Saying goodbye to things...

We've been saying "bye bye" to things a lot around our house lately.  As our garage slowly fills up with rubbermaid containers filled with categorized baby items, I feel sad but excited.

The first thing to go were her newborn clothes.  Sadly, she grew out of these before I even packed up my maternity clothes.  I packed these up last fall, but it still makes me sad.  All those tiny bits--sleepers and gowns and hats and tiny long sleeved onsies.  :-(  The other day she dug out some stuff from the bottom drawer of her dresser, including a newborn hat that could fit over a softball, now it looks like a shrunken beanie on her head.  I say i'm sad because i'm faced with the reality that my "little baby" is a giganto 93rd percentile toddler practically running through our home.

o this is me early on in them....

The next was my maternity clothes.  Would you believe part of me misses those? lol.  I miss this one pair of Khakis that I wore my entire pregnancy.  They were these adjustable waist cargo khakis from gap maternity.  I'll dig up a photo of me in them.  These pants were so friggin awesome.  I totally wore them until I was atleast 3 months post partum.  I liked them because they had an acutally zipper and button, so you couldn't tell they were maternity (atleast in my dillusional mind).  They had stretchy tabs in the inside that you could button to make tighter or looser.  They grew with me to the end! God bless these pants.  These pants went in the bin for "next time."
The rest of the maternity goodies were washed and packed into the rubbermaid.  Although to be quite honest, since most of the pants are based on your pre-pregnancy size and I'm probably going to be two sizes smaller (because I'm already 1 1/2 sizes smaller now), I don't know how well they'll fit.  We all know they'll fit at the end when I'm the size of a house again!  I never quite found maternity jeans I liked.  I'm going to shop around more "next time."  This is another phrase we have been using a lot lately "next time.

Me in them later on....

So to shorten up these diatribes---I have 4 huge bins of things to save for "next time" which include:
Maternity Clothes
0-3 month clothes (mostly unisex)
3-6 month clothes (50% unisex, 50% girly)
6-12 month clothes (girly all the way!)
12-18 month clothes (girly as girly can be)
Birp clothes, bibs, blankets (salvageable ones)

Last night I cleaned out all of Mimi's toys and packed away all the infant toys, like plush rattles and carseat toys etc.  It made me so friggin' sad!
I also have been slowly washing and wrapping larger items in plastic, such as bouncy seats, infant carseat, play mat, exersaucer, bassinet, etc.  I have some stuff that my friend lent me that I need to wash really well and pass on back to her to clutter her house! Besides, she'll have another baby soon enough! She was also kind enough to lend me her swing way back when...still on the fence as to whether or not I'll buy one "next time."

Next up---the breast pump and bottle stuff.  I'm really torn about packing up my pump.  As soon as I stopped the mid-day pumping session, within in 2 friggin' days my supply dropped to 8 ounces flat.  Are you kidding me?! 15 to 8 in two days!  So I fear it is time to sterilize up 'ol Betsy's parts and pack her away.  I call my Medela double electric pump Betsy.  Do I throw away the plastic storage bottles? They're kind of scratched and yellowed.  I mean how much could it cost to re-buy them next time? I don't need to be so thrifty that I am poisoning the non-existent new baby with bacteria growing in Betsy's storage bottles over the next two years right?! or should I sterilize the sh*t out of them and put them in ziplocs?  Same goes for the bottles too--some of the Avent bottle I used are 9-12 $'s a piece--i'm tempted to just through out the nipples and keep the rings, caps and bottles.  Advice please!

So for now the rest of Mimi's baby-ish items are safely visible and making me feel warm and fuzzy still.  We still use her crib, changing table and highchair daily.  We will be able to use the Britax seats until she's like 4 or something---Clothes (12-18, 18-24), she is safe for the time being.

So when I say i'm sad, it's because my "little baby" isn't little.  Packing away the breastpump is the last nail in the "I have an baby" coffin.  I think now I just have a toddler.  No more Betsy and very little "boob action" lately.  I know Mimi is not interested anymore because she used to try to tackle me when I was getting dressed to get to my boobs any chance she got, now she's just like "oh yeah there's those, no need to get excited."   BUT...

I am starting to (scary as it may be) get so excited about what it will be like to have another baby someday.  I am excited to think about how my (non-existent) future pregnancy might go...would I look the same? would I gain the same? would we find out the sex this time? what would I have? what hospital would I pick this time? how friggin fun it will be to flaunt a hug gut and have it be beautiful lol......and I am pumped to someday take out all that stuff from the rubbermaids, re-wash it out of nesting instinct, and use it all over again with fat baby #2.

