1 Year

Emily is 1. Where did the time go? She is actually almost 13 months!!!! Here is the photos I have promised:)

 

So we have birth to 1......1 is the biggest pic and newborn is right under it.On the side there is 3, 6, 9 months.

 

 

She still thinks she is soooooo funny! She cracks up all the time, she loves being chased, she loves hugs and kisses and blowing kisses.

 

She has 4 teeth...V had 8 at this time so it's a bit different. She was 16 lbs. and 27" at her 1 year appt. which puts her about 4% for weight and 7% for height. She's tiny. How do I....at 5'10" have such teeny little girls?!?!

 

 

I loves her though.....she and her sister are my life. That will be discussed in my next 3.....yes you read that right...3 posts. I am going to post about if I had to list things in my life how they would be listed, I will talk about toxic relationships, and I will talk about, motherhood of course! 

I'm back....maybe;)

Soooo.....my school work is basically over:) Hopefully that means I will be back on here a lot more. I really do have a lot to share! Like how Victoria is growing like a weed and is super sweet......when she's not throwing a fit for no particular reason. She really is the most thoughtful child I have ever met.

Emily is almost 1:-( I'm not sure how that happened. She is rotten! I'm going to put together a timeline of her first year. I can't wait to share that!!!

My new personal flaw I am working on is learning that I don't have to make people understand me or believe me. It's a hard one but I don't have to defend myself. When someone has a falsity in their minds..... you can't convince them. Just let it go. It eats at me. It sucks. I'm going to learn indifference though:)

The same old flaw is I need to make time for me and workout. I have GOT to get the jiggle out of my wiggle!

Hopefully this is not like the other times that I planned to get back on here and didn't really quite make it:)

Toy Guns

Okay...let's see...how to put this delicately...

I am not for toy guns......at all.

I am not for toy guns because I feel that children do not learn the importance of actual guns. We own guns. Well...the hubs owns guns. He's a hunter and he protects our home (he's our alarm system). I am not against gun ownership at all. I am 100% for it. I hope to eventually have a gun of my own as well as a carry permit. I want my girls to learn about guns. I want them to take hunter safety courses and if they choose to hunt more power to them. I want them to respect guns. I do not want them to think of them as toys. Guns are not...I repeat ARE NOT to be pointed at a person ever in a joking manner. I don't care if it's a neon colored water gun that is obviously a toy....you NEVER point a gun at a person in a playful, joking manner. Now they have water "guns" that look nothing like guns and those I'm okay with. There are Nerf guns that look nothing like guns and those I'm okay with. I guess that is weird. If it is a long cylinder "water gun" it looks more like a water pump (so to say) to me that I'm fine with it.

Maybe....just maybe...AFTER my kiddos learn all about guns and the dangers associated with treating them wrongly then I might (but probably not) be okay with it. I am 100% okay with my girls having a BB gun at a young age...not now..but older...because that is a fairly safe manner for them to learn about guns and what they can do. Guns are dangerous. I firmly believe guns don't kill people....people kill people. I think gun education is very, very, very important and thus... I don't want them to be toys for my girls....guns just aren't toys. Dolls, games, balls, puzzles....those are toys. Guns are weapons to be respected.

Oh hey there....

Ummmm......Hi there!!!! 

Long time no blog huh?  Sorries bout that! 

I was working on school and stuff and it basically consumed my life. I had planned on getting done in enough time to have 2 months off but that didn't happen. I might have procrastinated just a tiny bit since I was having some anxiety about leaving my babies. Well....not that I want to leave V every day but she'll rock it. E on the other hand....not so much. I'm gonna cry. 

I was going to do this great post about her being 6 months a while back but..umm..yeah....she's 8 months now!!!! Crazy stuff right there! She's growing...not sure of her length at present but she is 13 lbs. 2 oz. She's a whopper...I know, I know...how do I even carry that chunk around. LOL! 

She makes the funniest faces right now and she's crawling all over the danged place! She's pulling up and that's fun. Especially when she pulls up on an empty box and it smacks her in the forehead. Ohhhh....or she pulls  up in her crib at night while half asleep and no clue on how to get down. Good stuff. I'm so going to miss that little booger every day:*(

Victoria...dude...she's a mess! What in the world has gotten into that kid?! She's pretty clinging and whiney lately. She's having a hard time with something....just not sure what it is. All I can do is hold her and cuddle her though. She super sad we can't go back to the beach right now but seriously....I start student teaching on Monday!!!!! I am 15 weeks from applying to graduate. That is madness!!!!! 

That is a little catch up kinda. I'll blog about more old things tomorrow night maybe. I'm at a loss as to what to do with my nights now that they are crammed with school work. That'll change soon. I want to tell you all about our most fabulous vacay though!!!! 

About today though.....Dollywood!!!!! I loves Dollywood! We went all.the.time when I was little. It was greatness. Then I didn't go for a very, very, very long time. The hubs got his hands on some free passes though and so this year we went. I upgraded to a super gold pass a few months back (that sounds impressive.....it's just one pass that gets you into regular Dollywood and Dollywood Splash Country with free parking and 20% off stuff). Well, so today the hubs used the last one and went with me and the girls. We got there around 10:30 and we ran walked (because what adult runs to a ride....no me I'm sure) to the newest ride....The Wild Eagle. It was AWESOMENESS!!!!!!!!!!! That doesn't even convey it. Hubs rode by himself and then I rode by myself...we took turns sitting with the girls and there was like no line so it was fast:) 

Then it was all about rides V could ride until it started raining around 2. We tried to stick it out...but it wasn't in the cards. We gave up and left around 3:30. The girls passed out on the way home. V had sooooo much fun.....I had sooooo much fun. Even little E was bouncing in her carrier and smiling pretty much the whole day. It was the BEST day I could have asked for and really what I needed before going to teach. 

Thank you dear Lord for a fabulous day!!! 

Everyone...go to Dollywood and ride the Wild Eagle!!!!! 

Glory Days

I haven't posted in forever! This is kind of a weird one to come back with but it's been on my mind.

Have you heard that song by Eric Church....Springsteen? It always makes me think about how people get lost in their "Glory Days." I didn't really understand why for a while.....DUH....the song he is referring to is Glory Days! I'm smarter than your average bear. These are some of my favorite songs....songs that talk about the past. I LOVE Bucky Covington's A Different World. Time sure have changed in such a short amount of time......or it seems short to me. Which is kind of my point; everything changes. All you can count on is change. Soooo.....I really don't care for people trying to relive their so-called "Glory Days." It kind of makes me sad really.....these people had the best time of their lives in high school or college. There is  A LOT of life after that. I have to say I was thinking about it and, right now, these days with my babies, these are my "Glory Days." I don't really every feel like I was part of the "cool kids" or whatever, but thinking back that was my own choice. My choice made because I was too into guys which I hope my daughters don't do. I was friendly with everybody though so I feel like I have several good aquaintances that were cool kids. LOL!  I played ball and was in band in middle school and high school. I started my 8th grade year, I was scouted my 9th grade year and started J.V., and started Varsity as a junior. We got a new coach when I was a sophomore and I let her take away my love for the game.....I let her....that was stupid. I didn't play my senior year because I didn't really mesh with her. I would have started. I would have gone to college and played. I gave up band for basketball my senior year and really I loved band much more and I think I may have played in college had I chose that but I didn't. Even though I didn't play my senior I was still offered scholarships by Berry College, Georgetown College (not University), Eastern and Western Kentucky University. I played a lot of AAU which got me way more exposure than high school ever thought about. I didn't play basketball in college. I picked a small, private college.........and I cheered:) Yes, you read that right. LOL! It was fun for me though and I didn't want stress. I had spent a lot of time training to cheer and ultimately picked basketball in middle school but I did have a strong background in cheer which led me to pick cheer in college. It was such a small college I was actually able to make the team. I was in a sorority....Chi Omega! Then after 1 semester I left. I had planned on getting an ROTC scholarship and there was a 20% chance that wasn't going to happen and tuition was $24k/year. Oh well.

