Back At It!

I'm back at the gym and feeling great about it! It felt so good to be back! 

I went for the first time yesterday and it was a little awkward! It was like I was new at it, I'd forgotten a few things. But when I went today it was like I'd never left! Except of course I did everything at a lower level. I did the elliptical for a half hour but only on level 5, whereas I used to do it on like 13 or 14. Yesterday I only got to upper body weight machines in before Clint needed me to come home, and today I got to do 7 machines! I'm doing everything with less weight than I used to. Not that I really remember how much I used to do, but I'm just starting low and getting a feel for it all again. 

What's gonna suck is that I can't go every day. I can go on Clint's days off for sure. But to go on the days he works I'll either have to take Zane with me, take him to daycare for an hour, or go when Clint's home. When Clint's on nights I might be able to get him to agree to let me go around the time he's supposed to wake up. When he's on days, I could go when he gets home, or after dinner, but after dinner I'll be full and it'll be late and that's just no fun. So we'll see.

I'm not gonna worry about the diet yet. I've been maintaining eating the way I've been eating, so I'm just adding the exercise in for now and we'll see how that goes. I can't count calories anyway since I'm breastfeeding. I have no idea how many more calories I need, and everything I read says it varies woman to woman and baby to baby. 

But I am using my MFP app again to log exercise and weight changes! 

I'm just really excited to be at this again, and really happy that it felt good instead of awful. I feel like I can get back to where I was if I keep at it! 

I am doing something I didn't do last time... sharing my progress pictures! Eeeeek!! I even set up the tripod in our bedroom (kinky, eh?) to get decent pix this time. I regret the crappy mirror cell phone pix from last time!

So here's today's starter pic:

Ick!! I didn't know I looked like that from behind! Well,m that's why I don't wear super tight shirts in public. lol. 

I did do measurements today. Not sure if I did them exactly like I did last time, and really I never knew if I was doing them "right."

But here they are anyway:

Weight: 236.25

"Belly" (I think hips technically): 53.25"

Arm: 13.5"

Thigh: 28"

Bust: 48.5"

Chest: 40.25"

Torso (narrowest part): 44"

Should have measured my butt- maybe next time!

I think that's it! I don't know how often I'll update with weight loss, but I'll try to do it at least a couple times a month, maybe bi-weekly? We'll see!   

August 3, 2013

I don't know why I have such a hard time finding time to blog! I spend the majority of my time sitting here on my couch with my laptop, it seems. But I guess a lot of that time I have a baby keeping me from using both hands, and I'm so not into blogging with one hand! 

Sooo things are still going great!! And I'm not just saying that. When I say I love being a mom and spending my time with him and I don't mind not having my time to myself anymore, I feel like I sound like I'm saying what I'm "supposed" to say. Like if I said anything else people would think I was unappreciative. But that's not it. I really do love being a mom and spending my days with him and I really don't mind not having much me time. Okay, there are times... a lot of times.. when he keeps me from doing things I want to do, like scrapbooking, but he's worth it. 

So here's how my life is lately. Zane and I get out of bed around 9, he eats breakfast and usually takes a short nap afterward. This is when I eat my breakfast, with him in his swing. He usually has an hour or two of awake time before noon. If he's happy (which he usually is), this is a good time for tummy time. Sometimes I fold laundry during tummy time. Its a good time to get it done! Lately he's awake more and seems hungrier, so he takes a lot of cat naps and has a lot of snacks. Sometimes he'll just nurse for a few minutes at a time and that can't count as a meal. Its probably more comfort nursing than anything, but I don't mind. Throughout the day when he sleeps I try to be productive and/or scrapbook. When he's awake I'm nursing him (which is good relaxing computer time for me) and playing with him, trying to make him smile and coo. I'm not perfect, in the mornings I'll just hold him because I'm still sleepy and I don't really play with him much, he just sits in my lap and chills. He usually has a good awake stretch in the evening. This is another good time for tummy time and time with Dad if he's not at work. When he goes to sleep around 11-12 is when its bed time. I make sure he's good and asleep in his arms then I put him in his pack & play (in our room) and I get myself ready for bed. He wakes up usually around 4 to nurse and then the little booger wants to stay awake for a while. The first night of this drove me crazy, then I was prepared for it and now I just let him sit, either on me or in the boppy, and I read or play phone games until he's ready nurse again and go back to sleep. We're usually up a little over an hour. Once I'm sure he's out I put him back down (swaddled, btw. He sleeps swaddled) and we sleep until around 9. He starts making noises before then but nothing serious. Then we do it all over again!

(I should add that I've thought we had a routine a few times and its changed quick. This has been the routine for several days now, lets see how long it sticks!)

Today he's having a very sleepy day!! I've gotten enough house work done, and some scrapping, and I figured it was a good time to blog. He's asleep on me on the boppy but  he's not blocking any hands from typing! Once he wakes up, I'll try to keep him awake for a while, but that usually doesn't work. I'll put him down for tummy time and he falls right asleep. So I put a blanket on him. What else am I gonna do? Not gonna force him to be awake. 

Speaking of Tummy Time, he seems to enjoy it! I'll leave him on his tummy for a while and he looooove staring at himself in the little mirror that came with his "activity gym" as they call it. He's also showing more interest in the toys lately. He'll lift his head and turn it from side to side. He lifts his chest a little, not a ton. He kicks and wiggles his legs around a lot and can scoot a little and turn his body. Sometimes he's more active than others. Sometimes when he's down there he likes to watch the TV. Probably not good to start that habit so young! LOL Then sometimes I'll lay down next to him and talk to him and make faces and sounds at him, trying to get him to mimic me. Sometimes he'll mimic my faces. He's "cooed" a few times now. But.. the little booger still hasn't really smiled for me! I caught one "smile" on camera. It was a time that I was trying to get him to smile, but I'm not sure it was intentional. Another time my MIL, niece and I were laughing at a face or noise he made or something, and I SWEAR it was an intentional smile, but it hasn't happened since. So I don't know. I just want the boy to smile for me! I feel like he's ahead of the curve with physical development but behind with social development. Its kinda frustrating, but I know he'll get there! 

