10 Months Old

This month has gone so fast. And Will just seems to be taking off. He is learning so much and I love seeing him grow. He is such a curious boy and has to observe and touch everything.

In Will's mind, his job is to pull EVERYTHING from where it belongs. Among his favorites are scattering all the DVDs, removing all towels from kitchen drawer, etc. He is very good at this job. If you ever come to our place during the day, chances are you'll find our house in utter chaos. There is no point cleaning up while he is still awake.

Whenever someone heads into the kitchen, Will is right behind following. But he does this thing which I find absolutely hilarious. He'll crawl as fast as possible until he reaches the stair landing. Then he has to pull himself up so he's standing against the stairs, and he'll side step across the stairs. Once he's made it past the stairs, he'll drop back to the floor and begin crawling again. He does this every time. It would be so much faster for him to just crawl the whole way, but I've never seen him skip standing on the stairs.

I've noticed that Will now sleeps on his stomach or side. One day I glanced in his room while he was napping and found him cuddled up with a blanket. It was so cute, I had to grab my camera. Unfortunately, I woke him up a bit in the process.

Bath time has become interesting because he doesn't like to sit and play anymore. Instead, he'll stand up against the wall and yell at you. And if you make him sit down, within seconds he'll just be right back up.

Will loves to stand against anything. If you stand still for too long, he will grab your legs and pull himself up.

He learned the hard way that you don't pull 5 lb dumbbells toward your face.

 

Will has this new little squinty-smile. He scrunches up his cheeks, squints his eyes, and smiles.

We had to cut Will's hair again...well 2 different times. The first time we trimmed the front because it was so long it was going past his eyebrows. So I trimmed that just a bit to keep it out of his eyes. The second time we had to trim around his ears because he started gouging at his ears again and making them bleed.

I think his hair is getting curlier. He has always had some curls in the back, but now occasionally it'll show on top (especially when wet). I love it!

We had our first real "scare" when Will fell down the stairs. To read more about that, click here.

Will has also learned how to climb up the stairs. Luckily, he doesn't seem too interested in climbing them. It may have to do with the fact that I yell and get angry any time he starts. The only time he really tries is if I go upstairs and leave him alone downstairs. Then he'll try to follow me. One time I was sitting on the couch and looked over and he was about 5-6 steps up and standing. I ran over just as he toppled backwards and caught him before he fell too far.

He eats a lot of the foods that we eat. He went on a kick of having at least one peanut butter and jelly sandwich a day, but then I think he got sick of them and would throw up if I put a bite in his mouth.

He LOVES bananas. I think they are his favorite. For a long time he had a really hard time picking them up because they are so slippery, but he's getting a lot better. He also really likes raisins, mac and cheese, peanut butter cheerios, etc.

Will drinks water through a sippy cup. Although he can hold it himself, he usually doesn't tilt it up enough to get anything, so I usually hold it for him.

He has a fascination with anything electronic, such as xbox, remotes, phones, controllers, ipod, etc.

He loves to read and loves to turn the pages. He gets mad if you don't let him hold it and if you don't let him play with it.

Will likes to play catch. If you roll a ball to him, most of the time he will roll it back or he tries to throw it. His throws often end up behind him, but we'll work on that.

Look at all of those teeth! Will has 5+ teeth. The 6th one is in the process of coming in.

His favorite thing is to open and close doors and drawers. If you put him by a door, he will swing it back and forth forever. It keeps him entertained for a while, but he usually ends up shutting it and I have to open it for him. He also has the need to open and close EVERY drawer he sees. This has become a problem as he'll hold on and close the drawers tight on his fingers. He does this at least several times a day.

He is such an observant kid and I feel like he is good at figuring out how things work. He can see cause/effect relationships and is very aware of what he is doing.

Will also gets a kick out of being held upside down. He'll drop his hands above his head and just giggle. Then when you pull him upright again, he will arch his back and throw his head back down.

I feel like he'll never get on a consistent sleep schedule. A miracle happened last week and he started sleeping through the night, like from 8pm-7am. It was heavenly. Unfortunately, it only lasted 3 days until he started teething a little and now he's back to waking up 1-2 times per night. Someday....

He is mostly in 12 month clothes, and he even wears some 18 month clothes. Though his 6-9 month clothes still fit him pretty well.

Grocery chopping has even become interesting because he doesn't like staying in the cart for too long. He'll reach over as far as possible until he is practically falling over the side.

