Fall is Definitely Here

Oh yeah, fall is definitely here! This morning I took stock of exactly why I was feeling more of fall today than other day this year thus far. I'm thinking it had something to do with the 51 degree weather upon waking up and walking the dogs, the pumpkin bagel with homemade pumpkin cream cheese for breakfast, and sipping on my homemade pumpkin spiced coffee (and by homemade I mean I added pumpkin spice to the coffee grounds). Yeah... I absolutely love this time of year. Not only is it the return of everything pumpkin, but it's that much closer to winter and Christmas, which is hands down my absolute favorite time of the year.

I'm really excited that next Monday is Halloween. Halloween usually doesn't do anything for me, but this year, I actually get to take Kris trick-or-treating. I haven't been able to do that since she was very little. The last time she was here 2 years ago, I was really sick and unable to take her. This year, she's being Ariel from The Little Mermaid (big shocker!). I love that she's so much like me and this is one thing she and I can share together. Sometimes I feel a little left out in that area because she has the He-Man/She-Ra/Thundercats thing with Andy. Anyway...

Business is going great. I had a meeting with my business coach today which was completely invaluable! I have never felt more at ease with this business thing. I have found it so completely overwhelming and she really helped me see that it's not overwhelming at all. Just take things a step at a time, map out a plan, and manage time efficiently is about all I need to do. It makes me feel great and oh-so-excited to work for myself and be here for my family whenever I'm needed. :-)

This week has been pretty crazy so far. We've been dog-sitting Matt's two adorable dogs, so that's been crazy in and of itself. Our family is definitely not used to having to pick every little thing up and closing all our doors. Needless to say, they drank out of the toilet a few times (clean mind you) and chewed up a couple of Kristi's things but all in all it wasn't too bad. Monday I hung out with Wendy a little. After getting my hair done, we went for lunch at Chili's (love that place!). Yesterday we had a play date with one of Kristi's classmates. That was our second play date so far and both have been fun for both the kids and moms. I'm excited to spend some time with another mom which I definitely don't get to do very often. Today was mostly just working my business, knitting the rest of the ornaments for Carol, and spending time with Kristi. Thankfully, the rest of this week isn't terribly busy (definitely a blessing). Kris has a birthday party on Saturday and Sunday we're heading to York for Carol's birthday party. I'm really excited for that. It's not very often our whole family gets together so it'll be nice to spend some time together.

This past weekend was my sister's bridal shower and it was totally awesome! Everyone had so much fun. Here's a couple of pictures from the party:

Well that's about all I have for now so until next time, much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥

What Not to Crave

So two weeks ago I got a hankering for chocolate. Since most chocolate hurts my teeth (I have extremely sensitive teeth), I thought I'd try eating a Twix bar instead. Big. Mistake. OMGosh all I have wanted and craved in the past 2 weeks is Twix! I never realized just how much I LOVE them! I've been doing really well with eating healthy my whole pregnancy so I thought I'd treat myself and by a small bag of the fun-sized bars. Again I say... Big. Mistake. I have come to realize that I absolutely CANNOT control myself with these babies. That bag was seriously in my house less than 24 hours. So, being the health coach that I am, I now recognize that under no circumstances can Twix bars be in our house. I'm not really sure how I'm going to handle Halloween yet, but I have another week to figure that out!

My second and only other pregnancy craving so far has been muenster cheese. This was my absolute favorite cheese when I was a kid. I haven't had it since moving in with my husband 3 years ago. Although, now that I really think about it, I don't think I've had any since I was a tween. Oh wait, that's a lie. Anytime I've eaten at Isaac's, I've had it. I forgot it's on the Boardwalk Gull. LoL! Anyway... I was at the grocery store the other day and picked some up. Cheese has never tasted so good to me. :-) If you haven't tried muenster cheese before, I highly recommend it. Cheese is definitely one of those funny foods you have to be careful with. I mean, in the health sense. There are many positive attributes to cheese like calcium, protein, etc., but if you're not careful, it's very easy to eat more than the recommended amount; therefore, eating excess calories and fat. I've been doing great on that front so far. Speaking of...

