500 years is a long time

Over the past couple years, Clay and I have tried to change our lifestyle as much as possible and attempt to be “green”. It’s not always easy but it’s amazing how the little things can help the environment. So, we try to think of the environment at all times and do what we can to help the cause. We recycle, conserve water use (Water is very precious....less than 1% of the world's fresh water or about 0.007% of all water on earth is readily accessible for direct human use), buy organic and environmental friendly items if available, use a push mower (Um, yes….Clay mows our yard using a push mower….old school), use Green Mountain for electricity (uses wind & solar to produce electricity), use compact fluorescent light bulbs, etc. Of course, there are so many other things we can do to help the environment but unfortunately it takes time and money. Our next big items will be solar panel tint for our windows in our house and a hybrid car.

We're also trying to raise Lola "green". When I was pregnant, diapers didn’t cross my mind until someone asked “Are you going to use disposable or cloth diapers?”. Wow. This had never crossed my mind. As a matter of fact, I didn’t know cloth diapers were even an option as I always had correlated cloth diapers to cloth rags with pins. Nope….not so anymore. Once this questioned was posed, I started doing my research and found some interesting facts such as: It takes up to 500 years for a disposable to bio degrade in a landfill or over a billion trees are killed each year to make disposables. Wow!!! You don’t realize how important it is to be “green” until you start hearing some of the facts. So, early on in my pregnancy, Clay and I decided we would use the cloth diaper.

Well, we finally started cloth diapers about a month ago. We tried out several different diapers/methods. I’ll spare you all the dirty details but we have found a cloth diaper that is absolutely no more inconvenient than a disposable diaper. The G Diaper (must have #3)!!!! The diapers have a washable cotton outer “little g” pant and a plastic-free flushable diaper refill. Instead of flushing the refill every time, you can also throw them in a diaper pail (like you do with a disposable) and compost them. The g diaper takes 50 – 150 days to disintegrate vs. 500 years for a disposable. And, the refills are no more expensive than buying disposable diapers. I’m telling you, they’re fabulous and stylish!!!

Attached is a pic of baby Lola in her cute cloth diaper (Please ignore the deer in headlights look on Lola...Lately, anytime the camera is on her, she has been giving this look...nice!). I’ve also attached some good “green” references that I love.

http://www.treehuggingfamily.com/

http://www.gdiapers.com/

Good Books – Ready, Set, Green: 8 Weeks to Modern Eco-Living, Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things, Raising Baby Green: The Earth-Friendly Guide to Pregnancy, Childbirth and Baby Care

Cousin on the way...

We're so excited that Lola's first cousin is in the oven cooking. Molly & Ben finally announced to the world that "They are expecting!!!!". Yea! Baby on the way!!! We're all so excited.

We know they'll be great parents as they are so wonderful with Lola. Not just the way they look at her and hold her and take care of her but how they want her around always. Boy...if Lola Ruth isn't going to be there, then it's just not a good time anymore. For example, Ben's birthday (BIG 27!!! Remember the days....) was about a month ago and Molly threw a fab party for him. It was all set....my mom was coming over to keep Lola. Well, nope....that doesn't work. Although all their friends got babysitters for their kids, they wanted Lola there for the party. Molly's exact words were "Lola is my muse and I want her here". How cute! Lola partied with us all night and everybody loved her. Or, this past Friday was Molly's birthday (BIG 32!!!) and again we were going to have my mom come over to keep Lola. Well, that wasn't good b/c everybody wanted Lola with us for her birthday celebration. Things like this make you feel so good as a parent. To have family and friends that love your child so much that they always want her around. It's very special!!!

So, as a congrats gift I gave Molly all of my essential items that I had to have throughout my pregnancy which were: low fat wheat thins (in case of emergency hunger weakness), mixed nuts, jalapenos, hot tamales, prunes (I know...very strange craving), bananas, water, cream to prevent stretch marks, waste band (to help smooth you out when your in that phase where the stomach is mushy) and Pea in the Pod pre-natal yoga schedule. Oh, how I loved all of this stuff throughout my pregnancy. Most of these items were with me at all times. The only thing I couldn't wrap was the big gulp coke that I allowed myself once a week. I looked forward to those all week long.

