Shapin' Up and Slimmin' Down (and maybe a little venting)

I lost 1.4 pounds this week. However, since I gained 1 pound last week, I technically only lost 0.4lbs.

OK, I need to vent. I've been eating right and exercising since the beginning of November. Considering we're 2 days away from the beginning of April, that's FIVE months!!! How much have I lost altogether in 5 months?? Thirteen pounds! That averages out to about 2 1/4 lbs lost PER MONTH....which is about half a pound per week. I feel like I'm eating healthier than I ever have in my life, and working out really well, and it's just made me a little down this week. Spring is quickly approaching, and I would love to bust out my capri pants, but they don't fit....or at least not well. I thought by this point I would see better results I guess. I'm really having a hard time losing belly weight. I'm just really feeling frustrated this week, and felt like getting real on my blog. Sorry for the pity party :)

Shapin' Up and Slimmin' Down

I forgot to post yesterday! I purposely didn't post last week because we were in Longview from Thursday through Sunday, and I didn't want to weigh in using a different scale because it wouldn't be accurate (in my opinion), but I did weigh in yesterday, and sadly I went up a pound. :( I blame it on my monthly visitor arriving which makes me want chocolate and junk food. I've given in a couple times (like right now as I just finished eating Whataburger). All I can do is do better next week. I still have 15 pounds that I want to lose before summer....and that's creeping up on us so quickly!!

Look Whooo Is 6 Months Old!! (Updates Added 3/20/14)

I know I say this every month, but how in the world is this sweet girl already 6 months old?? Time with her is flying by way too quickly! At 6 months, so many things happen! Babies can start eating solids (if they haven't already), you can give Motrin, babies can start taking swim lessons (which we're looking into starting very soon), babies can go into babysitting centers at gyms, and so much more. I feel like 6 months signifies babies moving from being tiny infants to becoming bigger babies (I don't really know a better description). I definitely don't think of her as a tiny infant anymore. In one way, it makes me sad, but in another way, I'm excited because I LOVE watching babies grow and develop into toddlerhood! Here are some fun facts about Audrey this month:

Weight: I don't know the exact number, but I'm estimating about 15 1/2 pounds 15lbs 10oz (50th %ile)

Length: 26 inches (50th %ile)

Head Circumference:  16 1/4 inches (25th %ile)

Sleep: Audrey still takes 3 naps a day. Her morning nap is 45min-an hour long usually (though this morning she was out for 1 1/2 hours!); her afternoon nap is 2-2 1/2 hours; her evening nap is an hour, sometimes an hour and a half if her earlier naps weren't that good. She goes to bed between 8 and 8:30, and generally still wakes up at 7:20 on the dot (though since daylight savings time has occurred she sleeps until almost 8!).

Eating: She eats 4 times a day. I always prepare a 6oz bottle for her. If she finishes it quickly and is still sucking hard on the nipple when it's empty, I'll make another 2oz. If she takes awhile to finish it, then I don't give her more. In a normal day, she eats 24-26oz. On days where she's really hungry, she's eaten as much as 29oz, but it's rare, and then the next day she eats like 18-20. Apparently, she's got a small appetite...not sure where she gets it from! But all her baby fat goes to her thighs...and I do know where she gets that from! :)

Clothes: I just cleaned out her closet and drawers yesterday to rid us of all of her 0-3, and 3 month onesies, outfits, and pj's. There was two days a couple of weeks ago where she ate 6 times a day, and ate about 30oz each day. Since then, her 0-3month things just don't fit anymore! Can we say growth spurt?? She's mainly in 3-6mo and 6mo clothes, onesies, and pj's.

New achievements of this month (I had to start writing them down b/c there were so many!):
1. When changing her diaper, she automatically lifts her legs.
2. Responds to her name sometimes. Some days I'll say her name when she's not looking at me, and she'll get a huge smile on her face and make eye contact with me. There are days when I can do this "game" 10 times in a row, and she'll respond to it every. single. time. Then there are days that I do this game with her and she doesn't smile or make eye contact at all. At least I know she does know her name....and that she has selective hearing :)
3. Recognizes songs. I don't know if she recognizes which song is which, but if she's fussy and I start singing a song, this is a surefire way to get her to stop fussing, and almost always gets a big smile!
4. She can blow air (I think she learned it b/c I sing "This Little Light of Mine" to her, and her *favorite* verse is "won't let Satan (blow) it out". She smiles as soon as I start singing these words...which makes me think she is discriminating songs.
5. Sometimes when she's "eating" the toys on her exersaucer, she'll make a chomping/smacking sound with her lips. I think it's because anytime she eats something, I make that sound.
6. She's still consistently "talking" using the sounds ba, blah, and bwah. According to my babycenter.com updates of what your baby should be doing, she should have ga, da, and ma in her vocabulary. I've heard /d/ once, but not consistently by any means. I've heard /g/ quite a bit, but it's not like talking with gagaga sounds, it's gurgling in the back of the throat, so I don't know if that counts or not. I know I haven't heard any "M" sounds. I have heard /p/ sounds several times, though.

