McFatty Monday..

I have been following this blog for a while and she started this check-in called McFatty Monday. I didn't read her blog in time to do the check-in on Monday last week so I guess this is my official first one.

Things went really well last week on the weight loss front. I stayed on track with my eating every day (even over the weekend). I even ate at the food court in the mall without giving in to the free samples or giant slices of pizza. I had Quiznos instead. I have worked out on five of the last seven days on the Wii Active. I have already noticed that my endurance has improved.

We're starting a workout challenge at work and we can earn time off for logging in a certain number of hours. I'm excited about having a place to track my workouts..and I love time off! ;)

Total weight loss this week: 2lbs.

Weight loss update..

In my professional pictures post about a month ago I whined about needing to lose a lot of weight (at least 60 lbs). As of two days ago, I have started the process. I am doing the Wii Active 30 Day Challenge and making much better eating choices. We purged the pantry, fridge, and freezer of all the junk and we loaded up on the good stuff. I already feel like we're in a nice little routine and I don't see us having any problems sticking with it. Luckily I have a very supportive husband who loves to eat healthy and exercise..(5 years ago, you would have never thought he would be that way).

I went back and did some research on Sparkpeople to remind myself of what I was eating every day when I lost weight the first time. I like to eat the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day. It makes things easier and I don't have to calculate calories for something new every day. Here's what my work day meals look like:

Breakfast:
Whole wheat, low carb cinnamon swirl bagel
1 tbs of fat free strawberry cream cheese..I might mix it up next week and do 1tbs of peanut butter instead to get some protein in early
Water with a Crystal Light Focus or Energy packet shaken in

Snack:
Small apple
1tbs peanut butter

Lunch:
Turkey and cheese sandwhich with light miracle whip and 2% cheese (I can't remember the bread name brand but it's Honey Wheat Light and only 40 calories a slice)
String cheese
Sugar free chocolate pudding

Snack:
"Cutie" orange
Sugar free applesauce if I'm still hungry

I'm not using Sparkpeople because I already know that these were good meals and snacks from last time.

We turned our study into a playroom and moved the Wii into there also. After dinner, Mario and I take turns working out and playing with Caroline. We're all in the same room together and she thinks it's funny to watch us run in place, etc. Being a working mom, it's important to spend as much time in the evenings with Caroline as possible. I think we've come up with a good solution.

I would love to hear from other moms that are trying to lose weight. The more vocal we are about doing this, the harder it is to fail.

Wordless Wednesday

9 months!!

This is a little late but it's almost impossible to find time to write a blog at home anymore. Caroline is fast..and wants to get into everything! Let's see if I can remember what's new since the last time I posted..I should start keeping a list.

• She's crawling..fast!
• She just started pulling up on things
• She runs in her walker
• She says mama, dada, papa (for food), baba, and a swear she says some version of what's that
• She has really been testing out her voice lately..she loves to scream (not out of anger, but out of excitement)
• She is becoming more friendly with strangers again and "shows off" for them
• Her face is so expressive..it's too funny
• She is more brave about not wanting to do things..she'll arch her back and get mad..this has made diaper changes more difficult..she wants to twist and turn the whole time
• She's still sleeping in the bed with us..I don't know when that's going to end..we didn't even try to put her in the crib over Christmas break like we had planned
• She's eating more solid foods but we still give her purees
• She's getting better at using a sippy cup
• She can hold her bottle and sometimes prefers that to having us feed her
• For baths, she sits in the tub and she loves it!

Now for the pictures.

38 weeks, Christmas, and 39 weeks

I haven't blogged lately because we did a lot of traveling for Christmas. We went down to Pearsall on the 22nd, drove back home the night of the 24th, did Christmas at our house then my parent's house on Christmas morning, then drove to Houston that afternoon. We got back home Sunday evening then decided we needed to turn the study into a playroom. Our house looks like a toy store!

Let's see, what's new with Caroline? She started saying dada and mama last week. Dada was her offficial first word..boo. Ever since we got back from driving all over the place, she has had major separation anxiety! She only wants to be around me! Any time I leave the room she cries "mama mama." She doesn't even want to play with toys unless I'm on the floor playing with her. If I'm standing, she tries to climb up my leg. I hope she doesn't have a hard time when she goes back to daycare on the 4th. I'll post more of what she's been up to in her 9 month post on (or around) Thursday!!

Here are some pictures..

37 weeks!!

Caroline has now been "on the outside" as long as she was "on the inside." I can't believe it. Time has definitely gone by much faster with her on the outside!

Parenting moves to a whole new level when your baby becomes mobile. Caroline never really rolled or scooted across the room..she would pretty much just stay where we put her and play with toys. Now that she's crawling, we have to chase her everywhere. She doesn't want to play with toys anymore, she wants to play with computer cords, the blinds on the back door, the dog's water bowl, electrical outlets, etc. It's time to baby proof!

It really is fun watching her crawl. She's definitely enjoying her newly found independence. Now she wants to try to pull up on everything. She hasn't quite mastered it yet..she can pull up to her knees but she hasn't figured out how to get onto her feet. I have a feeling that's coming very soon though.

Our next parenting goal is to get her sleeping in her crib again. She started from day 1 in the pack-n-play in our room and started sttn (sleeping through the night) at 8 weeks. At around 5.5 months we moved her to her crib and she did well in there for about a month, then she started waking up every few hours. We got lazy and started just bringing her to our bed when she would wake up because in our bed she was sttn. After a few weeks of that, we started just putting her in our bed from the start. She sleeps great in our bed..but we don't! We woke up yesterday and she was sideways with her head digging into my ribs and her feet digging into Mario's ribs. We've decided that we really need to make the move back to the crib sooner rather than later. Last night we put her to bed in her crib and she lasted until about 3:30, when we got lazy again and brought her to our bed. I'll let you know how it goes tonight.

I almost forgot..she's now "dancing." She rocks back and forth when she hears a song she likes..it's too cute!

Now for the pictures..

Professional Pictures..

The rest of our professional pictures came in today. I love them! Libby did a great job!

Honestly though, this is motivation to get my butt in gear and get this baby weight (and pre-baby weight) off!! I'm going to wait until after the holidays because I really don't want to set myself up for failure by starting now but I wanted to put this out there to help hold myself accountable. I was very successful at losing weight for my wedding and I did it the healthy way (eating right and exercising) so I know it can be done again. I feel like the more people I tell, the harder it is to get off track.

Anyway, like I said, I love the pictures! I would love to book another session with Libby when I'm 60 lbs smaller.

Here are some of my favorites..I didn't post them all because I want our Christmas card pictures to be a suprise.