Congratulations Molly and Ben!!! We can't wait for the little bambino(a) to arrive.

Adam & Brana, Now that you're married, it's time for you to start working on cousin #2.

Have a Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!

Hooray for a long weekend!!!

Lola loves to cat nap

Boy we’re lucky. Lola loves to cat nap or should I say tiger nap. When I was pregnant, if you asked me “What will you miss most once the baby is born” my answer would have been “Cat Napping “ without thinking twice. Well, I don’t want to mislead anyone so I should actually phrase the term as “Tiger Napping” because the naps I’m referring to usually last a minimum of 1 ½ hours and can be as long as 3 ½ hours. I’m not kidding….I really love the tiger nap!!!!

We have been blowing and going for the past two months and it seems there hasn’t been one moment to sit back and breath. This past weekend was the first weekend in well over a month where we had no plans. I was so happy about the plan free weekend and looked forward to it all week. I thought I’ll finally have time to get organized and get things done around the house. I had my list of chores. BTW…I love my lists....they basically run my life. The list included things such as clean out my closets, get the nursery organized, clean out the cabinets, wash clothes, write thank you cards, pay bills, etc.

Well, when it came down to it, I basically couldn’t move due to exhaustion and didn’t do one thing all weekend (We did squeeze in the Radiohead concert Sunday evening....awesome show!). Oops!!! What did I do instead? Tiger napped all day Saturday and Sunday. Now, you would think once you have a baby that the tiger nap would be cut out of your life. Luckily for us, that’s not the case b/c Lola LOVES to tiger nap. The funny thing is Lola doesn’t typically sleep a lot during the day. She usually takes little 30 minute to hour long naps here and there throughout the day. But, when it’s time to tiger nap, she is ready to go down hard. On Saturday and Sunday, we would lay her down with us either on our chest or next to us on the couch and she would take the 3 hour naps right along with us. She wouldn’t wake up until we started moving around. Then, if we got up for an hour or so and decided to take another nap….she would be ready again. It’s great and what I like to call a true blessing.

Other great news, I weighed this morning and have lost 1 ½ lbs this past week. I guess my regime is working so far. I hope to keep the scale moving down. Over the past couple months, I’ve felt like Lola should be attached to my hip at all times so people know I just had a baby. I’m finally starting to feel like I can walk out into the world on my own and feel comfortable with it. Such a great feeling!!!

The Next Big Thing

It’s really amazing how quickly they change. Here are some pics from last night when we were playing with Lola. She is such a doll!!! It seems within a week she has changed so much. She is much more alert and really focuses on faces now. She’ll stare at you for long periods of time and you wonder “What in the world is this child thinking”. Not that I can remember but it makes me miss the days when life was so care-free. Lola has also become very active in the evenings. Stomach time is easy for her now and she is able to raise her head up high with a smile. She is also getting better at sitting up. She still topples over if you let go but she is able to balance better if you put her up against something. It’s fun seeing these little advancements and she seems so proud of herself when she accomplishes a new move.

In other great news, Lola seems to love daycare now. She laughs and coos when we drop her off and she's always having fun playing when we pick her up. The daycare said “She has made lots friends”. I’m not sure what this means exactly since she can’t talk yet but I’ll just go with it. Yesterday when we picked her up she was sitting in an exersaucer. This is a first! She hasn’t been big enough or steady enough until this week. Now, I am a little torn about the exersaucer, swing and all other objects of this type. Why? Well, “they” say the use of walkers, swings, exersaucers, etc can cause delays in development. Studies show babies who spend a lot of time in these type of toys tend to sit, crawl and walk later than babies who don’t. I know, I know….this is a little much. But, you have to pay attention to the research. This is why I love the playmat (must have #2) because it challenges babies to move around on their own, reach for things, turn over and other fun things. That’s my tid-bit for the day. I’ll try to keep these to a minimum in future blogs but I figure parents and future parents might be interested in what “they” say.