I feel like I could definitely live in my "Glory Days." I could regret my life's decisions and just live in those days. I don't. Not for one second. I'm just now about to finish school and get my Bachelors. When I graduated high school I had already taken so many college courses that when I started college I started as a sophomore......and I'm just now finishing. Jeez! Ha! You know what though? My "Glory Days" are right now. I have made some really horrible choices in my life but without them I would not be where I am and I LOVE where I am. Right now I have two beautiful and healthy little girls that make me smile every single day. I am blessed enough to be able to have spent the majority of the last 3.5 years home with Victoria and then Emily. I have a husband that supports me and loves me and I know that I can count on him to be my rock and my best friend forever. These are for sure my "Glory Days." These are the days I don't want to end (until it's 6:30 pm and I have 2 cranky little girls ready for bed). We play and have fun and God has blessed me many times over. I really don't understand why people live in the past when the future is so bright and the now is so full of promise.

So, I like the song because it's catchy but I don't ever want to be that person pining over yesterday (even if I do miss my Victoria being a baby I wouldn't turn back the hands of time for anything).

Next post will be pictures of Emily at 6 months!! She's growing! Next week she's getting her ears pierced and she turns 7 months so I will for sure post about those as well!

Really?!?

I have to share Victoria's ramblings somewhere.....your welcome;)

Today Victoria told me she wanted a bigger bed (she has a full bed). This is how the convo went:

V: I want a bigger bed.
Me: You already have a big bed.
V: I want a bigger bed.....with blue covers.
Me: Screaming inside my head.....WHAT?!?! Ummmm....who are you and what have you done with my pink lovin' daughter?
V: ....and a TV
Me: ?!?! This can't be for real! "Ummm...your Daddy was just allowed to have a TV in his room so I wouldn't hold my breath kiddo."

Did I tell you she recently told us while on our way home from church that she wanted to go to the mall? She is 3! My goodness we are in trouble.

Oh...and because it's my fave Victoria convo to date...check out this post where she educates me in all things broccoli...or peas....or something.

I'm kinda crunchy

What's crunchy? The best response I've read to this is "You know, granola." That kind of sums it up.....granola's natural right? People aren't hippies anymore, they're crunchy and I would have never imagined that I would be traveling down this road.

I realized it when Victoria was little. Then it seemed to have maybe gone away a bit but then there was Emily and well....it's back. LOL! On my birth board people really get irritated when others are all proud of themselves for breastfeedind, making baby food, baby wearing, not vaccinating....etc., etc. It's a harder road though and you get judged more so it's good to be confident of it....scratch that....it's good to be confident of all your choices all ways not matter what you choose. If you are confident, if it weighs on you hearing other people talke about their choices, I'm going to go with you are thinking you should have made different choices. That's not the direction I meant to go.....back on topic...crunch, crunch.

When Victoria was born I had a TON of diapers! Pampers and Huggies N-3. I looked at charts to see the average size baby, I looked up the average amount of diapers babies go through, and I started buying boxes of diapers....so did my Mom. We were given the advice to start buying diapers as soon as we found out we were pregnant. It was good advice. Better advice is.....seriously consider cloth diapering. I'm not so crunchy because of the environment...that may sound bad but it's really not my motivator. My first motivator was....I think I can save us some money. Second was...I think I may be able to potty train V easier if she knows she's wet...can really feel it on her skin. Third was....no diaper rash! Fourth was after research and became...I truely do believe it's better for the environment. So I started cloth diapering when V was 4 months and I didn't really put any high expectations to it....and I LOVED it!!! I kind of touch base on cloth diaper on this post and this post. I don't *think* I have done any other blogs specifically about diapers. Anywho....cloth diapering was my first step towards crunch.

Next step was I started making all of V's baby food....primairly with fresh organic products. Yes I think there is a difference between organic and non-organic which is why I paid more for her food but it was worth it. I also never pureed her food. I mashed what I could with a fork and I chopped in a food processor but I didn't puree. I'm not much for reclining and or pouring slop into a baby and call that eating. They aren't eating like that. They aren't learning how to eat...they are having a thicker liquid poured into them. I also wouldn't let Victoria have sweets (ice cream, cake, chips, etc.) or juice (better to eat her fruit and drink her water than drink sugar)...really no fluid but breastmilk, formula (rarely), or water. I made her an apple cake with whipped icing for her first birthday and that was the closest she got to sweets. Then I started letting her have a bite of a cake at birthday parties...I seriously JUST started letting her have chips and fries like 5-6 months ago and she doesn't really like fries and doesn't eat a lot of chips. She also never even eats a whole cupcake. She stops when she's had enough. I think it's because of the eating habits she was given early on. She now has a juice/water mixture once a day at most and other than that is only allowed to drink milk and water. I still watch certain things like fake sugar. She's not supposed to have that since it's super bad for you. I'm a bit of a food Nazi and I plan on learning more about food coloring because that crap is...ummm....crap.

Well, so there are 2 steps. Then I started making my own cleaners. I have a basically all-purpose cleaner made of mostly water, some vinegar, and a teeny bit of alchol. It makes it dry quickly so I can use it on windows and such. Then I just started making my own laundry and dish detergent!!! I'm excited about it! I can't really tell you how that's going yet. I mean I have done like 4 loads of laundry with it and it went well I think. I can't tell a difference and that's the point right? I used the Duggar recipe from their website. It is looking like for $2 I will have at least 3 months but probably 5-6 months of laundry detergent!!! Score!

I also do the barefoot thing...when did going barefoot mean hippie or crunchy? I do it 'cause I'm from the country and that's just how we do:)

OOOOHHHHH....and I'm a breastfeeding champ!!! V nursed until she was 20 months and I'll let Emily nurse that long too....longer if she so chooses....not like 8...that does gross me out...but like....2. More power to you mommies that still keep providing some key nutrition to your kiddos past 2 though!

Anyway....that's how I'm crunchy...and I loves it!!

ETA: So sorry...I forgot about baby wearing! I much prefer to wear my baby than push her in a stroller. She is in a stroller sometimes, but she likes being in a carrier and it's easier for me. I like having her close and it's easier to maneuver....especially at the fair or mall or.....anywhere. I also forgot about co-sleeping and selective vaccinating. I touched on all three of these in April so go check them out....no need to rehash.

Miss Emily is 5 months!

Sorry I'm so delayed in getting this up. Photobucket is the site I made collages with and considering they've changed things I can't really make heads or tails of it. That said this will not be as pretty as I wanted:( Also...I LOVE those little onesies with the month on them....super cute! I just can't convince myself to spend the money on them....not even on the stuff just to make them myself. I knew a girl that put a white board with the month on it next to baby and snapped a pic.....I'm going to try really, really hard to remember to do that next month. I want to put her likes and achievements and it'll be cute! Promise!

Miss Emily came into this world with the roundest little head I have ever seen in my life. It is still super round. I think it is because she was breech like the entire time. She grown a lot...well, ya' know, in milestones and such and she *looks* so much older.

Little toad at birth.....like fresh from the womb. One of my besties took some pics of her and I'll have to do a blog specifically for those photos because they are awesome.....and plentiful!

Emily was 13 days in that photo and it's one of my faves:)She looks so teeny and delicate....maybe because she's a baby and all;)

Not the most flattering but 1 month none-the-less.

Proof that she *used* to let me lay her down to sleep at least some. 2 months

3 months! Thanks Taryn Yager Photography!

4 months....and....

5 months! Just for good measure have another:)

...and I like this one too:)

Okay...I'll stop.

Girly can roll both ways, laugh like crazy, smiles non-stop, refuses to let me put her down to sleep, recently decided to stop sleeping through the night (pure awesomess right there), and can *almost* sit up. She makes me smile...and her sister makes her smile like crazy. My girls are pretty positive the other shot the moon and I know that will change at some point if only for a bit, but I am loving right now!

