Resolution update- accountability

I was just thinking this morning that I need to have some sort of monthly progress update for my resolutions. Here goes...

Enjoy every moment with JM. While he is relatively portable, I want to get out and have as much fun as possible. We joined two moms groups in the past few months and I am happy to say that I've met some cool ladies and have done some fun things while 'getting out' with the little guy. I want to continue to work on taking the initiative to invite other moms for coffee. Two people have invited me to walk or have coffee in the past two weeks and it was really flattering. I want to flatter others in this way and work on my building my "mom network."
Lose this muffin top. I am not the most disciplined when it comes to my no carbs after 5pm rule, BUT I will say that we are on the whole eating a lot healthier and I have cut out about 50% of my weeknight wine drinking. I am also LOVING the Zumba class at my gym. It is this dance class set to modern music and it really fills my heart with joy to go. I don't think I've ever loved working out so much, evah!
Be a better spouse, being more present (less FB) and consisently doing the things that fill up my spouse's love tank, especially including doing the things around the house neither one of us wants to do, like the ironing and record-keeping. Making some strides here and particularly proud of times when I have lately shut down the computer at night to talk to Mike or watch a movie with him. I love talking with him.
Call my grandmas once a week. I am stinking this one up big time! Need to work on this.
Set aside one day a week to categorize our expenses and review our budget. Need to work on this, too. I am picking Friday as my day to do this right now! I did do this Friday last week, so let's start a trend.
Continue developing more confidence in my own decisions, desires and needs. I really like the routine that Mike and I have going on where he watches JM in the mornings and gives me a chance to shower, eat breakfast and pray before JM sees me, remembers he's hungry and I'm on the clock for the day. I've been filling up my water bottle every morning during this time, making Mike's lunch (see love-tank resolution aforementioned) and trying to get things organized before Mike leaves and I'm on my own. It really helps to start the day off right and I'm no longer in my pajamas still at 10am because I get caught up reading emails, feeding JM, etc.

AC: Harmony

Mwah!

Mwah!
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

Love him....

Four!

Four!
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

Is little pumpkin not the cutest in his little cloth diaper and with his four toofers?

Did I mention that we weighed him last week and he'd gained 1.5 pounds in the past 2 weeks? He is up to 17 lbs 5 oz. The bottomless pit thing is paying off!

AC: release

25 Random Things

this is going around on Facebook right now and Z told me I should post it to my blog.

1. I was born in Pittsburgh, PA. My dad grew up there and was working as an Assistant News Director for KDKA TV.
2. Although I have run 6 half marathons and 1 marathon, I didn't start running until I was 27. Before that I hated running and could barely run around the block.
3. I've recently discovered that when I am having a hard day with my son, a dance party quickly turns my mood and his around quite quickly.
4. I have lived in a lot of states: PA, NJ, IA, WI, NC, IL, TX and for 6 months in Madrid, Spain in college. Some of the best times in my life were in WI for college, Madrid, NC when I lived in Lincoln Green and now living in Austin. The worst times were living in Madison out of college and in Chicago.
5. My ideal day would include reading on the beach and lots of pina coladas, which I only seem to drink on vacation.
6. I am sort of obsessed with using cloth diapers. It literally pains me to have to use a disposable.
7. I met my husband at church, but we didn't start dating until 2 years later. And he proposed to me on a Wednesday.
8. Making and receiving mix cds is a great joy of my life.
9. I am supposed to be doing the South Beach diet, but I ate some coffee ice cream last night.
10. Right now I am listening to This Must Be the Place by the Talking Heads on satellite radio. I love this song
11. Recently, I've started wearing a lot more clothing that has an elasticized waistband and that scares me.
12. I love being a mom and doing dorky stay at home mom things. My son started blowing kisses recently and it's adorable
13. I am hosting a mom's get together in a little over an hour and am a little nervous about it.
14. Right now I am reading Elizabeth Berg's Joy School, and the main character reminds me of myself with her randomness
15. Every morning I pour myself a big cup of coffee, but only drink half.
16. I generally cannot make it past 10pm at night
17. Right now I am wearing large ridiculous slippers that look like giant pigs
18. I am counting down the days until Elizabeth comes to visit for SXSW. We missed it last year and I cannot wait to do it again.
19. I am not very detail-oriented and my husband is, thank God.
20. In my lifetime I have worked as a camp counselor, a lifeguard, a waitress (w/w) at TGI Fridays during the era of flair, a receptionist at a church, on the swing shift running t-shirts through a dryer, as a TV promotions producer, as a bartender and as a AVP of marketing for an insurance company.
21. I hate drying my hair with a passion
22. I love trying new recipes, but rarely make the same thing twice
23. My favorite article of clothing is a cashmere turtleneck I got on sale
24. I cannot handle having dry lips and reapply lip balm at least 10 times a day
25. I do not like mayonnaise laden items that have 'salad' in their name: potato, egg, bean, chicken, tuna, etc.

