Well, it’s happened. My husband is no longer my Valentine.

Juliet had me send a picture to her Daddy this morning asking him to be her Valentine. He said, “of course, she didn’t even have to ask!”

Oh well. At least we had a nice 6-year run!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

*kisses*

Operation: Lose the Baby Weight (Week 4)

Previous Weight:201.0

Current Weight: 199.4 (!)

Total Weight Lost: 6.4 pounds

There’s a ONE in front of my weight! I’ll be happy to never see that pesky two in front of my weight, ever again.

Now that I’m firmly into my weight loss, I’m going to throw working out back into the mix. My sister and I are going to some simple workouts during lunch on the days when I’m in the office. And hopefully I won’t be too busy to throw in some workouts on the days that I’m home w Juliet.

Things are about to get a whole lot busier around here since little miss has now mastered rolling front to back and back to front. Sitting up unassisted is right around the corner and crawling won’t be too far behind! I guess I’ll be losing some more weight by chasing after my baby!

*kisses*

Operation: Lose the Baby Weight (Week 3)

Previous Weight: 201.4

Current Weight: 201.0

Total Weight lost: 4.8 pounds

You know, typically, I’d be upset about only losing 0.4 pounds this week. But let’s consider the week I’ve had…

• the return of a non-hormonal cycle.
• bouts of Post-Partum Depression
• um, a little thing called the Superbowl occurred and I just can’t ignore sliders and queso and cocktails.

I’m really hoping that next week I see the return of the number one in front of my weight.

*kisses*

Oscars 2012

I’m so excited for the Oscars this year! Especially since I now have third person playing for the Vines team! It’s no secret that I take the Oscars quite seriously. I play in a contest with my Aunts and their friends (and now some family too!) and every year we switch off who goes to who’s house. Last year I headed up to Pittsburgh. This year they’re headed here!

That’s right. Juliet is totally playing this year. Originally I thought she might be old enough to line up some puffs or Cheerios and whichever one she went for first would be her pick.

However, she is not yet old enough for hand to mouth feeding. So I got creative. She is fascinated by the toys hanging from her playmat. I noticed that she never goes after them full force, but will always swat at them. So I decided that for each category, I would give her 30 seconds and count how many times she swatted at the toys. If she doesn’t swat at any, then her pick is the first listed. Same goes for if she swats more times than the category has nominees. Understand?

Here she is working on the Best Supporting Actor category:

Today she’s picked the first five categories. So far she’s picked a lock AND an upset. Unfortunately she’s also picked 3 doozies.

Operation: Lose the Baby Weight (Week 2)

Previous Weight: 203.2

Current Weight: 201.4

Total Weight Lost: 4.4 pounds

If I’m being honest, the first time I stepped o n the scale this morning it read 200.6! I should have rejoiced and gone on my merry way. Unfortunately, I like to get the same number at least twice before I can believe it. Five weigh-ins later and my weight continued to read 201.4 and I never saw 200.6 again. Sadface. Maybe next week.

Still, losing 1.8 pounds this past week is pretty awesome. Especially since I didn’t work out at all. I began to feel some discomfort in my upper left leg and was worried about another blood clot. A few days rest proved that it was a strained muscle. Which is good b/c I ended up having to cancel my appointments to get my leg checked out b/c last week was crazy!

I’m going to try to do some low impact workouts this week. I’m mostly upset about my midsection so I’ve got a few different workouts earmarked that will focus on helping out with my belly.

*kisses*

Five Months

Just so happy to be five months old today! This picture was taken a mere 2 hours ago and we’ve already had to change her outfit. Never underestimate the power of a five-month-old’s spit-up!

This kiddo now weighs in at a whopping 10 pounds, 11 ounces. She officially weighs more than her cousin did when she was born!

Solids have been a success! well, for the most part. She’s had

• rice cereal
• apples
• peaches
• bananas
• carrots
• green beans
• sweet potatoes
• peas

So far she’s IN LOVE with bananas. So much so hat I actually have started to just puree up a banana every morning for her morning snack! She can take or leave all of the other foods but if you feed her bananas? She happily gulps down every spoonful!

She’s rolling over like a champ. I wish I had video of this, but she refuses to do it when the camera is on.

She’s also starting to notice her toys and this is awesome. And super cute!

I’m back at work and it’s honestly not too bad at all. Mondays and Fridays in the office actually feel a bit like a vacation since I’m not doing two jobs at once. My Dadd is having a blast keeping her on those days and I think she likes it too!

I just cannot believe five months have passed since she was born. We visited the ICN yesterday and her nurses and doctors couldn’t believe how big she was! She’s officially been out of the hospital longer than she was in the hospital! It seems like just yesterday we were there and now I’m finding it harder to remember what it was like! I never want to forget that experience, but I’m totally ok with the fuzzy memory.

*kisses*

Operation: Lose the Baby Weight (Week 1)

Previous Weight: 205.8

Current Weight: 203.2

Total Weight lost: 2.6 pounds

Not exactly the first week numbers I was hoping for, but a loss is a loss and I’ll take it!

