It snowed here today. I think it was the first snow that Scout has ever seen. Well, I'm sure she's seen some flurries, but nothing substantial enough to stick. (not that this snow was substantial...just a couple inches, but 'round these parts, that's grounds for school closings and folks driving like grannies)

Labels: firsts, pics of scout, weather

Scout is wide awake at 2:20 AM. Why? I have no idea. I begged and pleaded with her to go back to sleep. I NEED to go back to sleep. Uuugggh. At this moment, she is sitting in the floor, looking at a book while cooing and squealing happily. It would normally be adorable, but right now, it's just downright obnoxious.

Now, she has crawled over to my chair and is whining at my feet. When I pick her up, she cries to get down. Will someone just please shoot her with a tranquilizer dart?


PLEASE?

Labels: baby sleep, general complaining

Thanks, twolinesonastick, for suggesting how to grab a screen shot of my WW e-tools points tracker! That is SO much better than hand-typing my food journal. DH is also in the process of installing a screen shot program dealie for me, so it will make posting my points tracker entries even easier. I decided to create a separate food journal page, so as not to clutter up my entries and sidebars here at Making a Person.

You can now view every bite I am consuming at:
http://www.makingaperson.com/food. http://unkemptmommysfoodjournal.blogspot.com/

There is also a link titled, "Food Journal" on my sidebar that will take you there. Aren't you just so excited?

Labels: food journal, weight loss

Just waking up in the morning gotta thank God
I dont know but today seems kinda odd
No barking from the dogs, no smog
And momma cooked a breakfast with no hog


....ahem..I mean, today was a good day for me and my Scout. She did wake up at 4:30 in the morning because she had pooped and then couldn't go back to sleep after I changed her (I wish that would quit happening). But then she went back to sleep at 7:00 and so did I and we both got up at 10:00 nice and refreshed. We played until she tuckered out at around 1:30 in the afternoon and she slept until 4:00! That was very convenient for me because the kitchen was a wreck and I needed to make some dinner preparations for the company we had over later on. I made a chicken casserole, like my mom always made when we had leftover roasted chicken to use up:

1 bag Pepperidge Farm Herbed Stuffing (one of the only brands of stuffing mix you can find that does not have MSG)
1/2 roasted chicken, de-boned and pulled into small bite-size pieces
1 cup frozen chopped broccoli, thawed and drained well
1 can Campbell's Healthy Request Cream of Chicken Soup (one of the only cream soups that does not contain MSG)
1 soup can full of skim milk

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9" x 13" glass baking dish w/ cooking spray or grease lightly with olive oil. Prepare the stuffing mix as directed on package and spread a layer over the bottom of the baking dish, pressing it up onto the sides with a spoon. This forms the crust. Spread the chicken evenly on top of the stuffing. Then, spread the chopped broccoli evenly over the chicken. Spread the rest of the stuffing on top. Mix the condensed soup with one can of milk and pour evenly over the entire casserole. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 30 to 45 minutes (or 45 minutes to an hour if the casserole had been refrigerated prior to baking). Cut into 8 servings. This dish is really yummy served with cranberry sauce and corn on the side. An 8th of the casserole is 9 points, in case any of you WW peeps were wondering.

After I whipped up the casserole, I put it in the fridge for later and made a salad. I cleaned up my mess in the kitchen and straightened up around the house.

Scout finally woke up and we played some more and I got dressed. I popped the casserole in the oven around 4:15. Company arrived at 5:30. DH's ex-coworker and his wife and baby came over so DH could work on some computer stuff for him. I have gotten to hang out with his wife several times before and I think she is super nice. Their little boy is almost exactly the same age as Scout, so we all had fun playing in the floor and chasing our mobile little creatures. Scout was so content the whole time and seemed to have tons of fun.

After company left, Scout got her nightly bath and went right to bed. Aaahh.

I have found that I really enjoy entertaining and it's been refreshing to cook more often lately.

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot the icing on the cake: I found the missing piece to my bluetooth earpiece. I thought I had lost it, but after putting Scout to bed, I cozied up in my favorite hoodie and stuck my hand in the pocket. Lo and behold, there it was. I thought it was gone for good. Without it, my bluetooth earpiece is not functional. I had gotten so used to using it because Scout always tries to grab my phone when I am holding it to my ear, so it was a big inconvenience not to have that luxury anymore.

Here are a few pics of Scout from this morning. I don't know why I didn't think to get the camera out when she was having fun with her little playmate.

Aawwww....mommy lets Scout play with plastic packing material (supervised, of course)



Good thing our dog doesn't mind being used as a jungle gym.





Scout entertained herself for about a half hour by pulling a bunch of books and CD's off the shelf. She was playing so intently and having a grand time.

Labels: food, pics of scout, playing, recipes

Sorry...my posts have been boring and picture-free. I've just been busy chasing around my crawling babe and journaling every. single. bite. that goes into my mouth. Those 2 things alone are enough to keep a girl occupied!

I felt bad for Scout today. After church, we were invited over to a couple's house to have dinner while DH finished fixing their computer. The trouble was, Scout was WAY ready for a nap by the time church let out. She was whining and rubbing her eyes when we stopped at home to grab the baby seat, her food, and to change her diaper. I knew right then that it would probably be a mistake to go, but I didn't want to skip out - our hosts were cooking enough food for all of us and I really enjoy going over there.

Poor girl. She fell asleep during the 2 minute drive and then was pseudo-refreshed enough to play and be her normal, chipper self while we were there. She fell asleep on the way home and actually stayed asleep as I unbuckled her and carried her into the house. That is unheard of.

I laid her down at about 3:00, and then I fell asleep while watching t.v. in the recliner. I woke up when I heard Scout awake in the other room and looked at the clock and it said 6:49. "In the morning??", I thought. It took my brain a while to compute that it was indeed still Sunday and that Scout and I had slept the whole day away and were late for church.

