Friday, May 31, 2013

Feliz Aniversario

So I never scheduled this post to appear, as I had intended to. Pretend you saw this on May 27 2013.



Today marks the start of 3 years of blogging. Or the completion of 2 full years.

My blogging has been much less reliable in the six months since Sophia has joined us earthside. I'm ok with that. My blog was never meant to be anything more than something for my enjoyment.

I've just added lots of others things in my life to enjoy in the last three years.

The blog has definitely just turned into a journal of sorts. A way to share our lives with family and friends, and even just random internet followers.

John setup an email account for Sophia that we write to her on, for her to enjoy someday a good bit from now. And I find that I don't write that often, because I chronicle so much of what is going on in our lives on here.

When I started blogging I was a new wife, and now I'm a new mom. What I no longer am is a new blogger. The "new" has worn off. I still like it, but don't find myself making the time for it like I used to. Switching jobs didn't help either. There's no personal time at work anymore.

I can't think of anything insightful or witty to say. I can think of a rundown of everything that's going on in life. Life is good. I'm thankful for all my readers, all my family, and this blog!

Nom Nom Nom

That's not exactly what Sophia thought of her first non-dairy meal.

Tomorrow baby girl turns 6 months, but momma gots to work. And I wanted to do this on a day I was relaxed and happy.

So I steamed a sweet potato in the Baby Bullet Steamer and then I pureed it in the Baby Bullet Blender.

I bough an avocado too, but I wanted to use the whole system so I went with the sweet potato first.

Here's what she thought of it

1- The bib is yummy 2-I'm not too sure about this 3- Still not sure 4- Not sure I like it

1- I'll give it another try 2- Ick 3- Really ick 4- You're not getting that in my mouth again

1- Please don't 2- I said no! 3- Yucky! 4- What is this crap, yuck!
So she didn't love food on the first go round. But I expect her reaction was extremely normal. So we'll keep trying once a day for awhile, changing foods every 4 days.
She was really eager on the first bite, because she loves the bottle and putting things in her mouth in general, so she opened right up. About 4 spoonfuls in she was for sure done.

The good news, one sweet potato makes like 15 servings (1T) of baby food. So she'll be eating this again :)

Oh, here's the first bite in real time

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Stroller obsessed

Lately I find myself aimlessly browsing Craigslist and VarageSale looking at strollers.

I have a small basic umbrella stroller, and the snap in stroller that just holds the carseat. But I'm feeling that I need a big deluxe stroller too. For Disney, which is not til September. Which I could borrow my mom's full size stroller for. But alas, I still have stroller envy.

I want a jogger stroller, not because I job. Because I'm convinced that I need the big wheels for going through dirt. And I like the idea that if I did want to jog, I could smoothly.

But I do like all the bells, whistles and accommodations of a regular full size stroller too.

Jeep makes an "all terrain" stroller that is supposed to be the best of both worlds.

I need to be able to road test these things!

Then there's whether or not to go gender neutral for the color. But if/when we do add to the family, won't I need a double stroller anyway? Ahhhh! I make myself crazy.

Traditional Deluxe Stroller- gender neutral

Jeep All Terrain gender neutral

Jeep Jogging Stroller

Cosco traditional stroller gender neutral

Chicco all girl
Did you have a stroller type you like best? Why?

Thursday, May 9, 2013

How do you spell your name?

That is the simple question that led to an amusing yet saddening conversation at work. To simply and protect the players in this history lesson gone awry, there will be me, A, B, C, and D. A mix of medical professionals at a nursing station.

A: How do you spell your name
Me: Sara-h.
A: Well I meant your last name, but do you know I would have spelled your name without an h? That's how modern I am.
Me: That's the naked way. The Jewish people spell it with an h and they originated the name.
B: Are you Jewish?
Me: No, but it's a Hebrew name from the Bible and in the Bible it has an H.
C: Sarah, wasn't she Lott's wife who turned into salt?
Me: No, Sarah was Abraham's wife.
C: Well what was Lott's wife's name?
Me: I don't think she had a name listed in the Bible.
A: What about Ruth, whose wife was she? Was she Lott's wife?
Me: No, Ruth was Boaz's wife.
A: Boaz? Are you sure? There must be another famous Ruth in the Bible.
Me: No, not that I know of. Ruth was a widow and her mother-in-law was Naomi and she married Boaz.
B: Are you looking all that up? How do you know all that. Wasn't it Abraham's wife that turned into a pillar of salt? Oh man, I'm Catholic I should know that.
Me: (SMH) No, Abraham's wife was Sarai, then later renamed Sarah. Lott's wife isn't named.
C: Oh that's right, Sarah couldn't have a baby and she had one when they were really old.
D: Yeah, she got turned into a pillar of salt cause she looked back when they were attacking the city.
A: Do you know why the city was being attacked?
D: Cause they were bad, for punishment.
Me: God reigned fire and brimstone down on the city in judgement.
C: Lott's wife's name was Edith.
A, B, D and me: Edith?
Me: What on earth has Mr. Google told you now?
C: Lott's wife isn't named in the Bible but some ancient Hebrew texts refer to her as "The Dew" which translates to Edith.
Me: I told you she didn't have a name. None of you are allowed to teach Sunday School. Sheesh.

