Sorry to all of you child-free people, but I have some questions for other parents. So all of you go out and see a movie, or eat at a nice restaurant, or take a nap in the middle of the day. You know, all of those things that don't happen when kids are involved.
Parents, I have questions and would be interested to know what your answers might be to them.
1. At what age did your kids start washing themselves at bathtime? We still use Johnson & Johnson's baby wash, and when Garrett takes a shower, he does really well with washing himself (that soap is easy for him to pump out in his hand and I don't have to worry about him hurting his eyes. But he does like to play with the bar soap, so I'm sure he would do fine washing with that if that's what most other 4 year olds are doing.) But when he takes a bath, I still wash his hair and rinse it, but he washes himself. I'm just not sure at what point I should start insisting he do all of it himself. And at what point I should move him up from baby soap. I remember my mom washing my hair for a long period of time (probably until I was 8ish), so I was extremely babied in this area (I guess?).
2. At what age are your kids solely responsible for brushing their own teeth? Garrett already has a predisposition for getting cavities (though he drinks nothing sugary after supper, we're vigilant with teeth brushing, and doing it ourselves, he's just predisposed towards them). So I'm not ready to turn this over to him on his own knowing that he already has cavity issues, but I am curious what other parents are doing in this area. Maybe I should start letting him brush by himself in the mornings and I will help him in the evenings.
3. At what age should parents of the opposite sex be extra careful about keeping doors locked when they're changing clothes? I feel like we've hit that age where I no longer want to allow Garrett to accidentally walk in on me showering or changing, but I'm curious what everyone else's opinion is. I don't want to make this a big deal, but at the same time, we obviously have to have boundaries. And being in a house full of boys, I'm sure I'll be seeing naked bodies for a long time, but the doors will be locked when I'm showering or changing. (And just as a funny story, my youngest brother was always the "streaker" growing up. It was never a surprise to see his naked body walking down the hall or lounging in his bedroom with the door open. He did this up until his early teen years. And then he of course enjoyed regular mooning, so I'm sure there won't be much my boys will do in this area that will surprise me. And now this brother has surrendered to preach. Who says pastors live dull lives?) :)
4. What was the youngest age that you moved a child out of their crib? I don't really have any aspirations to move Cooper out of his crib anytime soon, but I also wouldn't be surprised if, in the next year or so, Garrett starts asking for Cooper to sleep with him. Garrett was 2 years and 4 months old when we moved him out of the crib and into a full sized bed with a bedrail. I'm just curious to hear what everyone else has done in this area.
5. At what point do you start teaching your child how to use a butter knife for cutting (easy to cut) meat or buttering bread? Ever since Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution talked about butter knives in school cafeterias and the fact that students should be using them for practice instead of just serving them only food that can be eaten by hand, I've started wondering about this. I'm interested to see if Garrett is old enough to learn this, but I'm not sure I'm ready to teach him. :) He still tries to sneakily eat some of his food with his hands if he thinks we're not watching. When he's a little older, I will begin enforcing table etiquettes. My mom was very persistent about teaching all of us how to properly use a knife and fork, the correct way to set a table, etc, so I plan to do the same with my boys.
OK, I think these are all of my questions. For now. :) As Garrett gets older, I'm sure I'll add more to this list. I know I should begin teaching him how to tie his shoes, but we haven't tackled that yet. Or how to ride his bike without training wheels. I'm not looking forward to that one.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Weight Loss Recap and Garrett's First Field Trip
I lost 1 pound this week. Which makes me one measly pound away from a 20 pound weight loss. It would have been awesome to have met that goal this week, but I did not. Maybe next week.
On the positive side, for some reason this week, I've suddenly dropped a size. Ever since I lost 10 pounds, I've been pulling out a couple of different pairs of pants that I have in a smaller size to see if they were fitting yet, and every time they still didn't fit. But on Thursday, they fit perfectly! Who knows why our bodies do the things they do. My sister (who has lost 21 pounds between now and last fall! So proud of her!) also took losing 18-20 pounds or so before she dropped a size too. I guess we hold on to our weight where it counts. Sadly.
