Happy Halloween!

Update

Today happens to be National Oatmeal Day, I didn't know that before I got some oatmeal for breakfast! So not to bore you with my personal life but I CAN WEAR PRE-ELSA JEANS!!! (comfortably without bad muffin top!) totally shocked because the scale won't budge. I'm wondering if it's because I've been doing hill walking at night and hikes on the weekend in which I really push myself.  I think my muscles are toning up bc hills, hiking, and I admit I'm jogging a big too strengthens core, legs etc and maybe that is evening out the loss of fat? eh, I don't know.  Maybe it's because I'm back on the pill and I haven't regulated yet having had now like 4 periods in 6 weeks, it's SO ANNOYING, period bloat? My friend Amy told me to drink tons of water, check. I have been using calorie counter and staying in the region I need to be in to lose 1-2 pounds a week but when the scale barely moves 0.6lbs I get frustrated and now I'm going to try harder! (vs in the past just giving up and eating that entire package of pumpkin bread pudding) So I found the OLD Weight Watchers slider on Amazon and other info online(www.onemorepound.com) is great. I don't like the new way they let you eat all these specific foods at no penalty, I mean I'm sure it works for some people but 10 years ago I did it the "old" way and I just prefer counting all things that go in my mouth. So, I figured that the old way of counting at about 50 calories per point means I get about 1550 calories a day on WW, but based on every other website and calculation I was sticking to about 1780. So we will see...

In other news, Astrid slept the night before last from 9-4:15am and last night til 5:15am and the only reason she really woke up is because I was wide awake and had to go make sure she was still alive! Wow, Elsa never slept like this at this age. It's amazing! Makes me think having a 3rd won't be so bad...hahaha! Just expensive....

This past weekend we took a family drive, which we haven't done since before Astrid was born, to the coast via the back roads and found a not so crowded pumpkin patch. They all have a petting zoo and train and Elsa just loves those goats! She loves to feed them. She now runs around saying goats, goats, and Cuuuu for cute. She picks up new words all the time. She is such a big girl! We also had our friends join us for the Goblin Walk in San Carlos, where I ran into a few people I know, and Elsa got to run around in her Dalmatian costume! She didn't understand the "trick or treating" concept but had fun nonetheless. 

Lastly, I'm soooo excited to go visit a good friend in Sweden in the end of January. Jonas and I set her up with her "bear" who is Jonas's childhood friend and now they're having a baby at the end of February, early March. OMG I am so excited for them!! I have to go see her and see that baby bump. Jonas encouraged the short trip, and I just used my miles because I don't know when else we will use them even though we plan to go back for the month of August, we will just buy the tickets. It will be a nice little escape, yet I know I will miss my babies like crazy, as much as Elsa drives me crazy these days...life...

2 Months old!

Time flies when you have a good baby! Astrid is growing but still so petite not as hefty as Elsa. I'm thinking she will take after Jonas more, Elsa is really starting to remind me of me in more ways than I care to explain!  

Anyhow we just got home from eating some fresh abalone that Jonas's train friend/our other neighbor we hang out with, Ken, dove and scooped up out of the ocean this weekend. It was nice to be social, eat good food and be able to walk home! It only took 3 years but now when we go to the city social events on the square we run into people we know and it's more fun. Here are some pics!

Our neighbor Lindsay who is pregnant and 2yr old daughter Vera holding Astrid.

Elsa looks so old here!

She has her fathers furrowed brow! These were taken today on her 2 month bday!

Hello

Time is flying bye! This week we went with my neighbor Lindsay, and her Mom to one of the fun Pumpkin patches with all kinds of kid activities in Half Moon Bay. It was just the perfect California Fall day. Tons of kids there though, I can't even imagine going on the weekend. I've also been hard at work on the fundraising events coming down the pipeline here, in early December. I am also working on the program, and as I am writing in the names of who has done what, it's like me and my Mom doing practically everything. Thank God for a good sleeping baby! Otherwise I would not have this kind of time to do the work. It is for such a good cause though, so it saddens me that it has been so hard to find new volunteers. We are thinking this might be the last year because I can't dedicate this much time to this year after year and neither can my Mom. So we are hoping it will go out with a bang and then we can just liquidate the money in our account to the school and be done with it. I am also done with the Scandinavian Club for the foreseeable future. I'll help out here and there but no more Board positions. I want to refocus on getting my real estate license.  Working in this nonprofit I have so many Atherton and Portola Valley contacts (that are old) it would be stupid of me to not try to use these connections to sell a few high priced houses now wouldn't it? We will see about that...

