4 Month Milestones

Well damn, time flies. How people keep up with a blog when they have more than 1 child, I'll never know. Now that E is awake more during the day, I'm constantly interacting with him. Therefore, my ability to sit down with a cop of coffee, open my laptop, and write out an entry has dwindled. But I'm trying...I promise!

So since E hit 4 months on the 21st of March, and it is now April 12, I figured now is a good time to update on the milestones he has hit since my last entry (the good, the bad, and the ugly!).

The Good

E is a total giggle box. I know he had already hit the laughing stage, but it gets better every single day.

E has moments of sitting up by himself before he topples over to the side.

I was holding E up on his legs (which he LOVES). I took my hands out from underneath him, and he stood by himself for about 5-10 seconds!!! Whaaaa? Can somebody say genius baby? Yep.

He has tested out his exersaucer and looooovvvvvveeeeeesssss it!!!! At first his feet didn't reach the ground, so he got frustrated. But within a week he was flat-footed on the mat and now spends about half an hour in it before he starts getting annoyed. Rock star.

He can do mini push-ups when he's on his belly.

In the past couple of days, he has become more interested in what I'm eating. He watches me eat, and today while I was eating fruit...he started putting his hands up to his mouth and back down--mimicking me!

This is the biggest one so far: ELI ROLLS!!! 2 days ago he rolled from back to stomach, and this morning he rolled from stomach to back! He is growing so fast!!!

The Bad

E had his first fever. :( Gah, it broke my heart!!! I've said it before and I'll say it again--GET A GLIDER THAT RECLINES!!! He would not let me set him down anywhere, and he refused to even lie in bed with me. I had to be holding him, and it had to be in the glider in his room. I spent all night in there, maybe slept a total of 2 hours. And the poor little guy would wake up crying off and on all night. It was so hard. Oh, it came after his second round of shots at his 4 month appt.

He coats everything in his baby drool. It doesn't matter what the F it is. My shirt, his shirt, his pants, his blankets, his toys, my phone, my pants, his dad's clothes, my hand, his hand, my hair. In fact, he seems to drool on everything EXCEPT his bibs! WTF little dude?

E now only lets K put him to bed. It's not a horrible thing, but I don't understand why he doesn't want me anymore.

His naps are few and far between. I miss the old routine where I could take a shower, wash dishes, eat breakfast, BLOG, etc., while he was napping.

He doesn't sleep through the night anymore. He wakes up at least once, anywhere between  3:30 am and 5:30 am.

The Ugly

He's starting to teeth, which means a cranky, whiny, fussy, drooling baby who hates me, you, himself, his hand, sitting, laying down, standing up, and anything else. In fact, tonight we went around kicking things so he could blow off some steam.

He hates his car seat. He used to love it. He used to love being in a car. And now? Well now he freaks out. I put him in it...he's OK for about 5 minutes, until I actually put him in the car. And then it's squirming and whining and fussing. Oh, forget about me hitting my breaks to slow down. I have to maintain at LEAST 40 mph. And stopping at a red light??? He fucking loses his shit. Ughhhhhhhhhh.

Anyway, so that's where we are at.

I wouldn't trade anything in the world for it.

Totally off topic, but who cares

So I swear I won't do political posts on here, but I feel like I need to say this.

As a Christian, I feel like the most Christian thing I can do is to not judge others and their decisions. That's not my place. In a world where we are surrounded by hate, it might be nice for more people to celebrate their love. I am not in another person's shoes, so I can't tell them who to love, or if their love is right or just.

I have gay friends and I don't think of them as gay. They're just my friends. Great friends, even. Who they love does not affect me. I think it's beautiful when another person can be in a mutual loving relationship. We do need more of that in this world. And people who want to judge or criticize should read the 10 commandments and abide by ALL laws of God then, not just pick and choose the Words of God to follow.

