386 days old!

12.723 Months old!

Just kidding.  I won't be that mom that says she's 15 months old.  I think it's acceptable to say "She's one"  then, "18 months" OR "1 and a half" Then "two"  THAT'S IT.

We're done with months thing, with the exception of 18 - that's allowable.  (Life rules according to Jenna)

I thought I would do a what is she up to post now that she's old and stuff.

Likes-

Dancing on the patio at a bar.  Oh, she is mine! 

Music & Dancing.  She has a mean knee bend with a simultaneous finger snap.  She's like her father, she starts snapping and I don't even hear the background music that's playing on the TV commercial.  I'm hoping for a musically talented kid (the opposite of me)
Outside.  I'm crossing my fingers her love for being outdoors continues and she begs to play all the day outside.  If she's grumpy, take her out and let her eat a handful of dirt and half a pine cone and she's good to go.
Bath time.  She loves it.  She loves brushing her teeth.  (she has 7 now)  the last 3 popped up last week while we were on vacation! 
Buttons.  Any and all buttons fascinate her.  Too bad for her, she's not allowed to touch a lot of them and it only pisses her off.
Snacks.  She loves to eat.  but snacking is her favorite!  (goldfish, made for baby Cheetos things, yogurt)
She likes when you scare her!  She giggles!
She likes her new baby.  She hugs her and pats her hinny.  Quite sweet.  (then she likes to also bowl with her, so whatever)
Her friends.  Er, I mean dogs.  Bella & Kanye, the yorkies that my mom and sister have, are her only buddies.  We really need to start human socializing soon or she'll be next George of the Jungle.

Dislikes-

The word no.  It infuriates her.  To the point of violence sometimes.
Being nice.  She's not as MEAN as she used to be.  She would look you in eye and pull your hair.  I feel like some of that is waning.  But I don't want to speak too soon.  I think she can communicate a bit better these days (or we've just learned to anticipate what she wants) so her frustration level is lower.  idk.
A lot of veggies.  I'm guessing by the amount of carrots I picked up off the floor that is not on her list of likes.   Or any drinks besides water (and coke, but that's not allowed)  So, she only drinks water.
Loud noises have really started frightening her.  In the past, she would just look around and when you asked "what was that, Peyton?" she would lift her arms in a shrug and go about her baby life.  Now, she comes running to you!  (I kinda like it - little Miss Independent isn't momma's girl anymore :(  )

What can the big girl do now?

 

• Before vaca we were down to one bottle but we're back up to two after messing with her schedule we're paying for it!
• She spits out her paci when she gets out of bed & when getting out of the car.  She knows that she can only have them in those places.  It's quite grown up!
• She can say (sign) "more, please"  She takes one pointer finger and jabs it into her open palm of her other hand.  We have NO IDEA where she learned this sign but we just went with it and make her sign it before dolling out another snack. 
• Sleeping through the night without waking up for an 11pm bottle is too hard for her.
• She is down to one nap a day (if we're lucky)

She is FREAKISHLY accurate with her head shakes. 
Do you want a snack? VIOLENT NOD 
Peyton, do you want to go outside?  VIOLENT NOD
Paci?  VIOLENT NOD
Are you hungry? VIOLENT NOD
Do you want to lay down for a nap?  either yes or no, she's honest
Are you pooping? either yes or no, she'll tell the truth. 
Do you want to read a book?  yes or no
When she first started answering you (cause we all ask babies things looking like idiots thinking they're going to respond - but BAM one day she just did) freaked me out!  I thought it was rather odd!  (yet convenient)

I'm sure I could go on all day.  It seems she picks something new up everyday.   But that should tide you over for a bit!

 

366 Days Old. I'm not ready for One yet.

Can you even believe it?  I certainly can't.  I specifically remember flashing my positive pregnancy test and watching the husband run/dance around the house.  So, where has 366 days + 39 weeks go?  I have no idea.

So, check out the festivities - huge photo dump so we will review her, what is Peyton up to post later :)

Nonna brought me a balloon bouquet!

I'm baaack! Miss me?

Did you think I got hit by a bus?  I don't blame you.  But alas, I'm back, and you know what, I'm feeling much more like myself than I have in a good long while.  My doctor told me that it takes 9 months to have a baby and nine months to get over having a baby, and BAM, almost to the day.  My body is reacting more like MY body, less like Peyton's incubator and buffet.  My energy level is returning.  My enthusiasm for most things is back!

