embrace the camera

norwegian women what? 

On Monday I made a very quick mention of a house full of Norwegian women.  I'm sure most of you missed it, but for the few of you who might have been curious about what I was talking about...

Those would be my cousins.  Well, first cousins, second cousins, I'm not sure what kind of cousins.  My mom had 56 cousins on my grandma's side.  32 of them are women.  Every two years all of the first and second (that's me!) female cousins have a little reunion.  Obviously not everyone is able to or does attend, but this year our group was 17 strong.

I am so thankful to have a large family, and to have all of these amazing women in my life.  I am extra thankful that even though our paths don't regularly cross, we are able to come together and celebrate the family we came from, and enjoy each other's company.  I know not everyone has family members to lean on or spend time with, but I am lucky enough to have many aunts, uncles, cousins and second cousins to support me whenever I need it.

Just a few pictures of my little family from the weekend... I was lucky enough that Chris was in town doing a fantasy football draft (thank God I like football) so he was able to keep track of Ryann here and there while I had some fun.

And I had to throw in this picture of Ryann coloring.  She is starting to really love coloring books.  She picks a color and goes to town, naming the specific things she is coloring... "Ernie green shoes, give Ernie green nose."  My heart nearly explodes every time she lays her little belly on the floor and grabs a crayon.

a day in the life - jami

Good morning lovelies.  Today I'd like to introduce you to Jami.  I first came across her blog while embracing the camera with Emily.  I'm going to sound like a total creeper, but I believe in the first post I saw, Jami was dancing in front of the camera wearing bright pink pants that Mr. Nato apparently hated.  I found it rather hilarious.  And then I realized we live in the same area.  I've never met her in real life, but I do enjoy reading about her crazy kid antics and occasional crafternoons.  I hope you'll pop over to her blog and enjoy it too, not to mention this lovely little peek into her day!

***

hi, i'm jami nato. this is my family. well minus penelope, she was in my belly. but we haven't taken a family picture all together since...ridiculous.

we pretend-live in the 50's sometimes. not really. we just wanted to make a funny christmas card. ok, so here was our day....

5am: penelope wakes up to eat. but then goes back to sleep. and i get up and do a 1 hour devotional and a 1 hour hot yoga class before all the kids wake up. JUST KIDDING. i go ahead and go right back to sleep too, don't you worry.

 7:30 we wake up...LATE. awesome. layne has to leave the house at 8 to be at school. so layne gets dressed, i make his lunch and he runs out the door with daddy. because daddy doesn't have a surgery this morning. thank goodness. and thanks layne for feeding the dog.

oh, i put those cold packs for lunch boxes on my eyes to make me not look so tired. what? i don't know...but i think it works. google it.

 

lila wakes up around 8:30-9:45. we get dressed. change diapers. i put m'face on. package up some gifts that need to be mailed out, because i'm an awesome friend. ok wait, these gifts won't even arrive in time for her birthday. whatevs.

  anyway, we need to get out the door on time, because we have to go to lila's mother's day out open house at 10 am. i'm a little nervous but lila is super excited...cheering in the backseat when we pull in the parking lot. why am i nervous? lila does not talk(we discovered she couldn't hear 6 months ago, but now, thanks to tubes, she can)...she is not potty triained(how do i potty train someone who can't talk?)...will she fit in? that's what i'm thinking. ball of insecurities.

10 am, lila rocks it at the open house. she doesn't hit anyone. but if they tried to take that stroller away from her, she totally would have. hooray! and we make friends. this is going to be great, i tell myself. it's only one day a week...quit stressing. she needs this. normally at this time, lila would have speech therapy, but today is really weird. why did i decide to document today?...who knows.

 11:00 we leave and we're off to run some errands. paper source for lila's birthday invitation envelopes...surprise, we're celebrating your birthday a month later because september is freaking nutty-mcNutterson, lila. bad mom? maybe. smart mom...yes. thank you.

11:15 hello panera...forgot to take a pic of this shenanigan. but don't worry, lila stood up on the booth and said HI! to every passersby. penelope slept. thank you, Lord.
11:45 i hop into forever 21 for a birthday gift for one of my besties. success! they have the cutest and cheapest jewelry there.

