My guily pleasure (okay, ONE of my guilty pleasures) is Grey's Anatomy. The show is so trashy and over-the-top. I love it.




It figures that instead of being one of the young hot bombshells, I'm the no-nonsense matronly bossy character. I wanted to be Callie O'Malley.

Labels: dumb quiz

I'm really happy with the way these turned out.
I scanned them in and worked some Photoshop magic to cover up Scout's little red patch of eczema on her chest and now it's invisible. I'd like to get the edited ones printed at Wal-green's or someplace to hand out to family members.









I've gotta go to bed - I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. {yawn}

Labels: pics of scout, portraits

I am joining the revolution with Danielle and decided buy some quality toys for Scout so I can trash her bin of cheapo plastic made-in-China toys.

DH and I made some money at the garage sale we had last weekend, so we were able to order 9 wooden toys from Moolka.com.





I also found a couple toys on eBay that I was going to bid on, but the bidding has gotten higher than I wanted to spend, so I'm going to look for something different.

I hope Scout enjoys all of her new toys as much as I enjoyed picking them out.

They were all made in Germany and have eco-friendly non-toxic water-based paints, so I think I can feel good about Scout chewing on them. Yay!

I'll be glad to get rid of most of the toys she has now, but it'll be sort of tough for me to throw away a few of them. She has a couple favorites that she really enjoys. But it's for the better.

Labels: baby gear, health, money, safety, toys

"Dieting" is going well. I really get to eat a lot with my 41 point allowance. Although, a friend of ours sent a cherry cheese cake dessert-type-thing home with DH last night and I was about to crawl out of my skin wanting a piece. Of course, I abstained. Yay me.

The Red Sox beat Cleveland and I'm pissed.

We're having a yard sale this weekend and will probably freeze our butts off.

I could stand to freeze my butt (and other rather plump parts of my body) off.

Labels: baseball, general complaining, random thoughts

I can't believe I am posting this. Ick.

My "Before" shot:


And I can't believe I am telling you this. When I got on the scale at Weight Watchers today, I found out that I weigh EXACTLY what I weighed the day before I delivered Scout. Sickening.

Scout ate from a bottle for the first time this evening! DH was home with Scout while I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting. I left him with a bottle of a little bit (and I do mean LITTLE bit) of expressed breast milk just in case she got hungry. I was only gone for 2 hours, but she nurses A LOT and her schedule is unpredictable. DH also had a jar of baby food handy. Unfortunately, my boobies were not cooperating with me today and I was only able to get a few ounces of milk even though I pumped 3 times. Uugh. I usually don't have a need to pump, but when I do (if I'm too full or something), I normally don't have that tough of a time. I don't know what was up today. The milk I had in the freezer was expired (so sad to pour that liquid gold down the drain!), so I thought I'd just provide some fresh milk.

DH said that she sucked all of it down and was not happy when it was gone. He also fed her some sweet potato baby food, which he said she enjoyed. I feel bad that I was not able to leave more milk for her.

Those of you mommas who give/have given their babies bottles of breastmilk - How many ounces does a 6-month-old usually take at one feeding? I'm new to the world of bottle-feeding and have no clue.

I think it's neat that DH will get to feed Scout when he watches her now. (IF I can get back to pumping larger quantities) I've decided that I'd like to refrain from doing any bottle-feeding myself, because I want Scout to associate mommy with boobie-feeding. I guess I have a fear of Scout preferring the bottle over the boob and refusing to nurse or something. This way, she'll know that she only gets a bottle with daddy.

She's getting to the age when we could probably start introducing breastmilk in a sippy cup anyway. But I have been putting a little bit of water into a sippy cup every now and then and handing it to her to see if she can figure it out, and she just yells at it playfully and shakes it :)

Labels: dh, firsts, food

I just found out that the Baby Einstein soft blocks we own are among the many toys that have been recently been recalled due to lead paint. Great.

