Picture Update

Life lately...

(Oldest to Newest)

Catch Up

Where have the last five months gone?

I have been a horrible blogger, which truthfully wouldn't be so bad if I were at least keeping another journal of any kind. But since this blog is currently my one journal I am feeling anxious to record things from the past five months. Admittedly I also feel guilty that I haven't written anything about little Evan. He has been such an incredible addition to our family. 

I'd like to give brief catch-up paragraphs on each of us, so I'll start with Mike, and work my way to Evan. 

Mike is still working at Fidelity and loving it. He started a new position a few weeks ago and is studying hard for another licensing test. He is currently the elders quorum secretary in our ward, and a YSA adviser with me. He is such an awesome father to our boys. 

I am mommy-ing it to the max lately. I finally feel like life with two kids is normal. I decided to stay home (almost) full-time this year...and extremely grateful I have the option to do that. I'm teaching super part-time a couple nights a week when Mike can be home with the boys. It has been so nice not dealing with babysitters and daycare. I'm staying busy with small house projects, laundry, dishes, errands, playdates, joy school, potty training, trips to the library, reading, cleaning, hanging with new friends, and loving my boys. Life is good! Our new ward is awesome, and I have already made some great friends. 

Curtis is getting so big! He turned 3 a few months ago and ever since I feel like he's growing up and changing every day. We are (literally) currently working on potty training. I haven't been ready to focus on it until recently. He is doing very well, and I just need to stick with it through the occasional accidents. He is loving his new "joy school" group. There are 5 boys and we meet once a week for a couple hours. We rotate homes and take turns with the lessons. It's been really fun for Curtis to socialize with several other kids more often than just during nursery on Sunday. Curtis is speaking very well and every day I am surprised to hear him speak new words and sentences. He is coordinated and clever, tender and sensitive, and 100% boy. He loves to dance and I am wishing I would have put him in a creative movement class this year. But we have our own "dance" days and have a blast. I'll have to post some videos of his creative moves :). 

Evan is a sweetheart. He is a completely different baby than Curtis was; harder and easier in some ways. He is not a great sleeper compared to Curtis, but he sleeps 6-8 hours, eats, then sleeps 2-3 more. I really can't complain, but compared to Curtis (who slept 10-14 hours by now) I feel like I'm still not getting great sleep. Evan is much more "needy" than Curtis was. He is almost always perfectly content when he's being held, and doesn't last long doing anything else. I've loved using my Moby wrap this time around, and wear it at least 2  times every day for a couple hours each time. I was searching for a soft structure carrier that was easier when out on errands and we ended up getting an Ergobaby carrier. I am obsessed with it. Seriously the best investment we've made in a long time. But anyways, Evan is a very snugly baby and he loves to talk. He is very observant of people and loves to look everyone in the eye. He is very good at focusing. I am seriously obsessed with this boy. He is such a beautiful baby with his long hair and big eyes. He is a total momma's boy, and I don't mind at all :). I'm so grateful to have him in our family. 

And there you have it for now. My sweet snugly boy is crying to be held....gotta go. 

Kitto Updates

Time to check in with a good old journal update. Life is good. We are healthy, happy, and moving towards our 2013 goal of eliminating all student debt and buying our first home. We announced baby boy #2 at Christmas and so far everything is continuing to go well with this baby and pregnancy.

Mike is working so hard right now; getting every extra hour of overtime he can. I'm so grateful for his hard work and sacrifice. He works a minimum of 10 hours a day, then extra overtime on Fridays and Saturdays. It's hard to have him gone a lot, but it won't be forever! He was called as an assistant clerk in our ward, and has been learning a lot about the clerical aspects of the ward organization. 

I am teaching only 4 hours a week, and loving it. I teach 2 beginning ballet classes this semester and am grateful for the extra time I have to be home with Curtis before this baby comes. It's also getting harder for me to dance/demonstrate, so I'm grateful for the beginning classes. The timing couldn't be better as I'll have over a month after the semester ends before baby is due. Curtis and I spend lots of time indoors these days, as it's just too darn cold to go out much. I can't wait for warmer weather and sunshine to get us out of the house more. 

