30 Day Blog Challenge

Write a new blog post 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Can I do it? I'm not sure, but I'm going to give it a try. I think the official start day is next week, but I might as well get warmed up by blogging a little bit more this week. We'll see how it goes! If you want to join, follow the button on my blog, which will take you to Sarah's awesome blog, Falling for Baby. And let me know you did, especially if I'm not already a follower of your blog, so that I can follow your progress.

Weight Loss

So, I really haven't posted about it here, but DH and I started Weight Watchers back in May. He had a check-up that didn't go well - high blood pressure and cholesterol, and I'm significantly overweight, so it kind of gave us the push we needed to get our acts together. We talked about it for years, but just couldn't make anything stick. Now, things are more serious. We have a little girl who we want to be healthy and not learn our over-eating, couch potato habits. It was clear that we needed some kind of program, so we have been doing Weight Watchers online. When my mom found out we were doing it, she joined, too, so we have our own little group to encourage each other.

I've lost 23 pounds so far. I'm proud of that, but I'm also a little frustrated that it puts me just under my pre-pregnancy weight. So, in some ways, it feels like I'm just starting. The good news, is the clothes I was wearing before I got pregnant are now fitting rather loosely. I'm going to wait a little while to buy a few cold weather slacks and such to get me through the season. It's a long road. I probably need to lose about 40-50 more pounds.

The even better news is that DH (who didn't have nearly as much to lose), is almost to his goal weight. He looks great. His cholesterol and blood pressure are back to normal.

My next challenge is trying to figure out exercise. I need to get something going, but figuring out how to do that has been hard. I think I've decided to try taking a class at the YMCA where we are members and taking Sophia to the childcare there, but I haven't gotten brave enough to go yet. I'm a little self conscious about my out-of-shapeness and I'm nervous about leaving Sophia. I know I need to suck it up and get to it. Maybe this will be my week!

NYC trip and Things I don't want to forget

So, I'm a day late, but our little Sprout has been a busy gal! DH and I had a fabulous getaway last weekend in NYC. Traveling without a baby and all her gear was so luxurious, that getting there really was half the fun. We played scrabble on the plane ate leisurely meals, wandered carelessly, not worrying about schedules. We slept until 10am on Saturday and stayed out late. We saw Mama Mia! on Broadway and had the best cheesecake I've ever eaten at a little restaurant we just happened into on Friday night. It was wonderful and I highly recommend it. Part of me wishes we'd done it sooner, but I'm not sure I was ready to leave my baby. It was incredibly nice to have some extended time to just be a couple again and do the things we loved doing together.

Pumping was tough. I had a really hard time getting a letdown at all with the pump and I only pumped minimally and got very little milk (which was still really hard to dump, so I made DH do it). But, when I got back, she latched on and nursed without and issue and we've been fine ever since. So, I guess it was enough!

I was planning on saying all that in a separate blog post, but since I'm a lazy bum, it's all rolled into one. So here's what she's been up to:

1. She's a big time crawler now. Full crawl, all the time, everywhere. Mommy is already tired of chasing her and it's just the beginning!

2. She waved bye-bye to daddy leaving for work for the first time this morning.

3. One of her favorite pastimes is pulling books off of shelves.

4. She stayed with grandma the whole weekend and behaved very well!

5. She's doing much better with her naps. We still miss one here and there, but overall, she's been going down better.

6. She still really wants to walk all the time. She likes to trick people into helping her walk by acting really sweet and holding their hands and then suddenly pulling herself up. I think if she knew how to say, "let's go!" she would!

7. Her four top teeth have finally poked through. I can't believe how grown up it makes her look. I'm getting less and less of a baby and more and more of a little girl. It's exciting and sad and wonderful and scary all at the same time.

8. She's eating lots of finger foods. She loves cut up green beans, even though she hated the green bean purees. She just stuffs them in her mouth. She also likes berries and strips of banana and hands full of couscous. She loves feeding herself and we're starting to have a harder time feeding her purees now.

So we've been busy!

Things I don't want to Forget and our latest adventure

So, Sprout and I hopped on a plane and went to visit friends in Nashville, Tennessee. It was a little crazy traveling with her on my own and security was tons of fun, especially when she decided to vomit just as the diaper bag went into the x-ray machine, but we managed and had a great time. She's a little charmer for sure.

1. All she wants to do is walk and she is very particular about how you must help her. She will grab one finger on each hand and you will help her stand up as she walks. Luckily she's very tall, so I don't have to hunch over at all, but that's all she wants to do. She can be distracted by toys for awhile, but as soon as she manages to get someone to play with her, she has grabbed two fingers and pulled herself up to walk. It's pretty funny.

2. She is still mostly army crawling, though she's thrown a few traditional crawls in, too, and is using her knees more (as evidenced by the carpet burns :() I don't think she's going to crawl for very long, though, because she is obsessed with standing and walking.

3. She pulls herself up a lot, but only when she can really grasp something, like her play yard or crib. She hasn't figured out how to leverage herself on furniture very well. She also cruises a bit around her play yard.