Although I love seeing her do the “next big thing”, it’s also sad for me to see her change so quickly. It’s funny how every little thing is such a big deal. Grabbing something, pulling things to her mouth, steady head, lifting her head, etc. These all become huge accomplishments when you're a baby. Every stage gets more and more fun which is great. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Also, scope out this article http://health.yahoo.com/experts/eatthis/4653/lose-weight-eating-restaurant-foods/ Eat this, Not that. I found it pretty interesting. It makes you stop and think before you eat anything.

My daughter is a spitting image of her Father

I’ll never forget the moment when Lola finally arrived and the first thing my doctor said was “She is definetly her father’s daughter”. I’ve since heard this term numerous times. Her hair, her eyes, her nose….it’s all her father’s. Nothing, nada, zilch, zip is mine. Initially, we thought she may have my mom’s fabulous brown skin tone. However, when the jaundice left, the beautiful olive skin was gone too and she was left with pale white skin which definetly makes her an Odom. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Although I’m constantly searching for any little thing on Lola that may come from me, I actually love the fact that she is a mini-Clay. I remember the first time I looked at her and you have this feeling that you’ll only experience once. After this glance, I was finally able to sleep after being awake for over 30 hours. I remember waking up the next morning, Clay was in the hospital room with me and when I looked at him, I saw Lola in him (Of course, at this point she still didn’t have a name). It was a very special moment for me. Ever since then, I love and cherish the fact that my daughter is a spitting image of her father.

Happy 35th Birthday to Clay!!!

Too Cute!

How cute are Adam & Brana. I can't wait to post more wedding photos. I'm telling you...this photographer is great! You won't believe the wedding party photos....so much fun! Again it's http://www.salleephotography.com/. Visit their blog. If you visit the blog, you'll also see that Brana is famous....it appears the website The Knot is using her bridal portraits. How cool is that.

“Must Have” #1

When I was pregnant and it was time to register I was very overwhelmed. I had no idea what we needed and had no clue where to start. So, I began taking polls from all my friends that had kids, took their “must have” list and went from there. I’ve now developed my own “must haves” and will try to share them throughout the blog. First “must have”, Adiri bottle (http://www.adiri.com/) and/or Dr. Brown glass bottles (http://www.handi-craft.com/bottles/Products.shtm).

One obvious thing that we all need with a new baby is bottles. Did you know plastic bottles are a no no for babies? It’s crazy…right? Well, this is because a chemical in some plastic food and drink packaging including baby bottles may be tied to early puberty and prostate and breast cancer. Wow! Can you believe this? I didn’t just make this up either. It came straight from the U.S. Government’s mouth.

The key is to buy bottles that are free of bisphenol A which basically eliminates most plastic bottles as bisphenol A is used in the productions of plastics. So, this is why my first “must have” is either the Adiri bottle (silicon) or Dr. Brown’s glass bottle. Both are great not only because they are bisphenol A free but they also have a vent that helps prevent colic and gassiness and they are eco-friendly. It’s a win win with these bottles!!!

Of course baby first but with this information we also need to think of ourselves. Clay is on a mission to throw away all of our plastics. Oh my!!! Think about how much you use plastics during a day….tupperware, plastic baggies, plastic cups, bottled water, bottled soda, etc. This list could go on and on and on. This is going to be a huge adjustment. So, I’ve asked Clay to slow it down as we’ll have to ease into this change.

My First Scale

It took 32 years but I did it!!! I invested in my first scale. I feel this may be the first day of the rest of my life. "Why?" you may ask. Well, since I've never been very pro-active and never really been good with diets, I always feared the number on the scale would only go up so I would just avoid it like the plague (I’m actually the same way with my checking account at times. I avoid looking because I’m scared the number will be way down. Does anyone else do this or is it just me?). Now, I’m ready to address this fear of weighing and take on a new challenge (or what I like to call a war in my case) and face it one battle at a time to get where I want to be. For once in my life, I feel I can do this through healthy eating, bikram yoga and the ½ marathon training. Yes, that’s what I said; I’m going to train and attempt to tackle a ½ marathon in December!

