Little Big Guy

If there was any worry left about my little guy gaining weight, it has certainly passed now.  On Friday we took him to be weighed again, and he gained 2 1/2 pounds in just 2 weeks!  He's up to 11.7 pounds.  At 6 weeks old, that's a pretty big guy.  85th percentile, actually.

When I wake up each morning, I swear it seems like he has grown so much, he looks like a different baby.  I am so grateful that he is gaining weight and growing so well!  Those very early days of worrying are so difficult.

This weight gain also means that my little big guy spends the majority of his days and nights on feeding frenzies.  Not the typical every-3-hour-newborn-eating schedule.  No, he's on an every hour to 2 hour feeding schedule.  It's rough.

I can't believe that it has been 6 weeks since my little guy was born!  While I was still pregnant with him I thought back to my maternity leave with M.  I remember really stressing over her health, weight gain, finding a babysitter, going back to work, and so many other things.  I told myself that this time would be different...I would make a conscious effort not to stress like I did last time.   All in all, I would say that I have been much better.  BUT, the worry over weight gain is now being transferred to finding a sitter.  UUUUUUUGH! 

Finding a sitter/nanny/caregiver for a newborn is NOT fun.  There's the worry over finding just the right person (someone caring, loving, responsible - someone I can TRUST with my little love).  Worry over the expense, and the worry that I will actually make it to work on time - eek!  Oh, how I long to be the resident of a European country where maternity leave is more than 12 weeks (unpaid to boot).  Why do we Americans have to push everything to such limits??  It can't possibly be worth it.

Speaking of pushing things to the limit/overdoing everything; we are waist deep in projects here.  The new house is just about completely "demo'd" (demolition complete - I'll post on that next) and we are using serious elbow grease to get our old house ready to put up for sale next Monday.  Here's what I'm working on today:

Making our front porch pretty.  I picked up these lovely flowers last night (always one of my favorite things to do - it reminds me that summer is nearly here!).  I'll be planting the pots today.

I'll be weeding this flower bed and planting these bright yellow flowers.  M picked them out for me.  I love that!

We (mainly my mom) will also finish staining our storage shed.  Have I told you lately what  life-saver my mom is?!  I can not imagine what this time in our lives would be like without her.  She is truly the best.

So, speaking of stressing over going back to work, no lie, I just got a call from one of my coworkers asking for help with a project.  Going back is just around the corner.  Siiiiiiiiigh. 

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Firestation....K-Days....and More

Oh Heather, dinner with you was one of the best times I had all month!  If not for the company alone the food was AMAZING!  There is no one else I would rather spend a night in the city with my friend :).

This week has been a heavy week!  I had field trips, Kindergarten shots, Urine samples, Oldest son's maturation program, meetings...meetings...more meetings.  

Those memories of hot baths and novels seem so far away.  Maybe a good thing.....keep my from crying with nostalgia :).  

I keep telling myself....one day.  It will slow down and I will be so sad that my cute little kids are grown!  It goes by in a minute!  Unfortunately when we are in the trenches we forget to relish in their "tininess".  Many times we forget how insanely short this amount of time truly is and we will never get it back.  

Wednesday we headed down to the Fire Station for Indiana's preschool field trip.  It was a lot of fun!  Aside from my "Fearful Four" shadow.

My mom told me that when she was in school (Elementary Education) she learned about the "Fearful Four's"; Four being the year that children seem to be afraid of many things...in Indiana's case most things.  I have not done much research on this subject (I really should) but it seems to ring so true with Indiana.  As I have said and will say again this could and very well may be a WHOLE blog post in and of itself :). 

 This was my little Indiana.....Gripping my hand and biting her fingernails. 

Here's the fire pole where kids asked the fireman "Do you slide down it".  When the fireman said "Yes" another kid went on to say "Are those stairs (next to it)?   Do you walk down those too?" Love it!  Nothing like a group of preschool kids to call the firemen out ;).

Yep.  Still biting her nails :)......

By the end of her tour she FINALLY relaxed enough for a photo.....