The only problem he has is he is SO gassy. So so sooo gassy! And its uncomfortable for him. Sometimes it seems to be trouble pooing, other times its just gas. But he'll get fussy and make faces and grunty noises and clench his tummy and I know he's not feeling good. I can put my hand on his tummy and feel the gurgling. After a while I'll hear a big fart or poo and that makes me sooooo happy knowing he's had some relief! Usually it takes a couple of these to get it all out, then he's my happy boy again. I do all kinds of things to help him get it out. Trying to burp him in all kinds of positions, Gripe Water, etc. Sometimes nursing seems to help get it out. I don't know if thats just coincidence. When he's fussy like that, I do try to give him a paci, but he usually won't take it. I'm persistent but if he doesn't want it he doesn't want it. 

Speaking of pacis.. Its one of the things that I've surprised myself with. I bought half a dozen pacis and figured he would be a paci baby. But for some reason once he was born I decided I didn't like them. I know there's nothing wrong with them, and I know they can be soothing. I'm not saying anything against people who give their babies pacis. Its just a preference that I didn't know I had till I had a baby! LOL People tell me that you can take away a paci but you can't cut off his thumb (to break the habit), but idk. I'm still not into pacis. But like I said I'll give it to him to try to soothe him when he's not feeling well. And I can't guarantee that I'll never give it to him to keep him quiet while driving or something. We'll see. So far he's fine on car rides. 

I've also surprised myself with how easy it is for me to drop what I'm doing when he wakes up. I thought that would be something that drove me nuts, but if I'm doing housework or scrapping or whatever, and he's ready to eat, I don't mind taking care of him first. I'll get back to my stuff later (maybe). And if he stays awake after nursing I'll still spend time with him, and if its bath day I'll give him a bath. I can't work him around my schedule, its gotta be the other way around, at least for a while. And like a week or two ago when I was getting the house ready for my in laws to visit, him needing me was  a great excuse to take a break, and it probably kept me from over doing it. 

Another new weird thing is like when I'm getting ready to go to town, I can't be stressy about leaving at a certain time. I make my appointments and things later in the day, and I leave when I leave. I used to be so on schedule with things. I wanted to leave at this time, to get there at this time and have lunch before the appt, then go shopping after and be home at a decent hour, etc. But now I try to leave with plenty of time to do things before the appt, but really I leave when I leave. He's gotta be fed right before we go, and I let him get good and full, so however long that takes is how long it takes. I've learned to be more laid back about things. 

Oh! We've mostly moved up to 0-3 size clothes! Bottoms still look a little goofy on him, but sleepers and onesies, he's in 0-3! He doesn't wear bottoms much anyway! :p 

As for me, I'm doing good. I can't remember what I said about my BP in my last post, but I was on two different medications, taking 5 pills a day. At my 4 week post partum appt they dropped one of those pills, and my 6 week appt (just the other day), they dropped a whole medication and now I'm just taking 2 pills a day, and so far my BP is doing great that way. But my OB does want me to start seeing a primary care dr for my BP, because its not fully back to normal by now, and he seems to believe I'm gonna have BP issues for a while. So I'm alright with that, I guess. I just gotta research doctors now, no fun!! He gave me a list but its quite a long one! lol. 

I'm weighing in at 233, and it was the same at my 4 week appt. So I'm maintaining pretty well. I have clearance to start going to the gym again but haven't done it yet. I should do it in the AM when he takes his good late morning nap and I can take him with me if he'll just sleep in his car seat. I'm just afraid he'll wake up.. or maybe that's an excuse. I do plan to go on Clint's next days off so that I can leave Zane at home. I've been learning about pumping and can leave Clint with a bottle just in case, but I'll go while he's sleeping. And the gym is only 2 minutes away so if Zane was just inconsolable without his Mama, I can be home quick! I've left Clint with him for a half hour or so to run to the store, and its been fine. He doesn't wake up, I probably don't really need to stress about leaving milk the first time. I can't imagine I'll stay more than a half hour. Its been over 9 months since I've worked out, I don't think my stamina is quite the same!

Speaking of things not being the same, all I'm gonna say is "ouch." If you've had kids you know what you're allowed to do after 6 weeks and.. ouch. 

I'm gonna end with that, and here are some pictures of my sweet boy!

Mommy Babbles & Catching Up!

I really want to update more and better document my wonderful new life...

But who has the time?!

LOL

Actually I do have the time, but I guess I just don't usually feel like spending that time typing away.

To start I wanted to talk about my parenting fears! I think a couple months ago I mentioned on here that I was nervous about being a parent, being a good mom, knowing what to do. 

Well.. now that he's here, and even from the very first time I held him...

Fears squashed.

Even in the hospital, I surprised myself by knowing what to do. Knowing how to sway and pat his butt to calm him down. How did I know that? Because he's my baby, I guess. He's caused me very little stress. Maybe he is just a good baby, but maybe I'm also a good mom. And maybe those motherly instincts really are just awesome. I'm just happy that I handle him well, and I don't freak out about things, and I know that I'm doing well with him. 

There are things that freak me out a little, don't get me wrong. Like the noises he makes... sometimes it sounds like he's having trouble breathing. Hate that! 

Anyway, he is amazing, and I really do love being a mommy. 

Before Zane, especially toward the end of the pregnancy, I was used to getting 8-12 hours of sleep a night. Seriously. The last month I often slept 11-12 hours. So having a newborn and having to wake up throughout the night to care for him... I was nervous! But, again, from the very beginning with him, it hasn't been a problem. The first two nights with him, in the hospital, I didn't get much sleep between him and the nurses, but I was fine. I was able to be awake and capable of taking care of him and doing whatever I needed to do.  Then bringing him home and not getting good solid sleep and still I'm able to do what I need to do. I do nap with him at least once a day when we don't have to go to town. Usually after nursing. That always makes me sleepy. Its just amazing how the body adjusts! 

And nursing. At first it was kinda stressful. I couldn't figure out how to hold him or get him to latch on and it hurt and it was just frustrating! But I got past that after a few days and by now I've got it down! My left nipple has stimulation issues though and sometimes I can't get him to nurse on that side. It seems like it has to be really full for it to work, or he has to get a REALLY strong latch, which usually hurts! But we get it to work, and if we can't get it on that side, the right side is always ready! :) So overall nursing is going well! When I go to town, I generally nurse in the backseat of the truck with a blanket over the window. Yesterday I had to nurse in public for the first time at Ellie's birthday party at Peter Piper Pizza. It felt so weird and was awkward! That will take some getting used to.. hopefully I don't have to do it often!