I still did not exercise any this week, but I really concentrated on watching what I ate. I've cut back on my breakfast (which was typically cereal) and now I'm just sticking to water and fruit, no snacking between meals and nothing to eat between supper and bed. I think that's helping, but I've gone to bed hungry every night this week. At least something productive came out of that!
I will be pretty excited once I can officially say I've lost 20 pounds.
On a completely separate note, we went to the zoo today for Garrett's class field trip. It was nice, but it poured down rain on our way there and then it was clear until we got halfway through to lunchtime and it started raining again. Thankfully I had brought hats for all of us plus an umbrella. Cooper was in his stroller which has a nice canopy over it, but those canopies don't cover their feet, so I did my best to cover his bare legs and feet with a little blanket from his diaper bag. Of course it ended up soaked, but he never felt cold.
For lunch time we had the option to either bring our lunch or eat at the zoo cafe. And while I know bringing our lunch would have been the healthier, cheaper option, we bought ours instead. Mostly because of all the stuff I was already having to pack up and take with us (diaper bag, packed to the gills just in case, snacks, rainy weather gear, etc). I knew Cooper would be pretty hungry since he had missed a bottle that he normally gets before lunch, so I went ahead and ordered him a hotdog along with Garrett's hotdog (and myself a hamburger). Cooper ate 2/3 of that hotdog! I was impressed! And yes, I tore it up into very small pieces because I know they can be a choking hazard. While I know it's not the healthiest thing for him to eat, it's so nice to not have to pack up everything but the kitchen sink now that he's older and can eat table food.
On the way home, Garrett was so sound asleep that he was actually laying over the side of his booster seat with his head almost touching the seat beside him. I wish I could have taken a picture, but of course I completely forgot my camera. Yes, I'm a terrible mother and an even worse blogger. It's hard to remember everything! I'm just glad I forgot the camera and not my purse.
I'm really looking forward to doing more things with the boys as Cooper gets bigger and easier to haul around. It's a bit overwhelming to be in charge of both of them by myself on outings like this, but I know it creates some great experiences for us.
On the positive side, for some reason this week, I've suddenly dropped a size. Ever since I lost 10 pounds, I've been pulling out a couple of different pairs of pants that I have in a smaller size to see if they were fitting yet, and every time they still didn't fit. But on Thursday, they fit perfectly! Who knows why our bodies do the things they do. My sister (who has lost 21 pounds between now and last fall! So proud of her!) also took losing 18-20 pounds or so before she dropped a size too. I guess we hold on to our weight where it counts. Sadly.
I still did not exercise any this week, but I really concentrated on watching what I ate. I've cut back on my breakfast (which was typically cereal) and now I'm just sticking to water and fruit, no snacking between meals and nothing to eat between supper and bed. I think that's helping, but I've gone to bed hungry every night this week. At least something productive came out of that!
I will be pretty excited once I can officially say I've lost 20 pounds.
On a completely separate note, we went to the zoo today for Garrett's class field trip. It was nice, but it poured down rain on our way there and then it was clear until we got halfway through to lunchtime and it started raining again. Thankfully I had brought hats for all of us plus an umbrella. Cooper was in his stroller which has a nice canopy over it, but those canopies don't cover their feet, so I did my best to cover his bare legs and feet with a little blanket from his diaper bag. Of course it ended up soaked, but he never felt cold.
For lunch time we had the option to either bring our lunch or eat at the zoo cafe. And while I know bringing our lunch would have been the healthier, cheaper option, we bought ours instead. Mostly because of all the stuff I was already having to pack up and take with us (diaper bag, packed to the gills just in case, snacks, rainy weather gear, etc). I knew Cooper would be pretty hungry since he had missed a bottle that he normally gets before lunch, so I went ahead and ordered him a hotdog along with Garrett's hotdog (and myself a hamburger). Cooper ate 2/3 of that hotdog! I was impressed! And yes, I tore it up into very small pieces because I know they can be a choking hazard. While I know it's not the healthiest thing for him to eat, it's so nice to not have to pack up everything but the kitchen sink now that he's older and can eat table food.
