EOTS Day 5

Random thought first:

Last night, while walking down the hallway to bed, I couldn't help but think about how I felt sad and guilty that Kayla was all alone in her own room while the rest of her family sleeps within 10 feet of each other.

This morning, I woke up thinking, "That lucky little shit."  :)

Elf got into our mail today (Kayla found him right away at breakfast):

Elf on the Shelf

We started doing Elf on the Shelf four days ago with Kayla.  We thought she would enjoy the "hide-and-seek" aspect of the whole premise.  If you are unfamiliar with EOTS, basically you buy the little elf (they come in both genders and my hair, eye and skin color combos!) and then read the book to your kids so they understand the idea.  Basically, Elf sits in your house to "spy" on your kids and reports to Santa every night to tell him if your kids have been good or bad.  He/She then returns to your house in a new position to watch over the kids the next day.

You are supposed to have your child name the Elf when they arrive, however, Kayla doesn't really get naming things quite yet, so for now, our fair skinned, blue eyed boy elf is Elf.  Clever and original. :)  Kayla doesn't really get that the Elf reports to Santa about behavior and she also doesn't really get Santa, but every morning she says "Elf!" and we tell her she has to find where he is.  She has a really hard time with the one EOTS rule, you aren't allowed to touch elf...this is how Kayla feels about that rule:

I decided to take pictures of Elf's spying positions each day so I plan on at least posting that each day or add it on to other posts that I write.  So here is a catch up of days 1-4 plus Kayla's reaction on the first day.

Day 1:

Kayla's Reaction:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Weekly Menu Planning

So this weekend, I made the plunge and joined weight watchers.  I'm not sure if it was seeing my skinny ass sister who had a baby 2.5 weeks before me try on wedding dresses, if it's the fact that I have to wear a bridesmaids dress in the spring or more if I generally feel crappy about myself and my body, but something pushed me over the edge.  I really want to learn how to eat healthier and set a good example for my kids.  Hopefully this will encourage Kayla to eat better as well.

So I'm tackling a few items on my 101 list all at once.

#67: Plan weekly meals for 3 months.
#21: Lose 15 pounds
#10: Learn to cook 10 different dishes

#21 is looking more like "lose 30 pounds" to me, but we can start with 15 and go from there.  I've already been trying to cook a little bit more to help Justin bear some of that burden.  We bought the Weelicious Cookbook to try to encourage Kayla to eat better and more varied foods (so far this is a failure.)  But, we've made Chicken Parmesan Wheels, Chicken and Cheese Taquitos with Avocado Lime dipping sauce and Chicken Mac N Cheese Bites.  Last night we also attempted oven baked fries and Vegg-Wee Burgers.  They smelled excellent but for some reason it didn't work out like we planned, so we ended up ordering Jimmy John's and we might try those again another day.

I'm thinking weight watchers will really help me focus on healthy eating and portion control so I'm looking forward to it.  I also firmly believe that weekly menu planning will help Justin and I avoid wanting to eat out because it's easier.  If we already have a plan and bought all the ingredients for specific dinners it would be a waste.  So it looks like I may be going to the grocery store at least once a week but we'll see if we can work it so that the meals we plan use similar ingredients.

I'm also planning on starting to try to get some workouts in.  Eventually, I'd love to find a great spin place near me so I can start doing spin classes (another item on my 101 list), but for now, I need to find cheap and easy activities.  So I'm staring with Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred (even though I hate it and it's boring as crap).  I may start running (even though I hate that too, at least it will give me 30 minutes with just me and my thoughts.)  I'm also considering P90X or a Beach Body workout program and forcing Justin to do it with me.  Anyone have any experience with any of those programs??

I'm really looking forward to focusing my life more on the things I enjoy and less on T.V.  Sorry to all my friends/family who like to talk shows with me, they are just going to have to take a backseat to more important things like my health, my photos and my family.  (And my job and hopefully house hunting soon.)