All of this Made-in-China toy scare hoopla makes me want to toss all of Scouts toys in the trash and start fresh with safe, non-toxic, Made-in-the-USA toys, preferably made from natural materials.

Oh wait. We can't do that because we're not rich.

One of Scout's favorite toys is a soft plasticky book called "Mimi's Toes" (also a Baby Einstein product). It smells very strongly like a pool raft - ya know, that weird chemically rubbery smell? I turned it over to see what it is made of and it is PVC. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that PVC is not safe for children's toys, so I tried to look up some info on it.
From the many articles I read, I can see that there are 2 different camps: people who think PVC is the devil and say it is a very hazardous material that should not be used for toys..... and then those who think that PVC is perfectly safe. I don't know who to believe. One of the articles I read states that the strong pool raft smell that many PVC items give off is actually the pthalates (plasticizers that make the PVC pliable) off-gassing.

I know that I can't hide my little girl from all plastics and PVC items for the rest of her life, but I'd really rather not have my baby ravenously gnawing on a hunk of mildly toxic "out-gassing" material.

I wonder if I can convince my parents and DH's parents that they should buy Scout some expensive Made-in-America wooden and cloth toys form now on . Ha. Yeah.

ETA: Just so you know, DH and I aren't the ones who have bought Scout all of this plastic Baby Einstein crap. We just received a lot of toys as gifts at her baby shower.

Labels: baby-proofing, general complaining, safety

The cool weather is upon us. Scout and I took a walk around the neighborhood late last night and I had my annual realization that I love the crisp air and the foggy creepiness of Fall evenings. While I was walking, I had the thought that I'd like to rent (or more likely, have DH download) Sleepy Hollow. Great Fall movie.

When I was getting Scout bundled up for our walk, I officially decided that she looks beautiful in hats.

Labels: outings, pics of scout, random thoughts

Last night, Scout slept from 11:30 pm to 8:30 am....without waking up at all. It was weird. I slept all night w/ DH in our room and Scout slept in her own room on her queen size mattress. Usually, if she sleeps by herself, I hear her fuss over the monitor at about 4:00 am and I go in there to feed her and sleep with her for the rest of the morning.

She did have 2 really good naps yesterday. I have had a lot of moms tell me that their babies and toddlers sleep better at night when they get good naps during the day and aren't over-tired at bedtime. Even though that seems backwards, I think there's something to it.

Labels: baby sleep

I forgot to mention that Scout just cut her first two teeth! I noticed that one of her bottom front teeth had poked through last week while we were on our little road trip with my sister and her family. The one right beside it broke through a couple days later. It's amazing how fast they emerge once they break through the gums. When I first noticed, (on Wednesday, October 10th) I could barely see anything and all I could feel was a sharp tiny little corner barely piercing the gum. Less than a week later, the entire top edge of each tooth have popped through and are completely visible.

Labels: firsts

Scout had her first "solid" food while my sis and her family were here. Organic pureed sweet potatoes. She only had a few bites and then lost interest. DH recorded it w/ the video camera, but I forgot to take pics. Oops! I gave her a few more bites today and then decided to just pour it on the table in front of her to see what she would do. I think you can tell by the pics that she had a good time....







I think a tiny bit of the sweet potatoes may have actually made it into her mouth. Mostly, she just played, but I saw her lick her fingers a few times too. I also put a couple chunks of fresh apple into a mesh feeder and let her chomp on it and suck the juice. She seemed more interested in tasting the apple than eating the sweet potatoes.

Labels: firsts, food, pics of scout

I have signed up for Weight Watchers and my first meeting is this Thursday.

I gained something like 60 or 65 pounds while I was pregnant. When I gave birth, I weighed in at 238 lbs. Two weeks after that, I was already down to 207 lbs. I am back up to 230 lbs. Wow.

