Best Friends from the Start

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Oh how it all began... Trenissa and Amanda were in a Grade 5/6 split class in an elementary school that backed onto Trenissa's parents’ yard. They took full advantage of that, forging notes to our teacher from alternate parents saying they were allowed to hop the fence to Trenissa's house at lunch. Where they would usually make Grill Cheese and watch Friends in her basement. One of the earliest “fights” Trenissa and Amanda ever had was over a silly Tommy Hillranger (not even Tommy Hillfinger) halter top shirt that Trenissa had and they agreed to sell it to Amanda. Let me tell you that this shirt was so small it only covered what it needed to and there was NO way either one of them was ever going to wear it. Anyways Amanda wanted to pay $10 but Trenissa insisted she wouldn’t take anything less than $15. Well 14 years later the halter top sits, unworn, in Amanda’s drawer, not sure how much she paid, but it is a good reminder of how silly some “fights” can be.

The girls drifted apart for a few years as Amanda went to WL high-school and it wasn't until Trenissa was in grade 9 at the Christian Academy School and Amanda was in Grade 10 at WL. Amanda started dating DA who was going to the Academy and who was also best friends with MB, Trenissa’s first “Love.” On our first double date we drove around in MB's car playing the game "Sex Me". For those who don't know, sex me is the game where you hit the roof if you see a vehicle with only one headlight. If your team hits the roof first then the other team has to remove one piece of clothing. Amanda and I were on a team in the backseat together and we won! THANK GOODNESS!!!! So the bet was losers have to drive thru McDonald's drive through naked and order something. So as Amanda and I hid in the backseat, fully clothed, MB and DA went through the drive through naked!!!

As high-school would have it, the double dating didn't last long as MB and Trenissa broke up right before Graduation. What can I say, a 16 year old, heartbroken for the first time.  She was devastated.  Amanda and Trenissa became very close over the next year as Trenissa mended her broken heart. A few months later DA and Amanda broke up and it was just us girls!! Best friends became sisters and we made and inseparable bond.  It is funny to look back now and see how things that mattered so much as teens don’t really matter at all now that we are adults.

Now that the girls had their own vehicle and Amanda had a license that was all they needed to start the road trips!! Trenissa sometimes would drive on road trips, even though all she had was her Learners Permit. Trenissa and Amanda just figured they would get away with it if they told the officers she was Amanda, and Amanda would then pretend to be sleeping in the passenger seat... Yeah Right!!! Thank God we never got pulled over!!

One of the first big road trips the girls went on just the two of them was to Vancouver. We stalked up on Redbulls, sunglasses, a city map of Vancouver and we were off. As Trenissa was driving for a portion of the trip Amanda got out the map, and plotted big red dots on all the stores and places we wanted to go in Vancouver. She was always the organized one like that. The type that liked her lists!!!

Trenissa and Amanda spent the first night in Chilliwack at Amanda's Great Grandmas! She is awesome. We decided to go to the fair that night which was just a walk away from her Apartments. The girls ended up being two of the 15 people that were at the fair that night. They thought SWEET!!!  The greasy carnies let the girls ride all the rides for free, one carnie thought the girls were pretty cute and decided they would like to go on the spinning ride for what felt like 20 minutes. After the ride T&A walked straight out of the fair grounds and across the parking lot to Zellers. Trenissa was not feeling good at all. Trenissa puked about 3 times, you would think that her BFF, Amanda would be there to hold her hair back or something but nope she was bent over laughing and Trenissa was bent over puking!! Ha-ha what a pair. We seem to remember our theme song of the trip being " throw some D's on that B ****." Ha-ha.

May Long 06, the girls birthday weekend, was one for the books. After stopping for some snacks, the girls headed out to Horsefly for the famous Ball Tournament in Merdle with all the essentials booze, a tent, and some snacks. Because the girls left late from town by the time they got to the campground all the campsites were full and they had to pitch their tent in amongst a group of rowdies from WL!! As every May Long in WL has it, it poured, the tent was soaked, the girls ran out of food and it was Chaos!!! In the morning the girls were very hung-over and just wanted to shower. Being a small hick-town they found a little bathroom at a gas station with an old basin for a sink! Perfect they thought!! The girls took turns washing hair and the essentials and dried with paper towel. 30 minutes later T&A left the one stall bathroom to see a huge line up!! Trenissa and Amanda were happy, all showered and feeling like a million bucks!! All in all, the girls had a great Birthday weekend, lots of laughs, bonfires, booze and little to no baseball!!!  

