Two Months Old

Liam is 10lbs, 2oz and 23" long... oh yea... and super strong for his age. He has been rolling from belly to back since right before 5 weeks. The picture above was taken today to demonstrate his head lifting ability. He'll also stand with very little support. It's crazy.

He's only in the 10th percentile, but I have to remember that he was 6lbs 15oz at birth and got down to 6lbs 5oz, so he's trying to catch up from being so tiny from the getgo. He gained 42oz in 45 days. The doctor said he probably won't stay in the 10th for too long. Next checkup is 4 months! I might see if they'll weigh him when we go in next month for Kaylee's two year checkup.

Parents vs Teachers

Have ya heard the one where the teacher is no longer in charge and the second a special snowflake gets in trouble the parents run to the media?

Story Here

Back in my day - HA! I'm only 31...  - teachers had more control of their classrooms. Corporal punishment still existed in schools. Parents relied on "it takes a village" because if you couldn't trust your parent friends to help, then who could you trust? My parents signed the corporal punishment forms to allow it to happen. Did we ever get spanked in school? No. Because we knew if we got spanked in school, we'd get spanked at my grandmother's and then spanked at home. It was never worth it.

Guess what! I may be screwed up in the head, but it's not from being spanked. It's not from being "bullied", or as I like to call it, "picked on" in school.

So, back to the story. Mom is pissed because her special snowflake got called out. There's a few problems with this story. One is the school's side, which most likely explains that Special Snowflake has been warned over and over about not turning in homework. Notes were probably sent home. Parent/Teacher conferences were probably setup. This story has a lot of holes in it. There's no way the teacher would hand out an "award" like that if it wasn't a running joke that Special Snowflake never did her homework. There's no way the teacher would hand out an "award" like that if Mom hadn't been notified numerous times. So, MOM, where have YOU been? Not once do you mention how disappointed you are in Special Snowflake that she's so irresponsible.

I'm sorry, but if you have already lost control of your EIGHT year old, you have bigger problems than them being humiliated - correction - called out.

Dear Parents, Stop babying your Special Snowflakes and teach them about responsibility. Hovering over your kid is just as bad as not being involved. There's a fine line, but I bet if you try, you can figure it out. This subject grates on my nerves. However, if you choose not to parent your child, just know that my kids are going to rule the world because apparently they will be the only ones left on Earth with any real life skills.

Walking.. continued

I've mapped out a route in my neighborhood for 3 miles. My mom was in town today, so I have to go at her pace, but overall, I think she did pretty well. We walked the lake (3 miles) and around a few blocks (1 mile), then today, we went down every cul-de-sac and around a few blocks which was almost 2 miles. Tomorrow is a Zumba day, plus Liam's TWO MONTH checkup and lunch with an old friend, so my day is pretty full and probably won't allow for walking around the block. But, doing something everyday has felt great.... Now if my ankle would hurry up and get better, I could jump and hop during zumba and make my workout even better. Thankfully, my knee is doing good. If I just don't fall out of my front door again, I think I'll be good. LOL

PS: I can't believe Sir Piglet Benjamin Button is two months old already! I weighed him today and the scale said he was almost 11 pounds. That's what Kaylee weighed at SIX months. He's trying to move into 3-6 month clothes. I'm uber sad about that. He's growing so fast :(

Weight Loss Challenge

Things are going well all things considered. I'm truckin' along as far as my exercise, diet and weight loss are concerned. I started at 180 and am down to 161 as of today. Most of that has got to be from nursing and diet. I never really lost weight with zumba when I was doing that before, however my body shape was changing for the better, which is one of the reasons I keep going.

Next big goal is 135. That's how much I weighed when I started dating Brian. If I get there and can't lose anymore, I think I'll be fine. But, my ultimate goal is still 120, which for my height is considered a healthy BMI. I could down as far as 110, but I'm not sure I want to be that little. 120 is what I was in high school.

I plan to take up to a year to lose all of the weight, so 10 months to go. That's about 4lbs a month.

As far as my workout plan, I've been trying out walking with the kids. I've done the lake twice. The first time took me an hour an a half to walk 3 miles while pushing the stroller against the wind. That was hard. The second time, I wrapped Liam on my and pushed a single stroller. Much better. Only took an hour then. However, the track is crushed granite, which makes for a bumpy ride. So, we tried walking around the neighborhood on the sidewalk. I think this is how I'll do it. Plus, that means I won't have to drive anywhere.