12:30 hit up the post office to mail little gifties out. when we get home, we play a little and then it's nappy time at 1:30. which just means, lila messes her room up and doesn't sleep. but penelope does, so i snooze off for 20 minutes on the couch. and then penelope wakes up from her very short nap and wants to eat. how rude. after eating, we stare at eachother. penelope thinks i'm funny and i think she's cute, so this goes on for quite a while. until i realize...

 
i have another child. in naptime.

3:00 lila gets up from solitary confinement. i mean rest time. at this point i'm about to go pick up layne but i remember he has a playdate after school with his buddy. this makes me a little sad because i miss him. so anyway, until like 4:30, i basically chase lila around and tell her 1800 times to take her fingers out of the mouth.  suggestions for how to get this sweet nugget to stop? i have no clue.

at some point in there then i'm all, hey wait, what are we eating tonight? i made my world famous sloppy joes(NOT). which is a pound of ground beef and a half a bottle of bbq sauce. generally we eat healthier than that, but i was like...hmmm, what can i do with a pound of ground beef in about 5 minutes. ha. so it worked out for my non-planning self that day.

at around 5-ish, we eat. because we are old people. like the old people you see at the buffet at 4:30 that are already done with dinner and are ready for bed. that's us.

you can tell from these photos who is the good eater and who hates anything i make. why do we have to fight about this every night, layne? oh my word.

 so after dinner we play. penelope lays the smack down on the older ones with the help of daddy. we call her "ninja baby".

then it's off to bath time at 6:30

and after bath...a little cuddle time with penelope. because who can resist?

 story time, and in bed by 7:30

i head out to go to michaels because i have to buy 30 wreath forms for a craft night next week. and nato hangs with some of his buddies while i'm gone. i come home and shower. i shower at night because in the morning, i can't escape the childrens. it just works for me...don't judge. and then at around 11, we go to bed. here is an awkward picture to prove it. nato and i talk in bed until 11:30. then we make out. just kidding. i fell asleep.

'twas a super busy day. thanks for joining us. let's take it easy tomorrow and do absolutely nothing.

and for the questions:

1) most surprising thing about mommyhood?  how selfish i am. everyday, the little nuggets need more than i think i can give. sometimes i get mad at them for being so needy. and when that happens, i say sorry a lot. because the reason i don't want to help them is because i love myself more than them. and that is a hard thing to realize. depending on God for energy in those moments is key. so ya,  i hate to get all spiritual there. but it's the truth. 

2) advice for new moms? stop comparing. stop comparing your kids with other kids. your body with other bodies. the way you mother with the way someone else mothers. it will get you nowhere but in tears. or resentful. or mean to people who don't deserve your mean-ness. remember where your identity is. and remember that if people look perfect, they aren't. you're making up things in your head.

3) top 3 baby products. 

1. arbonne baby rash cream. i don't sell it or anything, but i mean, this stuff works for the worst rashes. and quick.
2. a good jogging stroller. even if you don't jog, these are just great for walks and they last forever. we have a phil and teds and it's rocked my face of. it's a skinny stroller, not a double wide. those are so hard to maneuver. 
3. a good camera. if you can, get a nice camera that can capture a picture right when it's happened, not the second after it's happened. i used to hate that with my old point and shoot. canon rebels are great to get your mom-photography on. ask for it for christmas...

***

Thanks so much for sharing with us Jami!

week in iphone pics

Whew!  The last couple of weeks have been fairly busy.  I still feel super behind.  But thankfully we don't have plans to go anywhere for the next few weekends, so hopefully I can get 'caught up' (is anyone ever really caught up?).

SUNDAY

A three hour drive home at not naptime = me getting attacked by the sticker monster.  The sticker monster did eventually fall asleep, after a pit stop at grammy's house for lunch.  By late afternoon everyone was exhuasted, but happy to be home!  When you have bug bites on your legs, but have spit milk on half of your pajama shirts and its too hot for sleepers, you might end up wearing something ridiculous like this.  And trying to plank in your sleep.

