My friendly baby

Some things that I want to remember about my baby girl include:

Liliana is a great baby (I probably won't forget that anytime soon.)  She's little, but chunky.  I kind of attribute her developmental abilities on her being little.  She learned to roll from her back to her tummy (convincingly) at almost 3 months exactly.  It took her a couple weeks after that to learn to roll from her back to stomach.  But ever since she learned to roll from her back to tummy she slept (and still sleeps) on her stomach. She started crawling at 5 months, and really perfected it by 6 months.  She started walking at 9 months, and now at 10 months her personality is really coming out.  She's a super happy baby.  She smiles all the time--at anyone and everyone.  People come up to us A LOT to tell me how cute she is or talk to her...mostly because she was smiling at them first.  For a shy mama, this gets really annoying.  And she loves playing with other kids.  We go to the library and she follows the "big" kids around.  She'll go up to anybody at any time.  Sometimes I start to get embarrassed if she stares at someone too long, but then I think, "nope, she's a baby she's not staring at them because they're weird looking; she's staring at them because she loves people."  Lili also loves animals, singing, and reading books.  If you wave at her, she'll wave back.  She goes nonstop...she's always playing.  She's a great eater...although I always put a bib on her, she actually rarely needs it.

Anyway, she's the BEST baby.  And we love her to pieces!

She's holding a bag of her "treats"...yogurt drops.

Bargain Buy

I go to Marshall's weekly to check to see if they have these OXO containers.  I love them so much, but they're expensive, and one random day I happened to get 3 of them!  But I still want 2 more...so I go and see if maybe, maybe they have them...so far, No.

But while I was there I happen to stumble upon a 50 cent dress!  Of course, there was a catch...an large rip right on the front of the dress.  After I examined the dress and the rip, I decided that even if I couldn't fix it 50 cents wasn't going to break my bank...so I bought it.  A whopping 54 cents, including tax.

I came home, watched a few YouTube videos on how to mend tears in clothes then I went to work...it was actually very, very easy.  For me, a beginning sewer, it took maybe 20 minutes, and that's in part because I had to give some love to my baby a few times.

Here's the after picture...it's hard to see where the tear was, but it was in the front...although it's gone now...and yes, it's an XL so it doesn't exactly fit me...but I figure maybe I'll grow into it!  haha...and here's a picture of daddy helping Lili put her socks on...

I'm starting a new blog

I've started a new, additional blog (I'll still have this one)...it's called Diary of a Great Wife. It's not about the family per se, but it has things that I do during the day.  It includes recipes I've tried, some work and some don't.  It goes through my workout journey, crafts I make, things my baby does...you know, just whatever seems noteworthy.

I wanted a blog that documented the stuff I tried that just pertains to me.  And I was watching the documentary, "Hungry for Change" and one of the doctors on it talked about thinking positively and being positive with yourself.  That's true, ya know.  If you continually tell yourself you're not good enough or smart enough or pretty enough, or whatever, then that's what you'll be...BUT if you tell yourself you're great, then THAT'S what you'll be.  So while I don't feel great all the time, I vow to tell myself that I am great and smart and funny and pretty and whatever else I want...so then maybe that's what I'll become.

Just Some Random Stuff

So my baby is learning to sleep through the night...she sleeps from about 8pm to 7:30am.  Wait, what?  That sounds like a lot.  Well, it is.  She does wake up once around 3am, and I nurse her back to sleep by 3:30...that's when she sleeps until 7:30am.  The downside with all this sleep at night, is that she doesn't sleep that well during the day.  She's not cranky or anything, but that just means I rarely get a break...she's nonstop all day.

This is Liliana, doing her favorite thing...eating shoes...although she knows she's not supposed to!

Well, things over here are good...Liliana is 7 months...she's little for her age, but still cute.  It appears that she'll be about my height, which isn't bad I guess.  She crawls everywhere and gets into things.  She started crawling at 5 months, and she really perfected it by 6 months.  She learned to pull herself up while we were at my parent's house in California in early January.  Oh yeah, we went to Massachusetts for Christmas, and California for New Years!  It was a total of eight planes rides (2 there, 2 back, 2 there, 2 back)...and Liliana did GREAT!  Anyway, I guess I can post about that later.  Anyway, so she's crawling, and eating baby food.  She loves to eat food, and she always wants to have what we're having.  I'd be more incline to let her try more stuff, but she doesn't have any teeth yet.  So for now, we stick to just baby food.  She screams with excitement a lot; it's loud and high pitched!  If you're holding her while she's doing it, you will temporarily go deaf!  She still has her little dimples.  (I still don't know where she gets them.) And she's starting to look A LOT more like Adam.  But I can still see myself in her.  Her hair is starting to grow back, and she loves animals and other kids.  She loves singing/music and reading books.  She isn't interested in TV or cartoons...which is fine by me. I think I'm gonna try to get her ears pierced in the next couple months...I really want them pierced soon!