Current work out plan:
Mondays - walk 2-3 miles
Tuesdays - Zumba
Wednesdays - walk 2-3 miles
Thursdays - Zumba (until July 4th..)
Fridays - walk 2-3 miles
Saturdays - Zumba
Sundays - walk 2-3 miles

Lots of cardio. I'm not ready for weights. But, come September, I hope to join the gym and do that. If I get ready before then, I'll just take my hand weights to zumba. That'll kick my butt... haha 

Happy Baptism, Liam!

While I'm not very religious, everyone else in our families are. Brian's family is Lutheran and my side is Baptist. Lutherans baptize babies and Baptists wait until the kid knows what the heck they are getting into... usually around late elementary to middle school.

I don't really see any problems with baptisms. A little water on the head (or in Baptists case, a nice little dunk) won't hurt. And what if I'm wrong about not being sure about things? At least my kids are covered. Technically, even I'm covered... I was baptized at 8. 

Anyway, here's a few pictures from today's event. The outfit Liam is wearing is what Brian wore when he was baptized. It barely fit! Like, if we waited another week, it wouldn't. Eeek! I didn't get any good pictures of him in it, so I'll have to try again tomorrow when there's less going on. 

 

Walking...

While soaking my bum knee and ankle in the tub, I decided that along with Zumba 2-3 times a week, I needed to start walking more than just around the block every now and then. I try to do that daily, but sometimes the day just doesn't start out well enough for me to get going before it's too hot.

While contemplating, I remembered I live right behind Pfluger Lake. DUH. With a 3 mile trail. This means, once I get going, I can't just stop and go back to the truck... I'd have to finish all 3 miles because the only other way back is to swim, which would prove to be difficult with a toddler, infant and a double stroller.

I will admit... I'm scared of taking this on. Not really because my knee and ankle are messed up (thank you front door step for jumping out in front of me and tripping me...), but because I'm tired. Really, really tired. While doing zumba, I feel like I'm going in slow motion. I miss a lot of the steps and am winded by the first few songs. I don't think I've ever been this out of shape. But, I'm hoping the walking will help boost my energy levels a bit. I do have an intense zumba class tomorrow as well, so that'll be a lot of exercising, but Friday - Sunday will be kind of off limits.

My mom is coming into town sometime Friday. We have a birthday party that pretty much lasts all day Saturday. And Sunday is Liam's baptism. I will probably stay away from the lake on Monday as well because it's Memorial Day and people think that's the perfect day to go to the lake. Ugh. Tuesday, however is my next zumba class, so tomorrow will be a good judge on whether I can handle 3 miles plus zumba all in the same day.

On top of boosting my energy for Zumba, I'm hoping it boosts my energy for just the day. Today, I won the "Mom of the Year Award" and I still feel guilty. I put Kaylee down for her nap around 1:45-2. She typically will sleep anywhere from 2-3 hours. At the same time, I try to get Liam to go to sleep so I can take a nap as well. Around 3pm, that happened... so I let myself fall asleep. Remember how my monitor broke? Yea.. so I woke up at 6:45p. My poor kid was stuck in her dark room for almost 5 hours. She was ok.. she was just playing in there.. no crying or panic that I could tell, but she was thirsty. That also means that Liam took a REALLY long nap as well... which means my night should be fun. Here's hoping he's going through a growth spurt and still sleeps tonight. Eek!

Am I Ready?

It's been almost a year since I signed off of the community I was involved with for almost 2 years. I went through a horrible pregnancy with them and then right as I got pregnant a second time, I had a break down that led me to sign off. This pissed some of my friends off. Some of whom I still hear from, others who just wrote me off.

Liam is now 7 weeks old. And things are calming down. He nurses on a more regular schedule and I'm able to sleep 5 or so hours the first stretch of the night if I go down when he does... then 2-3 hours at a time after that until we're up for the day. After that, I can wear him while I play with Kaylee.

Kaylee will be 2 next month. She has her own personality with her own opinions that she expresses any chance she gets. But there's those times when she says "Hug you?!?" and "Back!" so that she can rub my back. And it never fails when she rubs my back does to reach around for a hug. It's such a sweet moment to know that this kid really does love me, even after telling her no all day...

While I was on that forum, I made 2 trips to meet people. I've also met people here in Austin, whom I still get together with, just not during the normal "meetups." Those people I've met are the ones I miss. So, do I go back? There are certain people that really hurt me there, but that also came at a time when the emotions and hormones were running high. There are certain people who told me the truth, which I needed to hear... but at the same time, I can never look at them the same again.