Peyton update since I've been gone for SO long:

She just turned 9 months - WOW
She's eating stage 2&3 foods along with being our little beggar.  She's worse than a puppy.
She's loud!  Babbling 24/7.  She responds to No and her name.  She identifies and says, mama and dada. 
She loves to be outside.  If she's fussy simply sitting on the porch can calm her.
She plays patty-cake, so big (raises arms above head) and waves bye-bye.
Her current fave toy is a framed 12x12 mirror.  She can play with that for hours!
She can pull herself up.  Eek!
She can stand by herself for 20 seconds at a time.  Double eek.
She can not crawl and boy is that frustrating for her.  She can get on all fours and she can "crawl" backwards, but forwards is just a bit tricky still. 
She can go from laying to sitting.
She is ridiculously good at driving her walker! 
She gives amazingly sweet open mouth kisses when asked and sometimes cause she wants to :)
She's experiencing a bit of stranger anxiety.  But she warms up quickly if you're calm and gentle with her.
She has slept all night but it's sporadic, I can't find the common denominator when it happens.  True to her Peyton ways, it's when SHE decides.
But her normal MO is go to bed when we do, between 9 & 10.  She will wind down in our bed, but when her left eye turns red, she goes to her bed.  Then around midnight she wakes up and needs a bottle, and comes to our bed, then sleeps til I wake her when it's time to go.  Or on weekends, we sleep in til precisely 8:30. 
She never has a problem falling asleep in her bed, which I was worried about since she was so used to sleeping with us.
She's still a momma's girl.  I know, I know, enjoy it while I can - I am!
She is 28 3/4" long and weighs 18.5 pounds - following the perfect curve on the growth chart, 50th percentile in all categories.
She has four teeth, the bottom two came in with one day of fussiness, the top two were boogers.  But they're in!  And she's taken to gritting her teeth, eek!
Okay I think that about covers it.  She's a really good baby.  I don't think we can top her, should we just stop here while we're ahead? 

A couple pics - more to come soon after I edit her July 4th photo shoot!
I need a editing program for my new laptop, suggestions?

Okay, it won't let me write captions on pics, here they are in a list.
1.  This is her, I'm grinding my teeth together face.  Drives us bananas.
2.  Her riding her dino.  She's quite good and knows how to get off (most of the time) 
3.  She sits still and can focus on her tv shows.  She likes Super Why and Dinosaur Train, and this weekend we watched Despicable Me.
4.  I love this picture, her and her daddy, and that face, who me?!

Whole30

So, here is where I try to get you to drink the Kool Aid!  Just kidding!  But no really, ready?

I'm only a week or so in so check back with me in a few weeks and see how I feel then.  :)

But within that first week I was singing the praises of this plan!

So, Jenna stop rambling, and tell us what it is!  Okay.

The Whole30 is 30 days of removing certian foods from you diet completely to see how it will impact your health and fitness. 
Eat real food - meat, eggs, tons of veggies, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. 
That sounds nice in theory but here is the reality:
You CAN'T have:
Sugar of any kind
No alcohol
No grains :(
No legumes
No dairy
THEN after those 30 days, you reintroduce each category into your diet one at a time and see how it affects you.  You may have an intolerance to dairy that was making your energy level plummet or legumes inflamed that pesky tendonistis.  Who knows 'til you try it!

First week results:

Honest engine confessions:  I haven't cut out sugars entirely, I've had a G2 everyday. 

I was tired, for sure!  But within the first couple days I could see - so could JD - a difference in my mid section, I'm kicking myself for not snapping before pics.  Pants fit different y'all!!!  It's been a flipping week!
The book says to breakup with your scale, well, I'm stubborn.  5 POUNDS -GONE- 1 WEEK!!!

But the tired isn't insurmountable the results were enough to make me get up.

 I thought going into it that I would spend forever in the kitchen, NO, the recipes I've made are 20 minute prep tops. 
JD has been onboard and quite supportive and that's been a huge help.  Thanks babe!

I've gone to the gym twice, three times, by myself, without my workout buddy, which is a huge step in itself! 
My appetite has vanished.  I have to remind myself to eat.  Although that has also negatively impacted my water intake, I've been trying to be better on that. 

Yesterday I asked JD to take care of dinner knowing that he was ready for a good food break and he would end up going the fast food route ALSO knowing I would be in real world situations where I would have to make the "food that would make me healthier vs the food that would make me less healthy" choice.

