiian vacation in 2 months is a little intimidating!)  But this isn't a "diet" that I'm going on, but a lifestyle that I'm getting back to.  I see my body as a temple of God, and I feel that my most important responsibility as a mother is to raise my children to be the absolute best they can be for the Lord, through everything they do.  And being healthy is key in achieving that!  We are physically able to do more, our minds work at a much quicker rate, and we all know that the better we feel, the more we can accomplish!

 

So here we go!  It's time to get back into my routine of exercising and eating whole foods.  One way I have learned for us to get more fruits & veggies (but especially the veggies) into our bodies is through smoothies and juicing.  In his picky toddler rebellion, K refuses green juice these days.  Stinker!  But I can get him to drink green smoothies and they are delicious!  Our blender has been broken for months now, but we finally have a new one, so we got right to it this morning getting back into our smoothie routine!  You can find one of our favorite recipes for green smoothies here, which is what we made today.  Another favorite of mine is a Banana Oatmeal Smoothie (I add ground flaxseed.)  It has a thicker texture due to the oats, I believe, which I love.  It feels like a heartier breakfast.  But of course the texture is a turn-off for K, so I drink this one alone.  Sometimes I even add a touch of cacao powder to make it a little chocolaty.  Here is K this morning helping with our smoothies!

 

 

 

Juicing is another great way to get a ton of great nutrients into our bodies, so we try to do that as much as possible!  I'd love to do a full juice cleanse someday, and planned to do so when I finished my half-marathon last February...until I found out that Baby H was on the way (3 days before the race!)  So as soon as I am done breastfeeding this growing baby, a juice cleanse is ON!  If you're interested in this, a great place to start researching is the Reboot with Joe.  I HIGHLY suggest watching the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead if you're interested OR if you're just not sure what to think about juicing.  It's awesome, and you can watch for free here.  We stocked up this weekend for plenty of juicing!

 

 

Eating whole and organic foods is a major requirement for healthy eating.  I know it's expensive, but it's so important.  Our eating-out budget has drastically diminished over the past 2 years, in exchange for a larger grocery budget, to make room for more organics.  And of course, eating at home is a large part of healthy eating!  We need to know what's in our food, and if someone else is cooking it, let's face it-we don't!  (Don't get me wrong here!  I love a night out at a great restaurant!  Moderation is my point here!)  If you haven't already, you need to watch Food, Inc and can watch the trailer here.  I watched the full movie on Netflix.  It's shocking and will make a life-change in how you view the food industry.  I promise.

 

Lastly, my personal exercise routine!  I need to do this for myself as well as my family.  I am a better wife and mother when I take time to care for myself.  I have committed to a 30 day Shakeology Challenge with a few other women that starts today!  I have never used Shakeology before, so I can't really comment on that yet, but I do know that there's 100% benefit in starting my day full of nutrients-especially to pass on to Baby H' s milk!  I will also be starting Turbo Fire along with my running.  I am so pumped to do this, and excited to be a part of this challenge!  I'd love to run another half-marathon in the next year!

 

MOTIVATION:

 

 

Time to get to work!!!!!!

 

 

Kiwi Crate!

Week TWO!

Let me start by saying this: I am not a crafty person.  I have wished so many times that I could be a pro DIY-er, but many attempts at earning that title have been failures.  BUT.  I don't want my kids to grow up with that attitude, because I think they will grow up to be much craftier than I am!  So week two's resolution is to do more crafts together.  This has been a goal of mine for a while now, and K & I were starting to get into a pretty good routine of it until BAM!  Baby H arrived and any routine I once knew disappeared.  I have missed this one-on-one time with K, so I decided to take the easy route and give myself some added incentive to do these fun crafts together.

Let me introduce you to the amazing Kiwi Crate!!  This little gem is a box full of exciting craftiness that is complete with every item required for the enclosed craft of the month.  (Including scissors, paper, even oil pastels and more!)  I signed K up for a subscription for Christmas, and each month he will receive one of these boxes in the mail.  This was our first one!  The theme of this month is penguins, and we got right to work (while Baby H snoozed away in his swing!) and dug into the box.  

The first craft we did was Penguin Bowling!  K decorated his penguins, put the feet on, and then tried out his new game!  