I fed Scout and we headed out the door for church. (Well, there wasn't an actual church service - just a potluck dinner) I mingled and talked to people, but didn't eat because I had splurged a lot of my points on lunch (see food journal on the right side bar) and there was absolutely nothing there that didn't look super processed and preservative-laden.

I think Scout was feeling like I had taken her out in the middle of the night. When she had "woken up" from her nap, she wasn'y really AWAKE, she was just fussing and rooting around for boob, as if it was late-nite feeding time. Her clock was all messed up. I considered feedng her and putting her back to bed, but I knew that would be a bad idea. She'd be up at midnight, thinking it was morning. I thought about staying home, but I figured it might do her some good to get out of the house to play and see people and expend some energy so she might have a better chance at being tired and ready for bed at the right time.

I guess that was a mistake. She was not very happy around the crowd of people at the potluck. I know that people are just loving on her and being nice when they come up to her and talk to her and touch her, but I wish they would have enough sense to back off when she is obviously upset and irritated at their poking and prodding. Uughh.

While DH was holding her and some stupid person was irritating her (and thinking it was cute to keep "playing" with her even though she was freakin' crying), the lady who was standing next to me saw Scout break out into tears and screams, so she gave me a "yikes" facial expression and snickered and said, "Gees, you need to socialize that girl more!"

This comment pisses me off for a couple of reasons. 1) This is not the first time she has made a comment like this to me. 2) Umm, hello...some babies just get scared and over-stimulated in crowded situations - it does not mean that she needs to be "socialized".

I quickly replied that Scout had just woken up from a 4 hour nap and probably has her days and night mixed up and is therefore ready to go back to bed. What I WANTED to say was, "She doesn't need to be socialized, people just need to stop getting in her face."

Okay, sorry. Can you tell I have PMS?

Labels: baby sleep, general complaining

DH and I got to go out by ourselves this afternoon because Pretend Grandma came over to watch Scout again. We didn't do anything super exciting, but it was still nice to get out. We went to Guitar Cen+er, a coffee shop, S@m's Club, Ch1c-Fil-A (go figure), & W@l-mart. Scout did super great with Pretend Grandma again. I was worried that it wouldn't go as well as last time, since she woke up from her morning nap about 2 hours before Pretend Grandma got here. I figured that she would be ready for her early-evening nap while we were gone and that it would not be pretty, since she is used to nursing to sleep. Pretend Grandma rocked her while feeding her a bottle (It took me a whole week, but I managed to pump enough for a 6 ounce bottle) and she fell asleep in her arms for about 30 minutes. When she woke up, she was refreshed and happy and ready to play some more.

I wonder if this saintly woman knows that she is helping to restore my sanity? She refuses payment, but I want to think of something really special that I could do for her to show my appreciation. (that she wouldn't be able to refuse)

Labels: pretend grandma

Well, you know how I had decided to cut my extra 10 nursing points off of my daily Weight Watchers points allowance? Turns out that's not a very good idea. I got on one of the WW message boards and asked when other nursing moms start to cut their extra points due to their babes not nursing as often. The replies were unanimous that I should not cut my 10 extra nursing points and the general rule of thumb (though WW doesn't have an "official" stance) is that each nursing session is worth 2 points, up to a max of 10 points. Scout is definitely still nursing more than 5 times a day, so I guess I'm back to my 38 point allowance.

That's a lot, but I'm now being very judicious about HOW I spend my points instead of just going at the whole thing with a half-assed approach.

FYI, You can see my daily food journal toward the bottom of the righthand sidebar.

Labels: health, pay attention to my sidebar yo, weight loss

I haven't forgotten the peeps who tagged me - I just haven't had much down time in the last couple days - well, aside from all the time I spend writing about food :)

Scenes from my house this morning:





I never thought anything of having the tiny black and white t.v. on a lot because up until recently, Scout paid no attention to it. But she seems to be looking at it a lot more often. This morning, she was enamored by it. Shame on me.

I've been trying to remember to pump more often, because I want to be able to leave breastmilk for Scout when DH and I go out. As you can see, this morning's pumping session was not a high yeilding one....AT ALL. hhmph!

Labels: breastfeeding, pics of scout

I lost 2.8 lbs this week. Woot! I went to the weigh-in, but didn't feel like staying for the meeting. Today was another rough day (nap wise) for Scout, so I just wanted to sit alone in a coffee shop doing nothing during the time that I would've been at the meeting.

I feel like I've not been myself lately...like that sort of bitchiness and weirdness that happens post-partum. I'm just gonna go ahead and blame it on hormones or something. That's the only explanation I can think of. When I couldn't get Scout to nap today, I sat and cried and belly-ached to DH. I'm a blithering idiot. I have the best baby in the world. I love staying at home with her and I am extremely blessed. But I guess I've just reached some sort of breaking point. I need to take more time for myself. I need to somehow find the time to exercise and to actually put on something other than my pajamas....oh yeah, and to bathe. When I was having my little breakdown this afternoon, DH suggested I call Pretend Grandma to come relieve me. (DH was working, or I'm sure he would've offered...erm...maybe) I ALMOST called her, but I talked myself back down to normal and didn't feel like I needed to bug Pretend Grandma just because I was being mental. Plus, I think she's going to come over and watch Scout for us on Saturday, so I don't want to take advantage of her generosity.

Anyway, I'm better now. The weigh-in sure did help too!

