food

It seems like every blog that I read, all of the women are super good cooks who love it and can take practically nothing and make it great... I have yet to figure that one out.

I have been meal planning for the past 3 weeks and it seems to be working pretty well, except for the occasional days (Thursday most specifically) where I do not feel like cooking. That is the night when we have frozen pizza, if I've remembered to add it to my list. I'm not sure if this is saving us any money though because it seems like up to $100 a week, for just the two of us, at the grocery store. It probably is saving us from eating out though. We've made a deal not to eat out until Valentine's Day. Think we can stick to it?

This week is going to be an interesting one because getting JT's help with the menu added tacos to the super nachos I had already listed. Oh well. I forgot to get the chips from the store anyway. Whats the point of a list if I can't stick to it?
I don't have my meals listed for certain days because I never know how tired I am going to be when the evening rolls around, but here is my list for this week.

Chili
tacos
Super nachos
Juicy Lucy burgers
Chicken and Rice
Maple chicken
Pizza

I think we'll probably have the nachos on Sunday for the super bowl, and the burgers on Saturday night but the rest of the week is pretty much up in the air. I am looking forward to some juicy lucys though... my brother made the best for Christmas eve... hoping to duplicate. :)

put together

I look around me at work and see all these women who are so put together, well dressed, and maked up at such an early hour and wonder how they do it. I can barely drag myself out of bed with enough time to get dressed and feed the monster in the morning. I've never been a morning person but I've at least been able to get showered, dressed, maked up, and breakfasted... but now, I just can't. I've switched to showering at night and eating breakfast at work in order to save time in the a.m. ugh. I hate having wet hair at night so I end up with a pony tail the next day anyway.

I know, I know, you're saying you have an infant in the house. of course you're tired and at a time crunch. But, I just don't understand. Other people can do it with kids, why can't I?

On a side note, Met Bert Blyleven last night. He held my baby! :) He said he felt like a politician holding babies... lol. Even got a picture. I hope one day she appreciates being held by a hof'er at 3 months of age.

brain dump

Tuesdays and Thursdays are my worst days... totally sucks. I can't get out of bed and I seem to be rushing and running late the whole day. Need to do something about this, but what?

Is it weird to want to be friends with your doctor? I love my doctor! she is SO cute. She's just around my age and having her first baby in March. She is so sweet and easy to talk to and I just want to hang out with her not in the clinic. On the other hand, it might be weird that she's had her hands in places that friends should not have hands...

Most houses have coat closets by the front door, if they have them at all. I don't understand that. I think there should be a coat closet by the back door/garage door because that is the one that people use most frequently. In my house, we don't even have closets on the first floor and it is not fun. We always seem to have a mess of coats and shoes and hats/mittens/scarves. I tried to contain it by putting up coat hooks but then it just looks like a hung up mess. I'm trying to find an armoire/wardrobe that I can put by the front door (because there is no room by the back door or i would put it there) to hide my coats. I would also like it to have shelves and a drawer to contain hats/mittens/scarves/purses and diaper bag. I don't think its too much to ask, must keep looking. But, I still need to figure out the shoe situation and the back door situation. At the back door there is basically no entry area. there are the stairs to the basement directly ahead and stairs up to the kitchen to the side. I would try to put hooks in the stairway for coats, etc put where to put the shoes? If you saw it, you'd understand. Maybe I'll take a picture and update this post...

Fail

Last week was a total loss. Did not exercise. Did not track food. Did not watch portion sizes.

Result? Up 2 pounds.

New goal: Make up for last week by keeping better track of portion sizes and drinking more water.

I can't seem to find the motivation I need... what is it going to take?

Is this for real?

Thinking about my little monster is really surreal. I look at her sometimes and don't know where she came from. It's hard to believe that she was inside me for nine long months. She's always going to be there now, better or worse. I'm no longer able to pick up and go without thinking of another being. It's weird. I sometimes think "I can't wait to get back to normal," and then I realize this is the new normal. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about that...

Being a mom is hard mostly because of the lack of sleep. I don't feel much different than I did before when I stop to think about it. I was super scared that I was going to get lost in being a mom, not getting to be anything but a mom. Who knows? Maybe that will still happen...