So, dear internet... do I go back and reconnect with those people I miss? Do I do it openly? Or hide my identity and only reveal it to them?

For the record, I did try to log back on a few months ago, but my account was never approved, so I don't even know if they are allowing new members on the board... or, did the moderators (part of that circle of friends) recognize my email address and decide they didn't want me back? I don't know...

At the same time... this place was a time suck. I found myself online when I should have been hanging out with Kaylee. So, I guess if I do this, maybe I need to assign myself some "rules" and stick to them. Ugh. I apparently have too much time on my hands... Maybe I need to find a new hobby I can do with the kids.

Potty Training.... Day Two...

I'm giving up. I was going to try and do this all week, but only if there was progress. I thought today was going better, but I was wrong. She waited 2 hours before she went pee this morning - which was an accident, but after that, we had zero hits and lots of accidents within a few minutes of each other. And it's not like little accidents, she just gushes all over the floor. She isn't ready... I'm very confused as to what "ready" means. She had plenty of the recommended signs.. but this isn't working. Nowhere close.

I don't see how people do this with carpet. There won't be any signs of what we went through the last two days because I have tile. I feel for those parents who aren't as lucky...

Potty Training... Day One

The night before I was to start this wonderful adventure, my monitor stopped working. UGH. So, I was unable to hear when Kaylee first woke up. I can hear her through the wall of our office, but usually the monitor picks up her first sounds... So, I probably missed the opportunity to get up with her. I sent Brian out to get another monitor, but for some reason he came back empty handed. Joy. After Day One, I decided if she doesn't take to this by day 4, we're going to take a break for a few weeks...

Day One:
I went and got Kaylee as soon as I heard her. It was 8:45am, so a little later than she normally wakes. I took her diaper off and explained that she wouldn't be wearing one today because we were going to learn to use the potty. She seemed excited at that moment, but unfortunately, that faded.

We started out in the living room, where a lot of her "morning" toys are. But, quickly moved right next to the bathroom after she proceeded to pee 5 times in a 10 minute period. I was surprised how often she was peeing, but she does drink a ton of milk in the morning... 2, sometimes 3 cups.

Once we got closer to the bathroom, she would tell me after she started going "Mess!" I explained that yes, it was a mess, but the mess was pee and we need to pee in the potty. I'd set her up there and sing a little potty song. The frustrating thing was she would sit there for 5-10 minutes and ask to get down. No sooner does her little feet hit the ground does she pee... "Mess!"

By 11am, she stopped saying mess and started calling it peepee. It's a move in the right direction anyway. By 1pm, she had peed on the toilet 3 times. I lost count as to how many times she peed on the floor. She was also losing the excitement she first had. Getting her to sit on the toilet became a bit of a challenge. She was not happy about it. We were both exhausted, so much so she asked to go take a nap. Poor kid..

While all this was going on, I was trying to juggle Liam. Thankfully, he's eating about every 2-3 hours, so he mostly just stayed wrapped on me or in his pack-n-play sleeping/playing. It was difficult to nurse him while trying to get her to the toilet in time though. Unfortunately since Liam wasn't really awake most of the morning, he didn't want to nap when Kaylee napped... which means *I* didn't get to nap when Kaylee napped. Boo.

After naptime, we started again. However, she doesn't drink a whole lot in the afternoons. We had one accident, but no hits on the toilet. Bummer. Brian was late getting home and I just couldn't push any further with it, so I gave her a bath and put her to bed about 30 minutes early. Then went and washed the sweat and pee off of me. Ahhh.. the joys of parenthood.


Am I doin' it rong? Or is this normal? Or is just showing signs of not really being ready? Or is it just too early to tell? I haven't read any negative comments about quick training... do those just get deleted to give parents like me a false sense that she should have been taking herself to the toilet by the end of the day?

Zuuuuumba! Zuuuumba!

Finally! I can exercise again. And I have been. And it's been glorious. Brian and I have worked out a schedule so I can work out 3 times a week. This week, I'll only go twice but that's because I decided to go to a free orchid care class that happens to fall at the same time as my class. That's ok though because yesterday's class kicked my butt. I'm actually sore today, which normally doesn't happen with zumba. Too bad this isn't a free class, or I would totally be going to this instructor more often.