Curtis deserves a post of his own--and he'll get one in the next few days. He's growing up and changing so much every day. His verbal skills improve daily and he's able to communicate everything he wants to, which is so much fun! I love being able to talk and joke and play with him. He has the best manners and is so polite. He loves being at my parents' home where he gets to see family members often. He is happy and sleeping well. I love this time I have with Curtis. It makes me more and more grateful that baby #2 has come later than we originally wanted. Obviously close siblings are great, but I'll always be grateful we had almost 3 years to spend with him before more babies came. He's going to be a wonderful big brother. 

Mike and I have been implementing a "1,2,3" counting/time-out system that has dramatically improved Curtis' attitude and his obedience/response. He is usually a very good listener (although sometimes it takes several minutes to get him to focus on the task at hand because he's always busy doing something). Potty training is at the very beginning stages. Curtis likes to sit, fully clothed, on the toilet, but that's it. Honestly I don't feel like pushing it at this point. I'm okay changing 1 stinky diaper a day (which is all he usually does). Even if he's not 100% ready before baby comes it'll be fine with me. 

And that's about it for now! 

iPhone Photos

Life lately....

Fall 2012

Fall this year was unusually warm, which was nice for a while, but eventually made me ache for cooler temperatures. As for the comings and goings of September through November, Mike worked a lot, and I taught my BYU classes and spent lots of time at home with Curtis. Halloween was a lot of fun this year. I "feared" that Curtis wouldn't let us put a costume on him, as he was completely against it until we bribed him with lots of treats. Still not sure why I even cared that much, because honestly I don't even like Halloween very much (although you'd probably never guess it from the following pictures).  We decided, for at least this year, to keep a family theme. We went with an Oriental theme: Curtis was a ninja, I was an Asian lady, and Mike was a panda bear. We are the best at procrastinating, and came up with the costumes the day before Halloween.

We also visited Hee Haw Farms towards the end of October. Unfortunately it was close to nap time and we ended up leaving early with our tired, grumpy boy. But hey, it was still worth it. 

Thanksgiving was spent in Texas with my dad and Steph. We originally planned to have all the siblings come down, but unfortunate circumstances kept Jesse and Alysha, and Chris and Tregani from being able to go. We still had a great time, and I'm glad we were able to go. On the way down I drove with Michael, Eliza, Mark, and Curtis. We stopped for the night in La Veta, CO and stayed with our Aunt Lisa. We drove the rest of the way the next morning. Mike flew down on Thursday morning and was there for the rest of the weekend. It was great to see family and spend the weekend with them. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at The Big Texan--and it ended up being a really good traditional meal. After a few days of visiting we all drove the 16 hours home on Sunday. 

Now some picture history...

Still Here

It's been months since my last post. Luckily, things with Curtis are much better these days. He is happy, healthy, and sleeping much better. We have a great time spending the days together. This is the last week of classes at BYU; it's still hard to to believe the semester is over. I've had a great group of "kids" and it's always bittersweet when classes end. However I will be glad to teach only a few days a week next semester, rather than every day. 

Life is going well. Still at the parents' house. It's going well. Mike's working like a crazy man, getting every possible hour of overtime offered. I'm really grateful that he's working so hard, but it's also hard to have him gone so much. 

I have so much more to write about and catch up on. Lots of pictures to post. Lots about Curtis to write and remember. But now it's late and I'm exhausted. More updates soon. 

Update

This past week was the longest week of my life. I have so much I'd like to write about, but Curtis is finally asleep, and I don't want to spend all of my alone time blogging.  

We have officially moved out of our apartment. Leaving our apartment was so hard for me. We had so many wonderful memories there, and I still get a lump in my throat when I think about it. I'm really going to miss it there. I shed many tears during the few days of moving. It was our first "real" home. It was Curtis' first home. And we worked so hard to make it home. As hard as it was to leave, if I constantly remind myself that bigger and better things are on the horizon I feel a little better. Not much better, but a little. 

Now we are settled in with my parents. It still just feels like we'll go home any day. Things are working out so far. We have two bedrooms and a bathroom all to ourselves, with laundry just down the hall. We really couldn't ask for anything more. We've made them feel like home the best we can. I haven't had to cook a meal all week, so honestly I should really be shouting for joy!

