Slice of Me Sunday

1. Would you rather bungee jump or sky dive?
Sky dive. I've been wanting to do it forever but haven't yet had the chance. This is probably something I should give up since I have a kid now, but I still really want to!

2. When using a public restroom do you squat over the seat or sit?
I used to squat but then an infectious diseases doctor told me you can't get any diseases, etc. from sitting on the toilet seat, so now I just sit.

3. Favorite flower?
Tulips. I love them. That's also my nickname from Tim :)

4. Pedicure or Manicure?
Pedicure. Any time I get a manicure it always messes up within a few minutes of getting it done.

5. How many sibling do you have?
I have a half-brother, two half-sisters and two step sisters.

6. Do you pee in the shower? (gasp!)
Haha, nope!

7. Bikini, tankini, or one piece?
Bikini unless I can't get my tummy flat again by the summer.

8. Where do you hate to shop at, but go there anyways?
Walmart. I loathe it but the groceries are so much cheaper so I shop there every week.

Skinny Tuesday

This week's Skinny Tuesday is a big FAIL.

I'm having to use a different scale since I'm in Boerne, but it said today I weighed 155.7 :( So that's a gain of 2.3 pounds. Boo. I really don't know how that could've happened because I haven't been eating differently and I actually gave up sweets for Lent so I haven't even been eating the amount of sweets I was.

I did get cleared for exercise on Friday but I haven't actually gotten a chance to start because of my mom and Nanny being in town this past weekend and then being in Boerne this week. I plan to start on Thursday because I'm not getting back to town until almost 8:00 PM on Wednesday evening. Hopefully that will help.

Things I did to try to lose weight is to stop eating sweets. I guess my struggles have been not starting exercising yet and I'm obviously doing something wrong on what I'm eating! To be honest, I haven't tried to change my diet that much. I do try to make better choices but I haven't made a huge effort to not eat any junk. I will try harder on that this week.

I can't really hard-core diet because I am breastfeeding and my mom read online if you diet too much while breastfeeding it will release toxins in your body that can get to the baby. So, I've just really got to try to make an effort to eat healthier rather than try to diet.

I'm still keeping my goal of getting to the weight by our anniversary. Hopefully I'll have better news to report next week! If you're on your own weight-loss plan, I hope you did well this week :)

Busy as a Bee

Both Toots and Rosabelle are napping right now (Hallelujah!) so I have a little time to write a quick post.

Thank you to those of you who responded to my "Getting to Know You" post. I REALLY appreciate you easing my mind by telling me something about yourself and I am flattered that y'all want to keep up with the going ons of the Thornes :) The pictures in this post aren't watermarked because they are from my phone, but I will be implementing that plan soon.

Thursday, Toots woke up very cranky and was spitting up/vomiting at least 4-5 times after everytime he ate. Then, he would scream and scream until he spit up, be okay for a minute or two, and then start screaming again. I couldn't put him down at all and the only times he would be okay is when he would pass out from being so tired from all the screaming. I decided to call the doctor and they told me to come in. It turns out he had a stomach virus :( Poor little guy, I felt really bad for him. He started to feel a little better later in the day/evening and he never had the diarrehea (sp) that the doctor thought he would, so we were happy about that. It's very hard when they are babies and can't tell you what is wrong with them so you don't know if it's serious or not. I did get to get him weighed again while we were there and he was up to 11 pounds 6 ounces!

This week went by really quickly. Friday, I had my six week post-partum appointment. The doctor said everything looked great and I can resume normal activity now. I won't be going back to him for a year, unless something insane happens (which I hope it doesn't!). I left after that to meet my Nanny and Papa in Corsicana to bring Nanny to Ft. Worth for the weekend. She is doing great since her surgery but she doesn't like to drive in big city traffic. My mom came on Friday night for the weekend.

