Prayers Please

My sister's best friend has a beautiful 2 year old girl named Morgan who desperately needs your thoughts and prayers at the moment.  She has been in the hospital for almost a month now fighting to get her kidneys to work.  Unfortunately it looks as though things are taking a turn for the worst.  Please send up positive thoughts and prayers to this sweet princess in the hopes that she will recover.

Cute Clothes Galore!

I am officially addicted to this thredUP site now. They have the absolute cutest clothes on there for C. I wanted to share a few that I bought for her recently.

 

 

They're all 18-24 months so she can't wear any till next year but I'm still so excited for when she'll be able to fit into them.  She is going to be one cute kid!!  I didn't pay more than $5.50 for any of the outfits I bought.  In fact the skirt was only $3.99.  I can get cheaper prices at Goodwill but it's very hit-or-miss at that place.  Sometimes I'll find lots of great things and other times I won't be able to find anything in her size.  I'm debating about whether to order anything for myself.  I prefer to try my clothes on before I buy because things seem to never look good on me.  Though hopefully in a few months I'll be needing a new wardrobe.  I've already lost 3 pounds for the Healthywage challenge and 6 pounds have been shed from my all-time highest weight.  Let's hope we keep rolling downhill on those numbers :)

Becoming Her Own Person

Over the past few months C has transformed from a tiny crying baby to a chubby little person.  She has SO much personality and it's awesome to watch her grow.  She's stubborn and very strong willed.  Some of her habits concern me while others are just adorable.  Her birthmom said she was a thumb sucker till she was about 12 so we weren't surprised when C started to go that route.  In the past month she went from only sucking her thumb during sleep (and only on her tummy) to sucking it all.the.time.  Honestly we're not concerned, even though people constantly remind us about the dangers to her not-yet-there teeth.  Our birthmom sucked her thumb and had perfect teeth while Brandon was never a thumb sucker and has horrible teeth.  I feel it has more to do with genetics than anything else.  Besides, we offer a pacifier but it just falls out and she's not at the point where she can get it back into her mouth on her own.  The hand-thumb coordination however is spot on.

Another thing we've noticed is that C does not like strangers.  At all.  We thought this "stranger danger" phase wouldn't appear till around 9 months but it started at 3 and she hasn't shown any signs of changing her mind about people.  She's always been such a serious baby from the beginning but just a smile and a wave from a stranger can cause her to cry hysterically.  I'll admit that it bothers me a bit.  I don't feel comfortable leaving her with a baby-sitter or childcare provider, though I've used drop-in daycare twice when I had to.  It's hard to tell strangers, especially older folks, out in public to please not interact with my daughter.  I'm thinking about buying her a onesie that says "Don't make eye contact with me.  I consider it a sign of aggression."  I'm just kidding.

But seriously.

I have found that she prefers to sit quietly in my lap or her car seat and just observe the people around her.   After that she will sometimes interact with people and sometimes she'll just flip out.  I guess it depends on her mood.  I'm still trying to figure her out and trying to decide whether to schedule 6 month pictures or not.  Because paying for pictures of a screaming baby doesn't really seem worth it. 

We started her on baby food a week ago right at around 5 months.  We did pureed avocado that I made and she really enjoyed.  Unfortunately I think we let her have too much (about 2-3 tablespoons at a feeding) because the blowouts and subsequent diaper rash were HORRIBLE.  So after three days we stopped the baby food and went back to strictly formula.  Now we're back to giving oatmeal cereal with her formula and trying to combat the diaper rash and runny poop that doesn't seem to end.  I'm hoping that if things ever get back to "normal" in that region that we'll try baby food again.  This time it would be sweet potatoes.

10% Challenge: Day 1

Today is the first day of my HealthyWage 10% challenge. I signed up earlier this week but because my weight had to be verified I just got around to doing it today. I found that none of the health clubs nearby wanted to weigh me in and I was too impatient to make a doctor appointment. So Brandon and I uploaded our video verifications today.  I have to lose 20.9 pounds in 6 months.  If I lose the weight early I just have to keep losing or maintain the weight, I cannot weigh out early.  I can, however, weigh out up to 2 weeks before the 6 month period is up.  Unfortunately I'll still have to get through the Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays first so I have to be extra careful not to derail my progress.

