Fast Family Trip

Chloe, Shorty and I all went to visit family this week. We left on Sunday to visit my hometown and then headed back home on Tuesday. It's supposed to be an 8 hour drive from my house to our destination. It took a little longer with Chloe, but she did pretty good considering. (Thanks to my mom and dad for getting the portable DVD player and Backyardigans DVDs!)

Here are some fun moments. I kept my promise to certain people that I wouldn't post their pictures. But there were some good ones that I really wanted to post.

We stopped at Texas Tech's campus to get Chloe's picture with the Will Rogers statue.

Chloe with Soapsuds and Will

Trying to show Chloe about 'Get Your Guns Up'

Maybe someday she'll be a Red Raider!

The sequence of three here is hilarious to me. It reminds me of how Tori and I used to play together. Please note that it looks like Chloe is being bossy (a la me) and Ansley is giving 'the look' which is clearly hereditary.

Chloe thinks it's fun to use Ansley as a speed bump

Landry and Chloe playing with her music table

Chloe telling Landry something important

Chloe and Ansley with their Great-Grandma

 Chloe's grandma, Shorty, was holding Ansley. I think Chloe got jealous. haha.

Jealous?

10 Months

Chloe, it's March 28, 2011 and you are ten months old today!

*this post is two days late because we were out of town to see family!

Naps and sleeping are going well. With the exception of a few bad days here and there, you sleep from 8pm to 8am and take a morning and afternoon nap. 

You are eating whatever we eat now. You have a 6 oz. sippy cup of formula at breakfast and dinner with your meal. You have a little formula for morning and afternoon snack (just before nap time) and then you have 2oz. of formula before bed. We are weaning you from the bedtime bottle per your pediatrician's recommendation. 

You still have 8 teeth. Your pedi says she sees a molar settling in but she doesn't think it's going to pop through the gums yet. It's too early for molars, Chloe.

I thought by now you would be standing without support; I was wrong. All in good time.

You are saying a few 'words' now. You've been saying 'yeah' for a while now but I didn't want that to be your fist word...guess it is what it is. You say 'uh oh' when you drop something. It comes out as 'oooooh' You say 'dah' for dog. I know you know what you're talking about because you will point to a dog and say 'dah.' You point at everything and want us to name it. You also say da-da and ma-ma (ma-ma only comes out when you're upset). 

Sometimes when we say something (an example would be 'what is that?), you will mimic the intonation and inflection in our voices. We've stopped dead in our tracks a few times thinking you just said a full sentence. It's amazing but you really are just repeating sounds.

I can't believe that you are so close to being a toddler! You are a fun girl, Miss Chloe. We love you.

Get Fit. Get Healthy. Week 8

First, I have to share. My sweet husband, who usually never says anything even close to mean to me, came home from work this past week. I was washing dishes and wearing some capri pants that fit me before I got pregnant. He stood there for a moment. When I asked him what was going on...he kindly informed me that the pants I was wearing were too big and not very flattering. They are now in the Goodwill pile. Kind of a back handed compliment but it MADE MY DAY! Thanks, Funky Bunch!!! XOXO


Your weight {if you don't feel comfortable sharing this, you don't have to}: 
Still sitting at 140. I would be bummed but I'm 100% sure I stayed within my calorie limits. I nervously watched the scale go up this week and then go back down. So I suspect that either/all of the following is happening: 

1. retaining water? Blast and bless the female cycles.
2. gaining muscle and losing fat
3. hit a plateau...not sure that's possible when you are working with calorie deficits.

I lean towards two because I have been working on toning/building muscle.

Your fitness challenge(s) for the week: 
Got all my weight routines in this week plus a few extra moves to work on the arms. Cardio was awesome. It's been a good week.

Your food challenge for the week: 
I'm still doing the vegetarian menu and loving it more every day! This next will be hard but that's all I can say about it. Wish me luck. I'm really going to need it.

How well did it go: 
I finally settled into the vegetarian thing. I know I've settled into it because I'm starting to crave the fruits and veggies over other things...like Big Macs and French Fries.  I'll still consider myself a flexitarian because I WILL be eating the very occasional hamburger...yummmmm. But, I love the way I feel. I've never been a big fan of cooking with meat. Makes me feel dirty. Even eating meat was difficult when I was young...I gaged on meat all the time! 

Failures and slip-ups: 
I should have had more water. Shame on me. I'm sure I'll be able to write a novel here next week. ;?