I just have a food addiction. Plain and simple. No excuses. It's something that I've always had and has only been accentuated by my ravenous nursing mommy appetite. Instead of stuffing my face with raw fruits and veggies, I grab a PB & J sandwich (or two) and a big glass of milk. After DH and I have eaten dinner, I usually polish off any leftovers while I'm cleaning up the kitchen. While my sister was here, we had icecream almost every day. No joke. We are a bad influence on eachother.

Don't get me wrong, I know that Scout is getting lots of good nutrients. I'm still taking my prenatal vitamins and I usually do eat a variety of nutritious foods every day: apples, chicken, wheat pasta, salad, various cooked and raw veggies, milk, etc. It's just that ON TOP of the nutritious things, I eat too many bad-carb laden foods...and cheese. I like cheese. Portion control is not my forte.

I've never tried Weight Watchers before, but I think that it is going to be a perfect match for my personality. I am the type of person who needs someone to tell me EXACTLY what to eat and I thrive on accountability. Add those things to knowing that I'm paying $39.95 a month (I signed up for the "Monthly Pass" because it saves a few bucks), and you'll finally get some action and determination out of me. It's sad that it is going to take a points system, weekly meetings/weigh-ins, and $39.95 a month to get me eating healthy....but hey, you gotta do what works.

I'm excited because Weight Watchers has a plan for nursing mothers. If I use all of my extra allotted points and drink plenty of water, I don't think I will have a problem with decreased milk supply.

I need to have DH take a "before" pic of me.

I am 5'6", so I'm thinking my ideal weight would probably be somewhere around 145 lbs. That seems so far away. I'm not sure if that goal is too lofty or not. I guess they'll probably help me decide at the meeting.

My sis and her brood is leaving tomorrow to go back up North. I'm bummed because the soonest I'll probably get to see them again is Christmas....but I'm sort of doubtful that will happen because we really don't have the money to go up there. I'm guessing that the the next time we will make it up there is next Spring.

We took all the kids to get their portraits done today (Thanks for the coupon, twolinesonastick!) and I think they turned out great. I can't wait to get them back. My sis also recently bought a 2 year membership for next to nothing from another momma on a baby goods trading site, so that helped cut the cost too. When Scout was 1 week old, we had her portraits done at a private professional portrait studio because the photographer is a friend of ours. Just an example of how outrageous his prices were : 8 wallets were $18.00 and an 8 x 10 was $25.00. (I use past tense because he and his family are missionaries overseas now) That was not including the sitting fee. We never could've afforded that, but DH had done some website work for him, so we got all of our pics for free. Compared to those prices, JC Penney is so inexpensive! I ended up with 6 different poses and four 3.5 x 5's, four 5 x 7's, 21 wallets, 21 billfolds, and one 10 x 13, all for $45. It just dawned on me that I forgot to order one of the poses that I really liked, so I'm going to have to pay full price for a sheet later when I can come up with the money and order it online....but even then, it will be WAY cheaper than the small local professional photographers. And from what I saw today, the quality is super close to being as good.

On our way out of the portrait studio, a jolly elderly man (maybe 75 years old or so) came up to us. We had the oddest exchange EVER. This is entirely true. None of it is fabricated or even exaggerated.

Old Man (to Scout): Aren't you just so cute? Yes you are, yes you are! Is that your big sissy? (pointing to my 6-year-old niece)

Me (smiling cheerfully): Nope, that's her older cousin.

Old Man: Awe, yeah, but I bet she still molests her like an older sister would.

Me (nervous and confused): heh heh heh

Old Man (chuckling, to my 6-year-old niece): Yep, that's okay, I like to molest little babies too.

Ummmm..... WHAT?
My theory is that he is a little senile and got the words "harrass" and "molest" mixed up. Because if you replace the word molest with harrass, what he said makes sense and fits with the jesting/teasing tone he was using. Poor guy. At least, that's what I HOPE happened. Gees. (To be fair, I just looked up the word molest, and it actually means to disturb or annoy in the purest sense of the word. But dang, man! You have to be living under a rock to not know that nobody uses it in that context anymore)

My sister and I completely busted up after he walked away. My bro-in-law was in the bathroom when it happened and DH was at work, so they did not get to witness the weirdness of an old man announcing loudly "I like to molest little babies" in the middle of a department store. Too bad. DH would've loved it and I wonder if he really believes that it happened the way I said it did.

