Back in the gym!

When Bryan and I moved into our new home, we left behind a pretty sweet set up. We lived in my parent's guest house, and they had converted one of the larger rooms into a pretty deluxe home gym. That being said, getting to the gym while living there had become so easy for me. I literally never had an excuse, because when the kids napped, I would walk right into the gym and get it done, no excuses. Since moving into our new home, I found a gym membership at a nearby fitness center (2 miles away) that had a daycare for the kids, but they frickin hated it there. It was super small and always overcrowded, so I dreaded going to the gym, because I didn't want to have to drag them along and put them somewhere where they did not want to be. PLUS - hearing your kids scream while you do bicep curls is not exactly motivating!

So from after our wedding to about now (roughly 3.5 months), my gym attendance suffered greatly.  I did what I could with getting out for walks, workout DVDS, and free weights, but I have honestly just not felt the same since this decrease in activity. My energy levels have dropped (yes of course I'm pregnant AND chasing two toddlers around), my self-confidence took a little blow, and everything started feeling a little softer! It's incredible with 3.5 months of slacking off can do to your body! Needless to say, I was tired of this lack of activity, and did some research on home gyms. Bryan and I made an investment in a really nice piece of equipment by Body Solid, and set that puppy up in the garage!

 It was done being assembled last night, and this morning was my first opportunity to put it to use. And.... I LOVE IT!! It brought me right back to the days of having Jackson in his little bouncer at our old gym while I worked out and made funny faces at him to keep him entertained! Except this time, Charley hung out there with me and watched Frozen while pretending to do air squats... she's seriously the best! Anyways, long story short, I'm feeling inspired and motivated to be back in the gym at home, and to have the opportunity to take the better care of my body that it so deserves. It really is incredible to me the direct link that exists between being physically fit and mentally fit. I truly believe that both can suffer immensely if either are not in line. Today was a positive step in the right direction for me to getting back on track with being physically fit, which I know will positively impact my mental strength as well. We all know that it takes a lot of mental strength to be a happy and patient momma!! <3

Throwin it back... August Events!

This summer was a very busy one for our families. My sister and I were both planning our weddings and each others bachelorette parties, which was a TON of fun, but also a lot of work. Somehow we managed, and are still great friends after it all.. haha. I wanted to share some of the fun moments from my bachelorette weekend in Tahoe, to purchasing our house the week after in the beginning of August, to our wedding day on August 30th, 2014, which also happened to be Bryan's 28th birthday. I think I heard a few people refer to our wedding as Bryan's birthday party disguised as a wedding! I will post a separate entry on our wedding, since it deserves its own attention. Here is my bachelorette weekend!! Last weekend as a "single" lady... which really does not actually apply, considering I have been living with Bryan and raising our two children for the past several years with him. I don't know how much more "attached" you can be than that, but I still deserved a good weekend of fun with my girls!

Some fun moments from my bachelorette weekend in Tahoe, at my family's beautiful new home in the Tahoe Keys:

1st day shortly after arrival, getting ready for the 1st night's shenanigans!

Posing on the beach in front of our house!

My sister created a bunch of cut-outs of my face, which the girls wore out all weekend over their faces. This was fun and very entertaining ! 

Naughty barbie cake ! 

Making the most out of our male entertainment.... haha

My sissy, the ultimate bach party host!  

Out boating on the lake for the day! My dad was the captain. YES - my dad was invited to my bachelorette party weekend. Lucky guy! 

Warming up for our panty races on the beach. The neighbors were amused, to say the least! 

Jump! 

Me and my best friend Riley, since we were 3! She's next!! 

Laura & I before a day of boating!

My sis had lots of goodies for when we arrived! 

Jennea and I out on the lake =) 

After we got home from the bach party weekend in Tahoe... Bryan and I moved into our new home in Willow Glen (we had 3 days to get it done before he took off to his dirt bike bachelor weekend). This was a very special time for us, and we are so in love with our new home!

Exercise during THIS pregnancy...

