Tis the Season

We got an early jump on decorating for Christmas this year. At 3 1/2 my daughter is finally old enough to really "get" the concept of Christmas, so we wanted to make it special for her this year. Plus since last year I was put on bedrest right before Christmas, this year feels like kind of a re-do anyway. We picked up our tree a little earlier than usual so I'm trying hard to remember to water it so it actually lasts until Christmas. I've been going crazy over all the fantastic decor floating around blogland. So here are a few previews of our home. I'll hopefully post more once the camera battery is charged again... woops!

Here's the most festive corner of the room. You can't tell because I cropped the picture, but we stopped the lights about 1/3 of the way from the bottom to prevent any accidents from curious little hands. (I took this picture at night so the lighting was pretty unfortunate. I swear our walls aren't actually pink.)

The mantel took a lot of tweaking until I was satisfied. I wasn't planning on the pointsettias but the hubs had ordered them from a fundraiser and they just showed up one day. I'm liking that they add some life to the otherwise faux greenery. More pictures of the rest of the house when it's done I have a chance to post them.

It's About Time...

for a new post I think. I've had a lot going on lately. As I type, I'm waiting out some serious bed-protesting and hoping the crying stops soon. Sigh.

As the first summer month just started, what better time than now to begin really working towards that post-baby bikini body?! I'm pretty sure you're supposed to do this before bikini season actually starts, but I like a little pressure to motivate me towards my goals. Fellow procrastinators rejoice!

So will it be fit mama or fat mama? That is the real question. I'll give you one guess which category I fit into right now. As much as people say to give myself a break because I just had a baby, I can't help but think "I don't need a break. I need a kick in the rear." I did just have a baby... four months ago. Tick tock, tick tock. Time to stop waiting around for the weight to magically fall off. In preparation, I've been trying to identify my biggest stumbling blocks when it comes to shedding the jiggly reminder of what my body just went through.

In no particular order, here are the rules I will need to abide by if I want to be a hot mama and not a hefty one.

1. Don't drink your calories.
This is a big one for me, especially given the abundant desire for caffeine I have most mornings since we're not sleeping through the night yet. I don't like regular coffee so I get my caffeine from soda or my new favorite, the McDonalds caramel frappe (cue the pangs of longing from deep within). I'm not good at drinking plain water so I was drinking a lot of juice to stay hydrated in the late stages of my pregnancy and early stages of breastfeeding. In my opinion, juice just barely trumps soda in the good-for-you category because it usually contains fruit, but the massive quantities of sugar and calories don't make it a smart option on a regular basis. I've weaned the juice out of my life pretty well in the past few weeks, but the soda and the frappes are a bigger problem because of the caffeine situation. Not to mention, I LIKE THEM. But a small frappe even without the whipped cream is still over 300 calories and soda contains all sorts of calories and crap that really isn't good for anything.

2. Don't use food/drinks as a trophy or a consolation prize.
I'm really good at rewarding myself with unnecessary junk food and drinks (see above). You know how it goes. You've been eating really healthy all day so you figure a little ice cream won't hurt. Or better yet, you worked out, so you've earned a treat, nevermind the fact that this little reward basically cancels out the exercise. But my biggest weakness has to be justifying something unhealthy because I'm having a hard day and in my mind a little treat will make me feel better. And while a better pick-me-up would be a a new book or maybe a pedicure, most days I don't have time for either of those things and a trip through the McDonalds drive-thru is usually feasible even with two littles in tow. But the root of the problem is using food to revive my mood which leads me to...

3. Don't eat junk as a response to emotions or boredom.
Life can be stressful and tiring and emotionally draining. Life with a toddler and a new baby is the extreme version of all these things. Some days I feel like Supermom and some days I feel like a super failure. It's a constant rollercoaster and that takes a toll. It's easy to justify something tasty when you've been dealing with a screaming baby and a whiny toddler all morning. Sometimes I just want something for myself and a frappe is a little treat that I can enjoy while still performing all my motherly duties. A little indulgence never hurt anyone, but I've been taking it to a new level lately and it's hard to really enjoy something when you know it's biting you in the butt. Likewise, there are times when I'm not feeling motivated to conquer the ever-present list of household tasks and find myself raiding the pantry instead. Not the best option and it's not getting the laundry done either!

4. Don't let poor planning get in the way of eating right.
My mom always used to remind me of the 5 Ps "Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance" or as she preferred the 6 Ps "Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance." It's the truth too. Nine times out of ten when I eat unhealthy meals, it's because of poor planning (or no planning). When you're single or just a couple, throwing together a healthy dinner option at 5pm isn't out of the question. Once you have kids involved, it's a recipe for disaster. Improving my planning skills is one of my biggest goals because in this case, it's not just me reaping the unhealthy effects, but my family as well.

So there you have it. The four major rules that need to be enforced if I'm going to lose the squish. Wish me luck!

Letting Go

To say I haven't posted much this year is a huge understatement. The last six months have been pretty spare in particular but I thought it was only appropriate to write one last post for the year and to put it up on the very last day of 2010 (except that Blogger didn't post as scheduled so let's just pretend this went up on 12/31/10).

This year was big for our family. Both my husband and I celebrated milestone birthdays. October marked the end of our first year as a married couple. And in the summer we made the monumental decision to expand our little family. I am apparently one of those fortunate women who gets pregnant in a snap but the pregnancy itself takes its toll... hence the absence of blog posts. I spent the first few months in a fog of perpetual "morning" sickness with little desire to do much of anything. Finally I hit that blessed turning point and regained both my energy and my ability to get through the day without feeling like I was constantly one second away from tossing my cookies. I enjoyed a couple wonderful months and then last week the bottom dropped out just a little. 

