The last First

I know its not true but it feels that way. Alyssa has broken through the last first, she started taking more than 2 steps last night. She has been doing so well for the last 3 weeks, she started standing up from a sit, then just standing there for quite some time. Then she started stooping down to pick something off the floor and stand back up, so basically doing squats. She has killer balance now and can swing her arms all around and stay standing. So we have started to encourage her to walk (we bribe her with our cell phones haha) and she has been doing 1 or 2 steps pretty regularly. Last night she took 7. She has taken 8 this morning and is getting so much more confident I doubt it will be too much longer before she is running. Its kinda sad though. My baby will officially be a toddler :(

We got pictures taken by I Spy photography and I am so damn excited to see how they turn out!! I keep looking through Chelseas of Kylee and I am drooling, I want my pics :) I wanted some professional pics of Alyssa and I, because the ones of my holding out the cell phone are quite hideous. I am so not confident in myself lately (see my weight loss posts haha) so I got all dolled up and said fuck it. I need good pictures of me and my firstborn. My perfect beautiful daughter. I cant wait to see them!!



Weight loss...seems to have broken through, I was seriously stuck for like 6 weeks, like last week I lost 4 ounces. Wow...at this rate I should reach my goal weight in 10 years. And now I'm thinking, hey, why bother, I'm just gonna get knocked up again and have to lose it all over again. Bummer. But I'm gonna keep doing it. I can see the difference in my legs and I can feel the difference walking around campus, I don't lose my breathe anymore. Its good for me. My next step is gonna be counting calories and eating well. I didn't really change my eating, thinking that getting some activity would be enough. Well, its not. So, new goal is pre-baby weight by Alyssas 1st birthday. So that's about 9lbs away. In 2.5 months. I can do it!!

As good as it gets

I don't know what kind of mood I'm in but its kinda funny. Its like all the pieces are fitting together better than I could have imagined. Sometimes I get myself caught up on where to put another kid in our house, we would have to find a new spot for the computer and cat tree and all that. I get caught up in thinking about getting back into town before high school...so what, about 13 years?? LOL. I get all worried about day care when I have more than 1 kid. But this week its like it all came crashing down and I sit in my beautiful house with my amazing daughter and I almost cry because of how happy I am and so damn thankful I am for what we do have.

We OWN our own home. We bought it :) We pay pennies for mortgage and the house fits our family just fine :) I'm so so so excited to start work on the yard with my mom this summer. We are going to start from scratch really, take all the crap rock out and start planning for the sprinkler system, then lay sod and then build a front deck! It hit me square in the face too, I don't like patios, so why would I settle for one? I much prefer decks. And guess what? We OWN our own place so I can build a deck if I so choose :) Its a great feeling! Eventually the back yard will be done so the munchkins can have room to run and play and leave mom alone ;) This is the view from my back yard...we get some killer sunsets...

School is going so damn well. I have been doing homework every night (a little bit) but being ahead of schedule is so much better than doing things last minute like I normally do. I really enjoy my accounting class so far, its only chapter 3 but it just makes sense to me. I can see myself doing part time accounting once the kids are in school (cuz I sure as hell don't want to work before that haha).

The closer we get to 'trying' for another baby the more I get baby fever...Its getting bad really. I cant wait to have another wee one in our home, to bring them to this house, to pull into our garage and rock them to sleep in our new glider (and seriously, how the hell did I NOT have one with Alyssa??) I'm sure Jason will prefer us having our own place too, he can sleep better without 2 dogs a cat a newborn and a wife all in one bedroom at night. I can start sleep training way earlier and hopefully the 2nd and 3rd babes will be just as amazing as our first one is :) I'm excited to not have to wear 'work' maternity clothes too, I know it sounds silly but I was so uncomfortable for that 2nd half of my pregnancy, having to shove my feet into dress shoes and pants (I'm looking forward to my maternity shirts though haha) AAHHHH, I want another baby :)

Thank you pinterest, I'm getting crafty ;) I made this for our new niece and Michele's baby shower!

Discouraged

I have to keep telling myself that the results I see this month are in direct correlation to what I did last month. So even though I have cut back on empty calories and am working out 5 days a week...and NOT losing anything, its because my body is showing my lack of a workout from December. So...I will continue to workout and eat 'better' ( I say better because I'm not on a salad and veggie diet, or any diet at all really, just paying closer attention to portion size and not drinking as much) and I will think positive.