So, as it stands... my free classes are Tuesdays and Saturdays. These are open to anyone, so let me know if you want to come and I'll PM you the address/times. I bought a LivingSocial zumba class, which was the one that killed me, so I'll get to go to that 7 more times by July 4th. After that, I'll probably switch to my neighborhood's zumba class, which is Mondays. Unfortunately, it costs $5, but that's still better than a gym membership.

Speaking of... I do plan to get one, just not until September. Kaylee will start going to school twice a week. One of those days, Liam will go to swim lessons. If I'm able to swing it, I'll go work out both days during the day. If not, then Brian and I will just need to come up with a revised schedule so I can go in the evenings.

I'm trying to walk around the block once a day. It's really all Liam will let me do. But at least it's something.

My final pregnancy weight was 180. UGH. I've never been that heavy and it really put a strain on my body. After I had Liam, I literally just lost his birth weight. A week later, I was down to 165, where I stayed for several weeks. I'm finally starting to see some movement in the scale though. I'm down to 162. Will I make it back down to 120? I don't know... but Brian got a new grill and is loving it, so here's to fresh grilled veggies and meat. :) I've cut way back on my carbs and only eat ice cream as my dairy. I know.. not the healthiest, but me giving up ice cream is like giving up water...

Next Week... We Stay In...

Over the last week, Kaylee has started to tell me when she is about to go... except, I didn't put two and two together until yesterday. Every time she said it, I would check her and she was clean. Then 10 minutes later, I'd have to change her.

So, I've been reading up on how to do this whole potty training thing. Nowhere does it explain how to do this with a 6 week old baby. LOL But, I'm going to give it a go. I have heard of a book called Toilet Training in a Day or something like that, but I never got around to ordering it. I've found similar info online though.

The good thing is our house is mostly tile, so I plan to roll up the rugs so if/when there's an accident, I won't have that added bonus.

I don't have any plans next week until Saturday, so I'm hoping to start first thing Monday morning.

Any tips?

Picture Update!

I painted Kaylee's toes for the first time a few weeks ago... it was mostly a success. Not as pretty/clean as I would like them.. hehe

Sleeeeeeeeping baby :)

First bottle! Love the face of "What the heck is this thing??"

Tiny fingers

This is how I found Kaylee right after lunch.

Happy Mother's Day! Brian got me the orchid on the left. I may have a new obsession...

We are back into the "cute" baby category. Sir Piglet Benjamin Button was scaring me there for a bit.

Provoked smiles!! I love it...

Epic Park.. I think she likes it!

Not sure how I got so lucky....

Daddy playing with Kaylee at the EPIC PARK.

A daddy decision: His Papa gave her an ice cream sandwich. At 10am.

Stuck at an Aggieland graduation... Never felt so scared.. hahaha Kaylee clapping for her Aunt Ashley.

He's always looking for me.

The inlaws!

Se Habla Espanol?

Not in this household....

You would think being a border state that the majority of Texas would know Spanish. The truth of the matter is they don't start teaching it until middle school. And even then, you just have 1 class for the whole 3 years. When you get to high school, you just need 2 credits (2 classes).

Spanish is so prevalent in Texas though because of the immigrant population. Thankfully, Brian and I have agreed to give our kids the leg up. I just ordered my first language from Rosetta Stone. And if things go well, I hope to order at least one more that will be geared towards the tech industry - so probably an Asian language. The younger the kids are, the better they'll pick this up. We hope this works out because we certainly can't rely on our school system to teach our kids life skills - they are too busy teaching a standardized test.

I'm so excited! I hope I can pick up Spanish better. I can understand a good bit, but I can't speak or write it.

Productive Weekend

It's amazing what can be accomplished when you only have one child....

My house isn't perfectly clean, but it's a heck of a lot better than it was a few days ago. The backyard has been mowed and edged as well. I'm content with how things are at the moment. So much so that Liam and I went to Home D. to shop for plants. I want to get my garden going, but the weekends are filling up quickly, so I just don't think it's going to happen, so I'm going to grow a few things in containers. I got some sandwich tomatoes and cherry tomatoes as well as some strawberries. I have basil (which I'll get to in a moment), but I wanted rosemary and oregano. Brian wants to feed the birds, so I got a couple of bird feeders. I also wanted some flowers to put at the front door so my "Do Not Disturb" sign isn't as pissy. It's seriously just for the solicitors though. I'm so over it. Anyway.... on to the basil.