Things she likes:
1. Ninja - he likes her, too....but only from far enough away that she can't touch him. :) He lays in the floor a couple feet away from her if she's on her blanket, he'll come in her room when we're in there reading to her at night time, etc.
2. Definitely still loves talking
3. Sucking her toes! It's hilarious!
4. She still LOVES her daddy! She's such a daddy's girl! All he has to do is look at her and say "Hi sweet girl" (which is what he calls her most of the time) and she gets this HUGE smile on her face! It's really precious :) She loves touching his face, too b/c it's got texture to it when he hasn't shaved that day.
5. Sucking her thumb
6. Sleeping in the car
7. Her toy monkey
8. The toys that hang from her carseat
9. Pretty much anybody that says "hi" to her
10. Being outside at the playground
11. The Grand Old Duke of York (nursery rhyme)
12. Trees (we went on a walk one day when it was really cloudy outside and she smiled at every tree we passed!)
13. I'm sure there's so much more that I'm forgetting...

Things she doesn't like:
1. Not being able to see someone - if she's left in a room by herself for too long (and I mean long enough for me to use the bathroom) she'll usually start crying.
2. Unexpected people talking to her right after waking up from naptime (if you weren't with her when she fell asleep, but you're there talking to her when she just wakes up, it's a bit overwhelming to her, and she generally cries - even for people she knows well like her grandparents. Luckily, it only takes a few minutes for her to calm down and recover.
3. That bottle not getting into her mouth fast enough - especially first thing in the morning! You would think we're starving our poor child :)

I have to end with this super cute picture! I apologize that she's flipping off the camera, but you can (kind of) see her bottom two teeth! They appeared on 3/4/14 - just 6 days shy of her being 6 months old!

I promise, there are teeth here. They are harder to see than I thought, though :)

I just love this sweetie so much!!!

Shapin' Up and Slimmin' Down!

This week I lost 0.2 pounds. Again, it's coming off slowly, but surely. I think I need to remind myself of that from time to time.

Here's some things that I want to brag on: :)

1.) My jeans (the ones I bought about 8 weeks after giving birth that are TWO sizes bigger than I was pre-pregnancy, and I probably should have gone up THREE sizes) are getting loose enough that they're starting to fall off.

2.) I CAN wear my pre-pregnancy jeans!!!! I can put them on, and fasten them!!!! Should I wear them outside of my closet? Not quite yet. But just a month or two ago, I couldn't even pull them all the way up, let alone, fasten them!

3.) I can also wear a pair of pre-pregnancy capri pants. They've always been my loosest fitting capri pants, but I definitely will not be wearing them in public....yet. Luckily, I feel like it's a very manageable goal to achieve, especially with spring, and warmer weather, quickly approaching.

Hoping to have at least this good, if not better, next week!!

Monthly Measurements

I don't feel like my weight loss is showing up very well in pictures (and I just noticed that I was photobombed by my cat!), but when I look at myself in a mirror, I feel like I can see a big difference. My pants are also considerably looser (I could probably go down a size, but I don't feel like buying new jeans when I'm hopefully not done losing weight yet). When I did my measurements I was pleasantly surprised:

Weight: lost 0.2lbs (from 2/22/14)
All the rest of the measurements are in comparison to Feb. 1, 2014:
Hips -1 1/2 inches! Woo-hoo!
Waist -1 1/2 inches! Again...woo-hoo!
Thigh: -1/2 inch
Calf: same
Bicep: +1/2 inch

Shapin' Up and Slimmin' Down!

Oops! I forgot to post on Saturday...and then again on Sunday. I weighed in, took my monthly measurements, and did pictures, and then just didn't do anything with that information! Oh well....

From last Saturday to this past Saturday, I lost 0.2 pounds which I feel is AMAZING, considering I am no longer refraining from junk food (though I'm not eating it daily by any means), my birthday was this past Wednesday and I had donuts for breakfast, Whataburger for lunch, cookie dough for a snack, Macaroni Grill for dinner, and cake (and *maybe* some more cookie dough!) for dessert.

What I found from my hiatus from junk food is it just doesn't have the same appeal to me anymore, and I'm trying really hard to stay in that frame of mind. After eating all that delicious food on Wednesday, I felt so blah! I also feel like my appetite has gone down. I felt like I was actually craving the healthy food that I eat almost daily: brownie batter protein overnight oatmeal (I don't normally like oatmeal, but this stuff is GOOOOOOO), strawberry-banana smoothies, almonds, sandwiches, etc.

Here's to a healthy remainder of this week!

Today, I'm.....30!

Yup...today, I am no longer a hip, cool 20-something, but an old woman in her 30s!!

