Weight Loss Update

I've been meaning to post about this for a while now, but keep forgetting.

Between Weight Watchers and walking on he treadmill, I have successfully lost....

TWENTY POUNDS!!

Besides the fact that I am now healthier becasue of this, and I finally have a normal BMI again, the REALLY cool part is that I reached my initial goal that I set for myself at the beginning of the year!!

I'e learned, for the most part, what I can and can not get away with as far as my unhealthy eating habits. Which means, I DO still have the ocassional Big Mac from McDonald's. I still snack now and again on candy bars, popcorn, ice cream, chips etc. I just know when to stop now. Even with indulging myself, I have mangaed to maintain my weight, going up no more than a pound before bringin it back again.

So now, I'm thinking...maybe I should go for 10 more pounds????

For my height and age, I am now within a healthy weight range...however I am at the higher end of this range. I think I will feel better about myself if I bring my weight to the lower end of my healthy range.

Of course, this would mean becoming strict about my eating again...measuring portions, limiting snacks. And probably raising the incline/time I spend on the treadmill (I generally do about half hour on a 3 incline now).

I think I will enjoy my freedom of eating for a little while longer and then start to lose again :)

I do want to lose the extra 10 pounds BEFORE the holidays get here though...because I want to enjoy all that yummy holiday food!

You Say Hello, He Waves Goodbye!

My little man has learned to wave!! It is just the cutest sight to see! He did it for the first time about two days ago and has been getting better at it every day.

I will try to get a video clip of it up here. The best part is that he gets very proud of himslef when he waves.

SO cute!

MOSI

Remember that family pass we purchased?? Well, it also gets us into the Museum of Science and Industry. So, we did that today!

This was the first time any of us had been there, so that was pretty neat.

I must say, this place is HUGE!! There are TONS of cool things to do - all hands on, which is perfect for our little busy body. We were there for a bit over 3 hours and there was an entire floor we never got around to seeing. Another reason I am SO glad we decided to take the plunge and buy these passes!

We had such a great time and I can't wait to go back again.

Unfortunately, the battery in my camera died, so I have very limited pictures. You'll just have to trust me on this one, there was lots to do and we had a blast!

J's 9 Month Pics

Ok, so I attempted to get some 9 month pics of J, but he wasn't really in the picture taking mood. My mom and I did the best we could.

He did NOT want to sit still and just smile.

He kept crawling away..or wanting me to pick him up

OH well..there a couple that good for the scrapbook so all is good!

Snapshots of Sleep

My New Adventure!

I've been pretty busy lately. Want to know why?

Well, J has become an amazing sleeper, being put down at around 7:30pm and waking at around 6:30am. Yay!! On the other hand, Gigi is STILL sneaking into our bed in the middle of the night. I am going to start working on that soon, but I need some recovery time from sleep training J first :)

We've had a few fun days at the aquarium and library - I'll post more about that later.

Mostly what's been keeping me busy is my new little adventure.

A while back, more than a year ago now, I looked to Ebay to try to make a little pocket money for myself. I embellished burp cloths with cute fabrics, I created pacifier clips, covers for car seat straps and nursing covers. I sold quite a few and everyone who bought something from me always had positive things to say.

When I had my huge ol' belly (a.k.a. J), I stopped making and selling these items. I actually had several people email me asking when I would be posting new listings, but I was too tired to do any sewing.

Well, I ahve decided to strat back up again! Who couldn't use a little extra pocket money, right? Only this time, I am not going to list on Ebay - it's become FLOODED with similar items. Etsy, while a great site, is also overly-flooded with similar items.

Instead, I created a blog about my items and have begun advertising locally on Craigslist. Unfortunately, although I've had people look at the site, I haven't had anyone request to buy anything.

I'm not giving up on it though. After all, there was ZERO start up costs for me to do this. I have all the materials on hand already since I normally sew for my own children and Blogger and Craigslist are both free services. So, it does no harm to keep trying.

Anyhow, if you want to take look, the blog site is

http://www.babysewloved.blogspot.com

I'm contemplating doing a giveaway in the near future to try and spread the word, but haven't decided yet.

Here's keeping my fingers crossed!! :)

Stars and Moons

Today we went to the library. We visited a different library than normal..one that is actually closer to our house. They had story time and after, they had a little art class for all kids age 3-5.

The stories from story time had all been about the moon and stars and so, the art project was as well.

Each child was given a large sheet of paper that had stars and two phases of the moon outlined on it. They then had to color in the stars and moons using oil pastels. When that was done, they took some blue watercolor and painted over the entire page to make the night sky.

I think Gigi did a great job!

Self Feeding

Ever wonder how a 9 month old feeds himself??

It certainly is messy...

And he often gets impatient with the spoon. Obviously this is a much quicker way to get the food into his mouth!

