Failing

Do you remember my post right after New Years? Yeah, the one about my New Years Resolution to get back on the Weight Watchers wagon? Not working out so well.

I'm trying to blame a lot of things. It's winter....people tend to eat more and exercise less in the winter. My body needs to adjust....I spent 9 months eating whatever I wanted and now I need to get back on track. I need the meetings and I just can't fit that in my schedule....unless I drag the baby with me which I'm sure would thrill everyone else at the meeting.

I can make excuses with the best of them but these excuses don't change the facts. I am unhappy with the way I look. I am spending money to buy clothes in a larger size. I'm not making enough of an effort. Yup, I can admit it... I'm not trying hard enough. But it's hard to try hard.

Part of me thinks that I was so successful the first time around because I was working. I ate the same thing every morning for breakfast and I packed a healthy lunch. I wasn't able to snack all day. By the time I got home from work it was time to make dinner. So there wasn't too much room for error. I also bought all the Weight Watchers products...breads, muffins, ice creams. This made it easier because the points were right on them and they were prepackaged. Well, that stuff is expensive. Too expensive for our current budget.

I feel like I'm stuck because I'm not making progress and I'm not sure how to. It's way too easy to break the rules when you are home all day. Hopefully the weather will get nicer soon so that I can spend more time out of the house. I need to get serious about this!

Cooking Made Easy

I really like to cook, but when you have a baby you just never seem to have the time. I have to plan meals that can be prepped and cooked within an hour or tossed in a crock pot. This way when my DH gets home from work He can take over baby duty while I cook... and we can still eat at a somewhat reasonable time.

Once you throw working into the mix cooking begins to seem next to impossible. Seriously, I don't know how full time working moms do it! As I said before, I work 2 days a week. Wednesday are my long days and I get home a little after 4. Thursdays are shorter and I am home by 3. So on Wednesdays I use my trusty crock pot for all my cooking needs. Seriously, I use it EVERY Wednesday! I plan a week ahead to try a new recipe, order my ingredients through Peapod (because really... who has time to food shop?), prep the night before and throw it in the pot that morning. I come home to an amazingly fragrant house and a couple of free hours to devote to my little love bug!

I'm going to start sharing some of my recipes... because I know I am always looking for some ideas and maybe this will help someone out!

This week.... London Broil

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1 1/2 pounds London broil
• small jar (4 to 6 ounces) of mushrooms, drained
• 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can condensed tomato soup
• 1 pkg dry onion soup mix

Preparation:

Mix together flour, ground black pepper, and paprika; rub London broil with mixture then put in crock pot. In a bowl, combine mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup, tomato soup, and onion soup mix; pour over meat. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours, or HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.

This literally falls apart. Melt in your mouth good!

Childproofing

Ok, I'm still working on my 30 before 30 List. It's really hard! At this rate I should have "finish my 30 before 30 list" on my list! So my mind is drawing a blank about the rest of the list, so I'll have to come back to it after a few more weeks.

In the mean time..... I've come to the realization that I am a little bit insane. As I mentioned a couple posts ago, my daughter is crawling. Not only is she crawling.... fast.... she is also pulling herself up on everything. She's incredibly mobile and wearing me out.

I have been researching and purchasing childproofing gadgets since she was born. Yes, insane. So I now have a large gate across the double wide doorway from the kitchen to the living room, outlet covers on every outlet, wires twist tied and hidden behind couches, fireplaces and electronics blocked and door knobs secured. Yup, doorknobs. No, she can't reach the door knobs.... but yes, they are childproofed. And yet I am still a nervous wreck about leaving her in the care of anyone but me. I feel like now that she can move no one will watch her carefully enough. I can't even think of any more precautions that I could take to make this room safe for her... but I continue to dwell on it. Sheesh... being a mommy is a stressful job! I guess what it comes down to is that she is the most important thing in the world to me... and I would do anything and everything to protect her. Even if people think I'm nuts! :)

But as a crazy mom.... the one thing that I know I could NEVER live without is my play yard.

This play yard has been amazing! It's a good size (my husband can fit comfortably in there with my little one) and totally portable. I keep it open and use it to block off my fireplace on a regular basis. But I love that I can close it up and have her contained if I need to. I also think it will be a huge help in the summer when we want to be outside and in a safe little area (especially when at the lake).

30 Before 30

My 27th birthday is quickly approaching. While I realize that 27 is not "old," I am starting to feel the weight of "30" upon my shoulders. I feel like I'm in an awkward place in my life. I'm married (for almost 4 years!! when did that happen?), we own a house, have a baby, I completed my Masters Degree.... but I still feel like a child. It's almost as if I feel an age will make me an adult. I remember thinking that when I was 25 people would see me as an adult. I still don't feel like an adult!

Well... even if I feel like a kid I am very much an adult. And if this year is any indication of how quickly time will pass... 30 will be here before I know it! Time to make my 30 before 30 list!! This is a work in progress.. so here are the first 10.