MONDAY

It was a nice morning for a trip to the park.  The wee one got a little hungry while we were cooking dinner, and managed to eat an entire banana.  I was tired and a little grumpy, so I ate a bowl of frozen yogurt in bed.

TUESDAY

Woot woot!  Got my hair did.  While browsing celebrity gossip magazines (how did I not know Hilary Duff was married, AND PREGNANT?) I decided to get some bangs.  Whoa craziness.  Some playtime in mommy and daddy's bed.  Ryann is getting pretty good at this laundry thing, I see chores in the future :o).

WEDNESDAY

Ryann asked for pancakes for breakfast.  I decided to try making her some whole wheat yogurt ones... I'm not a pancake maker.  OBVIOUSLY.  Thankfully she still loves them, and has requested them for breakfast almost everyday.  Later we had a little band in the kitchen, and I wrote out a pretty ambitious to-do list.

THURSDAY

Ryann surprised me by sleeping in, even when I decided to get up and take a shower, put on make-up and blow dry my hair, all before she was awake!!!!  I need to-do some work on what to pack her for lunch.  Peanut butter toast, watermelon, bell peppers (which she didn't eat of course) and pretzel fish, eh, oh well.  Thankfully she was still in a good mood after mother's day out where she didn't really take a nap.  When she is thinking really hard her tongue hangs out, just like her daddy.  Ry is becoming quite the little artist.

FRIDAY

A bathroom photo shoot before heading off to the gym.  I was so so so SORE from Wednesday's workout, that I had to throw in some walking during my run, but still managed a 10:30 mile pace.  Ryann was a huge help while packing up to go to grammy's.  She was super tired, and slept in the car for a long time after we made it to our destination.  And just a little shirtless snack time.  Always cute.

SATURDAY

Just being cute during a morning walk with grammy and auntie Donna.  She had to watch all the action going on outside while she ate her lunch.  Ryann loves this blue exercise ball at my parents.  And um, we're crazy.  That is all.

Linking up with Amy!

training isn't everything

No matter how hard you train, you won't perform your best unless you take care of your body.  You just can't.

The past couple of weeks I've fallen off the healthy eating wagon just a bit.  Since hitting my goal I'm focusing more on training (running mostly) and maintaining my weight loss, rather than carefully watching and counting every bite that goes in my mouth.  (Funny, since just a couple of weeks ago I was talking about how calories count...).  That was working fine for a couple weeks, but then I started to pick up too many sweets, and not enough vegetables.  Too much lemonade light, not near enough water.  Definitely not enough sleep.

And I'm feeling it.  My runs are much harder.  I just feel, gross.  We've had a couple of weekends full of family fun (have you ever seen a house full of Norwegian women?  quite the party :o), and I really wanted to enjoy them.  And I did, I had a great time seeing all my family and socializing and, well, EATING.

But now I need to really focus on what my goals are.  I want to lose a couple more pounds and get more lean, build more muscle.  And I REALLY want to be able to run a half marathon in November.  I know I won't be able to do that if I feel as uncomfortable as I did yesterday during my long run.  My body was tired, my stomach was uncomfortable, my muscles were crampy (hello dehydration, NEED MORE WATER!).

Something especially interesting to me this weekend, was how my body reacted to the unhealthy food.  I haven't had an acoholic beverage in such a long time.  I'm not anti drinking or anything, but I decided that I'd rather eat my calories than drink them, and who really wants to get up and run 6 miles after an evening of drinking?  I know I don't, so I figured it would just be easier if I didn't.  Plus, when I used to drink, the next morning I would have pain down the back of my neck, upper back, and all over my arms.  To the point that I wouldn't let Christopher hug me for a day or two.  We really thought it was related to the alcohol.

But after a week of not watching what I was eating, I woke up yesterday morning with my same 'drinking' pain.  Obviously, it wasn't the alcohol.  I guess maybe dehydration and too much sugar?  It is so uncomfortable.  Just another thing to emphasize that eating right and drinking TONS of water does wonders.

via

There is still tons of food and sweets leftover from all of these get togethers, so I know I won't be perfect (and I can't let good 'better than crack' brownies go to waste, seriously?).  But my goal for this week is to drink a minimum of 72 ounces of water a day (three camelbaks full :o).  AND get in three good strength workouts.  I really need to focus on those now that I'm planning them on my own.  Wish me luck with that!