I wish I knew a way to just post a screen shot of my Weight Watchers e-tools points tracker dealie so I didn't have to type this all out. Here is everything I ate today:

BREAKFAST
++++++++++
1/2 cup oatmeal
1 tsp pure maple syrup
1/2 cup fat free plain yogurt
1/2 large banana
2 eggs

Points total: 9.5

LUNCH
++++++
1 La Tortilla Smart & Delicious Olive Oil Soft Wrap
1 handful spinach
1/4 avocado
5 squirts French Flair Wishbone Salad Spritzers dressing
1/4 yellow bell pepper
2 slices Natural Choice smoked turkey
1 slice Natural Choice ham

Points Total: 4.5


DINNER
+++++++
Multigrain tortilla wrap
3 oz chicken breast
handful green and red peppers
handful romaine lettuce
1/8 cup sliced olives
1 dill pickle spear
2 tbsp Italian Dressing (not light)

Points Total: 9.5

SNACKS
++++++

2 apples
1/2 banana
1/2 oz mixed nuts
bowl steamed veggies
6 medium baby carrots
1 La Tortilla Smart & Delicious Olive Oil Soft Wrap

Points Total: 6.5


************
GRAND TOTAL
************
30 points (so I went 2 points over. Oops!)

Labels: baby sleep, food, food journal, health, weight loss

I have the sweetest blog readers ever. I really do. Thanks for all the hugs and support. Wendy and Jen, thanks for offering to keep me accountable. That means a lot to me. I've barely had a moment to sit down and breathe today, so I haven't gotten a chance to email either of you yet, but believe me - I will :)

Oh, and thanks Annika and defeist for your reassuring words about breastfeeding. That makes me feel so much better. I bought some fenugreek yesterday, thinking it wouldn't hurt to atleast try to increase my supply enough to (hopefully) be able to pump some more milk to leave for when Pretend Grandma comes over to watch Scout again.

I have a weigh-in tonight. I'm hoping that the scales are good to me because I feel like I did a lot better this week. From Sunday on, I've been on a 28 point allowance, rather than my 38 point allowance. I've goofed a couple times, but nothing serious. Honestly, yesterday, I had a sort of epiphany. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I started thinking in terms of HEALTH and not weight loss. Mumamarie, you were instrumental in pushing my brain in that direction, so I THANK YOU for that! The healthiest I've ever felt was when DH and I were eating more whole foods and less processed stuff and refined sugar. As I've mentioned before, I think the 100 calorie packs and all the other sugary, processed, preservative-laden diet treats have really had a hold on me. I mean, if one 100 calorie pack of Chips Ahoy cookies is good, then two is even better, right? Ha! Ummm, no, Unkempt Mommy. That is not how that works.

So, I have purposed NOT TO BUY things like Smart Ones Key Lime Pie and Weight Watchers little carrot cake thingies ANYMORE! Things like that were tripping me up big time. Plus, that stuff just is not healthy. That's one thing I don't like about Weight Watchers meetings - all the junky snack crap that they peddle there. I mean, I know that kind of stuff might help some people stay on track, but it's truly just glorified junk food.

Well, I have to go now, but I have more to write. (gee, aren't you excited?)
I'll be back later.

Labels: food, health, weight loss

I need an accountability partner. I need to tell someone EXACTLY what is going into my mouth on a daily basis. I think what it has come down to is me needing to post on my blog for all to see (including DH) every single thing I eat every day. I'm just so weak sometimes when left to my own devices.

I shouldn't need to go to such great lengths to keep myself in check, but I know I have to. It sounds ridiculous, but I wish Weight Watchers had "sponsors" like AA. I don't even really know what all a sponsor does, but I just assume that it's someone who is investing time and energy into a person who is trying to get off the sauce because they have been there and done that. Someone who is just a phone call away when temptation strikes and you need to be talked down. Gah! It feels so dumb to compare overeating with something as serious as alcoholism. Like, it shouldn't even be in the same category. But you know what? For me, it is. Only, with overeaters, we have to KEEP EATING to stay alive. We can't just swear the stuff off and isolate ourselves from food forever.

There is a can of Target brand decaf coffee in my cupboard that has a picture of a steaming coffee cup and some kind of iced cinnamon roll on a plate. Late at night, when I am rummaging through the cabinets to find something to munch on, my brain sees the image of that cinnamon roll and for a fraction of a second, I think, "OOhh..There's something yummy and sweet in that can!" and I find myself almost reaching for it. There was a big bag of mini candybars in one of the cabinets last week. It was part of DH's snack arsenal leftover from the first camp-out at Ch1c-Fil-A. He left it at home when he went to the second Chic-F1l-A opening. The tiny little pieces of deliciousness are just 1 point each....so, before my recent decision to lower my point allowance, it was SUPER easy to just keep popping them in my mouth everytime I walked past that part of the kitchen. I new that DH would notice that the bag had deflated in size quite a bit when he got home, but I didn't care. I just wanted chocolate. I was alone in the house with the baby for 2 1/2 days. It's absolutely no excuse, but I just wanted comfort food. I just wanted to cure the boredom and stress. A bag of mini candy bars is good for that sort of thing.

I am an emotional eater. (duh!) Tonight (well, I guess it was technically last night now) I felt physically and emotionally spent. Scout would not take her afternoon nap and was pretty clingy the whole day, due to teething I suppose. I desperately need a shower, but can really only take one when she is napping. Her morning nap only lasted long enough for me to start cleaning the kitchen, pick up toys, and sit down to BRIEFLY check my email and glance at message boards and blogs. I've been trying to cook more often, so I cooked DH (who was working from home)some lunch while I was feeding Scout some lunch as well. Yay me for multitasking! Anyway, that got the kitchen all disgusting again and it remains disgusting as I sit here and type this.

The fact that Scout all of the sudden has this ravishing hunger for solid foods and is not at all satisfied with breastmilk-only meals anymore has me worried that my milk supply is dwindling. I can barely pump anything and she just does not seem happy with the boob (during the day) anymore. As DH's eggs and sausage were cooking and Scout sat at the table shoveling food into her mouth like she just couldn't get enough, I sat there and pondered what (if anything) I need to do about my milk supply or if the way she is suddenly so starved for "real" food is normal.

We pretty much just went from room to room playing all day, because she would get bored with her surroundings and get uber cranky very quickly (the teething again). It was extremely cold outside and the roads were a little icy, so I didn't want to run my errands. (which I need to get done soon!) She really wasn't all that cranky, just very demanding. And as I sat and read her books and played with her, thoughts of my dire need to bathe and put clean clothes on loomed over my head like a dense cloud. No, I take it back - that was just a fluffy summer cloud. The thought of my beyond-nasty kitchen is the looming dark cloud.