Labels: family, holy crap

You haven't lived until you've ridden in a van for 4 hours with a gaggle of kids, ages 6 years, 4 years, 2 years, and 6 months. Added bonus: The 2-year-old and the 6-month-old cried almost non-stop for the last hour, while the two older ones fought with each other and whined incessantly. Woo. Hoo.

On a more positive note, DH took a pic of me breastfeeding Scout on a bench outside of Hooters today. I needed to feed her before we all piled into the van to head back home and Hooters just happened to be in the shopping center where we had stopped to use the restroom. It's still on DH's phone, so I'll have to post it later.

Labels: breastfeeding, family, trips

Well, I don't think I did that great of a job delurking since I have family in town and haven't had time to just sit and surf blogs. I'm definitely going to be visiting more of the sites that I stalk on a regular basis and letting my presence be known as I have a chance.

I don't really have time this morning to post about the fun times we've been having while my sis has been in town, but here are some pics:











I wish I could show off my cute nephews and niece, but I don't want to post their pics without my sister's permission. I don't think she'd mind, since she has them plastered all over her MySpace page....but I'd rather not ask her, seeing as how I would like my blog to remain unknown to friends and family.

Labels: family, pics of scout

You may have noticed a big green button on my sidebar that says something about mofos and delurking. I just stumbled upon someone's blog and they decided that they would create an official day to "delurk" and actually post comments on all those blogs you read but never make your presence known. I am guilty of this. So on Wednesday, October 3rd, I am going to try to set aside some time to post comments on all the sites I frequent but rarely ever post.

Labels: pay attention to my sidebar yo

Go ahead and take a moment to laugh snidely at the fact that I'm posting this pic,



after posting this mild rant on shiny-noisy-baby-holder-dealies.

I admit that Scout has been spending WAY more time in our borrowed Jumperoo than I like. It's just a fun and safe place for her to be while my sister's kids are running around like banshees (I don't know what a banshee is or if it even runs around). I put her down on the floor now and then when I am able to supervise very closely and lay the smack down if one of the kids decides that doing pro wrestling moves is a smart thing to do two inches from a baby's head. Of course, I hold her a bunch (as always) but the Jumperoo allows her to be down where the kids are playing and she LOVES being in the midst of the action, staring intently at their wild games. She has been all smiles. She has even let out some good belly laughs while watching them - something she has NEVER done before. (She usually does this weird squealing thing in place of an actual laugh).

My 6-year-old niece took the above pic, by the way. I think she did a darn good job.

I am really enjoying my sister's visit. It is wonderful to have her here to do all of the things we would do if we lived in the same city. We made a couple of dishes to take to the church potluck on Sunday afternoon. We planned out all of our meals for this week and went grocery shopping today. We plan on hitting a few thrift stores and going to get the kids' portraits made together. Our town is having its annual arts and crafts festival (in honor of the apple and its abundance in these parts) this weekend and we live a block away from the festivities, so that will be a fun place to take the kids.

I'm realizing how spoiled I am to having peace and quiet and having my house in order (most of the time). If given the opportunity, the 2-year-old whips through Scout's nursery like a tornado, leveling the place in no time flat. The two older kids are usually jumping on one of the beds or wrestling with eachother. They are only being kids are usually very well behaved. I have just gotten used to my child, who at this point takes 20 minutes to scoot 3 feet.....and is pretty quiet about it. Oh, and naptime is a little nerve-wracking. We have a one-story home with relatively thin walls. I feel bad that we're constantly shushing the kids and they don't have a good place to get their ya-yas out.

Here's a pic of my sis meeting my daughter for the first time (notice aforementioned conversion van in the background LOL :)



So sweet!

Labels: family, pics of scout