Carseat Nazis

Yes, today is another 2 posts in one day type of day. I have really been struggling with if I want to do this post or not. I'm going for it. I never heard the term "carseat nazi" until I was out for a mom's night out (MNO) about a month ago. We are a group of 4 moms...all our birthdays are in March and we are besties:) Anywho....one mom was talking about how one of her videos on youtube had gone viral (awesome!) but all these mom's slammed her for putting her kiddo forward facing (not so awesome...the slamming that is). Then another mom said something about "carseat nazis." I was confused. I never heard that term. Then I realized.....ummmmm......I am a carseat nazi and maybe that's why.

First I would like to say that I would NEVER say anything to another mom about her choice to flip her carseat, but I have been known to post something on my facebook about how kiddos should rear-face until at least 2. I have also been known to give my Mom hell about twisted carseat straps. Sooooooo...here we go.

V was not 20 lbs. until she was 18 months. I did flip her at that point (1 year and 20 lbs. = you kiddo can forward face). I didn't so much flip her because of "Oh yeah! She's reached this milestone!"...no, I flipped her because kiddo HATES LOATHES the carseat. I thought she may not distract me (and break my heart so much with all the screaming) if I flipped her. It didn't really help so I flipped her back again. We did this dance for a bit. Around 2 I gave up and just left her forward facing. Recently (early February), I took her shopping for a new carseat. She kept complaining about how the one she had hurt her back. We tried them out and settled on the Graco Nautilus. I would have liked to try out the Britax Frontier 85 but they didn't have it in my local Toys R' Us and I was not buying a carseat she couldn't sit in a try out. She loves her Nautilus. She brags about it to everybody. "I got a new carseat! It's pink! AND it has a cupholder!!!!" She still brags about it sometimes and she's had it for almost 3 months. She doesn't scream the whole time in there anymore either which totally rocks my world. It rocks my world even more that I can say "Take a little, tiny nappy." and she lays her head over and goes to sleep! Hellz yeah!!!

Okay...that all said. I *plan* on getting Emily either a Britax Roundabout OR a Graco MyRide 65 next Feb. I also plan on her being rear facing until she outgrows said carseat either height or weight wise. Apparently there is supposed to be like a 1 inch gap between their head and the top of the carseat if they are rear-facing. She would probably hit that before weight since at 3 Victoria is 35 lbs. and therefore can still ride rear-facing based on weight in the carseat she screams in (rear-facing up to 40 lbs.) The new carseat goes to 65 lbs. with the 5-point harness and so she will be in that 5-pt. harness until she is a) 65 lbs. or more likely b) 52".

I think one of the major reasons people forward face their kiddos is they are simply not aware. They are told they can flip their kiddo at 1 (most don't even know they have to also be 20 lbs.) so that's what they do. Honestly it's safer for everyone to be rear-facing but since I can't drive my car rear-facing......

Here's a video link since I can't figure out how to embed videos...



oh wait...I did it! (Oh snap guys....you're about to experience many, MANY more videos!!!!!!)

Anywho....now, the voice is kinda creepy...but didn't that break your heart! Rear face your kiddos peeps!!! Then keep them in a 5-pt. harness for as long as possible! I don't want to really tell you how to parent and all but.....REAR-FACE your child! I would rear-face V if I could (at 3) but she's too dang big so now she is in the harness and as previously stated....she will be until she reaches the max of the carseat....then she'll be in a booter until that max (100 lbs. or 57"). In my state they don't even allow highback boosters until 4 yet many peeps I know put kiddos under 3 in them!!!! I could just die!

On top of this you really need to keep those straps untwisted for a better fit, keep the chest clip between the armpits, keep the straps tight so only 2 fingers can fit between straps and kiddo, keep straps at or just below shoulder height, AND for goodness sakes fold your infant carrier's handle back (so it can collapse as it should into the seat and not break the handle in your child's face).

Done. This "carseat nazi" is stepping off the soapbox...and in my defense...I would NEVER comment on someone's youtube video and tell them they are a horrible mom. Jeezzzz peeps!!!! You're not perfect either ya' know!

My slow growers

Warning...this is long. This is my day to day though so I'm sharing.

My babies grow super slow....snail speed slow....3 oz. in one month slow. Of course all months aren't 3 oz. months and I'm about to throw a lot of numbers at you to show you that but my babies grow slow. They are average weight at birth (which surprised me since hubs was an 8 lber and I was a 9 lber at birth) but they quickly fall off the charts. They don't have so much of a curve as an almost line. LOL!

I would worry about this...I actually still do from time to time....but Victoria is amazing! There was nothing ever wrong with her. Kiddo could fit in 6 month clothes at 1 and was in 3t (yes you read that right) when she turned 2. Jeez! She grew the most in her second year of life. She's in a solid 4t now at 3 so I think she's slowed down finally. Hopefully these pictures will work for you.....

These are Victoria's Charts. I LOVE birthcare.com for this chart BTW! Oh....and I was going to do a side by side but photobucket must have changed things so sorry. First is weight and second is length.

As I mentioned in my breastfeeding post here the first pediatrician we went to told me that if I didn't start getting more fat into her diet then her brain would not develop. Stupid effer. Anyway...she was peeing, poopin, playing, all around happy. She was obviously fine then and she is now. The did all kinds of tests on her. I cannot tell you how many times I was sent over to Children's Hospital to get tests done. She had a metabolic panel done, she had a celiac test, she had another test for other common allergies, she was tested for cystic fibrosis....and on and on. It was great....not really. Did you know that when they test for cystic fibrosis when they are born it's with a heel prick but when they test when the are older (V was 6 months) they have these metal plates connected to a battery and they make the skin wet with something and they put those metal plates with a test strip on and wrap it with plastic and leave it on there for about 30 minutes while they turn on the battery? It stings them a little and can leave burn marks if they don't get the skin and such wet enough. Definitely what I wanted to be doing with my 6 month old baby. All her tests came back perfect. There was nothing wrong with her. She started gaining at least a lb. a month after she was 9 months (sometimes 2) and so now she is a 34.5 lbs. and 39.5" 3 year old.

In case that chart up there is not doing it for you, here's the numbers:

Birth: 7.2
1 month: 7.13
2 months: 9.4
3 months: 9.10
4 months: 10.15
5 months: 11.15
6 months: 12.5
7 months: 13.2
8 months: 13.9
9 months: 14.1
1 year: 17.3
15 months: 20.3
18 months: 24
2 years: 27.1

As you can see that whole babies grow on average 2 lbs. per month was not happening. I like kellymom.com for this breastfeeding growth chart info....but my babies grow even slower than that. Oh well.

So far this is what Miss Emily is looking like. Once again..weight on top and length on bottom.

And here's her number so far.....we go on 5/1 for another weight and vaccine visit.

Birth: 7.15
1 month: 8.12
2 months: 10
3 months: 10.9
4 months: 10.12

I'm pretty sure she has gained around a lb. this time.

You know what sucks the most though? I HATE hearing people say "You are starving that baby!" "They're so hungry!" "How old is she?......Oh really, she's just so tiny!" I don't mind the "She's so petite." And actually I don't mind the "She's so tiny!" so much...I just mind when it's said to imply she's not growing well. It's hard when you don't have the typical growing baby....not going to lie about that. With that being said...I just love how petite my girls have been. They fit in their clothes and cloth diapers for so long and it's easier to carry them around:)

Bet you loved that book! Tomorrow I'm going to try to put up some pics of my littlest from birth to now. Today is her 5 month birthday:)

No 2 babies are the same

I've heard that about a million times. Still....I had no clue exactly how different 2 kiddos could be. I think V is pretty fantastic:) She started rolling at 2 weeks. She was sitting on her own at 4 months and then immediately started getting on her hands and knees and started rocking to crawl....but she didn't actually crawl until 6 months. She started walking at 9 months. She was a very physical child. She was also crazy serious. She didn't crack a smile for a while...she didn't laugh for even longer....let's not even talk about cooing. She did it but she was very serious about it. Don't believe me? Here she is "talking" with her cousin (not pictured since the picture is zoomed) Her cousin is a month older. Just look at those eyes. Jeez...relax kiddo.

Anywho...she was kinda slow to talk actual words and such too. She can talk now though.....I'm not so sure can NOT talk for 2 seconds.

