Now What Do We Do For The Rest Of Summer?

Little Man had his last day of summer camp yesterday.  I was thrilled at the idea of getting a few extra minutes of sleep in the morning, but then reality set in - the kids wake up whether there is camp or not!  My alarm didn't go off this morning, but I still woke up at 7:15 on the dot to get everyone downstairs and our day started.

We only have two weeks until school starts, but I am not really looking forward to the weekdays. I know I won't get nearly as much done during the day. I also know that too much contact between Little Man and Vegas gives Little Man a case of the "ohmygodshutthatkidup".  Especially now that Vegas can babble and follow Little Man all around the house.  I don't know who to feel sorry for - the big kid who needs quiet and alone time without being overstimulated by a squealing toddler, or the little kid who thinks everything his big brother does is awesome and he wants to be right next to him all day long.

Speaking of toddler, Vegas is almost one year old!  Just in the last few weeks he's been making physical leaps - he now uses his Thomas train as a walker to toddle all over the house, stands alone for a few minutes at a time, and has mastered the sippy cup!  I found out the last one when I heard the familiar sound of milk being tugged out of a sippy, and realized it was Vegas taking a big gulp out of Little Man's milk cup. Whoops.  So yesterday we started weaning him off formula and I don't think there is going to be a problem there at all.  He loves his nighttime bottle, but I think that is more of a comfort thing than a nourishment at this point.  He eats so much food now too, and he has no dislikes yet - so his diet is pretty varied and healthy. I've also felt pretty strongly throughout his babyhood that I would let him help guide me in what he was ready to eat and how much he'd like - no rushing him into solids and when he was hungry, we'd eat.  He really preferred/could best handle purees for the longest time and just now has started being able to swallow and tolerate firmer chunks of food. I feel like we've gone from 0-60 in food options overnight!!!  Yesterday for dinner he had avocado, banana, broccoli, carrots, lima beans, and rice cakes and a half cup of water!

This was after a nectarine massacre.
Did you know it is really hard to peel a nectarine?!

Last month we found a sweet portrait deal online for a 16x16 gallery canvas and 40% off any additional sheets of photos for only $16.  So we scheduled some first year photos for Vegas, since Little Man is... less than enthusiastic about photo shoots (plus he will get school photos in a few weeks).  On the other hand, Vegas is always serious and contemplative when in a new place, so it was still really tough to get some smiles and poses out of him.  But we persevered and got several cute shots of him that should be here just in time for his giant birthday bash!! I can't wait to show them off -I'm such a proud momma.

A photo of the website storing previews of photos.
I'm so tech savvy.
 

We had arranged for the end of the photo shoot to be a cake smash. Vegas was not at all amused. He was very grossed out by the idea of smashing his hands into cake, and just tried to run away the entire time.  I tried to "help" by placing his hands in the cake and swiping some frosting on his lip.  No dice - now he was just dirty and trying to run away. Oh well - we've got another chance for cake photos at his party.  Little Man was such a pro at his cake smash, I think I got spoiled.

He was seriously the cutest cake smasher I've ever seen.

And that about wraps up the last couple of weeks.  Vegas' eczema cleared up with the medicated cream they gave us.  I was diagnosed with TMJ six minutes after walking into the ENT's office.  Little Man has been healthy and has the best suntan out of all of us - he looks like a little Coppertone baby commercial.  Camp kept him outside and wore him out every day, and I think it was a great experience for him.

Time to get back to organized chaos...

Snuggling Into My *Organized* Nest

I get a serious high every time I walk into my old office and see how clean and organized it all is... over the last few days I've been just wandering in and turning on the lights for no reason.  Hubs is tolerating this little burst of crazy with surprising good humor, considering how loudly I squeal every time and how I make him oooh and ahhh with me if he's nearby.

All of the cleaning and organizing we've been up to has inspired me to try to be organized in other parts of our lives lately.  I've finally finished Little Man's medical binder after oh... about four years of thinking about having one.  It is a 3 inch binder completely filled with information on every doctor's visit, therapy session, medical bill, and referral we've had over the last nearly five years.  Ideally I think I want to streamline it a little more and get rid of some of the older reports that are less important to be dragging from place to place, but for now it is done and going to be a huge help in scheduling and keeping track of what needs to happen and when.

I've also been being much better about our menu-planning and grocery shopping.  Every Tuesday night for the last month I've been sitting down (with Hubs if he's around) and cross-checking coupons and sales at our local grocery store.  Then with those in mind, I make a weekly meal plan and shop accordingly on Wednesday afternoon when all the sales start.  With our switch to more clean-eating and less processed food, we'd been slacking a lot with our couponing and we'd seen a rise in our monthly grocery spending.  Now that I'm taking the time to plan and do some basic couponing the night before each trip, we've managed to get our weekly bill down to the same amount of spending we'd been doing when we couponed, plus we're eating much healthier and I'd say about 80% clean.

