Sun Spots

At the end of each day, I find just as many puppy nose prints as baby hand prints to wipe off this window.

Will and Lola. My sweet sweet baby boy and my big brown baby. Time for an update on their growing relationship? I think so. Will likes to climb over and under Lola, and Lola loves to chew her toys near and sometimes on Will. And both of them just let the other do it. Jason and I always joke that this could be a problem when Will interacts with other children his age. (Most babies I know don't like to be climbed on.) They both understand that their toys are separate and off-limits, but I'm pretty sure neither of them understands why that is the case (even though I explain why everyday they both have a ways to go in language acquisition). Often one will bring a toy to the other, set it down, and go off to play with another toy, which is incredibly sweet but also means I am constantly reminding Will that jagged plastic bones and soaking wet stuffed animal parts are "not for baby." Could I actually be teaching him not to share his toys? Instead of dwelling on that thought, I'll move on to chronicling more updates on my sweet sweet baby.

Will has been standing on his own for a few weeks now, and each day it seems like he can last longer and longer on those two squatting legs. Fifteen seconds, a minute, a lifetime. I know us mamas have a skewed perception of time, so I won't pretend to give you an accurate number. He also has been kind of taking a step or two, but really he is just throwing himself headfirst at me from a standing position and sometimes his feet move a bit. If I hold his hands to help him walk, he gets angry that I keep moving farther and farther away with each of his steps closer and closer to me. The look on his face--a cross between "what is the point of all this" and "where are you going!--as I move away is priceless. I have to try really hard not to laugh.

But if Will really wants to get somewhere (usually to me) fast, he'll drop down on all fours and crawl like the wind. I'm willing to bet he is the fastest crawler in the Midwest. To all who will listen, I keep bringing up the idea of baby racing. Babies on one end, mamas on the other, pull up a barrier, and they're off! I could see it as a reality TV show on Fox. And that, my friends, is where I will end this...

Also, Lola's other sun spot, which is covered in hair and another thing that Will has to be reminded is "not for baby" every day.

More than Four!

Tomorrow will mark four weeks since I started making changes to live a healthier lifestyle. My goal was (and still is) to lose one pound a week for 20 weeks and then maintain that weight/lifestyle. So far, I have been relatively successful. In fact, I have lost more than four pounds in four weeks. (Yay!)

Starting Weight: 168 lbs
Current Weight: 163.8 lbs

I have been sticking with my changes about five out of seven day of the week.  Meaning, about five (usually six!) days a week, I can fit a T25 workout and shower in during Will's first nap, and about five days a week, I eat (and drink) healthy enough that I consume about 1200-1300 calories (by eating mostly lean proteins and vegetables). I feel great too, and when I look at my body in the mirror, I can tell that I have been gaining muscle and losing fat. But there have also been some downs in addition to the ups over these last few weeks. Like...

The Downs:
-Even though it's only 25 minutes, for the first week or so of completing T25, I was so sore that I had to take ibuprofen and reconsider living in a house with three staircases.
-I was really hungry in the afternoons. Even though I was eating three meals a day plus an afternoon snack, I felt like I was starving. I kept hearing the line from The Devil Wears Prada in my head when Emily says, "I'm on this new diet. Well, I don't eat anything and when I feel like I'm about to faint I eat a cube of cheese. I'm just one stomach flu away from my goal weight." Instead of a cube of cheese, I ate a grape and drank a cup of warm tea, which actually works really well for me.
-I attended two birthday parties, a house-warming party, and a baby shower in the last two weeks. All of them had fruit and veggie trays, but there was also Chick-fil-A and Papa John's and cake and high calorie beverages, and I just decided, what the heck, it's a celebration, and ate Chick-fil-A and Papa Johns and cake and high calorie beverages in addition to the fruit and veggies.