1. Take my baby girl to Disney World
2. Go on a 2nd Honeymoon with my husband
3. Take a cooking class
4. Go jet skiing
5. Plant a garden
6. Finish the basement
7. Knit a blanket
8. Read the Twilight Series
9.
10.

Ok, you'll have to settle for the first 8. This is harder than it sounds!!

Shopaholic

So I am addicted to shopping for my baby. I mean, I do love to look at all the adorable clothes and I probably buy her way too many shoes. But I spend the majority of my online shopping time looking at "things".

I LOVE amazon. Anything I need I can usually find there. And I can easily spend the $25 for free shipping. So I created a "wishlist" for my daughter. Partly for people to be able to shop for her and partly for me to keep a running list of all the things I want or need to buy her. This list is full of every kind of child proofing gizmo you can find. My baby girl is just starting to crawl and I already have outlets plugged, door knobs disabled and baby gates ordered.

So this past weekend I was browsing the "One Step Ahead" catalog and added to the list of "must haves" a pair of walking wings. Yup, you heard me right... she JUST started crawling. I know, I'm a little insane. And they also have a wonderful invention, the teethifier. My daughter is currently teething her top front teeth. She's no where near starting to teeth for her back teeth. But, non the less, I must have it now.


I have been able to find everything from the "One Step Ahead" catalog on Amazon, which is fantastic. They really do have some great stuff in the catalog! If you don't get it already, make sure you get on their mailing list.

Signing Time?

When I first found out I was pregnant I subscribed to a newsletter from Baby Center. This newsletter came in my e-mail every week, and told me a little bit about what to expect at that point in my pregnancy and what was happening with the baby's development. Needless to say, I looked forward to that e-mail every week! Especially the part where they would compare the size of the baby to a fruit. "This week your baby is the size of a kumquat." So much fun!

So, after my baby was born I was able to update my newsletter to my baby's age. This week I got my "Your 7 month 4 week old." One of the things that it talked about for this stage in my daughters life was sign language. I myself know a lot of sign language since I used to work at a school for deaf and hard of hearing students. I'm also a pretty firm believe that signing is a great way to give your little one a way to communicate with you. I had imagined that I would have started signing with her long before now. But I never even think about it! My day is so jam packed that the idea of adding one more thing into our day is overwhelming!

But... I'm going to do it anyway. I'm not going to go overboard. I'm not going to sign all day every day. I will pick a few important words (Momma, Dadda, More, ect) and work on those a few times a day. I will also invest in "Baby Signing Time." I have seen these DVD's at a friends house and they seem to be great.

So between my signing and watching the videos once in awhile, perhaps we will have some success with the communication through sign language. I'll let you know how it goes!

Guilt Trippin'

So, as i mentioned, I went back to work part-time. It's kind of a weird feeling. I am so used to feeling like my job was my life. I really don't feel like that anymore. I appreciate having a job and being able to make some money while still being home 5 out of 7 days. But, I feel like I can leave my work at work. I don't spend too much time thinking about work issues when I'm home. Which is REALLY unusual for me. But anyway, that's not what this post is about. This is about GUILT!

My office is literally on the other side of a wall of the day care. Now, my little one isn't in the day care because my mother-in-law stays with her. So I'm not even straining to hear if the little cries are coming from my love bug. But I still sit there and obsess about the crying. It just makes me think about my baby so much more. I find myself spending almost my entire day out of the office because I get sad. I know my daughter is fine, and I love the giant smile I get when I walk in the house. But my arms literally ache to hold her during the day. Is that guilt or weakness? I'm still trying to figure it out.

Mommy's Most Wanted

Have you ever had your eye on something that you absolutely HAD TO HAVE for your baby? Well, I found this Baby Einstein Tunnel while making a wish list for my baby girl this past Christmas. I quickly added it to my Amazon Wish List after reading many, many, many positive reviews. Seriously, it seemed like everyone LOVED this tunnel. So, I anxiously awaited Christmas with the hope that we would receive this gift.



While we received MANY wonderful gifts, the tunnel was no where to be seen. So this good mommy set out to get the tunnel for my baby girl anyway. Walmart.....sold out. Amazon...sold out. Toy Town....sold out. And so on and so on and so on. I finally got so upset that my poor husband contacted the company to try and get this tunnel and shut me up. DISCONTINUED!

You would have thought the word was coming to an end. I was soooo upset that my little girl would never have this toy! And it's so popular that you couldn't even find it on E-Bay! I never not been able to find something on E-Bay!! Finally, after days of searching I found it on Craigs List. I have never shopped on Craigs List before... but I was desperate at this point and gave it a shot. The tunnel arrived this week in perfect condition with all the pieces. I thoroughly cleaned it and set it up for my little one... and.... she LOVES it!! It's a fabulous toy with so much for them to look at, play with, feel! It's great! I am soooo happy that I found this. I think she will play with it for a long time.

Challenging

Wow, it's really hard to change eating habits that you've had for over a year. Bouncing back into the Weight Watchers groove is proving to be harder than anticipated. Today I did really well with eating healthy and not snacking. Then after dinner I dove into some incredibly fattening chocolate, erasing all my efforts. Boy, I hope I can get some better control over myself!!