random stuff

We are doing our best to stay warm and survive until spring makes it's way to the Northeast. This week Lilly's Dad had his first cold since we met, and actually TOOK A DAY OFF! Yes, this is such a rare occurrence, I had to make a note of it. Poor guy felt awful! Thankfully, he's feeling 1000 times better now. Just in time to go to the dentist for the first time in years. Lucky me, my appointment is next week.

As of Tuesday, Miss Lilly is now 15lbs! No wonder my arm cramps up when I carry her around the house all day... She's also eating some solid foods - seems to really love oatmeal, green beans, and peas. Sweet potatoes and carrots go ok, but better when mixed with some oatmeal. The Hubby wanted to give her a sippy cup, and she does alright with BM in it, though she ends up leaking alot of it out the corners of her mouth. Not too big of a deal, but then she smells like sour milk an hour later! She's been rolling over, both from her belly to back and back to belly, for a while now, and has been working like a champ at sitting up. Lilly's been making some great progress!

My sister (Wa) is coming down a week from Sunday so we can cook. When we were both prego we had a grand ol' time cooking a ton of food, which we froze for post-baby almost instant-dinners. This time we're going to tackle baby food too! Her twins are 8 weeks older than Lilly so we can make big batches of sweet potato, peas, applesauce, and whatnot... and nothing should go to waste. I expect a very interesting day, with three babies and a busy kitchen. I'm really looking forward to it!

Wa and I need to talk about the annual camping trip too. Her inlaws always go the last week of the summer, and Hubby and I got included several years ago now. Last year we didn't go, since Wa and I were both very pregnant.. and I'm not too sure how it'll work this year with a baby. and two dogs. and a Honda Element! We had that Element packed to the brim last time, and our little dog was just 11 weeks old so she rode in the Hubby's lap! We'll have to either rent a trailer for our stuff.. or go with Hubby's idea and rent an RV. Ever seen the movie RV? I can see that kind of stuff happening, with the waste pipe clogging up and exploding or something. Although having some good space to put up the pack'n'play for Lilly to sleep in would be nice. Our tent was just big enough for us and the two dogs (one was a lil pup, and the St Bernard was 90ish lbs. We now have a 40lb pup, and a 105lb great dane.) We need *at least* a bigger tent now!

A few weeks ago now, the Hubby's cousin came out with her two lil girls to visit... We had a really nice time! L, you've got to come back soon! Maybe sometime this spring Lilly and I can make the drive, and check out the "new" house...

We also had a visit from the Hubby's brother's family.. their little girl is 7 1/2 weeks older than Lil! (it was a busy baby summer!) It was nice to see them as well.

And now, some pics :)

Lookin' cute on the way to Gram's

Playing with Grandma

Lilly with her twin cousins!

practicing that rolling over thing

My pretty Valentines roses

And my first video with the digital camera!

Lillian was having a good time blowing raspberries last night, so I had to try to capture the sound for prosperity!

TGIF and wish a Happy Birthday to the Hubby tomorrow!

Woohoo!

On the one day a week my husband is home, I'm not going to spend the time to write a "what we've been up to" post.. but there is some fantastic news!

My friend Mrs Fakes (http://itsnotamagicwand.blogspot.com/) had her triplets on Tuesday! All three girls are healthy and vibrant.. Rachel, Sophia, and Morgan, a combined weight of over 12lbs. :) Momma is home with Sophia and Morgan, recovering from her c-section.. Rachel's busy at the NICU eating and growing. Our love and joy goes out to them. Congrats, Momma.. I'm so proud of you!

4 month appointment and other stuff

Tuesday was Lillian's 4 month well-baby checkup, and she took it all like a champ! according to the office scale, she's now 15lbs and 25 3/4 inches. I guess I'm doing *something* right, huh? :) Of course, when we were at a local hospital's BF support group last Tuesday..their digital scale said she was 13lb 15oz. There is NO way she gained an entire pound in a week, so one or both scales are off. But whatever.. Lilly's doctor is happy with her gains, and more importantly so am I ;)

I also got my haircut again, since the lil one kept twisting her fingers into my hair at the nape of the neck - particularly painful when it's up in a ponytail!