Then there was Emily. She came out smiling. Swear she did. I know babies aren't supposed to smile until like 6 weeks or something. Whatever. People would smile at her in the hospital and she'd smile back. She started laughing at 3 months. She started rolling at 4 months. She is getting better but she is still like holding a "limp dishrag" (stole that says from my Granny....I really have no better way to describe it). She will smile and laugh and coo and squeal all. day. long. So apparently she's my little carefree social butterfly and Victoria is my serious over achiever. Loves them both with all my heart!

Ugh....I wanted to put a precious smiley picture here of Emily....apparently I need to take more pictures. I'm going to blog about her in 2 days though and I'll have some pics ready then:) She is almost 5 months!!! I'm not sure how that is possible since I JUST had her:/ She's all kinds of fun though! You know what's not fun? Getting a billion tests ran because kiddo refuses to grow. That's another blog post for another day though....maybe tomorrow. Sounds good to me.

Children in Church

I'm a little....ummm...possesive of my babies...especially when they are under 6 months. I don't like to hand them over to anyone to care for....not even my Mom. She makes fun of me. Oh well. That being said I have a real disliking for anyone that comes up to me during or before church to tell me they have nursery. I really enjoy church. I particullary enjoy things such as Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve and the Good Friday service before Easter. These are quiet services. There is even a sign up on the Good Friday service that says to enter and leave in silence. I took my kiddos to these services. My children learning about God and being apart of the service means a lot to me. While I may have taken V to childcare there was no way E was going. She was sleepy and if you dare try to take her from her Mommy at bedtime then you are a brave soul. Anywho...my kiddos were great! V kinda had some issues laying in the pew and such BUT she was quiet and not too distracting. E started singing when everyone else was singing......but she didn't really want to stop. So enter man that tells me that they have childcare. Well dude sorry but I want to be at this service and if I put my kiddo in childcare then I'm just going to get paged to come and get her so leave me alone. I boobed her to sleep (and no I don't have a problem nursing in church).

Next, time someone says this we were just sitting down at a different church to watch my little niece get baptized when an older lady comes and tells me they offer childcare. Thank you....I can see that printed on the 2 pamphlets I am holding in my hand. I'm not turning my kiddos over in a church where I know no one for sure! Ugh! When did it become the norm to send your kiddos off during church? Now, to be fair V does go to childcare during normal church and E generally ends up there (she's chatty and loves to "sing"). I just think I should be able to take my children to church with me and it not be a problem. It was never a problem when I just had V....not sure why it is now. I'm going to try to continue to not tell someone to mind their own business but it does seriously drive me crazy!

God and Jesus love the babies so leave me alone. Anybody out there still read this blog? Any advice? Do you have to go through this? I was going to vent on facebook and thought better of it....that's what my blog's for right?

Sleep training....or lack thereof

Did you sleep train your babies? I can't do it. There are a couple out there. Cry it out. Pick up/Put down. I don't know. All I know is that my baby likes to be boobed to sleep and if she isn't tightly swaddled she'll wake up and want the boob to go back to sleep. I have made it way worse with Emily than it ever was with Victoria. I didn't really let V sleep with me and my gosh you can tell. E sleeps with me quite a bit....she has to kinda arch herself so she can cuddle and get her booby. Well, when she is sleeping in her bed and I try to get her to lay there and go to sleep she arches into cuddle/booby position...then screams her little head off when she can't find anything.

She will make herself sick she gets so upset. The same was true for V. Difference between the two is 1) I didn't have to swaddle V this long and 2) She was in the crib sooner and I never brought her back to bed with me.

It's not even me wanting to cuddle with my little baby....it's just me being lazy. I have to nip this in the bud but....here's the big problem.....my babies don't cry. I never let them cry. I hate it. I'm better with letting V throw fits now because she's just acting out but E just wants love and comfort. I just don't let a baby less than one cry. It absolutely, 100% breaks my heart. I am trying to get E to do better though since I am going to be student teaching in August. My sister will be watching her but I know that she can't hold her 24/7. Actually ideal situation for me would be someone that could come watch Emily and hold her and cuddle her all day. I just don't trust anyone:/ Well, I trust my sister to love on her but she runs an in home childcare facility so she has other kids to watch.

Ugh...this is why I stay home with my babies. I'm not the mommy that incorporates children into my life....I'm the mommy who changes my life to work around my kiddos. Neither way is wrong or right...I'm just the one that's so obsessed with my kiddos I do everything for them. Dance, AWANAs, wee ball for V and I hold Emily during all her naps. S-P-O-I-L-E-D.

Pre-chewing and Elimination Communication

So.....do you do these? I don't really do these 2 things so I can't give a ton of info.

First: Pre-Chewing
So, I'm not even going to pretend that this doesn't gross me out a little. It does....but that's my own hang-ups. I don't care if other parents do this I just can't. It is supposed to have some great benefits though. So the saliva has enzymes in it that helps break down food....so for a little developing digestive system that is just trying to learn to process food it's helpful. Also, the kiddo gets some more immunity through the saliva.

Now....I regularly would bite something off and give my daughter the piece I bit off....I can't think of an example right here....for lack of an actual example I will say something like steak....I know, I know. I'm saying like for some reason if I didn't have a knife, I would not hesitate to bite off a little piece of steak for my 3 year old...I would take a bite, take that bite out of my mouth and give it to her. Now....I wouldn't chew it first and transfer it through "kiss feeding." A lot of other cultures do.....as did your ancestors at one time....we didn't always have blenders and such ya' know. Oh....and this is a bit gross sounding too...I used to totally lick stuff off my older girl's face....like chocolate or something. Anyway...worked for us.

So there's a little a pre-chewing so next is elimination communication. I guesss I did a *little* elimination communication (EC) with my older girl. I wanted to start potty training her early and I have heard that some children are quite scared of the toliet. My answer to this was I just started sitting her on the potty when she was 9 months old while I was getting her bath ready. One night she decided to take me by complete surprise and peed in there!!!!! Holy stinkin' cow! Well, I did this every night and she peed in the potty every night. Then I started noticing she didn't pee during naps but she peed as soon as she woke up so I started taking her then too and she would always go on the potty. It was greatness!!! Then I went back to work....then I quit to stay home again and started trying to get her potty trained. She wasn't day time trained until 20 months and night time trained recently....like 4-5 months ago (so right around 3 but I really don't remember). I didn't push that one. Whenever she started asking to wear panties to bed and would throw a fit about wearing a dipe I explained it to her. So she then started having dry diapers and as long as she doesn't drink a ton, AND I take her before I go to bed, then we're good for the most part.

So...I got off on a bit of a tangent there....EC is reading your kiddos cues....learning how they can before they go and what triggers them.....like drinking a lot. Like with V...I noticed she never peed while sleeping and went directly after. Thing is, some amazing Mommas and Daddies out there start this from like birth or a very young age. They learn to read their baby. Cultures all around the world practice this but I believe that as a whole we've gotten a bit lazy. Me too so don't get pissy with that comment. I use diapers. Don't make fun of people that choose EC though because that is, in my opinion, a hard route to take. You have to be completely in tune with your baby and always on your toes. You develop a bond and language between you that those of us that use diapers don't have. Oh...and those babies wouldn't be getting diaper rash! LOL! Couldn't resist.

So, my little parenting topics tangent is not quite over. I will be going over foods next time but that will be a couple days away...like Thurs. night maybe. I have a busy week coming up.

Pick your pediatrician wisely

I didn't interview peds. I was stupid. If you plan on doing everything your pediatrician tells you and all it's probably not as important. Not sure. I never had a problem with my first ped. with vaccines. He said they don't always do the RV shot and they weren't doing it at the time so no issues. What we did run into though was....a very slow growing baby. V was 7 lbs. 2 oz. at birth......she was 10 lbs. 15 oz. at 4 months....she didn't grow more than a lb. per month after that until she was 9 months (then she didn't slow down). V could wear 6 month clothes when she turned 1...she was wearing 3T when she turned 2. She's finally slowed down some....I think.

