Another blog about coaching.....

It was only a few weeks ago when I finally  made the change from this

Don't judge my dirty windows....

To this

It felt good to put that MHS sticker on my car. I am loving coaching here! It's very different than Utah, but it's more the way that I had always imagined coaching to be. More the way it should be. I (for the most part) had a blast coaching in Utah. I loved going to Nationals and taking 5th. I loved making connections and lifelong friends with the girls, and I miss some of those girls dearly, in fact I still talk to a lot of them and when I'm down in Utah I make sure to see them! But the program wasn't heading in a way I was proud to be a part of and that constant ringing of my phone because of squad drama, wasn't so enjoyable. Maybe it's a small town thing or maybe parents just parent differently in Rexburg, Idaho, but these girls keep their drama at home, they work so well together JV and Varsity, and I feel like they understand exactly what a privilege it is to be a cheerleader. What I wouldn't give to bring some of my old cheerleaders up here to cheer, you know have the best of both worlds.

It's hard to get through to teenage girls sometimes. They're at a stage where they think they know better than you and they have a striking desire to always be right... I know this because I've been there. But I don't really experience that while coaching at Madison. Basically these girls are AMAZING in every way you can be amazing! To give you an idea of their awesomeness, I took these pictures at our JV game this past week. Keep in mind that this is only JV. Pretty sure they are way more talented then my Varsity team from when I was in high school. They are super talented and they only have a desire to improve! I cannot wait to start getting ready for competition! Pretty sure they are gonna kill at State this year!

 Yes, I caught her as she was falling, but you get a pretty good idea of her flexibility.

 So flexible!

 Gorgeous!!!! Love the height and position of the back leg!

 Anyone else thinking "ouch" right about now?  We have 12 girls on JV, and each stunt group has 4 people, so we have 3 stunt groups. Here are our 3 scales.

Scale 1... Almost a straight back leg, but looks pretty darn good!

 Scale 2... I caught her falling again, but once again awesome flexibility!

Scale 3... GORGEOUS!!!

Our 3 extended arabesques.

I have always thought that every team I have coached has so much promise and ability, but these girls might be my most talented team to date. At least they are the most advanced I have ever coached. Last year was tough because of the restrictions we had at nationals we couldn't really spend time pushing ourselves, but those girls exceeded my expectations when they took 5th! If only this team could go to nationals!!!!

 Spencer needed to get in on that action!

Poor girls! It was so stinking cold!!!!!

And of course we cannot forget about Aniston! Or as she has been dubbed, the Spirit baby!

 I'm really loving her sassy looks these days!

 So happy at the start of the game!

 Not so happy by the end of the game. Luckily she was held by Mom's and Varsity cheerleaders all night and she was covered in blankets so she stayed really warm!

Family photo!!!!!

Also can we talk about how I love to carry a diaper bag???? I can stash all kinds of yummy snacks in there and it's totally acceptable!

So I know you are all looking at our awesome warm up jackets and you are loving them. I have seen hundreds of warm up jackets and these by far are my absolute favorite!!!!! Let's break em down...

 The fabric is stretchy and smooth, and is super warm!!!

 Lovely arm decor.

 One of my very favorite parts! The thumb holes! I always thought these were super cool when I was younger, and so it's like I'm living out my dream! It's awesome!

I also love how the inside of the jacket is lined with paw print fabric. Super cute!

Basically to summarize ... I am coaching an amazingly talented JV cheer team! Now use your imagination to think that is this is only our JV.... what must our Varsity look like????

Also.... Merry Early Christmas from our chubby bunny to yours!!!!

100 Days Later

On Friday October 12th, 2012 my little babes turned 100 days old! I cannot believe that I have had the AMAZING privilege of being a Mommy to this darling little angel for 100 days!

 Okay, so by now it's more like 102 days.... But who has time to really blog these days? The past 100 days have been such an interesting and amazing adventure. Being a Mom is probably the best thing in the world!!! When I walk into her room in the morning and she's awake in her crib just chilling, and then the moment she sees my face she smiles, it's basically one of the best feelings ever! Being a Mom is incredibly rewarding, and also incredibly exhausting! We all know that I could go on and on about how awesome my little Ani is, but I want to focus more on my past 100 days post-pregnancy.