Well sorry for the long post on baby and pregnancy nostalgia---Hope you're all well!

Weight Loss Update-Week 2 of the Christmas Challenge

Hello Ladies!

So I'm a few days late in updating.  So, to recap, I set out on a mission to lose 29 pounds by Christmas (this year), which equates to 1.25 lbs per week.  In the first week I lost 2 lbs, went from 199-197.  This week, I am down one more lb to 196.  So overall, even though my numbers aren't that impressive, I'm losing on track.  So basically here's a graph of how my progress should look and how it actually looks:

I have two major issues that need adjusting right now.  One is that I'm so exhausted from working that I very rarely have time to legitimately work out.  Last night I walked Mimi to the park while my husband was at this Kung Foo class and that equated to walking 1/2 mile--whoopty do right?  I know, I need to get back in the habit.  That's all it really is, is adding it as a habit into your daily routine.  "They" (the experts) say it takes anywhere from 18 to 254 days (with an average of 66 day) to form a habit, good or bad.  I had previously heard 21 or 27--but we'll go with "science" here.  So for 66 days I need to add physically activity into my day so that it is a habit and not an "extra" thing I'm trying to fit in.  I'm tempted to do the Couch to 5K program again just to force myself to work back up to running 3 miles.   I've done it before and it's pretty easy--you only have to work at it 3 days a week.  I think I'll do this for now, and work on adding weights back in too.  

My other major issue is reduced nursing/pumping.  I attribute the fact that I am 22 below my pre-pregnancy wieght to nursing/pumping.  Hands down, nursing has allowed to to eat and lose weight with limited time to work out.  Now that Mimi is a year old, and only nurses short sessions on demand, my production has decreased and therefore I burn less calories from milk production.  I've read in several books that breastfeeding burns an average of 500 calories a day, with the typical range from 200 to 600 calories burned a day. It’s estimated that the production of one ounce of breast milk burns 20 calories.  This week I have dropped off my mid-day pumping session and now only pump once in the morning, and once at night.  I nurse her before bed or when we wants it too.  I used to produce 15 oz a day, now I'm down to maybe 10 (~200 calories/day burned).  So I've begun tracking my calories again very carefully.  I normally use the calorie king software I have on my laptop, but because I only use my laptop at home now, I have found a free internet version of the software that seems to be working really well.  I set up a profile stating my height, weight, level of activity, age, gender etc.  Then you set a goal of how many lbs you want to lose by what date.  I entered in 29 lbs by Christmas, and it suggest I eat 1710 calories per day.  I'm going to be realistic and shoot for 1800.  That was the number my trainer recommended to me when I was trying to lose weight before the wedding.  As your weight is reduced though, you need to recalulate this--maybe every 10 lbs or so.  

So I had been keeping an eye on my calories for the last week or so, but yesterday I started serious tracking. Today I even used a food scale to measure the oz of feta cheese on my spinach salad.  So let me just show you what the program does:

So here you can see what I ate yesterday.  The program is extremely easy to use and free with a great food database.  You can see yesterday I actually exceeded my goal by 191 calories--thanks to Mimi's leftover birthday cake staring at me in the fridge!!!  This program also gives food a "grade" like A-D, you can see most of my foods are A's and B's, so my food report card was fairly good.   I honestly don't think that the Taboule salad I had for lunch had 240 calories in it, but I looked up several different brands, and it was pretty consistant, so there you go.

So here is the "nutrition report" which I also found very helpful.  I appears as though I eat too much fat and salt in my diet, along with not enough Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron and Potassium (yikes!).  So this morning I resumed taking my multivitamin and my Iron supplement, which I tend to be anemic anyway and should take it daily.  So you can see this program is pretty idiot proof, free, and helpful in tracking your calories, nutrient, and even exercise.  Which I won't bother showing that part because I only walked 10 minutes home from the park!   I also started being more diligent about my water intake--I'm aiming for 90 fl oz, (or about 3 L) per day.

I'm hoping for continued success as the weeks go by.  I hope never in my life to ever see my scale tip over 200 lbs again--even while pregnant.  Does any of this stuff help anybody else?  What would inspire you to lose weight?  Send me a comment :-)

Update 7/28/2010--was actually 195 today!

Our Little Lady Turned One!

A ladybug-themed birthday for our little bug!

Just sharing some of the details for anyone who was interested in our ladybug-theme party.

Here is the invite, with my address blurred out of course...