On Monday, we had a baby appointment. I got to see my favorite doctor and ask lots of questions. One of the things I wanted to discuss with her was my weight. I guess as my stomach continues to grow, I'm noticing that that isn't the only thing growing. I wanted to make sure I am on a positive weight track with this pregnancy. One of my biggest regrets with Kristi's pregnancy was not eating healthy. And because of that, I am making a conscience effort to eat healthy with Trinity. Granted, I slip-up (um.. read above) but I can say that overall, I'm eating very well in comparison (thank you TSFL!). She said that I am actually under for my weight gain but that it's okay since I was a little overweight to start. As of that appointement, I have only gained 15 pounds and can gain up to 23 pounds by this point so that made me feel really good. She also discussed us getting a level two ultrasound. Since my last one was at 18 weeks, the technician was unable get very clear anatomy pictures. That's scheduled for Nov. 7th so we'll get to see Trinity again (yay!!) and verify that she's definitely a girl. LoL! Andy still thinks we're going to find different anatomy or he just likes teasing me about it. :-) Moving on...

TSFL is going well. I haven't actually signed up any new clients as of yet, but this week I made the decision that this is it. It's either now or never--I'm either going to do this or not. I've been dabbling with this since April of last year and haven't been focusing on my business; although, I still haven't quite figured out why. But this past week, I made the decision that it will be my primary focus. So I've started looking at the training videos, renewed my license, ordered the new file system, set goals, and am continuing to master my craft. I've made it a priority to do something everyday, whether it's 10 minutes reading the Habits of Health or an hour of phone calls--just something. I have found that when I constantly surround myself with it, my momentum stays up. I don't want to just be a health coach--I want to be a GREAT health coach; someone my clients can depend on. I want to work from the comfort of my own home and be in my pj's. I want to watch my children grow up and not miss a single step or milestone in their lives. Most of all, I want my family and I to be happy and healthy and stress-free (yes, I understand we'll never be completely stress-free). I want to be able to participate in functions at school and be an active member of South Hamilton's PTA, more than just going to a meeting every month. I want to volunteer more of my time at church and be a part of all the wonderful opportunities that are there like choir and Upwards Basketball. Being in business for myself will allow me to have all these things and then some. I'm just not sure why it's taken me so long to realize that.

Tomorrow is my sister's bridal shower. I'm so excited for her and can't wait to spend time with her, my mom, and bestie. We're going to have a lot of fun. I'm really looking forwad to her wedding in a couple of weeks as well. It's going to be beautiful as will she. Kris and I had our first fitting for our dresses tonight. I'm really surprised that she only has to shorten Kristi's straps. I thought she was going to have to take the sides in some. On mine, she has to take in the bust, add some extra boning in the back, and hem the bottom. All in all, not too much and she does amazing work!

On that note, I'm going to work on Carol's birthday present so until next time, much love and many blessings!

♥Courtney♥

Vacation

Vacation. So many words come to mind... Relaxing, eating, fun, eating, swimming, eating, watching tv, eating... (pattern much?). Ours revolves around relaxing, lounging, and spending fantastic quality time with our great friends, the Echterling's. This year, we spent more time on the beach which was really nice. The weather cooperated for the most part although was really overcast. Honestly, I'm cool with overcast as long as the rain stays away. The day we arrived in Ocean City, the wind was so crazy that I really thought I'd fall over!

Kris could hardly walk straight

I look like I'm standing in a wind tunnel

 The waves were pretty crazy the whole week we were down there, so Andy and Kris couldn't swim as much as they liked. But they still had a great time while I sat on the beach and knitted.

