Day 1

After having a good long talk with myself last night, I decided it's time for me to do this. I keep waiting for someone to hold my hand, but realize now that's not going to happen. I'm deeply concerned, and have been for quite awhile, about the health of my family. I'm praying that if I start taking care of my health they will follow.

My husband works long hours to take care of us. It would make me amazingly happy if the two of us could do this together. I love him more than anything and want to grow old with him.

My oldest is a girl just starting college. She is someone I think I can count on to jump on the bandwagon. She seems on the cusp of doing this too. Very smart, and exceptionally pretty. My two boys have Asperger's syndrome. They both started life very thin and energetic. Now that they have entered their teens, they are not all that interested in anything but gaming and some archery.  They would eat chips and hot dogs all day if I let them. No portion control interest. Alex, however, is somewhat more interested in this.

Alex and I have been walking together after dinner for the past week or so. He is getting more energetic and says his legs don't hurt so much. I'm worried that he starts gym class in a few months, so I am going to do my best to continue our walks and push him harder if he can. The best part, however, is that he and I get time to talk about anything he'd like. It is a great way for us to spend a few minutes together without the rest of the world. We especially enjoy listening to the crickets. I would like to get a treadmill for the bad days outside, but don't know if the family budget will allow.

One of the challenges we face is that Sam and I love vegetables and fruit. The boys don't. We also have gluten intolerance in our family, so that can be tricky to come up with meals. But we will figure it out.

Today, I went for myself early after Samantha left for school. I was trying not to think about my little girl not being a little girl any more and starting college. So I took the dog (because the boys didn't want to go) with me. What a mistake! He had to mark his territory every mailbox we saw. So I have to come up with something to do or think about because it's boring when you go alone. Then it hit me: good time to pray and talk to God. Looking forward to tomorrow morning now.

This week's goal: Try to continue getting in habit of walking in the morning alone and in the evening with Alex.