Anyway, I asked the ped. to do some testing at 6 months because I was concerned. She was hitting her milestones, she was happy, she was peeing and pooping......she just wasn't really growing a whole heck of a lot. They did a ton...everything looked normal. They had told me if everything came back normal she was fine. The next month they wanted to do a lot more tests so my red flag came up. I started looking for a new ped. I interviewed this time and was happy with the first doctor I met (he even gave me his pager # and personal home # and his direct office #). The doctor my gut had told me to go with the first time around but instead I chose the closest doctor.

Now...here's my horror story (at least to a mom). Before V's first appt. (well visit) with her new doctor she got sick so I called the original doctor and they got me in right away (they were always very good at that). She had a little fever and just seemed off. They did a blood test and said if some count was ok then she was fine. The came back and said it was fine but that wanted me to take her to get a blood test and get catherized for a urine sample. They wanted to check for a UTI but they were *sure* she had blood posioning. When I made it clear I didn't really want to do all that I was told that if I didn't then she could die in 24-48 hours from blood posioning. She was 8 months. I was not loving this. I had all kinds of red flags popping up. I called the new doctors office. They said come right in. I drove straight there. They did a nose swab....that's it. She had the flu. The common flu....not even swine flu. I guess most parents would freak out about their 8 month old baby having the flu but I had just heard she was going to die so it was great news in my eyes. She was had a high enough temp. for me to rotate Tylenol and Motrin for 3 days...then she was just on Motrin for another day and then she was fine. I loathe my first ped. because of the crap I went through with him. I was going to put despise or hate there but decided they weren't strong enough words. Doctors fear-mongering in a real thing and it's horrible.

Now....we're to E. She's growing slower!!! How the heck?!?! I told hubs when we have another kiddo I'm going to need a line backer. I can't handle someone poking and prodding at my babies. She was 7 lbs. 15 oz. at birth and now at 4 months weighs in at a whopping 10 lbs. 12 oz. So they did some tests. Everything was normal. They are happy and they aren't making me come back in for growth checks and so on. He said she is hitting her milestones and seems happy and healthy so we just wanted to be careful and that was that. He did ask if she gets bottles and I said sometimes but it's very rare. He suggested adding 1/2 a scoop of formula (which is fine by me) and some rice (which is so not happening because I am so against adding rice to bottles....heck...I'm against rice period).

Now, if you plan to do selective vaccinating or staggered vaccinating then you definitely need to interview your choices because they can drop you if you don't follow their schedule. Make sure your doctor wants what you want. Make sure your doctor understands too that breastfed babies tend to be slimmer. If you have a doctor that expects your BF baby to grow as fast a formula fed baby then that's no good.

Hmm...I need a break from the long posts (I'm sure you do too) so next I'll talk about elimination communication and pre-chewing food....things I don't really know jack about...but I'll look into it. I know a wee little bit on the elimination communication.

ETA: Up there is said RV Shot....it's an oral vax....sorry about that! Also...they thought V had a blood *infection* not posioning....my brain doesn't work sometimes.

Vaccines

Before I start in on this one let me say two things....1) Sorry I have typos out the wazoo and 2) this is not to say I'm right or wrong or talk you into my choice. This is just what I do and I am sharing that and why I do it. This is a very heated topic of debate so I am going to try to be respectful and just share what I do and why (like I said before).

I do vaccinate. I do selective vaccinating. If we have another kiddo then they will recieve less than E and E has gotten less than V.

First I will tell you what I did with V. She got Vitamin K and Hep B in the hospital. She got her shots as normal after that for the most part. She did not get varicella (chicken pox), she did not get RV, and she did not get any sort of flu vaccine. She has yet to recieve her MMR.

Next is E....she did not get Vitamin K or Hep B in the hospital. She got DTaP at 2 and 4 months and she will get Pertussis at 6 months. She got Hib and PCV at 3 months and she will get it again at 5 and 7 months. She will get polio starting at 9 months.

Next baby if God blesses us will be the same as E minus the DT part of the DTaP (so she'll only get the Pertusis).

Pertusis scares the crap out of me. DTaP has many documented negative side effects on infants as well as adults. SIDS reports are higher after this combo shot for up to a month. This shot can cause brain damage and seizures. Once again, Pertusis scares the crap out of me....I won't risk that.

The flu does not scare me. I always got the flu when I had the vaccine and haven't had it since stopping. When I start teaching I will start getting it again. V had the flu when she was 8 months old. It was not fun. She had a fever for 3 days that required alternating Tylenol and Motrin. It was worse at night. After 3 days she was almost back to her normal self. She has not had it since. For me personally it is not worth the risks involved with giving it to her. It does have mercury. It is not much. It is around the amount of a tuna fish sandwich. In my opinion that's too much for my infants....as well as older kiddos.

My children will get Hep B after they are 11. I don't really see them sharing needles are having unprotected sex before leaving the hospital so it's not necessary in my opinion.

Rotovirus is a live virus. No thank you. Live viruses can definitely give your kiddo the actual virus.

MMR....hmmmm....do I even want to go there. For me personally, the possible side effects associated with this vaccine outweigh the risks of the diseases themselves so I will be skipping this one. Yes, the studies done by whatever English doctor have be overturned because he did not do them ethically or correctly. However, there is a court case that has been won that states that the MMR vaccine triggered a little girl's predisposed genetics and let to her Autism. Scouts honor.....here's the link.

Varicella.....really? What are they going to come up with next?! Here's what I am going to do. I am going to let my kiddos decide if they want it (after they have had blood tests to see if they are not immune naturally) after they are like 15 or older. I'll do the same with the MMR actually. Chicken pox can be super dangerous but it's more dangerous the older you are.

Does that cover them? Here's another link with more info and personal stories but it can be super scary and so I just want to warn you with that and you can venture at your own descretion.

My unvaxed kiddos are not going to kill your vaxed kiddos. Please do not attack my choice to vax or not. Yes, my children can even go to public schools. In most states this just requires a trip to the health dept. for a form. I feel like it is best for my child to develop their own immune system.

I feel like this is a very personal decision. Really, all parenting choices are. I do everything I do thinking it is the best choice I can make for my children. Everyone can do as they please. I just do what I want and everyone needs to respect each other. I hate getting attacked or getting speeches about why I need to vax my kiddos for whatever. I have a super understanding ped and he has never once fought me. He always says this is what is on the schedule....what do you want to do? It's never an argument.

ETA: somewhere up there I said RV shot.....RV is an oral vax.....just thought I should correct that so I didn't look completely stupid.

Breastfeeding

It really grind my gears that anyone thinks they get a say as to how, when, and/or for how long I nurse my babies. I will not nurse in a bathroom. Do you want to eat in a bathroom? There are a ton of germs in those things.....and they just fly around all over the place. I generally cover up with a blanket, but not always, and I DARE someone to say something! Ugh. I don't just flop my boob out and go to town. I am a discreet as possible. I will flop it out on here tough:)

I'm sorry....but that's just sweet. That's a bond and precious moment with my baby. She will not breastfeed for much more of her life than she will so I'm going to cherish it. This is a time that my baby gets everything she needs from my body. She caresses her booby and smiles and goes to sleep happy with a full belly. She gets all the nutrients she needs from me. My body knows her and changes to fullfill her needs. When she was born it was extra fatty but now that she is 4 months it's not as fatty. Yes, there is less iron than in formula but it's easier for her to digest so she gets what she needs. As my baby grows I know she will be like my older girl and run to me when she gets a boo boo or is scared and climb up on my lap and want to comfort nurse. I kind of let my older self wean. I was out of town for 2 days and when I got back she wasn't interested. She asked a couple of months later but I did tell her no at that point. I had decided it was time for my older one to wean which is why I was gone for 2 days. I felt she would stop if she didn't see me for a couple of days and I was right. She was 20 months when she weaned. She was asking for booby and pausing during nursing to say thank you and well......that was a bit odd for me. Plus, I was trying to get pregs again (unsucessfully) so I felt I should stop nursing to help that out.