I think he is starting to understand the word "no". When he is doing something that he shouldn't, I tell him "no" very firmly and sometime give a small slap to the hand. He usually looks at me confused, but if I continue saying it again and not allowing him to do what he was doing, then he stops. Sometimes he freaks out and begins screaming, sometimes he just moves on to something else.

He hates being left alone. If I put him in a room and walk out, he will panic and scream like crazy. I also discovered that he hates when I open the trunk while he is in the car. I'm not sure why, but he flips out every time I open the trunk. Even if I am standing off to the side and he can see me. It's a bit strange.

We're pretty attached to this boy and we sure love having him around. Although there are times it can be difficult being a parent, Will truly does bring so much joy to our lives.

Shadow

I have a little shadow following me everywhere I go. It's about 2 feet tall and is the most adorable little "shadow" I've ever seen.

This little guy has started following me EVERYWHERE. And if I stand still for too long, he will crawl up to my legs and climb until he is standing up against my legs. Often times, he grabs my shorts to pull himself up. I've learned to keep my shorts tied tight, as I've had them pulled clear to the floor on more than one occasion.

When I come home from the gym, right when I open the door he starts crawling as fast and he can towards me. When I leave his sight, his first reaction is to scream. Then he'll hurry after me. This has become a little problem as he has learned how to climb stairs within the past 2 days. So if I go upstairs, he'll go to the stairs and start climbing (and his way of coming down is to stand up and turn, thus falling down face first.)

While it definitely makes it more difficult to get anything done, I am enjoying it while it lasts. Its kind of cute having a little person chase after you everywhere. And I know that one day soon, I will miss it and wish he would do it.

I was trying to do push-ups and Will would crawl right in front up me, practically under my face. Then he would grab my head and try to stand up right there. It sure made it hard to do any push-ups, but it also had me laughing too. (And him.) I'd move really fast and start doing them, then he'd hurry over. So I'd move again, and he'd just follow.

I love my shadow and I'm so grateful that he loves me enough to want to follow me around all the time.

Love and Worry

LOVE

I was lucky enough on Valentine's Day to have two wonderful Valentine's. I am the luckiest girl to have such an amazing husband and a son I love to pieces. They both bring so much joy into my life. When I woke up Valentine's Day morning, I came downstairs to find these beautiful roses on the table, as well as some fruit.

I asked Lance not to get me any chocolates or anything like that since I probably wouldn't eat it. He said he got the fruit so I could put it in my protein shakes in the morning. I thought it was so sweet and thoughtful. I am so grateful for his support in everything; it means the world to me.

We had a pretty simple day because Lance had class until 3pm and had to work at 6pm. And while we didn't really get to spend much time together, it was still a nice day.
 

WORRY

Yesterday (Feb 16th, 2012) however, was not such a fun day. Instead it was a bit traumatic and filled with worry. Will and I were upstairs doing some organizing and cleaning in his room. He loves to play by his dresser and open and close the bedroom door. I sat down for a moment and took my eyes off of him for 2 seconds. Suddenly I hear lots of thuds, followed by Will screaming. I realized INSTANTLY what had happened and I flew down the stairs. I found him sprawled out, face down, at the bottom of the stairs. I've never moved so fast in my life. I don't even remember coming down the stairs, it's a miracle I didn't trip from going so fast.

He screamed for a few minutes, but calmed down relatively quickly. I think he was more scared than anything, as was I. I had to take a few deep breaths and just tell myself to calm down. Even after several minutes, I was still shaking pretty bad. Once he was calmed down, I did a little physical and examined his body. I moved all of his joints and checked for any signs of pain or discomfort. Luckily, he didn't appear to have anything hurt. All I could think about was what I would've told Lance if he had broken his neck or if something serious would've happened.

Once I calmed down, I sent Lance a text telling him what had happened. I reassured him that Will was happy and playing like usual, and that nothing appeared to be wrong. It worried Lance enough that he skipped his last class and hurried home to check on us both. He said he wanted to see Will, but that he was more worried about me. He told me he was not angry, he still thinks I'm a good mom, and that he still trusts me with our son. I had been feeling really guilty so that really helped make me feel better.

Here are some pictures of the stairs so you can get an idea of exactly how far he fell. He was at the very top, and tumbled to the bottom. I'm not sure how he fell (like whether he was rolling, sliding, flipping), but just know that he started at the top and I found him face down at the bottom.


Also, I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but our stairs are extremely steep. We are so blessed that Will wasn't hurt.

