From the Week

In a way, this past week was a blessing in disguise. It was busy BUT low key and manageable enough to get plenty of down time at home with a rather happy toddler and DIY-accomplishing husband. Monday was a beautiful … Continue reading

From The Week

Happy Friday! My weekend is full of work work work, so I guess it’s like…my Monday? Eww I can’t think like that. Just popping in real quick to share stuff from our week 🙂

Monday: After breakfast we headed to the zoo! It was such a gorgeous day out that we needed to take advantage. It also made me secretly happy to see several misbehaved children there because it made me feel better about my own child! We saw just about everything there and Wes has his first taste of Grandma’s froyo before we left.

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Here’s the part where I toot my own horn about how I make the best french toast. ever.

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Only downside to the day was that Wes fell asleep JUST as we arrived at the zoo so he only had a couple minutes of shut eye the whole day! By the late afternoon he was overtired and it was a 2 person chore (me and my mom) to get him down for a nap. Then when he did go down, the kiddo slept until 5pm when we finally needed to get him up. His schedule has been WHACK ever since my mom got here!

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We had fajitas for dinner and somehow got wrangled into watching Dancing with the Stars. That show needs to END because there are no stars left to go on!

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Tuesday: The dreaded shots day. Ugh. He screamed for all 3 pokes but quickly mellowed out when he got grandma snuggles. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and then decided to stay at the house just in case the dreaded side effects should kick in.

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He seemed to be fine for a while, but as soon as we tried to hang out on the patio is when he went downhill. He got super whiny and lost his appetite. It’s no fair to him though, it was an incredibly hot day and he has been teething so he was really going through the trifecta.

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We had some indoor naked time then mom and grandma decided margaritas needed to happen. PS: The Vitamix does an equally fantastic job at blending as the Margaritaville machine.

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True story: at the exact moment I took this picture, Elmo said- AND I QUOTE- “Ok, Elmo’s done being upside down now” BAHAHA.

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We had chicken sausages for dinner (so ugly to photo) and they were tasty!

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Wes seemed to be hit pretty hard by the shots and he actually woke up in the middle of the night. I had a hard time holding him to get him back to sleep, so after 2 tries, Tyler went in and finally got him back down. So Tyler, if you’re reading this you can totally put Wes to sleep all the time now. You’re obviously better at it.

Wednesday: We had plans to go shopping for some clothes for Wes, but he ended up taking a 2 1/2 hour morning nap. I was able to finish my workouts, shower and get myself ready for orientation at my new job. I felt bad leaving my mom with a really irritable baby, but there was really nothing I could do.

Before I left, I was able to get some somewhat happy baby photos in the backyard. Muscle tees for the win!

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My orientation went really well. I’m so excited for this part-time gig, but I’m also pretty darn nervous. Anything new scares me, but it’s in an industry that I love (hint: BEER) so I should be good 😉

For dinner, I made Hoisin Stir Fry Bowls with Spicy Peanut Sauce. It seems like every blogger in Alberta has been making this lately, so I needed to see what the heck the fuss was all about! Plus, we had practically all the ingredients already. The verdict? Delicious!

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Thursday: My favorite day from the week! It all started with breakfast. Well, I did my workout first (I am slowly getting addicted to early EARLY morning workouts) then threw together a parfait that was out of this world yummy.

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I mixed greek yogurt with peanut butter, layered with sliced bananas and some homemade blueberry maple pecan granola (recipe coming soon!) You guys, this is heaven in a jar. I grabbed a spatula to get all of the goodness out.

Once we all had breakfast, we headed out for a day of fun! As soon as we got in the car, I remembered I had a phone meeting so I had to pull over and my mom needed to distract Wes while I chatted for almost 30 minutes. Whoops!

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Wes had to do some paperwork before we left.

We finally got on the road and I stopped to get my rings cleaned while Wes napped in the car. (anything to keep a sleeping baby sleeping!) Then we headed over to one of the fabric stores and picked out some adorable prints for a top secret sewing project (HOPEFULLY more on that later 😉 ).

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Next, we headed over to the farmer’s market. We had some excellent coffee and perused the aisles for a bit before grabbing some salads to snack on. Wes even got to try some fresh fruit and loved it.

