I haven't written a blog in a long time, but I want to try to start it up again. I want to use this as a way to keep track of weight loss progress, things I've made, and just a general reminder of what's happening in my life.
It has been 8 months since my sleeve gastrectomy and I've lost 83 pounds. Best decision I ever made. I've been running and walking and staying active in addition to all the food rules I've been following. The hardest part is taking the vitamins...
I have several crochet projects in the works. I am working on edging one more receiving blanket for a coworker who is having her baby on August 7. I've been using this pattern. I am also working on a shawl for myself and a basket for someone else. I really want to start another shawl for myself, and a couple more owl baskets, but I need to finish those other three first.
I am successfully growing zucchini and spaghetti squash in my garden this year. They've kinda taken over and are not allowing the other veggies to grow successfully, but I'm okay with that because all I really wanted was zucchini and spaghetti squash. I've already harvested two zucchini and last night made zucchini black bean burgers. The recipe called for a 19 oz can of black beans and I only had a 15 oz can, so I supplemented with refried pinto beans. I also left out the spicy ingredients and wound up baking the burgers for 30 min instead of 20 min. Also, it made 8 burgers (recipe said 4, but I can't finish a burger that big), and I don't need that much. So I froze several burgers to make one at a time in the future. I put Muenster cheese and guacamole on the burger and it was amazing! I hadn't tried any new recipes in a while, and it was a nice reminder of how much I like trying new things! I have another zucchini that I need to decide if I want to grate or noodle it!

New Happenings in our lives

1. We have a one year old. He cannot walk yet, but he walks while pushing around toys with wheels. When he cannot walk anymore, he gets very frustrated and mad. Also, more time standing on his two feet means more falling. And more falling means more crying. He is the cutest little guy. He is also getting way more talkative. Gibberish, but the cutest gibberish ever.
2. I am starting a new job next week with Western Governors University. I will be in training for 12 weeks but then I will work from home! WGU is an online university and I will be a course mentor, helping future teachers with their chemistry courses. I am super excited to finally have a job where I will work full time and have benefits!
3. WGU is sending me to Salt Lake City for a conference. I have never spent the night away from Dylan and I am going to be in SLC for 5 days. I am handling it okay, I think, but when he's being super cute, it makes me cry. Hopefully I will be so busy I don't have a chance to think about how much I'll be missing my little man. And hopefully I don't start crying in front of all my new coworkers.
4. Adam is still recovering from his surgery that he had back in March. The pressure sore is finally healing, but he cannot work until it stops draining. Which basically means he doesn't have any idea when he'll be able to go back to work. Grumble.
5. Spunky is still a sweet dog, and while she is very apprehensive of Dylan, she gives him a kiss and runs away. Dylan thinks she's hilarious and often when he's crying uncontrollably, Spunky can come over and give him a kiss and he's okay. Instead of mommy kissing it to make it better, the dog does. At least someone in the house has the magic touch.

1 year later....

A year ago, I was waiting, trying to be patient, for my water to either break while i was in class or for my scheduled induction. My little man was born 51 weeks ago and it has been such an amazing wild ride so far. I never thought I would love being a mom this much, but it really is the best job I could have ever had. My little man is the sweetest peanut and I love him SO much! He has gorgeous red hair, big blue eyes, and the sweetest disposition (most of the time). He makes the funniest faces, loves the dog, and chases her everywhere he can. He crawls very fast most of the time, but sometimes he crawls very slowly - so slowly in fact, it looks like he should be saying "fee, fie, foe, fum" and it cracks me up. He pulls himself up to stand and can walk around furniture. Adam says he took three accidental steps toward him the other night while I was at work (typical!), but I have yet to see anything more than a half of an accidental step. He says "Mama" "baba" "dada" "byebye" (though byebye and baba are very similar) and any combination of those consonants. I think he only really knows me as mama, I don't think he calls adam dada yet and sometimes he might be saying byebye when he waves, i don't think he knows what that means yet either. He learns something new every day. It is so neat to watch him think and observe this new world of his. He also makes a 'g' sound when he sees a goose (sometimes). He's figuring it all out and it is so awesome.