Saturday, we went shopping in Southlake and got Toots an adorable Easter outfit at Janie and Jack. Saturday night, my mom and Nanny kept Toots for Tim and I to go to dinner with the married couples group at church. There was a vow renewal ceremony beforehand and then dinner at Rivercrest Country Club. I had asked someone what to wear and they said usually people wear jeans and boots but this time it would be a little nicer since it was at the Country Club. Well, to me, a little nicer than jeans and boots was Tim wearing slacks and a button-down and me wearing a skirt. We walked into the vow renewal and we were WAY under-dressed. All the men were in full suits (jackets and ties) and the women were much more dressed up as well. I was really embarassed and wanted to leave right then but they saw us come in, so we stayed for the vow-renewal. Then, we told them Toots wasn't feeling well so we were going to go home. We went downtown and ate by ourselves and just enjoyed a little "us" time. I know it might seem silly we didn't just stay for the meal even though we weren't as dressed up but I started worrying the Country Club required a jacket and Tim didn't have one and all of the people there were much older than us so I was afraid we wouldn't have anything to talk to them about anyway and it would be awkward because they are all friends and then we just showed up. I'm hoping some other people I know already at the church will go to the next one and then we won't feel weird. Also, I was pretty emotional for some reason and started crying when we got in the car to leave and then I really didn't want to go :) Oh, post partum hormones! We went to this new place downtown called Cowtown Diner that has Texas-type food. Tim got a steak finger basket and I got a chicken pot pie. I also had my first Malibu rum and pineapple juice drink since I got pregnant. Yummmm

Sunday, we got up and went to lunch and then my mom and I headed back to Coriscana to bring my Nanny. Then, my mom and I came to Boerne for me to stay until Wednesday. I'm going to fly back Wednesday evening with Toots. I'm a little nervous about flying with him but I've gotten some tips about letting him suck on a pacifier or bottle or nursing him when we are taking off and landing to help with the pressure and to give him some Tylenol beforehand. Luckily, it's only 45 minutes to an hour flight so if he is cranky or upset, it won't be for too long. My mom and stepdad are keeping Rosabelle until the end of next week for my sister and they both had to work today through Wednesday. That's why I came to keep Rosabelle for them during the day. She is 19 months old so I'm getting a little taste of what it would be like to have a 19 month old and a newborn right now. It's definitely a little challenging! I am looking forward to my mom getting home from work and I'm sure I'll be looking forward to Tim getting home from work if I end up having Toots being 19 months old with a newborn baby.

Here's a couple pictures I took on my phone.

Rosabelle - I couldn't get her to pose or smile for me and I just had to snap this real quick.


Toots sleeping. I took this picture from above is why it looks upside down!

Here's one I took the other day. Look at those fat cheeks!! I can't wait to see how big he is at his two month appointment on March 8th.

Hope everyone had a great weekend! See you tomorrow for Skinny Tuesday!

Oh, P.S., if you ask me a question in the comments section, I'm going to start posting my own comment with the answer to your question. So check back and look at the comments if you ask me a question!

Slice of Me Sunday

I got these questions from Kaitlin's blog, Life of a Busy Wife. I'm out of town this week in Boerne helping my mom and stepdad with my neice, Rosabelle, and I forgot my camera cord to connect the camera to the computer :( So, the only pictures tomorrow will be if I take one on my phone. Boo.

1. How often do you wash/change your sheet?
I wash them once a week, whatever day I clean on, but usually Fridays. There is NOTHING better than the feeling of clean sheets!

2. When is your birthday?
July 12

3. Have you ever met a bloggy friend in real life?
Yes, I've met Jen in real life. I've also met Natalie (in high school) and Lacey (in law school). But I guess I knew them before I started reading their blogs!

4. Brad Pitt or George Clooney?
George Clooney. Brad Pitt when he was younger but he's pretty gross now.

5. If you could change on thing about your body what would it be?
My hips. They are the biggest part of my body and where I always gain weight. They're only good for birthing babies ;)

6. How often do you wash your hair?
This is going to sound disgusting, but usually only once a week. I have really dry hair.

7. Do you have pets?
Yep - little baby Tucker. He's a Yorkie. He's almost 6 but he acts like he's six months and he cries a lot!

8. What social networks do you belong to...if you had to give up one, what would it be?
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Blogger. I could give up Twitter or MySpace without a second thought. I never use them.

Skinny Tuesday (on Wednesday)

Ok, the weekly post I'm going to do to chronicle and follow my weight-loss efforts is Skinny Tuesday. I got the idea from The Urth Mama Blog. I'll have a badge on the right hand side of the blog.

I have my six week post-partum appointment on Friday, so that's when I expect to be cleared for exercise and really start getting back in shape, but I've still been trying to lose weight these past six weeks.

What I'll do every week is focus on my weight-loss efforts for the week (the things I did to get to the weight I want to be at) and also any struggles I had. I will also post my weight and any amount I gained/lost. Join me if you want to - we can help keep eachother accountable! Oh, and you don't have to post your weight if you don't want to.

One thing I would like to add is that I am not trying to make anyone feel bad about themselves or to make it sound like any certain size is too big or too small or whatever else. The amount I weigh right now and how my body looks is not what I want. It doesn't mean this weight or body isn't right for someone else, but it's not right for me.