Cupcake toppers and banner were from Etsy

Cake and cupcakes were from Publix Bakery

Ladybug Bow Favors were from Etsy


We had Mimi's first birthday party here at our small home.  It was hot and crowded but I think it went well.  We squeezed 17 adults and 3 kids into our 975 sq ft home for a 3 hour dinner party.  My husband and I worked Thursday night to make 1.5 gallons of spaghetti sauce and over 80 meatballs.  We spent Saturday morning hanging streamers, picking up cake and balloons, tidying up our house, and making lemonade and  appetizers.  We had stuffed peppers, olives, spinach dip and baby carrots with dip as appetizers.  We served pink and yellow lemonade.  The main dish was rigatoni and meatballs with salad and garlic bread (which I forgot to bake!).  We had cupcakes and cake.  It was hot and crowded, but everyone seemed to have a good time.  Mimi enjoyed her cake and cupcake.  I spent the evening cleaning up frosting from the floor and deconstructing the kitchen.

I don't think we'll do the same level of party next year, but it was fun to set it up and enjoy the day with our friends.  Bring on year two!

Happy Birthday Mimi Alexandra!

My daughter is one year old.  Why is it that we put so much emphasis on this day? Why is it that her first birthday makes me feel sad for some reason?  Don't get me wrong, I'm overwhelmed with joy today, and filled with a sense of celebration.  I guess that we (mothers) see our child's first birthday as an end of infancy and not a beginning of the next stage.  We feel like they're not our *little* babies anymore.  I can totally see why people get "baby fever" and want to to do it all over again.  I don't want to do it again right now, but I know with 100% certainty I want to do this all over again and again and maybe even one more again :-)  Mimi is my best accomplishment, if you can a child your accomplishment.

I can't even express in words how much I love my daughter.  She is the MOST important thing to me. She has changed me into a better person.  She's grown and I've grown.  Her life has made us into a family, it has connected me to my husband and brought our relationship to a higher level.

Today we woke her up and brought her into bed to cuddle and nurse.  She laid there nursing and reached her little fat hand behind her while she nursed and stroked my husband's arm with care.  It was a moment that I wish I could have captured in a box can carry it with me every day and relive it 1,000 times.  We opened presents from the grandparents.  We had a nice breakfast together without rushing.  I watched as Mimi tried to put her scrambled eggs on her fork all by herself.    I put her in her "baby's first birthday" onesie with Daddy's favorite little brown shorts and delicately place a matching bow in her soft moppy hair.  I took her to daycare armed with gift bags for all of her little friends and a tray of interesting-colored cupcakes from the bakery.  As I drove her to daycare she fell asleep in her carseat, with her little fat cheek pressed up against the side and her blanky across her lap.  When I brought her inside all her little friends were waiting for her (aged 1-4) and they ran to her hugging her and saying "it's Mimi!" "Happy Birthday Mimi!" "Miss April (the daycare lady) it's Mimi's birthday!" and one little boy said "Where are the cupcakes?"  Miss April has a really fun day for them planned.  It's actually another little boy's birthday tomorrow so they are double celebrating.  I know that cupcakes and swimming were on their birthday agenda.  My sister in law said to me today "How could you put Mimi in daycare on her Birthday!?" she can't help but be naive, seeing how she's 19 and has never had a job or been away from her family.

Saturday we are having a grand spaghetti dinner with our closest friends to casually celebrate Mimi.

I'm still sad.  Something about it makes me sad, sad that I couldn't make time go slower, sad that I missed so much even though I was home until she was 10 months.  Part of me is sad to stop nursing--we'll talk about that in another post.

I'll post more photos later.

One year ago today...

I was gigantic and pregnant, waiting to check in for my c-section the next morning.  We went our for Sushi and the next day was the best day of my life.  Tomorrow we celebrate Mimi's one year birthday.  I am overwhelmed with emotions about it--but I'll save that for tomorrow's post. Today just check out how huge I was.....

And today......in the same front yard.....365 days later

and for good measure....

Got a deal on diapers....

I have this friend that I normally call whenever I get a great deal on something.  Don't know why, I just did.    But she's not talking to me right now, so i'll tell you guys.

I got a great deal on my diapers tonight at CVS!  I got two jumbo packs of Huggies little movers for 8.99 but with $3 extra care bucks on each, so I got my diapers for $5.99 when they're normally $10.99!

Gotta love a sale on diapers....

Keeping Score-

Back when I had money and had a personal trainer, my trainer always told me "Abs are in the kitchen."  I'm not downplaying the power or working out--I think cardio and weight trainer should be a regular part of everyone's week, but I think most of you would be surprised how much weight you could trim off with just adjusting your diet and watching your calorie intake.