How did I get to this point and how am I finally able to face this fear of scales after so many years? Pregnancy is the answer. Throughout a pregnancy, you are forced to step on the scale at least once a month at every doctor visit and once a week as you get closer to the big day. As I saw the pounds pile on slowly, I became obsessed. This is when I completely changed my diet and became a yogian. Even with the new changes I had made, between months 5 and 6 of my pregnancy, I stepped on the scale and my biggest fear came true….I gained 11 lbs in one month! How in the world does that happen? I was traumatized. The first 4 months I had only gained 7 lbs and I basically gained that plus more in one month. It was crazy!!! Anyway, this obsession that I picked up during pregnancy has remained with me but now I’m ready to start seeing the scale go down. So, today I weighed on my own for the first time and I weighed 1xx. With my new regime, let’s see how quickly the scale moves. Being age 32 and post-baby, this won't be an easy feat but I'm ready to take on the challenge.

I’ve attached some photos to document the many stages of weight you confront during pregnancy. Me prego with my sister-in-law, me 3 days after Lola was born (I can't believe I'm even showing this photo but I just thought I would give all women out there a heads up.... WARNING: Stomach is still large as if there is a baby in there. It's about the same size as being 5 months pregnant....very depressing!) and me & Lola after a workout (No, I didn’t just get out of the shower but yoga rather. This is a class where skin tight clothes are a must and you walk out as if you literally just got out of the shower only it’s pure sweat rather than water….nice).

I'll keep everyone in the loop on this post-baby weight loss challenge. Wish me luck.....

They say....

Have you ever used the term “they say…yada…yada…yada”? Well, I think I’ve always used this term to a certain extent but since having a baby it seems I’ve caught myself using this term pretty much on a regular basis. For instance, “They say a baby should weigh 12 lbs at 3 months”, “They say she should be eating 4-5 oz at 3 months”, “They say you shouldn’t swaddle after 8 weeks”, “They say a breastfed baby shouldn’t get constipated”, “They say it’s normal for a baby to not sleep through the night as a reaction to daycare”, etc, etc, etc.

It’s funny because I didn’t realize this term had taken over my life until about two weeks ago when my hubby, Clay, said “Who are “they” that you continue to refer to”. At that moment, this statement caused me to squinch my eyebrows and think very deeply as this was a very good question….who are “they”? Since Clay has asked this question, I catch myself when I refer to “they”. It’s amazing...I’m not joking….I can refer to “they” up to 10 times a day… Wow!!! It’s almost like every single thing that comes out of my mouth these days is regarding “they”. Do I even have a personality or is it all about “they”? This is now the million dollar question but it seems “they” are taking over my life. So, I urge you to also pay attention and see how often you refer to “they”. You may be surprised how much "they" can take over your life.

Great news….Lola went #2 last night after four full days. What a relief! The solution….suppository. We didn’t even get to the prune juice part and she was already done. She seemed to be in hog heaven during the process. It was a major deal meaning it took two people and an act of God to get her clothes off her without getting the #2 all over everything. We didn’t succeed at that but at least baby girl feels all better.

Look how cute baby Lola is playing with the flower girls at Adam & Brana’s wedding. She really loves kids.

Lola's First Home

For Mother's Day I squeezed in a 8:00 a.m. yoga class (nothing like 90 minutes of yoga in a 98 degree room w/ 60% humidity for a Mother's Day gift...it was well worth it!) and then we packed up the car and went to Baird to spend time with Dinks (Clay's mom) and then went to Midlothian on Sunday to spend time with Gami (my mom) and eat deer meat (I realize a little redneck) which I had been craving for months....yummy! It slipped my mind that I'm actually a mother now and this is a day for me to celebrate too....so weird. It must take a while for this feeling to set in. Of course, it made my day that we were able to make the Grandma's day by taking baby Lola to them. However, once we got home I realized how nice it is to be at home. I kicked back, popped open a Stella (my fav) and enjoyed the evening with Clay and baby Lola.

