Happy Half Year Marlee!

Marlee is now officially half a year old!

I cannot even believe that she is six months and full of so much personality.

She is practically like a real person.

Just much smaller.

Considering the massive snow storm we are in right now, I am grateful we were able to make it to her doctors appointment yesterday. My husband and mother are both really sick with the flu so I was happy to get out of the infected house a little. Marlee behaved wonderfully and only cried for about 2 seconds when she received her vaccination. Her whole thigh is red though - such a brave babe.

Now for the bad news. She has lost a little bit of weight. Nothing to be alarmed about but I am shocked. Literally shocked. This little girl loves to eat. Pretty much anything I give her, she will eat it. I gave her white bread the other day just to see if she would eat it and yep, she did. We increased her bottles to 8 oz bottles a couple weeks ago and she eats 3-4 jars of food a day. The doctor said that it can happen once she starts to crawl but since she is not crawling just yet, (literally any minute now) he wants to see her back in a couple of months to recheck. I am kinda bummed. I was always so worried when I was breastfeeding about her weight gain and haven't thought twice about it since she is now on formula. Ugh. So the doctors want to increase her solid intake and try to give her more cereal and oatmeal type foods. He is going to see us again in two months for a reweigh. She did grow an inch and a half though so I am hoping he takes that into account! She is really tall for her age and I am baffled how that is even happening.

So we had a little banana ice cream tonight. It is just frozen bananas in the food processor but its delish! And I like sharing my food with Marlee while we watch movies together. Like our own little girls night.

As I stated, Marlee has not quite taken off yet in the crawling department but if she wants to get somewhere, she does. She will either roll or scoot or lunge her way in the direction that she wants to go. Nothing is safe at this point. Baby jail might be an option soon.

One new trick this month is that she is starting to form syllables. I mean syllables other then 'goo' and 'baa'. She has been spouting off at the mouth with that for a while. She is starting to do more 'ma' and 'da' and I swear she says 'hey' and 'yay' every now and then. She actually yelled 'yay' as soon as we entered church on Sunday. I wouldn't lie about church! She never repeats anything though so it is hard to say that she really 'says' anything. Maybe she will crawl and say 'mama' all in the same day.

On my day off.

When I have my camera ready.

Overall, she is great and I am just tickled that she is mine. I honestly could not believe that being a mom could be this easily rewarding. I mean the kid does nothing but poop and drool and scream all day long.

And I love it. And love her. And love my little family.

This is her saying she was done with this photoshoot.

And this is her saying 'Get well soon Grandma! I can't wait to see you!'.

Productivity and Positivity

Let me start by saying that I had three days off of work and it was definitely deserved. Work has been less then ideal lately. I actually have been feeling dread on the thought of having to return.

With that being said, I have to work tonight and I actually do not feel that overwhelming sense of doom and I think it is because I have actually been very productive with my days off. I am still falling asleep by 8PM but I haven't napped for 3 days and this is unheard of in my household. I am a napping queen. Marlee has also kept me pretty busy but geesh, she has been amazingly pleasant lately. We have a pretty good schedule going for us and it is really making thinks easier for us both. 

Actually, we are on crawl watch at the moment. It is going to happen any day now. Baby girl just wants to go! Right now she can pretty much get wherever she wants by rolling there and inching closer but crawling would certainly be easier - and she knows it! She is getting up on all fours and does a little rocking but can't quite push forward. I keep taking mini movies because as soon as she gets in position - I start filming. Capturing her big moment would be awesome!

Close, but no cigar. 

She is also eating like a champ! Momma's little chunker. She is loving being able to eat solids and I absolutely love letting her try a variety of foods. Everything from picking the fresh ingredients to blending up different variations - love, love, love. Just another step for Marlee being such a big girl. She will be 6 months on Thursday and it is hard to believe how much she has learned. She is constantly looking and touching and tasting. I could literally stare at her all day. 

Marlee's favorite food is still bananas. Pretty sure I could mix dirt with bananas and she would eat it.

So far we have tried:

Bananas 

Avocados

Avocado-banana 

Carrots

Sweet potatoes

Apples

Apple-banana

Oatmeal

Banana oatmeal

I think we are going to try squash next.

Exciting stuff. I know. 

"More food please!"

