The Birkeland Family Blog

To put it blatent and direct.......Life has been so freaking HARD! First, my back pain is at the top of my list of why life sucks! It has gotten so bad I had to stop all exercise and just let my body rest and stay chewy. Pain has always been the reason for stopping exercise programs. I am so sick of it. Good news is that I found a certain ridiculous diet that helps the pain. Such a long story I will save you all the details. But, I am getting so super depressed that I pretty much can't eat anything I enjoy without the consequence of pain. Second, I feel like a failure as a mom. I have about the most strong willed 2 year old on the face of this planet. If any of you out there can relate I am so sorry. She is so stinking stubborn and relentless. I am completely sleep deprived and I feel my patience running thin. I am always so ornery and mean. I feel like I need a shrink or someone to tell me it gets better and that she won't be the end of me. Brian and I are constantly saying si...

Jack is official! We blessed Jack on September 6th 2009. His daddy did such a beautiful job. It is always such an emotional thing for me to hear my cute husband bless my child with such wonderful gifts and attributes. It is always a day that I will never forget for both kids. It was so fun to see so many of our friends and family come to support our little Jack. We love you Jack and can't wait to see you grow up!

Yep....It's ME! I feel like I was just blogging about my last birthday. Wow does time go by fast. Isn't it sad that as we get older time goes by faster and faster. When I was in elementry school summer felt like it lasted forever. I remember actually asking my mom when would school start because I was ready to go back. Then when I got into Jr. High and High School summer went by way too fast and I never felt ready to get back. Now as an adult summer is a blink of an eye, and I never felt like I even had a summer. My day was fabulous. Brian got Kelley, my sister-in-law, to watch the kids so he could take me to lunch at the Zinn Bistro. Of course it was amazing. In the evening my bros came over and we just hung with the kids and played on our front porch. I couldn't have asked for better weather. The next night my mom made a big dinner for me. We grilled filet mignon with veggie kebobs. AWESOME!!! She even docorated the house for me. Party hats and all. I can always count on ...

A couple of my friends from work got together to celebrate Ashlee's graduation from Neonatal Nurse Practioner school. What a champ she is. I have known her for now 6 years and she is finally done done done. HoOrAy for Ashlee!!!! Our day began with a nice spa pedicure at an awesome place down the street from me. It is an asian place that of course you have to play charades and use hand gestures to communicate, but for sure this place gets a 4 star rating. We sat back, enjoyed the foot massage, marveled at the heap of dead skin on the floor from the wonderful razor, browsed through their design book, picked a design for our toes and then chatted about everything under the sun. Just look at our cute toes. FYI If you go to this place just be sure to quickly skip over the pictures of the hairy toes. Yes, I guess men get pedicures and go as far to paint them with lightening bolts and other scary designs . Next, we had a unanimous vote of where we should go for lunch. The ZINN BISTRO. Fo...

So we have begun the potty business! It wasn't my decision it was all Emmi's. One morning about 2 weeks ago she asked to wear her big girl panties. I told her that she hasn't learned how to wear them yet. Well, she proceeded to beg and beg. I finally gave in and let her wear them. To put it short....she hasn't gone back to diapers from that day. We have had our hooray party in the bathroom. She has gotten many new books for rewards, and her favorite was the trip to McDonalds for lunch. Hard part is that now she wants a reward for every trip to the potty. Which is about every hour. Dang....she is going to break the bank. Or, it means M&Ms every morning for breakfast. I guess you gotta do what you gotta do. I feel like I shouldn't get too excited about it, but I am. I am so proud of her for being such a big girl. I sometimes get frustrated when she has an accident, but I just have to know that it is going to happen. And believe me we have had our fair share of the...

DUMP!!! So here I have been busting my ever living butt for freaking 6 weeks, and not one thing has happened. I literally have not missed a workout. Nope.....nada uno. I have been eating super super good. Besides a cheat here and there. Ok.....wait I lied. I did have a spectacular lunch with friends that will be blogged about because it was the best indulgence lunch I have ever had, but hey.....cut me some slack. But here is the thing. I have lost only 2 pounds. I still have my doughnut, my cheesy thighs and the never ending back fat. I know this blog post is pretty explicit. Keep reading at your own risk. I have my gross, never to be revealed before photos posted randomly around the house to keep my eye on my goal. It has motivated me to keep going, to do my workouts when I am absolutely so tired, or to not eat the cookies, icecream, or snacks that are lying around. But, how much longer can I keep this up when I don't see a single ounce of result. Ok....I lied again...

The story about 2 months ago was that big sister was jealous of baby brother. Big sister would sit on baby brothers face or lap. Sister would jump around brother to maybe luckily step on a hand, head or foot to get a good cry. Sister would push brothers swing so hard in hopes to fly him to the moon. Sister would cry, kick, hit, and yell to bring all attention back to her and away from Brother. We can now say that things have slightly changed in the Birkeland home. Sister has mellowed out a BIT, and we are getting back to our routine. ThAnK GoOdNeSs! Sister is now LoViNg her Brother! Emmi loves to hold her baby brother! Emmi loves to have Jack in her bed in the morning! Don't you love morning eyes? You can probably guess who stuck these stickers all over Jack's face!