Henry: 16 to 18 Months

If only toddlerhood was like this all the time...

I have been experiencing some serious Mommy burnout recently and of course this has made me feel like a Mommy failure.  My kid's great.  Why wouldn't I want to do nothing but hang out with him?  This toddler thing is very much wearing me out though.  I know my main problem is that I wait too long to ask for help.  I do want to go ahead and point out that my husband is fantastic and takes care of Henry for me whenever he can, but he's got things that need to be done too and we both feel we're left with very little free time.  I can spend lots of time home with just my kid and be completely fine, but once I need a break then I really need a break, and a couple of hours off just doesn't cut it.  And often my couple of hours of "free time"  doesn't really feel like a break because it generally includes running errands and exercising, neither of which are particularly relaxing.  This had been building for a while and then Henry got a cold and was waking up several times a night, and my already low level of patience was not helped by the exhaustion of all of us.

Recently my in-laws were in town and watched Henry several times.  I feel like everytime the entire family gets together, Henry gets sick and the three of us are miserable for the duration.  He's up all night, he refuses to eat, and he's just generally nuts and not himself.  This time thankfully Henry only got a cold.  It could have been worse.  Two of my nieces got bronchitis and one got a sinus infection. Ick.  Anyway, now that he's better I'm finally starting to feel recharged, but I did burst into tears the other day when he woke up after only a 20 minute nap.

I used to be afraid of taking a trip with Graham to China because of the 17 hour flight and my claustrophobia and all that.  I've told several people lately that now I feel like that 17 hours of alone time sounds like heaven.  You mean I can read and watch movies and not have to change diapers or wrestle my kid to the ground to wipe his nose for 17 hours before I even get to the vacation part?  I'm totally in.  But yeah, I'm going to go ahead and take all that back.  My husband just spent 36 hours trying to get to Shanghai only to wind up back home after his flight turned around somewhere near Greenland, landed in Canada to fix the bathrooms, then came back to the states to pick up another flight crew and refuel.  He spent like 20 hours on the plane and didn't actually go anywhere except for various airports so I'm back to being terrified of the long flight again and thinking maybe hanging out with a cranky Henry isn't so bad after all.

But anyway, Henry's been doing all sorts of new things the last couple of months.   We're finally starting to get lots of words, although most of them are probably only understood by Graham and I.  For example, "ice" means rice.  He says Mommy now instead of just "Momom."  "Happy" is the thing he says most clearly.  I love it.  I also really love uh-oh.  He says eggs and cheese and keys, but they all sound very similar.  Water has no "t' so it's more like wa'er.  And milk started out sounding more like a game show buzzer for some reason as in "aaank" wrong answer.  Now it sounds like "knock."  He has started referring to Granny as "Nee".  It's also great that whenever I ask him if he wants to talk to Granny he goes immediately to the computer and waits for me to open it up to Skype. 

Sometimes he is really helpful about picking up his toys.  He loves for me to read him books now even more than ever.  He likes anything involving Sesame Street characters in his books.  He can say Oscar and he seems to think Bert and Ernie are both named Ernie.

Big boy climbing all by himself

There's plenty of new mischief lately including being able to climb into his high chair by himself even when it's on the highest setting.  He can also turn on the dishwasher.  I'm thankful our stove knobs aren't on the front where he can reach them.  We've been doing time-outs for a while now, but I feel like there's got to be something better.  He still spends a lot of time in time-out even though he knows what he's not supposed to do (going to the other side of the gate to play with the dvds, biting, hitting, playing with the space heater).  Sometimes a warning about getting a time-out will convince him not to do whatever he's about to do and sometimes he just seems to decide it's worth it and does it anyway. 

I've mentioned before the feeling of such extreme love and such extreme exasperation.  He's the cutest thing ever born and a complete snuggle bug, but he's bitten three kids now.  Thankfully that seems to be waning.  He's got one serious temper though, and that's not waning at all.  Any time he's told no, he has to find something to throw or hit.  This is one of those things he finds totally worth it to do even though it always results in a time-out.  I've heard other people say that if they'd had their second child first they might have waited longer before the next or not had another at all.  Well we had that kid first so I'm in no rush to add a second right now although we do want one someday.

See, a total snuggle bug.  He even hugs trees.

