St. Patty's, Bows, and Weight Update

Hey Ladies :-)

Hope you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day! We had a pretty low-key day, but celebrated all the same. Mimi went to daycare and all her boyfriends were waiting for her to see if she wore her green! She is the youngest at the daycare. There are 4 boys (all over 1 but under 3) and two girls, (Mimi ~8mths, Isabella ~12mths), so we call the boys her boyfriends. They are so cute with her, they get excited when she comes (I'm usually the last to drop off) and they do her hair and tickle her and play with her all day.

When we got home we had Corned beef, Cabbage and Mashed potatoes--Mimi had a feast as well!--she had green beans, mashed potatoes and applesauce mixed with prunes and oatmeal. I'd never seen her eat so much! I'm glad though, I'm pretty slack with adding the Poly Visol vitamins to her food and breastmilk is not suffient in Iron and Vitamin D after 6 months--so atleast she is eating a variety of fruits and veggies--My husband and I dropped her off at my friend Grace's after dinner and we went to see "Ben Folds and a Piano" at the perfoming arts center on campus uf $17! Cheapo date. It was okay--I don't really know a lot of his solo music--or the music from his band (Ben Fold Five) but I enjoyed it.

Let me tell you--trading babysitting with Grace with the best idea she's ever had---it seriously saves a bundle and makes it possible for us to go out occasionally without going broke. With me on a graduate student stipend with a house, car payment, mortgage etc--there's not a lot left over usually in the "entertainment" section of our budget. So when you consider having to pay a babysitter 9-10 $/hour to go out on top of what it costs you to eat out, get drinks, or see a movie, it ends up costing a lot for an evening alone. So it's nice to have a friend to do that with. We take turns watching each others kids for 3-4 hours at a time. My friend Kim also moved really close to me and is always begging to take Mimi for us, so hopefully when she gets settled too we'll get to do a little more. Plus it's a bonus that it's a friend watching her instead of a babysitter.

I went to see my orthopedic surgeon today and I am cleared to do ANYTHING! I am completely healed with no motion restriction and NO MORE PT! yeah!!! I think I may start running again after I lose a little more weight. I'd like to work up to running 2-3 mile 3 or 4 times a week. Nothing crazy--- In other Jen news--This morning I was 205 lbs! Reminder--I was 218 when I got pregnant--so this is good news---My ULTIMATE goal is to get to 165--this would bring me to a BMI of 23--which is in the normal range. Click the link on BMI and calculate yours too--- Right now i'm a 29.4 YIKES so I am at the top end of the "overweight" category---but at my highest weight not being pregnant, which was 245--I was a 35! Obese! Ugh--that word is so ugly. This morning I tried to put on a pair of Jeans that I bought about 3 years ago and had to squeeze myself into--guess what!? They were so big, they literally fell off even with a belt--seriously unbelievable--and all I do is watch my portions, watch the sweets, no soda, walk 3-4 miles 5 days a week--well breastfeeding helps of course--which I'm still pumping pumping pumping--cause Mimi doesn't drink all that I have. I may actually end up doing a large milk donation again. If I can do it--you can! I'm actually going to clean out my closet when Mimi wakes up today--that's right lol, my closet is in my daughter's room because our house is so small my husband uses the closet in our room.

Bows--okay y'all, I have been going bow crazy. Etsy is my bank accounts worst nightmare--although I got some great deals and I won some from a youtube giveaway. So far I like birdylu, piggytailboutique, and I just won some from SunshineShoppe which are adorable and very well-made as well. Sunshineshoppe seems a little more expensive--but her stuff comes in larger groupings with headbands and such-- I'm pretty thrifty, so if you are too, but like cute bows check them out!

This is what I won.

Hope everyone is well! If you read my blog but don't "subscribe" leave me a comment if you want so I know who you are and I can check out your blog or youtube page. I really enjoy "keeping up" with all the great people I've "met" through my blog or youtube. What a great community of women.

I'll post again after Mimi's 8 month well chile apt at the dr. monday. She is thinning out and getting taller--I"m excited to see her percentages, etc.

Cheers!

Jenney