Sunday Funday

I didn't get any pictures of our Sunday Funday today unfortunately but we had a Cooke Family adventure day today. We went to the pool (I know, far from the adventurous Shayna we all know and love) and to the climbing gym. Cy bailed on the climbing gym this evening and stayed with Jill and Doc for a bit while Brad and I went. We had a great time. It is so nice to be climbing again, my muscles have missed it. I'm going weekly with my school but don't get to climb very often because I'm belaying most of the time. Brad and I each did about 5 routes and were feeling good. He did really well too! Last time we went he struggled quite a bit and this time he scampered up the wall.
Next weekend we are going to take Cy and let him try. They have full body harnesses that he can climb in so we'll see how that goes. I know he's going to love it!!

Conflicted

Ok, my sweet son is going through something and I am having a hard time with it. He is obsessed with his Daddy right now. I mean obsessed. He wants to know where his Dad is all the time and when he's around he wants nothing to do with me. Here's the problem with this, everything in my world revolves around my son (and my husband) and everything I do is done to benefit him in some way. So, you can say that I am feeling slighted at the least. It really hurts my feelings. Friends have told me to expect this around 3 but I'd say we're a little early:( I talked to Mom about it and she said Shawn did the same thing when he was little, and I get it; I mean I know Dad is fun. He and Brad play and play and play all day. With me, we run errands and cook and clean but with Dad they wrestle and tickle and build forts and I can't compete with that. If I did, nothing would get done around the house. I feel like this goes back to my Resolutions and me finding a balance but things have to get done. Blah! Let's hope this new phase passes quickly!!

Back To The Capital

Friday morning I met the entire 8th grade at Steward at 6:45 and we boarded two buses and headed back to the Nation's Capital. I was just going along as a chaperone to help Chip Chapman keep the kids in line and I'm so glad I did. We had a great time. We started the day at the Holocaust Museum which is difficult to describe. It was awe inspiring and educational and infuriating and just plain sad. I had never had the pleasure to go before and was so glad that I did. There was so much about the Holocaust that I didn't know before, although I am glad that my eyes have been opened I find it sad and hard to digest. My heart is simply not big enough to handle so much hatred and pain...which is why I can't watch the news in the evenings.
After the Holocaust museum we went to the National Gallery for lunch, the Natural History Museum and the American History Museum with my small group of kids and then to the Old Post Office for dinner. We arrived home about 9:00...it was a great day.

Beach Weather?!

After an uneventful Saturday, Brad and I decided that we were going to take Cy to Virginia Beach for the day on Sunday. It's about a 2 hour trip down to the beach and it would be nice to get out of town for the day. Cy had never been to the beach so we were excited to witness his reaction!!

We loaded the car at about 830 Sunday morning and headed south. We arrived about 1030 and it was literally a ghost town. The shops were closed, the boardwalk was closed and there were very few people around for the day. It was perfect:)

Cy was intrigued but wasn't sure what to do with all the sand. He was excited but when I took his sandals off and he needed to walk barefoot on the sand he was not psyched about that. It took about 3 minutes for him to get into it however once I took all the trucks and cars out of the "fun bucket" for him. He played and played for about 3 hours non-stop. While Cy and I played, Brad hit the waves. He brought his kayak along and surfed for about 2 hours in the freezing cold Atlantic Ocean:) I had no inclination to get in that water, it was very very cold:( I just don't do cold water and that is that. I told Brad we'll come back in the Summer and I'll surf away but for our beach day I was content to hang with my little man and just enjoy the day.

Fitness Update...

We are still at it, today was day 7 and I am down (just shy) of 7 pounds! This is amazing to me. It's not easy and there are so many things I want to eat but this is good for me. I am starting to really evaluate what I eat and how much I eat and what I really need. The no sugar and the no flour part are the hardest for me but I'm getting through it. Actually, I'm having less and less cravings for these foods which I am happy about. I do wish there was more variety, especially for dinner, but the continual losing of weight is validating and helps me to stay the course. So, I have about 9 pounds to go to hit my goal weight and I am hoping that I can hit that by Spring Break! We are either planning a trip to Colorado or to the beach/islands, either way I'd love to be lighter and leaner by then:) I haven't been working out very much this week because I didn't want to become too hungry and mess everything up but today I was feeling good and strong so I went for a 3.2 mile run and swam about 600 yds. It felt great. I am going to try to start doing something for at least 30 mintues 5 days a week until I hit my goal weight. Once I can start adding a bit more food back in I can start training again...tri season is just around the corner:) Yea!

Stay tuned...

Starting Fresh...

I have been thinking about my Resolutions quite a bit since the new year began but was not prepared to put them down on paper just yet, I had some fine tuning to do and now I feel ready, so here goes:

Self:

• Drop those pesky 10 pounds that have been hanging around this year. I'm not sure how they crept up on me but they did and I want them gone. I am down 8 and have just a few more to go now. I am using the "17 Day Diet" and it's great. My problem is that I have been sneaky snacking these past few days and have halted my weight loss so I need to reign that in again a bit.
• I know this is silly but I must start putting my clothes away at the end of the evening. My house is spotless everywhere but in my bedroom and the culprit is my clothing, laying on the trunk at the end of the bed. No matter how I try I can't get myself to hang it back up.
• Focus more on my boys while I am home and less on the dust bunnies in the corner. Brad thinks I am neurotic, he's probably right. I need to find a balance between play time and snuggle time and constantly working around the house.
• Races: sign up and do them.  I only did one local triathlon in VA last year and would like to up that number to 4 - 5. I am definitely doing the Patriots in Williamsburg again this year but I'll do the sprint rather than the 1/2 Ironman. I need to find a few other sprints and Olympic distances as well as a few running races (including 1 - 2 half marathons).

Marriage

• I had originally put on here that Brad and I are doing just fine and though that is true, there is always room for improvement so, I plan to focus more on my husband in the evenings and take time to talk to him about his day. I would also like to be nicer to him on a daily basis, sweeter actually. I am generally nice but not always sweet. 
• We used to have a weekly date night and I would like to implement that again bi-weekly at least.
• Continue to do things that we enjoy together, especially outdoor activities when we are both happiest.

Financial

• Work on financial stability after many many years of instability. 
• Put some money away in savings each and every month, regardless of how much
• Stick to the budget better, we're pretty good but we could be better
• Reduce our debt to income ratio
  

So, there you have it. Pretty ambitious year I think but all worthy of my time and attention. I am hoping that writing it here will help to keep me accountable throughout this year.

Happy New Year!

Well, here it is. January 1st, 2012! Amazing, I don't know where the time goes but it sure goes fast (I'm pretty sure those are country song lyrics or something). We had a blast ringing in the New Year with the Anders and crew this year. We stayed until 1:30 in the morning and only went home because Cyrus refused to go to bed. He was not fussy in the slightest but was not interested in missing anything, so, he stayed up in his Batman PJs and partied with the rest of us:) It was such a wonderful way to end this fabulous year!