Oh, and did I mention that she had woken up several time through the night, so I was running on very little sleep?

I made dinner during Scout's crankiest stint of the day. She was not happy about me putting her down in a safe place when I had to open the oven door or carry a pot of boiling pasta over to the sink. I think I must've said, "Just a minute sweetie pie, momma's almost done!" about a trillion times.

DH let his dinner get cold (just like he let his lunch get cold) because he just gets so immersed in his work, it's tough for him to get to a stopping point. I can understand that. But darnit, it's frustrating to put so much effort and energy into juggling a baby on one hip while trying to prepare some decent food for your hard-working husband, only for it to sit and get cold and crusty.

I so needed to hand off the baby to someone else for just a little while. Even 5 or 10 minutes. It was just one of those days when you feel like you need a little break. DH was seriously up to his eyeballs in work and was going to have to work all evening as well. When he is working from home, I try to pretend that he is not even here because I know that if he had an office away from home, I wouldn't be able to ask him to hold or entertain Scout while I go take a crap, so it's unfair for me to do that while he's sitting in his office in the back room.

I guess I said all of that just to say: When I have days like this all I want to do is shove things in my mouth. Like, I have a "Screw it. I'm tired, I'm stressed, and I don't really care that I am going to eat this waffle and this spoonful of peanut butter and send myself 10 points over my daily allowance" type of attitude. It is so unhealthy. I know that I need to change my way of thinking. I know that throwing all of my hard work out the window and giving into temptation is stupid. It's irrational. It's a waste of 39 bucks or whatever we're paying for my monthly pass to Weight Watchers. I know that a change needs to happen.

I don't have days like that EVERY day. I have days when I eat so light and healthy.....a bowl of oatmeal and some eggwhites for breakfast...a turkey sandwich and salad for lunch...some baby carrots, plain yogurt, and an apple for snack....baked chicken, 1/2 cup whole wheat pasta, and a plate full of veggies for dinner...light popcorn for a bedtime snack. I really do good most days. But it's not without some serious internal struggle. Why does it have to be so hard? Why is food such a big freakin' deal for me? And why do I go and sabotage the work I did on those good days with my "To hell with it" days??

I want to have a healthy attitude toward food so that Scout will not see how mommy has secret 2nd and 3rd helpings and shoves brownies in her mouth when she thinks no one is looking. I don't want her to constantly struggle with her weight and feel like she is a blimp and will be forever because she thinks that she's always going to be a binge eater. I want her to grow up feeding her body good things and not being a slave to her sweet tooth, always looking for something in the cupboard to satisfy a craving...and always waiting until no one is looking because she's ashamed.

I grew up watching my dad eat exactly like I do now. I know that I am an adult and there is only so much blame you can place on your parents before you have to take responsibility for your own actions. I am totally to blame for my overeating. My parents are not. I just mention my dad's eating habits because I'm thinking of how I don't want my problem to trickle down to Scout like my dad's problem trickled down to me.

You know, when you see those 700 lb house-bound people on talk shows, most people probably think, "How could you possibly get to that point?" Well, I don't. I KNOW how they got to that point. I feel their pain. They are like drug addicts. They have destroyed their own lives, but they still need compassion and understanding. They can't control themselves and they need serious help to escape the hell that they have created for themselves. I am not saying, "Oh, poor them. They can't help it." I'm just saying that I can see how someone gets to that point. I can relate.

A few years ago, I went on a diet and lost 30-something pounds. It wasn't really a diet as much as it was just a healthy way of eating: limiting myself to just 1 piece of bread or 1 half cup serving of whole grain pasta or brown rice per meal....eating lots of lean meats and fish and veggies...only getting sugar from the fruit I ate. It was a big struggle back then too, but I guess I was just really determined. I need that determination back. I remember giving myself the rule that I need to be HONEST in my eating. Anything that I would not eat in front of DH, I wouldn't eat alone. I guess I just thrive on accountability.

Okay, I'm tired and it's 4:30 in the morning and all of this typing and crying about my food addiction has me worn out. I'm going to go back to sleep (until Scout wakes up again, probably 2 hours from now) and maybe when I wake up, I'll be normal and food will just be food.

Yeah right.

Labels: deep thoughts, weight loss

Lately, I have been trying to teach Scout to stay away from the dog's bowls. On more than one occasion, I have caught her putting dog food in her mouth, which doesn't really gross me out as much as it scares me because the pieces are perfect choking size and they're way too hard for her to chew up. Anyway, whenever she is making a bee-line for the dog's food and water, it's my first inclination to just pick the bowls up and put them on the counter.

But I would rather TEACH her that the bowls are a no-no, even if it requires more work on my part. So, every time she darts straight for the bowls, I say "no" firmly to her and redirect her to play with something else. And it's actually working! She does get pretty mad when I do that, but she quickly forgets about it and gets interested in whatever thing I directed her attention toward.

Now, most of the time I don't even have to redirect her because she'll go over to the bowls, get really close and then she looks over at me and shakes her head and crawls away! I guess whenever I tell her that the dog food is a no-no, I must shake my head. She also shakes her head randomly just for fun throughout the day, so I suppose I shouldn't be so amazed....but still, that just seems like a smart thing to do. Yay Scout!

I'm sure that her impulse control is not the best, so I doubt if she could resist without me in the room with her. I think it's more like a game at this point...like, "Hey, if I stop and don't touch the bowl but look all cute and shake my head instead, mommy claps and smiles." .....but I'm still proud of her and it's so much fun to watch her learn.

Labels: discipline, firsts, teaching

I'm sitting here on our dog-hair-laden couch watching Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie for about the trillionth time. Man-o-man, it cracks me up.