I was also hoping Lola would realize what day it was and show me her appreciation by giving us a full night of sleep. Well, didn't happen. Poor baby girl hasn't gone #2 in four days (Can you imagine) so she was up with a belly ache. If she is fussing over anything other than being hungry, then it must be bad because the girl just doesn't fuss. So, tonight...what do we have in store??? Well, we have to give Lola a baby suppository and prune juice. Ahhh...how sad is that. Not looking forward to it but we'll do anything to make her feel better. Before you know it, this blog will also be a medical journal for all existing and future moms.

In other news, as most of you know, our home was on the White Rock Home tour in April (http://www.whiterockarts.com/) where they anticipated up to 3000 would walk through. Thank goodness for maternity leave because it was a lot work to get ready for the tour but well worth it. It was also Editor's Pick in the March/April 2008 D Home (http://www.dmagazine.com/) and now we just learned that it could potentially be in a Sony commercial. Woohoo!!! Of course, we're up against two other homes that will be some pretty fierce competition. But, if we don't make this commercial, the production company loved our house and they are putting it in their "book" for other potential opportunities. We just accidently fell into this house and are so excited that Lola's first home is getting such great reviews. It's the first good investment we've made (other than Columbia University of course). With this exciting news, for those of you who haven't seen our house, I've attached a pic along with pics of baby Lola's nursery designed by my sister-in-law Molly (http://www.momofandango.com/, blog @ http://www.themomodance.blogspot.com/, or email momofandango@gmail.com).

We will Survive....

We will survive this first week of sending Lola to daycare. Throughout the week, she continued to wake up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Things started getting a little better last night. She actually slept for 5 1/2 hours and it was fabulous. She also started eating well again and she seems to be back to her old self. What a relief! Due to the sleep deprivation early on in the week, there were also tears but we continued to stay positive knowing this is just an “adjustment period”.

As we worked up to the day of dropping Lola off at daycare, the one thing that eased my mind was the fact that she is too young to really know what is going on. Well, as we went through the week and we continued to have sleep issues, I decided to research this point further. What I found was just heart-breaking. Here’s the deal….THEY KNOW!!! OMG…I can’t believe this….My baby actually thinks I’ve abandoned her. Here are some of the things I found in my research:

“Babies are very perceptive. Even when they are still in the cooing stage of language development, emotionally they are very sensitive and smart. When you return to work, your baby feels that the world of security and comfort she was just getting really well acquainted with is now topsy-turvy”.

“Your baby may also wake at night when you go back to full-time employment, even when she has already begun to sleep through the night sometimes. This waking is another signal of your baby's emotional intelligence. She knows that at nighttime, if she wakes and needs attention, her beloved parents will be there for her”.

How sad is this. She was waking up at night to feel a sense of security. This brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it. These are the things that no one tells you. I wonder why? Through my research I haven’t been able to determine exactly how long it takes for a baby to adjust. Does anyone know? They did say to take a blanket with your scent on it and ask the teachers to wrap her in it when she sleeps and eats. I just don’t want baby Lola to feel like we've abandoned her. Obviously, that is not the case as she is the love of our life.

Clay was suppose to go on a boys kayaking trip this weekend. He decided to stay home with us as we adjust during this new phase. He is such a great father. There is nothing better than a daddy’s love for his daughter.

Attached is a picture of us at Lola's first Stars game. I think she was right around 7 weeks old. She is a little nugget.

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!!!

P.S. Yoga was so exhilarating last night. I was skeptical about the hot rooms but it was fabulous!!! I highly recommend everyone give Sunstone Yoga a try.

I Love Yoga!!!

Yoga was introduced into my life when I was 16 weeks pregnant. This is when I started taking pre-natal yoga classes at A Pea in a Pod (It's free!!). I continued taking the classes several times a week until I was placed on bed rest at 36 weeks. Other than the 30 hours of pure misery (induced, then 12 hours labor, 4 hours pushing and finished up with a c-section), my pregnancy was perfect (felt great, limited weight gain, limited swelling and only had kankles once or twice due to scarfing down massive amounts of Mexican food) and I think I owe it all to yoga.