Nine Months!!

J is nine months old now. He had his well visit today with the pediatrician.

The good news is, no shots today!! Yay!!

The bad news is..well, there was no bad news..YAY!!

J is doing wonderfully..developing very well in all aspects - physically, mentally and emotionally.

He is now 15 pounds, 9 ounces and 25" long. This is still in only the 5-10%, but it's great for him!!

Everything checked out well and we have no concerns about anything. That's a good visit!

Aquarium Fun

When we last went to GWiz, we decided to splurge and a buy a family annual pass. It had cost us about $25 to get into the museum that day. For $50 more, we were able to buy the family pass. We decided to go for it because of the great benefits of the pass. It does not only allow us access to Gwiz as often as we like for the next year, but also other attractions as well.

So today we decided to put our pass to good use and spend the day at the aquarium.

We've taken Gigi several times before, but this was J's first visit. It was pretty cool to be able to just walk right in because of the passes!

I'll be honest, the aquarium itself is actually quite small. You can go through the entire building in about an hour or less, depending on how much time you stop to to look at each thing.

What excites me about having the passes is that we have unlimited access to the outdoor part of the aquarium. Outside, they have a water play area for the kids that is just awesome!!

The ground is soft so I don't get so worried about Gigi running around. There is a huge Pirate ship in the middle of the play area and slides and water fountains all around. Off to the side there are sandboxes and even a water gun fighting area.

Today, Gigi spent her time running through the Pirate ship and going on the slides. Since there is no standing water, only spraying water, you wouldn't think the kids would get all that wet...she was SOAKED!! It was so hot outside though that I'm sure it felt nice.

J had fallen asleep by the time we went outside. When he finally woke up, I realized just how wet Gigi was getting and didn't want to take J in because that meant I'd get soaked too. So, he missed out this time.

Good thing we can go whenever we want for the entire next year!

I'm really glad we have these passes!!

Our Other Little Artist

Little man loves coloring these days!! Gigi is always coloring, so now brother just joins in the fun. He grabs a crayon and gets right to it. Of course, they are only little scribbles, but it's so cute! He often looks as though he is really concentrating on some masterpiece!

Sleeping Update

Well, it's been quite an experience the last few night's, but I am pleased with the results.

The last two night's J has slept in his crib from about 7:40pm straight though until 6am!! I can't believe how quickly he adjusted to sleeping on his own! I am so proud...and so glad I didn't cave!

Now, just to clarify, when I say he slept through - that does not mean he never woke at all all night. Just that I didn't run into him every time he began to whimper like I normally do. Instead. when I heard him begin to stir, I set the timer for 5 minutes. If he was still crying when the timer went off, I planned on going in and just rubbing his back for a minute. Fortunately, he was able to soothe himself and settle back to sleep in less than a minute each time!

Now if he would only wake up happy everything would be perfect! The last two mornings, despite getting a good night's sleep, he has woken up screaming his head off. It would be great if I could walk inyo hisroom in the morning and just see his happy, smiling face. Oh well, for now I am grateful he is actually sleeing!

So, Saturday night was the first night that I never went back into hs room after putting him in bed. Last night was the second time. Let's hope this keeps up!

Good Morning??

Despite all the progress my little man has made sleeping on his own, as I mentioned before, he does not wake up in a good mood. Once he is up, he literally gets up and begins to wail.

Instead of a happy, smiling baby this is what I see when I enter his room:

Poor little guy!!

It probably doesn't help that he sometimes falls asleep literally hanging on and with a pout on his face!

Oh well, at least he is sleeping!

Learning to Sleep, Night 2

We ate dinner much later than usual tonight, so our routine was pushed back. Still, I wanted to stick with our routine even though it was later in the day. I didn't want all of last night's work to be for nothing.

So we did the norm. Bedtime for the kiddos is usually 7:30pm, tonight I placed J in his crib at exactly 8:30pm.

At 8:37pm, he was quiet and sleeping!!

SEVEN MINUTES!! Can you believe it?? I can't.

Oh PLEASE let this be a good sign!!!!

Oh What a Night!

Well, last night was quite exhausting!

I had to deal with getting BOTh of my kids to stay asleep! Although Gigi readily goes to sleep in her own bed, EVERY night she sneaks into our room and our bed. If her baby brother needs to learn to sleep by himslef all night long, she needs to do the same.

So, after J finally fell asleep at 8:35pm, he continued to sleep until 10:39pm. When he woke, I went into his room hugged (of course he was standing again), laid him down and rubbed his back a little and then left. By 10:42pm he was alseep again.

He woke for the second time at 12:34am and, again, returned to sleep fairly quickly at 12:40am.