Curtis is giving us a run for our money. Right before our beach trip he learned, again, how to escape from the crib. That was basically the beginning of the end of our perfect sleeper boy. From the time Curtis was 10 weeks old he was sleeping 10-12 hours a night, and taking a 2-3 hour nap each day. All of a sudden that has completely changed. He wakes up at least 2 times a night and comes into our room every night. One night during our beach trip I let him sleep with us (for the first time ever) because he was having night terrors. Worst idea ever. He now tries to get in bed with us every single night. Naps have become the biggest struggle ever, and I'm having a really hard time. His nap time was the only "alone" time I'd have all day, and I guess I just took them for granted because now they are gone. 

I'm hoping someone will tell me this is a 2-year old phase and that soon he'll go back to taking his naps....

I started teaching at BYU again. It was a very last minute opportunity, but it was definitely an answer to prayers. I love being back there, and I have a great group of students this semester. However it has been really hard for me to adjust to teaching every day after being a stay-at-home mom for the past year. I'm grateful to get out of the house each day, but my classes are at the worst possible time ever because they are  right during Curtis' nap time (2-4pm). So, even when he does take a nap, I am working and therefore have ZERO alone time during the day. Needless to say this has been one of the longest, hardest, weeks of my life. I'm trying hard to fight the anxiety and dread that I feel each day when I wake up. I was so looking forward to this time when Mike was home after work at 5 and we'd have each evening to spend as a family. But when he gets home I'm just so done with my day, and so tired, that I don't feel like doing anything. Moms who work full-time, I don't know how you do it! 

On top of everything we just had miscarriage #3. I debated writing about it, but hey, after writing about 2 others, what's one more? I was only 5 weeks along, and we had only told a couple of people we were pregnant, so it wasn't nearly as difficult as the last one at 16 weeks, but I am completely drained in every way. I'm trying my best to find hope and to have faith that things will work out, but I'll tell you what, most of the time all I feel is emptiness. I don't feel sad, I don't feel angry, I just feel empty, and so very tired. After 3 miscarriages you have "repeat miscarriages" on your record, which means you're able to get testing done. However, I had the blood work done last week and everything came back normal. No answers. So frustrating. We will try progesterone when we conceive next time, but other than that there's not really anything to do about it. The hardest part of all of this not having control. It is so hard to know that this is completely out of my hands. 

Please, friends, keep us in your prayers. And please, if you have any advice as to how to get a 2-year old to take naps and stay in his bed all night, let me know. I'm desperate. 

Anticipation

I am always a happy gal when I have things to look forward to. 

I definitely try to find joy and stay optimistic during the normal day-to-day, 

but sometimes life gets so monotonous. 

I love having things to anticipate, prepare for, and get excited about. 

The last couple weeks, and the upcoming month are filled with exciting events!  

Curtis' birthday

My birthday

Sarah and Phil's wedding

Mike's official graduation

North Carolina beach vacation

Braden leaves for his mission (this one's bittersweet) 

Moving 

Start teaching dance again

Hopefully seeing a + on a "you know what"

Paying off all our student loans

Saving, saving, saving

Buying our first house

Life is good. 

 Photo Credit - Rachel Kitto - Bald Head Island 2005

Our current Netflix instant queue

I  mentioned  in one of my last posts that lately I have so much to say about food. My desire to learn and  implement permanent changes in the way we eat still occupies many most of my daily thoughts. As silly as it sounds, I have felt like this health journey is going to be one of the most fulfilling and worthwhile endeavors I will have, and I think it is going to be a very significant part of my life (and my family's of course).

If you haven't seen these, watch them. 

All of them.

Each time I find (or re-watch/read) a book, film, or blog that is based on a whole, natural, 95% plant based diet, it's like a heavenly witness that God truly is all-knowing, and all-loving. He has blessed His children with incredible physical bodies that have amazing capabilities. And He has also blessed us with all the substances our bodies need to be healthy. The more I learn, the more convinced I am that we can live long, vibrant, healthy, disease-free, lives. 

We all think we need to have nutritionists and doctors tell us what to eat. 