Adam is back in school...working hard.  This past semester he did very well...he didn't get straight A's like he was used to in undergrad, so he was a little disappointed.  But I think he did very well...he did.  He works hard, and he's smart.  We still miss him because he's gone all day.  Lili LOVES when he's home.  That's when she screams the most.

I'm still doing Insanity, and I love it.  I have a crush on Shaun T!  Haha...I miss going to the gym, but right now it just doesn't work...I think Liliana is old enough to go to the Kid's Club or whatever, but I'm still a little worried about her being with other, older kids...but we'll see.  I lost the "baby weight" a couple months ago, but I swear all of my clothes still don't fit.  I guess I should point out that some of my jeans used to be really tight (by design)...and now I feel like even though I lost the weight, my hips are just a little wider...soooo...yeah...but I'm still working out, so maybe I still have some weight to lose.  (what am I talking about?!  OF COURSE I have more weight to lose!  haha).  I think I may have acid reflux...I had terrible heartburn and reflux while pregnant and sometimes I feel like it never left...so last night I was looking at "natural" ways to relieve it, and diet is the first thing I'll try.  I'm gonna mix things up, give up sugar, most processed foods, and fried/fatty foods.  Oh, and I also bought a sewing machine off of craigslist.  I'm super excited about it, but I need to get the correct bobbins for it before I can use it.  My car has been out of commission all week.  We had to order a part ($180!) and Adam is going to try to put it in today...we'll see...that's a story for another post!  But the point is, I haven't been able to go anywhere this week (which has really sucked)...so as soon as Adam gets back from studying, I have a list of things I want to do today!

Ok, well that's a little bit about what's been going on over here...since no blog post is complete without pictures, here's some pics of Liliana.

At 4 weeks, maybe?

7 Months, she looks like two different babies!

10 Things to Do with the Kids

Here is a list of the top ten things students around the world said they remembered and loved most about their mothers.

1. Come into my bedroom at night, tuck me in and sing me a song. Also tell me stories about when you were little.
2. Give me hugs and kisses and sit and talk with me privately.
3. Spend quality time just with me, not with my brothers and sisters around.
4. Give me nutritious food so I can grow up healthy.
5. At dinner talk about what we could do together on the weekend.
6. At night talk to me about about anything; love, school, family etc.
7. Let me play outside a lot.
8. Cuddle under a blanket and watch our favorite TV show together.
9. Discipline me. It makes me feel like you care.
10. Leave special messages in my desk or lunch bag.

From: LifeHack

The Dog Days of Law School

This is the first time in my adult life that I don't have a job--I'm not even looking for one.  I just stay at home with my sweet baby girl.  Quite frankly, I still can't imagine leaving her with anyone...although on the flip side it sometimes pains me NOT to work.  But that was the plan, so I just suck it up and go with it...and being a stay-at-home-mom can be quite stressful.  My baby girl has been having a little bit of a hard time lately, so she's not sleeping well.  She's learning new things every day which makes watching her every move so important.  She rolls and scoots everywhere.  If she wants to go somewhere, she'll find a way to get there.  The other day I was thinking about how little time I actually have to myself.  For example, yesterday...Sunday...I went to the bathroom...by myself.  (I usually sit Liliana in there with me).  Daddy was in the other room watching her, so I took my time in the bathroom.  It was surprisingly really nice to just have a few moments to myself.  So I guess what I mean to say is sometimes having a kid can be exhausting...Although I should point out that I do think it's easier then having a job.  I rarely get dressed because I'm home all day...I eat whatever I want whenever I want (I don't have to wait for "lunch time") and I get to play with the CUTEST baby all day.

But with that said, I know my husband is under an enormous amount of pressure and stress.  AND he doesn't even let on just how much stress and pressure he feels.  He studies 12+ hours a day...we literally see him maybe, maybe 2 hours a day...Liliana sees him less.  Since Lili has been having her sleeping problems (and she still sleeps in our room) my husband sleeps in what will be her room.  (I'll transition her in January).  He leaves before we get up so we don't see him in the morning and he gets back well after dark.  AND his tolerance for things in lower.  Life in Law School is completely different than undergrad.  The stakes have never been higher.

