Blog Giveaway

I'm trying to win a Kidco Babysteps 123 Natural Feeding System from A Mama Stork Knows blog because I am planning on making Toot's baby food whenever he starts solids. This feeding system would help me out a TON to accomplish this process so I really want to win it!

If you want to try to win, too, go to A Mama Stork Knows and enter for yourself!

Faith Newman

Toots got a new friend the other day, courtesy of my friend (and future Godmother to Toots!) Michelle. I am stealing the story behind it from her blog because it's so funny and I couldn't have written it better.

Toots LOVES Faith Newman and we're so excited to have her! Here is the progression of what happened the first time he met her.

Yep, she's his new favorite friend. But why is her name Faith Newman, you ask? Perhaps you even know her as Sophie...Well, here's the story, courtesy of Michelle:

Here's the story, which actually sounds more stupid once it's said aloud. But I still think it's special. So, anyone who knows me knows that I am a Young and the Restless junkie (as am I, which is why this is awesome). I have professed it here more than once. Anyway, so I was browsing on Amazon for bouncers for Colt and I came across this sweet giraffe that I recognized immediately. Enter the following screen shot from an episode of Y&R a few weeks ago...

And now enter a really long run-on sentence... Seeeeee, in this scene Ashley is crying because she forgot to pack Faith's favorite giraffe in her overnight bag after she had to give Faith to Nick and Sharon once they got the DNA results that showed that Faith was indeed Nick and Sharon's baby, NOT Ashley and Victor's baby because back in the early days of Ashley's pregnancy Adam, Victor's evil son, scared Ashley and she fell down some stairs and she had a miscarriage, but theeeen Adam convinced Ashley she was still pregnant, blackmailed Dr. Taylor into backing up his story, all causing Ashley to continue in a hysterical pregnancy, resulting in a hysterical labor where Ashley passes out and Adam stealing Sharon's baby (Faith Newman) and giving it to Ashley bringing her to this point months later where she has to give her back.

Yay for Michelle being an AWESOME friend and thinking of Toots and, well, me, since we always talk about Y&R and sending us a new friend! Thanks, Michelle and Colt :)

Here's What You Want to See...

My little (or not so little!) munchkin!

By the way....I took him to the week before last (he was fine, I was just worried about something), and he weighed 15 pounds 11 ounces!

Whoa..what is this?



Who's that handsome kid there in the mirror?
First baseball hat. Not quite sure what mom is doing...
First time in the exersaucer. I think I like this monkey!
My little chubs
Stop taking pictures of me, mom!


Playing on his play mat. He loves hitting the toys and also grabs them now and pulls them toward him. The bells you can see in the background, next to the elephant, when they are hanging up he likes to grab the yellow one.


First time in the Bumbo seat! No, I do not put him on the counter in it. It was just for the picture.


Talking to me while we're doing the photoshoot ;)


Going crazy before his nap. I WAS holding the camera still and it was on the "sports" setting to help catch the movement but he was moving so fast, I couldn't catch it.


Happy baby!


The dreaded tummy time


Cute bottom :)

La Cucaracha

Sorry for the blogging hiatus last week. I can't promise it won't continue at some point because Toots is sleeping horrendously! We're trying to figure out what's causing it because he had been going 8 hours a night but haven't figured it out yet.

I started working part-time from home for Tim's firm to bring in some extra money and keep my mind fresh on some legal stuff. It's more difficult than I thought it would be to find time to work since I really can only do it when Toots is napping and there are other things that need to be done as well. It also makes it difficult when he's not sleeping because I am SO tired! Hopefully I will get into a better groove because I want to do a good job at this.

I'm going to do a separate post of pictures because I have a lot of them to post. I also have a cute video but I've got to figure out how to post that as well. The title of the post refers to weekend before last when my friends Jill and Kaitlin were visiting us for the day. We went to a Mexican restaurant for lunch and a little mariachi band showed up and started playing while we were there. It was absolutely hilarious, Toots started dancing to the music (bobbing and swaying back and forth) and even started going "whooo whooo" like he was singing! It was TOO cute. I got a video of him dancing a little to the music on his exersaucer as well. I think I need to find a mariachi CD to play him :)

Tim and I switched off nights this weekend getting up with Toots so each of us could get a full night of sleep. He ended up letting me get better sleep because he decided to come out and sleep on the couch. Next time, I'm going to do that so he doesn't wake up at all. So sweet of him!