The trainer also told me that on average, when counting calories, most people underestimate their intake by 24%!  You would also be surprised at how many calories you eat when you keep track of EVERYTHING you put in your mouth for a day.  I use a handy-dandy program called "Calorie King Nutrion and Exercise Monitor."  It's a computer program that helps you easily, and when I say easily I mean it, track your calories, water intake and exercise.  There are tons of programs an aps like that out there--you should be able to find one you like, if not there's always the 'ol pen and paper.

So I challenge you to keep diligent track of your calorie intake for an entire day.  Here's mine from today:

Did you notice I ate a snickers bar today--yup, I did, it was one of those days, and I am definitely an  emotional eater.  Overall not that bad of a day, 1511 calories, normally to maintain weight without regular exercise I need to keep below 1800.  

Try doing this for one day, send me a note and let me know how you did! You'll be surprised at how much you eat (and drink)! 

I'm hoping to loose 1.5 lbs or more this week.  We;ll see--I intend to eat cake for Mimi's party!

Have a great week guys!

Tubing down the river...

So we took Mimi tubing down the river today at a (somewhat) local state park. 

Child under 1 + Inner tubes in deep water = Disaster Right?

Wrong :-) Mimi was fabulous. I must say I expected screaming, climbing, frustration, etc. We got up early and hit the road and were at the park in our inner tubes by 9am. My husband chose a raft and I chose an inner tube. Mimi got transferred back and forth between us with her Spiderman PFD on. I felt pretty good knowing she had a regulation PFD that fit her properly. She fussed a little at the beginning because she didn't want to wear the PFD, but was fine once she realized we weren't going to take it off. She took a mid-float nap on Mom's lap and woke up 40 minutes later refreshed and happy. We managed to float 1.5 hours with no real problems.  My husband says that it's important for us to give Mimi's these experiences while she's young.  He recently read a book about how we are shaped as individuals, he told me the author states that our personalities and temperaments are shaped by age 2.  Don't really know if he's right, but I think it's good to expose kids to new experiences.  Both my husband and I really enjoy the outdoors and we hope Mimi is the same.  One of my fears is that she'll be a mindless zombie kid glued to a TV.  

I hope we get a chance to do more camping this fall and some kayaking.  I don't know if we would put Mimi in a kayak, but definitely a canoe.

In other news--I just washed a sink full of baby bottles and I'm done.  This week will be Mimi's last week with bottles.  I am literally throwing them away.  She doen't need them.  She doesn't have an interest in them really, she drinks fine from her sippy.  I will save the glass ones but all the plastic ones are pretty scratched and have this weird yellow tinge (mostly the medela pump and store ones).  I'm not saving any of the nipples either unless they're unopened in the packages.  This chapter in Mimi's life is closing.  I think I'll be more emotional about it than her.  We wont' be seeing bottle until baby # 2 someday.  The pump part however will remain for a little while, but that's a whole other post!

I am gearing up to have a great week.  I plan on running in the morning atleast 3 days this week.  Mimi's birthday is Thursday and her party is Saturday!  SO EXCITED to celebrate our little lady!

Getting the most out of Saturdays....

The weekend has  a totally new meaning to me since I've started working full time.  Before having a day job out of the house (because staying home with Mimi was A JOB), I never fully drank in the weekend like I do now.  It's not that I didn't appreciate them (weekends) then, I just didn't soak them up and suck every minute of out them like I do now.

During the week I am so busy and stressed that things fall apart.  Our friend Manny stopped by for dinner Thursday night unexpectedly, as he sometimes does bless his heart, and our house was a wreck!  I was too tired to even be embarrassed.  There were bags of stuff piled by the door, like my purse, daycare bag, breastpump bag etc, with shoes scattered in between.  There were dishes all over the kitchen with a dishwasher of dry sparkling dishes waiting for my husband to put them away.  There was dog hair on the rug, knowing my dog is part chow chow I hope you'll understand that...So you can see, we fall apart during the week.  We run out of milk and butter, we have no clean pants left and there are pairs of pajamas strewn (<---sp?) on our bathroom floor.  If our cleaning lady didn't brave it all to come every other week we would be in a truly sorry state.   By Friday me and my husband are exhausted.  We rarely ever go out on Friday night unless it is for a specially organized thing like a birthday party of something.  So brings us to Saturday/Sunday.