It was comical how twisted up the story became, like a rendition of "Who's on First?"
But I was sad that people old enough to be my parents, and almost grandparents, didn't have a firm grasp on some very basic Bible.

Oh the conversations nurses have.

Happy Nurses Week!

Monday, May 6, 2013

To feed or not to feed, that is the question

That I'm always answering. It seems my nursing routine has been not ideal from the start.
Things would go good for awhile, then be tough.

We've been supplementing since 3 weeks old. We've been using a bottle for supplementing since 4 or 5 weeks old. Then I went back to work part time and of course those days it's all bottle.

A few weeks ago, I just realized how tired I was at fighting Sophia to nurse. Every feeding but the first one of the day I'd jump through all these hoops to try and get her to nurse. She cry, pull away, whimper or just outright scream. Not fun. Sometimes I just couldn't get her to, and then I'd have to drag out the pump instead. And then remember to pump at work. My supply is so little that I could go about 8 hours without nursing and be ok, but that's not good for keeping up the supply. And dragging my pump to work was fairly inconvenient, especially since I don't have a dedicated area to leave my things in.

Anyway, I'd been toying with the idea of stopping. She already gets 80% of her nutrition from formula because I only produce about 20% of what she needs. But, I know some breastmilk is better than none, and I was sad about losing that closeness. But it was so much hassle for the "some" breastmilk. The 6ish ounces a day breastmilk. And after one full day at home fighting at almost every feed, I decided to quit.

So I went about the business of wearing a sports bra with cabbage leaves. For 24 hours. But after a full day and night my boobs were really hurting. So I nursed her for the first feed of the day. Then I put on some more cabbage and added an ace wrap. The next morning things were much more comfortable, and I decided to just nurse once a day, because she usually does well first thing in the morning.

So that's where we are now. I've trained the supply to only make enough for once a day. It's going alright. Because my boobs are no longer about to pop first thing in the morning, I still have to coax her to nursing some. She's also just easily distracted at eating time in general. But, for now I'm willing to beg her into nursing if it's just once a day. I really do want her to have the immunity benefits.

So that's where we are. Don't know how long until I just quit altogether. I do know- if you're planning to stop nursing it's much more comfortable to wean down the amount gradually than go cold turkey. Those can be an uncomfortable 2-3 days!

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Weight Watchers Update

So John and I have been doing WW since the third week in February. To be honest it doesn't feel like our lives have changed all that drastically. Right now we don't have to sacrifice too much to get a reward. I'm sure as the points go lower that will change.

I am down 13 pounds altogether, and John is down 25.

When I made it to my first goal (5% of body weight lost) I rewarded myself with a haircut. It was my first since Sophia came and my "mom" cut. I was excited to get it. I had short hair when John first met me and he actually prefers it this way. And I prefer a change! :)


I went with a stacked bob, but a long one.

I've had several people over the years classify my hair as "thin". But my stylist says I actually have a lot of hair, it's just very very straight. Except for this one patch in the back near the nape of my neck, where my hair is borderline curly. I think this has only happened since being pregnant. Crazy hormones.

Also on a day I was feeling "skinny" I decided to take a body shot. I resisted the urge to suck it in :)
If this is the way I looked sitting down I'd be thrilled. Unfortunately when it's not all stretched out I have significant gut :( But still, I am happy with the progress.

And what does WW eating look like? Well it's probably one of the most no-fuss well supported programs out there. There are just gobs of recipes on the internet. But my meal planning is even simpler than that. We use the E-Meals service Portion Control Menu to plan our dinners. I save the recipes we enjoy. Here's a sampling of our meals:

Spinach feta topped chicken with a baked potato

Sausage, carrot and white bean stew

Tuscan chicken with herb roasted potatoes

Cabbage and sausage soup (surprisingly good!)

Ham and Swiss quiche

Spinach Alfredo over spaghetti squash
 So the food is all really normal, just lightened up. Some of the substitutes we make regularly are: spray butter for real butter, grated parmesan for shredded cheese, 2% milk reduced fat cheeses for full fat cheeses, fat free milk, egg whites for whole eggs, extra lean ground beef for ground beef, light dressings for regular dressings. John loves to have 2 tablespoons of parmesan (regular kind) on lots of his foods because it is only 1 point. A lot of recipes include chicken broth for flavor.

So if you're thinking you'd like to lose a few pounds, but don't want a drastic lifestyle change, and want to feed your family the same food you need, this is the plan!

I'll update you again once I reach my next goal!