Yesterday was our big dog's followup at the vet after a droopy eye tuck and being spayed two weeks ago. Roxy sooooo didn't like that doctor, but her incision looks good, and her eyelid stitches were removed. One of these days I need to take her to the pet store or somewhere fun. I don't want her to think every time she gets in the Element that she's going to the vet!

I also got to chat with Mrs Fakes yesterday.. I'm so excited that she'll have her triplet girls home within the next three weeks! YAY! Of course once they're all home, I'll miss being able to chat as (not so) often as we do now.

Today, I need to take down Christmas. Yes, we are slackers. BUT it's been so freaking cold (see previous post!) that I haven't been able to stand being on the front porch to pack the decorations. We have the tree on our enclosed porch every year because of the cat originally, and now with the two dogs.. and a soon-to-be-mobile baby? yeah. (we also have a whopping 884 sq ft house, so floor space is a little tight with 2 big dog crates)

OH! I almost forgot.. Sunday my sister (Wa) and I got together with our three baby girls for a mall outing. we got nothing done other than feeding, diapers, and a photo shoot at Ismile... and I can't even begin to tell you how cute the pics came out! I'll try to get a print scanned and posted one of these days. They asked us if they could hang up in the store a big print of the three girls looking in a mirror.. it's that cute! :)

BRRR!

time: 7:42 am

indoor temp in front of the super drafty window: 58 degrees

outdoor temp: MINUS 12 degrees. As in 12 below zero!

Gold Stars!

Everyone needs some motivation in order to loose weight, eat healthy, exercise, behave, whatever the resolution may be. I jokingly mentioned using gold stars for when I make it down to the basement and actually USE my rowing machine.. and what did I end up doing? I got a pack of stars at the store a couple days later.

Once I "earned" a star and put it on the calender that is hanging on the kitchen wall, I imagined what it would look like with a bunch of stars. As lame and childish as the stickers and imagery may sound, that was encouraging! I'm not aiming to get a star every day. Rather just to have a bunch of them on there by the end of the month. If it's several days in a row, and then none for a few days, then so be it. I've got an almost 4 month old daughter to care for! To be able to SEE what I've done for the month at a glance seems to be helping more than anything else has so far. :)


Another step I've taken in my weightloss goal is to stop buying cookies (and forbid the Hubby from buying me ice cream!) If I really want cookies, then I have to make cookies. No more purchased goodies. So yeah, I've had cookies, but I know exactly what's in them - less weird crap, and more oatmeal! yumm... oatmeal chocolate chip cookies... good stuff! I do have to admit to buying one of the tiny Ben & Jerry's ice cream single serve cups the other week tho.. but it was forced self restraint, right? :)

I've also started shredding carrots into tomato-based foods. I got that idea from making a copy cat version of Olive Garden's pasta e'fagioli... I never taste the veggies in that soup, so I tried putting shredded carrots in taco meat last week. Neither of us could taste it! Our local grocery store also carries frozen chopped onion. PERFECT for those of us who hate chopping onion.. and those of us who don't like the texture in food can just cook a lil bit up really quick and add it to almost anything. With the fancy pants new blender that I won from Cranky Fitness, I've been thinking back to one of her posts about Jerry Seinfeld's wife's cookbook (which I can't find now, dammit!).. she basically purees veggies and hides them in regular foods for her kids. I'm so tempted to try that now that I've got The Blender..

Wa, you now know if you have spaghetti sauce or tacos at my house, it'll have hidden veggies!


And the ultimate motivation for me this week? stepping on the scale and seeing that I've lost 4 lbs since i re-started my weightloss project, post-baby. WOOHOO 4 pounds.. GO ME! :)

another random post

so I don't have much to say here.. especially since Lilly's starting to fuss, so I gotta go.. BUT yesterday I was at the store, and decided to pick up a box of that new Fake Sugar stuff, Truvia. yeah.. tried it in my coffee this morning, and I'm not impressed! It took off the bitterness of the coffee, but didn't really make it "sweet" per se.. and left a weird aftertaste. kinda like a odd film of flavor on the tongue. it's hard to explain! I say if you actually like sugar in your coffee, don't bother with the new stuff. Sugar is tried and true! :)