Nick and I have been doing a little Insanity workouts for the past couple of weeks and I don't want to toot my own horn but I feel great. We are not super crazy about it - six workouts a week is just not happening with our schedule - but we both feel so positive afterwards. I also have not had a sip of Coke for the entire month. I am hoping to see a good number on the scale on February 1st. Or at least an inch lost. Wishful thinking maybe but I can settle for this boost in energy for now. 

I also applied for about 10 different jobs so I am continuing to be optimistic that it will happen when it is meant to be! Fingers crossed!

Now for a couple Marlee pics! 

Happy Monday!

The Times have Changed

I have never been so relieved in my life to receive my Cosmopolitan magazine.

This is my last one and I am extremely happy to say that subscription is over. I thought two years ago that doing the special -buy one, get one free- yearly subscription was a steal! I loved reading these magazines and how can you not love free? And two whole years - score!

Well it is hard to love free when even the sight of these magazines make you cringe. There is nothing in these magazines that appeal to me anymore. Which is so bizarre! Two years ago, I would read them from cover to cover. I would literally prepare a whole day to just sitting and reading. Has that much changed in two years? Am I aging faster then I should be? 

Don't get me wrong. I have not subscribed to Parenting magazine, Vanity Fair, or Grandma monthly yet.

Source

But I would probably have more in common with these magazines then Cosmo. 

Let's go back to Decembers issue. First off, Miley Cyrus was on the cover and the highlighted article was to 'Eat, Drink, and Twerk Your Ass Off!'. It was all about holiday parties and 'Sexy Looks to Try Tonight.' I am not sure about you, but my holiday parties generally always consist of family and twerking at grandmas is not permitted. And looking sexy is not on my to do list either. It is a good day if I have a freaking bra on. If these articles didn't appeal to you, you can always turn to pg. 133 and figure out 'What People Say Behind Your Back'. Pshhh I gave up carrying about that a long time ago. 

I was really hoping December was the last issue to be piled in my bathroom, but it continued. January's issue featured Lauren Conrad and 'Getting Past the Haters.' The haters? Is she even relevant anymore. And all my 'haters' are nonexistent. Sorry Lauren but I have no interest in you or the floral miniskirt you have on. But wait! A 16 page 'Bedside Astrologer' is included! All I am going to say is the Couch Canoodle is not happening...

Last but not least, February is my last issue! I will say that I did recognize Ariana Grande from one of the shows Isaac watches on either Nick or Disney. She plays a ridiculously ditsy girl and has outrageously, amazing hair. At first glance, I thought this issue could possibly have a couple articles that I could read. 'Stand Out at Work', 'The Bikini Body Plan', and 'Saving Tricks' seemed simple enough to relate to my life. They sucked. And then I stumbled upon 'The One Thing You Must Never Do With a Guy'. It was an article all about getting a prenup! A freaking prenup! Apparently you should never get married without one because having to pay alimony to your ex-husband should be on the top of my list of concerns. I never, ever, ever considered a prenup. Kind of a negative foreshadowing for the future isn't it? Pretty much saying 'I want to be with you forever and really think we will make it butttt just in case we don't last, will you sign this saying you won't take half of our crap?'. Glad we ended on a positive note Cosmo. 

The last thing I want to do is hate on Cosmo but it is just not fitting with my life anymore. So goodbye Cosmo!

I guess if I made my own magazine, some of the featured articles would be as follows.

How to Convince Your Husband that Folding Clothes is Fun

Taking the Evil Out of Stepmother

Training the Boys in the House to Not Pee on the Seat

Having Friends and Actually Having Time to See Them

Getting Ready While Holding a Screaming Child

Quick Dinners Other then Grilled Cheese

Re-reading those actually made me feel pretty pathetic. Pretty sure I should subscribe to Grandmas monthly. Oh well. Nick, Isaac, Marlee, food. Pretty much sums up my interests. 

So what kind of magazines do you read? Anything worth actually subscribing too? Help a late-twenty something girl out!

Polar Vortex

So when does the global warming set in? 

We are in the middle of a 'polar vortex' which sounds like an episode of Supernatural if you ask me but apparently it is pretty serious. I have been told that tomorrow it will be cold enough for cars to freeze to the street. Funniest thing I have heard in quite sometime. Within the next couple of hours, the temperature will be -2 and it will feel like -30. Cold. Cold. Cold. 

