9 months: Devon (June)

Joe had his first Father's Day this year and I he seemed to enjoy his big day. He jokingly called it "unsung hero's day". So for his special day I made him breakfast (I do this most days, but I made sure to do it on Sunday), spent time all together as a family, I got him a new ipod shuffle for his renewed interest in running, and I got a sub for my yoga classes so I could stay home with Devon while he went and got a massage. His parents stopped by for a short visit and I got started on dinner. Whenever I ask Joe what he wants for dinner he always says,"Whatever". This time he told me I could do anything I wanted, but make something I've never made before. I wanted to make something a little fancy so I made beef tenderloin with a currant & red wine sweet sauce, herb crusted potatoes, and phyllo apple pear pies. Sounds like a good day to me ....



Devon is officially teething. 2 little teeth poked through on the bottom after a week of low grade fevers. He is crankier than usual, but is typically soothed when held and played with. He still sleeps through the night and takes extra long naps during the day. He was on a clockwork schedule for the past 3 glorious months, but now everyday is totally different. I am trying to roll with it, but I am a creature of habit and hope he will get back on a schedule soon. He is Army crawling his way around the house and is pulling himself up to stand. He is talking up a storm, learning what "no" means, and is giving the cats a run for their money. He loves to crawl all over me like a jungle gym, but I call it "Mommy gym" (see video. It's hilarious). He just started eating real food yesterday including bananas, dehydrated strawberries and the classic .... Cheerios.

I was getting a little tired of the monotony of day after day of the same thing so I decided that I would take a trip to California and see my older sister Katy to change things up. Devon and I flew to Phoenix, had a short layover, then on to Riverside. We stayed Monday to Thursday and I think it was just the right amount of time to get away and just the right amount of time for Joe to realize that he can't live without us ;)

I had a moment when I realized that it was my first time traveling alone EVER IN MY LIFE. This made me panic a little, but by then it was way too late to turn back. I had this realization as I was walking into the Tucson airport loaded with my little baby, a huge suitcase, a carry on bag, and a car seat waving goodbye to Joe. In spite of all my nervousness Devon was the perfect traveling baby. He never cried on any of the flights and was content sitting on my lap playing with one toy, a water bottle and the seat belt. He was a little cranky before takeoff, but other than that he was an angel.

SIDEBAR: Those of you who are traveling with babies .... you can either pay half price for a ticket and the baby can ride in a car seat OR you can roll the dice, show up to the gate with a car seat and find out if there are any extra seats available. If there are, the baby can ride for free. If not the baby can sit on your lap and you can check the car seat right there at the gate. I got the extra seat 50% of the time. It was really nice to have him in his own seat because he was more likely to sleep and I could relax a little, but he slept in my arms anyway and that was sweet as well.



While in California I got to go to Disneyland and see all the new stuff. It's funny that even after 10 years of not being there I still remember where everything is. I ate a churro, saw California Adventure, rode small world, Pirates of the Caribbean and the jungle cruise. Small world was sorta boring, but it was better than Pirates because I TOTALLY forgot that the first drop was as big as it was. I thought it was 3 little dips, but I was SO wrong. Devon didn't cry, but I was so caught off guard at the slope that I screamed which scared him .... then he cried. I really wish I would have skipped that one, but I have to say that I am surprised that they even let me on that ride with him at all. The jungle cruise just plain scared him to death and he cried the whole time. Like .... real tears cried. It was awful. We were there about 4-5 hours and by the end I was exhausted. I was glad we got to go, but I will definitely wait to take him when he can ride all the rides.



I think the best part of the whole trip was just hanging out with Katy and being moms and sisters together laughing, watching TV and talking. The day after Disney we literally didn't leave the house. And I literally didn't change out of my pajamas or put on make up (the ONLY thing I forgot to pack was my makeup. I could not believe it. I left the entire bag on the counter of my bathroom. I borrowed some from Kate, but I was really annoyed that I forgot it.) We even got a little bit crafty and stayed up late sewing. She had everything we needed to make a "taggie". It's a small baby blanket with little ribbons, or tags, around the edges to stimulate the baby's senses. I think it turned out great. I even went home and bought fabric to start on a baby quilt. I haven't been doing any hobbies lately so this was a great project for me to get back into sewing.



All in all it was a great trip. It was great to see Katy's new house, little baby and spend some one-on-one time with her. She was quite the gracious host letting me use her make-up, hair ties, using her pass to take me to Disneyland and making me a BLT for lunch. You're the best Kate!

Are you gonna finish that?

Fun fact:
Did you know that 80% of your body shape comes from good nutrition? Just 10% is from working out and the remaining 10% from your genes. It just goes to show that you can hit the gym all you want, but unless you are eating properly you won't experience the healthy lifestyle for the long term.

So, yesturday I found a great website for those of you who REALLY want to know the nutritional value the food you're eating.