Once Lola was born, I was able to bounce back quickly. Even though I had a c-section which usually sets you back at least 6 – 8 weeks, I was back doing cardio 2 weeks after Lola was born , back to yoga at week 3 and back to pre-prego weight at week 4. Of course, I still had a loose post-prego belly which leads me to a great question...How do you get rid of that? Is time the only cure?

Some would say that I owe the quick weight loss to breastfeeding. I agree, breastfeeding helps as you supposedly burn up to 700 calories a day but I really feel that it was the pre and post-natal yoga. Throughout my pregnancy leave (12 weeks), Lola and I attended itsy bitsy yoga and post-natal yoga classes. You would think post-natal yoga would be easy but you wouldn’t believe some of the moves they would have us do. You would think “I’m never going to conquer this move” and the next class I would do it. It is such a great workout and is always challenging.


With this in mind, I still have a long way to go to get my body where I would like it to be. I’m still a little confused as to how Heidi Klum was able to walk the runway in a Victoria Secret show 6 weeks after her baby was born. There had to be some surgery done. Well, Angie, one of my childhood best friends, and I are on a mission. Angie is a marathon runner so she has the cardio thing under control. I plan to start back to the gym and do the elliptical 45 minutes a day at least 3 days a week or walk Lola and dogs in the evenings (we went last night). But the most exciting plan in this workout regime is the yoga classes we plan to take on. Today, we will start our first class at Sunstone yoga (http://www.sunstoneyoga.com/). For any of you who are not familiar, this is the hot yoga…yikes! Not only that, but the classes can be up to 90 minutes long…yikes again! This should be interesting. To quote Angie, “Maybe one day we’ll be strong enough to float with only our pinky touching the ground”……You may laugh at this but you wouldn’t believe some of these moves….it can get pretty crazy.

I plan to get my weight and measurements tomorrow. So, as we go through this process, I’ll try to get you updated on the weight loss and inches and fill you in on any new move I conquer. I also hope to get Lola back in Itsy Bitsy yoga. It is a great way to bond with baby and other mothers and their babies.

I have several friends out there who are pregnant. My one recommendation to you is to practice yoga throughout your pregnancy. I promise it will be worth it!!!

Attached are pictures of some yoga moves that we hope to eventually conquer. I also hope that one day Clay will take on this challenge and we can conquer this pair move….pretty cool. Seriously, can you imagine Clay in this move? Ha, Ha!

Lola has a new Aunt!!!

We always called her Aunt Brana but now it’s official….Lola has a new Aunt!!!

Adam and Brana’s wedding was last weekend. It was absolutely beautiful!!!! You heard people talking about how it was the most beautiful and unique wedding they had ever been to….I agree. They got married at my parents Ranch (Bee Creek Ranch). It was a formal wedding with a tent as big as a football field. Brana arrived at the outside ceremony overlooking the hills on a horse and carriage and it was all a dream wedding from there. The flowers were amazing, the food was delicious, the music was fabulous….everything was perfect! I’m sad it’s all over but I’m so glad that Lola has a fabulous Aunt that has entered her life. I adore her!!!

Attached are some pictures of Aunt Brana & Lola on the day of the wedding, Adam & Brana’s first dance and one of Brana’s bridal portraits. The photographer was unbelievable. I’ve never seen pictures like it. I can’t wait to post the pictures of the wedding because they are fun. Hopefully we’ll have some next week. In the meantime, go their website at http://www.salleephotography.com/. Check out there blog to see some more of Brana’s bridal portraits. Once Lola is sitting up on her own, I hope to take her to them for photos. I don’t think there is any other photographer in town doing this stuff….very unique, artistic and fun. And, they are only 26 years old…crazy!!!

OMG

Oh my Gosh!!!! This is rough. I’m going on NO sleep. So, Lola has been sleeping through the night since she was 8 weeks old. I not only LOVE my sleep but I need my sleep so her sleeping through the night was a MUST for me!!!! I owe this little treat to Baby Wise…the must have book to help parents train their babies to start sleeping through the night between 8 – 10 weeks. I didn’t follow it exactly because I needed to maintain a life but I followed the general guidelines and IT WORKS!!!