Yesterday DH told me about the website, RiffTrax, where you can download MP3's of Michael J Nelson's hilarious commentaries on various movies (for a fee). The way it works is you play your own (or rented) copy of one of the movies and play the RiffTrax mp3 track at the same time. The mp3 file apparently has a sync-up point to let let you know exactly when to press play. I think the idea is pretty genius. When DH was looking at the list of available commentaries, he noticed that there is one for an episode for Grey's Anatomy. I bet that's pretty stinkin' funny.

Since Scout woke up at 5:00 AM this morning, (due to a leaky diaper and wet pajamas, and then insisted on playing for a couple hours after that instead of going back to sleep) her nap schedule was all thrown off today. She ended up going to bed at 7:30 this evening. Oh wow - I hope that doesn't mean she'll be up wanting to play at some ungodly hour again. Maybe I oughta stop goofing off on the computer and go to bed at a normal hour like a normal person for a change.

Labels: baby sleep, entertainment

I haven't mentioned a whole lot about my weight loss journey thus far because I guess there's just not much to report. I joined Weight Watchers back in October and I've lost 12.6 lbs to date. As you can see by the chart, my weight's sort of been bobbing up and down lately. I haven't been working the plan like I should. Sometimes I'm lazy about getting all of the required servings of vegetables and water and sometimes I spend my points on some really stupid crap. I rarely just go nuts and go way over my points, but I've also been lazy about measuring all of my food and journaling every little thing that goes into my mouth. Like I said, not working the plan....but I'm certainly not totally blowing either. When I started, I had 41 points to spend per day. After losing a little weight, my points went down to 38 per day. Most people don't get that many points, but nursing mothers get an extra 10points.

This morning as I was squeezing my fat ass (please excuse my language - I'm just a bit disgusted with my weight right now) into some pants that used to practically hang off of me, it occurred to me that I need to do something drastically different if I want to get this weight off. It also occurred to me that Scout is not nursing nearly as much as she used to now that she has a newfound love for solid foods. So, I decided that I am going to lop off that 10 point nursing mother allowance and stick to consuming just 28 points a day instead.

I admit that I have an addictive personality and if there is a "loophole" in a diet, I will find it. That is why it has been so easy for me to spend too many of my daily points on things like 100 calorie packs of oreo crisps and 1 point Weight Watchers dessert cakes, while neglecting my daily veggie requirements. I used to be very commited to not buying a ton of processed foods and cooking as naturally as I can, but when I'm on a "diet", suddenly I don't care and I look at those stupid low-cal snack cakes as the only things that are helping me not feel deprived.

I most definitely need to change the way I view food.

I have been an overeater for as long as I can remember. I suppose it's tough to correct a lifetime of unhealthy attitudes toward food within a matter of a couple months. (Not that I should use that as an excuse) Sometimes I feel powerless over food. For example, when DH was out of town for a few days this past week, I actually found myself soaking a large hunk of bundt cake with water before chucking it in the trash because I knew I couldn't trust myself not to eat it. Throwing it in the trash wouldn't have have been enough to deter me. Like a nicotine addict who digs a half-smoked cigarette out a of a public butt can, I would not put myself above pulling a George Costanza and grabbing a food item out of the trash in a moment of desperation. (We know, George, it was "on top")

I know, it's sad. I need help.

Labels: doh, food, goals, health, household chores, weight loss

My baby gal turned 9 months old today! It's hard to believe that she's been outside my belly for as long as she was inside. She has become quite the little character. She is crawling at the speed of light and is very good at pulling herself up to stand and cruise while holding onto the furniture. We're *pretty sure* she is waving bye-bye now. She's done it quite a few times and it is usually accompanied with "ba-ba", but I'm still not sure if I should count this as her first real word. She also says mama and dada, but never in the correct context. Pointing is something she enjoys doing as well. This morning, it seemed like she was pointing at things just so I would describe them to her. She would point at the dog, pictures on the wall, the microwave...and then promptly look at me so I could tell her what they are.

Her appetite for solid foods is insatiable. That happened overnight! Up until the last couple weeks, she has been content to skip solids some days and live on breastmilk alone. Now, she is eating 2 big meals of solid food a day and she's not happy unless she gets it. After she has nursed in the morning, she has some fruit and oatmeal. She nurses throughout the day and then at dinnertime, she has some organic chicken & wild rice baby food and some sort of fruit or vegetable. I usually put about half a teaspoon of probiotic powder in her food a day. It seems to keep her bowels nice and healthy - I've noticed less gas and tummy aches since we started doing that. She also snacks frequently on organic puffed brown rice. She loves that stuff!

It makes me a little sad that she is not satisfied with my breastmilk alone anymore, but it also evokes a sense of pride and gladness when I watch how happy she is as she is shovelling bite after bite of food in her mouth. She has never let me spoon-feed her. I have to hand her the spoon and she puts it in her own mouth. She looks like such a big girl when she's feeding herself and she's so good at it! After she spoons the food in, she hands (or throws) the spoon back to me and looks at me as if to say, "Okay, mom... reload!" She eats little bite-size pieces of food sometimes as well and her pincer grasp is great. Such a big girl!

She has 2 bottom teeth and one top front tooth just poked through last weekend. The one right beside it is just under the surface. That explains the rough nights she was having there for a while.

Scout has never really been all that fond of baths, but for the last few nights I have bathed her as part of a bedtime routine. She seems to enjoy it and it does wonders for relaxing her and helping her wind down. She doesn't like to have her hair washed, so my plan is to keep bathing her every night, but only use soap and wash her hair once a week or as needed. I just wet a washcloth and wiped her hair down instead of dumping water on her head, which seems to get it plenty clean and allowed her to actually enjoy the bath and relax. I put olive oil in the water and then rubbed her down with lotion before getting her dressed, so her skin will not dry out. I know that I thrived on consistency and routine as a child, so I'd like to start putting a little bit of structure into Scout's daily life.

She recently started doing this thing where she shakes her head as if she's saying "no", but I'm sure she doesn't know its meaning yet. If we shake our head at her, she usually mimicks us. It's so cute!