Diapers and spit up don't gross me out at all. When its someone else's kid, it grosses me out, but with mine it doesn't bother me at all. And this boy loooooves to pee on me. Someday I'll learn! Its amazing how much pee can come out of such a little guy too. It just gets all over the place... me, him, the couch, etc. Earlier today he managed to get some on his face. D'oh! 

I'm pretty much in jammies all the time. I mean I get dressed to go places, but if I'm home its generally gym pants and a tank top. When I do get dressed, its usually still maternity bottoms or my new size 18 shorts that I had to buy. :/  I don't have many shirts that I really like on me right now. BUT I'm only 27lbs up from when I got pregnant which is 35lbs up from my lowest weight. If I lose 30 I'll be under 200 again. I've done it before and I'll do it again! Dr. O believes it'll come off with little effort. He says to keep nursing, go for walks and "kinda" watch what I eat. (lol, seriously!) and I should keep losing. If I don't I guess we'll reevaluate. Hopefully he's right and it comes right off. Fingers crossed!!

The 4th of July was Zane's first holiday and we had the best day! It started with the parade where we sat with Clint's brother in law and his kids. The Bagdad parade is nothing to write home about, but it was fun! Lots of candy being thrown out at the kids and it was just really nice to be out in the sun after being on bed rest and kinda cooped up for so long! And it was great to have Zane out and about, showing him off! We went home for an hour or so then it was time to go down and check out the big trucks! Every year they pull out a haul truck and a front end loader on the 4th for the community to get pictures with. I think it'll be fun to watch Zane grow in comparison to these trucks every year! Then we went to the firehouse for the BBQ, then home for a few hours... yay nap! At around 6 we went back out. There was a street fair with music, food and games. We ran into lots of people each of us knew. I got to meet some of his friends/coworkers and he got to meet some of the people I know from around town, and everyone was just ooo-ing and ahh-ing over our little guy. Love it!! He's just such a good cute baby and I just love showing him off! Its weird because I've never been a big show off, never been a big bragger. I don't flaunt the good things that I have or try to make people jealous. But when it comes to Zane..... be jealous!!! LOL He's the best thing I've ever done, ever had. I'm damn proud of him and I'll always want to show him off and brag about him. So deal with it! :-p After the street fair we got to watch the fireworks. It was the first time Bagdad's done fireworks in years, the first time I've got to see them here, and they were really nice. Again I'm gonna brag about my boy because he was awake the whole time and just watched them. The sound didn't phase him at all. All in all a great day!! It was nice being out as a family. Clint usually isn't into town festivites but maybe having Zane changed that because even he enjoyed it and kept saying that they should do stuff like that more often. So hopefully we'll start going to all the town things together! :)

Well I that's all I can think of for now. I should mention I typed this up over the course of 2 days. LOL.

I'll try to update more, and next time with pictures maybe!

June 5, 2013

Well I guess its about time I update with my latest appointments and such.

Let's see.... My appt on Memorial Day at the hospital went great. My BP was really not bad at all and my bloodwork and urine both came back great! We were only there about an hour and I obviously wasn't readmitted!! Super yay to that! We went to Chili's afterwards, and I felt kinda like I was breaking the rules... but we gotta eat right??! And it was almost my birthday so I deserved it... and that desert we got. Mmmmm! 

My OB appt for Thursday we moved to Friday (31st), that was last Friday, and it went well too. They did a NST there and its much different from the way they do it at the hospital. Its pretty old school looking. The monitors don't show up on a big screen that we can watch, but we can hear the heartbeat. Every time I feel him move, I have to press a button. They want me to keep him active so they know he's alright. Luckily I had a cookie in my purse. hehe. 

After that we saw Dr. O. Everything on the NST looked good, urine was good and BP again wasn't too bad. High on the first check, but great on the recheck when I lay down which is what matters to him I guess. We learned a lot at this appt. The reason they are monitoring Zane so much is because the high blood pressure can actually lower his oxygen supply. Thankfully that isn't happening with us at this point and he is doing great!! He told us that it no longer looks like pre-e but at the time I was in the hospital it did. He says its just "Pregnancy Induced Hypertension" (PIH) at this point but can still develop into pre-e, and they're still watching me closely. He checked my cervix and there's nothing going on with it and he said that Zane was breech, which I figured he was. So we talked about that a bit. If he's breech when its time to deliver it means a C section. There is a way they can flip him but I don't think we'd opt to do it. It can put a knot in the cord, for one. Dr. O explained it to us in a way that I can handle a C section a lot better than Zane can handle any complications. In 10 years we won't regret having a C section but we will regret losing or hurting our boy. And he's right, so I really don't think we would opt to take that risk. Also, the way they do it is they give me something that relaxes my uterus the lube up my belly and manually flip him.. like they grab his head and butt and flip him and he said it would leave bruises on me and its really not comfortable.

Of course I really don't want a C section. Extra recovery time aside, I would feel like I was missing out on the experience of childbirth, and that thought makes me sad. 

He said he wanted to see me TWICE a week. Once a week is a biophysical ultrasound and my regular weekly appt. The other is a just a NST. We scheduled the ultrasound for Monday and the NST for Thursday of this week.

Scared of a C section, I looked into some home remedies to flip the baby! On Sunday night, I actually ended up doing the one they taught us in the birthing class. You just get on all fours with your head and chest down for 10-15 minutes. (I did this while playing Dice With Buddies, lol). While doing it I felt him move a little. After I laid down I felt him move A LOT. I was sooooo optimistic!!! 

Monday we had our ultrasound and sure enough the little guy had flipped!!! I was soooo happy and relieved!! He could always decide to flip back but fingers crossed he doesn't! Everything else with the u/s looked good. It was really quick though! :( She gave us two pictures. One you can hardly tell is his profile, the other is his boy parts, clear as day. That one just cracks me up. He's so not shy. I'm afraid he's gonna like to run around naked at inappropriate times...he'll be the boy at the pool who decides to go skinny dipping. Haha!