So, he suggested the joint in the mall that has those super steak gyros, which we both adore, and are 98% bad for you.  So, he got one of those and went to Chick Fil A for me.  I picked the Cobb Salad - it didn't have blueberries on it, who puts BBs on their salads?  It did have cheese but I did the best I could to pick around it, but didn't get crazy. 

My sleep - Our family was usually in bed AT 8pm and asleep by 8:30-45.   But now I am awake until 10 precisely and then I usually beat my alarm awake by 15 minutes or so and I sleep GOOD.  Now if we could just talk P into that!  8 Hours, BAM!

So, there is my first week results.
I would like to thank my sister for introducing me to this!  You can see her awesome results from her Challenge here! 

Crap, there was one other thing I wanted to tell you but I can't remember. 
I suppose it has failed to help my memory.

Hope everyone has a fantastic Memorial Day!  Have Fun!

B-O-R-I-N-G-O and boring was our weekend-oh!

I've got to stop jammin to kids songs so much.  I speak in Suess rhyming patterns and make songs out of spelling words.  It's getting out of hand and she's only 8 months old (almost)

So, Saturday consisted of another trip to the grocery store.  This eating whole is expensive.  But the way my pants fit on Sunday vs. Friday - hells yes! I will pay those grocery bills!
sidebar:  eating plan is going fantastic - I plan to be Paleo for life!  The way my belly feels and looks (in 5 days!)  is amazing!  More on trying to convert you all to my new life style later!

It was super hot Saturday so before we headed out to PaPa's for BBQ and horse racing (thanks Mylute for costing me money!) I thought we would swim.  So, I got out the little pool and thought, if only I had a big tank that spits out air to blow this up for me!  Oh, wait, that's right, I DO!  My husband thought he NEEEEEEDED an air compressor.  Which I conceeded was a very useful tool and we would get much use out of it.  So, off he goes and brings it home.  But wait, it doesn't come with a hose!!!  So, we've had this useful tank sitting in the garage for a couple weeks now, sans hose!  So, think pic below is me being a good mommy blowing up the pool while being annoyed at that useless tank.



And here you can see us "swimming" I told her that's what this was called.  Bad mommy.    It was just too hot and I was too tired from my new eating life style.  Are you conviced to join me yet? jk.



And this crazy little nugget went to sleep in her own bed (said to the tune of this little piggie)  for a whopping 15 minutes before she wanted to get up and play.  I just adore that face.  Those eyes couldn't smile more if she tried!  Don't be mad momma, let's sing a song! 



Sunday was made for Target runs.  Then the p-diddy and I went to our friend, Natalie's, baby Presslyn's shower!  I wondered if she would have stranger danger anxiety there, but nope, she went straight to some of my friends, no problem!  And then she was fine with the nice lady who we sat with holding her.  Weirdo.  I think everyone had a great time and Nat looked beautiful! 

They had a couple talented photographers there snapping pics and everyone wanted to take pics of the photogenic baby!  So, I CAN'T WAIT to see some of those!  It was nice not being the photog like normal!  

I hope everyone has a great week!   

I thought I was on top of this blog stuff.

I was WRONG. 

So very very wrong.

But alas, here I am.  With some very blurry pics.  Maybe once I publish it will be better but if not, sorry.  You get what I give you! :)  jk jk - please come back!

So, we've done some stuff and celebrated my very first mommy day. 

So, without further ado, here is a collection of photos to catch you up, in no particular order.

Our mommy day dresses!

I didn't get to wear this outfit to the horse races so, I had to wear it sometime, and this was a perfect reason!!!

the pots I made for my mom and Aunt Sharon for mom day. 

My techie.

Mrs. Lindsay got us a mushroom pool!  She was enthralled with the box!  Can't wait to use it this weekend!

So, we do not care for our plastic baby spoons, your metal utensil is what we want!  We also don't want that gross baby food anymore.  Give me what you have, NOW!!!  What is so exciting about my plate vs. your plate, Peyton???

Cleaned UP at Old Navy!  3 shirts, 3 cardigans a dress and a pair of pants for $53  (and the pants were $27 - so you do the math! ) 

These bloomers are too cute!  My mom bought them for her when she was a minute old, now they fit!

She signed her own name!!! don't judge her penmanship, she's only 7.5 months old, for Pete's sake!

My first mother's day bouquet from JD!

My momma made me this adorable growth chart for P, it's precious!

So, we've started the Whole30 challenge, hardcore paleo, for 30 days.  More to come later on that.  Last nights dindin.  Meatball in marinara, sauteed shrooms, and a spinach salad, there are other goodies under that pile.