A family that runs together....

Well we all did it! Several months ago, my family decided to sign up for a race together since we had all gotten healthier and fitter over the last year. My brother and sister-in-law (and new little nephew Henry!) live in Cleveland so we all signed up for a race - either the 10K or Half-Marathon on May 19th. It was really cool having a bunch of our family run a race (longer than they typical 5K) together, as some of us had never run that far before! Both my parents had run their first race last fall with Tim, my boys and myself  for the March of Dimes Night Moves 5K in Columbus, but they had never run further in a race, so it was great that they were willing to sign up and run, especially since before last year my mom had never run before! I can only hope in 20+ years I can be in as great of shape as they are! (Not to mention it was my mom's birthday on Sunday!!!) My younger sister A, (who's live in Virginia and is a very talented Graphic Designer) has also recently done some amazing things, including running in her first race (a 10K at that!) in under an hour, and losing more than 70 pounds. My brother C, ran the fastest time among all of us but A came in right behind him! My sister-in-law S, and her mom ran the 10K together, but an important thing to note is that she just gave birth 14 weeks ago to her first child! I can tell you when my boys were 14 weeks old, I would have never gotten my butt out of bed at 5am to run a race, especially if they had been sleeping at the time, so I am really proud of her! My other sister B, (yes we have a LARGE family :) ) ran the Half Marathon with her boyfriend and they both did great as well...I ran a 1/2 a few years back, and it is a hard race to run!

So that leaves me. I am not a distance runner. I usually "endure" running as a form of exercise as I much prefer other forms, like fitness classes, yogasu, or doing steps or something that isn't so monotonous as running in a straight line for - ev - er. I think it's because I typically get bored with running, partially because I haven't done it consistently enough and haven't been in great shape before, leading to what I call wogging (read walk + jog = wog). I would say I typically in the past have jogged so slow that it could be considered walking :) BUT.....I am happy to say that I actually ran the 10K race this weekend and hit a goal! I have been hesitant to set running time goals in the past, most of the time my goal is to finish. However, my combination of food nutrition/health (thanks to willpower and Advocare - ask me about it if you're interested), as well as being in better shape now than I have ever been gave me some confidence to actually set a goal. I was hoping to run between a 10 and 11 minute mile pace (in the past it's been closer to 12) and finish in under 1hour, 6 minutes. So, drumroll please.......my time was 1:02! I used my GPS watch and it put me at a pace of 9:57 miles, which made me feel great! As mentioned above, I'm not a great runner and not fast at all, so this pace was a pretty big accomplishment for me! I think I was able to run at this pace because I had been training with the jogging stroller (which added some resistance to my workouts), cross-training with boot camp and yogasu classes so my muscles are toned, and I used some racing supplements from Advocare including spark (which is an energy drink that contains amino acids) and O2 Gold which helps with oxygen flow during exercise. I think I also could have benefited from some gel pouches during the race as I did have a little fatigue around mid-way through, however that will have to be for next time.

Yes - did you see that right?  Did I say next time? I am thinking I would like to keep doing some more races in order to have goals to work towards and keep me motivated. I am also thinking about doing a Phitatholon in July - my current gym Melt Hot Fitness is doing this race - Phitathalon - together on July 27th. I typically don't do races that include obstacles, but it's a group thing, and everyone is so motivating there that I think I'm going to do it (yikes!), so wish me luck!

Anyways - just wanted to pay tribute to my amazing family and their accomplishments this weekend. I will also mention my husband who is not a runner stayed behind and took care of my little munchkins while we were running, which was almost a race in itself since they got up at 5am when we all did! I have a few pictures posted below from before and after our race! I also put a few pictures up from the rest of our weekend festivities since it was my nephew Henry's baptism as well!

Pre-Race Getting ready!

Pre-race Pic - Mom, S and A - some amazing ladies in my life!

Group Shot Post Race

The Half-Marathoners D and B!