As for the political side: let them marry. It's not fair that they can be in a loving relationship and share a life with someone, but not be allowed in the hospital room because they aren't recognized by law to be family. It's not fair that you can have a family with somebody, but not have the tax breaks and other benefits of a straight couple. HOWEVER, I think with allowing marriages between the same sexes, there needs to be a law in contention that states it cannot be imposed on those practicing a religion that disagrees with it. Meaning if a pastor denies marrying a couple or will not allow them to be married in their church, it should be allowed. The ACLU is a shitty group of people who look for any reason to sue somebody because of their difference in opinion. So the ACLU (or anyone) should not be able to sue a church, religious organization, or a priest/pastor/minister/rabbi if they disagree to marry someone. Freedom of religion.

I don't want E growing up to judge or hate someone because they are different. Too much violence and hate already. He should see someone for their heart and kindness. For their courage and personality. Not see someone for the reasons they are different.

Love is love. Love one, love all. Jesus did.

Happy Easter everyone!

This is how I feel today

No more questions!!!!!

Meeting Milestones

E will be four months this week! O.M.G. Doesn't even seem real!! I felt this way at his two month mark, too. Time is just whizzing on by and I can't take a breath to catch it.

He's starting to hit milestones like crazy though, and it makes me so proud! So yeah, this is a post to brag about my little dude and how totally awesome he is.

Lately he has really been loving his tummy time. He pushes himself up on his arms and wiggles his legs so fast. He has this smile on his face, until he realizes he can't go anywhere. Then it quickly turns into a sour one as he grunts and strains like letting out the world's biggest poop.

He's also been making more smacking noises and chewing motions with his mouth. Not enough to where I feel comfortable giving him solids like vegetables, but he's starting to show signs of preparing himself. Which is awesome. I totally can't wait until I get to smash some peas while I'm eating and give it to him. (Note to self: I also really want to make my own baby food. So I'm thinking a food processor is a must when we get our tax return!).

Walks! We've been taking walks around the neighborhood some mornings and he soaks it all in! You can tell he's really looking at everything around him.

Sleep. Well... some milestones aren't all that great. And I think we hit the four month sleep regression. He was sleeping all night long, but now he wakes up at 3:30 am almost every single morning. But you know what? I'm kind of happy. I think him sleeping from 9 pm to 7 am is too long for him to go without eating. So I don't mind hearing him on the monitor at night fussing. Note: He's also sleeping in his crib now like a big boy!!! SOOO happy!

He grabs toys like a boss! And he even puts some to his mouth!

This is my favorite milestone so far: Eli actually finds things really funny now and laughs so hard! Before they were just loud sighs as he smiled when he saw our faces. But not now. No way. I was singing Old McDonald to him the other night and got to the pigs. When I made the pig noise, E was ELATED! He started laughing so hard! Then K came in and made the pig noise to him...and E started cracking up!! It was so fantastically funny! Then one day I was grabbing his tummy while making gulping noises, and he was cracking up again! Then yesterday K was playing with him and he started doing it, and while I was feeding him before bed, he started giggling. I couldn't figure out what he was laughing at until I followed his eyes over to a big green stuffed giraffe! So yeah, he's laughing now!! At things he finds actually funny!! This is,by far, the greatest milestone ever.

So there it is in a nutshell.

Oh, and as for my page? I'm still trying to come up with a better blog name. Unplanned Duo just doesn't make sense since there are three of us. I hate that outside sources have forced me to change my original blog name because they cannot handle honesty or cursing. Ha. And yes, I'm also working on a design for it so it won't be so blahhhh anymore.

Okay! I'm off of here. Time to hang out with Jillian Michael's and do the 30 Day Shred! Ouch!

Moms vs Hot Wheels

Well, it has happened. I've officially been insulted as a mother--and as a mother to a boy.

No, E is not big enough to play with Hot Wheels. But I promise you, I had every intention of sitting on the floor with him, setting up tracks, and playing with Hot Wheels for a few hours (like while dinner is in the oven...or Crock Pot.... or still at Pizza Hut waiting to be picked up by K). But now I've been insulted and I think I'll spend my money on die cast stock cars for E (like the totally awesome 48 Jimmie Johnson, navy blue and white, Kobalt Tools/Lowes car!) to play with.

