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I had a request for before and after pics... I am not ready for the after yet as I still have some work to do.  BUT, Isaac's (my middle child) birthday was this weekend.  We are boring party people in that we have the exact same schedule every party.  I have a point to this I swear...

Kuebler Kids Party Schedule:

• Arrive and snack
• Eat a meal
• Watch the video my husband made of the birthday child's last year to life
• Open presents with Mama's help
• Cake
• Play with gifts and hang out as long as everyone wants to stay

Not kidding -it's exactly the same every time.  We have done 4 of these parties for Eli, 1 for Emmie, and now 3 for Isaac... that is a total of 8 of the exact same party (with differing themes of coarse).

This year there was a little mixing it up at the end.  My sister is laws - well really my entire in law family are crazy runners.  They do sprint triathlons, marathons (which my parent in laws started doing after they were 60), mini's, trail races... They run a lot at family events.  Like we eat Easter dinner and everyone goes for a run.  No pressure here, as I have been the pregnant fat one for the last 6 years.  Well, yesterday was a milestone in that I also go to run - with much encouragement from my sister in laws who kindly ran my 10 minute mile pace for a few miles before they took off for some extra mileage at what looked like a lion chasing it prey pace to me.   So yesterday when we got to the hang out time it included me running with my running family.  I only made it a few miles, but at least I am doing it!

Back to my point (although maybe my point should be that my 60+ year old in laws can out run me - they are seriously impressive!!!).  My real point is that I found a picture of me at Isaac's party last year and a similar one from this year (during the opening of presents of coarse, as that is where I come into the party schedule for the last 8 parties).  Here they are...

 This is exactly one month after Emmie was born

This is many pounds and lot of work later. 

Not a great before and after but to be honest I am not sure I know where my before pictures from last July even are... wow were they embarrassing! 

Last completely unrelated note:  I have been reading a blog of a women that does triathlons... she is now training for an Iornman.  In all posts she refers to her husband as "the expert".  My neighbor (who also reads it - I mean it is really inspirational) and I can't figure out if her husband is really an expert at something or she just calls his the expert.  All that to say I need a name like this for my husband as he loves to tell me when I should and should not work out.  In his defense he is just worried that if I go to hard to soon I will hurt myself and never again swim, bike, or run.  But I still think he needs a sarcastic name like this... I am open to suggestions :)  I have a feeling he will be more then happy to come up with his own name, which is why I love "my expert". 

For my Dad

I recently posted a video of myself doing a pull-up at bootcamp.  Now for some explaination.  I was doing pull ups with a band to "help" me as I could not even do one myself - but it's better then not doing them at all.  Also (so I don't seem like a total wimp if you see the video)  this was the end of 3 sets of 10 - not that I don't struggle almost as much on #1 as I do #31. 

My aunt made a comment on the video and I thought I would post her comment and my reply - I want to remember it always as my dad's memory has been very motivating in this process.  So motivating sometimes I cry after I finish a run because I just want to be able to share my progress with him.  Somehow I think I am honoring him as I become more fit and in some odd way I think I need to do this triathlon for him - I really don't need to and I know the thought process is silly, but I can't get it out of my head at times.  This post is not met to be depressing but demonstrate what life long effects setting a good example can have on your kids!

Sheryl Babbitt :its the babbitt power in you

Kari Babbitt Kuebler:  Aunt Sheryl - Many time the last 6 weeks of bootcamp I have thought about dads one armed push up or when I sat on his back while he did them so he had more resistance, and I cant forget the pull ups on the clothes line pole he did while we played in the yard, and how he would top it off with back flips the whole length of the yard at age 44! If I have half his drive I will meet my goals... But I cant tell you how badly I wish he was here to see me try new things and tell me I can do it... I dont know if anyone has ever believed in me like he did, or at least been so verbal about it. I would kill for of those random phone calls from him telling me how great i am right now.

Can you guess what I desire my new hobby to be?