I had mentioned before that my energy had not been as plentiful as it was while I was pregnant with both Jackson & Charley. I have had to really push to motivate myself to get my exercise in. When I say exercise, I mean lifting weights, and doing more than just getting my normal daily walks in. I love walking, and will walk the kids to downtown or to the park at least once per day. It's better than nothin', right!? Lately, workout DVDs have been my friend! I have enjoyed the shortened version of P90X, P90X3, which only takes 30 minutes to complete and is not as strenuous (for me), and Autumn Calabrese's 21 Day Fix workouts. Honestly... I don't think that these would have given me a great workout pre-workout with the heavy lifting and intense cardio I was doing, but for now, these are awesome!

This morning's workout was P90X3 Eccentric Lower.
It includes: squats, lunges, sumos, pistol squats, side kicks, front kicks, albanian squats, abductor lunge, cross reaches, TT plus, bridge kicks, hip flexor kicks, and calf dogs.

I used two 10 pound dumbbells. To be honest, I should and could have stepped it up with a little heavier weight, but I'll just pat myself on the back for getting through this one without taking any breaks!

I also get an extra abdominal workout when I have these two munchkins rolling around on the floor, trying to imitate what I'm doing.... ! I love it! I think they will definitely be into fitness when they grow up!

Changing my status to Mama of THREE!

I cannot believe how much has changed in ONE YEAR! When looking back at my blog, it really has been just about exactly one year since I logged in and wrote anything. I guess you can say I've been a busy lady, new wife, and mommy as of late. Jackson and Charley consume my every waking moment, and a LOT has gone down. 

Bryan and I found out that we were expecting baby number 3 shortly after our Wedding in August, while moving into our new home, and since then time has been flying by. (PS - we bought and moved into a new home about three weeks before our wedding!!) I started my fitness transformation last November (2013), and was going full force, super committed to a healthy lifestyle with a new way of eating and exercising. I will admit that the stress and hard work of planning a wedding on top of everything else that was happening in our lives made it more difficult for me to stick to my "plan," but I did a pretty damn good job up until my wedding. 

Once I found out I was pregnant with baby number 3, I have to admit it became very hard for me to keep up with the exercise and diet regimen I had been following. With my precious pregnancies, I had a lot more energy and seemed to be much more motivated, and this time has been a lot different. I have been struggling with not feeling so well most days, and my energy has been quite low. On good days I will do 20 minutes of exercise at home (dumbbells, workout videos), and walk Jackson to and from school, which is about 3 miles total. The hardest part of this all has been not being so HARD on myself... ! That has proven to be quite the challenge, as I am very aware that I am my own biggest critic! I am now approaching the half way mark of my pregnancy (20 weeks on Tuesday), and I am finally starting to feel more relaxed and less stressed about the changes in my body, and am allowing myself to just lounge and relax when my other kiddos nap. I am pretty sure my body and mind need this extra rest while we can get it! 

I am super excited to close 2014 with lots of happy and exciting news, and to head into 2015 with an open mind and heart full of joy for the happiness that expanding our family has brought to me. I intend to keep up with my blog, and will most definitely be logging my next "transformation" from pregnant mommy of 2 to tired mommy of THREE UNDER THREE! That's right! We are slightly crazy over here in the Merk household!! 

Hey guys!! SO - I've realized lately that the only things I really post about are my family… mainly my kids. Obviously my children are my world, and I love to talk about them and share about how they are doing. That being said, Charley is now a little over 6 months, and Jackson is coming up on 18 months! For the first time since they've been born, I have really been going out of my way to make some extra time for me and my goals.

Lately, that goal has been to challenge myself physically, and to invest more time and energy into getting fit and being healthy. For a long time I have wanted to get fit…. I'm not talking lose 10 pounds here… I'm talking gain muscle and be in tip top shape… get ripped! A lot of my friends/acquaintances have been training for bikini competitions, and lately that has totally caught my interest. I thought to myself: "Man, I wish I could do that." Then it came to me…. well why can't I? I love a challenge and to have a goal to work towards… so I enlisted the help of a coach. Today is day 6 of my new fitness journey, and I am very excited about what's to come! I am committed to a 12 week program that combines diet and exercise, and my coach will be switching up my meals and workouts every couple of weeks. 