We will be celebrating our 2 year anniversary one week from today. We're going to go to Waco for the weekend this weekend to visit and to go eat at this restaurant we love there called 1424. Kind of funny we are going from Fort Worth to Waco for somewhere to eat! We also wanted to hang out with family, though, so it gives us the opportunity to do both.

As far as my mentioning about Toots eating from bottles now on my last post, he got a cold about a month or so ago and wouldn't nurse when he had it because it was hard for him to breathe and I think tilting him to the side hurt his sinuses. So, I started giving him pumped milk then. When he got better, he still wouldn't nurse because I think he got used to getting the milk easier from the bottle. I was really upset about this because I was actually starting to enjoy nursing but I have been able to keep up with it and give him pumped breastmilk all day and he just gets one bottle of formula (which I was doing even when I was nursing). I actually was able to get him to nurse yesterday evening but when he starts having to work harder to get the milk out, he gets mad and won't do it anymore. I mostly just care that he gets the breastmilk for as long as he can so I'm just going to try to keep up with the pumping.

I can't think of anything else exciting except less than one month til we close on the house! Everything came out great with the inspection and we got the final approval on our loan the other day, so we are all set to go. Yay!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. I will follow this post with a post of pictures.

Skinny Tuesday

I lost 1.2 pounds at Weight Watchers last week, which brought me to 146.8. I was happy with that, but of course I'd always like to be losing a little more.

I've noticed I am starting to eat less at meals. For awhile there, I was always finishing everything on my plate and now I'm not doing that most of the time. So that's a small victory. I can also tell I'm starting to get back in shape and get some muscle tone again.

My struggles this week were with some of my food choices this weekend and also with working out. I only made it to Stroller Strides twice last week and I think I'm only going to make it twice this week as well. I'm hoping things will get back to normal after that and I can be there at least 4 days a week again (I have been missing Thursdays because I like to go to Weight Watchers first thing in the morning and it interferes with Stroller Strides).

How was your week?

Newbies

I noticed I've gotten a few new followers this week. Welcome! If you have commented in a post already, then I'm glad to have met you :)

If not, I have a little "rule" around here to keep away creepies (haha) that I need you to go ahead and comment on a post so that I know you're just interested in reading and not a stalker or solicitor. Feel free to just go ahead and comment on this one and tell me who you are.

Thanks!

Skinny Tuesday

I lost 1.4 pounds at Weight Watchers last week, bringing my weight to 148. Our anniversary weekend is in three weeks and I'd really like to be down to 142 by then because that would be 10 pounds from my lifetime goal at WW, but I don't know that that's feasible. At the very least, I'd like to be down to 145.

I didn't go to Stroller Strides yesterday because we were making the offer on our house, but I hope to be there the rest of the week. If I'm not, I HAVE to make myself do some other kind of exercise.

I've done well so far this week as far as eating goes, but I have indulged in a few more sweets since Lent has been over. I'm really having to force myself to watch it because I want to eat them SO bad! My mom read an article that when you are sleep deprived you crave sweets more because of something your body isn't producing enough of when you aren't getting the sleep you need. Obviously, I wake up at least once a night with Brendan, so I am a *little* sleep deprived ;) He's starting to sleep more, so hopefully we'll fix that problem soon. I think battling my love of sweets is something that won't ever go away completely, though.

I've also not been so great at tracking my points, which is likely why I haven't lost weight as quickly as I usually do. I've more been trying to choose healthy options rather than really counting points. Right now, I am satisfied with that because I am still losing weight, even if it's slowly, but if the scale doesn't continue to go down, I'm really going to have to be more diligent about it.

How was your week?

Home Sweet Home

They accepted our offer and we got the house!! Yay!!! We close on May 12 and they asked for three days to move out, so we will have the house by 6:00 PM on May 15. I'm so excited but I don't even think it has really sunk in, yet.

Here are some pictures of it. It's 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms but the pictures online only show three bedrooms. Two of the bedrooms and a bathroom, along with the master bedroom and bathroom, are downstairs and one bedroom and bathroom are upstairs.

Whenever we get to go in and take pictures, I'll post others but here are the ones that were online with the listing itself. Sorry they are kind of small, they weren't that big of files, I guess because they are on a website.

