Christmas-ing

And so it begins.

The packing.

The traveling.

The present opening.

The cousin meeting.

The cookie eating.

Christmas-ing.

We are wishing you a Merry Christmas today!

Or maybe, Alivia & Manny are wishing you a Merry Christmas today!

Sleep

Sleep: is something we are re-getting used to at the Armstrong house. Alivia's sleeping patterns are getting much better these days. Although she is an early very-early-riser. She gets up around 5 everyday ready to play!

Silly girl.

Something happened this morning that has not happened for the past 8-and-a-half months of Aliva's life

I woke up before her.

Sure I woke up at 5:00 ready to play, and she kept on dreaming until 5:45.

I missed my chance to sleep-in.

Silly Momma.

Of course I took full advantage of the extra 45 minutes to-my-self. I got up, started laundry, read some of a book, and began packing everything up for the weekend.........

Scratch that, I laid in bed and played solitaire on my phone for 45 minutes straight.

Way-to-get-things-done-Mom.

Little Lady

i know this picture is blurry, but it is probably one of my favorite pics of my-little-alivia.

she is such-a-little-lady brushing her tooth with her hair towel on.

doesn't she just melt your heart?

i mean, seriously?

treasure the small moments today.

All Things Christmas

Well, its that time of year, and this year it is extra special!

It is Christmas week, and not just any ol' Christmas week, it is Alivia's first Christmas week, and I am beyond excited to experience Christmas as a Momma-Bear. This past weekend was our first family Christmas of the year.

Hefner-Family-Christmas.

34 people got together to celebrate, and we were thankful to only be missing one person on the special day. There was a surprise visit from Santa himself.

To say the least Alivia did not enjoy meeting Santa. Poor girl. She cried the second Daddy set her in his lap. To be honest, I have never been a fan of meeting Santa, and will be okay if the only picture we have of her with him is her screaming!

I enjoy everything Christmas, but this year I have really been enjoying newspaper, ribbon, and playing cards all over my living-room floor. Here is a little glimpse of what is under our tree this year.

(notice the stuffed elephant, toys, laundry basket, and boxes... a normal seen in our home)

I am so ready for what this week has to bring for my-little-family.

Enjoy every second today.

7 Month Update: Mission-Get-My-Body-Back

Taken after a family run! 

Saturday was the 17th day of December and you know what that means...You get to read about the journey I have been on since giving birth to Alivia on April 4th this year. 

August 8th 2010 I found out that I was pregnant. Shortly after that my running ended, the amount of french fries I consumed increased, hiding candy corn in the car occurred, and water weight came rushing onto my body like I was planning on moving to the desert for the rest of my life.
 Over the course of my pregnancy I gained over 60lbs. After giving birth to my beautiful baby girl I have been a women on a mission: Mission-Get-My-Body-Back. This month I wanted to start off a little different and give you the numbers up front.. and believe me...

They-are-good!

The day I went into labor, April 3rd: 201lbs

The first day of Mission-Get-My-Body-Back, May 17th (Day ONE): 169lbs

June 17th: 160lbs

July 17th: 155lbs

August 17th: 146lbs

September 17th: 143lbs

October 17th: 140lbs

November 17th: 137lbs

December 17th: 134lbs!!!!!

I am not good at math people, but if you add that up, I have lost 67lbs in just-eight-months. Sixty-Seven-Pounds in 8 months. Who does that?

 This girl.

My goal was too get back to my pre-baby weight, and this past week it finally happened! 9 months to put it all on, 8 months to take it all off! I'm okay with that.

Now, the hard work begins. The next goal on the list is to run a marathon, the full 26.2 miles before Alivia turns the-big-one-year-old. We are less than 4 months away. It is hard to believe how far I could come in one year.

Set goals, work hard, dream big, and push through and you can accomplish anything.

Anything. It doesn't matter if you are 150lbs over weight, wanting to make a life-style change to get healthy for your family, to have a baby, to be able to play with your kids: you can do it. If you are trying to get-your-body-back or just get rid of those silly little 10lbs that won't come off: you can do it.

It won't be easy, some days it won't be fun, but it will be worth it.
Don't wait for the new year, don't wait for next Monday, don't wait for someone to go to the gym with you.
 

Make a decision to change your life today.

**Click here to read about my whole journey.

cutest-little-monkey

Here are some pictures from the weekend:

(is she not the cutest-little-monkey you have every seen? seriously?)

Although the weekend was so wonderful, it was another busy weekend away from home. To say the least we are beyond excited to sleep at our own home this up-coming weekend!!

I am going to be a busy-little-bee this week! Cleaning. Shopping. Wrapping. Baking...etc. Get ready for it. Less than two-weeks!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

(source)

The Good: My little 8-month-old baby girl has a tooth! A little white tooth barely poking out on bottom left side of her cute little gummers!

The Bad: My little 8-month-old with that little white tooth barely poking out of her cute little gummers has been telling me her about this tooth for the past 2 days. Tylenol and Oragel have been in full swing in the Armstrong house and there are times she still seems in so much pain. This all started happening after I got the worst-mother-of-the-year-award on Tuesday when I accidentally poked Alivia in the eye...way to go mom.

The Ugly: On top of the award winning, eye poking, teething going on at our house: I am sick. A very hard lesson is being learned this week. Stay at home Momma bears can't call in sick. No matter how sick I feel there is still a little-brown-eyed-curly-haired girl that needs her Momma to feed, change, and snuggle with her, and to be honest, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Motivation

Pinterest Source

Today if you need some motivation about accomplishing your goals go check out this blog written by my sister-in-law.

Proud to have her in my family today.

#Run-the-Rock

Well, last night we rolled back in to Perry after another long-but-wonderful-weekend.

 This weekend we were in Dallas doing this:

{notice Mr Armstrong's shirt pretty much matches the couch...}

{the three of us, we have no idea what we were getting ourselves into at this point}

{early morning waiting}

{my bib, ready to go}

{waiting to start, in the cold rainy weather}

{it was freeeeezing, ran with my trash bag on the whole way: attractive}

{we finished, 2:05:17}

{we are so proud of our Aunt Sarah! She ROCKS!}

Sunday was the Dallas White Rock 1/2 Marathon and despite the cold weather and the rain we had a great time.

There are no words to describe how I feel as a race begins. Sure, I get nervous, but there is something so emotional about running through the start line knowing all the hard work has lead to this very moment. Knowing that for the next two hours I will experience highs, lows, pains, and joys.

It is such a beautiful scene. Seeing people from all walks of life join together to accomplish their goals. Pain aside. Loud cheers from the crowd. Reading signs of encouragement from people you will never get the chance to meet. People telling you thank you as you run by. It's just priceless.

Even though it rained 98% of the time it was a beautiful very-very-very-cold day as we ran through downtown Dallas. I saw beautiful homes and amazing Christmas decorations through the rain drops on my glasses {note to self: contacts are a most, hopefully before our next race}.

March 4: Here we come. 26.2 miles in Little Rock Arkansas.

Bring it on!