When I say Lola is sleeping through the night, I mean she goes to bed around 10:30 and sleeps anywhere from 5:45 am to 7:30 am. She’ll then eat and sometimes fall back to sleep for another couple hours. It’s fabulous! However, people say I have a “sleeper”. But, I wonder….do I have a “sleeper” or does the theory behind Baby Wise actually work?

Anyway, last night things went a little different. As you know, Lola had her first day at the CDC (Child Development Center). It was great to pick her up but a few things were worrisome to me. First off, she didn’t wave her arms, smile and laugh when she saw me. I wonder why? I really wish she would get more excited when she sees me. After all, I did go through 30 hours of pure pain to bring her into this world and I provide her with the milk she loves so much. After some baby talk, I was finally able to get a smile out of her which made my day. I get her home and we go see Clay (Daddy). He was thrilled to see his little coo coo clock (this is what he calls her). But, all night long here is what he did “What’s wrong with her?”, “Why is she acting like this?”, “Is she breathing”, “Something is wrong with her”, etc, etc, etc. This literally went on all night long. He is such a sweet dad and he was just worried about the new environment but I was about to pull my hair out as she was fine and acting completely normal.

Second thing that was worrisome to me was that the teachers at the CDC (Miss Ira and Miss Yolanda) said “she did great but she didn’t eat much this afternoon. Is this normal?” The answer to that is NO. This was very disturbing to me because as my sister-in-law, Molly, says “The girl loves her milk”. I mean….she’ll suck down up to 5 ½ ounces in a matter of minutes so why in the world was she only eating 2 ounces. Maybe she is aware of the new surrounding and it takes some adjusting. I’ll keep everyone filled in on this status.

Well, since she didn’t eat much yesterday, she was up all night eating. Every 2 hours to be exact…..ouch! So, now, I’m exhausted. I guzzled literally 1 liter of Diet Coke first thing this morning. I was so desperate that I went and grabbed a hot one out of the car and sucked it down. I’m now on my second and I’ll soon go down to Starbucks and get a Venti coffee. Even with 1 liter of caffeine sucked down, I was not functioning right this morning. I didn’t have time to wash my hair-do which isn’t a good thing because it is greasy. Plus, I literally picked up the clothes I’m wearing today off the floor so I have wrinkled pants and a shirt that has some kind of food product on the sleeve. Oh good Lord….I sure hope I can make it through the day.

Today, Lola’s grandmother (Gami) will pick her up 12:00. Thank goodness for grandparents. I’ve attached some pics of Lola with her fab grandparents.

Food Intake: Lunch – Taco Salad. I do realize this probably has mucho calories but at least I moved to the salad family. Dinner – Chicken, green beans and sweet potato. I’m doing better!!!

One Sad Day

I’m very sad today so I hope this blog doesn’t bring anyone down. Today was the first day of daycare for baby Lola. I wonder why it’s so hard? From the beginning, we would leave Lola for several hours at a time. We did this early because we wanted Lola to adapt to being away from us, it’s good for her to spend time with other people other than her parents and we thought it was good for us to have time away from the baby. Of course, anytime we would leave her, it would be with family. Today is the first time we have left Lola with “strangers”.

Early on in my pregnancy, we decided that we would send Lola to a daycare rather than using a nanny or in-home care. We spent hour upon hour researching daycares in great detail. We feel very comfortable with our choice of daycare or as they call it “Child Development Center” but I still have this funny feeling in my stomach. Everyone you talk to says “It will get better”. I’m ready for that day to be here. I’m assuming once we get through this week, we’ll be fine. And, I know she is having fun cooing with the other babies in the nursery and playing with all the toys. But, I can’t wait to pick her up and I just don’t want to miss anything. Although I’m sad, I’m still happy with the decision we made.

On the bright side, Lola turned from her stomach to her back last week and she also started reaching out to grab things. She had been grabbing our shirts, hair, etc but now she is looking at something and intentionally reaching for it. Wow, it’s amazing how quickly they start doing things. Before we know, she’ll be talking and walking.

I’ve attached pics of baby Lola sleeping. It is so sweet to see her sleep….like a little angel.

