I've Moved!

I decided before I get too into this blogging thing to move over to Wordpress. Come visit me over there and be sure to update your bookmarks and reader! http://myronickmusings.wordpress.com/

Six months

Each month, I take a photo of Kendall sitting in her rocking chair each month. The outfit is a white onesie and Picky Sticky sticker. Diapers may or may not coordinate!

Wordless Wednesday: Best. Oatmeal. Ever.

Recipe and Variations.

Five months - only a month late!

Each month, I take a photo of Kendall sitting in her rocking chair each month. The outfit is a white onesie and Picky Sticky sticker. Diapers may or may not coordinate!

A new haircut?

This weekend we spent some time with my parents and grandparents. At one point during our visit, I mentioned that my hair was falling out due to the hormone change from no longer being pregnant and that I had to make sure my "bald" patches aren't obvious when I wear my hair in a ponytail. JD jokingly said we could fix that. My mom said, "How? Would you shave your head?" She was completely serious. We all stared at her. Finally, I said, "No, Mom. He meant I could get pregnant again."

McFatty Monday: Let’s do this!

I’m joining Blair’s McFatty Monday in order to shame myself into losing this awful baby weight. Maybe if I publicly say I’m going to do it and track my progress, it will incite me into actually doing it.

I’ve always struggled with my weight – or at least I thought I did. Looking back now, I had no idea how great I looked when I was in college and grad school. I gained a lot of weight when I moved home after UF, but lost it all before I got married. I maintained for a bit, but when I got pregnant, I was definitely heavier than I should have been (like 25-30 pounds heavier). I worked hard not to gain too much weight during my pregnancy, but did ultimately gain 30 pounds. I lost 20 of it within the first week of having Kendall. (When people say a lot of the weight you gain is directly related to the baby, they are right.) The other 10? Well that’s stuck around for the past 6 months. I keep saying I’m going to get serious about losing it, plus the extra 30 of “marriage” weight. I’ve done it before – I lost 30 pounds before I got married, so I know I can do this. I just have to actually DO it.

And I do need to do it. Losing weight will help me not only physically, but mentally and financially. I hate the way I look right now. Finding something to wear each day in my closet is a struggle and 90% of what I wear is black, because at least that is mostly slimming. It makes me grumpy and when I'm grumpy, unfortunately, everyone around me suffers. I also hate the way I look in pictures and the last thing I want is to look back at pictures of Kendall's first year and hate the way I look in all of them. Because I'm THAT vain. As for the financial impact, we can’t really afford for me to go and buy a whole new wardrobe, and it’s ridiculous for me to do so when I have a ton of beautiful (and expensive - hello J.Crew addiction!) clothes just waiting for me to be able to wear them again.

I want to be realistic about how long it will take to do this – I mean 40 pounds could take nearly a year! I’d like to have lost my first 10 pounds by Memorial Day (2 months), at least 30 of it by Kendall’s first birthday (6 months) and be at my goal weight by Jan. 1, 2011 (9 months).

So, here I am in all my post partum glory, (in jeans I bought at the beginning of my pregnancy so I would have something to wear when I started showing that do not button and one of JD’s old USMC shirts that used to fit and even was a little loose). I debated even posting these pictures, since I do have several IRL friends who read this blog, and well, it’s embarrassing. But if the point is to shame myself into doing this, and keep it honest, then here they are. I’m far too embarrassed to post my starting weight, so I’ll just keep you posted with pounds lost. When I hit a decent enough milestone, maybe I’ll share the real numbers. I'm hoping to take a picture of myself every 4 weeks. That's enough time to hopefully see some difference, and I know the visual will really help keep me motivated.

Goals for this week (starting slow!):

• Run three times – after work Tuesday and Thursday, Saturday morning
• Find a good, free, online calorie/weight tracker

Well Read: Little House on the Prairie series

Two posts in one day - I'm as shocked as you are! To follow on my initial Well Read post, I thought I should probably share what we are actually reading right now!

As a little girl, I loved the Little House on the Prairie series. I probably read it once a year. I've always been drawn to period books - the descriptions of their dresses (who doesn't love those huge skirts?), how they created a life for themselves, all of it resonated with me. When I was home on maternity leave, I grabbed my copies of the Little House series from my parents home so I could re-read them read them to Kendall.

At least once I week, I get to do the bedtime routine on my own while JD in in class, sometimes twice if he has a late softball game. Those are the nights Kendall and I settle down into the chair in her room and I read the Little House series books to her. We've only made it through Little House in the Big Woods and now we're on Little House on the Prairie. I'm pretty sure I'm enjoying it more than Kendall, but more than once when I thought she'd fallen asleep on my shoulder, I've looked down to see her big eyes looking back at me, seemingly enthralled with the story.

I can't wait to introduce her to all of my favorite chapter books, along with picture books!

Well Read: What we're reading series

I've been meaning to write a post about my love for reading since I started this blog. Allison at O My Family is doing a week of books this week so I'm finally getting off my butt and starting the first in what I hope will be a series on what Kendall and I are reading.

Some background: I love reading. Love it. I read constantly - books, magazines, blogs, shampoo bottles, hair products, you name it and I'll read it. When I found out I was pregnant with Kendall, one of the first things I said to my mom was, when can I come get her books? My (pack rat) mom saved nearly all of my books from childhood - both picture books and chapter books. I was thrilled to unload them all on Kendall's new bookshelves and envisioned sitting in her room reading book after book to my little baby.

Naturally, I forgot to take any books with us to the hospital (hey I found out at 4 p.m. that I had to be at the hospital by 8 p.m. that night and had nothing packed - I'm lucky I remembered underwear). JD ran to Target the morning after Kendall was born and brought us a couple books and the tradition began.

We read to Kendall each night during her bedtime bottle, usually 2-3 picture books, and finish up with Goodnight, Moon. Each night, she snuggles into my neck and just listens. There are times that I think she's asleep and I'll look down and she's staring at me, watching intently. I wonder what she's envisioning when she hears the words? 

One of my biggest hopes for my daughter is that she will share her mother's (and grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.) love of reading. So far, she seems to love it.

Wordless Wednesday: Food Coma

Wordless Wednesday: Curious Fashionista

A year of firsts

2010 is a year of firsts for all of us. This year will bring a lot of firsts for us here in the MM household, mainly centered around K: first tooth, first real hug, first word, first step, first giggle, first birthday.

A couple weeks ago, we experienced another not so obvious first - K's first trip out of state. Here we are at the FL/GA state line.

I'm loving that the sign is orange and blue. I wonder why the state line sign near Tallahassee isn't garnet and gold?

Wordless Wednesday: Pink Frills

Four months

Each month, I take a photo of Kendall sitting in her rocking chair each month. The outfit is a white onesie and Picky Sticky sticker. Diapers may or may not coordinate!

Jumping on the bandwagon

Thunk! That was the sound of me jumping on the blogging bandwagon. So here I am. What now? Oh, I suppose introductions are in order. Hi Internet, I'm Elisabeth, wife of JD, mother of three-month-old Kendall. Likes: sushi, whiskey and coke, college football, flip flops. Dislikes: stupid people, socks, tequila, basketball.

And so it begins...