Attention Mommies..

So this is one of those posts calling all mothers. You know one of those posts where I pled words of wisdom from those that have been there before. Those who may have crossed this bridge and found a life preserver swimming through the moat...

It's one of those moments when I beg you to read and those thoughts running through your mind (YES, I know you have them)... COMMENT.

But yall EJ hates his bottle now, I mean he loved it, it was the best moment of the day every 3 hours and then he was introduced to FOOD. And now he fasts from breakfast to dinner, well not really but he is so not interested in the bottle. He takes it for a minute and then moves on and then I shove back into in his face and he sucks and then he looks me like no I don't want this and moves his head.  I mean seriously I know food tastes good but you have to have a liquid diet for 5 more months. HELP!

LAKEHOUSE REUNION

See these girls??

These girls are 3 of 5 of EJ's Aunts from Memphis. The Lakehouse Girls are some of my oldest and dearest friends and we get to see them this this weekend. That is if the weather works with us. The fear of Winter Storm Part 2 of 2010 is scaring all of us. Hey weather man your wrong, its going to ice, sleet, snow FRIDAY NIGHT. Do you hear me???

 We need clear roads to travel on Friday morning, please and thank you!

There are 3 little boys 9 weeks apart that need to play and 6 girls that need some quality good girl time. Isn't that so fun, 3 of us were preggers together and we all had boys. They are going to grow up being such good buds!

McFatty Monday... FAIL

Well... this week stunk, I mean REALLY stunk. I exercised umm once and the eating was off oh and I drank kinda of a lot. Craig was laid off on Friday which led to a weekend of us binge eating and drinking. Can you say an emotional eater. Yep, thats me. So despite the fact that I feel as though I am walking in a dream, totally shocked this happened to us AGAIN but I will not life's little heart aches turn me into the woman who let herself go. No sir. Back on the wagon again. Starting with water lots and lots of water.

Baby Boom

Am I the only who has noticed that lots and lots of people have either just had a baby or expecting one soon?? My ob tells me when the economy is bad the instance of pregnancy goes up. We had a good laugh as we discussed whether or not those pregnancy were planned or not. Regardless, having a baby is one of life's greatest gifts. EJ has changed Craig and I's life in way we never imagined. I can't wait to give him a sibling, well I can but I do look forward to one day growing our family even more.

I thought I would take a moment to share my five favorite baby items. There are SOOO many out there  and I know I leaned heavily on advice of other moms so if you are wondering what makes this mom get all  giddy about her new toy then keep reading.

My baby sling...
When EJ was a new born I could leave the house and go places, yes in public because he was all snug in there. People would ask if I had a baby in there, I even got my feet done when he was a month while he slept in there. No one could touch him and he nestled up next to me which they say is really good for newborns. This momma went stir crazy hanging around the house all the time and trust me your hormones make you crazy enough if you need to get out of the house... GO or it may not be pretty.  Now I can prop EJ on my hip and it will hold him up all snug and safe and my hands are free. Gosh I love it.

Isn't it pretty!

This a serena and lily. I heart there stuff!

My jogging stroller... it has this awesome feature that makes it fold FLAT with a pull of a handle and its like 13 lbs. Not to mention its a SMALL jogging stroller so you aren't that annoying momma with the huge stroller taking up the entire store at the mall. Its by baby jogger and they say not for jogging cause they have plastic wheels instead of tire wheels. BUT they pop of and you can pull the tire wheels on it and honestly if you aren't a marathon runner and you aren't trying to run trails use it. Some lawyer told them to put that on there cause we are a sue happy country. Pretty much my fav stroller, yes I have 3 and I could have done with out all of except this one. I just may sell them. It also has mesh for the back if you recline the seat so if you have a hot baby like I do, they will love for some air circulation. It also works with most infant seats including the top 2... Chicco & Preg Perego

Yes, I do love a good orange stroller!

My Bottles-- BORN FREE

Pricey, yes... well worth it. Only 3 pieces not 7 like dr browns. They have nice little indents that help teach the baby to hold their bottle. Plus we had an overeater that gorged himself on milk. I mean you would think we never fed him, I promise we do every 3 hrs on the nose except at night and we had very little gas issues, if any. Ahhh I love them. 

My diaper bag... I am have a problem a Petunia Pickle Bottom Problem, I own a few but man I love them. They are cute and stylish, no silly appliqués. I love a good appliqué on clothes but not on the bag I have to carry. They are full of pockets and my fav of the group is a fabric that just wipes off.  The strap can be easily shortened which works great for draping it over the stroller. 