I thought things were going great...until...he woke at 1:20am. He did not go back to sleep again until 2:30am - nearly an hour. During this hour, I ended up picking him up and nursing him - he really ate too, not just used me for comfort - then went back to the increased intervals for checking on him. I was so happy when that hour waas up and he was back asleep!!

From then, 2:30am, he slept through until 5:28am. At that point I was so exhausted that I picked him up and took him back to my bed. I just couldn't deal with it anymore!

Well, in between all of J's wakings - the times when he was actually sleeping - I could not sleep becasue Gigi kept waking!! She would wake it seemed seconds after J gave in to sleep. She would get up and cry that she wanted to sleep with me. By the time I would get her calmed down and back sleeping in her bed, I had about 10-15 minutes to rest my eyes before J was up again.

Oh what a night! As you can imagine, I'm pretty beat today!

Oh, and lucky me, I get to do all again tonight! Can't wait...ughh :(

Finally Asleep...For Now

Well, it's now 8:35pm. J finally gave in and drifted off to sleep.

Let's see how long it lasts! :)

Learning to Sleep, Part 2

Both kids go through the same night time routine; dinner, bath, cuddle time and coloring, brush teeth, hugs and kisses, story, lights out. Difference is, after J's story, he usually falls asleep on my lap while nursing.

J is over 8 months now, we've tried once before to get him to sleep on his own with no great success. Well, we are trying again tonight.

We did our usual night time routine, except this time, after J had two stories read to him, I cuddled him a little more while rocking him. When he began to get drowsy, I placed him in his crib and left the room. That was at 7:40 pm.

I did the norm, one minute, check on him, 2 minutes - check on him, etc.

Well, it is now almost 8:30pm and he is still crying. I currently have about 2 minutes left on the timer before I need to go in again.

It really breaks my heart. Everytime I go in and put my arms around him (he is standing up in the crib) he immediately stops crying completely and closes his eyes and falls asleep. The second I release him and walk away he lets out an ear piercing cry.

My poor baby, don't worry it's probably harder on me than it is on you!

For Grandma

Sew Many Projects!

Yeah, I know I'm a dork; "sew many" .... "so many" Hahaha - get it?

Anywho....

I've been working on a quite a few sewing projects lately. I'm also discovering that that more I sew, the more I enjoy it and want to do it more. I think sewing is quickly becoming my favorite hobby.

Of course, I made another diaper cover. This one has PUL on the interior to stop moisture, but it also has a cute outer instead of just a solid color. Of course, there are gussets on this one as well.

I though it was so cute! Then, that night as I was surfing the web I came across these really cute little soft soled shoes. The tutorial on these is awesome - so easy to follow. So of course I had to make some shoes for my little man to match his dipes! :)

They were super easy to do and I had everything on hand already to make them. Now you know I will just have to make more!!

Then I made a pair of pants for Gigi and a little head handkerchief to match. Of course, she had to model them!

Then I made a travel placemat for Gigi to take with us when eat out. I will have to post pics of that later - I haven't taken any yet.

I plan on making a placemat for J as well and with his, I will be making a bib to match.

That's all I've done for now, but I have more plans for the future!! Including more dipes, some wipes, skirts for Gigi, PJ's etc.

I'll post when they are done!

Park Fun

While at the beach yesterday, Gigi wanted to play on the playground. Since it was so late in the evening though, I told her it would have to wait until another day.

Well, today we had an appointment to go to that was not far from the park, so I made a slight detour to go play. Unfortunately, we could not stay long since it was just too darn hot to be out there. We only stayed for about a half hour total and we were all drenched in sweat as we packed back into the van.

Of course, hindsight is always 20/20 and I realized that I should have just packed a lunch and our bathing suits and made an afternoon of it. I'll have to make that a future plan I guess.

It was short lived, but Gigi still had fun!

Beach Fun

Today hubby called as he was driving home from work and told me to get the kids into their bathing suits. He wanted to go to the beach.

It was a beautiful day, so I thought it was a great idea - especially mid-week; it was a nice break from the ordinary.

The kids and I were all set by the time hubby got home. We packed up the van and went to one of our favorite little local beaches.

Since it was 6pm by this time, the beach was pretty empty - which I like! We didn't stay too long, since they close at 7pm, but we did have fun.

The water was a perfect temperature and felt so nice! Gigi and hubby spent lots of time building a sand castle.

It was a fun, unexpected outing!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Tuesday was my hubby's birthday, he's 32 now! Since his birthday fell on a weekday, he had to work. So I woke up before he did, at the still dark hour of 6am, and made him breakfast.

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. He didn't feel like going out to dinner, so that was the extent of the celebrations for the day.

So, on Sunday we had family over for a little party. We did the usual; light lunch, cake, presents.
Hubby was very happy with all his gifts and everyone had a nice time just hanging out.