I plan to start exercising this week by walking.  I had been dieting and exercising for a few weeks and already lost 3 pounds (that don't count toward the 10%) but on Friday I pinched a nerve in my back.  It was so painful that I could barely walk or pick up C.  Brandon was had been out of town all week, only a few hours away, but he was able to come home early and my friend stopped by to help take care of C while I went to the chiropractor.  It was my first time going and I was a bit skeptical but by Saturday morning I was feeling 100% better.  I still want to give my back a break for a few more days though.

Brandon has been super supportive and is doing the challenge with me.  He is technically overweight so he can stand to lose about 20 pounds to get back to a healthy BMI.  As for me, I would have to lose 55 pounds to get to a healthy BMI but right now I just want to get the first 20 off.  If anyone is interested in joining the challenge with me, check out the HealthyWage website (and I did my research, they are legit) and use referral code 7487033078.  For every person I refer my prize goes up by $20 but if I don't reach my 10% goal then I get NOTHING!  So referrals give me a greater motivation to succeed!!  I've decided that I'm going to spend my $150 winnings on a new wardrobe while Brandon wants to spend his on an e-reader or tablet.  It won't be easy but we're prepared to go the distance.  Wish us luck!!!!

Awesome deal on ThredUP!

Ok moms, this deal is too good to not share. Visit thredUP and get $10 off your first purchase. It's like an online consignment store for nice name brand clothes. You can sell on there too but you don't have to. The discount doesn't apply to shipping so make sure you spend all $10 on clothing or it's kind of a waste. Shipping is $2.98 for the first item and $.99 for every item after that. Spend $50 and the order ships for free. I spent $3.98 on shipping and got these two nice outfits for C but in hindsight I realized that it's best to buy one outfit for $10, that way you only pay $2.99 for shipping. Still, that's just as good as finding them at Goodwill!! And if parents or grandparents want to take advantage of the deal, even better :)  If you don't have kids, don't worry, they do sell women's clothing on there as well.  Sorry men, you're out of luck though.

5 Months Old and Other Updates

C is just a few days away from turning 5 months and I'm left wondering where the time went.  It seems that overnight she went from being a serious baby with a furrowed eyebrow to a happy squealing infant.  Her best buddy is still Oso (by a long shot) but Brandon and I can get her to laugh and smile as well.  We introduced her to the exersaucer which she hated at first but has now become her favorite toy.  She's rolling over both ways and trying very very hard to crawl.  But while her legs know what to do she doesn't seem to realize that her arms need to be involved.  So instead her legs will be doing the army-crawl while she sucks on her arm or thumb.  Speaking of thumb, C has become a champion thumb-sucker, just like her birthmom was when she was a kid.  I have to admit, seeing C laying on her tummy with her thumb in her mouth just melts my heart.  I love this little girl so much.

We plan to start solid foods in the next couple weeks so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.  I have a baby food maker and plan to start with mushed avocados, then sweet potatoes.  After introducing a couple veggies I'll start with fruits, maybe peaches or pears.

I'm trying to work on losing some fat.  My weight has hit an all-time high and therefore my self-esteem has hit an all-time low.  One of my bucket list items was to climb Mount Fuji by my 35th birthday.  Since the birth of C I've had to re-think that goal and find something that's equally challenging but a little closer to home.  So I've decided to run a half marathon.  This is going to be particularly difficult for me considering I've never ran in my life, let alone 13 miles.  But I've got 2-3 years to do it.  I'd like to run in the Disney Princess Half-Marathon in February 2015 but I could get it pushed back to 2016 and it will still be before my 35th birthday.  Today I walked on the treadmill for 70 minutes (60 at an incline) and I feel like I accomplished quite a bit.  My goal is to run a 5k this fall, a 10k next year and then the half-marathon after that.  It's going to require some serious dedication and I'm hoping that I can find a few close friends and family members to support me and give me that "push" that I need when things get rough.

Also this week my friend Sarah is helping me to host my first Pampered Chef party.  It's the online catalog version so if you're a fan of PC products and would like to place and order you can follow the link here.  Orders can be placed through June 9th.   

As you can tell, life around our house has been pretty quiet.  A year ago that would have bothered the heck out of me and I would be making plans for a new vacation or hobby.  Today, however, I'm perfectly fine with quiet :)