For those of you who don't know what's going on, here's the 411.

Mattel's sales are down when it comes to Hot Wheels. They haven't seen growth in the US in three years. Which is a big deal, obviously, when you have a product that usually sees continual growth each quarter. But of COURSE the completely arrogant, narcissistic, male chauvinist pigs researchers at Mattel don't think their products are to blame. And of course they don't think the economy is to blame for sales being down on toys.

You know who they blamed? YOU, mom.

Mattel vice president, Matt Petersen, came to the conclusion that moms just don't understand how to play with Hot Wheels.  Petersen states, mom “has never played with them. She doesn't get why cars, engines, and all the shapes and crashing and smashing are so cool.” 

I'm sorry, but you have to be pretty stupid to not understand that little boys are destructive. So immediately the crashing and smashing makes sense to me.

And what? Moms don't understand why cars and engines are cool? Ooooooooooooooook buddy. Let's have a talk. Moms are FEMALE, in which case you are saying that FEMALES don't understand cars and engines. I may be a chick, and I might not know every component of an engine and what it does; but I know about cars! And I sure as hell know a lot more about cars than some GUYS know!! I have spent plenty of Sunday mornings watching Trucks! and Extreme 4x4 on the Speed Channel. And so far, 26.5 years watching NASCAR and understanding stock cars and how they operate. I might not be a Chad Knaus (I guess only NASCAR fans will get that joke), but if I hear Jimmie over his scanner talk about his car being too loose into a turn or too tight off a corner-- I can predict what chassis, wedge or track bar adjustment needs to be made! ANNNDDDD when my friends and I were making fun of strippers and the stage names they choose, I said my name would be chassis if I were a stripper! (No, mom... I never thought about becoming a stripper).

So to say that a woman doesn't understand why cars can be fun is a HUGE insult. It just so happens that maybe there are better toys out there right now. And the economy sucks. And Hot Wheels have been around *4-EVA* that there are numerous hand-me-downs floating around. Oh? And why aren't moms playing with their sons 8 hours a day??? Because, asshole, while you're at work flirting with your secretary, playing video games on your computer, eating lunch with friends, scheduling very important golf matches with other executives, and getting your BMW detailed.... these "moms" are grocery shopping, cooking your dinner, cleaning up your dinner plate that you so lovingly left on the table the night before, scrubbing dishes, picking up dirty laundry, trying to get the shit stains out of your underwear, cleaning bathrooms, taking care of inevitably more than 1 child, making sure homework gets done, vacuuming the house, picking up your dry cleaning, AND POSSIBLY GOING TO WORK HERSELF TO PROVIDE A SECOND INCOME, to make your life easier. So the two hours of playtime should be sufficient. Why don't YOU come home from work and play with your sons (and yes, we are talking about only little boys finding Hot Wheels fun. I remember playing with my male friends when I was little and loving it), or instead of playing that round of golf on Saturday--set up a huge track and play with your kids? I guess these execs are also saying that stay-at-home-dads are to blame? Or are they acting as if they don't contribute to the loss in sales?

One last thing... moms don't understand how to play with Hot Wheels? They really think we're that stupid? I think it's pretty self-explanatory to place a car on a track and make a Vroom, Vroom noise.


So there you have it. Another male executive who wants to blame women for their own problems.

I'm off my soap box for now. My coffee mug is empty and baby E is sleeping....time to get a little workout in and then shower! Unless my little female brain can't figure out how to turn on the shower with all of those funny shaped knobs.

And a garden too?

So I think I want to start a garden. That's crazy, right? I don't have a green thumb...and I'm in a rent house. What's wrong with me?

But I need something to do that's my own hobby. I'm thinking about growing yellow squash, and zucchini, jalapenos, garlic, and green onions. I've heard they are pretty hard to kill once you get them going.

I have no idea what I'm doing. But it might be fun. And yes, I'm saying this before the southern Texas summer sets in and it's 100+ degrees outside and 90% humidity. Then it might suck balls to have to go outside and water them each day. K is hesitant for me to do this, maybe he has a right to be.