Little Nuances

No, that doesn't say nuisances. :)

I'm a firm believer that everyone had little quirks and nuances that they may not even notice or be able to identify.  That is, until you have kids.  Toddlers, particularly mine, are amazing little copy cats.  There are so many things I do that I never even noticed until Kayla started miming my every move.

The other day, I licked my finger to clean her face (yes I said I would never do it, but I do.  It's easy.) and immediately afterwards, she liked her finger and rubbed her face.  I bite my tongue when I'm concentrating and I can catch Kayla doing the same.  When talking to people, I tend to nod my head "yes" over and over to signify that I'm listening and I understand, Kayla copies me.  It's like watching a little "me" in the mirror.  :)

Does your toddler copy your little nuances?

Child Labor: (This kid is OCD about cleaning.)

Followed by a little fun (jumping on the couch cushions on the floor.)

2 Month Update: Brody Lawrence

Last Wednesday, Brody turned 2 months old.  Is time going faster the second time around??  Make it slow down.  Here's a quick update and some photos.

Weight: 14 pounds 0.3 ounces (85th percentile)

Length: 24.5 inches (97th percentile)

Head Circumference: 40 cm (75th percentile)


So, his weight gain is slowing down.  Now maybe people will finally stop saying how big he is.  I have to admit, that's really be irritating me.  Not only do I realize this (I did give birth to him), but I mostly think that I don't want time to move too fast.  And I am definitely not trying to speed time along.  I want to enjoy him while he's still my little guy for as long as I can.  He definitely has the most pinch-able chubby cheeks though.

Dr. H was again very impressed with his strength.  We talked to her about his gas and how it seemed to be really bothering him.  She also said that he could be a little under the weather, since Kayla had been sick the weekend before.  I mentioned I thought it might be dairy in my diet, but I wasn't sure.  She told me all the foods I'd have to cut out of my diet if it was dairy, and then told me to give it a few days to see if he gets back to his normal cheery self.  Otherwise, I was going to have to survive on water and fruit/veggies with everything that could potential have milk protein in it.  (He seems to be better now with the gassiness, still a bit fussy but now I'm pretty sure it's because he constantly over tired since he refuses to nap better for me.  Of course he naps fine when Justin is home.)

Brody also had four vaccinations, 3 shots and 1 oral.  Obviously he cried, so it was hard.  I have to admit though, it's a little hard not to chuckle watching his little face get all angry and sad.  However, it doesn't get easier to watch the second time around.  Especially since my little man seems to have skipped the "no tear production" phase (apparently that was the 4 days he was overdue...he's been producing tears since day 1.)

We are potty training Kayla and have made some big changes for her in the past week so she was having a pretty hard time.  But she still really loves her brother and wants to be around him and talk to him now that he is making conversational sounds (goo, baa, you know...)  More updates on Kayla after the holiday. :)

Physical Milestones:  Brody has rolled from stomach to back about 6-7 times now.  Mostly it's a fluke but he is definitely really close and he pushes himself pretty high up onto his hands during tummy time.  He seems to have found his hands and thumb, if you follow me on facebook you saw my photo from a week ago.  He definitely tracks me around the room and gives his "scared eyes" when Kayla comes around.  His scared eyes are really funny.  I will try to get a picture.  He's also been putting a good amount of weight through his feet and enjoys standing a lot more now.

Eating:  He's still eating pretty good.  Pretty much every 2.5-3 hours until he takes a longer nap (which I let him especially if it's his only good nap of the day).  

Sleeping:  We started dream feeding him at around 10-10:30 at night and this is really working great for us.  We feed him around 7:30 at night and then put him down and I dream feed him when we go to bed.  He sleep until usually 3 or 4 when he cries a little bit and we are able to put him back to sleep without feeding him.  He then wakes up between 5-6 and I feed him.  He's really doing great at night and I'm crossing all my fingers and toes that this continues.

For naps it's really a crap shoot.  Sometimes he goes down without fussing, sometimes it takes me 30 minutes to get him to sleep.  Sometimes he wakes up after 30-45 minutes, sometimes he sleeps great for 2 hours.  This part I am struggling with as it's hard for me to spend so much time trying to get him to sleep since I have another kid to take care of (one that is currently potty training and requires a little more attention than usual.)  Hopefully it will get better in the next month or so.