Next week we will have a 1 year old. I just can't believe it. The past year has flown by so stinking fast!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Going into Thanksgiving, I want to list the things I am thankful for:
1. My healthy baby boy. Every single child brought into this world is a miracle and I am so thankful that my little man is healthy (though his skin rash is annoying me, maybe he's teething, or maybe the poor kid just got stuck with his mommy's skin problems).
2. My wonderful husband. He is so supportive and loves me and his son so much. When I'm in another room, I love listening to the two of them play. Adam has figured out how to tickle Dylan and Dylan has the best laugh in the universe. Listening to Adam play with our son just makes me love him more.
3. My parents. They are so ready to help with anything we need and I don't know what we'd do without them. Especially when we ask my mom to come stay to babysit, she doesn't hesitate.
4. Our babysitter. She is a friend of ours and is saving us so much money by being willing to take care of our little man while I work in the morning. She works second shift, which means she gets home around midnight, and is up for me to drop off the little man at 7:20 every morning. Luckily come January my schedule will change and it will only be two days a week instead of four.
5. My job. I've asked for a year now to be made full time and that still hasn't happened. I am frustrated at times, but I am still grateful to have a job at all. And I won't say yes to a schedule like the awful one I have right now ever again.
6. My car. The silver bullet has over 183,000 miles on it and it's still kicking. Really well. Knock on wood. I won't lie, I cheated on my car driving my parents 2006 Chevy Impala SS and I enjoyed it tremendously, but I love my car. The Impala was a LOT of fun though (sshhhh, don't tell the silver bullet).
7. Our new furnace. Over the summer, our air conditioner died, and due to the tax credit, we got a new a/c and furnace. And our new furnace is amazing when compared with the old one. The old one didn't regulate heat well and the downstairs was always freezing. The new furnace keeps the downstairs warm and the upstairs is the same temperature as downstairs. The old furnace kept the upstairs at least 10 degrees warmer than the downstairs and made it so difficult to sleep.

I'm sure there are many more things I'm thankful for, especially all my wonderful family and friends.

I love PBS

So, in the mornings, I watch PBS kids. Dinosaur Train, Sesame Street, Sid the Science Kid, Word World. Dylan may watch a little, but mostly he's eating or playing on the floor and PBS Kids is the background. I know he doesn't really know what he's watching, but I love it! I did not think that I would be watching PBS Kids so soon, but it really is my favorite. I have watched some Nickelodeon and Disney and they suck in comparison.

And, because I love PBS so much, this weekend when I was up for a feeding at 1 am (when is that going to stop, I wonder), I turned on the TV and it was on PBS. It just so happened that it was an episode of NOVA about Dogs. How dogs are descended from wolves, how dogs are so in tune with human emotions, and how the silver fox breeding program in Russia shows how it was possible for wolves to become docile. It was so super interesting that I had to show it to my biotechnology class today.
It's 53 minutes long, but if you have 53 minutes to spare, I highly recommend Dogs Decoded.

what i have learned about diapers

Of course, everyone has a different opinion about diapers, but I thought I would share mine (that's what blogs are for anyway, right?).

Of course, now that there is a little one in our midst, we are constantly trying to save money. I have found that using store brand diapers is a great way to save. All diapers leak every once in a while. I have found no diaper that leaks more or less than any other - expensive brand or store brand. When Dylan was a week old, every diaper leaked because of having to put vaseline in the diaper. Once the vaseline stopped, the leaking decreased a lot, and once we moved out of the newborn size diaper the leaking decreased even more. So, now, number two diapers leak every once in a while but number ones I think have only leaked twice in the past two months. No matter what brand. So, now for how I feel about those brands:
1. Pampers - are great but expensive. 40 diapers is $10 not on sale (of course, they do go on sale and it is usually pretty easy to find coupons - including in every package) They even make a cheaper diaper and a more expensive diaper. There is a difference, but not really worth the price in my opinion.
2. Huggies - suck. (and are expensive, same price as Pampers) They're thick, they fold back on themselves so they're not nice and easy to wrap up before throwing in the garbage, and I all in all do not like them.
3. Luvs - are comparable to the Pampers cheaper diaper. They're alright but still on the expensive side (a little cheaper than Pampers and Huggies, but not enough).
3. Up and Up (Target brand) - are awesome. They are thin like Pampers but $6 for 40 diapers (I'm still talking size 2s, Little man is still skinny!)
4. Comforts (Kroger brand) - are alright. They are a little bit thicker (not as thick as Huggies though), and they are cheaper than Target brand.