Breastfed babies are healthier and they have less chance of becoming obese later in life. The AAP recommends breastfeeding....this is what they have to say:

"Breastfeeding and human milk are the normative standards for infant feeding and nutrition. Given the documented short- and long-term medical and neurodevelopmental advantages of breastfeeding, infant nutrition should be considered a public health issue and not only a lifestyle choice. The American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirms its recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for about 6 months, followed by continued breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced, with continuation of breastfeeding for 1 year or longer as mutually desired by mother and infant."

This is what WHO says about it:

"Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended up to 6 months of age, with continued breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of age or beyond."

If you choose not to breastfeed that is your choice. Everyone should be able to make their own parenting choices (as long as it doesn't endanger the child). I will say that people that don't even attempt breastfeeding really annoy me though. I mean even if you do just once.....just that first attempt and your baby gets colostrom goodness....everyone should at least *try*.

So, I will not feel like I have to hide somewhere to nurse, I will not feel like just because I don't have a cover (or my baby is not wanting the cover) that I don't nurse, I will not pump to give a bottle when I am out just to make some perv feel better about my choice. My boobs are not there for sexual thoughts (which is the only reason someone can't stand to see nursing)....my God put them there for feeding my babies. I will nurse while I'm walking (mall, zoo, grocery store), I will nurse when I'm eating, I will nurse anywhere I danged well please and there are laws to protect that right. I am giving my baby what is the best for her and I just can't believe that anyone would have a problem with me doing what is best for my baby.

Ok, I will climb down for the day.....next up is vaccines.

Co-sleeping

So, I had decided to write a blog on co-sleeping this morning. There has been a lot of hype about it lately. Then I heard on the radio (locally Star 102.1) a lot of bashing about natural parenting methods and so now I want to kind of doing a series of posts. It just really irritates me when people decide to bash other's parenting choices....espically when the person they are bashing is for the most part choosing a more complicated path. Some of the things they discussed was breastfeeding, co-sleeping, elimination communication, and pre-chewing your child's food. So, let me just say......I don't do elimantion communication or pre-chew (but I have bit a piece off of something and given my kiddo the piece I bit off). I'm not going to knock these practices though. Anywho....off the soap box....onto co-sleeping.

I NEVER thought I'd be for co-sleeping. When I was pregnant with my first I was very adament about the fact that my child would never sleep in my bed. I feel that my husband and I's relationship is very important....that is my marital bed and there is no room for children. Well, then every once and awhile I would go so sleep nursing little V (sitting up). Then I started laying down with her beside me to nurse. I got that nipped in the bud pretty quick and I don't remember really what happened but somewhere down the road she started sleeping with us a lot. I think it was after we put her in a toddler bed. She had a hard time going to sleep so I would let her go to sleep in our bed and then move her. And then she started waking up at night and coming in there and we wouldn't even notice. Then I got pregnant with E and I was exhausted so I would go to sleep putting her to sleep so then she slept with us more than she didn't. Well, now V goes to sleep and sleeps by herself. E does not! LOL! From the time she was was born I have cuddled and slept with her more than not. I do put her in her bed at 7 but when she wakes up she is with me. She generally wakes up at 4:30....last night she woke up a 12:30 and so she was with me after that. It hurts my back.....I will say that. LOL!

I think cuddling in bed with your baby is one of the sweetest things you can do. So, I am not a full on co-sleeper but I think it is horrible the stigma co-sleeping is getting. 1) If practiced safely it is not dangerous. Don't drink and/or do drugs and then sleep with your baby. Don't let an older childer and your infant sleep with you. While as a Mom you have an instict to not roll on your baby (my hubs says I don't move at all when sleeping with E), a toddler or small child does not have that same instinct. There are a lot of guidelines to make is super safe and no I do not follow all of them but I feel good about our sleeping arragements. 2) Just because you don't agree with it doesn't make you right and co-sleepers wrong. Period. And that goes for all parenting choices.

Many cultures across the world co-sleep and having a lower infant mortality rate so in my personal opinion I wish everyone would just get over it. A lot of people do it to some degree even if they don't want to admit it.

Next topic will be breastfeeding. Happy parenting!

Another baby?

So, I'm just going to throw out there that I have NEVER been one to think I would want kiddos close togher....and NO I am not preggo. I orginally thought I wanted kids 5 years apart; problem with that is I also wanted to be done at 30. Well, so I have V and I have E (who is a whopping 3 months) and I'm already thinking....hmmmm...maybe I should just go ahead and get preggo with our last. Now that I have said that.....as documented....I don't get pregs easy. I'm thinking that if we stopped avoiding now I may be pregs by this this time next year. Like I'm not even joking....just getting pregnant this time next year. That would put baby due in 11/13 so E would be 2 and V would be almost 5.

This is what is holding me back...I'm a bit scared I might get preggo right away (which is crazy) and with me just having a c-section that would not be good. Well, I mean other people have done it so it wouldn't be the end of the world but still.....

Also...I'm almost 30 and I'm not going to lie....I want to have a major bash for my big 3-0. There will be drinking involved so nursing or being preggo doesn't really go hand in hand with that. Jeez....I just don't know. Hubs may be getting a pretty nice pay increase soon so I think that what we will do is if he gets that then we'll stop avoiding and see how things go.

With all that being said I am seriously nervous about how much I will baby the next one. I mean we started giving V a sippy with water when she was 4 months to play with and get the hang of it....I look at my Miss Flops (E) and think.....she's JUST a teeny little baby! Why does she need to do these things? She's just a BABY people! Oh jeez.....let the younger child spoiling begin. EEEK! The next will be 2 and I will still be like...Why do they need a sippy? They are just a baby!!!! LOL! Not really but I'm nervous about how much I do baby her. Maybe it is because she is so much more uninterested in the physical milestones (she's like holding a dish rag most the time. LOL!). V was rolling at 2 weeks; E has rolled but she doesn't care for it so she hasn't done it again. She would prefer you hold her and talk to her. She'll smile and talk to you all day long.

Baby carriers

I apparently have developed a *slight* obsession. Eek! Those things are pricey. I could just DIE for an Ergo, but I just won't talk myself into forking over the dough for it. Even used ones go for a heck of a lot of moola. Anywho....I tried one out...one of my besties was super sweet enough to let me borrow it. That thing was AMAZING! It was the sport edition and I loved how light weight the fabric was. On top of that amazingness....I couldn't even feel the 25 lb. kiddo attached to me for a couple of hours. It was...oh wait...I already said....AMAZING!

Ok...next..my cute little Slingling. They still have the pattern I chose (Athena). This thing does get a big tiresome after awhile, a long while, but you can do 7 different carries (one is 2 slings with 2 babies). I can get this thing on super quick and pop baby in even quicker. I also love that I can still carry ODD on my hip with this and it's not hard at all (she's 34 lbs.).

Let's go to the Bjorn. This will be short. Not a fan. These carriers are bad anyway. They hurt hip development. Seat position carriers are better than crotch danglers. This thing kills my back too. It is quick and easy to put on and take off though.

On to the Moby. I LOVE this one!!! There is definitely a learning curve but once you start to feel comfortable with it you are golden. There are so many danged holds you can do it's just craziness. Youtube the craziness. This is particularly my fave for the brand new baby. When baby just wants to melt into you....this will squish them in really well...just how they like. I took little E to Dollywood on a frigid night with this. She wasn't even 2 weeks. I put her in the Moby and then I put my peacoat on over it. She was snug as a bug in a rug. Downsides to this one though are it's hotter than hell in the summer (or a spring that thinks it's a summer) and it's super long and bulky. You should definitely put this on before leaving the house. It can't really fold up well for the diaper bag either.

Okay so that leaves me with the newest and I just got it today so I can't do such a great review yet. I think it may be my fave yet though. It's an Action Baby. I am pretty positive you aren't supposed to put baby facing out but since LO is so tiny still I just fold up her legs like any other kangaroo carry and it works. LO likes to see what's going and so she's not really into the face between the boobs carry. I can very, very, very easily nurse her discreately hands-free. I got a KILLER deal on a beautiful print. There was like a misprint in the fabric or something....seriously not even noticeable and so it was $60. It has a great head coer for napping (and nursing). You can do 3 different (or with a little one 4) carries.