Weekly Update

Since buying a new digital scale last week, I have been obsessively weighing myself every day. Sometimes 2 and 3 times a day. I know that my weight fluctuates throughout the day and that I drive myself crazy every time I see the numbers go up, but I can't seem to help it. It's just sitting there on the floor, staring at me, all shiny and screaming "Step on me! See what the numbers say!!" I have to admit, I love having the digital scale. We had an old fashioned, non-digital one that worked well enough but I could never for sure tell what the number was. Plus, I think it was a few pounds off both ways, high and low, so the actual weight was never truly what is should have been.

So now for the update.
Goal for last week: physical activity 3 times. FAIL. I only did the treadmill twice.
Goal for this week: Redo C 2 5K week 1 and try to jog at least half the time. Drink 64 oz H20 every day.

Weight: 192.5
Total lost: 2.5 pounds.

So even with having 2.5 "cheat" days this weekend (Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday) and not doing all the physical activity I should have, I still lost weight. I guess cutting back on portion sizes really is a good place to start. Now, here's to this coming week! :)

Year in Review 2011

This reminds me of those email surveys that used to go around. I really liked those...

1. What did you do in 2011 that you’d never done before? Had a baby.

2. Did you keep your New Year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year? No I didn't... more like challenging myself this year instead of resolutions.

3. Did anyone close to you have a child? Me, Tara, Joleene

4. Did anyone close to you die? No.

5. Where did you travel? Madison, WI. LaCrosse, WI... Twin Cities... boring!

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011? A job I enjoy.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory? October 14.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? My little monster

9. What was your biggest failure? breastfeeding. I was so hoping to be able to

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? being knocked up felt pretty sick and injurious to me

11. What was the best thing you bought? Our fancy car and baby stuff

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? good question

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Sebastian... the jackass of cats

14. Where did most of your money go? Baby, hospital, clinic, eating out

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Not being pregnant any more, laying flat on my back to sleep, and sleeping on my stomach.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011? Not so much listened to music last year.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer? a) in between. b) fatter. c) poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of? Being just a 2-person family

19. What do you wish you’d done less of? Working... even though I had three months off.

20. How will you be spending Christmas? Same as every other year.

21. Did you fall in love in 2011? Eventually I fell for my little monster but it took a little while.

22. What was your favorite TV program? Gilmore Girls box set

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year? Nope

24. What was the best book you read? I really enjoyed The Hunger Games

25. What was your greatest musical discovery? Did not discover any... actually did not listen to music for many months in a row.

26. What did you want and get? To go to Target Field

28. What did you want and not get? A baby who slept through the night straight from the hospital.

29. What was your favorite film of this year? I actually can't remember any movies that I saw except the muppet movie and breaking dawn part 1. Neither would be considered favorite.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? Not on my birthday but went to Red Lobster with friends. I turned 28.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? Not feeling so damn icky for most of the year, morning sickness, all day sickness, tiredness, pain-ness, surgery, recovering, no sleeping, newborns are hard work.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011? Maternity clothes...

33. What kept you sane? Days off work.

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Don't necessarily fancy them but the Kardashians are always there for a laugh.

35. What political issue stirred you the most? N/A

36. Who did you miss? Myself

37. Who was the best new person you met? My little monster

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011? Patience is a virtue. I never thought I would have it but I do and it gets tested all the time... newborns are hard work.

The journey begins

It's time to lose the pregnancy weight! I really let myself go when I found out I was pregnant. I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and I completely stopped doing any kind of physical activity. I know, I know ... it would have been better for me and for the baby if I had exercised and ate right but I didn't and now I'm paying for it. I am the heaviest I have ever been. No more Chipotle twice a week... the trouble with driving past it on my way home from work! At least now I'm downtown with no fast food joints between the house, daycare and work. woo.

Stats
Weight: 195 lbs
Pants: Size 15-16 comfortably, 14 tight
Shirts: L-XL slightly tight

And now for the moment of truth...
gross.

At least now its out there and I have someone/something to hold me accountable, the interwebs!

Goals are difficult for me to stick to so this new year I'm going to try to break my big goal of losing weight to manageable chunks. This week my goal is to actually do some physical activity three times, other than walking from the parking ramp to work...

Here goes nothing. WISH ME LUCK.

Highlights and Challenges

Highlights of 2011

1. Seeing Avenged Sevenfold twice
2. Visiting with BfL three times
3. RAV wedding
4. TNT wedding
5. Finding out bro/sil2 are expecting
6. Having my little monster

Challenges for 2012

1. Get in shape to run the Get in Gear 5K in April
2. Create and maintain this blog
3. Keep little monster's baby book/calendar up to date
4. Find a job I'll enjoy or find a way to enjoy my job