So stylish!

The Chicco clip on "highchair"... it clips right to our table and ej feels like he is eating with us. And it fold flat for storage or to take it with you which I do a lot. Its amazing how many restaurants only have a few high chairs so if its busy they may be out or do not have high chairs at all and they have booster seats which is great if your child sits still. Mine does not so I can strap him and our little monkey is stuck =) 

Not to mention cleaning is SOO easy the cover slips right off and off the washing machine it goes. Good as new in an hour. 

Yes, many of these products are little bit more expensive than some BUT I have learned that the good stuff is really durable and most are really easy to put together (minimal effort) and all seem to have nice features like folding flat etc. If your like me I intend to use these things a few times and I want to be able to nicely store them in the interim and have them hold up. Spend the money now you will not regret it. PROMISE!

T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

My big boy!

And we have entered the gates...

Today, I went to the bathroom and EJ was happily sitting in the middle of the kitchen playing with his bongo drums. It was a fast trip, I was barely out of the room a minute and when I came back this is what I found...

Yep, crawled across the room went up the cooler thats been hanging out in our kitchen since this weekend couples get together.... lots of margaritas called for extra ice.

 I will say he was awfully proud of himself.

Watch out Mommy, I want to run! Oh God, I just not sure I am ready for this =)

I.HATE.DIETING.

And week 3 of me ranting to the world about my current quest to be one hot momma and week 2 of me doing more than simply trying not to eat too bad.

But Yall I did it I worked out every day this week.

Every day I remember that cute little figure that was running around when I was single and I pushed myself that much harder. I will not be that girl that had a baby and let herself go. My grandmother is full of isms and one of her mantra's is that you must always be your husband's girlfriend. So go get your nails done and take care of yourself it will go a long way. And in her 80's the women lifts weights and wears a size 6... damn.

This week, I will add some walking/running to daily Jillian Shred and ps she is one tough lady. My stomach hurt so bad it gave me a flashback to contractions, yikes.

My guess, I will be doing less sitting and more running as we have full fledge crawler on our hands. I had a moment on saturday where I heard EJ squeal (his new favorite noise to make therefor he crys wolf alot) and couldnt find him. He was at my feet in the kitchen and he had made his way through the dinning room and into the living room. AWESOME... don't get me wrong I am so proud but kiddo you are 6 1/2 months.  Pretty much everyone told us, WE ARE IN FOR IT. 

Goals this week-
1. Keep up the water all day
2. Run/Walk for 45 mins  4 times this week.

If you have any tips on the getting back into running let me know, its been a long time since I have been this out of shape and need to be reminded how not to have stroke while trying to run again.

Happy Baby.

Oh no

And this was how I found EJ after our morning nap today....

Needless to say we will dropping the crib tonight. But damn isn't he ADORABLE. Gosh, I love those dimples.

 

2010

“I find that the more willing I am to be grateful for the small things in life, the bigger stuff  just seems to show up from unexpected sources, and I am constantly looking forward  to each day with all the surprises that keep coming my way!” ~ Louise L. Hay

As it turns out 2009 was an eventful year, one that had you had asked me what might be the shinning moment to come I would have told you that it was my hope that Craig would ask me to marry him that year and that I would start school to be a nurse. I had what I thought to be big hopes for 2009 and a whole lot of fear. Fear that Craig would drag his feet and that school would be harder than I could handle. Boy oh Boy did life have bigger plans for me and Craig.

I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason and our lives went from zero to 90 in a matter of minutes, I think we handle it was grace and took it in stride as we planned a wedding, had a baby, bought a house and got Craig a new and better job in matter of 9 months. It came with many stresses, a little heart ache but here we are today walking into a new year with new set hopes.

My hopes (resolutions) for the new year are to be happy every day, to love my husband better every day and be the best wife I can, to be the best mommy I can be to our greatest  surprise and to make our house our home, a place that we can come home to and find rest in the surroundings and each other.  I hope that Craig and I can get healthy again, to be in the best shape possible so when the time comes for us to add to our family my body is ready to bake a baby again.

I enjoy the clean slate we get with each new year and especially enjoy that I will never walk through a new year that I don't think of Craig and the feelings I had that night when we met in a hotel ballroom, me sick and him overserved and the way my life changed when he decided to buy me a drink.