After the u/s we saw Dr. O. He checked my cervix again and still nothing going on there. I'm just instructed to keep doing what I'm doing. 

But I'm really ready to have this baby!! Now that I know he's in position I just want him out! I actually enjoy being pregnant and feeling him move around in there. It's pretty amazing. But I'm so done with bed rest. And nothing around me is getting done and I just want to get back to normal. Or.. the new normal, I guess. Obviously it won't be "normal" having Zane here. But you know what I mean. A little activity will be nice!

I spend my days laying on the couch playing Farmville and ZooWorld while watching TV, mostly. I go to bed at like 11 and read and play phone games till 12 or 1. I sleep till 9 or 10 and do it all over again. Its truely exciting... LOL not!!

Oh, I think I've gained 48lbs since being pregnant, btw. Bed rest is surely not gonna help that number stay down. LOL. Oh well... motivation for afterwards!!

So obviously at this point since everything is going fine, there's no talk of inducing. :(  I do need to talk to him about inducing based on distance, but I get the feeling he's not into the idea. Maybe if my Group B swab comes back positive it'll be more necessary and we can justify it. If I'm positive for that I have to have an IV antibiotic 4 hours before delivery... and living 2 hours from the hospital we may not get there in time. 

Anyway I think that's all the medical updates! I have an appt tomorrow for the NST, then ultrasound Monday and NST Thrusday again. I imagine it'll stay like that until we have him. Which I'm hoping we have him on the 11th so that we're in the hospital for the scheduled power outage on the 12th. LOL Wishful thinking!! 

So I spent my birthday on bed rest and it pretty much sucked. IDK if it was because of my birthday or what, but I was so emotional and hormonal by the end of the day. Partly because Clint didn't come right home from work, so I assumed he was getting me dinner or something special, but no...  he just got caught up talking to someone. :/  He did bring roses, though, so he's gotta get some credit for that. The next day I was a crazy hormonal bitch to him too. Poor guy. I think the bed rest was getting to me too. Anyway, that just sucked. 

But since then, I've been a lot better mentally, so yay!

The other day when we went to town Clint went into Game Stop and came out with a used iPod for me. I decided to call it a late birthday present because before all this hospital stuff happened I was supposed to get an iPod (or a camera) for my birthday. But we figured we should stop spending money. Especially on something that I've lost 2 of already. :/  So when he came out with this I was so excited! Its an older, smaller version, but it'll do the trick!! I'll really need it when I get back to the gym, and for now it keeps me from having to bring my computer with me to town for music. Yes I've actually been doing that.. I can make it play through the truck speakers. So the iPod is much better!!

Oh! I almost forgot to mention that Clint got the crib assembled! Yaaaay!! He still needs to do the glider and of course there's decorating and clean up to do in there, but we're making progress!

I guess that's it.... With any luck my next update will be a birth announcement!

Doubtful, but ya never know!

Here's my latest picture, taken on Memorial Day (before going to my appt).

April 12, 2013

Greetings!

I didn't post last weekend because I was on vacation! 

Woot woot!!
More on that later though!

I finally traded my weight loss ticker for a pregnancy ticker. The weight loss is going very backwards, obviously, so that could just go instead of changing it to a weight gain. 

And obviously Zane should be on my blog! My growing lil' boy!!

83 days to go. 

Holy crap!!

Well I guess I'll talk about vacation stuff first! We left for San Francisco on Friday. No fun scenic stops on the way there, just stops for food. It was a 14 hour day.

Holy cow. 

That's a lot of driving!

We didn't get to get Zoey's hair cut before we left, so the poor girl was so hot and uncomfy in the truck the whole way there. Broke my heart! She would normally sleep most of the way, but she just couldn't get comfortable and wanted to be in front of the a/c vent, which meant on my sitting on my knee, which is fine, but she would fall asleep and fall a bit. Poor girl. I just couldn't make her comfortable. :(

We got into SF pretty late, I want to say around 10. Clint was not a fan of driving in downtown San Francisco, which is apparently where our hotel was. I didn't realize it was so downtown when I booked it... whoops!! But hey, it was an adventure!! We just stayed at Motel 6. No pet fee and free parking (rare for SF!) And at $120 a night, it was still just about the cheapest I could find. It was a little creepy, I can't lie. Bums all over the streets, a low, narrow parking garage. Just parking was stressful. I forgot to take a picture of the room. It was fine, just odd. Cubbies instead of a dresser and a fair amount of open wasted space with a mini fridge just chillin' by itself. Flat pillows, rough towels. But I wasn't about to pay $250+ a night for a place to sleep and shower, and that's all we did there! So it was alright! Zoey was not a fan of that elevator though. She also wasn't a fan of peeing on the streets. There was no grass, no dirt, no parks nearby (that were open and allowed dogs). So we walked her on the street. There were trees planted on the sidewalk with some dirt around the trunk, so one time she peed there, another time on the sidewalk. Other times she just held it till we got to grass. She's so not a city dog! LOL 

Saturday morning we took a cab (because we weren't about to drive in SF any more than we had to!) to Ghiradelli's Square where we ate brunch (late start) at Lori's Diner. The food was alright, but the service was great! In a year all I'll remember about that place is that they let us INSIDE with our DOG because it was kinda raining and super wet and cold outside. I could not thank them enough. I chose that place for the patio seating, but wasn't expecting raining when I planned it, of course. Super nice people!!

Then of course I had to go to the Ghiradelli store and buy something. I just ended up with some chocolate covered raisins. I could have bought a giant candy bar but decided that $60 for chocolate is not necessary. And can you imagine packing that around all day? No thanks! :p 

(Yes, Clint had our spoiled little Zoey in his hoodie... almost all day! She was comfy and warm there!)

Then we walked down to the bay. Didn't go on the beach here just looked. Clint found himself a boat he wants! 

Then we walked almost a mile, exploring some of the shops and things along the way. We went into an antique store/gift shop which Clint found really neat. Lots of old fisherman's stuff. By this time we were at Fisherman's Wharf, of course. There were a couple old historical boats that we could have toured, but chose not to. We looked though! We walked all the way to Pier 39 where we got some Ben & Jerry's ice cream and decided it was nap time. so we went back to the hotel and took a nap (he & Z did, I tried) before heading back down to the Pier. We wandered around there more than we had before. Did some sight seeing. 