On the way home, Garrett was so sound asleep that he was actually laying over the side of his booster seat with his head almost touching the seat beside him. I wish I could have taken a picture, but of course I completely forgot my camera. Yes, I'm a terrible mother and an even worse blogger. It's hard to remember everything! I'm just glad I forgot the camera and not my purse.
I'm really looking forward to doing more things with the boys as Cooper gets bigger and easier to haul around. It's a bit overwhelming to be in charge of both of them by myself on outings like this, but I know it creates some great experiences for us.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Happy Birthday to my Dad!
Today is my dad's birthday. He is an awesome dad! I couldn't have asked for better, growing up. As most of you know, my dad is a preacher and has been for all of my life. He always made his family the first priority and I never once felt neglected for church duties or church members. He coached my basketball team in junior high (somehow we both survived that experience), was the church choir director when I sang in choir, and of course was my pastor growing up. He was also never afraid of "girl talk". And having 3 daughters, he heard plenty of it while we were growing up.
Thanks Daddy for being so amazing. I couldn't ask for a better dad for myself or a better Pawpaw for my boys. Keith also loves you for the great person that you are as well as the father-in-law that he has. (Though he would never say that in person, so you probably won't hear that anytime soon. lol) We love you so much and hope you have a wonderful day!
Here are some pictures that I have on my computer to share:
A very short time after Garrett was born, still in the labor and delivery room.
When Garrett was 1 month old and my family had to evacuate from Hurricane Rita (when they still lived near the Gulf.)
Sharing his love for Indiana University basketball to the next generation.
About a week after Cooper was born. Pawpaw's first time to hold him.
My dad, his brother, and their dad. They're all goofy. :)
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
9 (10) Month Check-up
Yesterday was Cooper's 9 month check-up with our pediatrician. Obviously, he turned 10 months old on Saturday, so we're a bit behind with this. It wasn't my intention to get behind with his check-ups, but with our doctor's office relocating and having to put off some of his early appointments, it's thrown our schedule off. Now that we've moved on to check-ups every 3 months instead of every 2 months, we're going to get back on track once he's had his 1 year check-up in June. (Due to vaccinations, there has to be x-amount of time to elapse between boosters and shots, which is why we couldn't just bump his schedule up once the doctor's new office opened.)
Anyway, I've digressed, per usual. The exam went really well. Of course the fun part of having a 10 month old while you wait in the waiting room and then again in the exam room, is that he's wanting down, down, down. So we ended up walking around the room multiple times before the doctor came in. Thankfully they have a big mirror in their exam rooms so that kept him entertained. They do have toys in these rooms, but, seriously? I'm not letting my kids play with toys in the doctor's office. What kinds of germs are on them? For Garrett, I usually try to bring some small toy for him to play with which is similar to what I know is already there so he won't be tempted to play with the germy toys. But I don't trust Cooper not to throw down any toy I might hand him, and do so repeatedly, so I was his entertainment. Thankfully our doctor doesn't typically keep us waiting too terribly long.
I'm not sure if I've shared this about our doctor before, but in case I haven't... While we really like him and he's very knowledgeable about what he does, it's taken us awhile to really connect. When Garrett was a baby, I felt like he criticized me at every turn and was constantly questioning me. I'm sure you're wondering why we didn't just find another doctor. To be honest, I thought about it, but ultimately didn't want the hassle. I've now figured him out and how he wants specific details when you're describing an illness or situation to him and that when he attempts to talk to my children, I'm not supposed to try and answer for them. We actually get along really well now and he's surprisingly complimentary of me at check-ups, mostly just saying that I'm doing a good job and doing exactly what he would want me to be doing. Had you told me he would have been this way back when Garrett was Cooper's age, I would have laughed at you.
The exam went well, he declared Cooper to be very healthy and doing great. The funniest part was when he was reviewing his measurements (20.5 pounds, 29.5 inches) he said that he was long and lean. Having had a child (Garrett) who has been in the 10th percentile for weight ever since he was 6 months old, I've considered Cooper to be a chubby baby. But he's actually in the 45th percentile for his weight, so I guess that really isn't all that chubby, just average. Both boys have been in the 90th (or higher) percentile for their height though. At one point, Garrett was 99th percentile, but I think he's dropped a bit from that.