Mom and Dad Post Race - So proud of them!

Baptism & weekend Photos 

18 Months and Growing!

My little men are now 18 months old! I can't believe we are well on our way to the terrible twos...well the tantrums have already started, does that mean they will end earlier as well??  We had out 18 month pictures with my cousins' wife Stephanie Metzger (Stephanie's Creations Photography). She does a great job as it is definitely a challenge to get two very active little boys to look at the camera and smile.  Overall, the boys are moving right along, developing and doing new things each day. They are starting to get very rowdy and ornery as well. They like to tackle each other and me and their dad, but they have a propensity to pull hair...hard. We've resorted to having isolated time-outs in their cribs when they pull hair, because the light time-out in the hall-way results in giggles and no lessons learned. As I mentioned in my previous post they don't say many words. They can now say Eddie and they attempt to say the words Hi Duck and Hi Dad. As many of you know we have many geese in our neighborhood and they LOVE them. So I call them ducks with hopes they will start saying the word duck...and I like ducks more than geese :) Also a recent development is they now bump fists if you say "bust em" :) It's super cute!  One thing that I am struggling with is letting them feed themselves with a spoon/fork. They really like to but they aren't very efficient at it :) So they get bored/tire and decide to stop eating before they finish their food. If I feed them, then I can quickly shovel it in and they can be on their way back to playing. It's also cleaner. But, I'm working on letting go....even if it's hard....Love my littles, enjoy the pictures!

Words...who needs them?

Well after a rough start to our week last week, things have been improving! The boys did seem to pick up a cough though over the weekend, so I'm hoping the weather keeps getting warmer so we can rid of all these nasty germs! But their moods have improved and that makes everyone happier at home! The weather was beautiful last weekend and the boys love spending time outside! They like to swing, watch the animals in our neighborhood - geese, ducks, squirrels, dogs - and really enjoy exploring. We even went on a walk with the stroller this weekend and they decided they would rather walk on their own. It was a rather slow walk with alot of attempts to go off the paths, but they loved it!

Luke and Logan are almost 18 months old now and they really understand us and can follow a lot of simple commands such as sit down, go get your shoes, give that to Daddy, say hi, go get your jammies, go to timeout (this one is kind of funny to see), among many others. However, they have been stubbornly avoiding words. We work on animal noises and names, read lots of books and I make sure to talk to them and describe what I'm doing a lot of the time (even at the grocery store, which can feel a little silly sometime, like I'm having a one sided conversation :) )  but they really only say mama, dada, hi, and their favorite word, uh-oh. We hear uh-oh many times a day. They also do a little bit of sign language as well, they sigh when they want "more please" and also when they are are "all done". But I think we finally had a break-through last weekend! We were outside and I was yelling at Eddie to get out of the neighbors yard and Luke just yells out "Ed-day" clear as day! I was so excited for him as we have been working on getting them to say Eddie forever. He said it a few more times that day so, fingers crossed, we might be starting to say more! I'm sure they'll pick it all up with time, so just excited at every little and it milestone!!

Here are some pictures from our fun filled weekend!

Scheming... 

Little peeps...I want to touch them, but am a little scared to get any closer

Aww, so soft, thanks for letting me pet the peep Grammie

Sleepy boys

Crazy hair

Fun times outside playing!

Luke the great!

Luke is a little lover, he definitely loves to hug and kiss and climb on your lap, especially to read books :) But this past week, He turned a dark corner...and gave Tim a shiner! Uh-oh as the boys would say!

Well Tim was laying on the living room floor playing with the boys after dinner (as usual) and Luke took a dive on top of him to give him a big hug. Unfortunately he miscalculated and bonked his head into Tim's brow bone. Now, I will have to admit I blew it off at first. The boys are always rough housing and can tussle around so I figured Tim was just overreacting. But, he wasn't. It had a big bump on it by the end of the night, and over the next 2 days it got worse and worse. It turned dark purple/black and even looked like someone had used a sharpie marker on his eyelid. Oops. Well, it seems to finally be getting better today, so lesson learned, they are tough little boys. Luke escaped from this incident completely unharmed! So we must add prize fighter to his resume of talents :)

And this is how our day went....