I just don't want to spank him.  If I spanked him every time he did something he wasn't supposed to do, I'd be hitting him all day.  And I don't think it makes sense to hit a kid to teach them not to hit.  I did attempt biting him back once, but felt like such a jerk I couldn't do it again.  I've got no other real solution.  Hopefully he'll grow out of it all (and soon).  Any chance his terrible twos are actually terrible ones that are almost over?

Good Day to Start Digital Scrapbooking

It's a great day to get started with digital scrapbooking if you've been putting it off.  On the first day of every other month there is a new blog train over at The Blog Train Blog.  What is a blog train?  It's a collection of websites who have agreed to give away digital scrapbooking freebies, all with coordinating colors.  The freebies could be word art, papers, alphas, elements, or a mini-kit that combines them all.  Think of it as just like going to the store to get paper scrapbooking supplies.  All the same stuff is available in digital format.  But it's even better because you can use digital papers over and over again.  This train is a large one with 90 different designers so you're sure to find something you'll like.

This particular train is themed "Traditions" and has blues and reds so it's not an in your face red and green Santa Claus type Christmas thing.  Lots of the papers can be used for any winter page and one of the sites I liked best this time was Trixie Scraps who provided some really cute plaid papers that I can even use for summer.  I'm so excited the colors were more boy-friendly this time.  For a while there it seemed like they used pink in every single color scheme.

How to Download Free Stuff
What I do is go to the main page and visit each site on the list from there.  In theory, you could hop from page to page as they're all supposed to link to the next one on the list, but inevitably someone will forget to post and the trail is broken so I think going from the master list is easier and quicker.

Start with the first site on the list and if you like what they offer download it.  If you don't just move to the next site on the list.  I remind you here to only download it if you like it because there are TONS of freebies available.  So don't think you have to download everything just because it's free.  You'll wind up with way more than you could ever have room to store on your computer or time to sort through when you're ready to scrap.  Be picky.  You want your scrapbook to look good and you want to be able to find your favorites quickly.

There are several different methods of downloading.  Most of the designers on this blog train use a direct download where you just click the download link and you get the window prompting you to save the file.  But some use Mediafire or 4shared.  Mediafire is really bad about giving me pop-ups in spite of my pop-up blocker.  It's full of ads and looks sketchy like it's ready to unleash a virus onto your computer, but so far I have downloaded hundreds of things through them without incident.  4shared is very annoying.  They make you wait between like 20 and 500 seconds before you can download if you don't sign up for their service.  So make sure whatever you're downloading through them is worth the wait.  And go look at another page on another tab while you wait.  You don't have to watch the countdown.

While you're at each of the sites on the list, type "freebie" or "blog train" in their search bar or click through labels that say the same.  Most places take their freebies down at the end of the week or month, but some people leave up their freebies forever so you might find other items you could use.

Downloading freebies is a great way to try out different designers' work before you make a purchase.  Although I must admit, I have yet to purchase any digital scrapbook supplies because the freebies are so plentiful.  I was able to make an entire 112 page book off of freebies.  I don't really want to encourage everyone to do this because the designers' work takes a lot of time and there is definitely value to it.  They deserve to be paid.  On the other hand, I've not in any way been a digiscrapping pirate.  I've not distributed any of the freebies to anyone else or tried to pass anything off as my own.  So far I just haven't been able to justify paying with so much freely available no matter how much I respect the designers.


How I Organize Thousands of Files
I usually organize on a different day than I download rather than doing it as I go along because I'll usually download a few files, do something else, download more files, etc, and so downloading is a process that can take up an evening all by itself if you let it.

You'll need to unzip the files before you can look at them and then you can delete the zip file and just keep the folder.  I go through each folder while it's still in my download folder and delete out items I don't want.  I do keep some girly items because I have nieces, but some things are too over the top girly even for them and some things are just ugly so I delete anything I know I'll never use or if I know I already have 3 similar things to it.

Then I move the folders over to my Scrapbooking Supplies folder on my external drive.  I have my scrapbook supplies organized by designer should I ever need to give credit for who created the papers and things.  They nearly all include a terms of use file in their downloads so you can keep track of where you got everything.  I'm keeping these on the external drive because I just have so much now that it was starting to bog down my computer, and I had a scare where I thought my hard drive was going to crash so there was the possibility of losing everything. 