This wasn't anywhere close to how high they got

This year both families chose to be a little more domestic and eat-in instead of eating out every meal. It was a really nice change to the norm and everything we had was fantastic (and A LOT more healthy). We didn't get to spend as much time at Sunfest which was a little disappointing to me but of what I did see, I loved. It's a really good thing I didn't take money with me though because there were at least 20 things I wanted to buy. :-) Here's a few shots to sum up the week:

 

Gorgeous sky

My Little Love <3

Since the beach, not too much has happened. Andy and I unfortunately had to return to work (boo!). He's been on overtime since coming back so we haven't really had a chance to spend much time together. We're attempting to paint the hallway and foyer in a beautiful tan color with the trim and doors being a darker tan. We finished the first coat in the hallway before leaving for the beach and am hoping to get it finished this weekend. Since Kris will be with her dad, that shouldn't (shouldn't being the operative word) be an issue. We just have to figure out how to get up to the top part of the foyer. Since we live in a bi-level, the distance between the landing at the front door to the ceiling is taller than our ladder allows. We got an extender bar for the edger and rollers, but are a little hesitant because of not being able to tape the ceiling. We'll see how it goes. I'll definitely post the before and after pics.

I think I mentioned in my last post joining the PTA at Kristi's school. I was undecided about becoming the chairperson of the fall fundraiser committee because of a not-so-great experience last year, but did a lot of praying about it. I felt like God was placing it on my heart to do it, so I volunteered. I don't know why, but I am nervous. I guess I've never really done something like this before, so I'm worried about messing up? I don't know. I know it'll be fine. I also volunteered to help with the book fair in a few weeks. We're going to get to eat lunch with Kristi since the book fair is the same week as National School Lunch Day. She's super stoked about it. Last year we ate with her and surprised her with Shari and Sophie joining us as well. It was a great time and I'm really looking forward to it again.

So I haven't really written too much about my pregnancy other than that I'm pregnant and we know we're having a girl. I hesitate to say too much more because I don't want to "complain". I mostly try to stay positive but there are definitely days that I have issues. I have to be honest and say that this pregnancy is no where near as bad as my last. For those of you that know me know that my pregnancy with Kris was pretty awful. Without going in to a long, drawn out story, let's just say that I was truly TERRIFIED of getting pregnant again. This one has been fairly uneventful so far. About the only downside I'm really experiencing is not being able to sleep. We have a pretty soft mattress which is what Andy and I both need but since getting pregnant, I'm finding that I sleep better with a firmer mattress. I figured that out the night I stayed at my bestie's house and down at the beach. Both times, I slept like a baby! I only have 19 more weeks to go and am praying that I can get some better sleep. **crossing fingers** Other than that, I've been feeling much more energetic since I started taking an iron supplement. I'm really happy that it's helping. The only other pregnancy symptom I'm feeling is nesting. Like last night, I walked into Trinity's room (which is also my office) and just about dropped. I've been slacking on filing papers so there's about 20 piles of paperwork that need to be filed (okay, that's an exaggeration but it feels that way). Last night, I got everything organized by category and got all but a few papers filed. The room is still a mess since it's pretty much been our catch-all type room since moving in a year ago, but it's definitely getting better. I think what really got me on the kick was we went to Babies R' Us on Saturday to do Trinity's baby registry. When I looked at her room last night, all I could think was where the heck is everything going to go? There's a space for the crib and changing table and that's about it. I know the wardrobe that's already in there will be used for her but I also have a computer desk, book shelf, and filing cabinet for my business stuff--all in a 10' x 10' space. Yeah... Smh....

As a side note, I know I keep saying this but, I really need to update more than just once every couple of weeks or months. These get so long and I'm sure you have better things to do with your time. ;-)

The next chapter of our lives is beginning and I'm totally stoked about it. I'm frogging and know He will take care of me, my family, and this little growing beauty in me. I thank and praise Him everyday for all the blessings He's bestowed upon us and will bestow upon us. No matter what life throws at my family and I, I know we'll always be able to handle it because He's there. It's such a great and comforting feeling. On that note, I'm going to pick up my needles for a bit. Until next time.... Much love and many blessings!


♥Courtney♥