Question 1:
How long do you have to stay in the gym to not be one of "those new year resolution people"?

... because I will BEAT that!  I am going on two months and only becoming more and more addicted.  I don't see a stopping point, instead my BIG and CRAZY imagination sees myself in long distant triathlons.  Mind you, I have never done any kind of triathlon but for the last month I have read about EVERY blog there is about people like me that have.  I was reading about the couch to 5K program - now I am reading about couch to triathlons - yep I have lost my mind in just a matter of months. 

Question 2:
Can I do a triathlon?

I think I can, I think I can, and my boot camp instructor who is ever so motivating and encouraging thinks I can - so I say lets go for it.  In fact my mind has chose to obsess over it. 

What is funny about this is I am NOT ATHLETIC at all.  I have never been on a swim team, I have never biked more then a few miles, and the longest distance I have ever ran is 8 miles.  I have a small frame and might look like a runner (as I have been told by non-runners)... but my little secret is I am just a girl with small bone structure that actually can't run.  I took me a year of running in my 20's to hit 8 miles- and then I thought I might die!  I signed up for the mini in 2005 and quit because I was too busy wedding planning.  I have never in my life lifted weights or done an exercise video (except for abbs and buns of steal in the 90's - come on I had to try it, everyone was doing it).  Let me also mention my right knee sounds like rice crispies when I go up and down stairs and is in pain after doing squats and lunges (which I only have started doing the last month because prior to the last few months I had never really worked out - have I drove that point home yet?) 

I have not blogged about any of this in the last 2 months, because I wanted to be sure I had a plan to stick with this before I told the 3 people that might read this in internet world - if you are one of the 3 reading this right now, I thank you.  Even if no-one reads your blog, something about putting your goals and dreams out there is still frightening.  I did not want to say things like I am going to kick this baby weight a%* if I really was not, and I did not want to say I am going to run a 5K if I continued to quit after week 3 of training (like I did in July).  But now I would like to announce something - even if it is just for me...

I AM GOING TO DO A SPRINT TRIATHLON, I WILL COMPLETE IT, AND I WILL TRAIN FOR ANOTHER ONE! 

The amazing trainer I have been working with in her amazing boot camp is Tatum Perez of TXT .  I can't put in enough plugs for her because she is not just a great friend but an amazing trainer.  She has me motivated and encouraged and convinced I can do things I did not think I could, in fact she has me doing things I did not think I would!  Lifting for starters - who new I would grow to crave the pain that feels like success - I mean I literally like the pain now, if it doesn't hurt I feel like I did not work out.  I have bought weight, a jump rope, out door running clothes... if she says I can I then gosh darn-it I will. 

I could write a book on what has happened over the last 2 months but I will spare you and attempt to
put in bullet points...

• I have lost another 5 pounds or so (LOVE MY FITNESS PAL on my phone)
• I have worked out till my legs gave out and when I went to run I just fell (an odd but great feeling)
• I have tried to keep up with girls at boot camp that have been doing this for years and had to laugh at myself when I can't get my body to do what theirs will (oh I have to write these stories latter)
• I have had my lock cut off my locker at the club - doesn't that scream NEWBIE in the GYM!
• I have had people in the pool stare at my freestyle and I can tell they are thinking "oh that poor girl, I should give her some tips"
• I have spend HOURS reading about triathlons
• I have cried over numerous stories of women that are very overweight and completed 1/2 ironman
• I have injured myself doing a "jump up" at boot camp because my mind told my body to go, but it just didn't.  *right now my entire shin is a big bump and bruise and hurst when my pants touch it but who cares when you need to run!  (Is this really me talking?)

Oh I could go on and on!!!

one of them...

Yep - I want to be one of them... one of the new people at the gym the first week of January that make it that the regulars (those people that exercise year round) can't find a treadmill.  If it helps - I plan on going in the morning before my family awakens or before work- yes I will now come to grips with the fact this is the only way I will get this done- bummer because I love to sleep!