Since I have just moved everything to the external I'm going to need to reorganize because when I moved it, I lost my iPhoto tags.  I had everything neatly tagged so I could go into that program and type something like "purple polka dot" and anything that had those tags would come up.  But that's gone.  It was super convenient to do that as I was slowly getting more files, but I've got so much downloaded at this point that I probably won't go to that level of detail again.  I think I'll just put all items from a blog train in the same Event and browse the way I used to when paper scrapping.  I'll miss the search feature, but I can't dedicate a month to organizing my scrapping supplies.


Get Started
I've discussed a little bit about how to get started before.  Basically you just need a program to work in.  I suggest Photoshop Elements, much cheaper that full blown Photoshop and probably all you'll ever need.  Elements can be intimidating.  You'll just need to play around.  Google some tutorials.  There are tons of them that could it explain its workings far better than I ever could.

Once you start completing your pages, you can share them on your blog or on Facebook so everyone can see and you can print yourself a photobook.  I'm in love with Henry's one year book from Blurb.

And don't get overwhelmed by how far behind you think you are.  Just start with your current pictures and move forward going back to get the ones you've missed as you have time.

Read a Book a Week

I'm about 3 months into my year of 30 things I want to do before I turn 30 so I thought I'd do an update on my book-a-week plan.   I was slow to start.  Some books have taken me 2-3 weeks to finish.  I partially blame the free magazine subscriptions I've been gifted with and my weekend newspapers.  I feel like I can't throw either away until they've been read, but with all the other projects I'm trying out there's just no time for that.  I recently cancelled my newspaper subscription.  I wasn't doing so hot on couponing anyway.  When it's triple coupons, it's totally worth it, but there are some weeks where there's nothing on the deal list I want to buy so I'm taking a break and getting back to that goal later.

Anyway, as I was going over this list, I realized how little fiction I've been reading lately.  I've been using my book-a-week to further other goals like Become More Politically Aware and I love to read biographies, but I'd like some recommendations for good fiction.  Actually, I'm asking you for recommendations for good books all around fiction and nonfiction so let me know what books I need to add to my list.

Books I've read so far this year:

"Inconceivable: A Medical Mistake, the Baby We Couldn't Keep, and Our Choice to Deliver the Ultimate Gift" by Carolyn & Sean Savage -- The short version of the story is that the Savages' embryos were switched with another family's and Carolyn became pregnant with the other family's child.  You can read more about it here.  I saw them on The Today Show last week, and they did finally manage to have twins through their surrogate, and they do get to visit the child she carried for the other family.  I'm glad it seems to have turned out well.  The book was a heartbreaking story.

"Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom" by Ron Paul -- I like Ron Paul.  He may seem extreme, but maybe we need extreme.  That being said, I don't have love for just any Republican candidate.  Listening to Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry and pretty much anyone on Fox News makes me want to throw things at my television.

"This Boy's Faith: Notes from a Southern Baptist Upbringing" by Hamilton Cain -- I picked up this one and the next at the library from the new release section (or whatever it's called).  I find that's a good way to get in and out of the library quickly.  It's close to the door.  I grab any cover that jumps out at me and head to the check out.  I've found I can no longer take Henry into the library without the stroller because he is too tempted by the stairs.  I wish they were hidden in a stairwell instead of being right in the middle of the room.  Since he's stuck in the stroller, he gets bored quickly making a quick in and out necessary.  Anyway, this one caught my eye because of my own Southern Baptist upbringing and there were a lot familiar things in it.

"If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won't)" by Betty White -- I picked this one up because Betty White is so popular lately, but it only covers the last 10-15 years, not her younger days, which were probably more interesting.

"No Apology: Believe in America" by Mitt Romney -- When Borders went out of business, I bought like 5 books on politics for about $3 each.  This was one of them.  All the books I got were by Republicans.  There were no books by Democrats left at the end of the closeout.  This book didn't really make me feel more strongly either way about Mitt Romney as a candidate, nothing that really turned me off of him but nothing inspiring either. 

"Just Do It: How One Couple Turned Off the TV and Turned On Their Sex Lives for 101 Days (No Excuses!)" by Douglas Brown -- This one was recommended by a friend.

"Real Change: The Fight For America's Future" by Newt Gingrich -- This and the next are more discounted Borders books.  I can't decide what I think about Newt.  Lots of things in this book made sense.  He said some things I liked in earlier debates, but I must admit I haven't had a chance to watch any of the more recent ones.  I've started on another of his books where he comes across as less likeable than he was in this one however. 

"Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto" by Dick Armey & Matt Kibbe  -- Interesting read on what the Tea Party stands for.  I agree that being fiscally responsible is important.  My biggest hesitation with the Tea Party is the Facebook comments I see from its members.  The group's message seems good, but most people I hear speak on behalf of them come off as total jerks so it's hard to get behind that.

"Anthem" by Ayn Rand -- I love that many older books like this one are free downloads on Kindle.  To sum this one up, communism is bad.  I'd like to read "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged," but they aren't free so I'll probably get them at the library sometime.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll -- I'd never read this one or "Through the Looking Glass" before.  Just like when I read "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," it was interesting to see the difference between the books and the iconic films. 

"Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll

"Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance" by Barack Obama -- You can tell he wrote this book well before he thought about running for any office, much less guarded than he comes across now.  I didn't read anything that made me regret voting for him.  He's got a very interesting story.  This is the first book I downloaded to my Kindle from the library.  I cannot express how excited I was by the fact that I can get books from the library without leaving home.  You just go to the website and add yourself to the hold list, and then when it's available they email you to let you know.

"Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert -- I saw the movie first and so of course was picturing Julia Roberts as Liz throughout the book.  This made me like her more than I might have otherwise.  I'm jealous that she was able to take a year to travel.  I know she had a lot of travel experience, but I just can't imagine being brave enough to travel for an entire year completely alone mostly without a plan. 

Weight Watchers: 50 Points Over This Week

I did not manage to stay within my Weight Watchers points for the week of Thanksgiving.  In fact I was over by more than 50 points.

What I Did Wrong:

• I didn't save my flex points up.  It's not like Thanksgiving was an unexpected event that came up this week.  I knew it was coming.  I have a bad habit of splurging on my flex points early in the week and then trying to scrape by on fewer points towards the end of the week.  I was out of flex points at the end of the day on Wednesday so I set myself up to fail on Thursday.  I could have had a decent lunch or dinner but not both.
• I didn't exercise as much as I should have.  I only ran 2 days last week and didn't go for any walks.  More activity points would have given me more cushion for Thanksgiving.
• I forgot to write something down again this week.  While I was writing this blog I thought of 8 more points from last Sunday, making me 58 points over for the week.
• Let's make that approximately 58 points over for the week.  I didn't get out a measuring cup on Thanksgiving for all my food and just guessed at the portions.  I feel pretty confident that I was accurate because I do a lot of measuring, but the only way to be sure is to measure, and I didn't.
• After I went over on Thanksgiving I didn't go right back to being strict on points.  I had good intentions, but my willpower was lowered after I already knew I'd blown it.  This is common for me, to just say I'll do better next week rather than correcting my behavior right away.
• I tried to use activity points to make up for going over.  I earned 10 activity points on Friday and thought I might be able to just eat my daily allowance of 29 points, but I was just too hungry after doing 7 miles.
• I was weak because it was a special occasion and friends and family were over.  The cinnamon roll and apple pie I ate were good, but certainly not worth the points they cost me.  And I know better.  The thing is, it's always a special occasion.  It's always some holiday or someone's birthday or someone's in town you rarely see, etc.  Stay on plan anyway!  Most food is not worth being fat one more single week.

What I Did Right:

• I still did my long run and I pushed myself harder for my 7 mile run this week than I did for the 6 mile run last week.  I wound up with a better pace time 11:50 for 7 miles vs 12:05 for 6 miles.
• Most importantly, I kept writing everything down.  I went over on my points, but if I hadn't been tracking, I would have gone over by much more.  I made better choices than I would have normally even if I still wound up cheating.  I did things that saved me small amounts of points like choosing not to have cheese on my hamburger.  And I did things that saved me large amounts of points like not going out to get the missing ingredient for pumpkin chocolate chip pie (of which I would have had at least one 10 point slice each day on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday on top of everything else).  So yeah, I was really bad, but I could have been worse.

Results:
I got lucky and still lost 0.4 lbs, which would be disappointing on a week I'd been good, but was an awesome surprise this week.  That puts me at 153 lbs, 23 more lbs until goal, and 13 weeks until the Princess Half Marathon.  To reach goal by then, I need to lose 1.8 lbs/week so I need to get serious. No more lax weeks.

