Long time, no write!

I think I just need to accept that I am not good at keeping up with my blog. I try. I really do but things just seem to get too busy. I don't know how good my excuse holds up considering we've had 5 snow days in 3 weeks but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I wanted to post some pictures of when Chris was here for Christmas. I miss him so much. I know he probably doesn't believe that but it's true. When you get used to having someone there, you kind of take it for granted that they'll always be in your daily life. We really miss Chris but know that he is doing great in Florida. I'm really proud of how much he's grown. Ben can't wait to see his uncle again soon. He loved seeing him!

Ben is crawling everywhere! It seems he is constantly into everything. I'm always saying, "No, Ben, no." We now have to close the doors when we're upstairs because he tries to go out the door. He always wants to be moving. He's furniture walking too now. He's got a lot of bumps lately because of it. He's pretty tough though most of the time. He'll fall and then get right back up. He has a lot of toys to play with but wouldn't you know that the things he most likes to play with are not toys! He loves the remotes, phones and magazines. He LOVES anything paper!!! He is so quick and can get into so much trouble so quickly!!! Yesterday I was folding laundry in the living room. I guess I must have been in my own little world and not paying attention. Ben had taken the cheerio box and turned it upside down. There were cheerios all over the carpet! He was just as happy as could be. It was so funny to see him sitting on the rug eating cheerios. You could have left him there all day and he would have been content.







































I came down the same day from taking a shower and saw the cutest thing. Ben was curled up with his daddy fast asleep. Ben doesn't fall asleep easily so I was impressed that he had fallen asleep with his daddy. I just had to take a picture.








































I've been doing some things that I am very proud of!! I haven't exercised in a long time. Really since before I was pregnant. I decided to start up again around the new year. I've been unhappy with the weight I had gained before I became pregnant. I know it might not be noticeable to some people but I'm not happy with it. The other thing is that I haven't been eating healthy at all since Ben was born and I hate that! I found a website that I really loved called spark people. It's really helped me gain some motivation to eat healthy and lose weight. I've been exercising for about 3 weeks now. I'm really getting into now and enjoying it. I hate it if I go a day without doing it. I can't go to a gym because it's just too hard with Ben and he's too little for me to feel ok with leaving him at a gym daycare. So I've been using exercise dvds. Some of them are ones I've had and some I've been renting through Netflix. I love getting them through Netflix! It's fun to get a dvd that you have no idea what it's going to be like and just try it out. If I don't like it, I just send it back once I'm done. It's a lot better then taking a risk buying a dvd that I might not like. I figure if I do like one, I can always go out and buy it. It's nice having that time to myself to exercise. I usually go up to my room and exercise for at least 30 minutes. It gives me some time away. So far I've lost 6 pounds. I'm hoping to keep it up. One more pound and I'm going to reward myself with a piece of clothing from Steve and Barry's. Who knew getting fit could be fun? :)

I wanted to ask everyone to keep my family in your thoughts. Jason's job has taken a turn for worse. It's not what we thought it was supposed to be. We thought we were going to essentially have salary with commission for a month. We were expecting a check last week and never got one. Jason then found out from his boss that the salary was for only 1 week. Now he is on straight commission and with the economy right now, it is not going well. Right now, we are living just on my income. We are trying to make ends meet but it's getting harder and harder. It was a real blow to us when we found out this job was not going to work out. We've been dealing with bad luck from Jason's job for the last 18 months. We are trying to keep our chins up but it's hard when you keep feeling like you keep getting beat down. I started talking to God last night. I've talked to him a lot in the last 2 years asking him for help. I actually thanked him last night for this opportunity to become stronger. I am trying to look at it that way. Other wise I'm afraid that this will break me. So please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Jason is looking for another job and we are fortunate that my mom and Sue live with us. They have been so incredible and have helped us out so much. I will never be able to repay them for it. I'm not writing all of these to get sympathy. It just gets so tiring not telling anyone and I just feel I need to reach out to people for emotional support. Thanks for listening.