Success

Today marks the official end of my 30 Day Challenge to lose 10 pounds. It's hard to believe that it has already been 30 days. Part of me feels like I just started, and yet it's become such a routine that I feel like I've been doing it forever.

I honestly feel like my life has changed...for the better. I get excited to work out, and I enjoy eating healthy food. I have more energy throughout the day to take care of Will and to be productive around the house. I feel much happier, and I am starting to feel a little better about my appearance.

This last Sunday, I had a bit of a rough time because I just didn't like what I was seeing in the mirror. I felt like I was seeing the numbers drop on the scale, but not much change in my appearance or how my clothes fit. I got kind of down and discouraged. Finally I just had to tell myself to be patient and that it would take time. And while being patient is definitely NOT EASY, I'm going to try being better and celebrate the small victories. (Such as having to tighten my belt.)

While most of the time, I can't really see or notice a difference in my body, I know that it is changing. It became especially apparent after looking at these before/after pictures taken today. Yes, it's not a HUGE difference, but I think it's not too bad for 30 days.

January 16th -February 15th

I had my official weigh in at the sports academy and I dominated the scale today. The promotion  was that if you lose 10 pounds in 30 days, then they give you $10. The goal I set for myself was 15 pounds. Now are you ready to hear the results?

Weight loss in 30 Days: 17 lbs
Guess who is $10 richer!! Woot woot! Obviously, I am very happy with that number. Plus I have also dropped my body fat percentage by over 4%. I'm excited to continue this journey and prove to myself that I have enough self discipline to be a healthy person.

Stay tuned to see further results from 30 Day Shred!

Motivation

 Aloha!

That is something that Lance and I will get to hear exactly one month from today. Yes, you heard right. A month from now, Lance and I will be in paradise and I couldn't be more excited!

If you know ANYTHING about me at all, then you know I LOVE to travel, and I want need vacation time. I have been trying to plan a nice vacation pretty much since the day we got married. We went the cheap route for our Honeymoon, and while it was nice, it wasn't extravagant by any means.

We have been really good with budgeting and being frugal, so I decided it was time to splurge a bit. My aunt is currently living in Hawaii and has offered her home as a place to stay. She even plans on feeding us most of our meals. With an offer like that, we just couldn't refuse.  I mean, how could you say no to this place?

I've always been amendment that if we go somewhere tropical that we would go during the winter. I love Logan summers and I don't feel the need to vacation during the summer. But during the winter, it would be a great escape and a time to get away from the cold. So even though it didn't leave much time, we decided to go over Spring Break, which is in 4 weeks! Can you tell I'm excited yet?

We got a decent deal on airline tickets and are for sure going. No backing out now! We will be leaving on a Tuesday and coming back the next Wednesday. The bitter/sweet part is that we are leaving Will behind with my mom. There is NO WAY that I could handle taking him on such a long flight, and it would really limit what we could do. Plus, this vacation is a chance for Lance and I to spend some quality time together. Time without the pressures of school, work, or children. Those with children know how precious time alone with your spouse is, and how rare it is. So I am going to take full advantage of this and enjoy the week with Lance. Yes, we will miss Will terribly, but I think a little separation will be good, and it will help us to refocus.

I am SO incredibly appreciative of my mom for being willing to take him for so long. We'll probably have to drop him off in Boise a few days before we go, so we'll end up not seeing him for about 9 days! That sounds like forever! I'm trying not to think about that part, but just focus on the fact that we'll be in Hawaii, and he will be having fun with his cousins.

Isn't that just beautiful? I have actually been fortunate enough to have already been to Hawaii. However, I was pretty young and I only remember certain details. So I am super excited to take Lance and for us to have this adventure together. We're still trying to figure out exactly what we want to do....some options include: surf lessons, hiking, snorkeling, temple, Pearl Harbor, etc. I want to do things, but at the same time, I'd love to just sit at the beach and relax. Guess we'll have to have a healthy portion of both!

Want to know another great thing about Hawaii??? It is an amazing motivator. My "weight loss journey" has been going great and I am even more motivated to continue knowing that I'll be spending a week in a bathing suit. So in order to prepare for that, I have added another workout to my day. I'll still be going to the gym daily, but I wanted to add something else as well. So today I started the 30 Day Shred workout video. I've heard a lot about it and seen so many people get great results in 30 days. I'm hoping that I can see some results as well and that I can go to Hawaii feeling more confident about myself. My goal is to drop at least 8 more pounds before we leave, and to keep it off while we are there. That will be the real test.

