Hey everyone!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to hop on the computer lately and update the blog…..but haven’t!  I keep thinking when life calms down a bit, I’ll be able to blog more often and more consistently, but life just never seems to calm down!

So, I’ve somehow learned to just squeeze things in, cut out what I can and keep on doggie paddling through life.  Ha.

Over the weekend, I made a quick trip to Costco.

I found this awesomeness and was so excited about it….

Costco is THE BOMB and I’m always so impressed with the quality and healthy options they have available!

I also had to take this cute pic of the baby buried among all the groceries…

I love that little sweetie so much!  He is SUCH a good baby!  In fact, he just may be my “best baby” yet.  He’s so quiet, happy, rarely fussy and is such a good sleeper.

He is truly a little angel.

He just turned 3 months old yesterday, if you can believe it!?!  I love the 3 month age.  I wish I could just freeze him and have a permanent 3 month old forever!

The kids have enjoyed having a baby in the home as well.  They are always wanting to hold him, change him, love on him, etc.  I love it.

Oh, and I just want to mention something.  Yes, my baby has a name and if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’re aware of his name.  BUT, before baby was born I was very careful not to mention my kids names on the blog.  I’m not “super secretive” about it or anything, I just want to protect them a bit.

Anyway, I’ve decided that going forward he’s going to go back to being “nameless” along with the other kids.  I realized it was kind of weird to only mention his name and not the others…..so he’ll now lovingly be referred to as “baby, the caboose, little squishy cutie pie, etc.”

Alrighty then.

I’m happy to say we got the house all decorated for Christmas over the weekend!  Woo hoo!  I’ve never in my life set up Christmas before Thanksgiving, but this year I decided to do it and I will tell you why….

Every single year I always “try” to get everything done (i.e. Christmas cards, shopping, decor, planning, etc.) early in the season so that I can just sit back and enjoy the beautiful Christmas season instead of resent it.  However, it never seems to work out that way!  I always end up stressed out, shopping at the last minute, sending Christmas cards out on Christmas Eve and wishing Christmas would just be OVER!

How sad is that?!?

So, this year I decided to decorate the house early so I wouldn’t have to find the time, in an already busy Christmas season, to do it.  I’m also planning on taking a family picture this week for the card and will hopefully get them mailed out right after Thanksgiving.  I’m also going to do a lot of the shopping on Thanksgiving weekend so I can catch all of the sales AND then I will just order everything else online.

I’m bound and determined to ENJOY this Christmas season!!

I will take some pics of the Christmasy house soon and share them with y’all.  I did take one cute pic on Sunday night that I love…

My sweet little Santa was worn out!  Oh, and I also want to mention that having all of the Christmas stuff up has put everyone in a very good mood!  As soon as the kids walk in the door, they immediately plug in the the tree and turn on Christmas music.  Everyone is so happy and there’s hardly any fighting going on!

Isn’t that awesome!??

Maybe I should just keep the Christmas stuff up all year long, huh?

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Well, as far as the whole “healthy living” part of my life goes, I’ve been doing okay.  I’ve been eating well and exercising regularly, but I’ve also been slackin’ a little bit here and there.

I really, really, really wanted to stay ultra committed until Thanksgiving, but for some reason I keep finding myself eating things that aren’t on my “mega healthy, get fit, lose all of the pregnancy weight” approved plan!

The lifestyle I’m living right now is a wonderful, realistic, healthy lifestyle, but it is very much a “maintenance lifestyle.”  I know that if I’m really serious about losing weight, I need to be “ALL IN” or it just doesn’t happen.  Losing weight is tough!

I did manage to take some 3 months postpartum progress pics to share with ya’ll.

I can’t say I’m happy with my progress, but I can’t say I’m discouraged either.

I know as a blogger, I put myself and my life out there for the world to see!  I’m totally fine with that.  So, with that being said, I just want to speak candidly for a sec.

First off, I have a good self esteem and a good body image, even when I have lots of baby fat to lose!  I really don’t see any reason to put myself down, criticize myself or beat myself up.  There is no good that comes from that!

However, I expect a lot out of myself.  I do not like to be a slacker.  I LOVE to push myself, set and achieve goals and really take charge of my life.  If there’s something about myself or my life that I don’t like, I try to use it as motivation and do my best to change it or improve!

So, with all that being said, I will give you all a very open and honest view of what I think of my body and my progress so far.

I realize some people will look at my pictures and think I look just fine and that I should just be happy and satisfied with how I look.  I also realize others will recognize that I have a lot of work to do and definitely still have some pounds to lose!  It’s all a matter of opinion.

In my opinion, I have plenty of weight to lose and I want to tone and tighten up!  I will not stop until I get there.

Anyway, I’m happy my stomach has mostly gone down.  My stomach doesn’t get very huge when I’m pregnant (although the rest of me does!), so it goes back to “flatish” pretty quickly and easily.  However, I seem to stay WIDE for quite a while.  My waist, bum and hips are definitely a lot wider than they usually are!

I also have like ZERO muscle tone.  I’m hoping my muscles are still buried under there somewhere and that they will show up again after I lose some of this weight.  We’ll see.

My face is definitely more full than it usually is, but it’s not as big as it was a month or two ago.  I’m happy to see a little bit of progress there.  When I lose (or gain!) weight, my face and neck are one places I notice it first.

My legs definitely feel bigger.  I’ve been wearing my fall boots lately, and they are noticeably tighter!!  So sad.

My chest is a LOT bigger than it usually is, but that’s mostly because I’m a nursing mom.  I may very well be carrying an extra 10 pounds just there!  Ha.  I have to take extra precautions when I run these days and wear two sports bras.  Sigh.  I know some ladies love to be larger in this area….I DO NOT.  As long as I have some sort of shape and look feminine, that’s good enough for me!

Soooo, that pretty much sums up the body assessment.  Pregnancy is a big sacrifice and definitely messes up the body, but it is SO WORTH it!

Well, I gotta go run a bunch of errands and figure out what in the heck we’re having for dinner, so I gotta roll!  xoxo