Where Did the Points Go?

	Su	M	T	W	Th	F	Sa
Breakfast	9	9	9	9	9	9	9
Lunch	21	11	11	10	22	11	9
Dinner	13	11	15	13	21	18	19
Anytime	18	10	6	2	6	4	10
Total Used	61	41	41	34	58	42	47

Sunday
Breakfast
Cheerios and Milk	9
Lunch
Chicken Sandwich	13
Goldfish Crackers	8
Dinner
Ground Turkey w/Potatoes and Peas	8
Rice	5
Snacks
Hershey Bar	2
Wine	16
	61
Monday
Breakfast
Cheerios and Milk	9
Lunch
Roast Beef Sandwich	7
Goldfish Crackers	4
Dinner
Roast Beef Sandwich	7
Goldfish Crackers	4
Snacks
Ice Cream	10
	41
Tuesday
Breakfast
Cheerios and Milk	9
Lunch
Roast Beef Sandwich	7
Goldfish Crackers	4
Grapes	0
Dinner
Baked Broccoli Macaroni and Cheese	12
Cheesy Bread	3
Snacks
Ice Cream	6
	41
Exercise
32 min run	4
Wednesday
Breakfast
Cheerios and Milk	9
Lunch
English Muffin Sandwich	6
Goldfish Crackers	4
Grapes	0
Dinner
Hamburger	13
Grapes	0
Snacks
String Cheese	2
Banana	0
	34
Thursday
Breakfast
Cheerios and Milk	9
Lunch & Dinner
Fried Turkey	6
Stuffing	8
Corn Casserole	7
Sweet Potato Casserole	3
Green Bean Casserole	10
Rosemary Garlic Parmesan Biscuits	9
Snacks
Ice Cream	6
	58
Friday
Breakfast
Cheerios and Milk	9
Lunch
Roast Beef Sandwich	7
Goldfish Crackers	4
Dinner
Turkey	3
Sweet Potato Casserole	3
Corn Casserole	3
Green Bean Casserole	2
Rosemary Garlic Parmesan Biscuit	3
1/2 Ikea Cinnamon Roll	5
Snacks
Turkey and String Cheese	3
Grapes	0
	42
Exercise
72 min run/walk	10
Saturday
Breakfast
Cheerios and Milk	9
Lunch
Roast Beef and Cheese	2
Stuffing	3
Goldfish Crackers	4
Dinner
Cheerios and Milk	13
Roast Beef and Cheese	3
Corn Casserole	3
Snacks
String Cheese	1
Apple Pie	9

 

Weight Watchers and Running Update

I've mentioned before that I've lost all my pregnancy weight (all 60 whopping pounds), and now I'm working on the weight I gained while I just wanted to be pregnant.  So the last time I was at goal must have been in 2008.  Aack!

I've never attended a Weight Watchers meeting, although I've been on and off the program for about 9 years.  In college, I used one of those little cardboard point calculators and managed to lose 40 pounds (probably without ever eating a fruit or vegetable or exercising much at all).  Sometime after I got married, I started using Weight Watchers online, which I really like and highly recommend.  I've terminated and reactivated my account several times.  My problem is that I get to goal and then go back to my bad habits.  A couple of months ago I terminated my account again because I couldn't justify $18/month on it when I know what to do.  It's just a matter of being motivated enough to do it.  So sometimes I'm motivated and sometimes I'm not.

I've struggled with my weight my whole life.  I used to think that I'd get to goal and then that struggle would be over, but that's not how it works.  This is something I'm going to have to manage forever.  I've accepted that now.  I do not plan to count points every day for the rest of my life, but I will need to sometimes.  To maintain, I am going to have to weigh myself weekly (maybe even daily) and keep myself in check.

This week I'm motivated again.  My weight crept up a couple of pounds while we were on vacation to 158.6.  I'd been at 155 for about 2 months, but a gain means I have to get this under control now.  I figured up that if I lose 2 lbs/week, I can still be at goal (130 lbs) by the time I do the half-marathon at the end of February.  I want to be able to reward myself with new clothes after the race.

