life update!

A big hello to whoever is reading this! It's been nearly 2 months since I wrote a blog post, yikes!

When I started blogging, I only had one child and was pregnant with another. Evidently, I had a lot more time on my hands then and was able to blog much more often! Especially towards the end of my pregnancy, during Ezra's nap time each day I had 2-3 hours of time when I could write and I couldn't do much else other than sit on the couch and rest because I had so much physical pain. Even while he was awake, he was content to play with himself so I could write whenever I wanted. With two children, that's much harder to do! Selah is a pretty "easy" baby and will just hang out with her toys on the floor if she's not napping (which she naps a lot!) but Ezra almost requires more of my attention now that his sister is here. He's also getting a lot older and smarter and likes to talk to me now that he can form complete sentences. He likes to show me stuff and have me play with him, so when he's awake, I can't just be typing away on my computer. There's more laundry now with two children and it seems like since the amount of children I have has doubled, my "work-load" taking care of them and the house has tripled! 

I do love blogging and feel I have a lot to say, even if I'm the only one that finds it interesting. I love writing about my children, weight loss, cooking & baking, organization, daily life and random lessons the Lord has placed on my heart that I've learned throughout the years. Recently I've felt the Lord tugging at my heart to start blogging again. Even if I'm the only one who benefits from me writing, I love doing it and will find more time to do it - writing is good for the soul. So without further ado (what does that even mean?) here are some updates from the Meiklejohn family!

Since I last posted, Selah has turned 5 months old and is actually only 2 days away from 6 months old - her half birthday! 

She's still a chunky li'l thing but she sure knows how to get around. She can army crawl like a beast and gets all across the house that way. When she sees a toy she wants, she books it towards it and then sticks it in her mouth to chew on it as best as she can. No teeth, but this girl gnaws on everything. She especially likes Ezra's toy cars that he leaves all over the floor while he's playing. He's slowly learning how to share and usually doesn't mind when she steals his stuff. 

Ezra loves playing with her and they're practically the same size now! (I wish I was kidding - they're both in the same size diaper.) He likes to give her her pacifier, tell me "baby's crying" and asks to get in her crib with her. He's such a sweet brother. He randomly goes to give her hugs and kisses and actually tried to share a cracker with her the other day which hopefully is the only time I will need to teach him not to share.

Oh and during the day when the kids are awake, that ^ is what my living room looks like 99% of the time. I make Ezra pick up his toys before his nap and before bedtime but when he's playing, he pulls out a toy to play with for 5 minutes and then gets another. For now, we keep all his toys in bins and baskets in the corner of the living room since that is where he plays as it's our communal living area. During his 2 hour nap, his toys are put away now that I make him clean them up before he lays down which gives me some sanity since I get to see a clutter free living room during that time. 

He loves to play and is actually starting to play with his stuff - driving cars around, doing puzzles, putting his animals in his tractor - rather than just dumping stuff out, throwing it around and turning pages in books. It's so fun to watch his imagination as he plays with things and it's fun to play with him, too. 

He has an obsession with anything with wheels - trucks, cars, trains, tractors - which is why we did a car/truck themed birthday party for him (more on that below). His favorite book right now has pictures of all sorts of vehicles and he loves yelling all the names of them. "FIIIIIIRETRUCK! YEEEELLLOOWWWW TRACTOR!" 

He also loves Paw Patrol so for his birthday we got him a Marshall firetruck toy. He played with it all day on his birthday and kept saying, "cool, Marshall!" He talks so much all of the sudden. It's so much fun.

Ezra turned two on black Friday this year. I sort of like that his birthday is right by Thanksgiving because then it's more likely for Marcus to have the day off to spend with him. We did his party on Saturday. All the food was car themed and we had cars decorations all over. He got a lot of fun, new, toys and had a blast. Birthdays get more fun as they get older. 

Selah was trying to take a bite of Ezra's cupcake. Sorry girl, no food for you for a couple more months!

November is a busy month with Thanksgiving and Ezra's birthday but we still had time to put the tree and decorations up! 

I love the holidays. They're pretty much the only good thing about winter. Seriously, why do I live in such a cold state?! I'm excited to bake Christmas cookies next weekend with my mom and my best friend who lives in a different town. It's one of our yearly traditions! Unfortunately this may be bad for my waistline. I've lost 80 lbs since the day I gave birth which is 65 lbs down from my highest non pregnant weight. I was 213 lbs when I found out I was pregnant with Ezra in March of 2012. I gained 26 lbs with that pregnancy, lost it all plus 35 lbs and was 178 before getting pregnant with Selah. I jumped up 50 lbs with her pregnancy to 228 lbs and now, less than 6 months later, I'm 148 lbs. I am 5'7 1/2" so I am finally in the healthy range for my BMI. I am very proud of myself but I still have work to do. I'd like to lose 8 more pounds and then work on toning my body. I want to continually get better at eating healthy and treating my body like the temple that it is. God created me and I ought to take care of what he gave me! This will be a life long journey of staying healthy. I do like to treat myself (I'm definitely a Starbucks addict) because I don't want to live my whole life with no indulgences, but I still make wise choices. I'm thankful that God has helped me lose the weight, and I'm sure breastfeeding has played a part! I've been exclusively nursing Selah and that girl loves to eat. She's gaining every pound that I'm losing, it seems! I love her chubby little self. 

So... Selah growing up too fast, Ezra turning two, Christmas time, weight loss... what else is new with our family? I guess I'll have to keep updating in future posts or this one would be 10 times longer. Follow us on Instagram (@mama.meik.and.minis) for lots of adorable pictures of my children, and some pictures of foods I cook and bake. Have a happy weekend!