Saturday morning I usually wake up feeling like a million bucks, even if Mimi wakes up before 8.  Saturday I get to not wake up to an alarm, not pump instead of nurse my baby, not rush off to a job that vexes me, I just get to hang out with my family in my pajamas cooking soft boiled eggs and sipping coffee.  It's like Christmas every Saturday morning.  It never felt this good until I starting working full time.  I've noticed that I don't like to have "big plans" on the weekends either.  I keep my expectation low and my list short.

Today was a wonderful day.  I started off my weekend with a really sour/angry/frustrated feeling.  I was determined to push those feelings away and have a great weekend with my family.  We woke up and I nursed Mimi in bed and then we made french toast and played all morning with Mimi.  We decided to run some errands. We went to Michael's and perused the crafty things we could use to decorate for Mimi's ladybug-themed birthday party.  It was really fun, I will do a post of her party so you can see the cute stuff we came across.  The party supply store was next door so we picked up plates, cups, cutlery , streamers all in our red and black theme.  My husband got into it too.  I couldn't help but notice all the things at Michaels' that would be PERFECT for Sophie's Birthday!!!  I wanted to take photos and send it all to Courtney! I restrained myself though.  ;-)  We had lunch with some friends at Five Guys before heading home---NOT on my diet plan, but SO WORTH IT.

After we all had an afternoon nap, we ate a light dinner.  We decided to let Mimi sit at the table like a big girl, by taking off her high chair tray and lowering her to our level.  She ate with her fork, not using her hands for anything! She drank from her cup and we all had such a pleasant meal.  She didn't even get food on her dress.  After hearing that my friend's kid has an entire repertoire of words, I found myself repeating words to Mimi more than usual! lol "Mimi is that your CUP, are you drinking from your CUP, where's Mommy's CUP...."

We took advantage of the fact that it wasn't raining at dusk for the first time in a week and walked to the park.  My husband pushed Mimi on the swing while I ran a mile on the track.  My knee if feeling so much better these days.  The last time I was running regularly I was 22 lbs heavier, when I think about that, it would be like jogging carrying Mimi (who is now 24 lbs!), crazy.  I hope to get down to my goal weight and start running 3-5 miles again.

My husband put Mimi to bed and my friend and I went and got a pedicure and caught up over coffee while the smiling ladies massaged our legs, so nice especially after my short run.  I wish I had someone to do that every night! If you tell me your husband massages your feet and legs every night I think I might cry from jealousy!

I made the most of my day.  I spent time with my husband, kissed my daughter 5,000 times, played peekaboo and read books to her, I even emptied the dishwasher!  Tomorrow we are taking Mimi tubing down the river for the first time.  I am feeling better now that we have a infant PFD that fits her properly.  We'll see how she does!

Weight Loss Update-Week 1 of self-imposed challenge

Alright folks--I can a big ol' gold star for this week (sort of) lol!

So between Friday and Monday I had lost 3 lbs--down to 196!!  I was like "what the!?" because I hadn't even been working out or anything.  I honestly attribute this to Mimi's more frequent nursing on weekends.  Even though we are nearing the end of this "speical relationship", she still is pretty into the boob.  On the weekends I think she takes full advantage of her "access" and therefore tends to nurse more, spurring on some production and therefore calorie burn.  I have been watching what I have been eating too, but not so much that I should have lost 3 lbs.  So then.....

I had dinner twice this week with my friend Kim (who eats her body weight and stays thin) and her friend from Canada.  We went to ALL YOU CAN EAT SUSHI, you can imagine, I took full advantage and stuffed my face with Sushi for $17.99.  I even had dessert and beer.  So the next day....I was 2.5 lbs up! lol, that weight lingered on and finally this morning I was 197.  So overall, I still lost two pounds this week.  Therefore, gold start earned!

199---->197 :-) two lbs down 27 more to go!

Other than that things have been pretty stressful.  My house is a mess, laundry piled up everywhere, dishes all over the kitchen, etc.  I hope this weekend I can catch up.  I plan on heading to the craft store and finding some cute decorations and party favors for Mimi's ladybug-themed birthday party next weekend :-)

We are really excited to celebrate her.  What a world-wind year or excitement and stress!

This day of bull*hit is dragging on.  I feel really agitated and tired.  I just want to go home and put on my Nike gym shorts.  I have to point out that today I wore a dress-yes, a dress to work.  AND I dried my hair---See Courtney--I'm trying to be more put together!  If I were on the ball like Stephanie, I would have done a "outfit of the day video" :-)

Hope you all have a great weekend! A photo of Mimi for good measure!