Needless to say, I'll be happy when his finals are over with, and I'll have 5 whole weeks of just me, him, and Liliana.  He works hard, and we sure do love him.  Liliana LOVES him...I'm sure this will all be worth it when all is said and done!

The Baby Weight

I always want to make my blog entries meaningful and fun.  I come up with things I want to tell the world, but then when I actually sit down to type them out, they leave me.  My mother-in-law called me a few weeks ago and told me she thinks I should start a blog about my life as a new mom or something you'd see on Pinterest.  And while I love the idea, and fully plan on doing it...I haven't yet.  The more I think about it, the more I don't think I have anything to really contribute to the Pinterest world.  I don't sew (although I want to; I don't own a sewing machine).  I cook--but I use other people's recipes...I only make slight changes to them.  I'm not crafty, and I'm jealous of people who are.  I have loads of opinions, but at the risk of creating confrontation I tend to keep them to myself.  I'm still searching for my nitch in the blog world.  There are soooo many blogs out there I just can't see my blog being anything really spectacular.  Anyway...I'll figure it out...

Okay, so the topic of this post is about my postpartum baby weight...I gained *gasp* 35 lbs while pregnant.  I was a big girl, and I have the pics to prove it.  I kind of watched what I ate, but not really.  The last half of pregnancy I cut out a lot of sugars and carbs because I was borderline diabetic.  Towards the end I'd say a good 5-7 lbs were easily water weight!  I couldn't fit into ANY shoes and flip flops with the elastic straps barely fit!  But after the baby was born I lost 20 lbs within the first 2 weeks.  I lost another 7 lbs over the course of the next 4 weeks.  I didn't change my eating habits (if anything I was eating more) and obviously I wasn't exercising.  In fact I wasn't doing much of anything except taking care of the cutest little baby.  Fast forward to now (4 months postpartum) and I'm sure my weight has gone up and down since then.  In fact at this moment I'm sure I'm up from the 8 lbs I needed to lose to get back down to my pre-baby weight...ANYWAY...I'm telling you all this to say, that's it...I can't be the chubby mom.  I didn't think it would take this long to lose the weight.  Here is what has been stopping me (well here are the excuses I've been using!)...1) I'm breastfeeding and I happen to read that vigorous exercise can decrease your milk supply .  Now I'm worried about that so I was hesitant to exercise.  However, I talked to two different doctors that assured me moderate exercise was fine...but still.  2) I believe that I need to eat a certain number of calories each day to keep up my milk supply.  (I've been eating PLENTY of calories!  haha)...Someone that had their baby a few weeks before I did said she got down to her pre-baby weight by eating 1200 calories a day!  (I'm pretty sure she's not breastfeeding!)  3) I have a baby!  And she's not the greatest napper, and she doesn't sleep through the night.  Needless to say, mama is tired!  So I just plain don't want to workout.  4) She's little.  Too little to take to the gym and have her go in the Kids Club or whatever that place is...so then where do I workout?  I like to run (on a treadmill mostly)...but that's not very easy with a baby.  Plus the hubs doesn't get home until late.  We eat dinner, give the baby a bath (in our case she takes a shower with daddy) then I put her to bed, and Adam studies until we go to bed.  Oh, and last but certainly not least, 5) I like food.  I do.  It's hard not to eat.  And I like to cook...and I don't like cooking "low fat" versions of "high fat" meals.

So for all of those reasons I've put off really working out...until now...I don't fit into all of my clothes yet.  In fact there is only a handful of clothes that I'll wear.  I can't be this size forever.  I refuse to buy bigger clothes.  So, I'll sacrifice.  That's what I keep telling myself: It's a sacrifice.  I've decided that 1800 calories is a good number, and plenty to keep up my milk supply.  (My sister said she ate 1600 and was just fine.)...So, I don't eat "low fat" foods, because generally they replace the fat with sugar--which is just as bad.  I just eat smaller portions and I don't eat as often.  And I'm trying not to eat too many sweets.  And I've been doing Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred--everyday, except Sunday.  I do it after I put her down to bed, while Adam is studying I'm in the living room doing my thing...then I shower and go to bed.  My goal is to lose about 10 lbs.  I have a before picture to post (yes, it's hideous, but perhaps it will keep me motivated.  I can't have the world seeing a picture of me being chubby without them seeing a picture of me not being as chubby)...but the picture is on my camera and I've currently misplaced the cord to put it on my computer...so...as soon as I find that I'll post it for all the world to see.  It's a sacrifice.

For now this will be my journey to document.  This will be my contribution to the blog world.  How I lost The Baby Weight.