My favorite show!! "The One Where They All Turn 30"

I thought it'd be fun to re-live my 20's (see....I'm already talking like an old woman!), and do a picture recap of the fun I had when I was a youngster, haha! Hope you enjoy :)

First, I'm actually going to start with me at 19 because this is when I began my annual reign of being a bridesmaid. I really started thinking I was going to be the "always the bridesmaid, never the bride". I was a bridesmaid in 6 weddings before I finally got to be the bride! 5 out of 6 of these weddings were while I was in my 20s, but I came across a picture from my sister's wedding, and I was 19, so why not throw that in here, too? :)

7/26/03

5/8??/04 - sorry Anna, I can't remember your exact wedding date

7/16/05

11/25/06 - we're getting down with our bad selves! Ummm...am I too old to say that now? :)

April of 2009

8/1/09

Right after graduating high school in 2002, I opted to go to community college and stay at home to save some money. I worked in the Kids' Club at 24 Hour Fitness, and absolutely LOVED it! I would definitely say it's my favorite job that I've ever had. I worked there from the time I was 18-20, at which point I moved to Denton and lived there to go to TWU (or "T-Dub" as most people who go there, no joke, call it). At TWU, I made some amazing, godly friends, and had a blast living in Denton!

L to R: Me, Rebecca, Holly, Jessica - Jessica and Holly actually live in Wylie, and Rebecca now lives in Frisco

Rebecca was most definitely my closest friend in college. We were both in the deaf ed program, so we had all the same classes and teachers. She got married a couple of months before I did, and had her first child about six weeks after Audrey was born. She and I still get together about once a month to catch up, and now have play dates!

Rebecca and I lived together starting the second semester of our junior year (we were both juniors when we transferred to TWU), and continued living together until I moved out in August of 2006 when I broke my ankle, and physically couldn't live in Denton anymore because of a 3rd floor apartment! Anyways, I still have great memories of us staying up WAAAAY too late because of talking, watching TV, and of course because we procrastinated writing a research paper until the night before it was due (true story), and were down in the computer lab from about 7pm-4:30am! Ahhh...good times! I love these friends that I made, and all the memories that have come from these friendships.

 

Such great memories and wonderful friends made in college!! At the age of 22, I finally graduated!

The original plan was that I would stay in Denton from the time I graduated with my B.S. (May 2006) until at least January of 2007 when I would be doing student teaching in Mesquite, and finishing up my Master's Degree (scheduled to graduate with my M.S. in August of 2007. However, while nannying (which is how I made money to somewhat support myself), I was wearing flip-flops, it was raining, and I was running through the garage of the family I nannied for, and slipped and fell. In falling, I broke my left ankle and tore some of the tendons in that foot. I would be on crutches for 6-8 weeks, and lived in a 3rd floor apartment. I had to change my plans (life does that to you), and ended up moving back home with my parents where I continued my degree online, and just drove to Denton on an as-needed basis for classes. 

When I moved back home, I got plugged into the church my parents were going to (which is the church I grew up in), and our church's neighborhood was becoming a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, so the church embraced it and began a service in Spanish. I made some good friends with the young guys and girls who were trying to get that service up and going, and suddenly found myself immersed in Spanish church services....and eventually starting to understand them! 

We used to go upstairs to our game room (at the church) and play Ping Pong sometimes

 At age 24, I had my first career, teaching deaf-ed students for Plano ISD. I was really interested in finding someone, so I joined eHarmony, and found this guy:

I decided he was pretty awesome, and decided to keep him around :) 

Also, around the time I met Michel, we had to say good-bye to a wonderful woman (June 2008). Unfortunately, when looking through old pictures, I could only find one of me with her. They must all be at my parents' house. Anyways, my grandma passed away in June of 2008. She was such a wonderful woman. I loved my Grandma so much, and losing her was so hard, but she is now in Heaven with her Maker. 

Moving into our new house - September 2003

Right after we had to say good-bye to my Grandma, we got to meet a sweet baby girl! My niece, Karys, was born in July 2008. If you know me at all, you know how much I love that little girl!

7/30/08

If I thought age 24 was a big year for me, age 25 proved to be even bigger! On February 26, 2009 (my 25th birthday), Michel asked me to marry him!

This is the birthday cake he made me! I still remember this day like it was yesterday! (Sorry...I don't know how to rotate the picture)

Most of 2009 was spent planning our wedding, engagement pictures, bridal portraits, and, of course, our wedding!!

We also got plugged into a wonderful church group and have made some absolutely amazing friends!

In 2010, I turned 26. One of the most exciting things of that year was going on a Caribbean cruise. We waited to go on a true honeymoon until the summer after we got married since I had summers off. We had a blast!!

We also got to meet our nephew! He really wasn't supposed to come until January of 2011, but decided to come a couple weeks early and surprise us all :)

In 2011, age 27, Michel and I bought our first house! Michel spent many of his days off painting it to get it to our liking! (I can't find my pictures of our house).

2012, age 28,  was the year that I'd been waiting for for awhile. We had a trip planned for the summer of 2012 to go to Hawaii!! We spent 10 days on the island of Oahu, and had a blast doing all the tourist/sightseeing things there are to do there!

Finally, at the beginning of 2013, we got the best news of our lives! We were going to be parents! 2013 was full of baby belly pictures, registering for baby gifts, and getting ready to meet our sweet girl!

9 weeks

39 weeks...big difference!

My family in 2014, when I was still 29 :)

 So, in looking back, my 20s were pretty awesome! I know my 30s will be awesome, too, but I don't even want to think about these upcoming 10 years and turning 40! I'll just enjoy being 30! Hope y'all enjoyed my picture walk of my 20s. My life has been very blessed :)