Between all that and managing to get several of Little Man's major appointments scheduled and/or completed, I've been feeling like a champ lately.  I'm trying to savor this flood of energy while I have it, because I know myself and I know how easily I fall into a lazy rut if I let myself.  Plus, I vaguely remember being a complete couch-potato during my third trimester last pregnancy, and I'm not sure how much of that was laziness or necessity.  Back to work!!

Still in the pre-pregnancy jeans.  Gotta love "super-low rise" pants!

 

The One With The Scale

Confession:  I have body image issues.

I am one of those people who constantly complains about their body.  It is annoying, its melodramatic, I can't stand it about myself.   It is involuntary.  I catch myself telling yet another friend how unhappy I am and I cringe internally.  I never liked hearing that sort of negativity in college (when I was fine with my weight), and now I am that person I couldn't stand.

And its not like I need to lose massive amounts of weight.  As of March, I needed to lose 20 lbs to be back at my goal weight (post college-pre baby weight gain).  But every morning when I got up, I hated what I saw in the mirror.  I hated seeing the stacks of cute clothes I couldn't wear any more.  I hated feeling dumpy and lumpy and "mom-esque".  I missed feeling cute and fun when I dressed up.  All I could see when I looked in the mirror was blerghhhhh. 

So back in March, I made a pledge to myself that this year I would start actively making changes.  I would try to stop complaining as much.  I  would actually do something to lose the weight I was bitching about instead of just staying miserable and chubby.

So I bought a scale.  I started exercising during Little Man's naps, and took a couple classes at a local gym.  While the gym part didn't stick, the home exercising did, and I lost 5 lbs eventually.  Then I got stuck for awhile, and had been waffling back and forth around the same 2-3 lbs.

I was bummed.   I had been exercising, but I hated that I had so little to show for it.  My friends convinced me I was building muscle or something (they are really sweet friends).  But I still hated that stinking scale, mocking from the corner of the bathroom and telling me I was never going to be happy with myself at this weight.

I decided a couple weeks ago to start eating clean.   Not just for the weight loss aspect, but because it really struck a cord in me when I realized how much I rely on processed junk foods and take out when I could make something much tastier from scratch.   AND it normally leaves me feeling happier and more satisfied that I fed myself and my family a home cooked meal.

Since my eating clean challenge began, I finally got out of that plateau!  Not only that, I have lost another 3 lbs!  Which puts me at halfway to my goal weight!!!!

I am so thrilled that I'm finally making my goals a reality.  I don't want to be that person that whines and cries how nothing ever happens for them while they never make a move towards change.  I am making changes in my life to make myself happy.   I will get to the point where I can look in the mirror again and say "Hot damn.  Looking good."

I am starting to love my body again.  And it feels nice to be able to say that.

The One About Eating Clean

I read a TON of blogs.  Its a slightly unhealthy addiction.  But I started with one... who lead to another... and another... and I can't part with any of them! 

So through the blog chain (and Pinterest, damn Pinterest) I have found a lot of information lately about "clean eating."  And it has really struck a cord with me.  Yesterday I called Hubs at work and told him when he came home there would be no more Cheezits or junk food in the pantry.  We were taking a 10 day pledge to eat non-processed, healthy and natural foods.   He made me promise to save the ice cream for after the 10 days were up, but otherwise didn't protest.

Of course, we will be making room for a couple cheats and mods in our plan.  We will be drinking, because that is not really optional with our family.  We have two wine and beer festivals in the next two weeks alone!  We also have been using coffee creamer, but agreed tonight we would try to move towards milk-only during the next day or so when that runs out.  But other than that... we're doing great!  1.5 days in and we're not dying.  We're making smart decisions and going to be healthy dammit! 

Clean grocery trip!  Only $95 and I managed to stock up for the week!



Today's trip to the grocery store felt awesome.  I didn't buy anything junk (except the juice, which is for LM).   They are all foods we like anyways, we just need more of them in our lives, so that part isn't hard.  The hard part will be making sure that we don't get lazy and fall back onto convenience foods.  I should also try to forget that Papa John's owes us a free pizza. 

Tonight's dinner was a great start!  Homemade sausage sauteed with pepper, spinach and onion, served over spaghetti squash.  Yum!!  I made a berry sauce over Greek yogurt for dessert... that was not quite a hit with Hubs.  He grimaced through an entire (very small) bowl, and he said it was the only thing I've ever served him that he didn't like.   He kept reminding me it was the yogurt, not my berry sauce recipe that he hated.  But it was cute to watch him try to enjoy it because he knows how important eating healthy is to me (right now, don't get too excited here.)

So there ya have it.  Wish us luck, and hopefully even after our ten-day junk food free pledge is over we can continue eating more clean foods and improve our overall health.  And if I lose a pound or ten... well that would be swell too!

I'll leave you with this photo of Little Man in the grocery store.  No less than seven people stopped to talk to me today and give me their two cents on everything from spaghetti sauce to parenting.  Sleeping babies are apparently a great conversation starter.

People were impressed that I considered his comfort by providing the dirty towel from the backseat of the car as a neck pillow. 

I don't think Little Man cares much about clean eating either way.