I just cannot believe healthy eating is that complicated. 

But it actually is, for most of us, because society, our government, and our individual family traditions have engraved in us certain beliefs. And questioning those beliefs is really uncomfortable for a lot of us. Most of the time we say. . . 

oh that sounds good, but that's not for me

my doctor said ______ is good for me

that film is biased

you only live once, why not enjoy it

that's too hard, I could never eat that way 

I've eaten ______ my whole life, I'm not giving it up now

my ________ ate _______ and lived till they were 90

You get the picture. 

Why are we so defensive? 

Shouldn't we jump on the chance to be healthier?

Don't we want to live longer, disease-free lives? 

But the idea of change most always makes us immediately defensive of our ways. 

Change is hard, isn't it?  When we've all grown up accustomed to a certain way of eating, it's really hard to change. Old habits die hard. This journey is overwhelming at times. I feel like I don't know very much. But, at the same time, I think we all already know a lot more than we think we do, because eating whole, natural plant-foods JUST. MAKES. SENSE.

So, as each day passes and I learn a little more about why I'm trying so hard to eat better, I'm willing to be patient, and to do what it takes to make these changes permanent. This is a learning process, and not an item to check off on my "to-do" list. 

We only get one body, and one life. 

I, for one, want to make them count.

The Terrible Twos

It seems as if Curtis has decided to flip on the "terrible two" switch this week. 

I don't know why he's decided to suddenly start 

screaming, 

whining, 

hitting, 

throwing, 

and blatantly disobeying. 

Heaven help me.

Patience is not my strongest virtue. 

I love him more than I could ever say, 

but this is really hard. 

iPhone Photos

Our life, lately. . . 

Eat to Live Update

Mike and are starting WEEK 3 of our

Eat to Live six-week plan. 

Thoughts so far. . .

It's not as hard as I expected, but at the same time it's a lot harder than I expected! The easiest thing, for me (probably not for Mike), has been giving up dairy products and meat. I've never been a big meat-eater, and most dairy products make me stuffy. The hardest thing for me has been limiting salt and ranch dressing on my salads (although he gives a vegan ranch recipe that is pretty good). 

Easy for me. . .

-Not eating meat

-Not eating dairy

-Eating lots of fruits and veggies

-Making new recipes

Hard for me. . .

-Limiting added salt

-Finding good salad dressings

-Eating 3 meals (not snacking)

-Planning meals and shopping 

Overall, both Mike and I have had great results in only 2 weeks on the plan! I have lost 4 lbs and Mike has lost 10 lbs. Both of our BMI's have lowered, as well as our % body fat. I have also had more energy, and had a greater desire to be productive. I have really enjoyed learning new ways of cooking (without oil) and it has been very rewarding to have successfully made some great, very healthy, meals. 

Our daily eating usually consists of. . .

-Breakfast: Green smoothie, fresh fruit, or oatmeal with almond milk, berries, or raisins

-Lunch: Homemade soup, and/or salad with beans, raw veggies, raw nuts, and homemade dressing

-Dinner: Same as lunch, and/or brown rice, sweet potatoes, or other ETL main dish (recipes in the book)

The following chart is the Eat to Live Life Plan. 

It is clear, simple, and definitely do-able. 

Dr. Fuhrman recommends that the *limited and *twice/once weekly foods make up 

less than 10% of your total daily calories. 

In my opinion, for those who are LDS, 

 this recommendation is 100% in line with the Word of Wisdom.

_________________________________________________________________________________

On top of ETL I have been exercising very consistently for the past 2 weeks. I usually rotate between  cardio (jogging, biking, or elliptical) and other strength/toning exercise (pilates, yoga, ballet, or free weights). I am really interested in beginning a dedicated weight training program, but by golly it's scary! Every time I go to the gym (the Orem rec center) the weight room is full of men. I seriously only saw one woman in there once! I wish they had a separate women's weight room (like the University Golds does). 

If you have any advice on starting a strength training program PLEASE let me know! We can't afford to hire a personal trainer, and I seriously just need a written plan that I can take to the gym and follow every week. There are tons online, but they are always so different, and I have no idea which one would be best for me. 