I'm selling the Bjorn at the next consignment sale. Some peeps actually want a Bjorn so more power to them. The others I love and use so I'm keeping them. If only I could get my hands on an Ergo then I would feel like I had a complete collection.

I just carried little V everywhere when she was a baby. Since my babies don't particually care for growing outside the womb for 9 months she was super tiny and no problem to just carry. Now that I watch about a billion kiddos and I have one of my own I need my hands free. So, there's my in-put. I'm kind of new to the whole thing of baby wearing but I'm loving it. I hate strollers. I spoil my wee ones. I just never want to put them down and they never want me to put them down so this works well. You know...this one likes to have her belly on my shoulder....is there a carrier that does that?

EXHAUSTED!

Whew! It's been a really long time since I have blogged and for that I am sorry. I have been crazy busy. I really shouldn't even be blogging now. It's 12:30 my time and I just got done with some school work....I still have folding laundry, doing dishes, and pumping on the schedule. I watch kiddos so I can't very well leave the huge pile of laundry on my sofa or the sink overflowing with dishes. I don't like people seeing that. Today I woke up at 6:30 (after going to bed at 2ish). I straightened up, did some laundry, loaded and started the dishes, made myself some oatmeal and coffee, made V the greatly nutritious breakfast of a poptart (I kinda would just like her to eat and that's all I can get her to eat in the mornings) and milk and a vitamin (Lord knows she needs the vitamin), greeted 1 child I watch, Emily woke up then so I got her changed and ready, then I greeted another kiddo I watch and gave him breakfast, then I got V changed and ready. Whew! I'm exhausted just from that. Anywho...then I did 2 school assignments while interacting with children (which is difficult to say the least), did snack, played with the kiddos, worked on laundry, did lunch, and FINALLY it was nap time. E is awake usually when the other kiddos are down...go figure. I used the time to give her a little one on one bonding time but she still sleeps most of the day and so the rest of the time was spent on school work. Kiddos woke up, had snack, got ready for the park, went to the park for 1.5 hours, came home, did super, took V to AWANAs, came home, put E to sleep, Dear Hubs picked up V while I got to eat a bite, put V to sleep, do more school work (I'm working against an audit. I have to have so much school work done by 4/1 in order to participate in this fall's student teaching). Now I'm blogging.

So....I feel like I never have time. Needless to say the whole working out thing isn't going so great and there is no way in hell I can complete a half any time soon. I didn't run at all last week. I ran last night though. I generally shoot to run on Tues., Thurs, Fri., and Sat. and/or Sun. My weight has not budged and so I stopped doing the weight blogs because they were boring the hell outta me.....they had to be boring you.

Anyway...I just wanted to drop-in and share what's going on right now. I will be back to you in April when things slow down quite a bit. I should be done with this semester at the end of April and won't start back until August. I am very much looking forward to 2 months off to spend time with my family. Pray for me please that I get done enough school work to meet my audit because I am slightly freaking out. I really only have one more assignment I HAVE to get done, but things are being graded super slow right now and so I am going to try to just get done as much as possible so that I pass the audit.

Well....my goal is to hit the hay by 1 so I'm going to jump off here.

Lent

So Lenten season is here. What did you give up? I've not always participated in giving something up but I have for the last several years.....I can only remember the last 2 though. Last year I gave up coffee and I tell you what....I got a nice big beautiful cafe mocha from Starbucks on Easter:) The year before I gave up chocolate.....it was pretty horrible too. This year may be the worst though....I gave up.......brace yourself........


FACEBOOK!

Seriously I've not been facebooking for like a week and I may just die. That's the point though right? You make a sacrifice to remind you of the sacrifice that was made to save you.

Hope everyone has a joyous beginning to the Easter season!!!

Week 4 = It's All Good:)

So I always weigh myself in the morning. With that being said, this morning I woke up and stood on the scale and got to FINALLY see 153!!! I was, am so excited! I finally have less than 10 lbs. to go!!! I am going to run 7 miles later today and that will make 4 times running this week and 3 times I have done squats, lunges, push-ups, and crunches with weights. I have been tanning a lot too so I feel a little less pasty and that helps too. Not so much in the health department but hey.....not tanning everyday all the time is one thing and tanning for a month to get some color are very different. I have been eating about a billion times better and my fave lunch right now is turkey on wheat with alpha sprouts, spinach, mustard, and cheese. My poor hubs hasn't really joined in so much with the fave lunch and says he tastes dirt when he tries my sandwiches. LOL! My 3 year old on the other hand loves them as well! We have been eating a lot more fish and chicken for supper instead of pizza. Next week's goal is 151.....yes I have a 2 lb. a week goal right now but that will change once I hit my pre-preggo weight....until then I feel I still have a lot of extra that I'm just hanging onto and as long as I eat healthy and work out it should go pretty quick.

Anywho, I haven't done pics. I will update with those tomorrow.

If you are working towards a weight loss goal I really hope that seeing some of my progress motivates you to push hard for your own progress. Change your diet and MAKE time to walk or run. I pretty much ONLY run after 9 p.m. and sometimes in a bit of a drizzle. I am tired, I generally don't feel like it, but I just do it. If I really, really don't feel like it I'll run one quick lap around my subdivision (1.34 miles) and call it good.

Happy Birthday Victoria Rose!!

My sweet little girl turned 3 on Sunday. I cannot believe it has been 3 years since she was born!! On a side note I went in to have her on the 18 and it snowed the day after she was born....one of my besties just gave birth to her little girl (12 days PAST her EDD poor girl) and she went into the same hospital 1 hour later exactly 3 years after I did (she was in labor though and gave birth that day) AND it snowed a little the day after she was born!!!! CRAZY! I was feeling some weird daja vu kind of stuff. LOL!

Anywho...back to Victoria....she is so excited to be 3. She's been dying to turn 3 since her cousin/bestie turned 3 last month. Now when you ask her how old she is she says, "3...........like Kadince!!!" We'll see how excited she is about this when there is a 0 beside that 3. LOL! We had her party through Nothing But Bounce and I cannot sing their praises enough! I LOVED it and so did Victoria. I am seriously already pretty sure about doing it there again next year. It was just easy and great and had an amazing price! We started the day going to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. She LOVES that place....apparently she wasn't feeling it that morning though because she only picked at her pancake and bacon ("I don't love sausage. I just love bacon."), but that was okay.....she still got a big sucker on the way out. Then we went home and decorated cupcakes.....very quickly. Here's some pics of them at the party...but this way the story and pics kind of have a flow.

This first picture is kind of backwards....does that make sense? The "ears" were the back of the cupcake.

Here's a front on pic

We were themed to the MAX...Victoria loves Minnie and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (side note: I'm annoyed Minnie is now pink instead of the classic red and white). So we had to have some big Minnie ballons! So after the girls were adorned in their Minnie gear and I found a red shirt we went to Party City and grabbed some balloons.

Then we were on our way! Victoria LOVED bouncing with her friends:)

She had some ears, but as you can see she quickly tossed those. When her "boyfriend" got there (whose Mommy was the one in the hospital delivering her beautful princess au natural cause she rocks like that) Victoria showed him around and bounce with him.....because they are in love like that. We've had them together since they were teeny....of course they love each other.

And, then she needed to pout a little before cupcake time. She wanted cupcakes and it wasn't time yet. LOL! Eventually she got to have a cupcake.

And then she opened presents of course:)I'll spare you from all the prsent pictures.

She gave hugs and kisses goodbye (this is her Pappy) after a little more pouting. Her Daddy and Aunt Jessica tried to cheer her up.

Emily had a good time too! She was awake the entire time! (with a very crooked bow)

I will say that I tend to feel like I have to talk to everyone at the parties and I miss a lot. I never even once looked in 2 of the bounce things. I only went around with Victoria to one thing (the slide which she was grumpy and not feeling it). Next time people will just have to feel ignored I guess because I am going to play with my baby! Still, it was a nice day:)

I hope my baby girl had a wonderful day. She is an amazing little girl and I tried to make it magical for her. I ask her if she is my baby girl (because that is what I call her) and she says "I not a baby! I a big girl!" Of course your are darling but you'll always be my baby.