The instant Ani was pushed out of my body, I instantly felt better. Well... as better as you can feel after just having a baby that is. I no longer had morning sickness, only occasional heartburn, and my back was no longer constantly aching. After a few weeks of settling into my new life, my thoughts turned to losing the baby weight. Ugh! Worst thoughts ever! I was lucky enough to not gain a ton while pregnant, but the last 11 pounds, refuse to drop. Have I been doing everything I possibly could in order to lose the weight? No. But in my defense, it's hard to find time when I work about 60 hours a week. Every day I say that tomorrow will be different. Tomorrow I will go for a run. Tomorrow I won't eat so badly. Tomorrow I will only drink water. Lack of motivation and exhaustion are completely to blame for my out of shape body. People keep saying it's only been 3 months, but I feel like I should be at least back to where I was before. This might be because I blog stalk and facebook stalk and celebrity stalk all of these people (most of whom I don't even know, and some of which who get paid millions of dollars to lose the baby weight) who just have had babies and look 100% amazing! Is it really necessary to run marathons and to fit in your old jeans within a month after having a baby???? It's totally not fair, but it's not very smart of me either. I don't ever want my daughter to deal with these emotions! A lack of self-esteem is possibly one of the worst things ever! It's depressing and heart breaking. I feel awful for Spencer for having to deal with my depression, but he does it so well! He is an AMAZING husband! It's just so hard to not compare myself to others, and to not feel as though everyone is judging me when in reality nobody even cares. And that's the way that it should be. We shouldn't judge one another regarding looks or weight, but unfortunately that is not the world that we live in. It's something that I want to do my best to protect Aniston from, but I don't know if that's even completely possible. I don't feel like my parents really did anything wrong when they were raising me that made me feel this way about myself, so I don't know what to do to prevent it. Since age 14 I have been on and off depression medication. Mostly I have been off, at least for the past 3 years, because I believe it's more mental then a medical thing, but maybe I'm wrong since it's still a daily struggle for me. Having Aniston has been a huge blessing in my life. ***Warning: Things are about to get deep here... Since she was born I have had no suicidal thoughts (yes, I hate to admit that these use to occur daily in my past). For me this is a huge improvement! I love that baby girl so much! I would never want to do anything to myself that would keep her from the things that she needs. I'm sad that it took having a baby for me to realize that life is worth living every day no matter what crappy things may happen to you, but I'm glad things have changed. I LOVE my life right now. I love my awesome husband! I love my adorable baby girl! I love my job! I love coaching! I love my little apartment! I love everything... except my body. They say it takes 9 months for your body to go back to normal after having a baby.... only 5 1/5 months to go! For now I will just continue to be thankful for my awesome life and focus on getting healthy and making the positive changes in my life. There's nothing I wouldn't do for my sassy little babes!

Starring Aniston Kate

We have started taking more and more videos of Aniston, just so we can remember everything about her. And because I am super obsessed with my daughter (as it should be) I thought I would share them with you!!! Mostly these are for Nana and Papa and Grandma and Grandpa since they can't be here to see her, but they make for some good entertainment anyway. Sorry they're sideways, but oh well.

This is my noisy baby sleeping... Totally awesome at night cause I never have to go make sure she's alright... I can just listen for her.

She is always most happy right when she wakes up, And she is also still swaddled at this point, we aren't just being bad parents.

Here is her demonstration of how she likes to try to get out of her car seat.

If we are not fast enough to get her out of the swaddle and out of her chair, she will escape. Once again, please don't call the CPS on us. I promise, we are good parents.

Sometimes Aniston just wants to talk...

Fall Family Fotos

Since I was super bummed about not being able to get any good pictures by those beautiful red tress in the Logan Canyon, we decided to attempt to take some with other fall foliage around Rexburg. We used my tripod, which was, or course, missing the most important piece  you know the piece you screw to the camera and attach to the tripod so it doesn't fall off... but luckily we avoided any major accidents! These will have to do until Kim takes our "real" family pictures!!!! PS - I'm still trying to lose all the baby weight and then some... So be gentle!

3 Months Old and Counting!!!

I cannot believe my baby is already turning into a child! Look how tiny she use to be! Aniston no longer cries like a baby, you know that whiny, high pitched, annoying kind of cry. No it's more like booming, demanding, and way more annoying kind of cry. I tell you what... that girl has an awesome set of lungs in her! This will definitely help her out in her super successful cheerleading career (Don't tell Spencer I said that). Anyway, if our scale is correct then she has gained 4lbs in the past month, which wouldn't surprise me considering she eats 5oz every 2 hours or so. I love chunky babies!!! I finally started putting away clothes that she had grown out of. Don't worry though, she still wears quite a bit of newborn clothes. Dressing her is sooooooooooooo much fun! I was talking to my Mom on the phone the other day and she was saying that my Dad had never really seen her without a headband of some sort. So he weeded through facebook and found one. The headbands are the best part! She is really starting to hate them, but she just looks so darn cute in them! She loves to suck on her hands now and also she is trying so hard to roll over. Hasn't happened yet, but she's close.  Her new favorite love is watching TV, especially ghost hunters and college football. She is so much more alert and smiles all the time and her sassy personality is really starting to shine through! We are counting down the days until she laughs and we laugh at her daily! he makes the best faces!

She loves to take showers with Dad (I'm way to scared to hold her in the shower) way more than baths! When she gets a little older obviously this won't happen anymore, but for now it works great! She is just getting to be so much fun, especially since she sleeps 10 hours solid a night (minus vacations of course). I love her so much and can't wait to see where life takes us with our little Ani Kate!

 Another new thing she does... constantly trying to escape by leaning forward. She especially hates her car seat now and is always trying to escape from it! She will also fall asleep in this position PS.