Speaking of good strength workouts... my run on Friday was rough because I was so freaking sore from my strength on Wednesday.  Since it was my last workout with my trainer, she wanted to do something 'fun'.  Um, I'm sorry, anything called the 'filthy fifty' most likely will NOT be fun.  It went a little something like this:

50 box jumps

50 pull-ups

50 kettlebell swings

50 walking lunges

50 knees to elbows

50 push press

50 back extensions

50 wall ball shots

50 burpees

50 double unders

I didn't complete the workout exactly as prescribed.  I think my weights were slightly lower, and instead of 50 double unders I did 100 single jumps, because I couldn't quite get the hang of the double unders.  My knees to elbows were, um, probably not fully correct.  Burpees and box jumps?  Two of my least favorite things.  That workout was MISERABLE.  But I finished in just over 35 minutes.  I'm not sure I EVER want to try it again :o).

What is the hardest workout you've ever done?

nutella s'mores bars

Oh how I love family (or any) gatherings.  They give me a good excuse to bake the things I won't make for just us.  This past weekend was no different.  I've been wanting to try these no-bake nutella s'more crunch bars so badly, and was so excited to whip them up before we drove to Omaha.  They were super easy to make, and were a big hit with my family.

One thing I didn't really love about this recipe... once the bars started to warm up, even just a bit, they were SUPER messy.  I was thinking they would be a pick up and eat kind of bar, but if you didn't eat them nearly straight out of the freezer it was more of a cut a piece and eat with a fork bar.  That, however, doesn't change the fact that these are delicious.  Just something to keep in mind!

Nutella S'Mores Bars
from babble's the family kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, broken into pieces (I used semisweet chocolate chips)
• 3 tablespoons nutella
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 4 graham crackers, crushed into small pieces
• 2 cups mini-marshmallows

Directions

1. Melt the butter, chocolate, nutella and corn syrup together in a heavy bottom saucepan.  Swirl in the mini-marshmallows and graham crackers.  
2. Spread the mixture in a 9x9 pan and smooth the top.  Place the pan in the freezer until it is completely solid.  Cut into small squares and serve.

I actually doubled the recipe and put it in a 9x13 pan, worried there wouldn't be enough dessert to go around.  We ended up having three cakes plus other desserts for my Grandma's birthday, so unfortunately I had to bring a third of the pan home with me.  Darn :o).

Enjoy!

favorite august photo

I've peeked at the photo challenges over on The Paper Mama several times, but never participated.  However this weeks challenge, your favorite photo from August, was one that I couldn't come up with an excuse for not participating.  I had a hard time choosing.  Chris wanted me to use this one:

But... this one just makes me so happy.  She looks so happy.  So this is my pick, my favorite photo I took in August.

To read more about The Paper Mama's photo challenges go here.  Have a good one!

penguins and peacocks and puffins

OH MY!  So clever right?  Wait, you're probably confused.  It's lions and tigers... Yeah.  Ryann saw penguins and peacocks at puffins at the Omaha Zoo.

We started telling her a bit too early (like Saturday or Monday or something) that we were going to go to the zoo on Friday.  So every morning she would get her shoes, try and put them on and say "Go zoo?!?!  Go zoo?!?!"  Pretty dang cute, except the melt down when I told her no, we weren't going to the zoo that day.  I was worried that the zoo wouldn't live up to all the hype we had going on, but it didn't disappoint Ry.  She loved seeing all the animals, but her favorite area by far, was the tunnel in the aquarium.

Seriously, she could have stayed in there for hours, I'm sure.  But for the record?  Really tough place to take pictures in...

Not sure why I was getting this face, but Ry still talks about seeing the zebra.  Yes zebra, singular, there was only one.  For some reason that seemed really odd.

couldn't take her eyes of the animals for a pic... and I think she was hungry...

We didn't make it through the desert dome, and probably missed some other stuff too.  Which makes me even more excited to take her back!  Definitely going to have to hit up the KC Zoo again sometime soon.