Next, we used watercolors (K's first time!) and oil pastels to color the Northern Lights on our Antarctic postcards.  We even had Aunt Ashley join in the fun on this one!  

There is one more craft included in this month's Kiwi Crate, but it required us to fill the enclosed penguin molds with water and let them freeze.  So they are in the freezer now and we will get to that one sometime this weekend!  

I love seeing my little guy's creativity at work, and I know that he enjoyed every second of our craft time!

New Year, New Start!

Happy 2013!  As I was logging in this evening, I could not believe that it has been over a year since I posted anything on my blog! I guess I've been a little busy adding a tiny addition to our family.  Harrison James entered the world in October, and he is bringing so much joy to the Gibb household! I am still adjusting to the newness of having TWO babes to care for each day, but I promise to be around here more!

I am not really into making new year resolutions.  I don't really know why, but I have just never really bought into it much.  This year I'm feeling a little differently, though.  We are getting pretty close to moving on from the Washington, DC area and starting a new assignment this summer.  I often find myself reflecting on the past 3+ years since we arrived here, and I cannot believe how quickly time has passed.  There are so many things I wish I had done differently..so many opportunities passed.  So I am using the new year as a new start.  I will be posting on my blog to try to keep myself accountable to this goal.  Each week, I'm going to find a new goal to add to work towards.  That's 52 goals!  Whew!  I challenge you to do the same!  Imagine how much change we can make, not only for ourselves, but for our family, friends, and everyone we come in contact with.  The potential amazes me.  So...here we go!

Week ONE!

As our family grows, we get busier and busier, and I do not want to take this time for granted.  I am extremely blessed to be able to stay home with my babes, so I want to grab hold of each and every opportunity I have to hug them, kiss them, teach them, and play with them.  Being a mommy has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl.  I imagined what my kiddies would look like, what I would name them, and how much we would love each other.  And here I am, a mommy of two adorable boys and one precious girl.  My first goal of the year is to focus more on them by focusing less on my iPhone.  So here's my public announcement, that if I don't answer your calls/texts/emails/posts right away, it's because I've shut my phone in another room of the house and I'm loving on my babies!  I love love love technology and the convenience of social media, especially since being a military family keeps our family and friends from getting to experience day to day life with us.  I promise I will still make time for that..just more intentional time! 

Before I go, here's a little look at my inspiration for this goal.  I mean, who wouldn't want to spend more time with these beautiful babes?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!! We hope you have a blessed holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Let's begin 2012 with health & happiness!

Braving the Magic of Disney: A Few Lessons Learned!

So we decided to pack up and take a magical vacation to Walt Disney World with our 8 year old daughter and soon-to-be 1 year old son.  We knew it would be a challenge, but also knew it would be worth it!  We had a GREAT time, and hated to leave, but there were a few things we learned along the way that I thought I would share for anyone else who decides to make some Disney dreams come true (with an infant!)

Our first day at Magic Kingdom

Mickey & Minnie!

Disney Tip #1: Make reservations for lunch.  We actually did a Disney meal plan, which I also recommend, but the best part was having made our reservations in advance.  This gave us a predetermined time that we knew we HAD to take a break.  Another great part of having reservations, was not having to wait for 45 min. for an open table.  Especially with a baby, that could have gotten VERY challenging.  It was such a perfect break from the heat, craziness, and stroller, to just walk in and enjoy a nice sit-down lunch every day.

Lunch at Tony's Town Square-Magic Kingdom

Disney Tip #2: Stay at a Disney resort that has access to the Disney Tram.  We did not, and even though we WERE at a Disney resort, with access to Disney buses, we soon discovered the extensive amount of time we were going to be spending waiting for and riding them back and forth from the parks.  Having access to the tram would have been SO much easier, and at times, would have literally cut hours of travel time from our day.  

Disney Tip #3: If you can, plan a little longer of a trip, and just spend 1/2 days at the parks.  We were wishing we would have just planned to spend the mornings/lunch time at the parks and then headed back to the resort to swim and rest.  Kellyn would have liked that so much more, since there are not many options of things to do at the parks for pre-walkers!  He LOVED the relaxation of the resort!