10 Things I love in my Little ol' House

This house will always be special to me.  It's small, often cluttered, but full of love and memories.  It was our first house as a couple.  We got married while living here, and planned most of the wedding at our kitchen table.  Mimi was born while we lived here, and is blissfully sleeping in her little ol' room with the keylime colored walls.

Today I'll share with you 10 little things I love in my little ol' house.

Click on it to make bigger if you want....
From top right....

My Brother P-Touch label maker--for those of us with labelling OCD
My husband's Ibanez guitar, there's something so sexy about watching him play it
My fridge littered with photos of our family
Our Krups espresso machine (my best friend in the wee morning hours)
Our kitchen Pasta print
Our glass cabinet that has thus far escaped Mimi's destructiveness--and thank god since it's not safety glass!
Our ceramic rooster cookie jar
My scale--most women probably hate there's I love mine (by the ways down two pounds already!)
Our bathmat from LLbean
The needle point Kim gave me for Mother's Day

Self Imposed Challenge

This photo has nothing to do with this blog--I just think my kid is cute.

Courtney (ol' buddy ol' pal) has inspired me to step it up and challenge myself to another goal.  That's why I love you guys--my little online community.  You challenge and support me!

So my goal is simple.  Simple in concept I should say.  I want to lose 30 lbs by Christmas.  How did I make this goal you ask?  It's simple, my doctor recommended weight (and weight for a healthy BMI) is 132-175 lbs.  That's quite the range i'd say!   When I met my husband I was 172 lbs.  I wore a size 12 and could easily wear a 2 piece swimsuit.  I felt happy and healthy.  I'm not saying I wouldn't want to reach a little higher and set a goal for a lower weight--but I think it's important to set achievable goals.  So I want to lose 30 lbs over the next 24 weeks--1.25 lbs a week.

I highly recommend you check out the above linked sites and see what your recommended BMI and "ideal weight" is.

I hope to put up a little graph widget to track my progress.  I want to do some healthy recipe blogs, workout recaps and photos showing my progress.  Twenty-four weeks will be hard to keep up.  Keep me motivated guys!  Of course I will continue to blog about my adorable Mimicans and lazy (yet lovable) husband as well.

Sorry if you read this blog seeking something more intellectual---I do intellectual stuff all day, this is my little hobby/outlet where I can talk about what's on my mind.  I'm not here to prove i'm smart or interesting.

If you're out there reading this, tell me your tips and tricks for losing the chub. I don't mean the obvious here people---I mean the little things you do to keep yourself inspired. Are you an areboic-a-holic? A calorie counter?  A inpirational photo on the fridge gal? etc?

If I don't subscribe to you and you think I should drop me a note!

So i've posted a picture of me from yesterday and a photo of Mim because I love my cutey pie.

So right now I'm 199 lbs, and a size 14.

Check her out!

Hey ladies check out Stephanie's blog.
I've been following her vlog's on youtube since before Mimi was born. She's a working mommy and definately more fashionable than I!

Also wanted to say that Mimi is walking more than crawling lately--so exciting and cute.

Later Gators!

A vlog post on jarred babyfood

Making your own babyfood--is it for you?

I tell you, this one lady's smugness just gives me all kinds of fuel for blog entries lately.

"It's a lot healthier, it doesn't get that processed sit on the shelf for three years taste"

First off, let me say that Mimi ate pre-made store-bought babyfood and she is still alive today!

So making you own babyfood. My opinions, suggestions, and pros and cons.

So did I make my own babyfood for Mimicans???
--you bet....90% of the time yes.
I made my own food because is was cheaper, seemed fresher and kept me busy while I was staying at home full time.  It was also kind of fun, mixing and matching to make unique flavors for Mimi to try.  Her favorite was apple/squash or mango/squash.

Without a doubt making your own babyfood, organic or not organic, is cheaper than buying pre-made babyfood.  For example, you can buy a small bag of organic carrots for $1.69 at my local grocery store--this small bag steamed and pureed with a small amount of water will make over 30 1oz servings(icecubes), which the small baby food jars are 2.5 oz.  So for under $2, you can have 12 jars of organic baby carrots, which sell for 50 cents a piece at our local grocery store (Earth's Best Organic 2.5 oz jars).  As far as organic foods go i did find that is was cheaper to buy organic prunes pre-made due to the high cost of organic prunes in the store.  

The foods I made the most were organic peas, organic carrots, organic apples, organic squash, sweet potato, bananans, green beans, blueberries, mango, and organic pears.  When she got a little older I mixed in oatmeal instead of rice cereal, due to her constipation issues.  We slowly transitioned into solids and table foods and now she eats what we eat.