Food Intake 5/2/08:

Lunch – Chicken tenders and mashed potatoes from Chicken Express

Dinner – Brother’s rehearsal dinner - BBQ

Again, diet will start on Monday....please hold me to it!!!

My Gorgeous Girls

I have to drop my gorgeous girls off at the kennel today as we are heading out of town for my brother’s wedding and I’m just heart-broken. Although, the kennel is great, I still get that sad feeling every time I have to drop them off. Well, I have that feeling today….my stomach is literally in knots. Once I drop them off , get past the moment when they are fighting come back to me and drive off, it’s usually better but I still look forward to the day when we get to pick them up.

When I say “my gorgeous girls” or “ baby girls”, I’m referring to Bella and Lady Bird, my dogs. Anyone who knows me well, know that my dogs are my pride and joy and I love them to death. I even have a song I wrote for them titled “My Gorgeous Girls” that I sing to them all the time. Well, throughout my pregnancy, I can’t tell you how many people would say “Amy, those dogs will drop down on the priority list once the baby is born” or “Those dogs won’t be important to you anymore once the baby is born” or “you won’t have time to pay attention to those dogs once the baby is born” , etc, etc, etc. I could go on and on and on with the comments that were made.

I never understood these comments. I wondered “Just because I have a baby, how can my feelings / love that I have for my dogs suddenly change? Is that even possible?” I’ve since been able to address these questions and the answer is that I still love my dogs just as much as I did pre-Lola and I still make time to spend with them. Now, with that in mind, Lola is obviously my top priority and the new love of my life but that doesn’t mean that I love my gorgeous girls any less. This was such a relief to me. I didn’t want to abandon the two things in my life that have loved me unconditionally for the past 8 years and I haven’t. We now have three gorgeous girls and we have become a family of five…. it feels good!!!

Everyone have a wonderful weekend!!!!

Food Intake 5/1/08:

Lunch - chicken fajita pita, two tacos and a coke from Jack-in-the box. As soon as I wrote it in the blog yesterday I couldn't quick thinking about it. Like I said... no self control.

Dinner - Stuffed crab (fried...yummy), french fries and shrimp cocktail for appetizer.

I'm sorry I let my fellow blog readers down. You know the crotch wrinkle pants....well, they stretched a bit and the wrinkle was less so I regained some confidence. My only excuse.....I'll start the diet on Monday. Please hold me to it!!!!

Ok, Seriously

Ok, seriously!!!! I RTW (returned to work) 3 days ago and something has gone seriously wrong with my body. I’m not joking. I had a doctor appt on 4/21. At that appointment I was about 10 lbs less than I was pre-prego. Yes, that seems great but there are still issues with the bod…I’ll go into more details about the specific parts next week when I outline my new workout regime. Anyway, so on Monday my clothes were falling off of me. I obviously didn’t want to complain too much because we all want to lose weight….right? Well, today….different story. I put on my new pants that I bought last night (Great Find!!!! Banana Republic slacks on sale $26.99….I stocked up). Somehow today, they are snug. I have the infamous pants wrinkle near the crotch area which means something is too big in the back area (I know we've all had this at one point...just admit it). How is that? Seriously….3 days!!!! Well actually less because I could have sworn the pants fit great last night (those dang store mirrors). What’s the deal with that? This makes NO sense at all. Is it because I’m not breastfeeding? But, I’m pumping throughout the day and then breastfeed at night. What in the world is going on? It may be because I’m now sitting behind a computer instead of running around all day. Who knows but something has GOT to change quickly.

So, here is what I’m going to do….I’m going to document everything I put in my mouth during the week on this blog. I have no self-control so this way if I’m going to lunch and think “I’m going to get a chicken fajita pita, two tacos and a coke from Jack-in-the-Box” I’ll stop and think “No, b/c I’ll have to put it on my blog” and this will force me to get a salad instead. Well, at least that’s the thought behind it so we’ll see how that goes.


How cute are these pics of baby Lola doing her stomach time last week. Look at that hair!!!! She's such a doll...I miss her!