Other than a vegetable garden, I really, really want to plant some flowers! Our house is just so...blah.

My favorite flower is the peony, and those can do relatively OK in Zone 9, which is where I'm at. I think I'll pick a spot by a window in the backyard to plant those. Then I can always have beautiful fresh flower arrangements in the house! (But then this may also deter K from buying me flowers..I'll have to work around this.)

Next, for the front flower beds, I want to plant bougainvilleas. Those do awesome down here, and almost all of my neighbors have them. Plus, they don't attract bees! (Not like knockout rose bushes, which I LOVE, but I don't feel like messing with those pesky assholes...especially by the front door!).

So we'll see how this goes. This might be a crazy pipe dream and I may never get it going. The flowers probably will happen... but possibly not the garden. I think I need to work on those fire ant beds in the yard first anyway.

Well I'm off to go take E on a walk around the neighborhood. I hate it because we don't have sidewalks, but if I go before people start getting off of work, the traffic isn't so bad.

Ciao peeps!

Did I tell you I'm dieting?

So normally I am against the whole dieting thing. Yeah, I know. In the past I've been one of those lucky bitches that can eat whatever I want, work out at home a little and be fine. But now I'm older and my body and I don't get along that well anymore.

Ok side note: I never really ate junk food. I was raised a vegetarian, and when I started eating meat, it was really lean meats like grilled chicken, turkey and fish. I don't eat any pork products, ever. Or seafood like bottom-feeders. I eat a ton of veggies and fruits. But I also put down some serious pastas and breads. So my "eat anything" was pretty much healthy except for all the carbs.

OK! Back to my diet. So yes, I'm having to start a diet. I've actually been on it for 3 days already and I can feel a difference! No joke! I'm not bloated feeling and I have more energy!

I'm doing it my own style though. So many diets are so strict, and I can't deal with that. I like my dairy! I love milk, I love cheese, I love eggs... I can't cut those out!

So in the morning I'm making SURE I eat a high protein breakfast. I usually just have a cup of coffee, but this is way better. And yes, I still have my coffee. Then at lunch I eat something healthy, but kind of light. I have fruit as a snack in the afternoon, and at dinner--well-- I just eat a healthier version of what I would normally cook.

So today I will focus on breakfast. Here's what I have.

I eat a meat, egg and cheese cup.

Take a muffin pan and spray the cups you are going to use with a cooking spray. (Don't forget! I accidentally forgot this step one morning and the egg was a bitch to clean out!)

Next, take some deli meat (I use turkey, it's lean and not fattening like ham) and make a little cup inside the muffin holder in the pan.

I use scrambled eggs to pour inside the meat cup, but you can also just put the egg as a whole inside, or use egg whites for an extra healthy substitute.

For the next step, you can really add whatever you want. I add green onions, cracked sea salt and cracked black pepper. K hates green onions, but loves cheese. So I top both with cheese, except add extra cheese to K's.

Then I pop in a preheated 350 degree oven and bake for 20 minutes. Wa-la! Done!

I have yet to figure out how to prevent the edges of the meat from burning... But it's easy to peel off. Sigh. Oh, and then I add a something to the side. For instance, I add half of an avocado. But you could add fruit instead.

So there's my breakfast. It's super easy, super tasty, and super high in protein!

I need to buy a scale when I get to the store.

I weighed 130 (around there... I didn't have a scale, but the last time I had weighed myself I weighed 129) before I got pregnant.

The day I went into labor, I weighed 152.5.

As of last Sunday, I weighed 142. I'm 5'6. My happy goal would be back to 130. My happiest goal would be 125.

I have yet to add a normal workout routine, but I do lunges, squats, weight lifting, sit-ups, reverse sit-ups, burpees-- whenever I find the chance. Soon I plan on adding walking as an everyday routine (with E of course). And once I join a gym, I'll be doing even more.

So that's it! Wish me luck! My sister is moving to Mexico with her husband and I need to be bikini-ready for all of the visits I'm planning!

Adios!