So Marlee and I are stuck inside and usually I would be ok with that but there is something about being told that I cannot go outside that makes me want to go do something. Anything! It's the little kid in me. So I de-cluttered the house of all the Christmas stuff, pushed the tree out the front door, swept up all the pine needles, unclogged the vacuum of all the pine needles, and then organized the living room. I was quick to realize that the Christmas stuff was not cluttering the house - its Marlee. Packing her up till next year is not exactly an option though so I did some rearranging and enjoyed the mess with her. She won't be small forever. 

We have been doing daily solid food with her and I am loving every minute of it. I love testing out certain foods and seeing what she likes and doesn't like. Favorite is bananas - hands down. We do at least one meal of bananas a day, sometimes banana oatmeal. We have tried avocados. She was not exactly too keen on them. Avocados are disgusting but extremely healthy! She ate about three spoonfuls and decided they were not for her. I think this face tells the whole story. 

Blurry but I think you get the picture.
Avocados = gross. 

We then tried some carrots and she ate the whole container. I did not see them on my first foods list though so I did some searching. I learned that carrots should not be tried until about 9 months. They contain nitrates which can sometimes cause a rare but serious form of anemia in infants. Do not do the research - trust me. The bottom line is that it is very rare. The chance of this happening is about 0%. Yes, 0%. So since she liked it so much, you would think that I would continue to feed it to her knowing the extreme rarity of nitrate poisoning. Wrong. I pitched it. All of the jars that I prepared. I will wait till 9 months to do carrots again... the deadly internet strikes again. 

Then we tried apples. If you do not like apples, you are a freak. Marlee = freak. She literally gagged on each bite. I think it was more of a texture thing because I hate the texture of applesauce and pureed apples pretty much turns into applesauce. I am going to try apples again later on today but I am pretty sure she hates them. How do you hate apples? 

Next on my list is sweet potatoes and pears based off a couple recommendations from friends. I do not really care for either so I am interested to see what her taste buds have to say. 

I also want to do some complaining about some my Baby Bullet. Those little jars that come with the blender, amazing. The actual blender itself - terrible. It broke after two days. TWO DAYS! I should have just returned it like a normal person but instead I tried to bang it on the counter till it worked. Don't do that. Even if it does work momentarily, it will not fix it. Bottom line, buy a food processor. Or use a food processor from 1980 like me! Things were not build the way they were in 1980. Started right up! And blended my baby food like a freaking charm. 

Five months old has been my favorite month yet. She is becoming more like a little person and less like a fragile baby. More of her personality is coming through and her smiles and laughs light up my days. 

Sounds like someone is up from her nap! Happy Monday everyone!

New Year Resolutions!

Happy New Year everyone! 

I hope everyone started the new year off on the right step and have made plans to make this the best year yet. I am not big on resolutions but I knew that I wanted to set some smaller goals to better myself. With some reflection, I decided I am overweight, underpaid, and my last five tweets were about being tired. So first up, job applications. Unfortunately, I didn't get the job I was really hoping for. They actually decided not to fill the position at all. I am not sure if I should be happy that I technically didn't get turned down or whether it's more of an insult that they rather not have the position at all instead of hiring me? Either way, I am going to apply for every nursing job out there. Even if it is not exactly in an area that I am interested in. A foot in the door is better then nothing at all. As much as I love my residents and coworkers, I can't stay there forever. Time to buckle down! 

The next thing on the list is weight. I am two pounds away from being down 40 lbs but I have been there for weeks. Weeks! The holidays have been amazing to me - but not my waist. Cookies. Cake. Chocolate. Candies. Bread. Bread. Bread. I have decided to go a different route with my goals. Instead of focusing on the poundage (which is still important - just not all of my attention) I am going to take my measurements. I also decided to set monthly goals/challenges. This month is no pop. No diet. No mixers. No carbonation. More water! I purchased some bottles of water to help while I am at work where is my biggest challenge. Diet Shasta - not good. I am feeling rejuvenated and ready to dominate this month! 

As far as being tired goes, I just need to get a hobby. Maybe I will start crocheting again. This is a work in progress. 

Another small goal Nick and I have set is to make the bed everyday. I am assuming most people do this anyways but we slack on this. Nick is actually better then I am and coming home from work and crawling into a nicely made bed is really enjoyable. So whoever is in bed last, is in charge of making the bed. It is something small but makes both of us happy. 

Happy = good. 

Anyone else have any goals or resolutions this new year?

Oh and a quick side note! I have hit 5000 views on my blog! 5004 to be exactly! Thanks to all my wonderful followers! I hope to continue this year with making more friends and writing about topics that I have been tossing around for quite some time. Happy blogging!