The Ups:
-After two weeks of working out almost every day, I went from feeling I-can't-walk-up-the-stairs-unless-I-take-ibuprofen sore to just oh-I-can-feel-which-muscles-I-worked-out-yesterday-sore.
-After two-and-a-half weeks of what felt like starving myself, my stomach/mind has adjusted to my new routine, and I am hardly ever hungry.
-I don't really have to track every single thing I eat every day anymore on the app because there isn't a ton of variety and I can do it in my head.
-Our grocery bill has gone down by about $40 a week.
-I decided on a reward system. When I reach 158 lbs, I'm going to get myself new running shoes. And when I reach 148, I'm going to make a trip to the outlets for a new (smaller) spring wardrobe.

So... there you have it. I'm feeling really comfortable in my new, healthier routine, but it's a relief to know I can cheat or mess up (or attend parties) every once in a while and still reach my goals.

Also, don't worry. I made sure to account in my daily calorie goals for one or two pieces of chocolate a day.

A Perfect Way to Start the Week

After watching Pink's performance at The Grammys last night, I declared to Jason that I was pretty sure if we practiced, we could perfect this move. And Jason, being the more thoughtful and rational one in the relationship, declared that of course we could... AND! We could debut it at the wedding we are going to in May. Perfect!

Happy Monday! I hope your week is full of all types of spectacle.

Also, we would be happy to show up and perform our moves at your event for the low low price of a reliable babysitter.

Photo courtesy of CBS via E!

I'll give you 100.

I'm not the type of person who finishes every book (or thing) I start. In fact, there have been some rather popular books that I decided just weren't for me. For example, I thought Gone Girl was pretty much torture to read. I didn't like the characters or the writing or the plot, so no matter how many people told me it was great, I stopped reading that. And there was a very graphic scene at the beginning of The Kite Runner that helped me decide I never need to finish that book.  But I have started, stopped, restarted, stopped, restarted, and finally finished books that I have loved, most notably The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which I had to start four or five times over the span of a few years before I finally finished it and started recommending to everyone because I ended up loving it that much. So long ago, I decided to give myself a cut-off point: if after 100 pages, I'm still bored, hating it, or horrified, I quit. Just recently, I quit reading The Dinner. I should have know not to start it with the comparisons to Gone Girl, but it came recommended by my mom. So I tried...but I really didn't like the characters or the writing or the plot.  I found that I would rather play Plants vs. Zombies on my phone for hours than open up the book again, and that isn't normally my MO, so after giving it 112 pages, I quit, and started reading The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer (recommended by NPR, my friend Emily ((who finished The Kite Runner)), and A Beautiful Mess), which is very interesting so far and has me excited to open up iBooks every night. 

Also, I keep hearing how amazing The Goldfinch is.  Has anyone started (and finished all 784 pages of) that one yet? 

*Another Addendum: Even though I didn't like her book recommendation this time, I still trust my mom's opinion more than NPR, Emily, and A Beautiful Mess combined. 

My New Go-To Meal

Two words. Stir Fry.

The recipe is simple. I take whatever veggies are in my fridge (which is a lot these days), chop them up, add a protein, a little bit of sauce, and I have myself a seriously healthy and filling meal...with no carbs...for the next three days. Last night, I took all the leftover veggies from Jason's soiree with the Vitamix plus the veggies I specifically bought for stir fry this week and ended up with the spectacular (and low calorie) meal you see above.

Specifically, this mix included red, yellow, and green peppers, mushrooms, red cabbage, broccoli slaw (Thanks for that tip, Mom!), and matchstick carrots. I like to start with about two teaspoons of sesame oil and add some low sodium soy sauce while I'm frying up my veggies.  At the very end, I added in some raw shrimp and teriyaki sauce and got the amazing dinner you see above. (If you use chicken or beef, you can cook it first and remove it from the wok, cook the veggies, and then add the meat back in with the sauce.)

Also, Will eats just about anything that has been stir-fried. Last week, it was chicken, broccoli, snap peas, and those little corn thingies, and this week, it was shrimp and all of that goodness above. Don't worry. I also give him a good dose of carbs.