I gained about 37 pounds during my pregnancy. After having the baby I lost 25 pounds in the first 2 weeks without watching what I ate and without exercise. The latest research shows that a significant amount of weight (more than 5 pounds) cannot truly be lost with breastfeeding alone even though women still claim that to be the case. Our system just flushes out all that extra fluid from pregnancy resulting in weight reduction by doing "nothing". Women believe it to be the breastfeeding, but forget to take metabolism, genes, lifestyle, normal healthy food choices, etc. into account. But I digress ....

Anyway, I have been holding onto about 8-10 baby weight pounds for the past few months and I am officially tired of it and I'm tired of complaining about it ;) 8-10 pounds isn't much, but it's more than I want to have on me and I desperately want to get to my pre-baby size.

*Thailand 2004

So I put myself on my first, official diet. For about a month I cut out snacks like popcorn, extra bread, ice cream, rice cakes and any "non-essential" foods. That way any fine tuning done by the diet wouldn't be a huge shock to my system. I ramped up my gym workouts to 4 days a week with baby in tow and yoga twice a week.

On June 1st I started using a program called Diet Organizer and it has been great. You download it to your computer, enter in your weight loss goals, your current weight and your measurements. It tells you the calories, fat, carbs, etc. you should have everyday so you have a healthy weight loss. If I follow the program I could loose 2 pounds a week for 5 weeks. The best part for me is I enter in what I eat, the portion and it tells me if I am within my range. All the guess work is gone. It has gotten a little tedious to weight and portion my food everyday, but I have lost 3.5 pounds in a week and a half so I am seeing results. 3.5 pounds doesn't sound like much, but it is nearly half the weight I want to loose. Already I can comfortably get back into my "skinny jeans" so that has been a real boost to keep going.

However, eating 3 oz. of chicken and a cup of steamed veggies everyday (sometimes tiwce a day .... gross) for dinner is starting to get old. I want to eat normal food, but not feel like I am cheating or crash my diet altogether and loose out on all the work I've done so far. Cue Spark Recipes. You enter in the ingredients from a recipe and it tells you the nutritional information per serving. It allows you to eat food you are used to, but make it fit into your diet. It also lets you know if that food you want to eat is even worth the fat and carbs. So you can have brownies, pizza, and ice cream as long as you portion out what is appropriate.

I think this whole experience has taught me a truly valuable, life lesson on healthy eating. Food can be enjoyable, satisfying and nutritious. You don't have to make certain foods off limits. You can maintain a healthy weight AND eat whatever you want for the rest of your life as long as you watch your portions. I also firmly believe that if you make healthy choices your body will stop craving the unhealthy ones and the battle with food will be over.

Just in case you wanted to know how this yummy, childhood comfort food will affect your waistline here it is ....

Corkflake Potatoes
Amount Per Serving (12 servings for one tray)
Calories 375.1
Total Fat 23.2 g
Saturated Fat 9.0 g
Total Carbohydrate 33.5 g
Dietary Fiber 2.6 g
Sugars 3.5 g
Protein 8.6 g


To try out your own recipes go here:
http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp

June 10th: Happy Birthday Dear Katy ....

Happy birthday to you! THIS is the new card-in-the-mail card .... blogger style.

This is for my older .... now wiser .... sister who was the coolest older sister a teenage girl could have.

This is for my sister who set goals and followed through no matter how tough.

This is for my sister who let me hang with her during family vacations and made me feel cool just being around her.

This is for my sister who introduced me to one of my all time favorite bands ..... The Cure. A moment of silence please.

This is for my sister who didn't care what people thought .... maybe she did, but she faked it really well.

This is for my sister who made it look so easy and effortless.

This is for my sister who has such a tender heart she will not let you cry alone.

This is for my sister who became a new mama this year.

This is for my sister who always worked so hard. Even when she was being creative.

This is for my sister who taught me to have a sense of my own style. I think I copied her for so long that I didn't figure out what that was until she moved out. So .... thanks for moving out ;)

This is for my older, but wiser, cool, goal setting, Cure loving, tender hearted, new mama, hard working, creative, stylish, and beautiful sister.

I love you, Happy Birthday and bonjourno!

Diet shmiet

It's amazing when you're on a diet that your super-human sense of smell kicks into over drive and you start to smell foods in a way you never smelled them in your entire life. I was at Costco today and smelled the pizza all the way out in the parking lot while I was pumping gas. Ahhhh pizzahhhhhh. Like REAL pizza. Not Lean Cuisine pizza (which is really good by the way), but the real cheese, unportioned, greasy, normal-people pizza. Then I went inside and saw the people eating the pizza and was reminded why I don't eat it ;)

I also had to laugh when I tried to convince myself that fresh strawberries and All Bran cereal combined taste like strawberry pie.