Sun peaks was so awesome that when Amanda graduated she moved there! Worked and lived there. Trenissa moved to Salmon Arm after Graduation. Amanda had finished up the seasons at Sun Peaks and went up to Tumbler Ridge to work in a mine as a first aid attendant. Even though miles and miles apart, the girls never skipped a beat.

When Amanda met Brendan, and Trenissa met Ajay the men knew the girls came as a package deal, where one goes there is her BFF.

We had some wicked times we will never forget, but Man did we go through lots of hard times together too. When two friends become best friends and eventually “sisters” they share a bond that is truly unbreakable. We hope one day our daughters can be as close as we are.

Heads up!

We will be posting a very real and very personal Biography on our friendship and everything we have been through! Pics and flashbacks to give you guys a peek at us before we were Mommies! We were goofy and social and were all about living in the moment and making awesome memories and we so have! You guys will also get to hear about all of the freaky coincidences we have as friends. We definitely think we are long lost sisters, maybe twins separated at birth. Haha just kidding. But it goes to show how strong of a bond two friends can have! And definitely hope our daughters will have that bond too <3


Check back for later we will post it this evening! :)

Nap time success - Post from Trenissa

I love it when both my girls nap at the same time! Gives me a chance to keep the house clean for a couple of hours. Today has been an organizing day, for both Amanda and myself. It was time to go through all of the girls clothes and weed out what's too small and swap them out. It works perfectly that we have all girls, there are never ending amounts of clothes!!! Ayrilee and Rylee are now in the same size just about so they can share, just like us!!

Girls, Girls, Girls

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Theses are our beautiful girls, from the left; Ayrilee will be 2 in March, Tori 7 months old & Rylee will be 3 in July!! As you can see Trenissa's house looks well played in, and it should with our three busy bees!! 

Ayrilee and I spend lots of time at Trenissa's house, as her house is set up perfect for kids with a Huge living room, open kitchen and all the bedrooms upstairs!! It`s pretty much our second home!!! We used to spend so much time cleaning up after the kids, following them around with a cloth to clean up spills, telling them no, don`t touch that..... Well that`s all changed!!! We went through the house and TOTALLY kid proofed everything that was in reach that just was not worth fighting over we moved, or put up. We took lots of knick-knacks down and filled each room up with toys. Over the past couple years we have  been watching the local thrift shop, or garage sales for big toys that we can easily wash and that are new for the girls. A very inexpensive way to having a very fun kid house!!! The girls love it!!! Why not we thought, if our girls are happy and having fun then we are happy and having fun. 

`` Don`t spend their whole lives cleaning up after them, that`s what they will remember too`` Best advice I have received in a long time!!! Let kids be kids and enjoy every moment with them! House chores and dishes can always wait it its for your kids!!!!

XOXOX Love being a Momma!!! 


 

Coffee = a mommys best friend!!! - Post from Trenissa

Coffee please! I can not start my day without a cup of coffee. I swear sometimes I could drink it all day, this mommy depends on it to get her day going when it starts at 530am! After being up 4 times in the night.

I'm not sure I would even be able to sleep an entire night without waking up, even if my babes didn't wake me up. My body is so programmed to be up 5 times a night that I swear I am already awake when the baby cries. I need to re vamp bedtime and try to make it a little easier. My two year old wants to sleep n my bed every night lately, since her daddy had been working out of town. I don't mind some nights but they way she sleeps she's all over the bed all night and i end up squished over on one side. Anyone else's kids do that. Lol.  So it's a little but of a fight to get her to sleep at night. But then she seems to be coming into my bed every night lately around 230 or 3 am. She wakes up crying almost as if she had a nightmare. But I don't know for sure  what it is that's making her wake up so upset. Is this just a phase? Anyone else experience anything like this with their toddler. I'm totally open to suggestions!!

We get o Skype with my husband every night and it is so awesome!! For anyone else who has their husband working away should definitely try it. It makes it so much easier for my girls. Rylee tells me every day that she's so excited to see her daddy at night on the " compuper" as she calls it.