I was on such a roll in the summer and then the kids got croup, we needed to get my mom's house sold, the kids continued to be sick (it's Dec and we have fevers again), we needed to get my mom moved, Christmas was coming, and on and on. 

As all this comes to a close - I am ready to get my life in order.  I watched 2 episodes of supernanny last night and am again reminded my crazy kids need some routine, that I need to prepare for tomorrow the night before, and need to rise from bed before my children wake me up. 

I want to run again, I want to swim (better on my knee and hip), I want to get these last 16 pounds off, I want to have energy, crochet again, and get some of the extra STUFF out of my house so I can be organized again!  - then I want to go to wine and canvas and celebrate!  And I want to go in my red pants - red pants that fit better because I am nice and fit :)

Ready - SET - GO!!!

We had the plague!

Since the 2nd week of July someone in our house has been ill... and I mean off and on coughing till you puck, green mucous, teeth cutting pain, snot all over your shirt sleeves kind of ILL!  Mike (husband) is the only one that did not catch it and he spent all his time - this will shock you - cleaning up after all of us!  I stopped running and counting calories in order to just survive and make enough milk to feed the baby through the illness.  We have not been out church in way over a month - new moms in the nursing mothers room don't take kindly to women hacking up a lung in the 5 x 5 room we all feed in.  In the midst of all this sickness we have got my mom's house ready to sell.   It's been a little crazy!

All that to say, we have not felt normal (or a least our version of normal) for months!  Today however, feels like a breaking point.  I only coughed once and I did not ever (WARNING:  this might be too much information) pee my pants!  I encouraged Eli to pick a birthday party theme.  It is in a month and a half so we need to get moving on this :)   Eli and I searched our little hearts out and "pinned" Lego ideas till we were all "pinned" out.  I started to make a paper-mache pinata with Isaac for a fall festival we are having with the neighbors.  I used my canning supplies I got from amazon yesterday and canned for the first time!  What in the world did people do before You Tube and Pinterst - I mean lets say you wake up and think "today I will can some apple butter and make a pinata" but you have never done these things in your life - how did you figure that out?  And lets say you finished that and wanted to start making Lego birthday supplies but did not have a board for that on Pinterest where you steal others amazing ideas - how did you make your 6 year old think you were amazing and that you came up with this brilliant idea to turn baby food jars into Lego head containers using things you already have at home?

So, as you can see - I think we are back to our normal... we are baking, crafting, and only cleaning when we must.  And let me give you an example of MUST as we had one this morning:

Must is when your children (the ones that can talk) wake up and say "I want to take a bath" so you put them in the bathtub and go to feed the crying baby.  While you are doing so, your oldest says "Oh no!  We are surrounded by poop!!!" and because he has a crazy imagination and your middle child is cracking up you say "Are you playing 'imagination' in there or is there really poop?", and then he says "Mama, there is really poop and I HAVE to get out of here".  You put down the feeding (now crying) baby to find that in fact the middle child has had diarrhea in the bath-water that contains every, and I mean every, bath toy you own... This is when you MUST clean (and use bleach).   

I think I will start running this week!  My mom's house is on the market (2 showings tonight!!!!), I have a treadmill in my garage (benefit of cleaning out your mom's house), I am weaning the baby so dieting is in my near future, and my bathtub is sparkly clean! - I feel motivated!