Week 3 = More of the same

So, I stayed the same but that's okay. I went up a little on Monday so I was pretty stoked to end the week the same as last week.....especially since V-day AND Victoria's b-day were this week:) Anywho....I will be going for that 153 again this week.

I totally don't remember the workouts this week either. I need to track them. I am sure I did run at least 3 times ans walked 1 day but I think I ran 4 and walked 1. I did the butt workout once...I did do some squats, lunges, crunches, and push-ups 1 day though.

Short update for this week. Next week will be pics and measurements:)

More out of the mouth of Victoria

Oh, man this kiddo is full of crazy stuff lately. Like just now....she has been telling me she wants a hot dog. I know....such a healthy option. Anyway, I keep telling her Daddy will bring her one for lunch and so she just sat down beside me and said with the biggest smile on her face, "Hot dog is not for lunch, it's for snack!" Then she broke down into a huge giggle fit. Then she proceded to bury her head into my free boob (I'm nursing Emily as I type). I asked her what she is doing and she says, "I eating your other boobie! Emily have boobie and I have boobie. We both have boobie!" Ummmm....nice. Then she actually bit me. GREAT!!! She apparently thinks Emily actually does eat my boob.

Yesterday on the way home she informed me she had to pee. I asked her if she could hold it and she said yeah...then the fun began. She says "I want to pee in the road!" Oh yeah that totally sounds like a great idea! LOL! Anywho, I tell her no and that we are almost home. Well, she got all kinds of excited and yells "I pee in the grass!!!!" Oh yeah...you should definitely pee in the grass instead of walking inside and using the potty. This is my fault....I will take the blame....I pee in the yard all the time.....LOL! Not really. I did however teach her to pull down her pants and go anywhere outside because I didn't want her having an accident. She potty trained at 20 months and I just felt like she was too young to understand holding it. So, because of this the response I get when I tell her she can't pee in the grass is "But I LOVE to pee in the grass!!" When I let her out of her carseat she did her incredibly limber, fast, ninja toddler move and was in the middle of the yard with her pants down laughing and peeing in a heartbeat. Just awesome.

This kid is seriously cracking me up, astounding me, and all around throwing me for a loop on a regular basis these days. She is changing and learning soooo much!

Week 2 = A bit better:)

First, I can't believe that I never put the starting weight with the horrid pics! Seriously what is wrong with me?! Anyway....I don't remember:/ Most likely 158.5. That's what it kept staying at and not budging. Sometimes if I was lucky I got a 157.5. These week I still did not get the running in I wanted. I'm not going to lie. Between watching kiddos all day, running Victoria around to her activities, cleaning, cooking, and school work......I'm POOPED most nights. Oh...and I don't generally get to run before 9 so that makes it harder. I am majorly awake until like 2 after a run at 9. This week went a little like this:

Sunday: Nadda (I think it was raining?)
Monday: Ran 1.34 miles (a.k.a. 1 lap around my subdivision) as hard as I could
Tuesday: Zumba
Wednesday: Nadda
Thursday: Sadly more nadda
Friday: Ran 4 laps around my subdivision for a total of 5.36 miles and did the butt exercises.
Saturday: It was crazy cold!!

I have GOT to start running 3-4 times a week to get those miles up and faster and to lose weight and be in better shape. I also need to do that killer butt workout at least 4 days a week if I want my butt to go back up to its rightful spot. I also have been meaning to take my measurements but of course I have been forgetting that too.

I did go to the grocery store and spent $30 more than budget to have healthy meals and snacks. It has been working in my favor...I am down to 155:) I am hoping for 153 next week. It would be AWESOME to be in the single digits left to lose.

Also....I think I bit off way too much wanting to add in the book review. I LOVE that book so I am very slowly reading it but coupled with everything else going on right now it is just too much to try to blog about that as well. I just think that is way to important of a topic to half heartedly blog about so I will just stick to trying to blog about the weight every weekend. I know ya'll probably don't care much about the weight but it makes me feel accountable:)Plus, I'm hoping that with my pics within the next 2 weeks (maybe not next week because it's my little V's birthday weekend) that there will be a pretty noticeable difference that will get other people pounding the pavement! I really do love to run and I think once you get past the feeling like you're going to die that anyone can develop a love for running. You get a huge endorphine release from it:) It keeps me off my anti-depressant meds (not saying there is anything wrong with those because they have saved my sanity and probably my life at times).

Nuts!

First, sorry for missing my basically first Sunday blog. I will blog it tomorrow. Anywho.

Today, Victoria had her first appointment with the allergist. It was rough. First, she was having one of those days anyway. I was having trouble wrangling her and the appointment was at 8:30. We were going to be late so I tried to call but they apparently don't open until 8:30 anyway. Then I tried to find parking because it's in a part of town that parking is difficult. I parked 2 blocks away and transported 3 kiddos....fun stuff. I was 20 min. late and when I got there I saw that they had their own parking lot which is just unheard of! It was rough seeing that after my walk. I wouldn't have been 20 minutes late had I known they had their own parking. Anway...they worked us in which seems to be the constant of my life these days.

The got us back pretty quick....Victoria was glued to me.....awesomeness. I finally got her to not be so glued to me and a little over an hour after getting there we saw the doctor. He was great I must say. They did a skin test on her back and that pretty much broke my heart. 19 pricks. Poor baby. She cried and fidgeted and was miserable. Later she said it hurt and itched. It basically confirmed that she is allergic to tree nuts. It's really hard to see your baby go through that. It took me and a nurse to hold her down.....and suckers and fruit snacks to keep her there for 15 minutes. Turns out puking and getting hives everytime you eat those nute is a severe reaction. She now has 2 epi pens and 2 medical ID bracelets (well those are ordered). I was told if she eats nuts she has to get the epi pen right away. So now I have even more motivation for trying to make sure the poor kiddo doesn't eat tree nuts.

I feel so sorry for her. She's a trooper though. She said that they did a lot of little pinches at the doctor but she got 2 stickers and 3 bags of chewies (that's what she calls fruit snacks for some reason and she only got 2), then we went to Starbucks and got her a cake pop and hot chocolate. I called the hubs to tell him how it went and he said someone needs a treat and when I told him I was going to Starbucks he said "a treat for her....not you!" LOL! Of course I did get drink as well;) Mommy needed a treat after watching her baby go through that.

Week 1 = Not a Success:/

So, this has been my laziest workout week in a while. I'm not going to lie; I'm feeling VERY discouraged by the fact my weight is not buding. I do go to the grocery store this week though so I am going to put together some meal plans and I plan on getting lots of veggies to snack on (so I don't snack on chips, cakes, cookies, etc.). I am also getting oatmeal for breakfast since that helps milk production and it's better than toaster strudels and waffles. Surely this will make a difference. I am motivated by my measurements and how my clothes fit so I tend to work harder when I see results.....doesn't everyone though?

Anywho....I'm not doing pictures every week. Did I say that last week? Those were depressing enough. I will do them the first Sat. of the month from now on, so March 3rd will be the next.

Let's see...I PLAN to run 4 days per week. I ran Sun. and Fri. At this rate I am not going to be able to complete the half. I also plan to do that butt exercise from the first post 4 days per week. I did 3 so that was not as bad. I plan to be active at least 5 days per week....check:) This is what my week looked like

Sunday: Ran 3.75 miles and walked 1.25 = 5
Monday: Butt workout....that was hard on back...
Tuesday: Butt workout and Zumba
Wednesday: Not a danged thing
Thursday: Did you read Wednesday?
Friday: Ran...not sure on distance but it was a short one. 2.5?
Saturday: Butt workout...it rained all flippin' day so I had 0 desire to do anything else. Rain makes me lazy.

I am just going to have to start running everyday it doesn't rain because it is seriously raining like crazy round here! Overall...this was a crapshoot week. This week will be MUCH better though and I will have better things to say. Oh...anyone that likes to or has to run outside....I LOVE mapmyrun.com