He speaks!

He speaks!
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

8 months old!

DSCN3566
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

The months continue to fly by. It's really starting to sink in to me that our baby is growing up and it's hard for me to accept. I cried last week because we had to move the setting on JM's crib down past the newborn top setting. We had to do this, because I walked into his room and the little stinker was trying to pull himself up after his nap and I had horrible visions of him flinging himself over the top of the crib. I told Mike the other day that it's really sad to think that in a little over a trimester, I will be planning JM's first birthday party. Anyway:

JM continues to be into EVERYTHING. He is the most curious little monkey. He likes his toys all right, but what he really wants are things he should not have. As I write this, he is shredding a magazine to bits.

Movement.... He continues to be on the move. It's still not crawling in the traditional sense of the word with the knees, but he can pull himself across a room quickly, so we're calling it crawling. He uses his whole upper body to pull himself and will throw in a knee here and there. He just started pushing his booty in the air in a downward dog pose and is getting really close to going from a laying down position to sitting. He can't pull himself up onto an object yet, but will do so any day. He has also started doing this thing where he bounces in a sitting position and we think he's trying to dance.

Talking... He has just started making sounds that sound a lot more like words. He will say ba ba ba and LOVES to echo fart and raspberry noises back to you (never did I think I would be making fart noises in the middle of the grocery store, but whatever works!). There don't seem to be any rhyme or reason, but Mike and I are desparately pushing mama and dada and are also trying out a little sign language here and there. He also gets SO excited by Bella and seeing any dog in general and will scream at the top of his lungs. We call him the Dog Screamer.

Eating.... He continues to be a good eater. I am actually quite impressed by the amount of food he is willing to eat. He has kind of a bottomless pit thing going on and will continue to keep opening his mouth and grunting far beyond when I'd think he'd be full. I am still breastfeeding, as well. If he keeps eating like this, one of these days, I'd think he's going to catch up to other kids on the weight thing. Anyway, I am pretty fearless with giving him table foods. The past few days, he's tried string cheese, a mashed up goldfish cracker and blueberries. I have also started "making" his baby food, which is not as hard as you'd think. Basically, I just puree whatever we had for dinner if it's not too spicy, add some water and throw it in some ice cube trays. He's seemed to really enjoy spaghetti and turkey meatballs, chicken with rice and the pot roast with carrots and potatoes I've made recently.

Sleeping... He continues to sleep through the night well. Generally he's down for the count at 7 and sleeps until 4 or 5, eats and goes back down until 7ish. He is taking 2 naps a day. A shorter one in the morning, like an hour and fifteen to hour and a half. In the afternoons, it's more like 2 hours. If he doesn't get a long enough nap, you can tell!

Teeth... as of this week, we are up to four. Teething makes him a generally unhappy camper, so I look forward to him getting them all in and over with.

Personality... No one would say that this child is a wallflower. Between his noises and curiosity, he makes friends whereever we go. Mike and I are both kind of quiet, so I don't know where he gets this from, but it's sure fun to be around him! I find myself wanting to kiss him all the time, which I am sure someday will be embarassing for him, so I'm definitely trying to get my fill now!

Where were you?

Where were you?
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

John Michael just watched the Inaugeration of Barack Obama. He celebrated the occasion by wearing a red, white and blue outfit and eating the lid of a jar of peanuts.

Son, I hope this is the beginning of a wonderful new chapter of history. Yes, we can!

raves...

two raves:

1. I freaking LOVE going to music together class at austin lyric opera with JM. it is by far one of the highlights of my week. we play instruments, we dance and sing. i wondered about whether the cost would be worth it for such a little guy, but he loves it, too. case in point, he's been grumpy and teething ALL WEEK and pretty much wanting me to hold him all day long. the entire time we were there he was smiling, crawling, eating drumsticks, trying to eat baby Phoenix's shoes next to us, and most importantly, not in my arms!, etc. He was a ray of sunshine in an otherwise grumpy week. Moms in Austin, this is such a fun thing to do with your baby. i think they have this program in other cities, too, but i will say I particularly love our goofy teacher...

2. The other day Target had a special on Kashi granola bars (3 for 7, I believe) and their dark chocolate coconut are to.die.for. They don't taste good for you, at all.