Anyways, just wanted to share this exciting news with all of you. And I'll still be doing updates about the 30 Day Shred and how that progresses as well.

Birthday and Superbowl

Because of my lack of pictures, I just decided to combine these into one post.

My birthday was pretty much a typical day,  and I like it like that. The night before, Lance was asking, (more like begging) me to open my presents. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I told him I wanted to wait until my birthday, so I opened them up first thing that morning. Lance got me Photoshop! I have been using a website called Picnik to edit my photos for the last 8 months or so. But they are shutting that website down, so I no longer have a program to edit my pictures. I was super disappointed and not sure what I was going to do. Photoshop didn't even really cross my mind, so I am grateful for Lance's thoughtfulness and I really appreciate the gift. He also gave me an assortment of candles to make our house smell good. There is just something magical about having the glow from a candle, plus the great smell filling your house.

Unfortunately, Lance had class for most of the day. But another gift that I was going to get was a smart phone. I asked Lance if I could go get it while he was in class since I didn't have much else to do. I ended up getting a Droid Bionic. At first, it was really difficult to use and I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep it. But I like it more and more as I figure out how to use it, and I am very happy with my choice.

When Lance got home from class, Will had just barely fallen asleep, so we had to wait for him to wake up before we could go anywhere. Once he finally did, we dropped him off at the parents and went window shopping for a bit. Then we had dinner at the Pita Pit. I chose there because it is amazing, plus it has some really healthy options. I told myself I was going to splurge a bit and let myself eat what I wanted for my birthday, but Pita Pit honestly sounded the best. Normally I would pick Sizzler or Golden Corral, but I was craving Pita Pit. Kind of weird, but oh well. After Pita Pit, we went to Twizzler Berry and got some frozen yogurt. Also found out that you get it free if its your birthday.

We picked Will up and got him home to bed, then we just relaxed and watched some tv. It was a pretty chill birthday, but I thought it was a really good one.

Now for Super Bowl time. Lance had originally invited two couples over to watch the game, but one of them ended up getting sick. So there were only four of us. We had chips, all sorts of different dips like hummus, 5 layer dip, and chilli dip, pizza, plus a few other things. I missed most of the game, because I was either baking the pizza or taking care of Will. I didn't mind much because I really wasn't interested in either team. It's just not as fun to watch when you don't have a team to support.

Well, there's my quick update. Sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll be taking more again, especially now that I have Photoshop.

Bear Crawl

I have too many things I want to blog about, but not enough time to do it right now.

Upcoming blog posts: my birthday, Super Bowl

But for now, I just wanted to upload this short video of Will. He is cruising now and standing up to EVERYTHING. Suddenly tonight, I noticed he was crawling on his hands and feet, like a bear crawl. So I pulled out my camera and got a short video of it. Enjoy!

And stay tuned for the other posts.

Week 3 Update

Time is just flying by. My 30 day challenge officially ends next Wednesday. So I will hold off next week's post until after my official weigh in.

I can tell my body is getting in better shape. I am staying a little longer at the gym, and I am going at a faster pace. It feels really good. On an average day, I walk about 3 miles, then run for half of a mile. On Saturday, I was feeling great and decided it was time to push myself more and see if I could run a full mile. And I did. It took me 12 minutes, but I ran a full mile without stopping. Now I know this may not sound very impressive, but keep in mind that this was AFTER 50 minutes of cardio. Still not very impressive, but it was a big milestone for me. My goal is to eventually get it down to less than 10 minutes.

I was pleasantly surprised that I still lost as much weight as I did this week, considering my birthday and the Super Bowl. We had Pita Pit on my birthday and afterwards went out for frozen yogurt. Because I was cautious at both places, I was able to keep the calories down and still have a good day. And even though I didn't "full out" splurge, it was delicious! Seriously, it was perfect.

Yesterday was a little different story though. It was fast Sunday and that just about killed me. By the time we got home from church at 4pm, I was starving and not feeling well. I hurried and grabbed a snack. Then Lance's friends showed up for the Super Bowl game and all the treats/food came out. And...I caved in a bit. I was planning on only having a few bites, but because I was so hungry, I ended up eating more than I intended. But it still wasn't terrible and I was able to keep it under control.

Looking forward to this next week and to getting my $10! (Hopefully.)

Weight loss for Week 3: 4.0 lbs

I am now officially less than I was when I got pregnant, though not by much.