Our pool @ Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

Disney Tip #4: Every park has a Baby Care Center.  Take advantage of this!!!  There's only one at each park, and they don't always stick out, but they were life-savers for us.  (You can find the location on the park maps.) They have nice, quiet, air-conditioned rooms for nursing/feeding, changing diapers, and even a big room playing Disney movies, with lots of floor space to crawl.  We used this many times when Kellyn was really needing to get down on the ground and explore on his own a little.  And she would never admit it, but it was also a relaxing break for Sara, to sit down and watch a movie for a little bit.  The Baby Care Center also carries some baby essentials that you might run out of: diapers, baby food, liquid formula, pacifiers (we lost two along the way..) and more!

Disney Tip #5: If there are certain characters that your kids MUST see, and you want to avoid the lines of waiting to find them in the park, schedule character dining experiences.  Go to http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining/ and you can view character experiences, where it will tell you what characters you'll meet during your meal.  With our meal plan, these were included, so we were able to do a character breakfast every day!  Meeting the characters were Sara's and Kellyn's favorite parts!

Ariel at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall-Epcot

Daisy at Tusker House-Animal Kingdom

Special Agent Oso at Hollywood and Vine-Hollywood Studios

Disney Tip #6: Make sure baby gets one good nap in!  If your baby is already down to one nap a day, you might be better off, but in our case, Kellyn is still taking two.  We did what it took to make sure he could nap-either in the stroller, Ergo, or one of us taking him back to the room to nap there.  It made all the difference.  Of course, vacation is still vacation, so napping isn't at all the same, but it sure does help!

Stitch and sleeping Kellyn :)

Disney Tip #7: If you have an older child, and one of you still has the energy, stay out late one night-no babies allowed.  Michael stayed with Sara at Magic Kingdom on our second night, while Kellyn and I headed in early for bed, and Sara had a blast.  Sure, Michael she was exhausted by the end of the night, but after two days of making all of the decisions around her baby brother's schedule, this was a much-needed treat.  She loved being the big kid and staying out late with Daddy!

Late-night Space Mountain ride with Daddy!

(Tired, but happy :)

Disney Tip #8: Do your research online before your trip, to find out what special festivals will be going on while you are there.  There's almost always something special going on, so you'll want to take advantage of it if you can!  We were there for the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival, and were able to experience seeing all of the amazing character topiaries that they've created!

 Toy Story 3 Topiaries

Minnie, Mickey, and Pluto Topiaries

Disney Tip #9: Don't try to be on a diet while at Disney.  There's TOO much good food!  I know this has nothing to do with taking an infant to Disney World, but I had to include this.  Life is too short to be worried about getting or staying skinny ALL the time.  Make good choices, and enjoy every bite. :)

Yum.Yum.Yum.

Disney Tip #10: HAVE FUN!  Disney really is one of the happiest places on earth!  There is so much talent to discover, and no matter how old you or your kids are, there is fun for everyone.  We can't wait to go back!

Daddy, Kellyn, & Sara dancing with Goofy at Mickey's Backyard BBQ!

Capturing Memories

Today I want to feature two GREAT photographers that I know, that have done gorgeous photos for our family.  Pictures have always been so important to me, and I love to have captured memories to look back on for years and years-and share with those who weren't able to experience it with us!

First, I'd like to share a few of my favorites from my maternity session.  Two Birds Photography is Chicagoland-based and are long-time family friends!  My bestie, Christie, and her mama, treated me to a maternity session for my shower gift---beyond perfect!  I had so much fun during our session I am SO glad we have these photos to cherish forever.  I loved every minute of my pregnancy (well, almost..) and it was such a beautiful time.  I was about 35 weeks pregnant when these were taken :)

The second photographer I'd like to feature has become a great family friend of ours as well.  Ginger, from Ginger Diaz Photography, has photographed some of the most exciting days of our lives, including: our beautiful engagement, perfect wedding day, and my husband's United States Air Force commissioning ceremony!  We have been so blessed to have beautiful photos of each of these celebrations to help us relive the happiness & joy we felt at that time!  We, unfortunately, have not had the chance for Ginger to take any snapshots of our baby boy, since she is San Antonio-based, but here are a few of my faves from other shoots she has done!

If you are in either area, use these wonderful photographers!  You will be so grateful to have precious photos of your precious babies! :)