Front porch

Entryway

Dining Room

Kitchen, View 1 (we are planning on replacing the appliances with stainless steel ones)

Kitchen, View 2

Kitchen, View 3

Living Room

Downstairs bathroom

One of the bedrooms downstairs

We will be using this room as a study

Another view of the study. It has a two-way fireplace with the living room.

Master bedroom

Another view of the master bedroom

Master bathroom

Master bathroom, View 2

Upstairs living room/Gameroom

Upstairs bathroom

Upstairs bedroom. We will be using this as a guest bedroom.

Another view of the upstairs bedroom

Laundry room

Weird

I'm actually doing a weekly post on Monday morning. Can you believe it?!

Sorry I never ended up doing one last week. I just couldn't seem to find the time to write one and, if I did seem to have a little time, I didn't feel like trying.

Toots turned 3 months old last Tuesday! I can't believe it's been three months already. He has changed tremendously since he was first born and really is developing his own little personality now. I did my own measuring and weighing since we don't have a doctor's appointment this month and he was 15 pounds and 26 inches! I didn't do his head circumference, but that's the 80th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. I still have a big boy and I love it :)

We made another offer on a house last week but still didn't get it. They only wanted to come down about $1,500, which was still out of our price range. We are making yet another offer today at 10:00 AM. However, even if we had to pay full price for this house, it would still be coming in a little below the amount we originally wanted to spend, so that would be great. Hopefully it will work out this time. If it does, I'll post pictures of the inside of the house as it looks now.

Friday after Stroller Strides, I went to the Main Street Arts Festival in downtown Fort Worth and also had lunch with the ladies from Stroller Strides. It was really fun and the art festival was very cool so Tim and I went back with Toots the next morning. Saturday afternoon, Toots had his first birthday party to attend for our friends Jen and Alan's son, Conner. It was a Cars themed birthday party and was a lot of fun. Toots did well except after we sang "Happy Birthday" everyone said "yay!" and clapped and it scared him and he started crying really hard. I think we've figured out he doesn't like loud noises because he has reacted that way to several things over the last couple weeks and, when we were at church on Sunday, the orgain was making a trumpet noise that was loud and he kept making a pouty face. Poor baby has sensitive ears. Yesterday we went and looked at a couple more houses, including the one we're making the offer on, and watched the Masters. I'm a fan of Phil Mickelson so I was excited that he won.

Oh, another thing I did last week was join a new playgroup that has a lot of activities in the Keller area. Toots and I went to someone's house for our first playdate and really enjoyed it. It was nice to chat with some other moms and start to meet some new people. I also decided I really should have nicknamed Toots "Hunger Monster" instead because that is what I call him on a daily basis. He goes crazy when it's time to eat and attacks his bottles (yes, bottles...not the breast. Another post coming about that. But, the bottles do have breastmilk in them)ferociously. He is now eating about 7 ounces every 3 hours and last night he ate almost 14 ounces in two hours. My little fatty ;)

I guess that's about all. Hope everyone had a great weekend! Here's some pictures.

We took a walk to the mailbox the other day and it was very sunny so Toots needed to wear his cool new visor.

First nap not being swaddled. This only works if he is dead asleep when I put him in the crib. Notice his cute "Daddy's Helper" onesie :)

I'm 3 months old!

These next ones are all from a little photo shoot we did yesterday when Daddy was making him laugh

(His shirt says"i rule the kingdom" which Tim says is definitely true)

Slice of Me Sunday

1. What color do you wear the most?
I wear a lot of black, but I have a mix of a lot of other colors. I guess other than black, I probably have the most green and blue but I can't think of one color I wear all the time.

2. Would you rather have $10,000 dollars or a dream vacation?
I would rather have $10,000 to buy stuff for our new house (whenever we actually get one!) and have a spa day. Maybe there will be some leftover for a vacation as well :)

3. Do you have a weird, quirky, or unusual habit?
Whenever there is something I really like that I am eating, I leave it for the last thing I eat at the meal so that it will be the last taste in my mouth. Like, if I had chicken, a baked potatoe, green beans, and bread and I really liked the green beans, I would eat the chicken, baked potatoe and bread and then eat the green beans last.

4. I really need to start....?
Being better about drinking water and not saying bad words. I'm going to get myself in trouble when Toots starts talking if I don't!