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Then……ICE CREAM TIME. I seriously have no idea how I’ve never been to Village Ice Cream yet, but holy wow was it amazing. I sampled a few flavors before deciding on Salted Caramel- by far one of the best ice creams I’ve had. Wes was getting a bit antsy and I’m surprised I successfully managed to eat my cone without dropping it. We headed home shortly after so the little guy could crawl around sans pants.

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Per the trend of the week, he fought his nap for a long time. Once he did konk out, I got to take the dogs for a walk/jog/run. Reggie keeps fake pooping so he can take a rest. No bueno, dog. We gotta keep moving!

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Again, I had to wake him up just before 5 so that bed time wasn’t absolutely ruined. According to my math, any time I wake this child from slumber, I am in for a world of hurt. He is so irritable and clingy and whiny and pooey. Oh well, it could be worse!

We had been out for a majority of the day, so I didn’t give much of a thought towards dinner. I quickly whipped up some chicken, broccoli and quinoa. Borrrrrrrring, but tasty.

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Oh, and today was our 4th wedding anniversary. Well, technically it wasn’t a wedding but it was the day we got married. On top of a mountain. Legally. We had only known each other 290 days and I already moved from Boston to Calgary to be with Tyler. Best day ever. Funny story: we used crappy $10 rings for the ceremony, but later that night he actually ‘officially’ proposed to me with a real ring! Cue all the feels.

I cracked open a bottle of some of our ‘special’ wine. It’s a bottle of Chardonnay we bought while in Napa while we were dating. Because it’s really romantic when he flies from Calgary and I fly from Boston and we meet in San Francisco and drive up to wine country together. Ah, to be dating again.

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And for your viewing pleasure, here’s a photo from that day–>

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Which brings us to….Friday! Guess that wasn’t really a quick post, sorry!

 

Week + Weekender

Whoa..talk about a wonderful and crazy week! The amazing weather hardly makes it feel like the weekend is winding down and having my mom here with us makes it even better! I didn’t get to do a recap of the week on Friday because I posted Wes’s first birthday (which I think is way more important) so let’s see what I can remember. Apologies in advance for the excessive photos 😉

Monday: From all that I can remember (eek) I got my workout done in the morning and we walked the neighborhood in the afternoon- making sure to hit the playground before returning home. Chicken caesar salads for dinner!

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PS: No joke, I was doing the second week of 22 Minute Hard Corps this week and could already see the changes! My core is much stronger and my arms and butt are getting more definition! (I think I might chat about this later this week since it might also be due to some hormonal changes…man, you just never know! But these workouts feel GOOD!)

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Tuesday: My mom flew in! We haven’t seen her (or my dad…but he stayed home. boo) in just over 6 months. It really is 100% no fun to live so far away from family. I crave moments where I can just have mom and dad come over for dinner or to watch Wes for an afternoon. But…it is what it is right now.

We headed straight to Costco from the airport to stock up on essentials, made homemade chicken tenders for dinner, then called it an early night. Not without a glass of wine first!

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Wednesday: We considered Wednesday our ‘transition’ day. It was nice for just the three of us (me, my mom and Wes) to hang out and get into the rhythm of a slightly different weekday now that grandma was in town! We did manage to get out of the house and run a couple of errands which was nice. Lots of snacks and maybe even a couple of presents for Wes!

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We had pulled pork sandwiches for dinner and hit the hay. Wes really took to grandma so fast and has been super bubbly which has been great!

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Thursday: Wes has his one year appointment at 10am, but woke up so early in the morning that he was already down for a nap by 9am and I had to wake him to put him in the car to go. I hate doing that, but I knew that it was still early enough in the day that he would get a good afternoon nap in anyways.

He wasn’t too happy at the appointment and wanted me to hold him the whole time. I didn’t mind at all since I rarely get those good cuddles, but I didn’t like seeing him saddish.

We headed to the Tim Horton’s drive through on the way home for a couple of coffees and picked up a timbit for Wes since it was his birthday eve. No shocker- he gobbled it in two bites!

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He was still pretty clingy the rest of the day and snuggled with grandma throughout the afternoon. Heart=melted.

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Tyler picked up a pizza on the way home from work for him and my mom and I was out the door by 5:30 to attend a winemaker’s dinner at Pampas Brazilian Steakhouse (more on that later this week!)