Excessive contractions sent me to the hospital in the middle of the night just a few days before Christmas. I'm fine. The baby is fine. But now I'm on bedrest for at least the next month and possibly for the duration of this pregnancy, which leaves me stuck on the couch potentially until the end of February. Fortunately I was able to get home in time for Christmas. I was here to see the excitement on my little girl's face when she recognized that the formerly bare space under the tree now held dozens of wrapped packages. I got to watch as she inspected the empty plate of cookies and milk we had left for Santa the night before. I saw the joy and delight as she opened her presents and helped everyone else open their gifts as well. And I was home to see her spend the day playing with all the toys we had known she would love. 

I try to be thankful that I was here for Christmas and not stuck in a hospital bed. I am doing my best to focus on the fact that I see my husband and daughter each day and get hugs and kisses and snuggles. But I would be lying if I said that I'm full of joy all day. I spend a lot of time feeling frustrated, helpless and exasperated with my situation. I'm here but I'm only able to participate so much. I have a million things that I want to do floating around my head at all times and very little ability to get any of them done. It might sound like a picnic to have everyone waiting on you hand and foot but I thrive on being the caretaker. I'm sure I sound like a whiny little baby but at least I'm being honest. Every day I fight feelings of uselessness and helplessness. Instead of being a major contributor to our home running smoothly, my job is now to do as little as possible in order to keep this baby inside as long as I can. In my heart, I know that's a worthwhile task, but the daily reality is a struggle. 

So here is my resolution for the next two months... focus on the positive. Instead of worrying that I'm a burden to my family, I'm going to be thankful that I'm not in this alone and that I have an amazing husband and supportive family and friends to take care of me while I need it. Instead of thinking about how little I am accomplishing around the house, I'm going to try to take advantage of the ability to rest before the birth of our child which will most definitely demand a lot of energy. Instead of dwelling on how little I can do, I'm going to remember that no one else can do what I'm doing right now and that our baby depends solely on me to be born healthy and strong. All in all, that sounds like a good goal for the next eight weeks.


Happy New Year~

Been Busy

Just in case you thought I had dropped off the face of the planet, here's a sneak peek into what I've been doing the past couple months.

I know it's a little blurry but you get the idea! Big news in our house but the morning sickness has been rough so I haven't been in a very bloggy mood. I do have a lot of projects coming up that I will hopefully get around to posting about. Now that I'm feeling a little more like myself, I hope to get back to more regular posts.

Ch Ch Changes

I haven't disappeared. I'm actually still here. Just haven't been doing any blogging. Obviously. Today I decided to play around with the new Blogger design feature and it completely screwed up my old design. I couldn't figure out how to get it back to normal despite a lot of messing with it. I decided in the meantime I couldn't live with it looking crappy so my blog got a completely unintentional revamp. I'm not sure if it will stick but until I can figure out the new design tools, I'd rather live with this template than the gross messed up version of my old one. And I promise to write a real post soon.

This is How I Roll

Recently our friends’ twins turned 3 years old and we needed some birthday presents. Obviously there are two of them so in my mind, the presents need to be somewhat equal in cost and as far as the “coolness factor” goes. In other words, you don’t get one twin a fabulous toy and the other socks and undies. You don’t want to cause unnecessary drama for someone who is already dealing with the inevitable crazy that raising two children of the same age can bring. I also hate to spend too much on something that they may not even like a few months down the road. Knowing my own child’s frequent change in interest, I’d rather get something they can use in the short-term without breaking the bank. This is where Lindsey of The Pleated Poppy comes in to save the day.
Lindsey has an online shop full of adorable items that she makes herself. One of the cutest things she makes are her Crayon Rolls. And just last week, she very conveniently posted a tutorial, just in time for the twins’ birthday party. This could not have been an easier project and turned out really well despite my tendency to be impatient and skip through insignificant details like measuring. The twins are a boy and a girl so I chose cute fabric for each and I was happy with the result.



I packed these up with some coloring books, stickers and a little t-shirt for each one. It wasn’t too expensive and turned out to be a great birthday package.

Where Did May Go??

In my last post on May 5 (cringe) I was just beginning my spring cleaning. Believe it or not, I actually did it. Well, most of it. Over the past few weeks we had family in town, we celebrated Baby’s 2nd birthday, we all got the flu, I cleaned and re-cleaned to get the gnarly flu germs out of the house, I planted my garden with tomatoes and corn, the Husband and I went to an awesome concert and had a fun weekend getaway, and now May is almost over. Where has the time gone?!

We’re planning a semi-relaxing Memorial Day weekend without too many commitments so I’m hoping we’ll be able to pay some much-needed attention to the house. As if we need any additional tasks on the to-do list, I was completely inspired by Sarah over at Thrifty Decor Chick who recently revealed her son’s “big boy room.” For a long time, I’ve been working on completing Baby’s bedroom, but I just haven’t been feeling motivated. I think the problem is that her current nursery design is still based on the original bedding we purchased before we knew we were having a girl. It’s fun and bold, but it’s not feminine at all. I wanted gender neutral minus the pastels, but there’s no girly-girl in her room.

I kept holding off on any changes because I planned on doing a redesign when we were expecting number two. Well, we’re not on that road just yet, but I’ve finally decided it doesn’t matter. Baby is getting a semi-big girl room with some feminine updates! It won’t be a full big girl redo because she’s not out of her crib yet, but her crib transitions to a toddler bed so the bedding will be the same size when that time comes. This is my justification reasoning for buying new bedding.

I’ve been scoping out design ideas all over and I’m hoping for a Pottery Barn look on Marshalls prices! Here are some of my current inspirations…

 

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

Better Homes and Gardens

Ohdeedoh

Ohdeedoh

It will be hard to make up my mind but I’m excited to give Baby a girly room of her own!