Sunday, June 19, 2011

8 Month Newsletter

Hey Boo Boo,
Wow, 8 months. Good grief, how did we find ourselves here? Its so incredibly cliche but time has been flying by. It doesn't help that you don't seem to realize that you are a baby and just keep growing up!!
You have a sweet new baby cousin! Its hard to believe you have two cousins younger than you already (soon to be three!!). You look so big next to your little cousin Lily, I know its going to be a blink of an eye before you guys are running around causing havoc! It has been nice going to see them and spending time getting to know your sweet cousin. This coming month we get to meet your other little cousin. Well, we get to meet her in person, we Skype with her and her family often, but it will be so great to all be together.

We also had a visit from Uncle Ardvark, Aunt Nae Nae, Hannah and T! It was so wonderful seeing them and getting to spend some time together, they moved to Virginia before you were born. We miss seeing them so bad, but are so happy for their new life they have. I look forward to going down to visit them and making memories of crazy sleepovers! We had a great time seeing them and playing. You even got to take a bath with T, you two were so cute together!

Sleep! Oh yeah, that! Well this month you had to start taking naps in your crib. You were sleeping on our bed but you move soo fast that it just wasn't safe anymore. Wow, that was quite a transition! I didn't think I would make it. It took so long to put you to sleep the first few days but with patience and coffee we made it and now you nap relatively well. We also put you down in the beginning of the night in the crib and move you over when we go to bed. Its so cute when you wake up though because you pull down the bumper and call to me so the first thing I see when I come in your room are your little eyes looking between the crib rails.

You look so different to me this month. You are thinning out, I knew it would happen when you started moving around but knowing it and watching those rolls get smaller and smaller are two different things. You also have 8 teeth now, yes, eight! Your mouth full of teeth makes you look like such a little boy. Your hair has also gotten very blonde from being outside so much, its also developing curls in the back. Speaking of being outside, it seems like you do not really burn. I have no idea how you have that type of skin coming from the parents you have but its nice! I may be a little biased but you are a particularly adorable child. We get stopped all the time while we are out so people can say how cute you are.





We took a road trip out to Lancaster to visit some friends. I was a little worried on how it would go but it went pretty well. You were VERY tired of the car by the end of the day though. It was so worth it for the visit. We took a walk to a great park, went in a caboose from a real train, and got a tour of a chocolate factory(sorry no samples for you!). The best part of all was introducing you to some wonderful friends and just spending time with people we don't get to see often. I look forward to going out and visiting again soon and meeting a sweet new baby girl for you to be friends with. We also went to a bunch of parties; your Aunt Tink's birthday, Uncle Steve and Aunt Bern's Housewarming Party (in your Great Grandmom and Popeyes house), your cousin Jeffrey's birthday party and we also had a party for Cousin Hannah! Whew it was crazy but so much fun! I love watching you with these people that are so important to us! I hope as you grow older you value relationships with people and seek out people with great character to share life with.
You babble nearly constantly, most notably you say Dada. You LOVE your dada. He's been working from home 3 days a week and your smile when you know he is home is priceless. If you hear your daddy talking on the phone you need to see him. I will just hold you up just inside the door and you will just sit there and smile. You will just sit there smiling quietly until your daddy turns around then you giggle like crazy! You still have your morning time with daddy, he wakes up with you every morning and plays with you until he's ready to go to work. We definitely hit the daddy jackpot with him!

This month it really seems you have become more independent. You crawl around and play with all of your toys. You love having us play with you but can also play by yourself just fine. You love the swing we got for the front yard! I'm still wearing you and you are quite content to be worn most times, you do not like to sit still though so if I'm standing around you start fussing. You love to play peekaboo, you will take a blanket and cover your face then uncover it and laugh! When you nurse or when you are falling asleep you will rub my arms like I rub your back, it is pretty much the sweetest thing in the world.

I enjoy you so much. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with you. Every day I thank God for allowing me this great privilege. You are such a joyful little boy and my heart bursts with every belly laugh you gift to me.
Love Always,
Your Mama

Friday, June 17, 2011

On menu planning


Generally the best way I have found to follow our budget and eat real foods is menu planning. While I have been faithful to following weight watchers recently, I admit I have let this fall by the wayside. I haven't been inspired in the kitchen and so we have been eating out more than I care to admit or just eating boring foods. I'm going to try to break this rut by at least making one new recipe a week and menu planning. This week we did go over budget by about $20 but our menu also includes a special fathers day meal of grass fed steaks.

I have been pretty disgusted with what I am learning about much of our food supply, so in general we buy organic; and our beef must be grass fed. I want to incorporate at least one fish meal as well a week and that must be ocean caught. Its so important to me right now that I would rather eat vegetarian rather than conventional beef or farm raised fish, it really just doesn't seem safe to eat any more. I have been called a food snob before because of this but honestly I feel it's a question of safety. We eat like this at home knowing that while we are out we can't employ the same practices but at least we know the vast majority of our diet is safe.

This has been a challenge as far as the grocery budget so I will be working on following our budget strictly and incorporating vegetarian meals to offset. The fish cost has been offset by buying wild alaskan salmon in a can.

This weeks Menu:

Sunday-Father's Day! Grass Fed Steak, asparagus, roasted potatoes, salad and for dessert Cherry Pie (from the 50 lbs of cherries my friends and I picked and processed). All favorites for Schmoops first father's day.

Monday-honey lime enchiladas made with homemade tortillas (I will be subbing coconut oil for the shortening).

Tuesday-Pizza- store bought crust, store bought sauce. Easy peasy

Wednesday-.Crock Pot Black Bean Soup-served with Greek Yougurt instead of sour cream and flavored with fresh cilantro from our garden

Thursday-Quiche with sausage, onions and peppers

Friday-Alaskan Salmon Chick Pea and Mint Patties served with cous cous

I'm hoping that Wednesday can be a beach day and we can bring leftover pizza for lunch and then come home to some wonderful crockpot soup. Also, did you notice the two low cost vegetarian meals that I snuck in there?

Are you menu-planning? What helps you?

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Monthly Update-Month 3 on WW

Weight Watchers-24lbs lost
Pre-preg-36.4 lbs lost
preg-51.4lbs lost

This was a month of plodding along, my losses were very small but steady. I know, especially with as much as I need to lose, there will be times when its slow. As my good friend Shanna told me as I lamented to her that it might take 2 YEARS for me to lose all this weight "Two years will come no matter what". Wow, right?! So yes, plod along I will knowing that if I do keep at it, it will eventually come off. I am extremely happy with some things; I got into a pair of pants bought in January that were 4 sizes down from where I started at. Well I didn't only get into them they didn't muffin top me! I also bought a couple of pairs of shorts in that size and they fit well :)

I can tell in my energy levels that I'm at a much healthier place than I was before. My bug better watch out because as I get more fit I might run circles around him!! I have noticed this month that I've become lazy with cooking as of late, so that is my goal for this month to make more nutritious meals at home and have better planning for when I leave the house to bring something healthful and quick.