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Friday: My baby turned ONE! We celebrated just as the sun came up with balloons in his crib and he LOVED them. Poor Tyler’s alarm still hadn’t gone off yet and we were making so much noise. Whoops!

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We had pancakes for his birthday breakfast (my idea, obviously) and Wes hung out with grandma to play. They even facetimed grandpa for the Happy Birthday song!

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I think we walked over to the shopping center to pick up a couple of things too. It must’ve happened, because there’s photo evidence!

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After his morning nap, I attempted to take his one year photos and was so excited for him to wear some new garb! Luckily, I have come across so many great small shops lately that I was able to assemble something rather last minute. I absolutely loved each piece 🙂

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The leggings are from Baby H Designs (she made the leggings/hat Wes wore when he came home from the hospital), moccs from Posh Panda, and bow tie from Will & Co

After a somewhat successful photo session, all clothing was removed so he could enjoy his very first cupcake! I would have preferred it to be something I made myself (I am anti-any-baked-good-from-a-store-since-homemade-is-better) but I thought this was too cute to pass up when I stopped by Crave.

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IMG_4688 from Jen Linton on Vimeo.

We had to take a quick bath after that because it was a bit messy and Reggie was losing his mind over all the potential frosting to lick. We opted to all stay shirtless after the fact (plus, it was warm out) and I whipped up these amazingly delicious baked chimichangas for dinner. Best part? We had leftovers which were easily wrapped up and thrown in the freezer! Edited to add: I just remembered that Wes ZONKED for nearly three hours after noshing on the cupcake. It was a great little break for me and my mom, but it made for a less fun night of trying to get him to bed…almost 9pm!

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Saturday: Even though Wes went to bed so late on Friday night, he was up at 6am on Saturday. No fun for this mama because my eyes just felt heavy as bricks! I made sure to get both our breakfasts ready before getting him from his room and we hung out in the living room for a while. On one hand, early mornings are no fun because who wants to get out of bed, but on the other hand, I absolutely love those quiet morning hours with Wes when it’s just me and him….and maybe one or two of the doggies who make it out of the bedroom.

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The little guy is getting more adventurous in his eating and was asking for a lot of my mom’s cereal. So cereal he got! Afterwards, he was back to sleep for almost another 3 hours! Although I didn’t want him to miss out on the gorgeous weather, I knew he needed the sleep and it was nice for us all to be able to do our own thing for a little bit.

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After his nap, we spent a long time hanging out on the patio! When it’s this nice out, it’s a sin not to sit outside and enjoy it! He really loved the fresh air and looking out 🙂

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Once Tyler got to a point in his renovations where he could take a break, we had cake! Well, technically only Wes had the cake. No party this year for the birthday boy (1. Because he won’t remember it, 2. Because we have no family around to come and my girlfriends all live so FAR AWAY, and 3. Because umm…isn’t cake enough??!) I sort of feel bad about it, but so long as he’s happy that’s all that matters. He really enjoyed the cake even though he really didn’t understand the concept 😉

Also, I really need to dress nice for some photos, but can’t see the point when we’re just in the house! Besides, DOG. HAIR.

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Timing worked in our favor this time and he was in bed at a relatively normal time! We had lasagna for dinner and watched Ride Along 2 before getting in bed.

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Sunday: I heard Wes stirring in his crib at 6am and of course he went back to sleep but I couldn’t. I laid in bed for a few minutes before getting up to start coffee, make waffles for everyone, and fix my BAE breakfast.

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At 8:30 I decided to put Wes in the stroller and walk to the library to return some books and maybe stroll around the neighborhood for a bit. I was walking one of our usual loops and just before we got back to the house, he had fallen asleep. Since Layla is a barking beast when we get to the front door, I opted to keep walking throughout the neighborhood until Wes woke up. Cut to one hour later and I finally decided to just throw in the towel because my fitbit died haha.

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I had him bundled in the stroller because there was still a tiny nip in the air, but by the time we were back at the house it was practically HOT out. I changed Wes and we hung out on the patio for a couple of hours..and even managed to have a picnic lunch.

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I even braved to snag a few photos in our backyard. It worked out pretty decent- the grass is (dead) nice and dry from the warm weather, and there was no dog poo! I should probably mow it sometime soon, but we’re never back there. Oops.

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Layla is such a great pup with Wes. He loves her so much and is always grabbing for her and hugging her and even just laying on her and she takes it all like a champ.