That's all I got right now... AC: release

Resolutionation

2008 was probably one of the biggest years of change in my life. The year began as I was restless and nervously pregnant. At 30 weeks, we took a 'babymoon' trip to Ireland in March for 10 days with Mike's work and loved exploring the gorgeous landscapes. While we were gone, we lost Grandma H. whom at the age of 92 was ready to go and be with Grandpa, but we were still saddened to lose her and miss her a lot. May brought the biggest change, when I went from being a full-time career girl with the best job I'd ever had working in marcom for an insurance company to being a new mom, and a stay at home mom on top of it. We spent much of the 2nd part of the year trying to figure out how to be parents. We learned so much. We learned how to swaddle and change diapers, how to be chill about breastfeeding and weight-gain issues (okay- so I'm still working on curbing my weight-gain worry, but I've gotten better!), to function in a sleepless state, how to/not to communicate with each other about parenting issues, how to rock a baby to sleep just so, how to bathe and care for a baby. We learned how to love each other better. We fell crazy in love with our new son. We gave up a life of just winging it in exchange for planned date nights and complicated trips just to the store. Time flew fast like people said it would, and as the days passed, we relaxed more and savored more of our time as parents. We saw the economy go into the tank and tried to focus on what was important and started being more aware of spending and had fun shopping the grocery store ads and using coupons. I started running again and felt my old self coming back to the surface. Six months after giving birth, I ran the Dallas White Rock Half Marathon and was pleased with my time. After a brief hiatus, we continued our weekly Bible Study group meetings in our home and started Max Lucado's Traveling Light book and have had a regular weekly attendance from our core members (woo hoo!). At the end of the year, we took JM on his first plane trip to Chicago to see our family there, which was a great statement of how far we had come with each other in regard to handling the stress of life as parents and our "new normal." We were gentler with each other, much more organized and kept things simple. We came a long way in 2008. I grew in my faith and grew as an adult, a mom and as a woman. A lot.

In 2009, I want to:

• Enjoy every moment with JM. Someday, someday soon I may have two babies, which will make life altogether much more complicated. While he is relatively portable, I want to get out and have as much fun as possible.
• Lose this muffin top. So far I've been doing pretty well on the modified South Beach diet, including cutting out the wine drinking at night that has become my routine. I want to go to the gym at least twice a week and keep up my running.
• Be a better spouse, being more present (less FB) and consisently doing the things that fill up my spouse's love tank, especially including doing the things around the house neither one of us wants to do, like the ironing and record-keeping.
• Call my grandmas once a week. It's hard to get a hold of both of them, considering neither has an answering machine, but that is no excuse.
• Set aside one day a week to categorize our expenses and review our budget.
• Develop inner poise. J/K. Continue developing more confidence in my own decisions, desires and needs. This means making time for myself to eat right and to fill up my water bottle; taking the initiative to plan activities that I want to do; embracing my flaws and insecurities and stop comparing myself to other people so much. Giving to others always makes me feel less insecure, so when I feel some self-pity coming on, I want to remember to do something good for someone else and see if that helps.

I think that's a good start for now. Happy (belated) New Year. Time to go wrap up the last of my Christmas decorations. :)

Don't hold it inside

Our son has found his voice.
We took JM to the greenbelt area dog park by our house yesterday and put him in the baby Bjorn. Was it the many breeds of hounds that caused him to not just shriek, but SCREAM at teh top of his lungs with glee? Not sure, but he was literally screaming his head off with the biggest smile on his face. People passing by, and us, weren't sure what to make of it.
He is totally going to be the kid walking around with the pot on his head from Parenthood.
But we love him. And his lungs. I will say that our child, though sweet, does not hold his emotions inside. He lets you know how he feels. And loudly. His lung development in the womb was suberb (thanks to me, no doubt).
It was a nice Sunday afternoon for all of us, including hound Bella. The sun was shining, the sky was a brilliant shade of sky blue (har), we went for an early dinner at Berry Hill where JM was happily eating his first tamales, rice and black beans (he loved them).... and we came home and watched the Golden Globes.

Growing up too fast

Holy cats, he can stand!
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

Wah... can you hear my heart breaking? Our little boy is growing up. Evidence:

1. He can crawl.
2. He can feed himself. I started giving him those little cereal puffs, which mamas, are GOD'S GIFT. JM is a bit impatient when he's in his high chair and those puppies are a godsend, buying me time to heat up his food.
3. His top two teeth are coming in. He has been a MESS for the past two weeks. Waking at 4 am, drooling like a water faucet, wanting to be held, all.the.time. His gums were swollen, but now one tooth has broken through and you can see a little of the other one poking through. Poor baby. Pretty soon he'll REALLY be able to bite your finger off.
4. Worst of all....I can't take these all coming all at once. This morning I was holding his fingers and he was standing so well that I wanted to see what would happen if I gave him something to hold onto and crikey, he can STAND.

These "big boy" steps are all happening too fast. I can't take it! I want time to stop! :(

Farewell, dear holiday...

