Success!

Maybe I'm counting my eggs before they hatch.... but...

Look at this!!!

Do you see that?!  It is milk in there!  Organic WHOLE milk! 

I can hear the angels singing!

I probably gave her about 6oz and she drank about 1/3 of it.  I will take it!  We are getting there!!!

Maybe I won't go bankrupt on YoBaby Yogurt.  Heh.

Weight Loss Update

I posted awhile back about trying to lose the rest of this baby weight that I was carrying around.

It was much easier to drop the pounds after I had Big One.  Maybe it was because I was younger.  Maybe it was because I was trapped under a nursing or sleeping baby for months not willing to risk waking her in order for me to go and grab something to eat?  Whatever it was, it didn't repeat itself this time around.

I decided in July that it was time.  Really.  I wanted my clothes to fit again.  I wanted to feel good about the way I looked.

The Hubster was always incredibly supportive.  He never ever told me I needed to lose weight.  He always told me how beautiful I was (inside and out).  This was something I needed to do for me.

So I had two goals.  The first was to get down to my pre-pregnancy weight.  The second was to lose five additional pounds.

To throw a little something in the mix, I was nursing.  It is very important to make sure you eat enough calories per day when you are nursing, otherwise you risk losing your milk supply.  Little One never took a bottle, and wouldn't drink anything but water out of a sippy, so losing my supply would be a huge problem.

So it was this crazy balance of eating the right things, and enough of them, but still managing to lose weight.

I hit my first goal about three weeks ago.  Good old fashioned counting calories.  Who knew?!  

I'm about two pounds away from my second goal.  I'm not surprised I didn't quite make it while I was nursing.  The body has a way of holding on to a little extra fat to sustain the milk supply.  So gosh I hope if flies off now!


But I'm pretty proud of myself.  I set a goal.  I stuck with it.  I did the work.  It was certainly not always fun (I really love food).  But I did it.

And I feel good about myself.  My body isn't exactly where I would like for it to be.  But I'm close.

I've lost 10 pounds since the middle of July.

Not too bad!

Mine.

Yup.  All mine.  What, you ask?

My body.  Mine.  Mine.  Mine.

Since early 2008 my body has pretty much been used for someone else's purpose.  I wouldn't trade any of it for anything.  I have two of the most beautiful gifts in the world thanks to this body of mine.

But boy is it nice to have it back!

Twenty months of being pregnant and twenty-four months of nursing.

And it is all in the past for me now. 

Nursing Big One was a challenge sometimes.  Mainly because she took forever.  Little One was a challenge in a different way, she only wanted me.  Bottle?  Pppsht.  

I have never been one of those mamas who adored nursing.  *dodging flames*

I nursed for other reasons.

I nursed because it was cheap.  Do you know how expensive formula is?!

I nursed because it was healthy.  Healthy for my munchkins.  And there are lots of health benefits for the mama as well.

I nursed because it was convenient.  No running downstairs in the middle of the night to fix a bottle and warm it up.

I set a goal for myself.  One year.  I met that goal both times.  I am really proud of that accomplishment.  I feel like I did great things for my babies and for myself.

And I'm glad to be done.  A little sad this time around.  Just knowing that it is something that I will not experience again.  Bitter sweet.

Thursday, when I nursed Little One for the last time, I just took it all in.  I will definitely cherish those quiet times I had with my girls.  Certainly something no one can ever take from me.

And I'm pretty darn proud of myself. 

But time to move on.

Happy Veteran's Day!

I have many Veteran's in my life.  I am so grateful to each of them.

How selfless must you be to go where you are told, when you are told, for as long as you are told, with no questions allowed?  Can you imagine leaving your life behind for six months, a year, or even 18 months?  Missing holidays?  Missing the birth of your children?  Missing them grow up?

We live in a pretty selfish society.  We want, want, want.  We take, take, take.  We expect.

I know it takes an amazing person to put the needs of others in front of your own.  Not just the needs of your family.  The needs of your nation.

I come from a military family.  Both of my grandfathers served.  My Papa chose to correct his varicose veins on his own dime in order to join the military.  Apparently they wouldn't take him initially.  Amazing.  I have Uncles that have served.  My cousins are currently serving.  They have done multiple tours to the Middle East.  One of them is over there now.  My brother-in-law served.  My husband served for five years.  Countless friends.

I couldn't be more proud.  I am surrounded by giving, selfless, amazing people.

To each of you:  Thank you for giving so much of yourself.  Your sacrifice has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

My Veteran's Homecoming.

Happy First Birthday!!

Gosh.  One year has gone by with Little One.  It truly amazes me that it flew by.  Probably for the best because I have gotten very little sleep.  Heh.

I remember like it was yesterday how totally miserable I was before she decided to join us.  Huge.  Not sleeping.  Chasing after a two year old.  So sure she would be three weeks early like her big sister.  She had other plans.  And the Hubster was working all.the.time.

But we are so thrilled to have her complete our family.  Little One is so funny.  So smart.  She loves to chase her big sister around.  Loves our dog to pieces.  She is usually a pretty good eater, which is a huge relief to me.  She hates avocados.  Loves pears.  Adores bread, I imagine she gets that from her Daddy and from me.  She loves Elmo, he makes her light up like a Christmas tree.  Little One loves music and dances whenever she hears some playing.  And finally.  FINALLY she is starting to sleep through the night.  For that I am so very grateful. 

I cannot imagine our life without her.  I can foresee many years of her following Big One around trying to emulate her (let's hope they are good things she is emulating, huh?). 

I've stolen a few extra snuggles from her in the last few days.  She is growing up so fast.

Little One.  Brand new.

Little One on her first birthday eating cake!

My sweet baby girl, you are so loved.  I hope you can feel that every single day.  I cannot wait to see how you change the world, because I know you will.

Unexpected Visit!

I got an unexpected text from my bff a couple weeks ago.  She was not too far away from me (at a work conference) and had some time to meet up for dinner.

She moved many many miles away this past summer, which made me super sad.  I had no idea when we'd be able to meet up again because both of our funds are limited these days.

The best part was the the Hubster was actually home so I could have an unexpected Girls' Night Out with my best friend. 

I forgot my camera, of course, and she finally send me the pic we took.

Man, I miss her.

What amazes me though is that we met 12 years ago.  12 years!!!  And boy have we been through a lot together.   Pretty amazing to see how we have grown.  She is awesome.  And so smart.  And beautiful.  And funny.  And talented.  And fun. 

Have I mentioned how much I miss her?

It was awesome having some time (sans kiddos) to catch up with her.

I love her even more because she tells me I look better now than back then.  Man she is a good friend.

Sigh

So the Hubster's schedule is all over the place.  It kind of drives me crazy only because we don't know very far in advance when he will be working.  This is temporary.  Next spring we will for sure know when he is or isn't working.  I look forward to that.  Especially because I just got an email saying the schedule we planned our holiday vacation around has been changed.  Again.  Sigh.  

In addition to that fabulous news we had our furnace checked out this morning.  Just to make sure all was well for the cold weather that is on its way.  It looks like a new furnace is on our early Christmas list.  Booo! That was not an expense we were hoping to incur right now.  Double sigh.  

We have a bunch of different companies coming out to give us quotes so we can figure out what the best direction is for us.  But ugh.

I know, I'm just your ray of sunshine today.  I'll try harder tomorrow.