I'm doing okay with the half-marathon training.  It's hard to get four runs in a week like I ought to.  Most weeks it's two or three.  I don't run with a jogging stroller.  I like to go alone.  It's hard enough for me to run.  I don't want to also have to worry about how Henry is doing.  This is something that needs to be time for me.  That does make it harder to get out the door, though, especially with it being dark by the time Graham gets home.  I don't like to run in the dark.  I also can't generally get myself up to go before Graham goes to work.  So my only shot is if I can squeeze it in while Graham is home for lunch and on weekends.

I am not fast by any stretch of the imagination.  During 5ks I've been passed by everybody: kids, old men, a blind guy, and a guy in a chipmunk costume.  During Warrior Dash, I got passed by a guy who only had one leg.  Seriously.  But I show up.  And I finish even if I have to walk.  While training for the half, I've been running by time instead of distance up until this week.  I've gotten to as much as an hour of straight running (or maybe it's just jogging but still).  This week I decided that I need to start making sure I'm covering as much distance as I should be at this point in my training.  I did three miles in 32:05 (10:42 pace) and six miles in 1:12:28 (12:05 pace).  The three miles was completely flat and the six miles was hilly.  I've been running almost completely on flat trails so I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that I had to stop and walk a quite a bit on the longer run.  I need to do just hilly runs for a while to build myself up I guess.

To really hold myself accountable on the weight loss, I'm going to start including everything I ate each week on my blog.  The basic summary of how Weight Watchers works is that I get 29 points per day and then 49 flex points for the week to split up however I want.  In addition to that you can earn more points by exercising.  I've found that if I don't eat my exercise points it slows down my weight loss, but that's not true for everyone.  You have to experiment a little.  Points Plus aren't based on calories anymore.  They're based on fat, fiber, carbs, and protein, but I have heard that Points Plus are worth approximately 33 calories so if you average that out over the week (without activity points) that's about 1200 calories per day.  Plus fruits and veggies are free except for potatoes and corn.

Below is my list for last week.  I have found that I can almost always be about 10 points over and still lose a pound.  I wish I didn't know that because it makes it hard not to eat a few extra points at the end of the week after I've run out of flex points.  To prove this, I still lost 5.2 lbs this week even though I was over by 11 points.  I forgot to write something down one day I and thought I had more points than I did and ate them.  Oops.  23.4 lbs to go.  Good progress so far.  This week is the real challenge though.  Can I hold on to enough flex points all the way through Thursday to eat a decent Thanksgiving dinner without cheating on my diet?

I recently discovered Skinny Taste through Pinterest.  She includes all the nutritional info for her recipes, and everything I've made so far has been really good.  I highly recommend it.

You'll note that I don't give up sweets when I diet and I still lose weight.  That is the best part of Weight Watchers.  You don't have to completely give up anything.  You just reduce the amount you eat.

Sunday
Breakfast
2 cups Cheerios	6
3/4 cup Whole Milk	3
Lunch
English Muffin	3
Cheese	2
Turkey	1
Baked Ruffles	3
Pineapple	0
Dinner
Turkey Sausage Brown Rice Stuffing	9
Snacks
Fiber One Bar	4
Fudge	5
Turkey and String Cheese	2
Exercise
61 min run/11 min walk	9

 

Monday
Breakfast
2 cups Cheerios	6
3/4 cup Whole Milk	3
Lunch
Turkey Sausage Brown Rice Stuffing	9
Dinner
Onion, Red Pepper, and Zucchini Frittata	6
Roll	4
Snacks
English Muffin	3
Cheese	2
Turkey	1
Ruffles	3
Fudge	5
Candy Corn	2
Lowfat Cottage Cheese	2
Exercise
15 min walk	1

Tuesday
Breakfast
Cheerios & Milk	9
Lunch
English Muffin Sandwich	6
Ruffles	3
Dinner
Noodles	6
Asian Pork w/Mushrooms	6
Snacks
Low Fat Cottage Cheese	2
Fudge	3
Candy Corn	2
String Cheese	1
Cheerios & Milk	4
Wednesday
Breakfast
Cheerios & Milk	9
Lunch
english muffin sandwich	6
ruffles	3
Dinner
taco shells	4
3/4 c black beans	3
2 tbsp sour cream	1
cheese	3
beef	8
Snacks
string cheese	1
waffle	2
hershey bar	7
cottage cheese	2
fiber one bar	4
Exercise	4
32 min run
Thursday
Breakfast
cheerios & milk	9
Lunch
english muffin sandwich	6
ruffles	3
cottage cheese	2
Dinner
spaghetti	8
sauce	3
bread	4
Snacks
goldfish	3
candy	3
Exercise
52 min walk	4
Friday
Breakfast
cheerios & milk	9
Lunch
beef	7
honey wheat bread	8
Dinner
turkey chili	5
bread	3
Snack
pears	0
Exercise
38 min walk	3
Saturday
Breakfast
cheerios & milk	9
Lunch
turkey chili	5
bread	3
Snack
cheerios & milk	4
Dinner
general tso chicken	15
1 c brown rice	5
Exercise	9
walked 17 min
ran 55 min