4. She's finally babbling "mamamama" in happy tones. She used to only say that when she was upset. I'm also talking to her more and I promise she understood yesterday when I was pointing out body parts. She just got that look on her face, like she was saying, "oh!"

5. We moved her crib down to the lowest setting since she is pulling up now. My little girl is growing up.

6. Today is my birthday and I'm a little overwhelmed thinking about how amazing a year it has been. I'm so blessed to have my little family.

7. DH and I are leaving Sprout with her grandma and heading to NYC this weekend. I'm so nervous about leaving her, but I think DH and I really need the time away. My mom will take great care of her, but it's still tough. I'm also nervous about pumping and I'm scared that she'll like her bottles so much she won't want to nurse when I get home. However, I'm excited about traveling light and having a weekend to just be a couple. I gotta get packed, though!

Things I don't want to Forget and 9 Month Check up

First, Sprout had her 9 month check up, and she's healthy and growing well. 17 pounds, 13 ounces (29th percentile) and 29 inches long (89th percentile). Yay! She's doing everything she should be and her doctor seems thrilled with her progress. I asked him about her eating too many solids and losing interest in nursing. He said that since she's growing well, it's probably just the beginning of self-weaning. So, no worries, just go with it!

So onto the things I don't want to forget:

1. Sprout still loves her swim lessons. We have so much fun in "the big bathtub."

2. She's done a few real crawls and is getting really good at army crawling. No more can we leave her in one place and expect her to be close to the same spot when we return. We really gotta get on the childproofing.

3. She's clapping and waving.

4. She does this thing we like to call the "lizard tongue" where she sticks her tongue out over and over again.

5. She does a funny grunting/heavy breathing thing that cracks us up. She wrinkles up her whole face and usually will happily do it to imitate her daddy.

6. She pulled up for the first time this week.

7. She got to spend a little time with her great-grandma this week who is in town for just a few days. Apparently, she talks about her great-granddaughter all the time. So sweet!

8. She is eating finger foods well - chunks of banana, avocado, watermelon, and whatever else I can think of!

So there's plenty of excitement to go around. And I'm getting pretty nervous about our airplane trip tomorrow with a mobile baby and no DH for back up. Say a little prayer for me!

Things I don't want to forget

It's been a busy week for our little Sprout. She's been so busy that she's decided to skip her naps. Too much to do! Here are some highlights:

1. She is still kissing and fish facing anyone who will look at her.

2. She has learned how to wave and to clap. When she clapped for the first time, it was the cutest thing ever. She did it and DH and I got all excited and then she looked down at her hands studying them very carefully, like, "whoa! That's how it works! I really did it!" Then the whole scene repeated. She was definitely proud of herself.

3. She's almost figured out how to crawl. She has definitely figured out kind of a half crawl that gets her where she wants to go, though it takes awhile. Nothing is safe any longer. She is fearless and wants to explore everything. It's cute and scary all at the same time.

4. She has pulled herself up a couple of times.

5. We had our first swim lessons and she was a star pupil. She LOVES the water (we like to call it the big bathtub). I think she was a fish in her former life. All the moms of toddlers kept pointing to her and saying things like, "See how the baby is floating? Can you put your head like that?" She loves it and is as cute as can be.

6. She's also still got teeth coming in. 2 have broken through, one is about to and another is on the way. When we get through this, she'll have 2 bottom teeth and 4 on top. I'm ready for it to be over, though.

So, it's been an exciting week here, as you can tell! We have our 9 month check-up on Monday, so we'll see how her weight is checking out. I think she's doing fine, but I think I'll always be nervous about it.

Things I don't want to forget

This will probably be a short post because it's been a crazy day. Sophia is apparently on a nap strike. I don't know whether it's her teeth, or she's just protesting on principal, but I think we're going to have some work to do in the next few days to get things back on track. She may be moving to one nap a day, but she still seems really tired at her morning nap time, so I'm not ready to make that jump just yet. We'll see what happens next week when we can stay on a more predictable schedule. We haven't really done that for the last 2-3 weeks, so it's really no wonder she's a little off.

Anyway, today is our 4th anniversary, so we were hoping to at least go out to dinner. We're planning a special trip at the end of the month to really celebrate, but felt that we should at least acknowledge the day. Of course the fact that Sophia is dead tired because she hasn't slept all day should make it interesting.

So what I don't want to forget:

1. Sophia is waving! She's not consistent, but definitely is trying to imitate people waving at her and it's the most adorable thing ever.

2. She's also trying to figure out clapping. It's too cute. She puts her hands together and just moves them up and down like she's shaking hands with herself when I clap. I know she's trying to imitate the clapping, but just hasn't quite figured it out yet.

3. She is trying to crawl. She has a good scoot going on, but sometimes she'll be sitting and she'll lurch forward and bang her head into whatever is there. Ouch.

4. She can easily get herself into a sitting position now. Going to get her from her nap and seeing her just sitting there is a little scary and a lot cute.

5. I put her in the front of a cart for the first time yesterday and she handled it like a pro. I'm seeing shopping getting a little easier!

6. Sophia now kisses or fish faces just about everyone she meets. It's a real conversation starter and has brought a smile to many a grumpy Gus over the last week.

Hope everyone is having a great week!