Well - yesterday was a challenge for us here at home. I believe both boys are teething, however, Logan seems to be taking this pretty hard and has been very fussy/upset throughout the day. He was also this way on Easter Sunday, oh the joy :). But the poor little guy gets upset about pretty much anything. In the first video he is apparently upset that I'm holding Luke in my lap. I tried to hold both of them, but he got angry and push off of me and is now just sitting there next to me very upset...that is until Baby Einstein saves the day! (By the way, I showed Logan the video of himself crying later on in the day and he was entranced...I think he wasn't sure how he could see himself in the video :) )

And then, later on in the afternoon we were lucky enough to get a reprieve and they actually spent a few minutes playing together!

And then the whole night went down the tubes, and there was ALOT of crying fits. I even invited Uncle Eric over as a reinforcement until Daddy could get home. I think I owe him more than the dinner he had while he was there....oh well my sanity was in jeopardy! I wouldn't want to favor one child over the other so I have another video of Luke throwing a fit below.

We ended up giving the boys a few bottles (their only source of comfort since they don't use pacifiers or have a favorite blanket or toy that they use to soothe) and later on went to bed. It was then blissfully quiet. Thankfully! I'm sure (maybe hoping...) that the next few days will be better!

A little update on me!

Hello all!

I know I usually the blog to post pictures and updates on the boys, and I'll work on getting an update on them very soon! But I wanted to spend a second and just focus on me for a minute. I know, why would I want to do that? I really do spend most of my life/time focusing on my family, work, cleaning...well maybe not as much time on that as I should, but over the last 9 months I have tried to increase the time I spend focusing on my overall health and well-being. It's hard to take care of everyone else in your life if you don't spend any time on yourself and last year around June or so I decided to take the first step and really pay attention to what I was putting in my body and my nutrition.

Since having the boys in October 2012, I had gained about an extra 10 to 15 pounds (and really I had needed to drop about 10 to 15 pounds before I got pregnant, so I was now teetering much higher than I wanted to be) and since I had been working full-time that year it was really hard to put even an ounce of attention towards myself. Well, I was really just tired with no energy and feeling a little down and out of control of my own body. So step 1, was getting my body back. I started using Advocare products (send me a message or call me if you want to know more about this stuff, it's awesome!!) at the end of June and cut out much of the fast food and bad stuff I had been eating. Over time I was able to lose some weight and started feeling better! My energy and positive feelings increased ten-fold!

Then in November I finally decided to put myself and my family first a little bit more and I quit my full-time job so I could spend more time with the boys, but also to keep my sanity. Life was going too fast and I was spending too much of it at work when my heart just wasn't in it anymore! So, at that time since I was no longer spending 40 to 50 hours at work anymore I was finally able to incorporate some fitness back into my life. Since then I have been able to work out regularly 3 to 6 times a week and I honestly have never been in better shape or felt better than I do now. I take classes at a local fitness shop in Westerville called, Melt Hot Fitness (check it out if you are in Columbus, it is amazing, the workouts use your own body strength and can tone you very quickly!!).  Overall with my increased focus on nutrition and fitness I have been able to drop 35 pounds and dropped 5 pants sizes and I am really excited to be running (did I say really?? I don't like to run....) in a 10K with pretty much my entire family in May in Cleveland. It's been awesome to see my whole family work on improving their nutrition/fitness too! I'm pretty sure if I took a poll we have lost at least a whole person in the amount of weight we have lost, oh my I'm so proud of everyone!