She hates diaper changes and having her clothes changed. I have to work hard at keeping her entertained and occupied long enough for me to get a diaper on her. Just the other day, she had a super messy poopy diaper and I didn't know it and she stuck her hands in it as soon as I unfastened her diaper! Ick! She was flailing all around and screaming and when it was all said and done, she had gotten poo on her hands, feet, thigh, and onesie. It was awful. I needed about 8 arms at that moment.

She's showing her attachment to DH a bit more lately. She's constantly making a bee-line for his office and when she gets there, she looks up at his computer chair for him. It's so adorable. When I'm holding her in his presence, she just about leaps out of my arms reaching for him too. It's no wonder. He is much more fun to play with than mommy!

Car rides are getting a bit better. She still fusses some, but she will normally go to sleep after just a little bout of crying. I'm very excited about this because for so long, I have found myself avoiding the 25-30 minute ride into "town" just so I don't have to put her (or myself) through that. Her happiness in the car still depends largely on how we time our outings, though. Tonight, we went to our friends' house, out to eat, and then shopping. She screamed for 20 minutes straight on the way home. Poor thing. It was all just too much for her.

I guess that's all I can think of for now. Scout is such a joy to be around. She has her cranky moments, but for the most part she is a happy little girl.

Labels: baby sleep, being sappy, birthdays, firsts, food, scout talking

Crap. I guess my commitment to blog for 365 days straight starts over today. I was so busy, I forgot to post an entry yesterday. I'm so irresponsible.

Labels: blog talk

While DH was off scarin' us up some vittles this week, I cleaned and organized our bedroom/sewing room/exercise room.













**ETA**
We really do have more than one pillow, I swear.

Labels: household chores, my house

DH is the kind of person who loves to arrive 36 hours early to a concert venue just so he can end up in the front row and maybe catch the band for a few pics and autographs. And when the holidays are here, DH often jumps at the chance to join the desperate soccer moms and nerdy teenagers in line at Best Buy, waiting (and freezing) for a shot at the latest gaming system.

So, it was only natural for him to want to camp out at the recent grand opening of a local Chic-Fi1-@ so he could be one of the first 100 customers to walk through their doors and receive 1 free combo meal per week for a year. He got there about 20 hours before the doors opened and was number 60-something in line. With cardboard nugget-box full of 52 free combo meal cards in hand, he arrived home triumphantly and with a heightened taste for fried chicken.

Like an addict looking for a new place to score, he put his radar out for another grand opening....and found one. He spent all day Monday gathering up his camping gear and other essentials. That night, our kitchen became Mission Control, with grocery sacks full of granola bars, propane tanks, gloves, bottles of Naked juice drinks, and H0tHand packs all piled up by the back door. This time, the Chic-Fi1-@ opening was this morning at 6:00 AM, in a town about 3.5 hours away. And (get this) DH left the house at about noon on TUESDAY to head over there. He is hard core.

It all paid off. We are now the proud owners of a grand total of 104 free Chic-Fi1-@ meals. The great thing is, we can use the free meal cards whenever and however often we want - they don't necessarilly have to be used in the form of one free meal per week. Also, the cards say "Please use by 01/09", but DH was told that is not a set-in-stone expiration date and they will take the cards after that day. Out of all the fast food franchises, I'm glad our free meals are from a place that is somewhat Weight Watchers friendly. Although the cards are not good for the salads, I could easily get a grilled chicken sandwich combo and substitute a fruit cup for the fries (might have to pay a few cents extra).

He's on his way home now. Since he was the first person in line, he also got a back pack, a book, a water bottle, a t-shirt and a stuffed cow. You know you're all jealous. You wish you had a Chic-Fi1-@ back pack.

Now, if only the collections office for the hospital where I delivered Scout would take Chic-Fi1-@ coupons as payment. (sigh)

Labels: dh, food, holy crap, trips

Scout's mullet (or maybe it should be considered a rattail, I dunno.)

Labels: pics of scout, wordless wednesday

You know, it's really amazing what we moms will do to get our little ones to sleep.

It is getting more and more rare for me to be able to easily sneak off after nursing her down. The times are getting fewer and farther between when I can slip away, leaving her in a deep sleep while she sucks on her own tongue, oblivious to my whereabouts.

I always wait and wait for a good moment to pull the boob out of her mouth and sometimes that moment just never comes, so I do it anyway. This is how it goes: I unlatch her quickly (but gently) and then literally roll off of the mattress onto the floor, all in one motion. Then I proceed to army-crawl up against the foot of the mattress where she can't see me, laying as flat as I can. I swear, if someone would look in the window and see me, they would think that I am hitting the floor to protect myself from nuclear fall-out. She usually squirms and might moan or fuss for a few seconds until she rolls onto her tummy and then gets comfortable and falls right back to sleep. Most of the time, I'll stay hidden for a minute to make sure she has really fallen back to sleep and then I sneak out of the room.

Hey, it works.

And a pic just because...

Labels: baby sleep, pics of scout

Oh my god! It's the craziest thing - we were robbed! What kind of burglar doesn't take anything, but puts dirty sheets on the bed and makes sure there are electrical cords, sewing supplies, and DH's belted pants strewn about? Oh, the humanity!





Stay tuned for "after" pics.

Labels: household chores

Every year, DH and I take a photo of ourselves together on our anniversary.



This year, we got to add a new person to the picture!

Labels: anniversaries, traditions

I've been thinking about changing my screen name on Blogger for a while now. I've been visiting all sorts of fun mommy blogs lately and I've noticed something. Those who do not use their real names have made up some kind of quirky moniker to use when referring to themselves in their writings. Most of them have also given clever names to their husbands. I'm jealous. I want to go by something a little more interesting than a weird non-word, (that is just a username I go by on some mommy forums, spelled backwards) and I want to think of something witty to call DH.