Then it was time for our bay cruise! It was a little scary moving around that ship being pregnant! The tour went around Alcatraz and under the bridge while talking about the history of it all. Very neat! Kinda chilly of course, but worth it! Zoey wasn't so sure about this big boat, though. Most of the time we all sat and watched.

 For dinner we went to Wipeout Bar & Grill which had great outdoor seating and excellent service and yummy food too! The dipping sauce that came with the shrimp appetizer was amazing! It was a great choice to eat there! After dinner we walked around more and checked out some of the shops, bought a couple souveniers. I didn't want to go souvenier crazy, but had to get a few things! By the time the sun started going down, we were beat! So I got me some Mrs. Field's Cookies (mmmmmm!) and back to the hotel and not long till we were crashed out!

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and unfortunately had to brave the traffic without a cab! Booo! We headed to Crissy Field. Crissy Field is pretty neat- I bet its great in the summer time! Dogs everywhere! Running around in and out of the water, having a blast! Zoey was lovin' it! I mean she didn't run in the water (my prissy girl? Yeah right!) but she loved the sand and the dogs! This was another big walking day! We walked and explored almost another mile to where we had lunch at The Warming Hut. I had read Yelp reviews and thought it sounded great. Sandwiches and stuff. Well its very organic and natural. Not really Clint's kind of thing. He got a bagel and I got a chicken sandwich which was actually really yummy.. it had a sun dried tomato spread on it that was delish!! But overall not the best place for us.

The below pic is outside of The Warming Hut.. kinda can't beat the view!

Dogs were loving this little area!

We had to walk back to the truck, so there's even MORE walking! *panting* Of course the sun started to come out on our walk back.

When we got back to the truck, it was time to leave the city! We headed south. I think it was about 5 hours to where we had reservations in Lompoc. But first we stopped off in Shell Beach at this scenic park and ended up having dinner in town. It was sunset.. perfect time of day for this picture!!

We got to the hotel, this time a Red Roof Inn (for less than half the price), and it was much nicer and more comfy! Ahhh we slept good that night!

The next morning was ridiculously windy!! We got breakfast and headed south. We took highway 1 along the coast for a ways, and stopped at several view points and a camp grounds. All camp grounds had this sign by their beaches. :(

So we just drove around and looked. So pretty there!! That's some place I would LOVE to camp!! Right on the water. ahhh!

There was a park that allowed dogs! So we went there and I tried to get Z to play in the sand and maybe get her feet wet but she wasn't havin' it!

After this stop, we were done with fun stuff! No more scenic stops, it was time to get home! We stopped for a while in Arcadia for lunch and ended up at a mall. We had Red Robin (yumm) and Clint found some goodies at a Sport Chalet and I found more Mrs. Field's cookies (mmm!) and some ice cream (wow I sound like a piggy!!) and then we were on the road for real!! We got in later than planned, but that's life! No one was happier to be home than our little Z dog!!\

So that was our trip in a nutshell! It was a lot of fun! A LOT of walking, but a lot of fun. I was sore after all that. I think Zoey was too. I spend Tuesday doing basically nothing. I was wiiiped out!!

Wednesday I had an appointment so we all loaded up and got Zoey a hair cut (finally!) and went to my appt, got groceries and paint (yay!!) and stuff.

My appt was fine. Nothing new or exciting. I found out I can take Claritan (allergies have be AWFUL) so that's good. I gained 9 more lbs in the last month ( :/ )... Hopefully some of that is just vacation weight and will go away... Psh. That's 35 lbs total I believe. Crap. Ol. A!!

Oh well. 

I think that about covers everything. I'm at work this weekend and working on planning my baby shower and looking into getting a 3d ultrasound soon. Woot woot! Lots of fun stuff. 

I'm just exhausted lately and all I wanna do is sleep!

OH! I did my glucose tolerance test before our trip and Oh Em Gee I passed!!! Happy dance!!! I thought I would fail for sure. BUT I am a little anemic so I've started taking more iron. So far it hasn't given me more energy. I was hoping it would because like I said, I've been exhausted!! 

I've got a lot to do- no time to be so sleepy!

Okay I gotta go, supposed to be closing up shop here! 

Till next time!

February 15, 2013

Look at me updating again!! It hasn't even been a month yet! :D I really am gonna try to do weekly updates. I work weekends again, and its a good easy time to do it, and gives me something to do! I didn't update last week because I ended up doing housekeeping ( :/ ) on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, worked here at the course Friday afternoon, then it snowed Saturday so we were closed the rest of the weekend. That was a pretty lazy weekend for me...

Sooo we had our big ultrasound on Wednesday!!! Our baby is healthy and perfect... and male!! Yep we are having a boy! Just about everyone thought it would be a boy, myself included, so I'm really not surprised. I was happy with the results at first, overjoyed really. He is healthy. That's amazing! But then we got to wal Mart and I saw the cutest little Easter dresses. :(  I don't get to buy Easter dresses!! I've already started thinking that our second really needs to be a girl! I feel the pressure already, from myself, its ridiculous. Boys are cute and awesome too, I know this. And I already love him so much and always will. But I can't lie that a part of me wishes it was a girl. I hope he never reads this!! LOL. I've always wanted one of each anyone, so please let the next one be a girl because I really only want two kids total! LOL

But the ultrasound was great, it ended up being just Clint and I in there, with my mom on speaker phone for part of it. He was moving his hands and his mouth... like he was eating. It was really cute. We got to see and hear his heart beat and it was just awesome. The dr. said there are no concerns with me or baby. We're all healthy and that's just the best news ever!!

(Crappy cell phone pic)

A cute ulrasound moment: She was showing us his little feet, but they were overlapping and it looked like one. But Clint counted 7 toes and he's like "woah why do I count 7 toes?!" And she told us it was both feet! What a relief that we don't have a 7 toed baby! LOL

After the appt we went to Olive Garden with Clints mom, sister and her kids. We shared the pictures and talked about the baby some, had a nice time. I was showing his 4.5 year old neice, Ellie, the pictures and there's a lot of his head so I kept flipping through the pictures saying "this is his head, this is his arm, this is his head, etc..." and at the end she asked "Why does he have so many heads?" LOL Kids are awesome!!