Well time to get breakfast ready for my girls. Be back to chat at nap time :)

Time to unwind - post from Trenissa

Yay, it's bedtime for the little ones and time for my PVR, IPad and foot spa! Much needed mommy time.  Today was a busy day, and it started at 5:40 am. My 6 month old, Tori, still isn't sleeping as well as I'd hoped. It's funny how different, Rylee was sleeping through the night in her crib at 3 months old. Tori on the other hand wasn't in her crib until about 4 months and still doesn't sleep through the night. She only wakes up for a bottle prolly twice a night, once at around 2am and then again around 5am. She seems to be more hungry during the night. I have been introducing lots of different foods to her and she's loving every second of it.

Anyways my foot spa is so relaxing I am already for bed.

night Ya'all Xo

Did you miss me? Lol New post by Trenissa :)

Hey guys. Sorry for not posting the last couple of days. The flu  swept through our house and it was not fun! Today has been a good day so far, it's only noon and both my girls are powered down napping! I LOVE STRONG START! It's an awesome playgroup for little ones and its every weekday at the elementary school near my home. So perfect!! Amanda and I laughed so hard watching our little girls play together, its funny how they act so much like us. They were off playing together happy as can be side by side the whole time. Cute!!

Anyone have a 2 year old who is just starting to tell you "no" and "mine" all the time!! Lol having a toddler definitely teaches me patience. I find when I take the time to explain things to her when she's starting a tantrum , she actually takes the time to listen to me. When I'm calm, she's calm. When I'm worked up, she's worked up. Kids totally pick up on their mommys moods, even as babies! Just my personal opinion!

Have lunch to make for my girls. Will be back to chat later! Xo

12 Week Weight Loss Challenge "VEGAS Bound with my Bestfriend!!"

As some of you know Trenissa and myself have almost the same exact birthday, of course being best friends that would only make sense. Trenissa's birthday is May 24th and my birthday is May 21st. This year we have decided to treat ourselves to a well deserved Birthday Getaway!!! Where other than LAS VEGAS!!!! Being our 23rd & 24th Birthdays, We want to look as great as we feel!!!! This is where our 12 Week Weight Loss Challenge comes in! 

We invite you on our Weight Loss Journey!! 

Having Ayrilee took a little toll on my body, as most of you know pregnancies usually do :) Although in a way I was lucky she was born early, I didn't gain more than 37 pounds when I was pregnant, however after Ayrilee was born, l put on 15 more pounds living in the hospital hotel and eating all meals out. No excuses I wasn't exercising as much as I should and was not eating regular meals. I was was to consumed with being a new mom. After we returned to Williams Lake and we finally got our life back in order I had reached my heaviest weight I had been. I am 5' 5 and I weighed 196 pounds. I was not very happy with myself. But as the next summer came I made a promise to myself that I would never be this heavy again (unless a pregnancy takes me there :) ) 

September 2012 I tried on a pair of jeans I bought just before I was pregnant, there was no way I was squeezing into them! I wrote a note to myself that said " If you are wearing these jeans, I am very proud of you! Go out for a girly drink with a friend" I added a $20 bill. To my surprise two weeks ago Trenissa and I went out for appies and a drink, I reached in my back pocket to see what I was sitting on, there was my $20 and a note to myself! Sounds kind of silly, but I really was proud of myself. I have now lost a total of 41 pounds and weigh 155 pounds!!

I am still not where I want to be, but together with my best friend, Trenissa and all of our followers we will work hard and do our best at this "12 Week Challenge" 

No, it was not fun taking this photo, but it sure is fun looking back. 

Before *Aug 4th 2012*

Mid-way *Dec 26th 2012*

               
                           



Being a Fitness Instructor I put together a workout plan that will fit easily into our busy mom lives. We will be working out 4 times a week for 30 minutes. I have designed this program to incorporate multiple body parts in one move so you can get the most out of each workout. I have tried so many weight loss programs and personal training guides, but its always the same thing. I am interested for the first 2, 3 maybe even 4 weeks then I start to find excuses not to do my workout, or go to the gym, and eventually I get bored and quit all together. I know Boo Quitter!!! But it happens so often, workouts become boring and time consuming, you don't see results and you don't stay interested. If this is you then I can help. Our workout plan is designed to do with kids running around, on a busy schedule and with only a few pieces of workout equipment. For this workout you will need a free weight, 5lb or 8lb works great (or two cans of soup one in each hand); a yoga mat (a towel or the carpet works too); an exercise ball (can use dining room chair for most exercises) and a water bottle!!

Stay in touch, I will be adding our workout schedule soon :) Does anyone have Workout Stories they would like to share???? We would love to hear your feedback. If you are on a weight loss journey, You have already done the hardest part!!! Stay with it, any workout takes at least 6 weeks to see a difference!!!

