daily rays of sunlight

My sweet Audrey is making me feel like my heart might explode. At the rate that it expands everyday, I thought for sure I would need a new one by now. I feel like such a little kid each time she does something so cute I hear myself making this high pitch squeal under my breathe that is probably killing my poor dogs ears. Sometimes all she has to do is look at me a certain way and I just start laughing. I wish that I could cover her body in pillows so I don't have to see that sad, pain stricken face that she gets when she has gotten hurt. You should have seen me beating up the wall for her yesterday after she fell and bonked her head on it... "BAD WALL!" Well, it's not like I can put the wall in time-out.

I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, or something right. I'm gone most of her entire day M-F, but when I'm around and leave the room... the world is coming to an end, and it breaks my heart. I find myself yelling from the kitchen, the bedroom, the top of the stairs... everything that I'm doing so she knows I'm still there. She doesn't react that way with anyone else. I know she's at that age, but I feel like she spends less time with me than with everyone else. I smother her with hugs and kisses for most of the time that I am with her, and I'm starting to reconsider if it's for her benefit or my own that I do that. Is that why she reacts that way since no one else smothers her with love in such a way... maybe I'm keeping her from being independent from me. Maybe I'm just over-thinking all of this... it wouldn't be the first time. :p

A new outlet

I've created a new blog (listed on my about me page) that is all about my struggles and triumphs to get my pre pre pre baby figure back. So far it has forced me to be accountable for my actions and choices. My first triumph has been the beginning of the end my of pop consumption. My last can of carbonated icy goodness was on the 16th of this month. I feel like I can be proud of that if nothing else at the moment because I can't seem to force myself to exert any kind of energy to burn off all the cans of pop I've had up until that point. But either way, I feel as though this is the beginning, something that I feel could actually make a difference... We'll see I guess.

In other news... my 9 1/2 month old sunshine is growing like a weed... well, more like a really pretty, fast growing flower. She is in the 90-95% for her weight, height and head circumference! She is also so much fun!!! She is having quite a time with all of her new finger foods. She had spaghettios for the first time two nights ago and I could not have imagined what fun we were both in for five minutes before I plopped the bowl in front of her.









Some of the best times I've had were when I've laughed to the point of tears. My sunshiney pregnancy was full of those moments which makes me believe have something to do with my little ones sunshiney disposition. She is quite babbley and loves to tell me all about things. She crawls to me when I pick her up at the end of the day (my favorite time of day). Yesterday she crawled to me, and then held onto my pants to pull herself up to a stand... and stayed there for a good few minutes staring up at me with such a proud look on her face. She was investigating my teeth a few nights ago and I thought for sure I was going to pee in my pants. I was talking to her and she started to touch my teeth with her finger... THEN SHE STUCK HER WHOLE HAND IN MY MOUTH TRYING TO GRAB MY TEETH! She grinned and did it a few more times until tears were falling down my face.

Three more hours to go and I will be making my sunshine giggle in my arms!

Wordless Wednesday

Ok... maybe just a few words... This was taken with my phone during my drive to work this morning... unedited.

YUM!

I am always making some kind of dish that I'm either craving or something different for dinner because I'm tired of the same old stuff, or we get invited somewhere...etc. Whenever this happens I like to share with other the things I've tried or how I spent my time cooking... did it turn out well..etc. So... in the style of an artistic friend, I decided to use my camera for something other than following my daughter around to document her every breath.

We were invited to a friend's house for dinner on Sunday and he is use to my "home made" meals... so he requested some kind of pasta dish "Jennifer Style". So, I decided to make this delicious cold Italian pasta dish that I found and made for a work party we had for the Olympics. It was a real hit at the office, so I figured he would like it as well.

The next treat that I was craving was SUN TEA!!! My step mom's sister was making it the other day when I had gone to pick up Audrey. She also gave me a wonderful tip when making sun tea... mix a cup of water with a cup of suger and stick it in the microwave to make simple syrup and poor it into the tea... PERFECT! There wasn't as much sun as I really needed probably, so it's not as strong as I would like, but it's close enough until my next attempt. (It was blue skys when I first put the bottle outside.)

Finally, I had found this great recipe for oatmeal cookies a few weeks ago. I had been looking for one since I am still nursing my daughter and "they" say that real oatmeal helps with a mother's "supply"... and I'll do just about anything for Audrey... make homemade oatmeal cookies... ugh, if I must, haha! I didn't flatten the dough balls with a sugared fork, and I used dried cranberries instead of raisins, and they turn out so very good. They have a great amount of vanilla and cinnamon, and they are soft and chewy. This second batch didn't turn out as well as my first... shockingly I think it's because the first time I didn't follow the directions and I only left the batter in the fridge for "maybe" an hour when it said AT LEAST an hour. Since we were leaving to go to our friend's for dinner, I decided to make the cookies after we got home... I have the other half of the dough left and will be leaving the batter on the counter for at least an hour before I make cookies out of the rest of it,... we will see if that helps.

To Diet or Not to Diet... that is the question... of the moment

I had my daughter Audrey almost nine months ago now. I wasn't in the best shape when I got pregnant with her in the first place... and then I gained 50lbs while pregnant. I lost about 30lbs of that weight, but since then... nothing more. I look at my current eating habits and I know it needs work... and so... how much "work" am I able to endure? I must fess up to my horrible habits:

• pop
• pasta
• cookies
• chocolate
• ice cream
• pastries (on occasion)
• whole milk latte's
  

... I basically don't limit myself at all right now which is the main problem. I don't really know how though... I either eat it, or I don't. I will be coming back to this after I put in some thought... a game plan is what I need...

An addition to "things that make me smile"

THIS FACE!!! It's her "I don't think I like that food" face. I LOVE IT!!!

A Lovely Idea...

Since I often enjoy copying truly great ideas... I am going to follow in the footsteps of a friend I've known for an amount of time that I would rather not say simply because it is starting to show my age... oh jeeze...

Writing about the things I love and make me happy... or as I like to put it... the simple things that make me smile...

• Getting inspiration from a far away friend and feeling like they're never really too far away.
• Starbucks Iced Vanilla Latte' on a Friday morning... even better on Saturdays, but it makes the Friday work day seem enjoyable if that's possible.

• Having a giggly pregnancy and giving birth to the most smiley child I've ever known in my whole life.

• Pushing myself to work out and having the feeling of accomplishment after I've met my daily goal.
• Flowers.
• Getting a hug from my favorite hugger... my Meme. Although, Audrey is slowly becoming my top hugger... oooh, just thought of a group hug between me, my Meme, and Audrey... it made me giggle!

• Sitting outside in the sun during a summer morning and listening to the birds singing.
• Being able to sleep with the window open and feeling the fresh breeze on my face.
• The original classic Christmas songs sung by Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra... etc.

• Flower coated trees in the Spring, and red and orange speckled trees in the Fall.

• The way fresh fallen snow makes everything sparkle at night under street lights. It's like everything becomes magical.

• Friends that think I'm awesome, even on my worst days.
• Cooking a meal for friends and family and watching them truly enjoying it.
• Family.
  
• Watching Disney Movies and singing along to all the songs.
• Drivers that wave "thank you" when you let them merge in front of you.
• Saturday morning.
  
• Finding new things that make me smile...