We came inside for a bit because it was getting a bit too warm and I took the dogs for a long walk. After coming home, Wes went down for a nap, I worked out, and finished up the laundry.

Then it was a nice naked afternoon of crawling, climbing, babbling, and giggling.

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Tyler made burgers on the BBQ for dinner and we all got to sleep pretty early after all that sun, exercise, and renovations (for Tyler).

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It looks like there is still more sunny weather ahead this week, so we will be having many more outdoor adventures. I can’t wait!

 

From the Week

Hey friends! Happy Friday! It’s gonna be another gorgeous one over here, and I can’t wait to spend as much time as possible outside to soak it all up! Got a few things on the agenda this weekend, so it should go by in a flash. Bummer. Backing it up…

Monday: Right after breakfast, Wes and I walked to Safeway to pick up groceries for the week. I actually made a meal plan and lucked out that all of our dinners only required minimal additional ingredients.

The rest of our day was pretty laid back (from what I remember). I did day two of 22 Minute Hard Corps and we played in the basement for a while before Tyler got home.

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Dinner was zucchini ‘meatballs’. They were pretty good taste-wise, but still a bit mushy. I’l have to simmer the heck out of the zucchini next time! Wes played with one for a while, but didn’t manage to get any pieces in his mouth.

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Tuesday: Man, I need to up my picture game so I can remember what the heck we did! The usual morning hang outs..oh right! I actually got up early to do my workout while Wes was still sleeping! I even got in a shower too (perks of being able to shower in 60 seconds).

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I had an interview that afternoon and ended up landing the position on the spot! Keeping it on the down-low, so don’t ask! I’ll share eventually 🙂

As soon as I got home, it was time to head out again to attend the media launch for the 2016 beer for Alberta Beer Festivals! I was really grateful to be able to attend AND bring Susie along. We chatted at Pig & Duke downtown until I ran out of time on my parking spot then we headed over to Last Best for another beer. If you haven’t been there yet I HIGHLY recommend checking them out!

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I was home in time for dinner- which was Pickle Brined Baked Chicken Tenders then put Wes down and walked the doggies. I even squeezed in a second workout that evening since I had some extra energy.

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Wednesday: The best part of waking up at butt crack? Being able to make a pancake breakfast. Only thing that would make it better would be if a handful of bacon was on the plate and a splash of Baileys was in my coffee 😉

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While Wes was down for his morning nap (I’ve been lucking out all week with him taking 2 naps a day) I had a quick Skype meeting for a freelance job. Timing worked beautifully and Wes woke up just as the call ended so we had lunch and headed out for a walk and to cross a couple of errands off the list.

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In case you didn’t see on my Instagram or Facebook pages, there is a limited time sale on a few of the Focus T25 programs and they are REALLY good prices. The sale started on April 5th, but we don’t know how long it will last. SO….if you’ve been thinking about biting the bullet, now’s the time! It’s my favorite program 🙂

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For dinner we had BBQ pork tenderloin which was out of this world delicious. I rounded the day out with a long bath and simultaneously completed some online certifications I need for my job.

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Thursday: Man oh man was Thursday a beautiful day. It seems that our ‘day’ doesn’t really start until after breakfast/workout/morning hang outs/nap/lunch and I’m pretty a-OK with that. I love my morning routine with Wes. But after all that stuff was done, we hung out on the patio for a good long while. It seems our patio absorbs the sun’s heat so much that the temperature was a bit warm out there, but none of us were complaining.

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After sufficient patio time, I put Wes in the Bob and we walked to the liquor store. You know, as you do with an 11 month old while you’re still on mat leave. In the middle of the day. BUT- it was National Beer Day! And I celebrated by wearing my newest favorite shirt.

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We walked back home so I could put the beer in the fridge then headed back out to the park to take advantage the last few weeks we have left with our playground. Apparently the city deems it too dangerous and since our part of the neighborhood doesn’t have enough appropriately aged children to use the area, it’s getting demolished. Wah.

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We had Korean Grilled Chicken Breasts for dinner and paired it with a new Wild Rose beer. (Native to Alberta…or should I say, Albeerta?! ha I’m so funny)

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Tyler has been full speed ahead on some home improvement projects, so my weeknights usually consist of me managing Wes while he work work work work works. Sorry, that Rihanna song has been stuck in my head all week.