Weekly challenge wisdom: 
It's good for you to have to work hard for some things. "Consider the example of the man who found a new butterfly struggling to crawl out of its cocoon. After carefully cutting an opening and extricating the butterfly, this small beauty died. Why? Because it is the struggle to get out of the cocoon that forces blood to pump through its veins and strengthen its wings. When robbed of the struggle, the butterfly died. And so do people." ~The Diva Principle for Everyday Living

Advice to fellow GET FIT members:
Keep going. Don't quit. I know even when I don't see the results on the scale or on my body that my insides are benefiting from this. Our bodies have to have time to heal from the damage we've done to them. In my case, the weight crept up on me. Why should/would I expect it to go away over night? This takes time.

Before/After: I still have some work to do but the results thus far are promising. I'm not ready to show my stomach yet but soon. I can see a difference in my waste (haha) waist...that's the most obvious one. I can also see a difference in my legs. And if I look close, I can see that my shorts are getting baggier. 

day 1*****day20*****day 41

Undeniably a Daddy's Girl

This post should have been done back when Chloe was first born. But, now that she is older it is much easier to tell that she looks just like Mark!

There is a bit of an age difference in my photo and Mark's, but this is the only baby picture I have of him. It's still obvious.

No doubt she has traits from us both. She has my little mouth, Mark's nose and we all have blue eyes. But, I'd say she favors her dad...BIG TIME. What do you think?

Chloe

Mark

Me

Spring

Spring is here (has been for a few days now)! Chloe has no idea what to do when she's in the grass and you can tell by the look on her face. She just sits there and will sometimes pick up the leaves to inspect (or taste) them.

We had some fun this morning in the front yard. Don't you dare make fun of my daughter's hair...haha. Or the weeds in my terrible lawn.

I'm One of a Kind...

I've been doing the Get Fit. Get Healthy Challenge. I'm also doing Selfie Saturdays along with it. This week the theme for Selfie Saturdays is I Love Me. Sounds self indulgent right? Hear me out...

I've touched on this subject in the past few posts. But I'm going to do my best to sum it all up here.

Top 3 reasons for doing selfie saturdays:

1. Against my better judgement and my nature, I'm doing this to improve my photo taking skills. If taking a few photos of myself will improve my picture taking skills then so be it. Hopefully, it will be a self-esteem booster rather than a buster (which I expect). We'll see...
2. Boost my self-esteem. Lately, I've been beating myself up about my traits.
3. It's part of the Get Fit. Get Healthy challenge. I want to participate 100%. It's fun.

This project is important to me because I'm afraid to do a lot of things. Especially when I'm not very good at them. I'm intimidated to post pictures on my blog because I feel like my pictures are sub-par. Of course, the most common subject (Chloe) transends that problem. Still, I want great photos to remind me of the good times. Regarding self esteem...I want to pass on self-confidence to my daughter (and future children). Not an arrogance but a healthy self-awareness that speaks the truth. I don't want them to think they are flawless, but I want them to recognize the beauty of the flaws they have. You know the things that make us unique. Lastly, I want to create a habit of including myself in our family records. I want Chloe to look back and see who I was when she was too young to remember.

Remember, if you're not into the health part of this challenge...you can join the Selfie Saturdays without doing the Get Fit. Get Healthy. It's a fun way to play with your camera!

This week the instructions were to take a selfie holding a sign that says "I am Beautiful," write a post about why you are participating and link. So without further adieu, here is my selfie.

Made sense to me to do this selfie sans makeup. This scares the $#!t out of me.

Remember:

Normal is relative.

Most days, I think Chloe and I look nothing alike. These pictures, while unflattering of myself, say otherwise.

A Christmas Story, anyone?

See the goldfish crumbs around that cute little mouth?

Happy Sunday From Granthamania

Elena, over at Selfie Saturdays, made me sad with this post. She's right. Chloe's going to have bunch of pictures to look back at but I won't be in any. That's not my intention. So here's a family selfie we did today. Not great but it's a start in a new direction...more photos of all of us. Not just Chloe.

Happy Sunday - March 20, 2011

 We've had a busy day. Brunch, yard work, lacrosse, laundry and spring cleaning. Whew. We are tired and you can tell :)

Get Fit. Get Healthy. Week 7

Week 7:


Your weight {if you don't feel comfortable sharing this, you don't have to}:
140 (down  a disappointing 1 pound from last week) I'm really struggling with being okay with this number. Logic tells me that after losing over 15 lbs. that I should be proud. My irrational self is PISSED that I didn't get into the 130s. But I know, it will happen. I will hit my healthy weight to put my BMI at an acceptable and healthy percentage.