But what's not so awesome is that I've now gained 17lbs. Sigh. That's awful!! Dr. O isn't terribly concerned. He said its more than average, but he's not too worried, which is really surprising to me, as hard as I worked (with him!) to lose the weight. Maybe he figures I'll be able to drop it easily again? I'm doubting I will though! He said to eat lots of protein and watch my carbs and sugars. I know this, but its difficult. So so difficult. I really need to find more yummy protein sources. Because I'm just not that into meat right now. Maybe protein bars or something would be good. Of course that's sugar. I don't know.

The week before last I was committed to walking! Well I was gonna go to the gym but it was nice out so I figured it made more sense to take Z for a walk. So we walked... for about 15 minutes. Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I got preoccupied helping Clint with something. Thursday I ended up working in the afternoon. Friday I worked. Saturday & Sunday it was cold and snowy. And yeah I'm sure I have excuses for Mon-Thurs, but.. The walking thing just didn't stick! I'm gonna try it again next week! Wish me luck!! I just need to get SOME exercise! And with those short walks I did take, I realized how out of shape I'd gotten. They didn't wear me out, but they were short, and I could feel that it was more effort than it should have been. So I really need to get back into the swing of things. Wish me luck!!

So I am hoping to get to go to Ellen's Mother's Day show. LOL For YEARS I've been saying I want to go to her Mother's Day Show. Its an audience full of women expecting their first. I'll be about a month and a half away from having him at the point. No reason I can't go! She gives away some amazing stuff and I've always wanted to go to her show! I wrote in, so we'll see! I'm sure there are thousands of people trying to go though. So wish me luck on that also!

What else? I'm slooooowly working on getting my craft room cleaned (its a freaking disaster!!) so that I can start scrapping again but also so that I can move stuff from the current guest room into there. The guest room is gonna be the nursery, so I need to get on with it! I'm gonna move the futon into my craft room and maybe the desk thats in there. It should fit. We don't really need a computer desk, but its a good place to keep the printer and computer stuff. Once I get all that done I can deep clean the nursery... carpets, walls, windows, whatever. Get it super clean for our son! Then we can paint and start putting it all together.

I'm trying to make myself a little chore list. Thing I need to do daily, and things I need to do weekly, and then a list of things I need to do before baby comes. I'm only working three days a week now, there's no reason I can't be getting house work done regularly the other 4. I'm setting one day aside for going to town. I should never have to go more than one day in a week, but I guess you never know. But its at least a guideline. When I break things down into daily, its really not that much work. Its like an hour or so a day (plus laundry) if I'm keeping up with it. There's no reason I can't handle that, and be able to work on the extra pre-baby stuff too!

Oh I can't believe I didn't mention that, well the morning after the ultrasound I was laying in bed, just waking up, and I could feel him moving like crazy!! Until then, I hadn't REALLY felt him in a way that I was sure was him. But this was definitely him. I feel like seeing him and how big he is (Big, btw, I think he's gonna be huge. eek!) and where he is helped me wrap my head around it all and now I can feel him more. Well it makes sense today anyway! And today I was sitting here at work, just doing my own thing, and I felt him kick! I wasn't even trying to feel it, just there he was, kicking and moving around in there, for several minutes! It made me giggle and smile real big and its just the best feeling ever!! I love him so much!! I can't wait till Clint's able to feel him. He'll love it. He loved seeing him at the ultrasound. I love how excited Clint is about the baby! He's as thrilled about it as I am and that is great!!

Okay I don't think I have anything else to add, and really, I've babbled enough! So thanks for reading! :)

January 27, 2013

     Well what a slacker I've been!! Seriously meant to update FOREVER ago! Well, in my defense, I've been a little preoccupied, because........

....but chances are you knew that already! I had every intention of updating the blog shortly after announcing on Facebook, right around Christmas, but that just didn't happen! My bad. 

     Anyway, a little back story because I wasn't super chatty about this round of TTC. At least I don't think I was. I got off the pill in January. Nothing. So I got back on Clomid for June-Sept. Nothing! I decided to skip the Clomid for October because they made me pretty moody this time and I didn't want to be weird while on vacation. So we had a GREAT time in Oregon with my Mom and Keith. A great time. Like, the best. But more on that later. Toward the end of October, I was expecting my period, thinking I COULD be pregnant, but we didn't put a lot of effort into trying that month, not sure if/when I ovulated, so I really didn't have my hopes up too much. I took a couple tests in mid-October, one at the clinic when I had a bladder infection and it was negative. She put me on the baby safe antibiotics anyway. I had a few other signs.. I remember my boobs being sore at the gym, had some hot flashes. Well on the 23rd I got my first for sure positive test. I had tested the days before with the cheap tests, and I never even told Clint. They were very faintly positive, but I wasn't getting my hopes up till I finally used a good test and there it was!! Two beautiful pink lines! I tested 3 days in a row, and it only got darker. It was really real!! 

     In the beginning I was more scared than excited. You can read my TMP journal for more details about the first few months. Its mostly symptom updates because I realized that I didn't document that very well the first time I was pregnant, and I was really wanting to compare. So I tried to keep up with that kind of thing so that I have comparison for next time. Really I wanted to me sure that this pregnancy didn't feel like the first one. I really wanted it to be opposite, if that makes sense. My major symptom has been lack of energy! Especially the first trimester. I just wanted to sleep all the time. I was napping at the end of my lunch breaks and again after work (for an hour or two) and still going to bed by 10. I lost what little desire I had to cook, and I'm not into big slabs of meat anymore. Like pork chops, steak, burgers. Bleh!! I can do jerky, sausage or ground beef in marina sauce over pasta, lunch meat (yes, I heat it), anything little like that. But big pieces just grosses me out right now... unless its fried. For some reason fried chicken or steak is still yummy to me. Poor Clint has been such a trooper with the lack of cooking! Lately I've been more apt to cook, but I still don't want anything like the aforementioned things, which is the bulk of what we used to eat. So I hate to admit that we've started doing hamburger helper here and there, and frozen lasagna. If it was just me, I would probably have pasta, pizza or boneless wings every night for dinner. Or flautas from the deli. I swear I can live on those right now. Mmmmmmm!! So my energy is coming back over the last month or so, and that's good. BTW, I'm about 17 weeks now. 

