I Feel Like a New Woman

I need to start "upkeeping" myself a little better. I used to get my hair hilighted regiliously, my brows and bikini waxed every 4-6 weeks, and a mani and/or pedi every few weeks. But, as most moms do, I've let these things go by the way-side. Not only for finanical reasons (damn my hair's expensive!) but for sheer laziness. This has GOT to stop. I already feel poorly in the fact that I've gained a few (okay, fine...quite a few) lbs. But that doesn't mean that I need to completely let myself go. That's how it all starts. You start to feel yucky b/c you've packed on the pounds after baby. You don't have the time, energy, or finances to put towards yourself so you decide to just let it be. Well I'm stopping this now.

It's not just for selfish reasons either. My whole attitude changes when I'm feeling good. My relationships at work are more positive, my relationship with my husband is stronger, and my kids also benefit from a happy and healthy Mommy. I love it when Emma says, "When I'm bigger, I'm going to run like Daddy." Soon enough, she'll be saying that in regards to BOTH Mommy and Daddy, compliments of my mini-marathon training! Speaking of--I'm going into week 6 of training. My longest run has been almost 5 miles (about 4.75). Of which I ran straight through! 50 minutes of straight running. No stopping, standing, or walking! Crazy!!!!

So no more of this black rootage, hairy beast, extra-extra poundage. Keeping myself well groomed, happy and healthy makes me a fresh new woman!

Has Jewelry Lost its Luster?

Besides the beautiful, sparkling, giant rocks we all want on our finger to signify the commitment to our husband, do we really even care about jewelry anymore? This subject came up the other day during lunch. And think about it---what girl, under the age of 40, really loves expensive custom jewelry like that of the 20’s and 30’s? Sure, we love our engagement ring(s) rings like I said, and true, we’d love some simple diamond stud earrings. But you really don’t see any young women wearing rubies and sapphires and crystals like they did decades ago. (And I’m not talking about the Forever 21ish-kind-of-jewlry. I’m talking true, expensive, statement pieces.) It’s more about simple silver bracelets, necklaces and rings. Example: the toggle Tiffany bracelet. Or the charm bracelet (or necklace) that many young moms wear. It seems as though the trend is really towards simplicity.

I’m sure my husband would love to read this entry.

And, Boo…if you are. Those diamond studs earrings I mention above? I’d LOVE some.

Bathroom Remodel, Stage One

Finally, finally, FINALLY we are remodeling our "master" bath. The most disgusting room in our house. It is truly something you'd see on Flip That House. Besides the obvious tacky vanity, linoleum flooring, and wretched lilac paint color--the shower is the most NASTIEST thing you'd ever want to step foot into. So I haven't. Not once. Not even for S&G's (sh!ts and giggles, as my mom says so often).

We were lucky enough to get a generous donation from my mom for our Christmas gift, to help start the process of this remodel. We've held onto the money for two months now, saving up for the rest of the remodel. We've searched high and low for new tile, a new vanity set and hardware. Everything has been picked out and almost all items have been purchased.

Now is time for demo! Let the fun begin, in tearing down all this nastiness! I've captured a few pictures for you to see just how disgusting this room truly is/was.

Entry to bathroom

Horrible linoleum flooring

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Vanity area

Shower

Shower floor. Yes, it was THAT bad.

Toilet

Medicine cabinet above toilet

The TACKIEST lilac border! Yikes!<>

Andy removing the tackiest border

Emma's First Gymnastic Class

So exciting! As soon as I got home and walked through the door Emma screams, "I GET TO GO TO GYMNASTIC CLASS, I GET TO GO TO GYMNASTIC CLASS, I GET TO GO TO GYMNASTIC CLASS." You would have thought Santa Claus himself was making an appearance at the Swickheimer household! She could not get her leotard on fast enough. Er, excuse me--her "gymnastic class suit."


We put her in the 4-5 year old class. She's only 3.25 years old, but she's really ahead of the game developmentally, physically, and socially. And how did she do?!? Well, you be the judge...

After class was over, all the kids got to swing on the rope wall. They loved it!

She did such a good job: she waited patiently until the coach told her it was her turn.

Oh, she loved this!...swinging from the rope and falling into the foam pit!

She has great beginning balance beam skills

Fallen off the blogger bandwagon

It's so hard to keep up with this blog. Between managing my career, raising two children, trying to get my post-baby body back into shape, and keeping my marriage healthy and exciting--is a difficult undertaking. (Oh, and by the way---the above items are not in importance order. In fact, I debated on using the term "manage my career" or "go to work"....the first seems so much more ambitious.)

But I'm going to make an honest effort to try and update this as much as possible. As interesting (or uninteresting) as this blog may be to others, it's really a fun thing for me to do. I enjoy writing. I've always enjoyed writing and English class when I was in school. Call it my Type A personality, but I loved dissecting sentences, making sure my spelling and pronunciation were always correct. And although I know I make grammar mistakes quite often in my daily life of emails, it's still fun to keep up with a family blog.

So here's to my new kickoff! I have a lot of fun adventures coming up: gymnastic classes for Emma, training for my first mini-marathon (gasp!), stage 2 of our house remodel, and vacation(s) planning. Keep coming back often; I hope I don't disappoint in my non-lack of updates.