So did Mimi have store bought food?
--Yes on several occasions.  Store bought food was convenient for two different situations for me.  My daycare does provide food, but no organic foods.  So when the Earth's best foods went on sale, I would stock up and take them to the daycare.  So Mimi ate those two days a week from about 5-7 months.  Other than that, she ate the jarred stuff when we were travelling for more than 3 days, or if we found ourselves unprepared and had to stop in a grocery store while out and get her some food.

Preparing and serving your own baby food is SUPER easy.  Basically, peal and steam the foods, anywhere from 7-15 minutes depending on the food, then puree them with water, breastmilk or formula. I poured mine in icecube trays, froze overnight, and popped them into a freezer bag.  Label the bag with the food type and date.  Foods stored in a conventional freezer will last 3 months.  Take 1 or 3 cubes and put in a microwave safe bowl (I prefer glass) and microwave for 20-30 seconds on high.  You can mix in cereal (rice or oat) to make it a thicker consistency, or leave it plain.  Voila--home-cooked, cheap and tastes so fresh!

I did notice that foods I made myself were a lot more flavorful (to my taste buds atleast) and brighter in color than the jarred ones--especially peas.  But to tell you the truth, Mimi showed no preference.  So there you go.

Pros--cheap, fresh, fun
Cons--prep time, storage space, not always convenient on the go

Top ten things annoying me right now....

So I am so friggin' hormonal right now I want to bite off everyone's heads and then go cry about it.

As this blog is my outlet, here goes-10 (or more if I get going) things that are irritating me now....

1. Hypocritical people. The other day I made a crack about someone else and the person I was talking to made me feel bad about it--even though they make cracks about the same shit all the time---ugh

2. Selfish work colleagues. I have a girl I work with who keeps stealing projects from me. It's annoying. I want to spit at her, she is so shady she doesn't even realize i'm mad at her--to her she does nothing wrong

3. Friends who don't get back to you and make you feel all paranoid like they're mad at you and you can't figure out what you did.

4. The weird damp summer smell in my car. For realz-I clean my car all the time--where is it coming from?

5. Skinny woman who pop out babies and wear bikinis 8 months later. Die.

6. My husband deciding that he doesn't like chicken breasts so therefore we can never have it for dinner. Hello? I don't like sardines and anchovies but I don't ban them from our table!

7. People who tell me how to parent. Go have your own kids.

8. My brother-in-law for having a fake wedding on Halloween weekend in CA when he's already been married over a year---costing our family 1000 to travel there for 3 days. And his general lack of consideration for other people.

9. My mother in law for treating me like I am dispoable accessory of my husband. Wait to see how much I involve you with your grandkids--better be nice to me, i'm the one who's popping out those kids

10. My acne starting to come back--why!? I am 28, when will end.


I've drank too much coffee and stayed up too late.

Happy 4th of July! (and 3rd & 5th too!)

What a world-wind weekend y'all!  We had visiters come from out of town to stay for the weekend and a few parties to go to, so we had a pretty good time.

Friday night poor Mimicans had a fever of 101.4 that woudn't respond to Tylenol---why does my kid pick the WORST times to get sick!? Not that I'm mad at her, but why has the "good health fairy" hexed us at the worst times?  So the Dr.'s office was closed so I left a message with the after hours pediatrician on Saturday because she still had a fever, but they didn't call me back until MONDAY.  Luckily I kept a close eye on Mimi and her fever was down by Sunday but boy was she a child to be reckoned with this weekend.  She was some kind of rotten.  Our friends that were visiting are Mimi's soon to be god parents and I swear everytime they've seen her she's been sick or overtired and acting like "birth control baby," you know, the kid who makes all non-parents pretty sure they don't want to venture into parent land?  Anyway...

Here is us letting Mimi do what she wants so she won't scream....

Saturday we went our for Sushi which was really fun.  Kim watched Mimi for me so I got to enjoy my fancy sushi and expensive martinis.  Sunday we went to the park and played bocci, grilled out some ribs, and went to our friend's lakehouse to watch fireworks over the water.  I was impressed at how Mimi handled being out that late and night and the noise.  She just sat and watched the pretty lights and then would lay her head back down and pop back up to look at them later--so cute.

This morning the Dr. 's office called and told me I should bring Mimi in because she had had that fever for two days and we noticed she had been sticking her fingers in her ears---but turns out nothing was wrong with her ears, but she had an ulcer on one of her tonsils from a viral infection, which likely caused the fever.  She's fine now and back to her old self again.