Henry @ 15 & 16 Months

Henry is 16 months now, but I missed the 15 month update so let's do a little of both.  By the way, when do I stop saying his age in months? 

At his 15 month checkup, Henry was 27.5 pounds and 32 inches tall.  No more baby scale.  He got to stand up on a regular one.  We took him for his first kid's meal at Chick-fil-a that day, which he loved.  Chick-fil-a has by far the best fruit cup: strawberries, grapes, apples, and mandarin oranges.  Everywhere else wants to give you nothing but melons, which Henry likes just fine, but I say yuck.  Henry would eat fruit all day if we didn't cut him off. 

He's making lots of new noises now so I feel like talking can't be far off, but he hasn't added any new words this month.  I do still occasionally get a Mama, but I'm not sure I count it yet.  He has started turning the book right side up if I hand it to him upside down.  He can go fetch lots of different things even if you ask him for a specific book.  He's started climbing onto the couch by himself and I have to keep him from climbing right over the back. 

For some strange reason if he decides to freak out in the car the only thing that will calm him down is me singing to him in all my tone deaf glory.  I discovered soon after he was born that I don't know very many songs all the way through.  Some nursery rhymes, a few songs from Vacation Bible School, and then I have to branch out into Christmas carols.  I suppose that makes sense this time of year, but it didn't so much this summer.

He's obsessed with tractors.

We've been to a few more story times at the library.  At the last one, Henry pulled two kids' hair and one grandma's, and tipped the tray of jingle bells over onto another child.  We haven't been in a few weeks...  I don't want it to sound like he's aggressive because he wasn't being at all malicious when he pulled the hair.  I think he was trying to pet them. 

That being said, he's still a biter.  Sometimes he's just excited and bites.  He's never bitten anyone besides Graham and I, thank goodness.  Time outs seem to have no effect.  He just likes to chew on things (and apparently his parents). 

He's started fighting his car seat more frequently lately, but once he's strapped in, the tantrum usually stops immediately.  Sometimes I'm amazed by this little person's capacity to make me so frustrated and so in love at the same time.

my little angel (most of the time anyway)

We got to go to Myrtle Beach last week.  I've mentioned before that we have low expectations for vacations at this point, but the trip went well.  The first night was about as we expected based on the trip we took with Henry to Florida when he was 8 months old (where he didn't sleep for a straight week, I left the happiest place on Earth in tears, and we took a visit to urgent care).  But back to this story.  We gave Henry the bedroom and we took the pull out couch.  It just made more sense for us to still have access to the kitchen and bathroom after 7pm when he went to bed.  Henry woke up four times our first night there, and during one of those times he was awake for two hours.  The rest of the week was great though.  Seemed to just need to get that out of his system, likely because he'd been couped up in the car for so many hours.  He didn't fight any of his naps because he was so worn out from playing hard every day and only woke up a time or two for a diaper change at night. 

He only attempted to eat sand a few times.

Vacations as a parent are much different than how we vacationed before Henry.  We used to not view vacations as chances to relax but as a chance to cram in as much sightseeing as we could.  Henry's internal clock didn't know about daylight savings time so there was no gaining an extra hour on that night.  And he wound up getting up at 6am everyday instead of his usual 7am.  Graham and I compensated by going to bed by 9pm every night, and even took naps some days.  Since we were forced to take it slow, I completed four books on this trip and managed to run on the beach twice.  Our idea of splurging was going to Wal-Mart and picking up Pop Tarts and Lucky Charms for Graham and Boone's Farm Sangria for me.  I'm not sure what that says about us or if it has anything to do with us being parents...

Got this outfit for $1.  I hadn't packed shorts since it was November.