Here are some 2 month photos of Brody (decided to stick with Photoshop) and of course, Kayla had to get in the pictures, so I got a few good ones of the two of them. 

Random Thoughts: Diapers

It never ceases to amaze me how babies can poop and the poop only covers the edges of the diaper but not the center of the diaper.  How does that happen?  I just can't comprehend it.

Oh, and parents talk about poop like it's totally normal...

Happy Monday!

Does this bed make me look small?

Halloween 2012 Part 2

Sorry it's been a while.  Me and the kids had a rough week this last week.  Kayla was sick a week ago Saturday, and since then things have gone a little downhill.  Brody either is super gassy or got sick from Kayla or both since he hasn't been napping all that well and has been quite a bit more fussy than his usual happy, content self.  I got tired of Kayla wanting her pacifier all the time so I randomly decided to take it away from her last week and then 2 days later decided to give potty training a go.  So needless to say, big changes lead to busy days with little sleep.

I did want to finish posting about Halloween before our next big holiday though.  Then I have a few ideas for blog posts this week, even if they are just quick random thoughts (which I may make a new "thing" on my blog, because I tend to have a lot of them.).

So after we went to the pumpkin patch, Justin and I carved pumpkins with Kayla on night when he got home from work.  Next year, I'm thinking we need to do something a little more toddler friendly with paints or something a la Young House Love (if you follow their blog you know what I mean.)  Nevertheless, it was successful.  Kayla was very interested but didn't want to touch the pumpkin innards...no surprise there as she a little OCD about keeping her hands clean.  I mentioned I didn't like the smell of the pumpkin guts to Justin and he knows I have a pretty bad gag reflex so he volunteered to take out all the crap.  Little did we know, Kayla gets more from me than just her good looks (I kid).  She was dry heaving while trying to help Daddy clean out the pumpkins.  Highlight of the night: Justin saying, "She's gonna barf!"  (She didn't.)

This is what Brody did while we carved pumpkins.

What do you  mean my spoon doesn't fit???

My little pumpkins with my little pumpkin. :) (Kayla's on the left, Brody's on the right.)

#parentingfail Sharp objects in toddler's hand...

Our little pumpkin family, we were too lazy to carve and de-gut Justin's big pumpkin.

  And then the day before Halloween, I decided it was about time to try to make my kids costumes so we could go trick-or-treating with Kayla's friend, M.  Kayla was going to be minnie mouse with a homemade tutu (found by aunt Meg) and Brody was going to be popcorn (Pinterest inspired.)

I had gone to Joann Fabrics to buy red tulle, white felt, white fabric and red felt for their costumes.  We also stopped at the Halloween store to buy Kayla some mouse ears and Kohl's for a plain black t-shirt.

Kayla's Costume:

• Red tulle
• White felt for polka dots on skirt
• Elastic band
• Mouse ears
• Black tights (with pink tights layered underneath if you live somewhere cold. :))
• Black shirt
• Ideally red sparkly shoes but silver worked for us.

I used a no-sew tutu tutorial for the skirt.  There are tons of tutorials but this is basically what I did.  It didn't turn out exactly as I had planned.  The tulle was hard to cut in strips, the skirt was a little more full than I wanted and the white felt dots I cut didn't stay on that well with my last minute solution of packing tape, but it was alright, and cheap.  Kayla pulled most of the dots off by the end of the night.

Brody's Costume:

• Baby carrier (previously owned.)
• White fabric of any kind (the cheap kind :))
• Red felt
• White or pale colored hat
• Popcorn

His costume was super easy.  Cut red felt into strips and cut out letters in the word "popcorn."  Glue stripes and letters onto white fabric and attach to front of carrier.  Glue popcorn to baby hat.  Slap on baby and hope baby falls asleep while trick or treating. :)

Why yes I did use binder clips to attach my fabric to my carrier. :)

And yes, I did have Kayla use a Lululemon bag for trick or treating. :)

So until tomorrow, I promise... :)