To put it in perspective, at 10 months old, Cooper weighs a pound a half more than Garrett weighed at his 1 year check-up. And he's only 15 pounds less than Garrett is now.
At the check-up yesterday, Cooper got 2 shots, which he only briefly cried about, and then had a blood draw to check his lead levels (which is standard at the 9 month check-up, atleast with our doctor). He didn't cry one peep for the blood draw. The funny thing about that is that Garrett reacted the same way when he had his blood drawn at that age. The lab tech had drawn blood for 4 babies before Cooper got there and she said she was just telling the mom before us that some babies don't even make a peep when they draw their blood. Then Cooper came in and did just that.
It's hard to believe that the next time we go to the doctor, he will already be 1!
Anyway, I've digressed, per usual. The exam went really well. Of course the fun part of having a 10 month old while you wait in the waiting room and then again in the exam room, is that he's wanting down, down, down. So we ended up walking around the room multiple times before the doctor came in. Thankfully they have a big mirror in their exam rooms so that kept him entertained. They do have toys in these rooms, but, seriously? I'm not letting my kids play with toys in the doctor's office. What kinds of germs are on them? For Garrett, I usually try to bring some small toy for him to play with which is similar to what I know is already there so he won't be tempted to play with the germy toys. But I don't trust Cooper not to throw down any toy I might hand him, and do so repeatedly, so I was his entertainment. Thankfully our doctor doesn't typically keep us waiting too terribly long.
I'm not sure if I've shared this about our doctor before, but in case I haven't... While we really like him and he's very knowledgeable about what he does, it's taken us awhile to really connect. When Garrett was a baby, I felt like he criticized me at every turn and was constantly questioning me. I'm sure you're wondering why we didn't just find another doctor. To be honest, I thought about it, but ultimately didn't want the hassle. I've now figured him out and how he wants specific details when you're describing an illness or situation to him and that when he attempts to talk to my children, I'm not supposed to try and answer for them. We actually get along really well now and he's surprisingly complimentary of me at check-ups, mostly just saying that I'm doing a good job and doing exactly what he would want me to be doing. Had you told me he would have been this way back when Garrett was Cooper's age, I would have laughed at you.
The exam went well, he declared Cooper to be very healthy and doing great. The funniest part was when he was reviewing his measurements (20.5 pounds, 29.5 inches) he said that he was long and lean. Having had a child (Garrett) who has been in the 10th percentile for weight ever since he was 6 months old, I've considered Cooper to be a chubby baby. But he's actually in the 45th percentile for his weight, so I guess that really isn't all that chubby, just average. Both boys have been in the 90th (or higher) percentile for their height though. At one point, Garrett was 99th percentile, but I think he's dropped a bit from that.
To put it in perspective, at 10 months old, Cooper weighs a pound a half more than Garrett weighed at his 1 year check-up. And he's only 15 pounds less than Garrett is now.
At the check-up yesterday, Cooper got 2 shots, which he only briefly cried about, and then had a blood draw to check his lead levels (which is standard at the 9 month check-up, atleast with our doctor). He didn't cry one peep for the blood draw. The funny thing about that is that Garrett reacted the same way when he had his blood drawn at that age. The lab tech had drawn blood for 4 babies before Cooper got there and she said she was just telling the mom before us that some babies don't even make a peep when they draw their blood. Then Cooper came in and did just that.
It's hard to believe that the next time we go to the doctor, he will already be 1!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Monday Randoms
~I swear that Cooper eats more than Garrett does at most meals. Tonight's supper for instance: Garrett had a chicken leg, a couple bites of cottage cheese, and 3 strawberries (weird combo, I know, it was grocery day, so I just throw stuff together for dinner on Mondays). Cooper had at least the equivalent of a chicken leg's worth of shredded chicken meat from the breast, a jar of apple chunks (it's Gerber's toddler apples. He can feed them to himself, but they're softer than if I was to simply cut up an apple and give it to him), and a half of a slice of homemade bread.