McFatty Monday- Post #2

Damn this week was a wash, started my week not feeling great ended up at the dr Thursday to get drugged up and Atlanta forgot it was a member of the SOUTH and on Thursday night we got snow and ice. Global warming what?

But, I did start doing crunches first thing in the morning, alarm goes off roll right to the floor and 250 crunches. Its surprising how much that makes me feel better, so it is a good motivation to get my butt running that should make me feel awesome after a few weeks of it killing me slowly.

For a good motivational moment I surfed awesome clothing websites, and I die alot. Yes, I love Rachel Zoe and would love a day in her closet if I lost all my body fat and a few of my bones.  I can not wait to get skinny again and slip into some sexy number and have a date night with my cute hubby... Like a real date night not a night were we are both so worn out that we barely speak during dinner and then go get drinks and almost fall asleep into our wine.  So when I want to eat that sugar and read a book instead of broccoli and crunches I am going to go look at those clothes and think about all the fun I could have in one of them.

Goals for this week...
* Water, lots and lots of water and 1 cup of coffee not half a pot
(coffee is crack for parents but I need not complain my child sleeps at night)

*Seriously , 30 day shred. Jillian KICK my flabby booty

Ah food

How unfair is this, Mom and Dad are banished to rabbit food and EJ gets to eat whenever he wants (Dr's orders). We have gotten our height growth back on schedule we are a whopping 28 inches long, but Alas only 16 lbs what he was suppose to be 2 months ago.

Good news is the dr isn't really worried my family has some crazy metabolism, that I did NOT inherit, and Craig was a skinny kid so it appears that this is EJ genes, not to mention he moves all day kicking, jumping and now crawling. Yep we have a crawler on our hands he hasn't quick figured out that he can do it for more than 4 or 5 crawls at a time and I'm not complaining.  I give it a week and hes all over the play, pack-n-play is out for when I need to do things like go to the bathroom.

Merry Christmas!

ee

Dear Baby Weight... we are breaking up!

Its the first work day of 2010 and that means the weight loss resolution kicks in. Craig and I have spent the last 2 days eating nothing but crap in anticipation of this day. No, seriously crap...donuts, china man, pizza, FRIED PICKLES, taco bell, to just name a few... I probably added an extra 5 lbs these last 2 days but what can I say we love to eat. But alas this love affair is over.

My adorable little man started off not hurting my figure too much but then the dr told me to try a gain a few lbs and lets just say that was trouble. I added 20 lbs in 2 months, yes you read that right 20! My previous self of being nervous about gaining too much weight... my grandmother told me not too every time I talked to her... went out the door and landed in Antartica. Then dr recommended a hormonal plug to keep us a family of 3 for awhile and guess what my side affect was... blubber.

So today begins a very new world for me and Craig, we will get up at 7am every day, we will run, we diet... enter veggies and lean meat, exit sugar and bread (BOO), we will take vitamins and we WILL get skinny. I will be a HOT mom, I will look good in a bathing suit when we finally take our honeymoon, and I will be the envy of some other mom out there. Yes, I am narcissistic enough to admit I want someone to envy my cute figure post baby.

If you don't read Heir to Blair, STOP reading me for a moment but please come back after and check her out. She makes me laugh everyday and I swear if we lived in the same city we would be best friends. But in her quest to lose the baby weight she has started McFatty Monday for all us moms out there attempting to the same, so get ready for me to overshare on my quest on Mondays as I use this blog as a way to keep myself on track and out of Dunkin Donuts. BABY WEIGHT WE ARE DONE UNTIL NEXT TIME!

See this body, I WANT IT BACK!

Today I will buy a scale and I will start the 30 day shred that I have done once in the 3 months I have owned it.

LAH

PS, Craig and I failed already when we got out of bed at 830 today. Tomorrow we will get up at 7am!

Oh we have a lot to report...

I promise to give everyone a nice play by play of the last month or so, but today I am living off little sleep thanks to being rather ill last night and I really want to go snuggle with my cute husband on the couch.  Some highlights include EJ pretty much skipped his 6 month clothes they went from being loose to almost tight and little short. I think we grew 2 inches over night. He said Mama and Dada, does get what he was doing well the jury is still out BUT he said Mama first and it melted my heart. Crawling is imminent he gets up on his hands and feet everyday and rocks and today he lunged his whole body forward needless to say hes sporting more than one bruise on his head from all the crawling attempts. Mom is so excited but a bit scared of a very mobile EJ.

More to come.... Happy 2010!