After the Fire Station we headed pack to the park where the teacher showed the kids how to draw a fire truck. 

It was so cute to see them all attentively watching the teacher make a Fire Truck out of shapes.

She did a great job.....and yes she is still biting her nails....sigh....

After the art project the kids headed over to the old Pleasant Grove Rec Center.  This place has seen better days!  I remember rollerskating here in the Summer's as a kid.  

The kids practiced their Stop, Drop & Roll moves.  I myself, was glad for the hand sanitizer :)

 

And then on to some parachute.  I remember LOVING this game as a kid.  For those parachute players out there, didn't they seem GINORMOUS?  

The last part of the field trip was to see a movie about Fire Safety.  

How is it that I STILL have the jingle stuck in my head and when the teacher asked the kids to give her one example of fire safety they couldn't give ONE? :).

Indiana however was able to recite the "Stop Drop and Roll" to get her Fire Chief hat!  

Success! 

What are your plans for the weekend?  I myself have a long list of chores to do :(.  I feel like a kid with a Saturday chore list!  

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

So glad for such a great friend

I'm feeling a little guilty.  Not totally guilty, but a little bit.  I think that one of the times Jody went out to eat during her "fast" was with me.  Sorry, Jody.....but, not really sorry.  I had a great time!

Last Saturday Jody drove forty miles to treat me to dinner at one of my favorite places:

THE BAYOU in Salt Lake City!

This place is great.  With live music, over 300 beers available and Cajun influenced food, how could it not be fantabulous?!  Add a friend that understands the stir crazy's that go along with having a newborn AND takes you out of the house for some Cajun chicken and drinks and that is the perfect Saturday night! 

You would think that two bloggers would have taken pictures while there.  Nope.  I even took my camera with me.  It was just so nice to get out and chat with my friend, that I completely forgot.  Something else we didn't do?  Talk business.  Well, just enough to say "We really need to do this and this."  That was it.  I was fine with that one, too.

Unfortunately, Jody and I are REALLY behind with our Venture Schedule.  SUCKS!  We both know that at this point we both need to pull some miracles out of our hats in order to make the ABC Show this year.  Life just keeps getting in the way.  Yeah, yeah.  I know.  You've heard that from us before.  Any suggestions?  We would sure take them right now!  Or donations for a nanny?  Just throwing it out there. 

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Final report card on the Fast Food Fast.....

I would say we kind of failed :).  Maybe not an 'F' grade....maybe a C-?  

www.tomcorsonknowles.com/.../making-healthier-fast-food-choices/

Here are the final stats:

Jody-Ate out 6 times in April.  One thing I did NOT do was eat Fast Food.  Every time I ate out it was at a sit down restaurant.   Not too bad for spending a whole weekend in St. George and having two dinner dates with close friends.  No weight lost here :).  I would say my St George trip sabotaged any hope of weight loss for the month since I managed to gain four pounds in one weekend ;).

The Hubby-Ate out 10 times (yes ten) with no dinner dates or weekend trips!  In his defense he did have the kids by himself the weekend I was out of town and he took the kids fishing all weekend.  Those two alone warrant some fast food!  He also did manage to lose five lbs., kudos on that one babe!

Things we noticed:

 Jody-

• The money savings
  
• I did not crave sugar near as much
• I noticed I had far LESS energy after eating out.
• That relationships REALLY revolve around food....or coffee :)

The Hubby-

• Noticed he did not crave salt near as much as he usually does. 
• He was not as hungry as he usually was (he was eating out for lunch every week day)
• He had more energy.  (I even noticed this ;) 

Probably the hardest thing about it was date night.  When we got the opportunity to go out on a date  we almost passed because we had no idea what to do!  How do you go on a date without going to dinner?  Our solution was to go to the movie (a safe choice), however when we got there we decided a GINORMOUS tub of popcorn and Red Vines were not technically eating out so they were considered safe.  Not a good choice! 

While we improved on not eating out we didn't necessarily improve on all of our eating choices at home. 

It was a fun experiment.  One I intend on doing again. Next time I will pass with an 'A' I promise!

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