~I relished in the 2 and a half hours I spent at the hair salon on Saturday morning. When I called my girl to make an appointment, she was pretty full on Saturday morning but she worked me in. I knew I would be there longer than normal because of that, so I brought a book and just enjoyed sitting there and reading without either of my children present. Ladies, if you don't go to an actual hair salon to get your hair done (or if you color your own hair) please take the time to find a great stylist and let her work her magic on you! You are so worth the time and money spent to make yourself feel good about how you look. Even though my gray is minimal at this point, I love knowing that it's nicely hidden under a good dose of haircolor (I just use the closest thing to my natural hair color with no highlights so it's hard to tell I have anything done, unless you're on speaking terms with my gray hair. And in choosing my natural hair color, I really have no "roots" to speak of except for my handful of gray. So I can go longer between colorings.) I waited an extra 15 minutes in order for the wax to heat up so I could get my eyebrows waxed while I was there. It was so worth it! I told Mistie that it doesn't matter how long I've been tweezing/waxing my eyebrows, I could still grow 2 wooly worms on my face if I did nothing to tame them. Yet there are people out there who actually have to pencil in their brows! I'm so jealous.
~I'm having a hard time deciding on Cooper's 1st birthday party theme. For Garrett's first birthday, we did John Deere tractors as our theme because that was his nursery theme. It's Cooper's nursery theme too, but I don't want to repeat any party themes that Garrett has had. I've contemplated doing Veggie Tales. We really love them at our house, but I never could find any party favors when I was planning Garrett's 2nd birthday (which was when I considered that as the theme). I'm not sure if I could find them now, but I would assume somewhere on the internet, they probably exist. The downside to this is that Cooper hasn't really shown much of an interest towards them when they're on TV. He does seem to like our "Ultimate Silly Songs" DVD, but no more than his ridiculous "Singing Babies" DVD (that one is so weird, but he loves it). I've considered Elmo or a more broad Sesame Street theme. Cooper really watches when the Elmo's World portion of Sesame Street is on. But he hates our Tickle Me Elmo, so I don't know if he watches him on TV out of love or out of scared fascination.
~Whether or not you're a fan of country music, please listen to the song "The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert (if you click that, it will take you to the music video for the song). It is such a good song, full of nostalgia. She performed the song on the country music awards last night and I was full-blown crying by the time it was over. I've heard the song before, but it just hit me harder listening to her sing it live.
~I started reading Beth Moore's book "So Long Insecurity" yesterday. It's really good so far. I believe I'm on chapter 6 right now. One of my favorite parts has been her pointing out how that having kids only magnifies your insecurities (so true! Garrett constantly tells me "Momma, my belly is almost as big as yours!"). And how hard it is to know that your child is dealing with an insecurity, even a minor one. She talks about when her oldest daughter got her driver's license (she's now my age) and started driving herself to school. She told her mom that she needed parking lessons because her friends were making fun of her crooked parking. So for the next several days, Beth would drive herself to the school parking lot and straighten Amanda's car for her in the parking space so her friends wouldn't tease her. Amanda had no idea she was doing this. But I can totally understand where Beth is coming from and if there's ever an instance where I could do something like this for my boys in order to minimize insecurity, I would do it in a heartbeat. Even if you don't think of yourself as being insecure, or maybe you're a man and think this book doesn't apply to you, you should still read it. We all have insecurities. As Beth points out, the woman who looks the most put together and who we would all assume to be the most secure person, is probably the least secure of anyone. If nothing else, she has a lot to lose, should her life come crashing down around her. And men, reading a book like this will open the window inside the mind of a woman more than you probably realize. Many of you complain that you don't know what makes women tick, read this book and solve part of the mystery. I'll let you know once I've finished and what my thoughts are on the complete book.