Where have i been

I am blogging from my bed while craziness happens around me. In the last few weeks we have volunteered at a junior high week of church camp, mike went to chicago for a few nights then to michigan for work, 2 of the 3 kids have had croup, I hurt my knee running, my running partner got a herniated disc and is stuck in bed, emmie has a cold, we picked out my dads momument, ants took over part of the kitchen, the pipes under the kitchen sink busted....  I will now just skip to why I am tring to lay in bed... I have mastitis!  Awesome!   So there is why I am not cleaning or running or blogging!   I am typing this from my phone and don't plan to re-read it as I can't imagine how many typos there are.  My last few weeks have been a pot of odd crazy things... as I listen to eli hack up a lung down stairs.  I also had to stop watching what I ate because my milk supply dropped.  BUT... I WILL NOT QUIT.   I managed to get fitted to different shoes.  The people at blue mile in indy are awesome!  They took back my old shoes with no receipt and put me in new ones.  My amazing friend that is a trainer told me how to care for and strengthen my knee... back to week 2 of couch to 5K for me.  So whem the mastitis clears I will try try again!   In the meantime I will care for kids, be sick, and thank God that my husband cleaned the house this weekend.   Here is a picture of my new shoes because I don't think anyone wants to see a picture of my mastitis

Guess what - I did not clean today

Guess what - I did not clean today.  I mean I did straighten up the house and I did pull out the vacuum to clean up the the entire box of chex cereal Isaac dumped on the floor before I was even down the stairs this morning.  But did I dust, mop, or clean a toilet? - NO.  Not because I did not have time but because I was busy with the following

1.  Researching backyard Chickens - I NEED THESE!  Mike says "we will see".  When I asked why we will only "see", he said "because I want to wait and see what you think you need next week before we go and buy chickens - lets see if you still want them in a month or move onto something else" - oh he knows me too well.  What neither of us know is what I will think in a month and if I will moved onto something else - I don't even know... the excitement of being me :)

2.  Running - YES, I RAN again!  So that only took 40 minutes including stretching but the coffee I had to have with my running partner afterwards took up another hour or so!  What took more of my day then running itself was the hour I spent going back and forth from the fitting room to the sports bra area at target trying to find the perfect sports bra for a nursing mom - It does not exist!!!!  Again - more time wasted getting ready to run then actually running.  Can I also mention that my arm strap for my phone has yet to arrive.  I have chose to no longer keep my phone in my pants - I just carry it.  It's a pain but better then having to take my phone in for a new one because it got "water" damage in my pants. 

3.  Looking at how to make a teething necklace for my daughter - which I now feel like I MUST do before we leave to volunteer at a week of junior high church camp in two days.  I would much rather baby girl has this to pull on and chew on then my shirt while I am with a bunch of junior high boys - no need to scar anyone for life.  Once I see something I have a compulsion that I must make it RIGHT NOW!  So somehow I must figure out how to get to the craft store in the next few days to make this!  (They are closed now and I work tomorrow- killing me to wait this long!)  And of coarse -  I have started to think about how I need to sell them and make lots because who does not want one when you have a teething baby - I am going to let that thought go and stick with the chickens for now and maybe make a friend or two a necklace.  Who else feels they have to have this???

4.  Going over our budget with the hubby to find we have spent WAY too much money on groceries since we started eating organic, cage free, and meat from animals that don't eat corn (I think that is right) - the food thing was really all my husband.  I just do as he instructs and get really excited he is at least trying to eat healthier.  We decided we will not give up our improved eating habits and our new shopping habits (more fair trade) so we really need to hit Trader Joe's more where it is a least a little more cost effective.  So then I go to Trader Joe's - is there anyone else that can just wonder around this little grocery forever?  Mike and I actually argured over who got to go as we love to find new healthy options for us and the kids.  I won (yeah!) because I said he could not pick out my yogurt :)

Wish me luck - we leave for camp on Saturday.  I am going to try to RUN three times, eat within my calorie limits (believe it or not our camp food is AMAZING so this will be hard), lead a group of junior high girls closer to Christ, run around and play games like I am a junior high girl, breastfeed my baby (yes all three kids go), get my kids to bed at night... and most important - make purses and hair bows out of duct tape, make bracelets out of pop-can tabs, and scarves out of old t-shirts!!!!!!!!!  This upcoming week is my heaven on earth!!!!!  Can't wait!  And not a bit of that was sarcasm - I love junior highers!