I vote for only beach vacations from now on, at least when Henry Bear is involved.  You can easily get back to your hotel room for a nap and back out again after.  No admission fees.  Henry never got bored.  What could be better?  Henry loved playing in the sand and there were even a few days warm enough he could put his feet in the ocean.  We went to Ripley's Aquarium.  I loved the shark exhibit, but the place was small.  We were able to do the whole thing twice in the one hour we were there so it wasn't really worth the price.  We really liked Alligator Adventure though.  Henry got to pet a baby alligator and a snake and a turtle.  Plus we got to come back a second day for free.

@ Alligator Adventure in Myrtle Beach

The only unfortunate incident on this trip occurred on the morning we left.  Henry had waken up in the middle of the night and his pants had been a little wet so I didn't put them back on him.  I couldn't find another pair stumbling around in the dark, and just put him back in his pack n play in his diaper.  We awoke to a diaperless baby and poop in the pack n play.  It was a tense time all around packing to leave.

I'm happy we had another week of warmer weather after we got back.  It's going to be a long winter not being able to go for walks or play outside.  Wow how that kid loves to play outside.

Oh, and I missed sharing since I haven't had a post in a month our love of Halloween.  It is by far my favorite holiday, and we always try to make our own costumes.  This year I used this Ninja Turtle costume I found as an inspiration for matching outfits for Henry and Graham.  I was Rainbow Brite.  (My dress was made out of a graduation gown.)  I watched Rainbow Brite while I was working on our costumes one night, and almost picked another costume for myself it was so awful.  Some things just aren't the same 25 years later.  Graham, however, watched the entire Ninja Turtles trilogy and says they maintained their radicalness.

Cowabunga dude!

Go ninja, go ninja, go!

Heroes on a half shell

Keep It or Return It?

"What I Wore Wednesday" is a weekly link up hosted by The Pleated Poppy to encourage everyone to get up and attempt to be cute every day even if you're just staying home.  I was hoping if I started participating that I would (a) stop being so frumpy all the time and (b) get inspired to lose my last 25 pounds.  I am really bad about barely looking in a mirror on most days so if I can make a habit out of participating in this and looking at a daily picture of myself, I think it will help with both.  I linked up once and then went on vacation and now I plan to start again.  I need something to jumpstart me.  I'm having the toughest time getting back on the Weight Watchers wagon.  I've been only logging my points like half of each week for the last 6 weeks or so.  Thankfully I have not gained anything back, but I'm also not making progress.  

Anyway, I have not taken any photos of what I actually wore this week and I'm aware it's no longer Wednesady, but I need you guys to help me decide if I should keep or return a few things I just bought.  So how about "What I Bought Friday?"  By the way, it is really hard to take a good picture of yourself in the mirror.  The Henry-sized handprints all over it probably don't help...

I'm concerned this top makes me look bigger than I am because the outer shirt is so baggy.  Also, does the flowery part make sense with the stripes?  Thoughts?

I think I like this top, but I always need a second opinion.

I've had this white sweater for a while, but the ruffled navy tank is new.  Does it look okay with the sweater?  Also the jeans I'm wearing in all these pictures can be returned too.  I was excited because they were only $16 and were comfy, but I worry they may be too big after I lose the next 5 pounds.  

These are not new shoes, but I want to know if they look okay with these jeans?  I cannot wear skinny jeans because I am not skinny.  Frankly, I don't think I'll be the right shape for skinny jeans even if I become skinny, but that could be a whole other post...

I am very undecided on this top from Target.  I'm just wearing a white tank under it, but I'm afraid it looks slouchy.  What are my other options?  (Or should I just return it or anything else above?)  I'd rather know now before I pull tags off and wash everything.

And here's another question while I'm asking for advice.  I love the look of leggings with a tunic or a dress.  Everyone else looks so cute with it, but I always think I'll just look pregnant.  Do you think I can pull it off?

I really wish I had a sense of style.  I'm amazed at the ability people have to buy things from a thrift store and make them look better than if they'd gone out and bought retail.  I'm especially impressed with New Dress a Day where she takes dresses from Goodwill and flea markets that are 30 years old and oversized and turns them into cute outfits.  Oh to have that skill!  I have signed up for a sewing class that starts next week so maybe I can at least learn to do some basic alterations.