~I relished in the 2 and a half hours I spent at the hair salon on Saturday morning. When I called my girl to make an appointment, she was pretty full on Saturday morning but she worked me in. I knew I would be there longer than normal because of that, so I brought a book and just enjoyed sitting there and reading without either of my children present. Ladies, if you don't go to an actual hair salon to get your hair done (or if you color your own hair) please take the time to find a great stylist and let her work her magic on you! You are so worth the time and money spent to make yourself feel good about how you look. Even though my gray is minimal at this point, I love knowing that it's nicely hidden under a good dose of haircolor (I just use the closest thing to my natural hair color with no highlights so it's hard to tell I have anything done, unless you're on speaking terms with my gray hair. And in choosing my natural hair color, I really have no "roots" to speak of except for my handful of gray. So I can go longer between colorings.) I waited an extra 15 minutes in order for the wax to heat up so I could get my eyebrows waxed while I was there. It was so worth it! I told Mistie that it doesn't matter how long I've been tweezing/waxing my eyebrows, I could still grow 2 wooly worms on my face if I did nothing to tame them. Yet there are people out there who actually have to pencil in their brows! I'm so jealous.
~I'm having a hard time deciding on Cooper's 1st birthday party theme. For Garrett's first birthday, we did John Deere tractors as our theme because that was his nursery theme. It's Cooper's nursery theme too, but I don't want to repeat any party themes that Garrett has had. I've contemplated doing Veggie Tales. We really love them at our house, but I never could find any party favors when I was planning Garrett's 2nd birthday (which was when I considered that as the theme). I'm not sure if I could find them now, but I would assume somewhere on the internet, they probably exist. The downside to this is that Cooper hasn't really shown much of an interest towards them when they're on TV. He does seem to like our "Ultimate Silly Songs" DVD, but no more than his ridiculous "Singing Babies" DVD (that one is so weird, but he loves it). I've considered Elmo or a more broad Sesame Street theme. Cooper really watches when the Elmo's World portion of Sesame Street is on. But he hates our Tickle Me Elmo, so I don't know if he watches him on TV out of love or out of scared fascination.
~Whether or not you're a fan of country music, please listen to the song "The House That Built Me" by Miranda Lambert (if you click that, it will take you to the music video for the song). It is such a good song, full of nostalgia. She performed the song on the country music awards last night and I was full-blown crying by the time it was over. I've heard the song before, but it just hit me harder listening to her sing it live.
~I started reading Beth Moore's book "So Long Insecurity" yesterday. It's really good so far. I believe I'm on chapter 6 right now. One of my favorite parts has been her pointing out how that having kids only magnifies your insecurities (so true! Garrett constantly tells me "Momma, my belly is almost as big as yours!"). And how hard it is to know that your child is dealing with an insecurity, even a minor one. She talks about when her oldest daughter got her driver's license (she's now my age) and started driving herself to school. She told her mom that she needed parking lessons because her friends were making fun of her crooked parking. So for the next several days, Beth would drive herself to the school parking lot and straighten Amanda's car for her in the parking space so her friends wouldn't tease her. Amanda had no idea she was doing this. But I can totally understand where Beth is coming from and if there's ever an instance where I could do something like this for my boys in order to minimize insecurity, I would do it in a heartbeat. Even if you don't think of yourself as being insecure, or maybe you're a man and think this book doesn't apply to you, you should still read it. We all have insecurities. As Beth points out, the woman who looks the most put together and who we would all assume to be the most secure person, is probably the least secure of anyone. If nothing else, she has a lot to lose, should her life come crashing down around her. And men, reading a book like this will open the window inside the mind of a woman more than you probably realize. Many of you complain that you don't know what makes women tick, read this book and solve part of the mystery. I'll let you know once I've finished and what my thoughts are on the complete book.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
10 Months
Dear Cooper,
Today you are 10 months old! It's hard to believe that in 2 months time you will be 1! You are my cuddly baby and most of the time, thoroughly enjoy just being held whenever I can hold you. Of course now that you're pretty mobile, you love to be down to play and explore, but you have your moments of wanting to be held and still.
Here's what you're up to lately:
You pull up all the time, on anything possible. You haven't quite figured out how to pull up to stand at a wall or door, but you're getting close.
You love to "cruise" (aka walk around holding onto furniture), but you're still pretty slow with this. However, I'll find you standing at the end of the couch, barely holding on with one hand, while you lean down to hit Garrett on the head, so I think you could be more mobile than you're letting on right now.