Week 1: Recipe "Grilled Vegetable Paninis"

1/2 eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/2 inch thick slices

1 zucchini, cut lengthwise into /4 inch thick slices

1/2 small red onion, cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

4 tbsp basil pesto**

1 baguette, split lengthwise

favorite sliced cheese, I love brie or fresh mozzarella

1 tomato, sliced

4 large basil leaves

1 bell pepper cut into 4 large pieces

Heat a grill, George Foreman or BBQ over medium-high heat. Brush the eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and onion slices with the oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Working in batches, grill the eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and onion until they are tender and grill marks appear, about 4 minutes each side. Cool slightly.

Spread the pesto over the cut sides of the baguettes. Arrange your cheese over the bottom halves of the baguettes. Top with the tomatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange the grilled eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, onion and basil leaves over the tomatoes. Fold the baguettes together, then cut each sandwich crosswise into 3 equal pieces.  Return sandwiches to the grill for 1 minute on each side to melt cheese!!! 

(sandwiches can be made 4 hours ahead. Wrap well with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)

** Pesto Recipe **

• 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 2/3 cup virgin olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

 Directions:   Combine the basil, garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add oil slowly and continue to pulse until smooth. Remove from food processor and stir in cheese. Will save up to 3 months in freezer!!

Hope you Enjoy, I loved this recipe when I was pregnant !!!!! 

Week 1: Pregnancy "Good Morning from Trenissa"

Good morning guys. What a night! my 2 year old ,who is potty training ,came to sleep in my bed last night because she woke up upset. So we were all snuggled up and snoozing away when she wets the bed!! The first thing she says to me is "I so sorry mommy.. Can I hab a kiss?" Lol how cute is that? definitely couldn't be upset after that! 

So this weeks topic is everything and anything to do with pregnancy!  How many of you we're the lucky ones who didn't experience morning sickness? That Definitely was not me. I was one of the unlucky 22% of women who suffer from extreme morning sickness throughout their entire pregnancy!  I actually had to work to gain weight during both of my pregnancies. My first trimester I lost 32 lbs. I started to gain into my second trimester. But I would go up 10 lbs one month and drop 5 lbs the next . Overall I ended up gaining a healthy amount of weight but it was definitely trying. Most of my weight gain was during the 10 days I went over due with both my girls. That's when the lbs really start to pack on haha. 

My first delivery  was rough but I ended up giving birth naturally with a Epidural at the very end that my doctor strongly advised that I got. I so wish I hadn't! Ever hear of an epidural not working on some women? Well after 36 hours of  in hospital labour the doctors were worried the baby was getting stressed out so that's when the recommended that I get the epidural. They brought the specialist in to give me an epidural.  * for those who do not know, During an epidural, painkilling drugs are passed into the small of your back via a fine tube. It is a regional anaesthetic, so the drug is injected around the nerves that carry signals from the part of your body that feels pain in labour. It will numb your tummy and provide you with very effective pain relief.*  The first needle and tube was put in and seconds later the tubing burst and had to be removed and placed in again. Once it was in I felt no numbing or pain relief what so ever! We waited and nothing! So that one got taken out and AGAIN a 3rd one was put in and still nothing. So they brought in a different specialist who was going to make the final attempt. He got it in successfully! Finally! After sitting there for 3.5 hours hunched over contracting while they put this epidural in and out of my spine, they got it to work! Yay I was pain free...for 15 minutes! Ugh, why didn't it last?!?!? I still don't know and the doctor can't tell me why! Can you say FRUSTRATING!! ... So finally about 6 hours later I was ready to push! She was out on my second push! At least that part was easy! I was so over joyed to see that she was here and to hear her cries for the first time! I remember being so nervous holding her for the first time, but it only took a few minutes and I felt like I'd known her all my life! Xoxo Rylee Ann Born July 29 2010 7lbs 10 oz <3

Hope you guys enjoyed it! Will be back later to chat more :)

Greetings from Trenissa

Hey everyone! My name is Trenissa and I'm so stoked to be starting this blog with my best friend. We have so much we want to share with you guys, from a young moms point of view and all of the ups and downs we have had so far on our journey through motherhood.
 