I had forgotten just how difficult getting back into a weight loss routine can be. I spent most of last week unable to stand up without exclaiming “OW, OW, OW!” and on Saturday I couldn’t even complete my workout b/c when I went into a squat my left quad erupted in pain. I’m hoping I’ve just strained the muscle and this isn’t an indication of a bigger issue. I have an email into my vein doctor to double check that I shouldn’t be worried about clotting.

My diet was pretty on track this week. I’ve been using a calorie counting website to track my eating habits and managed to track every day last week except for Sunday. We had a potluck at church and I just didn’t know how to record the food that I ate. (I will say that I was a good girl and only made one plate of food, had one diet soda (my only all week!), and had one dessert (as opposed to a piece of every dessert!).)

I’m allowing myself to eat 1600 calories a day, which is on the high end. I’m still nursing so I want to make sure I eat enough to produce nutritious milk for Juliet. But I think I’m still on the high side of caloric intake and may knock my daily calories down to 1500.

Here’s hoping my Week 2 shows some good results! I really want to see a 1 as the first number in my weight on the scale here soon!

*kisses*

Operation: Lose the Baby Weight (Starting Point)

Everyone has a starting point in weight loss. And mine sucks.

Starting Weight: 205.8 pounds

Short-term goal: 185 pounds by April 9th

Long-term goal: 155 pounds by September 2nd. This date corresponds with our 5-year anniversary. If I hit my goal, (and I WILL) I will be back down to what I weighed when we got married.

Intermittent goals:

• Complete Jillian Michael’s 30 day Shred.
• Walk in the Blueberry Festival 5k.

I’m starting really slow. I plan to do

• Level 1 of the Shred for 30 days
• Level 2 for 30 days
• Level 3 for 30 days
• Levels 1,2, & 3 for 30 days at 10 days each.

I did my first day of Level 1 today and it seriously sucked. But it will get better.

So, onward. It only gets easier from here on out, yes?

*kisses*

Operation: Lose the Baby Weight

Thanks to my lovely blood clot and being on blood thinners, I wasn’t able to do much about dropping the baby weight. Sure, I was able to lose 37 pounds 10 days after delivery but that was ALL water weight.

I was taken off blood thinners the day after Thanksgiving. I certainly could have started exercising and eating right, but let’s face it–who wants to do that when there are so many yummy things like cheeseball and sugar cookies to eat?

Now, I’ve returned to work and I’d really like to get back into a regular routine and more importantly, back into my regular clothes! But I need a little incentive to help me work towards a goal. And while I have somewhere in the ballpark of 50 pounds to slough off, I need to start small.

Enter The 10 Pound Challenge!

I’m going to be a total overachiever and aim for losing 20 pounds!

The contest doesn’t officially begin until January 16. Check back then for my starting weight and accompanying picture. I will be posting every week about my progress. I hope this will keep me accountable!

You should join me!

I joined the 10-pound Challenge hosted by Newlyweds on a Budget. Lose 10 pounds in 12 weeks, win $$$. Are you in?

*kisses*

Four Months

12/23/2011

Another month gone. I do not understand where time goes.

Juliet had her four month well-baby check-up yesterday and here’s where she’s at:

Weight: 9 lbs, 1 oz

Height: 21 inches

A few things I find interesting about this,

• She gained 2 lbs and .5oz since her 3 month appt
• She’s 10 oz away from my birth weight
• She’s 1/2 an inch from my birth length

I cannot believe she’s so big.

Achievements:

She rolled over for the first time yesterday at the doctor’s office.

She’s found her thumb.

She got a bumbo from her Aunt Cristin for Christmas and she’s sitting so well in it!

The doctor said we can start her on solids! We’re going for it tonight with a little rice cereal and some apples mixed in.  She’s probably not going to like it and thrust it out of her little mouth but I’m so excited to try, even it means shelving it for a couple of weeks until she’s really ready to start eating solids.

Speaking of eating, I’ve had to start supplementing a bottle of formula every other bottle. I just cannot keep up with how much she eats!

She’s really settling into a routine. She’s down for a short nap mid-morning and a long nap mid-afternoon. She goes down for the night at 8 and if I hear anything out of her it’s around 2am when she needs a diaper change. But lately she’s been sleeping straight through to around 6am. This is great, obviously, but I never count on it being for real. So for now, I’m trying to make sure I sleep as much as I can when she’s asleep!

Of course, I’m not going to be able to do that for long. I go back to work in 10 days. I’ve worked it out that I’ll be working in the office on Mondays/Fridays and from home on Tuesdays/Wednesdays/Thursdays. She’s far too tiny for daycare at this point and we’re trying to wait out cold/flu/RSV season before leaving her anywhere full-time. My dadd has wonderfully agreed to watch her on Mondays/Fridays for the foreseeable future.

And let’s see…she met Santa this month too!

*kisses*