My bathroom has a good size frosted-like window. It gives off great filtered light. This is where I decided my orchid would live. And with that decision, I now have an orchid with 20 blooms on it. It's AWESOME. Because the orchid was doing so well, I planted some basil in a tupperware bowl and stuck it up there too. Next thing I knew, I had to move the bugger outside because it exploded into this huge plant!

The week we brought Liam home, I was getting antsy, so while my mom wrangled the toddler and the baby slept, I went outside and chopped the basil down. I threw it in my food processor with a little EVOO, then packed it into ice cube trays. I now have fresh-frozen basil.

Today, I decided I would try it out and see how well it worked. The basil plant has exploded again and I wanted to see if my effort was worth it. So, I tossed a cube in the pan with some squash and garlic and a touch more oil for the veggies. It was glorious! This is now my new favorite thing. I hope to build some flower boxes along my bay window so I can plant more basil. The reason is because one plant makes about 6 ice cubes worth of non-nut pesto and if this becomes my new thing, I'm going to need a lot more.

Design help needed...

I can do graphic/web design, but when it comes to interior design, my mind wants to explode with all the possibilities.

So, I ask you, Internet. (ok really, the 3 people who read this... haha).... I have a powder room I want to decorate. The inspiration is a plate I received from my step-brother a few years back of the Brussel's Mannekin pis. Appropriate, right? LOL The twist is, I want the bathroom to be elegant. The plate is small -- size of your hand and I'd probably want to hang it right over the toilet so it'll reflect in the mirror. The plate is white with the black design.

Any links would be greatly appreciated. I've been thinking about this for weeks now and haven't figured anything out yet.

Liam.... stop it!

Ok, so the constant nursing was a pain, but you've finally leveled out and can go a few hours without being attached to me. You still have a problem with me putting you down, but we're workin' on that.

However.

Over the last 24 hours, you grew out of your NB PJs and are workin' real hard on the onesies. I do not approve. Your big sister was in NB clothes well into 3 months. You, my dear, are only 5 weeks old. But, you didn't stop there. Apparently, you are an overachiever like your sister because not only do I have to put the NB clothes away, I also have to stop leaving you on the bed unattended (typically smack in the middle.. don't worry, I'm not completely nuts)... because you rolled over last night. Not once, but twice. Your sister did this fairly early as well, but not this early.

If you are crawling at 4 months, like I did when I was a baby, I'm going to cry. That is all.

Hahaha :)~

PS: thanks for letting me clean the house and mow/edge the yard. I feel much better now.

Best Idea Evaaaar

I've been hearing a lot of buzz about the Play for All Park for probably the last 5 months or so. Today, I finally got the courage to go. By myself. With both kids. At 10am.

Let me explain why my plan was not executed very well. First of all... a very common "get together" time for moms groups is..... TEN AM. This place was crawling with kidlets, moms and strollers. Second of all... I had my Civic, which means putting a double stroller in there would require taking off some of the parts. It fit, damnit! But it took some pushing and prodding. :)~ Lastly, I was not prepared to deal with so many mentally challenged kids. Don't get me wrong, I was as nice as I could be. But, if they don't understand you, it's a little difficult to not grab your child and run away if they won't stop hitting/pushing/telling her no for no reason. It is a park for everyone and I hope I can learn how to communicate with them with the help of the teachers that bring the kiddos there.

So, this will be an educational experience for all involved. This place is awesome though. Everything is well laid out. There's a huge playscape that is every child's dream. There's a sand pit, which I hate, but whatever - we just won't play in it. There's tetter totters and things to climb, musical instruments and even a "town" for them to explore grocery stores and libraries, etc etc.

Now that I have ventured out there, I hope to make this a weekly occurrence. It's a great way to run Kaylee's little legs off, allow her to learn different things, including playing with others. The trick is to go super early to beat the crowds.  Plus, summer is starting, so by 11:45, it was HOT. I need to also bring extra milk and water and maybe some snacks.

Maybe I Can Do This...

It's 2pm. Kaylee has been asleep for about an hour. The baby has been asleep for about 30 minutes. It's the little things....

In those 30 minutes, I've cleaned up the garage a little bit and am about to finish putting the DVDs in the media cabinet since while in the garage, I found the shelf holders! Rock on :) Now on to emptying out another box....

Today we went to the splash pad with my next door neighbor. The girls had a blast. Kandi and I got to chat and laugh at the kids. Good times. After naptime, we're all headed to the Pflugerville Pfarmers Market. I have $50 I can spend on produce this month there and I'm so excited! That should go a LONG way...