I am not yet ready to post my "before" pictures…. but by the end of these 12 weeks I think I will be able to share them to show the progress I've made. So far I am feeling GREAT… super energized, determined, and lighter (even if only by 1.5 pounds… it's something right?) I currently am doing fasted cardio 5 mornings per week for 50 minutes, and weight training 3-4 days per week. My diet has also been cleaned up quite a bit, and I have began meal prepping for the first time in my life. Can I just say how amazing is it to have lunch and dinner ready to go, and not have to put any thought into it? I LOVE the convenience of them… especially when I am scrambling to make hubby and kids meals. 

Below is an example of one of my leg workouts, and also a photo of me in my new LuluLemon outfit that I treated myself to as a tribute/cheers to my new fitness journey!!! CHEERS! Let the next 12 weeks be kind and life-changing for me! 

Jacks & Char

I know I post a MILLION photos of them on Instagram and Facebook. What can I say.... I am a proud momma!!! I do hold back... believe it or not!! If I posted every single picture that I thought was cute of the both of them.... people would be un-friending me for sure! ANYWAYS - my point is.... Charley turned 5 months on October 18th - I am still in shock about this!! Every time I blink something new is happening and she is becoming less and less of an infant and more and more of a little human, like her brother. Jackson is 16 months, and is changing BY THE DAY. This kid never ceases to amaze me.

Last night we had a dinner party at my parents so the kids were up later than usual. We came home to put the kids to bed, and so Jackson and I were in his room, playing with his dirtbike, drinking a sippy cup. He was super playful, so I was dreading putting him in the crib and putting an end to playtime. I picked him up, laid him down in his crib and said "goodnight Jackson, I love you!" The kid looked up at me with his blanket pulled up to his chin and said "Nigh nigh, mommy." OH. MY. GOD. I died a little inside.... from sweetness. HE IS PERFECT! He is the sweetest little munchkin ever, but such a boy! He withholds his sweetness most of the time - and knows how much he's torturing me. I ask him for kisses, and he gets a huge smile on his face and starts shaking his head no! And speaking of no.... that's the favorite word lately, except it's said with the sweetest little chipmunk voice. I can't even handle it.

In a nutshell: I LOVE MY KIDS! And they are growing FAST! Love them to tiny little pieces. <3

Disneyland!!!!

It's been about 5 months since I've posted anything, which may have something to do with the fact that I have TWO babies UNDER TWO now.... yeah - I think that's it! Anyways, considering its 6:00am on a Sunday, I figured it would be safe to get a little blogging in!

This last weekend, Bryan and I took Jackson (16 months) on his first Disneyland trip! Bryan and I had not been to Disneyland in over 20 years, so it kind of seemed like the first time again for us too.... so fun! We were able to leave Charley at home with my mom and dad, and give Jackson our undivided attention. The little man was a TROOPER! I mean we are talking 13 hour days inside the park, and not a peep from this dude. I think he was in shock! Haha! He would close his eyes for about 10 minutes in the stroller here and there, but then would wake back up ready to go again in full force. We took him on about 15 rides, including Pirates of the Carribean, The Haunted Mansion done up Tim Burton style, Finding Nemo submarine, and It's A Small World - which he actually chose to take a nap during. SUCH an amazing trip.

We hit the grocery store first thing when we got there because I was nervous about all of the food options for Jackson.... and I have to say that was definitely a smart move. Disneyland is loaded with crap and sweets - just as one would expect it to be. While Jackson noshed on grapes and strawberries, I hit the Haagen Daaz booth HARD.... and I am NOT ashamed. It was well worth every delicious bite!

WALKING..... we did a TON of that! I was curious to see just how much walking we were doing, so I threw my Fitbit on to track our steps. On the first day it reported that we took 23,000 steps.... that's roughly 12 miles.... and that was one of our shortest days there!!!

Needless to say, we all had a blast. Bryan and I were able to utilize the Rider Swap program... in which one parent waited in the singles line for the ride while the other waited with Jackson, and then when the first parent finished on the ride, they brought out a red tag for the other parent which they give to you at the front, and that parent can then walk directly to the front of the line (sometimes up through the exit)! SO worth it ! We were able to go on some of the rollercoasters that we wanted to ride without Jackson, and only ended up waiting 10-15 minutes for the other one to finish.

All in all we had an amazing Disneyland trip! Bryan is eager to get back there ASAP.... and I am thinking maybe once Charley is Jackson's age, then we will brave the crowds and get back there - on a weekday preferably =)