Your fitness challenge(s) for the week:
After missing my weight routines this week, I am determined to get them into this next week.

Your food challenge for the week:
Ah, I think a big reason for the 1 lb weight loss this week was that I started drinking diet coke again. Bad, bad, bad. Meredith made the comment that (I'm paraphrasing) that it made her feel hungrier than she should. I agree. It made me want to eat more junk.

That being said my challenge this week is to cut out the diet coke again. I'm going to continue on the vegetarian menu. I feel like it's working and I have so much energy now.

How well did it go:
I worked out really hard this week. Nothing less than 45 minutes of cardio a day. I'm starting to notice a physical difference. My back fat is nearly gone which means I'm almost ready to share my before and afters. Yippeee!

Failures and slip-ups:
Damn to hell the Cadbury Bunny and his blasted delicious eggs. I may have eaten one this week. Ok. Maybe it was two.

Weekly challenge wisdom:
Whether you think you can or think you can't - you are right. ~Henry Ford
My wonderful husband said this to me the other night when I was beating myself up. Love that man of mine.

Advice to fellow GET FIT members:
Please don't beat yourself up. I told myself negative things all week starting with the photos I took of myself for the selfie project. You have to be a positive influence in your own life before you can be a positive influence in someone elses. I (for sure) don't want Chloe growing up thinking it's okay to constantly tear yourself down. There are plenty of other people that will do that in her life time. Be your own advocate.

Your Model Eyes Selfie ( optional but strongly encouraged):

I hated this project. I pushed through it because I really need to work on having some sort of photography skills but I find it very difficult to look at picture of myself. (This goes back to my childhood when I was made fun of by someone I love for looking at myself in a mirror.) I did find it very hard to not look pissed of or crazy making model eyes. I'm pretty sure i still didn't succeed. Whatever.

Bad Luck o' the Irish?

Is it bad luck o' the Irish to pull this out of your yard on St. Patrick's Day?

I spent near two hours pulling weeds in our front yard this morning. Most of it was this lovely stuff. Our yard is in terrible shape. I blame myself. Last year was a bad year for yard work since I was pregnant in spring and Chloe made her debut in May.

This summer I vow to be better with the yard work.

I leave you with this. (I was reminded of this old clip today when I was on Facebook.) It's hilarious. And before you ask, this is a real news clip.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Fabulous Weekend

Mark had a lacrosse tournament in Houston so Chloe and I got to visit Shorty and Pop. Here are some pictures...didn't take many because we were busy and I only had my point and click.

Shorty, Pop and Chloe

About to have a num num meltdown.

My favorite LAX player...ever.

Chloe's favorite. period.

Get Fit. Get Healthy. Week 6

1.  Height: 5’9", weight: (didn't get to weigh myself today but last I checked) 141 from 144 last week

2. Your  fitness challenge(s) for this week:  Continue weight training routine. I have only been able to get 45 minutes of cardio two days a week so I'd like to find time to squeeze in cardio at least one more day a week. It's been difficult for me to get 6 days of workout...because weekends call for home improvement projects and family time with hubby.

3. Your health challenge(s) for this week: Continue on the vegetarian menu once I'm back home...visiting parents over the weekend.

4. How well did it go: I didn't eat meat all week (until last night)! I felt unbelievable. I have only had 3 diet cokes but I'm about to ruin that this weekend...and I don't care. I'm really proud that I was able to eat  no meat for more than a day. I'm not a vegetarian convert yet but I will be GREATLY reducing the amount of meat I eat. I attribute the three pound weight loss to the meatless diet. I haven't seen 141 on a scale since college and I can't wait to get to the 130s. 

5. Failures and slip-ups: I'm visiting the parents right now and have pretty much abandoned the vegetarian diet for the weekend. I'm still trying to make healthier choices but I'm trying NOT to drive my parents crazy with my OCD diet. And, I want to enjoy myself.

6. Weekly challenge wisdom:  I'm going to go back to this one: Be disciplined or get disciplined. Nothing is going to happen if you don't do it yourself...sounds cynical but it's true. Nobody can force feed you healthy food or make you workout. YOU have to do it.

