Distracted

Lucas is at that age now where he gets distracted easily. He will no longer lie still and nurse for a solid 20-30 minutes. I'm lucky if he stays on for 3 or 4 minutes! It goes something like this:

Lucas is nursing. He pops off when he notices the ceiling fan. Stares at it until I drag his face away and back to me. (Seriously, what is it about ceiling fans and babies?)

30 seconds later he shoves me out of his mouth and inserts his fist instead. Sucks furiously on his fist.

Nurses again for maybe 45 seconds, then stops and smiles at me, cooing for a few minutes.

It's really cute but not good for filling his tummy!

Weighty Wednesday: Excuses

My mind can come up with some pretty amazing excuses when I don't feel like doing something.

For example, my computer broke down and I couldn't do my Weighty Wednesday blog last week. So I thought to myself, "Well if I can't blog about it, then my weigh-in doesn't really mean anything this week. Therefore I get a free pass to eat everything!"

And then there's the Pioneer Woman cookbook I checked out from the library. It would be a waste if I didn't bake a few of her desserts, right?

Yep, lots of excuses these past two weeks. And because of that, I only lost 1 pound in two weeks.

Week 8
Lbs Lost So Far: 8
Lbs Left to Lose: 17

Goals: No more excuses! I want to lose this weight because I will feel better and healthier at a lower weight. What do you do when you find yourself making excuses?

Alive and Well

We are alive and well! Anyone miss me?

Our computer crashed last week and I am now finally back on the internet. There were so many times that I thought, "Oh I should blog about this". But now I've forgotten what I was going to blog about. So here's a very quick recap of the past two weeks.

Life has been good. I'm trying to get Lucas on a good routine, and it's going okay so far. Ryan has been a bit gentler lately with the baby, so that's great. Beautiful weather lately, so we're spending lots of time outdoors. I'll update more soon!

A 2nd Definition

 Back when Ryan was about 3 months old, I posted this picture, stating that it was "The Definition of Cute".

Well it looks like we have a 2nd definition of that word now!

Weighty Wednesday: Real Pants

 I own pants ranging in size from 4 up to 12. Luckily for me, this means I have many options available to wear as I lose weight. For some reason, though, I've been living in black stretchy yoga pants. They're easy, comfortable, and stretchy. One bad thing about them is that I can't tell if I'm losing weight while I wear them. They're very forgiving. Since I've been seeing the numbers on the scale creep down (2 more pounds lost this week!) I decided it was time to wear real pants. So this week I finally dug around in my pile of "fat" pants and found a pair that fit. It's nice to have one pair of jeans that I can comfortably wear!


Week 6
Lbs Lost So Far: 7
Lbs Left to Lose:18

Goals: I actually had 2 desserts this week. Coldstone ice cream on Saturday and some accidental cookies last night. I only went for 2 walks, but the weather is cooling off now so I plan on walking more this week. I can't wait until Lucas is old enough to sit up because then I can use the double jogging stroller. And maybe even jog! For now, my goal will be to walk longer and faster. It's a little hard while wearing the baby, but as long as I don't jostle him too much, I can certainly walk at a faster pace. Anyone want to walk with me this week? 

Picnic Lunch!

Hard Week, Easy Weekend

Last week was a bit rough. In fact, I'd probably say it was my hardest week since giving birth to Lucas. There were a few reasons: I was still recovering from Mastitis. And when I don't feel great, it's really hard to give 100% to being a Mom. Lucas was also super fussy. He wasn't getting as much milk from me, so he cried a lot. And stopped pooping. And of course that made me worry about him. I knew he wasn't starving, but he also wasn't my usual happy baby and that meant a lot of crying/bouncing/walking/fussing/screaming. Which meant I had less time for Ryan. And when Ryan doesn't get enough attention or feels jealous, he gets naughty. Very naughty. And very aggressive. There was a ton of hitting and head-butting and time-outs this week. And child-proof door-knob removals by Ryan. All my attention and time was devoted to my two boys. This led to a house that looked like a tornado tore through it. One day both boys fell asleep in the car and rather than go home and have them wake up and cry, I drove up and down the freeway for an hour. One glorious hour of silence. By Friday night I felt like my ears were ringing from all the screeching this week. I was ready to pull out my hair. I was ready for the weekend.

Then the weekend came, and Lucas stopped crying so much. He took a 2-hour nap one day in his crib! We went out for pizza and ice cream together as a family of four. And both boys did pretty well! We visited good friends. I got to do grocery shopping with just one boy. We played outside, washed cars together, and caught up on laundry. Normal family stuff, but with a whole lot less crying. I enjoyed every minute of this weekend.