Pathetically, I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I might like my blogging name to be. What is one word that embodies who I am? It must brief enough so that I don't get tired of typing it over and over. It doesn't have to be completely goofy, but I want it to contain a slice of humor. I kept thinking of my interests and hobbies and how I could turn those into a fun title. I am a boring person. There is nothing that I do so well and so often that would warrant me making a nickname out of it. (well, other than being a mommy)

But there is ONE THING that seems to remain a consistent part of my identity. I am unkempt. My hair is usually pretty messy. My clothes are either too tight or too baggy. My toenails are a little too long and have remnants of leftover polish from that day several weeks ago when I tried NOT to be unkempt. I won't even tell you how often (or rather, how rarely) I shower since becoming a mom. It's embarrassing. My usual going-to-the-store attire is a baseball cap and dirty jeans. (most of the time, I do manage to put a clean shirt on....I mean, I have my limits, c'mon people) I could give you many more examples, but I would rather not lose every shred of my dignity.

So, I will henceforth be known as Unkempt Mommy in the realm of blogging. I know that may confuse things a little when I leave comments at the usual blogs I visit. But hey, at least I'm not changing my name to some ambiguous symbol that can only be pronounced as, "The artist formerly known as eipwek."

Coming Soon: a new and improved alias for DH. I'm not sure what it will be yet. Maybe I should let him pick.

Labels: blog talk

Photobucket is soooo out. As you may have noticed by looking at my sidebar, I have decided to join the in-crowd by using Flickr to host my pics instead. I used to have a Flickr account that I uploaded a few pics to way back when, but then I got lazy and forgot all about it. So I started fresh. I'm in love. My pics are a lot easier to manage on Flickr than they were on my Photobucket. I'm still adding and organizing past pics, but hopefully I'll be all caught up very soon.

Labels: pay attention to my sidebar yo

Happy Anniversary to us!! The date went swimmingly and Scout did great with the babysitter. We went to a sushi bar and then just goofed around at a few stores on the way home. We went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, looking for a coffee pot like this one (to no avail) and then next door to Old Navy. They were having a big sale, (50% off the clearance sticker price! woot!) so we ended up getting 2 pairs of pants and a shirt for Scout; 2 hoodies for me; and a pair of pants, a hoodie, a fleece pull-over, and 8 pairs of socks for DH, all for $50. I know, I know, who goes clearance shopping at Old Navy for their anniversary? We do. Shut up.

Here are some poor quality pics from the sushi bar, taken with DH's cell phone. Dang, they're crappy.





Surprisingly, Scout went down for a nap at precisely the right time - just as the babysitter got here - and stayed asleep for 2.5 hours. After that, she drank about 5 oz of expressed breast milk, had a little bit of apple juice, ate a bunch of puffed brown rice, and played happily until we got home. The babysitter said that she didn't even fuss once. Yay! She also said that she would love to babysit for us again and anytime we want a night out to call her. You don't even know how pleased I am about that. Rather than calling her "the babysitter", I will go ahead and give her an official Making a Person blogging alias because I have a feeling we will take her up on her offer and she may be mentioned here a lot in the future. I hereby deem her "Pretend Grandma".

Labels: anniversaries, food, outings, pretend grandma

Tonight, DH and I are going out by ourselves for the FIRST TIME since Scout was born. Tomorrow is our 7 year wedding anniversary and a lady at church offered to come over and watch Scout for a few hours while we go out to dinner. She has pretty much been begging me to let her babysit ever since she kept Scout in the church nursery for me. Scout took to her really well and she's an experienced momma who I trust, so I figured now would be a great time to take her up on her offer. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. I'm not worried about Scout's well-being - I know she'll be in great hands. I'm more nervous about timing things so that DH and I can get a good long date in, while keeping Scout in a relatively good mood. My plan is to put Scout down for a nap right before the babysitter gets here. That way, when Scout wakes up in her normal chipper mood, she will be ready to play and have fun - rather than being on a downward spiral toward sleepyville. Here's hoping!

Labels: dates, dh, firsts, holidays

I left Scout at home with DH while I went to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting last night, per usual. She didn't even notice I was gone until she heard me coming through the door. You'd think she'd be all smiles and happy to see me, but instead her little heart was broken as the realization hit her that I had been missing from the house for the last hour and a half. Babies are funny.

She was having a tough time snapping out of fuss-butt mode, so I did what normally makes her happy and sat down to nurse her. After a while of checking my e-mail and stalking blogs, I realized that she was not being her normal squirmy self so I looked down and saw a sleeping baby. Crap. Here it was, 7:30 PM, a whole hour or two before her normal bedtime and she was asleep in my lap with a fairly wet diaper, banana-oatmeal-peach baby food crusted on her cheeks, and no socks on her ice-cold piggies. I needed to get her ready for bed, but I couldn't bring myself to unlatch her. For one thing, it would've REALLY upset her. But more importantly, waking her from a little 20-minute power nap at 7:30 PM would've pretty much ensured that she would not go back down until midnight. I swear, everytime she falls asleep for 10 minutes in the car on the way back from the grocery store, her would-be 2 hour afternoon nap is completely shot. Power naps are great for adults, but for babies...they are of the devil, I tells ya.

So, I did what any innovative mom who had suddenly realized that she might be able to have her baby in bed by 8:00 so she could watch the new episode of Grey's Anatomy would do. All while she was peacefully latched onto my boob, I proceeded to get up, move to the couch, change her diaper with one hand, and walk to her bedroom to lay her down. I laid with her for a few minutes while she got settled in and then I tucked a blanket around her icy toes. To hell with wiping her face off, I thought to myself as I proudly waltzed into the living room to announce to DH that the baby was in bed.

I had just enough time to fix a snack and get back into the living room before my show came on. Aahhhh. Mommy time.