You're almost exclusively eating table food at this point. You much prefer to feed yourself finger foods than to be fed baby food. I still keep jars on hand for when we go somewhere and there may not be food available to feed you, but I can't hardly get you to eat an entire jar of food because you would rather be feeding yourself. You still let me feed you yogurt every morning for breakfast, but that's it. You LOVE most meats and many veggies and fruits. However, I gave you a few bites of watermelon the other day and you literally threw up in your mouth and then swallowed it (sorry, I know that's gross. But it's true.) So we won't be trying watermelon again anytime soon.
You're starting to wean yourself off the bottle. I still offer it to you 4 times a day, but you only take the first and last bottles of the day well, the middle 2, you don't drink much. In the next few weeks, I'll probably transition those to be sippy cup drinks with a snack.
You like any toys that make noise, books, and balls. You hate our Tickle Me Elmo and get scared anytime we bring it out. You're also very afraid of Garrett's Spiderman punching bag. I'm not sure if it's because it is taller than Garrett and when he plays with it, it looks like it's hitting him since it stands itself back up. But we've limited Garrett's playing with it to his bedroom for now.
You love playing with doorstops as well as being given the opportunity to close any doors.
You rarely play in your Exersaucer or Jumperoo now. I use the Exersaucer when we go outside so you'll have something to play in, but other than that, you never sit in it anymore.
You've only recently realized you can roll over and crawl away from me when I'm changing your diaper or clothes. I've relished this time up until now where you've laid still while I've changed you, but now you know the power you have.
You still refuse to attempt to feed yourself a bottle or drink out of a sippy cup on your own.
You love to wave and constantly are waving at us, or strangers when we're out and about. You also love to shake your head yes and no still. I think you know that the no shake means no because you sometimes do it whenever I verbally tell you no (like when you're trying to play with an outlet, even though they're covered. or when you try to stand up in the bathtub.)
We love you so much and usually find you very funny.
Happy 10 months baby boy!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Weigh-in Recap
I had zero change this morning on the scale.
I have to confess that I've lost my groove and motivation for weight loss at the moment. I'm not sure where it went and I hope to find it soon. I didn't walk any on the treadmill this week and have not done well in the area of eating (though I am doing better with this than I used to, simply because the older I get, the worse I feel when I overeat or eat things that sit too heavy.) I did make a batch of chocolate chip muffins this week and have had one a day. I have got to stop doing that!
So here's to finding my motivation for working out and getting strict with myself in the area of food again!
Along these same lines, is anyone watching "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution"? It comes on (in our area anyway) on Friday nights on ABC at 8pm CST. It's great! And so eye opening, not only on the state of school lunches (which is a blog post all on it's own, though if I find out that our local school serves lunches like the one Jamie is at, Garrett will be taking his lunch most days once he starts kindergarten.) but also just the state of obesity in America.
This show really gives you motivation to wanting to eat more at home and attempt to eat more homemade things rather than frozen dinners and quick stuff. I've been grilling almost every evening this week and have to say that is hands down the easiest way for me to cook which also allows us to eat healthy. I don't use any marinades (sometimes a dab of Worcestshire sauce-and don't ask me how to pronounce it. Side note, did anyone see the episode of "King of Queens" where Doug and Carrie debate how that is pronounced? Hilarious! Doug says "Westerchester Sauce" then Carrie says "Just mumble it real fast and move on so no one knows exactly how you said it.") I've started buying turkey meat rather than hamburger meat (though I saw the "Eat This Not That" guy on the Bonnie Hunt Show this week and he was saying that regular bacon is actually better for you than turkey bacon because turkey bacon has more sodium and the rest of their "stats" are the same. So I need to check and see exactly how turkey meat and hamburger meat compare.)
I'm less confident about grilling chicken because I can't ever tell when it's done. If anyone has any tips in this area, let me know! We also eat lots of grilled steak, though I'm very careful to choose lean steak, remove as much fat as possible and also keep my portion size down (the size of a deck of cards. Isn't that crazy?!)
OK, so this post basically rambled on. I'll end with a picture of me and the boys having our first picnic on the back patio. I had grilled steaks that evening and then put rice and broccoli on the side. It was actually nice to eat outside because Cooper always makes a big mess when he feeds himself, so I didn't have to worry about all the rice kernals all over the floor in the kitchen.
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