This week, I have just tried to watch what I eat a little better. Since I haven't gotten the go-ahead to exericse just yet, I haven't done anything hard core, that will start next week.

The struggles I've had is with sweets. I LOVE sweets and it seems like it's gotten worse since I had Brendan! I eat a lot of cookies and candy. I'm working on that by not buying sweet things at the store so I don't have them in the house.

My last week of pregnancy, I weighed 190 pounds. When I came home from the hospital, I had lost 25 pounds, weighing 165 pounds. My goal weight for right now is 134 pounds - which was the weight I was at when I found out I was pregnant. As of this morning, I weighed 153.4 pounds - so 19.4 pounds from my goal weight.

My time period to get to this goal is just about 11 weeks. Eleven weeks from now will be Tim and mine's 2 year anniversary. That averages out to just under 2 pounds per week. I think that is a very attainable goal and I've accomplished losing that much weight much quicker than that before. Right when Tim and I got engaged, I had lost 25 pounds in just at 8 weeks.

There's my Skinny Tuesday/Wednesday post for the week. See y'all next week! :)

Six Sleepy but Swell Weeks

I'm back! I went to Boerne last Wednesday to visit and celebrate my stepdad's birthday on Thursday. Tim came on Thursday evening. We would've ridden together but I was planning on staying through this Wednesday to help my mom and stepdad with my niece, Rosabelle, who they are keeping for my sister for a little while. They ended up not needing me this week but will need me next week, so I'm going back there on Sunday through Wednesday of this next week.

Anyway, we celebrated my stepdad's birthday on Thursday by going to dinner at Kirby's Steakhouse in San Antonio. We brought Toots and Rosabelle, who is 19 months old, so it was an interesting experience. Rosabelle wanted to be held the whole time, which my mom did so she wouldn't disturb everyone else's dinner. Toots was fussy at first but I went in the bathroom and fed him and then he just stared at the lights the rest of the time :)

Friday, I got to get my hair done as a Valentine's gift from my mom. I got full hi-lites and a cut, which I was reallllly excited about. I haven't gotten hi-lites in almost two years (I think right after Tim and I got married was the last time I got them). I haven't taken a picture yet, but I promise I will soon and post it. The haircut is pretty much the same because I didn't want to take any length off of it. Friday night, Tim and I went to dinner for Valentine's Day and my mom and stepdad kept Toots. We went to Fraelo's in Leon Springs, which I have mentioned before. It's a really good pizza place. Then, we went to Orange Cup, a new yogurt place I was told about. It was different than what I was used to. They just have four flavors that are kind of "natural" tastes and then you can add a topping. The cool thing is they put in the flavor you got and the toppings on a computer and then print out the nutritional stats for your particular yogurt. It was fun to get to have a date night with Tim since we don't get those very often because we don't have any family in Fort Worth to keep him and we just don't feel comfortable leaving him with a random sitter right now.

Saturday and Sunday we just hung out and did some shopping. Tim went back to Fort Worth early Sunday and I stayed in Boerne one more day because my mom didn't have school on Monday. I stopped in Waco on the way back to see the family. Toots got lots of cute clothes from both CiCi and Peepaw (my mom and stepdad) and from Lolli and Pops (my stepmom and dad) for Valentine's Day as well as a few books.

Toots is six weeks old today! For almost all of the days we were in Boerne, he slept 5 hours straight at night. I started putting him in his crib to sleep when we got back and he hasn't been sleeping quite as well but I've heard that's normal. He has also started babbling and making more sounds. This morning when I put him back in his crib after eating, I went back to bed and he was in there just talking to himself for a few minutes before he fell back asleep. It was so cute! He also started doing his very first social smiles (smiling at us when we say things to him)!! I have one picture below but I'm hoping to catch other ones - everytime I manage to get the camera I can't get him to do it again! He follows things a lot better with his eyes now and he also stares at whoever is holding him. His neck strength is getting better and better.

I'm going to do a separate post every week now for my weight loss goals to get back to pre-pregnancy weight. It's called Skinny Tuesday but I'll have to be a day late this week since I didn't post yesterday.

We are going to dinner tonight with my friend Kaitlin and her boyfriend, Beau, which we are excited about. I haven't seen Kaitlin since I was in the hospital with Toots so I'm anxious to hang out :)

If you haven't responded to my "Getting to Know You" post below, don't forget to do that by Saturday. Thanks so much for reading the blog, it makes me feel special that y'all are interested :) One of the steps I will be taking starting next week (I just haven't had time to do it yet, I'm planning to this weekend) is that I will be water-marking all the pictures I post on here. This will eliminate people from stealing the pictures for their own use, if someone actually wanted to do that.