But it came with a price. The early bedtime got her internal clock all out of whack and she decided it would be fun to get up to play at 12.45 AM. I refused to turn the light on, for fear of encouraging her insanely cute playful behavior. She would sit up and crawl away and I would scoop her up and lay her back down on the mattress so I could nurse her back to sleep. After about the 10th time, I just started rubbing her back and legs and she went limp like a stunned rabbit. After a few minutes, she would snap out of the trance and try to crawl off as she blew raspberries and made sweet squealy noises. I would not back down. It's freakin' 1:00 and you are NOT going to play, you adorable little girl, you! I kept laying her back down and rubbing her little back and belly and limbs. She loved it and would lay there all calm and zonked for a few minutes and then would remember that she was on a mission to crawl off the edge of the mattress and the process would start all over again. She finally fell asleep. Now I am up blogging about it instead of sleeping. Stupid, stupid mommy.

Labels: baby sleep, general complaining

I've been tagged!!

Here are the rules.

**Post the rules on your blog.
**Share six trivial things/habits/quirks about yourself.
**Tag six people and the end of your post and link to their blogs.
**Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
**Learn anecdotal things about your blog friend!

1) I LOVE British comedies. I don't completely get some of the humor and sometimes it's tough to make out what the actors are saying through their thick-as-mud accents, but I could sit and watch shows like Are You Being Served? and Last of the Summer Wine for hours on end. When I was about 12 years old, I started watching Absolutely Fabulous on Comedy Central. My young mind probably didn't understand half of the raunchy jokes Patsy and Edina were spewing, but I was oddly fixated on it anyway. For the longest time, Saffron was my favorite girl name and I swore I'd name my daughter that when I grew up.

2) I am in the habit of sleeping in my clothes. I've even been known to wear jeans to bed.

2) My sister and I had WILD imaginations when it came to playing with Barbie dolls when we were little (and I use the word "little" loosely - I can remember being sad when I became a teenager and was therefore considered too old to play with Barbie dolls). We didn't just dress them and brush their hair. No. To watch us play, you would think we were putting on a soap opera. We had characters and story lines that we both remember vividly to this day. B0b McCle@ver was a well-known serial killer in Barbieland. Ken and Barbie would go camping and they'd hear on the radio that there was a maniac on the loose, when Bob would suddenly come out of the woods to tie Ken up and steal Barbie. Ken always got loose and came to her rescue before anything terrible happened, though. Another memorable character was Myra. She was a dirty bag lady who wore about 6 layers of clothing and would go door to door, peddling the clothes off her back. Often times, the clothes had designer labels like Bob Mackie and Pierre Cardin and her customers would wonder how such a dirty vagabond got her hands on such expensive clothing. Gee, do you think we watched too much television when we were little? How else would 8 and 6 year old girls know of serial killers and clothing designers' names?

4) My parents pretty much had to force me to learn how to drive. I was 17 & 1/2 when I got my license and I would've waited longer, had they not bought me a car and enrolled me in driver's ed. I was petrified of being behind the wheel. I think it had something to do with the fact that I was very sheltered as a child and made to think that EVERYTHING was horribly dangerous. I got over my fear of driving and now I'm a really good driver, but I'm still afraid to do simple things like riding a bike in the street. Pathetic, I know.

5) I use a clean towel every time I bathe. I used to reuse my bath towel a couple times before tossing it into the laundry, but then I noticed DH using my towel a lot so I just get myself a fresh one every time.

6) I like toasted peanut butter and pickle sandwiches (gotta be bread & butter pickles, though)

I'm gonna be lazy and break the rules. I don't feel like tagging anyone, so I will just let you tag yourself if you feel like participating. Tag, you're it!! Now, post me a comment and let me know you did this me-me so I can learn 6 weird things about you. C'mon, you know you wanna.



This was fun! Thanks, Wendy!

Labels: me-me

Shawna and some of my other online buds have recently inspired me to use the fresh clean slate of 2008 to de-clutter my house (and therefore, my life!) and get organized for a change. My new philosophy will be "A place for everything, and everything in its place." DH chuckled when I announced this to him and said that I sound like my mom.

My mom is an EXTREMELY organized person. Her two best friends are Rubbermaid storage totes and wicker baskets with labels. I have never been organized. I don't mind the actual act of organizing, but I'm not good at KEEPING things organized. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, scissors do not get put back into my sewing drawer, shoes get strewn all over the hallway floor instead of making it to the closet, and Tupperware containers and lids get tossed randomly into 5 different kitchen cupboards. Well, not anymore.

My goal is to organize the entire house, one room at a time and KEEP them organized. I started this afternoon by tackling my desk.

Before:



After:



My mom would be proud.

Labels: goals, household chores, my house

I just strapped Scout into the Ergo and went outside to hang our few cloth diapers that have some staining out on the line. Hopefully, the stains will sun completely out so they will sell for a little more when I list my diaper stash on my favorite FSOT site.

Labels: cloth diapering, household chores

Just for the heck of it and because I think blog entries with pics of people's living spaces are interesting, here is a pic of what is directly left of me at this very moment:


click to enlarge

Pictured, from left to right

Orange storage ottoman that was given to us as a housewarming gift when we bought our house 2 years ago. There is a wadded up blanket and some random dusty picture frames inside and a pair of my plaid Converse Chuck Taylors on top (I think I put them up there when I vacuumed)

Weird brass wall-hanging that was purchased from a local thrift store for $1.50

Wipes warmer. Since the weather got chilly, I've been feeling bad about ice cold wipes on Scout's little rear every morning, so I busted out this handy-dandy shower gift again

Ugly 70's Spanish-style lamp

Various table-top clutter, including a dirty diaper, a fingernail brush, a hanger, dirty baby clothes, and basket o' disposable diapers.

Lower level of table: Fleece blanket, board books (Scout likes to eat these more than she likes to read them), and cloth books.

Green sectional sofa piece from the Salvation Army draped with Scout's jacket and some blankets. We threw out the matching piece of the sofa because it was the most uncomfortable piece of furniture we have ever owned. This part is pretty comfy, so it was spared.

1.5 of 4 wooden pineapple spoon rests that I turned into wall-hangings

Corner of a harvest gold 70's chair

Labels: my house

I am in desperate need of some exercise! Since the weather got cold, I stopped my nightly walk with Scout in the