_________________________________________________________________________________

I am really excited about making permanent changes in my life, and for my family. The more research, praying, and reading I am doing, the more urgency I feel to implement changes. I have tons more thoughts about all this stuff, but I'll save them for other posts. :) 

Here we go WEEK 3! 

***This weekend Mike and I had a few cheats for Father's Day. By "cheats" I mean we ate what a normal person would eat in a normal day. This morning I woke up extremely tired and clogged with nasty mucous, a sore throat, nausea, AND a headache. If that's not motivation to get back on track I don't know what is!  

The Best Way to Store Greens

The person who designed refrigerators to have a freezer on the top and the veggie and fruit drawers all the way on the bottom probably didn't eat a lot of fruit and vegetables. They probably at a lot of frozen TV dinners and ice cream. Otherwise they wouldn't have put the most important things on the very bottom of the fridge, hidden from view!

Luckily, newer models have the freezers on the bottom and the crisper drawers within easy reach. 
This is probably the thing I'm most looking forward to getting when we buy a home someday!

Green Smoothies: My Favorite Recipe

I don't think it's a secret that we've been on a green smoothie kick lately. 

Image Source

For Christmas we purchased a Blendtec Total Blender, and it is seriously the best thing ever. 
Mike and I say that it often seems pointless to get Christmas presents because 
a month later we hardly even remember where the Christmas Fund went. 
But not this year! We will always remember this gift! 
Okay moving on. 

Healthy Habits

Remember THIS post, and THIS post, 

about my journey to a healthier me? 

Yeah, that got put on hold after becoming pregnant.

And now it's back.

We are starting another "Healthy Habits" challenge with the Kitto family. We did one back in 2010, and the results were awesome. Basically you get points for eating right, going to bed early, and exercising daily. On top of that you get extra points for your total % weight loss. 

We've been going for almost 2 weeks now. I'm feeling good, and I can tell my body is grateful. I've really made an effort to get outside and get moving! I've been taking long walks, jogging, trying new classes, taking ballet, and bike riding. I'm also really trying to make good food choices. And I'll be honest, imagining myself looking good in a swimsuit on the beach is helping, a lot. hahaha! You'll understand if you know my family!  

It's a No-Win

I've decided that pretty much everything is linked to cancer or some sort of serious disease. 

Seriously, EVERYTHING.

The more I try to make healthier decisions, the more overwhelmed I become.

I find yet another study, finding, or medical journal about something else I should be worried about.

It's exhausting and really discouraging. 

Dear Diary

Life is looking up. I find myself feeling more and more hopeful and excited about the future. I feel like I'm slowly forgetting what happened just a few short weeks ago. I know I'll never really forget it, but I'm not thinking about it every minute of every day anymore. This is definitely a blessing. I'm in love with the sunshine we've been having. It's hard to feel gloomy when it's so beautiful. 

Source

At certain moments I feel twinges of sadness, even anger, about the miscarriage. I feel that everyone around me  is pregnant and having babies. I feel like everyone has forgotten, which is probably true as I sometimes forget. I feel really sad that Curtis will be nearly 3 by the time he has a little playmate (which means he'll really be 4 by the time he actually has someone to "play" with). I know 3 years isn't incredibly long, but it is when there are no other siblings or cousins to play with. I was only 18 months older than my closest brother, and I loved it. It's hard for me to accept that Curtis' next sibling won't be as close in age. They won't be in junior high or high school together. And our goal of having children every "even" year isn't going to happen now. It's hard to accept that our "plans" aren't going the way we thought they would. 

The day I borrowed a nice camera and took 100 pictures of my son

On Saturday evening we had a fun get-together at a local park with some of the young couples in our neighborhood. My sister-in-law let me borrow her camera so I could (try) to take a few good pictures of Curtis. I spent most of our time there following him around, trying to get him to smile. IT WAS HARD! There were so many kids around and so many distractions. 

Luckily I got a few good ones that made it all worth it. 

A Few Easter Photos

Thanks to my sister-in-law Tregani for taking these pictures!

We have a lot more of Curtis (of course) to come! 

iPhone Photos

Our life, lately...



(you'll also notice that I discovered the jump break, so be sure to click the read more link.)