5. What was the first blog you ever read?
I really have no idea, but I think one of the first ones I read was a mom blog. Now, of course, I can't remember the name of it, but it was one where she would review a lot of products and occassionally talk about her family.

6. Do you collect anything?
Willow Tree Angels/Figurines

7. How old were you when you had your first kiss?
13, but closer to 14 (8th grade)

8. Do you text/twitter while driving?
Sometimes. I'm reallllly trying not to anymore because I know it's dangerous and especially because I have a baby in the car now. My mom gets really mad if I do it when she's in the car with me!

Sparkle & Metal Giveaway

One of my favorite blogs, Life of a Busy Wife, is hosting a giveaway from Sparkle & Metal website. I want to win the necklace they are giving away and this gives me an entry.

Oh, don't go to the website and enter yourself...I mean, YOU don't want the necklace, I do! Haha just kidding! Maybe...

**Sorry, the links not working really was unintentional! Blogger went crazy on me. I think they should work now!

One Way Or Another...

I know I still haven't done a weekly post. I will!

A couple weeks ago, I was coming home from Stroller Strides and I got a ticket. Boo. The cop who pulled me over wasn't even the one who clocked me, which annoyed me even more. I decided I was going to do deferred adjudication because I haven't gotten a ticket in years and that way I wouldn't have to do defensive driving. I went to the courthouse Monday to turn the ticket in and pay. I was planning on mailing it, but the cop didn't put the date on the ticket so I wasn't sure how much time I had (they had to receive the ticket back within 11 days).

I waited in line FOREVER to see the cashier. I finally get up to her, thinking I'm going to get to pay and go and she tells me I have to go to court #4 to wait to see the judge. UGH! It was approximately 5,000 degrees in the courthouse and I had only put an hour worth of money in my meter, thinking I wasn't going to be there that long, and I didn't have anymore change. I quickly called Tim and asked him if he could leave work and come downtown to put more money in the meter for me because I didn't have anymore and couldn't leave since I had to see the judge.

I go in the courtroom and wait about 20 minutes. The prosecutor then calls my name and tells me there was a fatal error on my ticket and he's going to recommend it be dismissed! It turns out, the officer HAS to put a date on it or the ticket isn't valid. SCORE!! I skipped happily out of the courthouse and call Tim as I'm walking to my car.

I tell him my joyous news and he informs me that I had a parking ticket on my car. @#%^$@(#!!!!! He said the officer must have been waiting for my meter to expire and given me a ticket. He had put a ton more money in it, so I still had two hours on it even though I was done. Tim was still downtown so we decided he would park his car at the meter and we would go have lunch. We have lunch and get back to his car and as I am pulling away, I hear him call my name out. I look back and he holds up a parking ticket! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! He still had an hour on the meter so we couldn't figure out what was going on. We both look at our tickets and realize that we were given parking tickets for not parking within the white lines by the meter because the car behind up was over their white line. Dang it!!!!! His ticket was given to him about 3 minutes after we left, so the parking cop must have just been waiting for him to leave.

I thought I left the courthouse $260 richer, but it now turns out only $200 because each ticket was $30. I know that's still MUCH better, but it is sooooo annoying to me!

Hence the title of the post...One Way Or Another...They're gonna getcha getcha getcha!

Skinny Tuesday

Last Thursday at Weight Watchers, I only lost .8 pounds, which isn't very good. BUT, I did make it into the 140s! I weighed 149.4. I'm hoping this week I will have lost a little bit more weight, but I am really happy to be in the 140s again.

I ate some Easter candy this weekend as well as a delicious piece of chocolate cream pie from this place called The Lunch Box in Fort Worth. It was soooo worth the extra calories. I'm trying to be good this week with my eating so I will lose more weight.

I went to Stroller Strides everyday last week except Friday because we didn't have it since it was Good Friday. I also missed today because Toots was having a little temperature. Nothing that is considered a fever by the doctor, but I just thought I should keep him in today.

How did you do this week?

Picture Pandamonium

I haven't written a post yet for this week and I don't really feel like writing one right now (I will tonight, promise!) so I just thought I'd upload lots of pictures to distract you :)

Easter loot from the Easter Bunny!

This is kind of blurry, which I hate, but Toot's face is just classic!

Big Brother Tucker keeping watch so no strangers try to come to our house.