So after focusing on myself I feel like I have more energy and a much more positive attitude to put towards the rest of my life and some of the most important parts - my little guys and Tim! They are my world :) I just thought it was worth posting that it's not a bad thing with all your obligations and things going on to make sure you are spending some of that time on yourself, it's totally worth it! My relationships are better than they have been (and they weren't bad before!), and I am just happier! Thanks for listening, now I'll go back to posting about my boys, stay tuned :)

March 31, 2013 - Now lighter, stronger, healthier and happier!

Easter 2013 

Easter 2012 (apparently I am still wearing the same shirt :) )And Tim looks the same :)

April 2012 - Before I started with Advocare/Exercise

Update at the Clouse House!

So it's been a loooong time since I've posted, but wanted to catch you all up on what's going on at the Clouse house!

The boys are growing...kind of :) They are now 16 months old and running all over the place. They love to run around the circle in our house and think that being chased is really fun! They just got their 2nd haircuts this week, it seems like their hair must grow as fast as mine does!

Luke -before and after 

Logan -before and after 

In addition to new haircuts, they have been growing and developing a ton lately! They don't talk too much yet (just mama, dada, and No), they can totally understand many of the things we say and if we ask them to do something. They know to sit down and grab their shoes when we ask, they definitely know that a "dog" and Eddie are the same thing, and they are working on being able to point out their facial features, including their tongues, noses and heads. They love to smile and laugh and really can have fun together. I sat them in a laundry basket the other day and I showed them they can shake each others' hands, give each other high 5 and then Logan gave Luke a big hug. It definitely warmed my heart, and they thought it was pretty cool too! 

There are also a few difficult things we have gone through over the past few months. In January both boys got a respiratory illness (the Doctor said it was likely a form of RSV), so the boys and I spent a week indoors together and it was definitely a little rough as they both felt rotten. We also finally took away all their day-time bottles of milk. They are so stubborn though! They know how to drink out of sippy cups and have been drinking water out of them for months, however the minute they know you put milk in a sippy cup they throw it across the room. So, we just do milk at night (in bottles) and then they get water during the day. We also supplement with lots of yogurt and cheese, which they love. Also a sidenote, since they don't drink much milk anymore, we have noticed they eat like little monsters!! They are always hungry and love food! They eat all tablefood and stuff that we eat now (done with babyfood), and so it's always a challenge to find lots of healthy options for them, but they do like a lot of fruit and "healthier" foods, so that's a good step in the right direction. One other bad issue that has arisen is biting and hitting. When they get frustrated or mad, like if they are fighting over a toy, or a spot by the window to look out the house, they tend to bite or hit. Luke is more of the biter and poor little Logan has gotten several big bites and bruises from his brother. Logan likes to hit more, although he will still bite, especially when he's frustrated. 

Overall, my little boys are growing up and I can't believe how much they grow, develop, etc every day! I am really enjoying spending more time with them, I absolutely believe my decision to quit my full-time job and spend time with them has been the right one! I am currently teaching an MBA-level accounting class at Strayer University which has been fun and a challenge. I also work part-time for an accounting consulting firm, Kaiser Consulting. Once my class is over in a few weeks, I'll be just focusing on the consulting job for the time being and spending as much time with my little guys as possible. (also I try to get out to work-out in several times a week, which has been great!). Tim has been very busy with work, as always,and will be working in Tiffin quite a bit over the next few months. We are working on a solution for his long-distance work arrangement, but I'll post about that later! Here are a few more pictures of the boys, enjoy!!

 Logan Play Date picture for Valentine's Day

 Both boys!

 Luke at the playdate for Valentine's Day

 We think each other are pretty funny

 Love to hang out in the clothes baskety

 Picture of Mommy and the boys

 Cutie Luke playing on the Ipad

 Not sure what happened in this picture, but LOVE Logan's facial expression

 One of Luke's favorite pastimes, ripping up paper (and later trying to eat it!)

 Luke's cute smoldering look

 My attempt at getting both in a picture while we played outside

Logan hanging out with Daddy and his truck :)