I'am happily Married to a wonderful man named Ajay. We share two beautiful daughters, Rylee Ann who's 2 and Our newest addition Miss Tori Rose who is 6 months old! My husband works a camp job that keeps him away for 14 days and then home for 7. Taking care of my house, girls and new puppy Bella, is defiantly a full time job! But what can I say, I Love it! Don't get me wrong it's is defiantly challenging A lot of the time but so rewarding at the same time. I can't wait to hear all about your guys experiences as parents and if you can relate to what we go through day to day with our busy, family lives!
 

I experienced 2 extremely tough pregnancies, but in the end got the 2 most special gifts I could ever imagine! I have been on a roller coaster of ups and downs since I found out I was pregnant with Rylee in October of 2009. I carried both of my girls over due. Ugh! Talk about uncomfortable. Being a mom is one of the hardest jobs out there but SO worth it.
 

Will be starting our first Blog topic tomorrow Morning with you guys. Amanda and I will be discussing pregnancy! Lots of cool stuff to talk about on that topic!
 

Talk to y'all tomorrow! Xo

Greetings from Amanda

Welcome Everyone,

My best friend and I have decided to start a blog together, where we will be chatting about Kids, Relationships, Careers, Health Topics and of course Yummy Recipes!!! 

My name is Amanda and I am 23 years old. My boyfriend, Brendan and I have been together for 4 years. Although not married we have bought a house together and endured many life lessons already. One day we will get married, hopefully on white sandy beaches somewhere!! I am looking very forward to wedding planning, just need the ring!!! :)

Brendan and I were very pleasantly surprised to be expecting our first child in April 2011. After months of morning sickness, cravings and mood swings, we were getting ready for bed March 2, 2011 and my water decided to break. Our baby was coming 6 weeks early. Very scared we called our Doula and met her at the hospital 20 minutes later. Sure enough I was in labor. Our hospital in Williams Lake does not have its own Intensive Care Nursery for Preemies, so Brendan and I had to take a jet to Kamloops. Arriving sometime in the middle of the night, my contractions had not gotten too bad, I was still able to walk around comfortably. At around 6 am my contractions began to worsen. I highly recommend a Doula for your first pregnancy and delivery if you have any doubt, or just want more support for you and your partner!! Kim, our Doula was helping me walk around the hallways trying to speed up my labor. At this point I still didn`t have any medicine and I was trying so hard to do it all Naturally. 

When I was 6 cm dilated the babies heart rate began to drop. With every contraction I was having our babies heart rate was getting worse. It was the doctors decisions seconds later that I was going to deliver by C-section. Something like had not even crossed my mind until she said it. Within minutes I was in the operating room with Brendan and 10 other doctors and nurses. Brendan was in shock when he walked into the room filled with doctors, I knew I could calm him down if he would just sit beside me and talk. Yeah Right!!! He was frantically looking at all the doctors, monitors, screens and tvs, I told him `talk to me about hockey` something I knew he could go on for hours about!! Thanks goodness we were in the middle of the Chicago vs Vancouver playoffs, he was telling me all about the game and in the middle of his sentence we heard her cry!!! Our baby girl, Ayrilee was born!!!!!

Ayrilee was born March 3, 2011 at 4:14 weighing 4lbs 12oz. My heart goes out to anyone that has had a Preemie, you know all to well what we were about to go through. Ayrilee was very lucky and her lungs were developed 100 % so she did not have to be on any breathing tubes. She did however have to be on a feeding tube which we would feed her my breast milk through. I, myself was in the hospital for a week, recovering from my C-section. Ayrilee was in the NICU (Intensive Care Nursery) for just over 3 weeks. We had to wait until Ayrilee was able to feed on her own, whether by breast or by bottle, and she had to pass the car seat test. On March 21st we received the greatest news WE COULD GO HOME!!!!! Although at home we didn`t have 24 hour nurses that new every trick of the trade for babies!!!  Ayrilee slept in a laundry basket for the first couple months at home because she was so tiny!! Ayrilee is now almost 2 years old and no one would ever guess she was a Preemie!!!

I am very excited for you to follow our blog!! Trenissa and I have been best friends for over 13 years and have learned so much together!! Each week we will have a new topic and will share all our goodies with you!! If you have questions, comments or  topics you would like us to blog about we would love to hear all your thoughts.  We are just Real Moms with Real Lives!!!

XOXOXO

Amanda

Welcome to our Real Moms Blog!!

 Welcome Everyone to our Real Moms Blog. We hope you can relate as we will be talking about Real Life Topics each week. We will be blogging daily about being moms, relationships, kid friendly recipes, health and work outs and much much more.... We hope you enjoy!!!