I lost 2 lbs this week, I readjusted my calories so now my goal is little lower and hopefully here we go on a 2lb a week loss through to Thanksgiving I hope. Holidays are always tough, I already bought Heath toffee bits and Andes peppermint bits to make cookies...cookies for me, of course. LOL...Maybe I should just chuck them now. The pumpkin obsession has been major but, Trader Joe's pumpkin bagels are only 240 calories and 2 tbs of the pumpkin cream cheese(which is AMAZING) is 70. So I can still indulge. When I eat a lot I just go for a long walk at night where I burn anywhere from 300-500 calories. Last night my neighbor joined me and it went by so fast I feel like I could have done another 30 minutes on an elliptical or something. It's state of mind I tell you! Oh and hearing those two babies of mine start whining at the same time, and I'm like "see ya Jonas!" and out the door with Coco. It's nice to get some quiet time to myself this way. Jonas is the best, truly a co-parent in every aspect. Nobody is the expert with these little ones but we do the best we can, and I am very grateful for Jonas! Now if only we could find the time for a date night!

Here are some pictures from this week:

It was only a matter of time now that Elsa has her crib set up as a "big girl bed" that Coco join her!

My little girl, always getting dirty!

Because my babysitter wasn't here yet I had to take a shower for a meeting so I just decided to take Elsa with me and see what she thought. She did not like the water spraying her face, other than that it was kind of fun!

At Lemos Farm in Half Moon Bay 

At the Pumpkin Patch, with Vera our neighbor. Elsa loves Vera, she runs around our house saying "wera, wera wera" haha! Again, so lucky to have cool neighbors! And they found out they are having a boy at the end of February!

What are these two conspiring about!?

Sleepless nights

Not because of the baby, she is an amazing sleeper, we are very lucky! She eats around 1-2 then again at 6 so if I could sleep, I'd be getting more rest.

Here is my issue, I've been waking up at 1am the last few nights and can't for the life of me get back to sleep!? I wake up hungry many times too. If I have a snack I can usually fall back to sleep really easy. Have I cut my calories too drastically and maybe my body isn't coping well? I've been calorie counting for almost a month and it's not every night so I'm not sure I can attribute this insomnia to the shrinking of my stomach.  I've lost a few pounds so I'm now closer to pre Elsa and feel great!  I bought a new scale because I didn't trust my old one since it was old. It also bothered me that the scale at my Dr office said I weighed 5 lbs more than my scale at home, (it was the afternoon and I was dressed but really?) Anyhow, I can wear pants I haven't worn since before Elsa so a few pounds difference here or there isn't going to bother me. I've also been back on the pill for a few weeks and been having the longest period ever...welcome back Aunt Flow! I guess my body is just readjusting to not being pregnant maybe that's why I can't sleep. It's also a combination of when I wake up and when I think the baby will wake up to eat, so I don't let myself fall back to sleep until she eats, so I lay in bed tossing and turning hopefully not waking up or bugging Jonas. But right now for example, I've been awake for 2 hours, and finally I just thought I might as well get a snack and hang out in the baby's room til she eats, so here I am blogging with stinging eyes.

Astrid is a little gem, we are so lucky. Like I said she is a great sleeper, and not fussy at all. She doesn't need the swing or the vibrating chair. She just hangs out in her newborn rocker 24-7. 

            

She is more and more alert these days, and looking a lot like Jonas, coloring, eye shape etc.  Her witching hour is around 5 pm when I'm trying to feed Elsa and cook for Jonas, and all she wants is to be held, it's like she is already demanding all my attention...the little lioness :) Elsa is a big girl now too and looking more and more like me, at least thats what total strangers say. We decided to take her crib down to the Toddler bed that it converts into. See in the picture, we put a guard rail up so she doesn't roll out and she is handling it fine. It's only at nap time, if she's not totally exhausted and ready to nap, then she gets out if her crib and starts playing with her toys,and I can hear her running around. It's kind of cute. She is such a big girl! We wanted to experiment with this for a few weeks before getting her a twin and giving the baby the crib.

We have nothing major planned for the weekend. Last weekend we went to an Oktoberfest with our friends, it was fun! Prost!

But I think it really tired us out the most! 

Elsa is learning the chicken dance with the help of her daddy!

hi

I made a few step by step make up tutorial videos for my cousin in Denmark because she has a dance tomorrow and wanted some pointers. So I did it so quick while the girls were napping. I haven't put that much make up on in a while, so it was a refresher course for me too! Anyhow, I'm kind of happy with it, the video's are funny because I'm holding my iPhone with one hand and trying to apply eyeliner with the other but she will get the point I think. Here is my after face. I was pretty happy with this. I don't do selfies, I hate it when people constantly upload their pic, and I haven't done one in forever, but here it is none the less.