The Birkeland Family Blog

Week 2 down.....on to week 3! I'm onto week 3 and feeling great. I have not missed a workout and my diet has been super super healthy. I'm loving it. I love feeling my muscles again. I love the feeling of sore triceps. I've worked my lower body so hard that I can't lower my butt to the toilet without yelping in pain. I love the feeling after a hard cardio when your head is spinning and your legs are shaking. AHHHH!!! Gotta love it! I still have days where I feel super energized and other days where I feel like a thousand pounds. My back has given me some fits, but I have had several visits to the Dr. and some great massages. I am just hoping that the weight training will soon help my back instead of hurt it. We shall see. As for now I'm not giving up. I so badly want to see some change and feel like I did when I was in my 20's. Ha....can that really happen? I'll let ya all know! Stay tuned for more updates!

So here is my little Jack J Jack is 2 months old now! I can't believe it? I feel like I was just rushing to the hospital in labor. He is growing before my eyes. I wake up each morning and look at him and he is always a wee bit bigger to me. The newborn phase has almost passed. He is awake much longer, he is smiling and we have gotten a laugh or two out of him. He is the most mellow and happy boy ever. We even have been getting some 5 hour stretches of sleep out of him. Way to go Jonesy. Some funny things about him. He loves having his diaper changed, or should I say being naked. In fact with out fail there is a huge grin on his face when the diaper comes off. Even in the middle of the night. What a character. He absolutely loves his swing. I think I love his swing more. I put him in it when he is tired and voilla he is asleep. He has had his best nights of sleep when he is in the swing. We still are perplexed of who he looks like, but we are convinced he still looks more like my si...

Our yearly week at Jeremy Ranch has come and gone. We usually don't do anything super spectacular but it is just a nice getaway. This year was certainly different due to two kids and Brian going to the valley every day for work. Kinda a bummer. My philosophy on that decision was he wanted some good sleep. I really don't blame him. Anyway, we had a good time feeding the fish, playing in the stream, walks, Park City games and rides, swimming, shopping at the outlets, and good icecreams at McDonalds. Sleeping arrangements were difficult but we did come out of the week knowing that Emmi is for sure not ready for a big girl bed. She has been summoned to her crib for at least another 6 months. I am not ready for no naps and long drawn out nights.

Never in my life have I felt so depressed and disgusted about how out of shape and soft I have become. Yes....I know I just had a baby, but there is no excuse. I have gotten into such bad habits as far as eating and just being so inactive. Food has become such a comfort thing for me, and I hate how I feel about myself. My ah haa moment that I knew something had to change was when I found myself seeking out parks that don't have swings so I don't have to push Emmi, or avoiding all swimming pools since I don't own a swimsuit that is size 16, or telling Emmi every 5 seconds that "Mommy is tired and doesn't want to play" I still can't fit into the clothes that I was in after I had Emmi. How pathetic is that? I have absolutely NO ENERGY. Yes.....a lot of my low energy does stem from broken sleep from little Jack, but I do know that I would have more energy if I were exercising and in shape. So here is my plan. I am putting this out to all of you so I st...

Papa Ric helped build the box with Brian! Brian and I talk often about our childhood days digging in the dirt. We were entertained for hours and hours. Emmi has loved digging in our flower gardens, so to finally put a stop to that her daddy finally decided to build her a sweet sandbox in the backyard. "It may be the sweetest sandbox you have ever seen", Brian would say. It is 8x8 and has a bench surrounding the entire box. It doesn't entertain Emmi for hours yet, but she will sit in there and play for a good while. In her words....."I love it Daddy". P.S. If your at all saying to yourself "what about the cats?" My answer. I remember as a kid coming across that random piece of cat poo and that stench of pee, but we dug it out and kept on playing. And I am still here to tell about it. I'm not too worried. That is why I call it OLD SCHOOL PLAY!!! We didn't worry much about stuff then.

So, I find myself tripping out at the thought that I now have 2 kids. I was completely freaking out before baby Jack arrived due to the fact that I feel like Emmi is a handful and I can't imagine doubling that work. To get myself to calm down I would just tell myself, "everyone does it, right?" Well, to say the least it hasn't been a breeze so far. I am handling the baby fine. Yeah, some sleep deprivation, but Emmi has been a complete "2 year old" nightmare. I believe she is loving her baby brother, although she thinks that smothering, hitting, poking, jumping near his head, yelling in his ear, and collapsing to the floor everytime she doesn't get her way at that moment seems to be a good way to get attention. YIKES!!! My patience is wearing thin. I would LOVE any advice on handling two kids and most importantly handling a 2 year old with a new sibling. This is innocent Emmi loving her brother at the moment

We showed them didn't we Jack? As I said in my last post I was going to tell the hospital that Jack wanted to be born on May 20th regardless of what they say. My last post was written on May 20th at about 7:45 p.m. While writing the post I did feel some stronger contractions but since I had been contracting all day I really just ignored it. Until I published my post and started walking around. They immediately started coming 3 minutes apart and I had to breath through them. Brian was putting Emmi down to sleep, but I barged into the room and said we need to go to the hospital fast. I called Eric and Kelley to take Emmi and in no less than 5 minutes we were out the door. Emmi couldn't have been more thrilled. Off for a sleep over with her cousins. Driving to the hospital was the longest drive possible. The contractions were coming so fast. I was a contortionist in the passenger seat while gripping Brian's thigh everytime a contraction hit. Brian dropped me off in the round a...