Here's some pictures:

I know this one is kind of blurry, but I just thought his face was cute. The shirt kind of states the obvious, doesn't it?! ;)

When Toots wouldn't go back to sleep the other night, Daddy got up with him to try to get him to sleep. Instead, he and Daddy BOTH fell asleep on the couch. I know this is dark but I couldn't turn on the light to make it brighter and my camera didn't flash when I took it.

And, the one I know y'all want to see...The smile!! He's kind of squished because he was sitting on Tim's lap and Tim was taking the picture, but still very adorable...He also does lots of great open-mouth smiles but I haven't gotten one of those on camera yet.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and has had a great week so far!

Pinky Swear

Sorry I haven't posted this week. I didn't get back in town on Monday until almost 7:00 PM and today was busy as well so I didn't have a chance.

I will post tomorrow when Toots is napping, I promise!

Hope y'all had a great weekend and thanks very much to those of you that have responded to my post below so far!

Getting to Know You

Hey Followers,

I know some of you from real life and "internet life" but some of you, I'm not really sure who you are. Would you do me a favor and leave a comment telling me a little bit about yourself, please? There have been some disturbing things happening on a few other blogs about stealing pictures and pretending that someone's kid is their own kid (I'm not sure if how I am phrasing that makes sense, but I think you will get the idea), so I'd like to know who my followers are. I really am not trying to be snarky or anything, but for the protection of my family, if you don't leave me a comment about yourself, I'm going to block you from following. I'm also going to be taking some other precautions in the next week, which I will write a separate post about.

I don't need to know your life story or any information that is overly personal - just maybe what state you're from, perhaps an interesting fact about yourself, and I'd definitely like to know how you found my blog. Please respond by next Saturday :)

Oh, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE that I have you as followers, but I hope you will understand that I have to keep my family's interest as my first priority and I am trying to keep from having to make the blog private because I really don't want to do that.

Thanks so much and I hope y'all are having a fabulous weekend! I'm out of town for the weekend and I'll try to post on Monday. If not, Tuesday morning for sure!

That's a BIG boy!

Toots turned one month old on Saturday! Sometimes, it seems like that went by SO fast. Other times, it seems like it's been several months already (probably depending on how much sleep I've gotten or how much he's crying).

Here's a one month picture of him and he's giving me the side-eye, like he's not so sure about what I'm doing! haha

Today we had the one month check-up with his pediatrician. He weighs 10 pounds 12 ounces (WHOA) which is the 75th percentile. He is 23 inches long (WHOA again!) which is the 90th percentile (Hence, the BIG boy post title). His head is 15 (is that inches? I'm not sure) which is the 50th percentile. He lifts his head up a lot when he's on his stomach or on our shoulder. He has started following toys back and forth with his eyes and loves to stare at us and at whoever is holding him. He really likes his baths now and just sits and chills in them (I think I didn't have it warm enough for him before). He has terrible cradle cap but we asked the doctor about that today and he suggested using T-Gel/Selsen Blue/Nizordal 2x a week and that should take care of it so we are going to try that.

Toot's most favorite thing is the light. He absolutely loves looking at the light out the window or looking at any lights we have on in the house. When we open and close the blinds, he gives us a smile :) Here he is looking out the window while I was attempting some tummy time with him (which, by the way, he still hates but the pedi said that's normal).

Ahh, sleep. How you allude us...(at night anyway)

I mentioned before I was going to ask the pedi about him sleeping. I didn't even have to bring it up because he asked me first. Here's how the convo went:

Pedi: How is he sleeping?

Me: Well, we had our best night yet last night. He slept 3 hours and 40 minutes the first time he went to sleep and 3 hours the time after that.

Pedi: Oh. I expect him to be sleeping a lot more than that!

Me: Oh....I had planned on asking you about that this time...

Anyway, he told me by the 2 month appointment, Toots should be sleeping 5-6 hours at least every night. He said with his weight what it is now, he should be sleeping about 5 hours at a time and no less than 4. He told me if he goes to bed at 9:00, he should not wake up again until around 1:00 and then shouldn't wake up after that until about 5:00 and then should be up for the day at around 8:00. His suggestion is not to immediately feed him when he wakes up at night (like I have been doing) but to get Tim to pick him up and try to rock him back to sleep, possibly also giving him a pacifier. If he continues to be very upset and won't go back to sleep, go ahead and feed him, but he shouldn't be necessarily eating whenever he wakes up. So, we're going to try that tonight. I know some of you said you were anxious to hear what he had to say about the sleeping. Also, he said by three months, he should be sleeping 7 hours at a time.