"It takes 4 weeks for you to see results. 8 weeks for others to see results and 12 weeks for the whole world to see results."

I'm on my 3rd week now. And if these are the results I'm gonna see then Id rather eat chips and dip everyday :(

Lissy Bear-Oh

We managed to give our little darling our cold :( SO SO SO sad to listen to her cough...but she is acting fine and is as active as ever so its not too bad. And luckily she didn't get my stomach bug, thank goodness for small favors!!

Nighttime has been so so easy now that she doesn't have to be fed and cuddled to sleep. I miss snuggling her but being able to cuddle for a little bit then tell her its bedtime and put her in the crib has been amazing! This semester is going to be so much better because I can get some work done after she goes down at like 8:15. I used to get stuck holding her and picking her back up and making Jason be super quiet till she finally fell asleep and got transferred into her crib, sometimes wouldn't get down until 9:30 or so...Naps a still a bit harder but we have gotten them down to about 10 minutes. She stands in her crib and plays for a few minutes then falls asleep.

My second week of 'getting my ass back' went well, I averaged 172.4 (which was kinda low from one day of being 169!!) But I feel good and should be able to do the bike sit ups and push ups 6 days this week. Next week will be trying with starting back to school, but Ill take it as it comes I guess...

I'm having so much fun looking at baby stuff for my new niece due in April! Just looking at the baby things is making my baby fever skyrocket! I need to wait until August/September to try again for a baby so its due in the summer and I don't miss another semester at school but its getting hard to wait. I'm sure once the new babe is here will make it even worse haha.

After the cousins left from a visit she pooped out in this position, poor girl didn't even have enough energy to lay down haha

This is our 'go get the mail' outfit :)

I normally hate diaper pictures but her new beret was just too damn cute to not get many pictures of...

Sleep sleep sleep

And I mean me! I got hit first with a silly head cold that turned into a stomach flu :( I couldn't eat, couldn't drink, couldn't move without feeling like throwing up. Luckily I only did that once, but today I feel normal again!! I hate getting sick :(

Alyssa seems to be doing fine with being put in her crib awake at night, but naps are still kinda  a struggle, it takes about 15 minutes of screaming bloody murder. SO sad to listen to...

My first week of 'getting back in shape' was kinda off put by not eating anything for a few days and not working out like I had planned. My first weeks average weight is 175.5 (which is EXACTLY the same as day 1...way to not lose anything) but so far this week the average is 172.8, so hopefully it goes down after my body gets back to normal.

This is how Bentley protects Alyssa from falling backwards, they are 2 peas in a pod, BFFs :)

Our New cat Weston. He picked Alyssa from the very beginning, we wanted an all white cat to go with Dexter being all black, and we went into the big cat colony at the SPCA cuz there were a few white cats. The second we set Liss down Weston came running up to her and rubbed all over, he is so social and so sweet, and has laid claim to sleeping by Jason's head all night. I have converted my husband into a cat lover!

I don't know if this video works but its funny, cat lasers aren't just for cats haha...

I think we made it

So sleep training might be crossed off our list. The last couple nights she has gone down cranky and restless and fussed for less than 5 minutes! Naps take about 10 minutes. Its amazing to be able to just kiss her goodnight and leave the room. She is fine. Feels good. Im hoping with the next kids that we can start earlier, it was just near impossible to try to cry-it-out living with family. I didnt want to disrupt their life any more than we already had by living there!

Ok, dirty diaper time...NASTY!

Sleep Training Day 3

So it was a pretty cranky day, Liss was super tired all day, she took a 4 hour nap and a 1.5 hour nap. So by 6 she was showing signs of being sleepy again, all though WAY too early for me to put her down. We did a bath at 5, dinner at 7, diaper and jammies at 730...and then she wouldn't calm down and wouldn't take a bottle, so at 810 I gave her kisses and put her to bed. Oh yea, 2 minutes of some fussy/whining and she was out for the count until 6 this morning. She went back down at 7, she fell asleep in my lap in the rocker but woke up when I put her in the crib (that always happens, I used to pick her up and try again in the rocker) this morning I left her there, turned out the light (cuz its actually still a bit dark at 7 now) and went back into our room. She fussed on and off for 15 minutes then went back to sleep until 1030! No screaming bloody murder, just some fussing. I'm a fan of this method!!