     I am starting to show. I guess I wasn't expecting my body to change so fast. About a month ago I realized I needed maternity pants. Actually probably more like 3 weeks. I don't know why I thought it would take longer. But I've got a few pairs of maternity pants now, and already had enough shirts that will work for a while. Maternity clothes at this point are a pain in the ass. They like to ride down and I feel like I need a belt all the time. But I'm getting used to it. Maternity pants don't hold in your gut the way jeans do. Regular jeans totally hide that low gut I've got and maternity jeans really only enhance it. It took a few days of maternity jeans and kinda letting it all hang out to accept that that's how it'll be for a while. I worked so hard to lose weight and I've been sucking my tummy in since middle school. Not being able to do that, and having to let it show and try to be proud of it is a whole new experience. It bothers me that it bothers me, ya know? Especially the first time I wore maternity jeans. I was so self conscious. I caught myself walking around Wal Mart with my hand over my tummy just so people would know I was pregnant. I feel like I look like I'm farther than I am. But I'm getting used to it, and it bothers me much less. I look pregnant. I'm happy to be pregnant and I need to embrace it! So what if I look farther than I am?! 

     Speaking of my body, I've gained about 13 lbs already. That worries me, but Dr. O doesn't seem concerned. I haven't specifically asked him about it, but whenever I see him he says "weight's normal, urine's normal, etc" so I guess its ok. It obviously doesn't worry me enough because I eat terribly. Well I already mentioned the hamburger helper. Also cookies and well pastas and a severe lack of veggies. Sigh. I did so good for so long and now that I'm eating for two, I'm eating crap, and that's not good!! But I can't find the motivation to change! I just know I'm gonna fail the GD test. :/ With the lack of energy, I obviously haven't been to the gym. I kept going for a couple weeks after I found out I was pregnant, then realized that time would be better spent sleeping. And I was right. My body needed the rest. I need to start going again, just to walk at least and get some kind of exercise. I really don't want to gain all 80 lbs back while pregnant. :/ 

     What else? Oh.. work! I get to go back to the golf course very soon. Probably the second weekend of Feb! Yay!!! Housekeeping is killing my back! I've been helping with the hotel and guest houses the last month or so, and making beds is just awful! SO happy to be getting back to my cozy little desk job till baby comes!! 

     Oh yeah so our trip to Oregon was great, as I said. Clint and Keith hit it off so well. They went hunting and fishing and just had a great time together.. they have a lot in common! Mom and I shopped and spent a day with Grandma and relaxed and that was nice too! Zoey had a good time with their dogs, even if little Willie is a little territorial! My Z put him in his place! LOL She's so tough! We spent a couple nights at the casino.. no big wins to speak of, but it was fun to get out and do that kind of thing. Clint doesn't normally go for that sort of thing, but he had a good time too! 

     Speaking of Clint, its his birthday, and I've got birthday brownies to make, so I better stop rambling now. I'll try to update more, but you've heard that before... 

March 2012

Maybe I should start naming by posts by the month that they're posted, because I generally only update once a month. It's a thought!

Well normally I start with weight talk, but I had too much fun on St. Patrick's Day to lead with anything else!!I went to Prescott to celebrate with two of my best friends, Jenn and Jess (a bunch of J names, as we realized every time we introduced ourselves to people. lol). First Jenn and I did some shopping at Ross where I found a shirt that I love, then we met up with Jessica for more shopping. Then went to Jenn's house to get ready. We went to dinner at Applebees at around 8. Apparently Applebees does karaoke on Saturday nights. So I rocked some Kesha! I've been wanting to do Tik Tok karaoke and I finally did and it was so much fun, even if I was a nervous wreck. BTW, I was the first to go for the night. I was so brave. From Applebees we headed downtown... where it was dark. Not just because it was night time, but because the power was out all over downtown. Totally creepy but cool! Thankfully, Matt's had backup power (making them one of the two bars with power that night), so they were letting people in and it got crowded fast! It took a little while for them to get lights and music going, but once they did the party was on! And before the lights and power, everyone was so friendly. It made for a great atmostphere. We made friends with a group or two of people, just had a great time talking and dancing and laughing.. and dancing. And dancing. Oh, and did I mention dancing? I have never been so dancey.... in public anyway. It was awesome. I was fearless. So not like me. But I look a kagillion times better than I have in the past and I guess I have a lot more confidence. And OMG more stamina!! Apparently I'm in pretty good shape because I danced for hours and didn't get tired. I outlasted my friends (who, if you don't know, are far from overweight). I wasn't even afraid to stay out there when they were cooling off. It was awesome. I can't express enough how much fun I had. I wanna do it again!! LOL And I think it's safe to say that we and our little group of friends for the night, were the life of the party. Seriously amazing night. Okay... I think I'm over it.. LOL.

So I had planned to come home Sunday, but it snowed and I got stuck because I'm an Arizona driver, not accustomed to driving in the snow. So I made it home Monday, with a cold. I can complain but the cold was so worth it after having so much fun.

On Tuesday I went into the staffing agency to talk about a part time, temporary job they had available at the golf course. While there, she also mentioned another job doing tours at the mine. So I took both of them! I have safety classes (MSHA) Monday-Wednesday, golf course training Thurs morning, another class Thursday afternoon. I get Friday off (which is grocery shopping day) and I work at the golf course on Saturday and Sunday. I might have the driving class the following Monday. And all of a sudden I have a life. But after the first week, it will calm down quite a bit. I'm not sure how many hours to expect other than the golf course will be Friday-Sunday until the person that I'm filling in for is able to return. I'm not sure how often I'll be doing tours, no more than 3 times a week, and likely not that often.