So that’s our week in a nutshell..now on to the weekend!!

From the Week

Hey friends! Happy Friday 🙂 I am SO glad the week is over and we now have a couple of days to spend with Tyler home…makes it so much more enjoyable. Not that hanging out with Wes during the week isn’t a buttload of fun, but you know what I mean. Nothing super exciting happened for us this week and I am totally ok with that! We were able to get outside a lot before of the warmer temps, and that’s really all that matters. Backing it up…

Monday: My little crawler was up to no good and trying to go up the step into the rest of the house (our living room is lowered). We still need to buy a baby gate this weekend for the top of the stairs, so I have been on high alert baby-movement duty.

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All of his antics have really been wiping him out, and most of his naps this week have been prompted by his exhaustion. AKA: This mama didn’t have to calm a baby down to sleep AT ALL this whole week. That’s like….a miracle.

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Before Wes was born, Tyler’s mom had sent us some clothes that his Grandmother had knit. They were all much larger than newborn size, so I tucked them away in the closet. And then in true mom fashion, I forgot about them. I tried to pull out a couple more pieces (he wore the bloomers here in some Easter pics) and this was the best I got. (After chasing around a naked crawler for a while).

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Tuesday: Every morning after breakfast, Wes rides around the house in his car. Normally, I’d take him out for a walk but the early spring mornings are still too cool for my liking so I usually wait until later in the day.

After lunch, we did head out and walked to the post office so I could mail my US taxes (I’m so cool I get to do taxes TWICE!). Rather than heading straight home, we walked up to the library where I found a couple of books to read next. We stopped by on Monday to return some of Wes’s books, but I didn’t find anything I wanted in my quick lap around the shelves.

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It was so sunny out that we continued on a walk around the neighborhood and stopped to check out the swings before heading back to the house.

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Tyler made burgers for dinner and we paired it with some leftover potato salad I made on Easter. YUM

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And then an evening car ride.

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Wednesday: It’s a good day when I can do a few loads of laundry, make myself coffee and breakfast and then EAT said breakfast before Wes wakes up. I was even tempted to try to head downstairs and do my workout before he got up, but that was pushing it.

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We had our usual FaceTime with my mom and dad before I headed downstairs (with Wes in tow) to workout. Now I know why I wait until he naps to fit in my workout- it’s no fun trying to plank with a baby crawling on you. Or always trying to untie your shoes! He was pretty good and was mostly distracted by some snacks and the dogs, though.

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(PS: I am generally left staring at the ceiling of various rooms in my parents house when we FaceTime with them..)

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I swear I change my kid’s clothes. We just so happened to get a lot of pictures with this particular set of jammies on!

We had a quick chicken dinner.

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Thursday: I was actually able to complete my workout for the day before Wes got up, so that immediately put me in a good mood. Especially since I was a bit grumpy from having such a terrible sleep. I hate nights that I just lay in bed with my eyes closed….and nothing happens. The worst! Once Wes got up, we watched his favorite show (Jimmy Fallon. With Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy being a close second and third) and he is completely in a trance when watching the monologue.

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Wes took a long midday nap and we headed off to the mall afterwards to basically just get out of the house and pick up some stuff for dinner. And of course, Wes came out winning since I managed to buy him a couple of Old Navy shirts as well. That kid, I tell ya. Gets all of my money.

Dinner was a favorite hodge podge bowl of gnocchi + broccoli + mushrooms + chicken sausage + marinara. Hits the spot every time. And Wes has some pasta with marinara which he loved…and made him very dirty. Bath time for that boy!

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Ugh, and the kiddo started pulling himself up to his feet! I was able to catch a few videos of it and it totally looks like he’s twerking. If he ever reads this 20 years from now, it’ll be like “um, mom…..what is ‘twerking’?’ haha, oof.

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And that brings us to Friday. YAY!

I’m so glad to be finishing up my last week of Beta T25 because that means next week I start the brand new 22 Minute Hard Corps program! It’s done by Tony Horton, the same guy who does all the P90X videos. I am super excited about it and hope the results are just as great as the programs I’ve completed in the past (I totally know they will be).

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PS: If you’re interested in trying out any of the programs, shoot me an email and I’d love to help you out 😉 jennifer(dot)L(dot)Linton(at)gmail(dot)com.