By the way, isn't the picture above so cute? Those are some adorable overalls CiCi (my mom) bought him from Gymboree and they have that little pirate dog in the pocket of them. I thought it was too cute how he looks like he is holding it.

Here's some sweet hands and feet pictures just because I like his hands and feet :)

Tim's mom was in town to help us this past week, which was great. I didn't end up going to the Rockin' Moms thing on Thursday because Toots went back to sleep at 9:00, which was when I needed to get dressed and stuff but I decided to go back to sleep with him. There isn't one in March, so I will start going in April. Nana (Tim's mom) kept Toots on Thursday evening and Tim and I went to Babe's for dinner. Babe's is very delicious and I went there several times with people at work when I was working at the DA's office, but Tim had never been there. You have a choice of fried chicken, chicken fried steak, smoked chicken, chicken tenders, pot roast, or fried catfish for your meat and then corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits and salad are served family-style. It is really yummy and Tim enjoyed it as well. That was our first night out without the baby. It was fun to get out just the two of us, but I did miss him.

We had a weekend to ourselves this weekend which was fun since we haven't really had that yet (and won't have it again for awhile). Friday, Tim kept Toots for a couple hours while I went to someone's house for this church group called Mom2Mom. It was really fun to get out for a little bit and hang out with some other moms and drink some wine. Saturday, we slept in some and Toots and Tim lounged in bed until about 11:00. We went and ate lunch and went to the mall and Babies R Us and then spent Saturday night hanging out at the house. We finally went to church on Sunday and then came home and watched the Super Bowl. I am so sad that the Colts did not win, but I know it was exciting for the Saints. I made Mexican Brisket in the crockpot and it was absolutely delicious (if you are interested in the recipe, comment and I'll either e-mail it to you or post it on here).

Now, it's back to the week. We are leaving Wednesday evening to go to Boerne for my stepdad's birthday on Thursday and to spend the weekend. They are going to keep him for us on Saturday while we go out for Valentine's Day. I'm also getting my hair done on Friday (hi-lites and all!) which I am super excited about. Oh, and we are getting professional pictures taken tomorrow (HOPEFULLY - the weather has to be sunny to take them - cross your fingers for us!) so I will definitely post some of those when we get them.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and has a great week!!

Four Weeks!

Ok, thanks for giving me a few days! The day after I wrote about him not sleeping, he slept much better, but last night he was back to waking up every 2 hours. I'm hoping this is some sort of growth spurt and then he'll sleep longer. I read in What to Expect the First Year that babies who are 11 lbs or more metabolically (sp?) don't need to eat during the night. I weighed Toots with myself the other day and, according to our scale, he weighs 10.6 pounds! If it's right, then he will probably be close to 11 lbs by our 1 month appointment on Monday. Either way, I'm going to ask the doctor for some tips for getting him to sleep longer, if possible.

Last weekend, we went to Waco on Friday to visit my family. We had a great time and went and ate at George's and hung out with them. Saturday, we came back to Fort Worth and Tim's dad and stepmom and sister came into town to spend the night and meet Toots. We went to Texas de Brazil for dinner and then back to our apartment for them to spend some time with the baby. I had never been to Texas de Brazil before - it was really good! Sunday, three of my cousins came by to meet him. So, he met LOTS of family this weekend!

Tim's mom came for the week on Monday and has been helping me out a lot. Tomorrow, I am going to this thing at the hospital called Rockin' Mommas - kind of like a mom's support group and you can bring your baby. It's once a month so hopefully I'll like it and maybe meet some other moms.

Oh, I'm not posting a weekly post partum picture because I can't tell a difference, but I did lost another pound and a half.

I guess that's about all that's going on. Hope y'all had a great weekend and beginning of the week! I'll post Monday about Toot's appointment and hopefully I'll be able to post a joyous report of the Colts winning the Super Bowl!! Gotta root for my boyfriend Peyton Manning ;)

Here's some pictures...I hope soon they will all be with eyes open and looking at the camera!

ZzzzZzzz

We haven't had very good nights the past few nights with Toots, so I'm pretty exhausted. I will try to post a little later this week with an update and some pictures but I'm too tired to put anything together right now.

Please check back later in the week and bear with me as we, hopefully, get him to start sleeping well again!