We said goodbye to our friends and went over to Kim's for her "5th of July" party.  Her friend from New Foundland brought an entire bathtub of 5 lb lobsters--I kid you not.

Doesn't this make you smell melted butter and lick your lips? Unless you're allergic to shelfish of course...

Other than lobster, there was a pretty awesome spread--including snow crab, other grilled meats, salads, key lime pie, drinks, etc.  Grace--if you're reading this, you missed out girlfriend! Where were you?

In other news---Mimi's room is COMPLETE :-)  After almost a year, I finally broke down and bought the shelf for Mimi's room and set it up.  I feel at rest.  Her nursery feels clean, organized, and complete.

Hope you all had a great 4th!


I can't wait to hear how y'all's fourth went!

Photos for Cuteness Factor

My Jess Craig Inspired bathtub photo shoot--mine came out blurry however, how did she do it with no flash and no blurryness??  Need to get better with the ol' Rebel

Cuddling with Daddy one morning.  She's so huggy and cuddly when she wakes up...

My house is clean, I uploaded photos and cleaned off our cameras, my daughter walked tonight, and i'm going to be by 11pm.  This nice evening made up for a bad day at work :-)

Funny Stories

So yesterday I'm in my local Grocery store, Publix.  If you have never heard of it, it is one of nicest chains I think I've been to (except Wegman's of course).  This is one of Mimi's favorite places to go with Mommy.  I think when she was little it was all the bright lights--nowadays I'm pretty sure it's the smiling faces and free cookie from the bakery.  Well, 1/2 cookie, Mommy eats the other half.  and YES, I am a "horrible" parent who gives my <1 year old a cookie---may god strike me down!

Anyway....they also have this thing called "Apron's Kitchens" where everynight from 5-7 pm there's this area where there is a woman cooking something "dinner like" and next to her is a freezer thing with everything you'll need to make that dinner.  They give out samples hot off the stove for you to taste, with a little salad and bread to boot!  This is actually a perfect Mimi portion.  So i'm standing there feeding her off my mini plate some risotto, chicken, and brushcetta and this man, about mid 30's walks up to me.  Typically when strange men walk up to me I feel instantly weirded out and protective of Mimi (as a mom should I guess).  He smiled a big goofy smile at me and said:

I just wanted to tell you how nice it is that feed your kid normal table food. I have twin 6 year old girls who love everything from calamari to sardines! I think it's great that you let her try everything. More people should do that.

Well thanks for the boost strange grocery store man.  I do try to expose Mimi to all types of food. I actually noticed that she was the one that initiated her transition from purees to more solids.  I noticed around 7 or 8 months she started to refuse "baby food" or purred food, and wanted to not only eat larger solids, but she also no longer wanted me to feed her with a spoon.  Even now at 11 months, she wanted to put the food on the fork or spoon herself and eat it.  Mostly she still eats with her fingers, but is feeding herself all the same.  I don't think I deserve any kind of award for this--I didn't really do anything.  The only thing I did do was let go of my intense fear of her choking and let her learn to chew.  I don't give her foods that she can choke on, but I give her some pretty hefty size cuts of foods and she does really well all on her own.  She now can be given 1/2 of a banana not cut up and do just fine with it.

The only other thing I've had to watch out about it letting her see my reaction to a food before she's had a chance to try it herself.  For example, I HATE sardines and anchovies.  YUCK. But, my husband LOVES them.  When he wanted to give them to Mimi about 2 months ago, I said "well you can try but I don't think she'll like it" what the hell did I know--she loved them.  My husband got a big "I told you so" out of that one.  My friend kim has also given her horseradish and other other spicy things to see her reaction, and some of the stuff you'd think she'd spit out and hate she didn't even turn her nose up to.    I think as parents we think our kids will have similar tastes to ours, but i've found that not to be true in many instances.  I hope that I can keep exposing Mimi to new foods and let her make her own mind up on what her tastes are.

Okay, so that's my long and drawn on story for today.  On other new...

My dear friend Grace has started a new blog called "Suburban Life in a College Town" Please hop on over and check her out.  She only has one post right now, but I hope she'll do more soon.  She's a mom, mother, and an engineer.  She has some interesting takes on life, love, and parenthood.  I think you'll enjoy it.
Here's a photo of Grace holding Mimicans in January.  We took our girls to a local nature center where they have all sorts of farm animals to feed.  It was pretty cold that day too.

Hope everyone is doing well!