All in all, I think I will probably mostly use Target brand (plus they are polka dot diapers, you can't go wrong with polka dots). The name brand diapers also have characters that you have to pay for (Sesame Street, Winnie the Pooh, and Blue's Clues). Seriously, your little one's excrement is being collected in these things, why do you need to decorate them with fancy logos. Polka dots are awesome and apparently save me $4 a package.

As for wipes, I really like Comforts (Kroger brand). They're thicker than Pampers but they pop out of the container like Pampers (they're folded like Kleenex tissues). Huggies are scored and so you often pull out more than one wipe (annoying). BUT, the Huggies wipes container is the best.

Long story short: Buy Target Diapers, a container of Huggies wipes, and then Kroger wipes refills.

what i've learned...

... now that I have been a mom for almost 7 weeks. It is by far the most amazing thing I have ever done. There have been some tough times and we have rolled with the punches. This is what I know:
1. Breastfeeding is amazing. It was by far the most painful part of the entire process (yes, I think it was more painful than labor). All was well and then all of the sudden when Dylan was about 1.5 weeks old, it became so painful that every time he latched on I would have to bite my finger to prevent myself from screaming in pain. And that lasted for 5 days. And then the pain was gone. Those were the hardest days for me - desperately wanting the pain to go away and feeling absolutely helpless because Dylan was hungry and I was the only one who could feed him. I was in so much pain and afraid to use the breast pump because I was told by so many people not to introduce an artificial nipple to Dylan otherwise he might not breastfeed. I finally used the breastpump and it didn't hurt at all and Dylan did okay with the bottle and still prefers me to the bottle. I really think that all the pain I was in could have been gone sooner had I tried pumping sooner because the pump really helped me heal. I did try to make myself feel better by reminding myself that it could be worse - women can develop bacterial and yeast infections and have to breastfeed with that. It didn't really help because it was still so painful. I am SO GLAD that I got through it because now everything's wonderful - the pain is completely gone and Dylan and I are working so well together. Now the problem is that he prefers me to the bottle making it difficult for anyone who's watching him when I'm not around (which makes me feel great, but I know that it's not fair for everyone else).
2. Newborn diapers leak. A LOT. Dylan has grown into Size 1 and he doesn't leak out of his diaper nearly as often now. In the newborn diapers we were getting peed on all the time because it was just coming out of the top of the diaper. Not to mention when we were changing him the pee would fly.
3. Be careful when changing them. Because they will poo on you. And breastfed baby poo is projectile. We've all been pooed on while wiping Dylan's toosh. Runny projectile poo. Awesome.
4. I cannot carry on a conversation without talking about breastfeeding and baby excrement. Obviously, considering this blog post.
5. I love love love out baby bouncer - it's like having a baby sitter when no one else is around! The chair vibrates which is so super soothing to the baby. We have the FP Precious Planet Khaki Sands bouncer.
6. I love our bassinet. It vibrates and plays different sounds - the best being the sound of a heartbeat. It helps him fall asleep without being in our arms (though sometimes we have to hold him). We have the First Years Carry Me Near bassinet. And if we take the bassinet part off, a changing table is underneath. I will say that the bassinet part is SO heavy without Dylan in it that I would never carry it around like they claim you can. And, sometimes Dylan will start waking up, and I have to be honest, I hit the vibrate button on the bassinet and he will fall back asleep. It's like a snooze button on the baby. And sometimes just what I need to completely wake up and feed him. I love it!
7. You really do need a ton of onesies. And he really does wear several a day. Because he spits up all over them and then they're soaked. Luckily we have so many super cute ones. And we get to see him in all of them!
8. I LOVE MY BABY. I want to look at him all the time, and am constantly amazed that something so small and perfect and beautiful is all mine. And I like to look at all his different parts and decide if they're Adam's or mine. He definitely has Adam's fingers and toes. He has my chin, nose, ears, and red hair. He has Adam's forehead. I cannot decide whose eyes he has. Yesterday was the first time I thought he looked like he has Adam's shoulders. And he's ours. So much love!