 
7. Advice to fellow GET FIT members:  Don't be afraid to try something new...be it food, an exercise or a new hobby. 

8. Self Portait: Clones

haha...not very original but I was in a time crunch.

Vegetarian Recipes

I know at least one person from my Get Fit. Get Healthy. Challenge requested vegetarian recipes. I started a new blog to log the recipes I use and like. Right now they are all vegetarian recipes but it won't stay that way.

I vow to start taking pictures of the food, too. I know we all like to see pictures of what we are going to make!

The two recipes (so far):

Soft Tacos with Southwestern Vegetables
Cashew Burgers

I'd love to hear from you if you try any of the recipes I share. I would also love to test out any recipes you have that you love so please feel free to share.

Chloe Likes Being a Vegetarian

Mark and I thought our meal last night was delicious (I'll share recipes later). Chloe agreed when she had some leftovers for lunch!

Kite Festival 2011

Chloe and I joined Marisa and Gael for the 2011 Kite Festival. We went last year but Chloe was still in my tummy and Gael was only about 7 months old...if that. I had to take my point and shoot so these pictures are pretty bad but the subjects in them are just to awesome not to share.

Chloe and Gael...he's not her biggest fan. She kept trying to take his Koala bear. 

Marisa and Gael. He is a fan of the camera and was posing in this picture.

Blue Texas Sky

Love this picture and totally bummed that it's out of focus.

Her hat is sideways because that's the only way she'd leave it on.

This little girl is too big for her britches.
She insisted on feeding herself and DID NOT want me to break anything into small pieces. 

Get Fit. Get Healthy. Week 5

Week 5:
Your Height: 5' 9"

Your weight {if you don't feel comfortable sharing this, you don't have to}: 144 from 156

Your fitness challenge(s) for the week: Gym 5 time a week and pushing for a 6th day. Incorporate a total body weight routine (3xs a week) to increase metabolism and pull all the loose junk together. Mission=condense the flab!

Your food challenge for the week: Switch to all all vegetarian menu for the week? Possibly the month? We'll see. Drink 8 glasses of water a day and reduce the diet coke to 3 a week.

How well did it go: Was able to be at the gym 5 days this week for good, hard, sweat-tastic workouts! Hit my goal of being at or below 145 by the end of the week. (Although, I'm not sure where the weight came from because I'm pretty sure I look exactly the same...boo. I can tell a slight difference in my back fat...gross.) Thinking of switching to a 30 day vegetarian menu....we'll see. I'll decide by Sunday evening.

Failures and slip-ups: None. Seriously. I did everything I said I would this week. I think I may need to up the ante a little and challenge myself some more this week. I'm going to shoot for only drinking 3 sodas this week...if you know how much I love my diet Coke...you understand how impossible this will be. Bring on the caffeine headaches.

Weekly challenge wisdom: Nobody ever drowned in his own sweat. ~Ann Landers (found this on the web...it applies to so many things.)

Advice to fellow GET FIT members: Your weight loss is going to be 80% what you eat. You've heard it before...journal your food! You might be surprised to find that you are going way over or under your daily calorie needs. Mark and I were easily eating over 3000 calories a day before...I have no idea how we don't way 400 pounds. I use sparkpeople.com to log my food. I know each and everyday how many calories I consume. I also get a rough estimate of how many calories I burn so that I know my weekly calorie deficit.

**For a fantastic explanation on calorie deficit and changing your diet go to The Art of Making a Baby. She goes into a lot more detail about it.

Self Portrait, Capturing your Inner Child:

excuse my terrible photo taking skills
I was just impressed that my 28 year old ass could do this!

**added later

The Library is Fun!

Chloe has had a big day today and it's not even noon. We joined Ashauntee and Kennedy for library time. It's been awhile because Chloe and I were out of town, then we were sick and then we had her 9 month check up. But today, we jumped back in the saddle to go see our friends at the library!

I've mentioned that Chloe loves books now. Well, she was the baby that crawled over to the librarian to see the pictures. It was pretty funny. She even tapped the lady's leg so the lady would show her the book. It was precious. When it was time to sing, Chloe danced (bounced in a sitting position and bobbed her head) while she sat in front of the librarian.

After story time, the librarian told us that the fire department had stopped by for the older kids to see the truck but we were welcome to take the babies out to see, too! So we did. My friend, Ashanutee, took this picture of me and Chloe in front of the truck. Chloe has no idea how cool this is. But you see her looking off at something? She's looking at the firemen!