Crib Sleeping

I put Lucas down to sleep in his crib for the first time 2 nights ago. He had slept through the night (7 hours) in his bassinet once, so I felt like he was ready for the next step.

No, he doesn't sleep on his boppy at night. But for some reason he really likes it during the day. It probably smells like breastmilk.

So 2 nights ago I swaddled him, nursed him to sleep, and put him in his crib. The first night he slept 6 hours! Last night was only 4, but still better than constantly waking up. Let's hope this continues!

Modeling

 At just 11 months old Ryan was already striking a model's pose.

These days he's doing it topless.

Weighty Wednesday: Sidetracked

I got a bit sidetracked this week. Things were going okay for a day or two. Then I woke up on Friday with Mastitis. And subsequently lied around feeling horrible, eating whatever I wanted. We relied heavily on fast food for a couple of days. And I ate dessert. And then ate it again. And I was too sick to take walks. And I ate some frozen yogurt because my body needed the good bacteria restored after taking antibiotics. Yep, that's why I ate it. And some random girl came to our front door selling donuts. Obviously we bought them. And ate them. Translation? Zero time spent on losing weight and being healthy. I don't feel guilty one bit though, because sometimes things happen and we just get sidetracked.

No weight lost, but hey! No weight gained back either.

Week 5
Lbs Lost So Far: 5
Lbs Left to Lose: 20

Goals:  My goal this week is to just get back on track. Start going for walks again, cut back to one dessert per week and eat more fruits and veggies. I know I keep repeating myself, but I don't want to add on a new goal until I can maintain the current ones.

Oh So True

I read this story the other day and instantly knew I needed to share it on my blog. Too funny. And so true!



A man came home from work and found his 5 children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn around the garden. The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and no sign of the dog. 

Walking in the door, he found ...an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, the throw rug was against one wall. In the front room the TV was on loudly with the cartoon channel, the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door. 

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls. 

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled and asked how his day went. He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?' 

She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world do I do all day?

''Yes," was his incredulous reply.

She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.’

Lucas: 2 Months

You turned two months old yesterday Lucas! (I celebrated the day by developing a nasty case of mastitis)

I often call you "Sweet Boy" because you are just so sweet!

You had your 2-month checkup at the Dr. yesterday and you are growing like a champ! Here are your 2-month stats:

Weight: 12 lbs, 9 oz (72%)
 Height: 22.5 inches (35%)
Head: 15.5 inches (37%)

You rolled over last week, right before you turned 8 weeks old. Uh Oh. Ryan didn't start rolling over until 3 months.  This better not mean you will reach the physical milestones even earlier than Ryan did. I don't know if I'm prepared for that!

You smile at us all the time and I love it! (You also blow bubbles and drool a TON). You have only spit up once since you were born. So different from your brother!

You have started cooing a lot. You said "Ahh Goo" this week. You are so aware of your surroundings. You watch me move around the room, and you are beginning to be more aware of your big brother. He gives you lots of kisses, and thankfully, no bites lately.

You even slept through the night once this month. That 7-hour stretch of sleep felt heavenly! I have high hopes for your future sleeping habits.

I love you sweet Baby Lucas!

Weighty Wednesday: Caloric Math

My body definitely got the memo this week that I'd like it to lose weight a little faster. I lost 3 pounds this week! I'm not quite sure why I had such a big loss. I did go on more walks this week. And these days I just don't have the chance to eat a lot. Meals are quickly eaten with one hand. The evenings are so filled with baths and tending to crying children that a bedtime snack for myself never happens anymore. (This was a regular snack time for me during my pregnancy). So I guess it's just a simple formula of fewer calories in and more calories burned.

Week 4
Lbs Lost So Far: 5
Lbs Left to Lose: 20

I did great with most of my goals. Drank lots of water, ate fruit, walked a lot, and only had dessert once. ( It was a big handful of chocolate chips. Not even a worthwhile dessert.) I didn't do so well with my vegetable intake so I need to keep working on that. Eating vegetables just doesn't appeal to me unless it's with dinner. 

My new goal for this week will be to eat meals at the table instead of on the couch. It's convenient for me to eat in front of the TV because I can nurse Lucas while Ryan and I eat. But I don't want to get in to the habit of always watching TV during meals, so I'm going to make an effort this week to at least eat dinner at the table every night. I think this will discourage mindless munching, and encourage more family time.