Take up the challenge!

Alright I am going to admit it.....the gym is now a luxury I don't have much time for anymore since Vaughn has changed his naptimes to later in the afternoon.  I was getting frustrated not being able to go to Piyo or just do a good cardio workout while Vaughn was in the childcare for an hour.

With that said I decided to humble myself and started doing this 90 challenge that my visit teaching companion has been doing. What is so fantastic is that this is being done with a real life woman who has babies of her own and isn't a twig sporting a sixpack that makes you feel like a whale. Yes ladies, she is a woman with curves. Shocking I know.  She is also struggling to shed those unwanted pounds and get a more flattering figure back. There is struggling, there is sweat, and by golly there is empowerment!

I am putting this out there because these exercises can be done while the babies are taking a nap or after they have gone down for the night. They generally only take about 20 minutes to complete with an additional 5 for warm up and cool down. SO that is a total of 30 minutes! Dinner takes more time to make than doing these.

Even though I am doing these I am going to continue to go to the gym when I can to get my alone time, and once it truly warms up I'll take Vaughn out for a walk as well to help encourage those excess jiggles to disappear. 

Here is the first of the videos. While I wont be wearing an actual bikini (I'll scare people with my tiger stripes) It will be nice to slim down again.

Bullying

Bullying.

This is a serious problem. Now I am not just jumping on the bandwagon because it is there. I have seen it first hand. Working in a school I see it everyday in varying degrees and manifestations. You have your stereotypical "Mean Girls", those girls that are constantly in a cat-fight, name calling, and gossiping with each other behind the others backs the eternal "Frienemies". Then there are the "Mean Boys". I don't' know the official name for this group. These are the boys that think it is funny to "tease" other students beyond the social friendly norm. What I mean is taking things and hiding them from others, making rude comments right in their face, and physical harassment (beyond the playful wrestling/jostling that is attributed with boys). The third kind of bullying is the manipulative and psychological kind. This tends to be more subtle and often times harder to track and pin on someone. This is the ruthless accusing of stealing, telling lies, continual one upping, and other mental punishments. I find this one to be more detrimental, especially when it involves persons who are not fully capable of filtering and assessing what is right and wrong, true and false, and standing up to it.

Now you might be thinking, you are there, you need to stop it. Unfortunately, my authority is limited. Now this isn't to say I am powerless. I do make sure to stop it when I do see it and report it to those above me in the chain of command. Yet, this seems to be where there is a breakdown. There have been times where there is clear documentation of repeated offenses. Has there been increasing intensity of consequences, sadly no. For a school that has a Zero Tolerance for bullying I am seeing a zero tolerance for discipline for a growing problem. It is time for things to change. We as the adults need to set that tone and let the kids know in no uncertain terms this type of behavior will not be tolerated in the slightest. Isn't that what Zero Tolerance means? In order for this younger generation to become functioning adults and stopping this vicious cycle we need to be the ones to break it. We need to be the ones that shows them what respect really means and not just the shallower version of indifference towards others that has become part of school life.

Give me a 5, 6, 7, 8

Alright it has been awhile and I have a few pictures to add to the interwebs. The reason for this post is to announce that Vaughn is a boy of increasing talents. In the same month he has started to wave and sprouted 4 new teeth. One of those teeth came all by its lonesome, while the other three came at the same time a couple weeks later!! Yeah that was a fun time. Did I mention he was also sick and generally unhappy. Fun times. Though it is super cute to see his buck teeth when he smiles.

Now for something completely different......




We went to the zoo over President's Day weekend. Vaughn couldn't not have cared less. He was more interested in playing with the glass of the cages than anything else. Funny story to go with that. We were in the Rainforest area and he was playing with the glass when one of the small cats came pacing by. He flipped out. The look of pure surprise was hilarious. I am just sad I missed getting a shot of it. All in all it was a fun day with family and friends we haven't seen for a long time.

This is the cat that scared Vaughn. I feel like he is saying, "Are you accusing me of scaring him?! How dare you. I am too adorable for that."

Jake was so excited to see the otters. Vaughn liked to watch them too, but the glass was still more interesting

Cruising the Kitchen

Jake had the idea over the weekend to go and get Vaughn a walker since he LOVES to walk around while we hold him up. I was a little skeptical, I was sure he would get how to "walk" in it. Boy was I wrong. We went to the store and put him in one to see how he would react to it. It took a minute of pushing him until he realized he could move himself. The rest is more or less history. Vaughn was in hog heaven cruising up and down the aisle. Jake and I love it because he can trek across the kitchen while we do other things, like making dinner. While we love it ,Molly, our landlords dog is staying with us for the week, isn't loving it. Vaughn is now mobile and can go after her.

Sadly blogger wont let me upload the video :(

It's all fun and games

Alright. It has been a few weeks and I have some cute things to post from my dear baby boy. He is so camera shy so when I do get him to smile or hold a cute pose for long enough I have to post it.

So, the other day I was making the bed and had him with me playing. Being the stud that he is he fell over. Instead of crying he reached over he head and grabbed the blankets and started to pull them over his head. At first I thought he was just being silly, but after a moment I realized he was trying to get me to play "Peek-a-boo". He would pull them over his head then fling them back up while wiggling with a smile on his face. Once I figured out what he was doing I started to play. This got him really going. I was able to quickly run and grab my phone to get video. I only wish the video wasn't so dark. Oh well.

How cute is that?! We have played before, but it was always me or Jake who would start the game and it wouldn't last very long. this lasted for few minutes. I don't even care that the bed didn't get made because I got to play with Vaughn.


These are just a couple of pictures that we took and I thought they were cute.

All bundled up for a walk outside

 Boxcar Baby. He came in 1st...naturally (Video to come)

Executive Baby