I have to admit, the tour guide job makes me nervous. I'll be representing the company and have to make a good impression on these people, have to drive well, and be super friendly and informative. I have A LOT to learn about the inner workings of the mine and the history of the town and all that. I really should be studying right now!! It's a totally different kind of job for me, and I am nervous, but also excited! It sounds really fun and it's a challenge and I don't often challenge myself but I believe I can do it. And if I can't, well, then I have to quit. No big deal, right? So there, I'm gonna take a chance and go for it! Woot!

Anyway it'll be nice to have a little extra money coming in so we can get out of this rut. Little by little we're getting there!

Okay I guess now I'll talk aboutthe weight stuff. So today I weighed in at 195.5lbs. Not bad but not great. I think my lowest is 193. I didn't go to the gym for over a week (sick) and today was my first day back, so hopefully I can start to drop the lbs again. But I haven't been doing great with food. Sigh. I need to get back on track but just can't find the motivation I guess. I mean I haven't gotten all my old habits back and I'm still trying and doing okay, I'm just not doing nearly as much as I could be. I'm not sure if I have a new set of measurements... I probably do. But I'm not gonna mess with that today. I do, however, have a pair of size 14 jeans on right now. :) That makes me happy!!

I am worried that working will interfere with my workouts. Next week with all the classes wil be tough but I'm gonna try to go to the gym right after classes, at least for a half hour. After that it should be part time enough that it's easy to fit in at least 4 trips to the gym a month. At least I hop so! I know that when I'm at the golf course on the weekends, I'll be skipping the gym. Partly because the gyms closed on Sundays and closes early on Saturdays. Maybe I'll try to go Friday evenings. I wish I was a morning person and could go before work. That's very unlikely though! Maybe if nothing else I'll walk to and from work. But I won't because I'll always be running late. IDK. But if I go Mon-Thurs, that's good. So any other work I get, I need to work the gym into that schedule. We'll see. I guess I can't really plan it yet because I don't know what to expect. I just REALLY don't want to gain that 80 lbs back. I really don't want to gain 10 back because that's how it starts right? Little by little. Nope.. no way... Not gonna happen with me. I will just have to find ways to fit my workouts in!!

I am thankful that I won't be working around food though. That would be a bad temptation. I'm sure I'll bring snacks to work but being away from fried food and donuts is a good thing!!

Well I think that's all that's on my mind at the moment. I'm so excited about going back to work and being around people again!! I've been in such a good mood ever since I found out! I'm sure I'll update soonish about my jobs!

Till next time....

Post Turkey Day Update

Well I guess I didn't get around to updating before we went to Safford! OOPS! I did measure the day before we left but there wasn't much cahnge. I'm not gonna post it now. But while we were gone, 8 days of not-too-healthy eating and NO exercise (treadmill never got set up), I only gained 2.75 pounds. Not too bad! I was afraid it was gonna be 5 or 6 so this is easy to live with. Today was my second day back at the gym and I already lost a half a pound, so I'll get back to 211 soon enough. I hope to be a few pounds under 210 by Christmas. I should be able to do it, but it is the holidays so it's a little harder.

Thanksgiving week was mostly fun. Just a full week is a little too long. But we had a good time! Delicious food and got to visit with some family which was nice. But we're happy to be home, especially Zoey! All those other dogs wore her out! :)

While away my MIL took our Christmas pictures! We got some good ones, and I already got my Christmas cards ordered so I'll have them out soon! :)

Also on black Friday we got the Kinect! WOOT! My MIL helped us as our Xmas present which was nice! I couldn't justify spending that kinda money on ourselves right now, but splitting it in half made it so much better. And I'm so glad we got it, it's so much fun! I'm sore today from playing yesterday. I think this will be a great boost to my exercise, and fun for both Clint and I! It's nice to have something that we both enjoy!

I've also been trying to get caught up on the DVR! I'm almost caught up on Ellen and am caught up on all my important/favorite shows (Glee, Parenthood). I've got a couple Thanksgiving & Christmas specials (Gaga included) and some reality TV to catch up on. And Animation Domination but we'll do that together sometime soon. And I've got 2 netflix DVDs to watch and get sent back... LOL.. I watch too much TV. I know this.

Clint's best friends dad passed away and tomorrow is the Memorial, and we're going to show our support.

Sunday (if my pictures come tomorrow) I'm gonna scrap with Robin. If not I'll probably whip out the Christmas decorations.

Monday is Clint's doctors appointment. Hopefully he gets the approval to go back to work!! Also while in town, we're gonna do some shopping, including a Christmas tree!! Can't wait for that! Last year we moved too close to Christmas and didn't get one.

And that's that! Now I'm gonna go continue getting caught up on my shows. :)

Appointment Update

I had my appointment on Tuesday but there's really not much to say. Dr. O didn't give me the baby making goo ahead. He, too, wants me to get to 200 lbs. I can't help but think he is just pushing me because I am doing so well and he doesn't want to see me stop yet. Which isn't totally fair but since I wanted to wait till 200 anyway, I'll go along with it. However, once I get there, we will be TTC! By then my A1c should be in the normal range too. My insulin already is! :) he was very impressed and proud of me though! And since my insulin was good, he didn't have to raise the dosage of metformin which is nice! I don't feel side effects from it, but I thought I might if I was taking twice as much. I did ask if I will have to be taking the met forever and it depends. Once I get to a healthy weight (he says 160, I'm saying 175... 160 seems way too little for me), I will stop taking it for a while and do some tests and see how I do. If my insulin and weight stay good, then I can stay off. But if not, it will probably be a lifelong thing. Which I'm totally okay with if it keeps me from getting fat again!

All this time I've been losing weight, I've been thinking about just getting to 200, so still being heavy. But the closer I get the more I realize, I really would like to be thin. Not skinny, not honey, but skin. Flat stomach, maybe. But I have never been thin so it seems so weird to even think about! LOL. I asked Clint how he would feel about it, and he says he is happy if I'm happy. I sas afraid maybe he liked heavy girls! LOL. And I wonder if he will be less okay with me having a girls night out if I get "hot!" LOL. He says he wont get insecure. But we will just have to wait and see!

Okay well my melatonin is kicking in and its good old grocery shopping day tomorrow. Clint (and likely Zoey) are going too, so it should be interesting. Long day ahead! Good night Blogosphere!

PS- Either someone is crying/wailing next door or there's a cat dying out there or something. Wtf?