I am loathe to say that our holiday season has officially come to a close. For the first time in a long time (since childhood, perhaps?), I felt a great sense of magic and gratitude this season. Despite planes, trains and automobiles, different beds, locations, people and schedules, John Michael was a trouper. We are so blessed to have him in our lives. He made the holidays so special.

We spent Christmas in Dallas with Mike's family. Staying with Mike's parents for the days leading up to the big day provided a nice break for us, allowing us to go out a few times and indulge a bit in Christmas cheer. We had a fun night out at the Loon with some friends and siblings and went to see Slumdog Millionaire another night. JM loved his first Christmas. He got a couple of gifts, but especially seemed to enjoy the wrapping paper. Being around the other kids was so much fun for him. His cousins spent hours pulling him around in this plastic wagon and seeing him in there delighted me very much, as he had an aristocratic and comfortable air, being quite happy to be catered to like an Egyptian pharoah being pulled by elephants. He had his legs kicked up over the end and crossed and seemed to enjoy each lap around Joe and Pam's ground floor. Unfortunately, the wee one did get some bad germs and got sick over the break (the 7 other cousins? who knows?). It was really scary dealing with a sick baby. When his temperature was 101.5 and he wasn't acting like himself, I felt so frightened. He was sleepy and grumpy and needy. I hated it for him. We took him to the doctor early on, knowing that we were leaving for Chicago in two days, and got some amoxicillan. Thankfully he healed pretty fast after that, thanks to the antibiotics, saline spray, the humidifier and lots of breastfeeding.

Our trip to Chicago was fun. JM was a dream on both flights. I had a lot of anxiety about a baby screaming for two hours the whole way there, considering his illness prior to. I packed an entire 'mom-bag' full of toys, formula bottles, solid foods, changes of outfit, diapers, etc., but the truth was that it was all about timing both flights. We left right about the time of his nap both times. We filled him up with food. He conked out. On the flight to we got lucky and there was an open seat on the plane and we were blessed with the very last row (other than the fact we looked out on the jet engine- seriously, i highly recommend the back row for any parent- the jet white noise and proximity to bathrooms can't be beat). JM got to sit by the window and since the flight wasn't full, he got a seat and slept in his carseat. His ears didn't seem to bother him at all. I nursed him on the takeoff and topped him off with a bottle afterwards. It was easy peasy. Mike even asked if we could get his picture taken with the pilot and he obliged, letting us take a picture in the cockpit!

In Chicago we did much visiting in a short time. More than that, we did much eating. We went to Portillos for hot dogs and Italian beef, Hackneys for hamburgers, the Continental Bakery for chocolate bismarcks (a wonderful source of memory from my childhood excursions with my grandpa). My aunt babysat on New Years, allowing Mike and I to go downtown on the train and had dinner with his friend Erika and to the Shannon for the new year celebration. We visited with my high school friend Katie D. and college friends Z and Karen and their spouses. I learned that my son can handle taking a nap in the car on the way someplace and still be happy (I am a stickler for his napping at home in his crib usually). I learned that his nap must be at least 45 minutes or he will be grumpy. He was very grumpy for my college friends at the Z's. The kid needs a nap! Oh well, live and learn.

More than anything for me our trip solidified the fact that I have such fond memories of Chicago from my youth and I really do not want anything to change. It was fun staying in the old folks home with my grandma in the suburbs. We had our own little apartment on the floor below her and could go up and visit easily. It was sad to see her getting old. She is still pretty with it, but seems to be slowing down and shutting down emotionally, if that makes any sense. It is like she is in a holding pattern, waiting for the next stage.

Thankfully, such institutions such as the bakery, Portillos and Hackneys remain the way I remember. Ah such fine meals we had at these places! Unfortunately, places like the River Shannon where I used to work, have changed from my mind's eye. I hadn't been back in 6 years and innocently thought I could roll in to the Shannon and get free pint-sized drinks a la 2002. No. When I told the chubby bartender with the doughy arms that I used to fill her shoes she said, "Oh, wow, so you knew Chuck? 9.50." Sadly, a friend of mind from back in the day was still there and obviously has an alcohol problem. Seeing her there and stuck in time, however, was not a good thing.

Although I love to visit and miss my dear ones who live there SO much, I hate the grey drearies of Chicago winter. Austin has become my home. We were thrilled to visit, but happy to come home to the sunny skies and our own beds. We will especially not miss the sights and sounds (and smells-- ugh!) of cohabitating with the old folks, but will miss seeing Grandma so easily. And now, the post-holiday detox and diet begin. No more sweet rolls. No more hot dogs. Hardest of all, no more cocktails. My main goal for 2009 is to get rid of this muffin-top, so I am starting a modified version of South Beach tomorrow. Watch out, world. I get grumpy when I don't eat carbs!