Going back to the 50's

We had the fun adventure of getting a 50's dress for my 14 year old daughter to go to her first LDS Stake dance.  Last month she got a cute new short haircut.  She had been bugging me for quite awhile to get it cut short.  So, since it was her birthday, I had her go to the salon for a cut and highlights.  She absolutely loves it and it fits her personality perfectly.

Then she told me that she wanted to wear a 50's dress to the upcoming dance.  She wanted us to make one for her.  But, on a short time line, we decided that buying one would be easier and cheaper.  So, we looked on Amazon.com and found a cute Lindy Bop dress which is a company in England.  We were afraid it would not arrive in time once we ordered it, due to the timeframe indicated by Amazon.  So, we had a backup plan to wear an old 50's dress from her grandma.  It had a few minor repairs that needed fixing and my daughter fell in love with that dress. But, as fortune would have it, the dress from England came quickly and in time for the dance. ( We decided to save Grandma's dress for a future and more formal dance.) We also purchased a crinoline to add the needed volume to the skirt.  We picked up some cute red flats to wear with the dress.  And, we had a fun photo session before the dance.

This was such a fun experience and we will be having some more clothing adventures coming up. 

MRI study: Breastfeeding boosts babies' brain growth

MRI study: Breastfeeding boosts babies' brain growth

I ran across this on Twitter today.  Of course, being a breastfeeding advocate myself, for many reasons, it's nice to have studies that show the positive impact it has in young child development.

Mamavation

So...I've decided to try and be a Mamavation Mom for their next campaign (Lose weight & detoxify your home).  I am not much of a blogger or Twitter gal @roxylake, but I am trying to get involved more in that, and hence this post and my now whopping 20 Twitter followers.  But, hey...progress is progress...at the beginning of the week I only had one Twitter follower.  Of course, Facebook is where I spend way too much time.  Just ask my husband & kids. :)

I am actually really interested in the upcoming campaign.  Not only do I have plenty of post baby fluff left to lose, I really LOVE the detoxify aspect of this campaign.  I always want to live with less toxins in our environment and consume less in the foods we eat.  But, it's so hard to figure out economical and easy ways to accomplish this.  And let's just face it, I just don't know where to start most of the time and I just put it on the back burner.  As a mother, I would love to be able to provide a home for my children where they are not exposed to so many toxins.  I also want to become more educated in this area.  The one thing I have learned is that these kids grow up fast and there is such a small window of time to not only take care of them, but to model behavior that will stay with them as they venture out on their own someday.  

And I am also looking forward to running the Virtual 5k they have coming up this weekend.  I love to have events to look forward to, it helps keep me motivated!

Fitness Update*  (3/17/14) I didn't ever follow through on trying to get on the Mamavation bandwagon.  But, I did run in the Kansas City Marathon Relay in October 2013. I did the 8 mile leg.   I joined Aspen Fitness last month and have an upcoming half marathon in Olathe, KS coming up on April 26th.  I definitely need to get into gear, since my running has been lagging.  I'm looking forward to warmer weather and getting out on the run more within the next few weeks.

I’m running a virtual 5K with #Mamavation June 8th-9th Would u like to join me? http://bit.ly/15cjyTV #mamavation5k

Trying to get fit 6 months postpartum

So, here I am....41 years old and 6 months postpartum.  Baby E is such a joy and I am so happy to have him in our lives.  My older kids adore him and my husband is enjoying new daddyhood in his 40's.  I've decided there is something magical about having a baby at 40.

We have a total of 6 children.  My hubby had his first 2 daughters prior to us meeting and they are 18 & 15 yrs old.  We got married when they were only 4 and 1 yrs old.  And then we had our first together 9 1/2 months later.  No waiting for us.  So our oldest together is 13, we have another 9 yr old daughter and then we have an almost 7 yr old son.  And our baby was born in October of 2012, on the same day as his 2nd oldest sister.

So here I am.  It's spring time (well sort of...we're having a cold snap here)...and I am ready to finish losing the baby weight and get into shape.  I have all sorts of mystery aches and pains since having the baby.  I am not sure if this is just baby related or older age related. :)  I made an attempt at the beginning of the year to get on the fitness wagon.  I joined myfitnesspal.com and started logging my food and exercise.  It actually was a great start for the brief time I did it.  But, I didn't maintain my motivation and between a new job for my hubby and relocation to another state, I let a lot of other things get ahead of my fitness goals.  My husband and I trained for an ran a half marathon together in August of 2011.  Two days after the 1/2 marathon, I broke my toe.  I was still gung ho on exercising and kept up exercising at the gym for a couple of  months.  However, it was interfering with my toe recovery and I had to back off.  I gained about 6 lbs and then got pregnant in January 2012. I really enjoyed my pregnancy and still did a lot of walking and even some jogging while pregnant.  My husband ran the same 1/2 marathon again last August and my older girls did the corresponding 5k along with my mother-in-law who was out visiting.  My mother-in-law is a total inspiration, since she has been a runner for years and has been doing half marathons and triathalons.  She even did a half last year, before coming out to visit us at 68 yrs old.  So, this is the long way of me saying that I would like to train to do another half marathon.  And I'll be doing the Kansas City Temple Run 5k on May 4th.  My 13 yr old will do it as well and my 9yr old and 7 yr old will be doing the kids run.  My hubby already had signed up for the Kansas City Corporate Challenge 5k which will be the same day.  I ordered a BOB Revolution SE jogging stroller yesterday from Amazon.  Since caring for the baby has been one of the major obstacles to getting exercise in for me, this is super exciting and my hubby deserves a thousand kisses for agreeing to let me get it.

Oh, and my new found fitness blogging inspiration is due to my long time *Turkey Mom friend, Amy, who posted on Facebook about her becoming a Mamavation mom.  She's an amazing mom of 5 whose oldest it the same age as my 9 yr old.

*A Turkey Mom is a group of moms who originally got together as a sub-group from a Babycenter birth board for moms having their babies in November 2003.  Our babies were all due the week of Thanksgiving and we had "Turkey Babies" and became "Turkey Moms."  We have a fairly small group of moms who are still connected after all these years.  We migrated to our own forum and eventually ended up on Facebook.  I love my Turkey Moms.