Love Story - 6 Years in the Making

Dear Emery,

Wanna hear a love story?  I'll give you the short version!  Well you see, when Mommy was a senior in college, she had this cute lab partner in biology class.  It wasn't long before this happened...

Your Daddy and I have been pretty much inseparable ever since.

In fact, we started dating exactly 6 years ago today!

And the rest is history!!!

The Crib

Remember this post where I showed you Emery's room and where she would lay her head down at night???  Yeah that hasn't happened yet.  

At first it was because E didn't want anything to do with her crib...or anything where she had to lay flat on her back.  But that's not an issue anymore.

This is her napping in her crib as we speak. 

 Oh yeah and she sleeps 8-9+ hours a night.

So what I'm trying to say is...I'm pretty sure she's ready for the transition to her crib.  Mommy, not so much!

Monday Check In: Week 5

I stuck with walking this week since it seemed to work last week and we get to spend time as a family.  I intended to walk more this week than last week, but that didn't happen.  So again this week I took two 2+ mile walks and (mostly) watched what I ate (although I did indulge in a little Easter candy).

Week 5 Stats (10 weeks PP)
Weight Lost:  -0.7 lbs.
Total Lost:  32.3 lbs.
Remaining Weight:  10.7 lbs.


I didn't expect as good of results as last week, so I am content with this week's results.  Really as long as there is a minus sign each week, I am happy!  My goal this week is to REALLY walk more instead of intending to...

10 Weeks - Happy Easter!

The biggest events this week were the birth of cousin Giovanna and obviously Easter!  I know E is too young to understand the concept of an Easter basket and this was more for me than her, but I'm okay with that...

We had a great Easter and I hope you did too!  Judging by the picture below, E thought I (I mean the Easter Bunny) did a good job on her basket.

The cousins taking a little nap together after church.

Our cute little family (if I do say so myself).

E decided to change into something a little more comfortable after church.

Last but not least, here are a few shots from earlier this week.

Happy Easter Y'all!!!

Baby G

Today was a special day for our family because Abraham and I gained a new niece, and Emery gained a new cousin!  Baby Giovanna was born this morning a little after 4 a.m. weighing 6 lbs. 6 oz. and 19 in. long.

Aunt D is very excited to have another new niece!

We are excited to have our first niece!

Emery is excited to have her first female cousin!

Grandma K is excited about her new granddaughter!

But she still loves her first granddaughter!

Happy Birthday Baby Giovanna!  Welcome to the world!

Monday Check In: Week 4

I was fully prepared to "forget" about this post today.  As I mentioned last week, I took the week off from jogging to let my knees rest.  I was planning to walk at least 4 or 5 nights, but it didn't happen.  I did walk 2 nights, 2 miles each, but I wasn't expecting good news from the scale this morning.  Somehow, with very little effort, I lost the most weight of any of the weeks since I started actively trying.  Umm...I'll take it!

Week 4 Stats (9 weeks PP)
Weight Lost:  -2.0 lbs.
Total Lost:  31.6 lbs.
Remaining Weight:  11.4 lbs.


I'm still on the fence about what I'll do this week.  My knees are feeling much better, so I might go back to jogging/walking.  However, I use an app sometimes to track how many calories I burn, and on my walks this week, I burned almost as many calories as I do when I jog (because I am painfully slow), and Abraham and the baby were able to come too.  Decisions, decisions - maybe I'll do a combination of both!


Wish me luck because I doubt the scale will be that kind 2 weeks in a row!

9 Weeks

Smiles...oh the smiles!  Although we've been getting the occasional random smile from Emery for about a month, they became much more  frequent in the last week.

The beginning of the week was pretty mundane - no big news.  I blogged about E's trip to the pediatrician here.  While her shots weren't so bad at first, she did end up having some negative effects (fever, EXTREME fussiness) Friday and Saturday.  That made our trip to SM a little more interesting, but it was still a success.

She enjoyed seeing Grandma and Grandpa D and checking out the awesome playhouse that Grandpa D is building for her.

We had a lovely lunch in Gruene, which I blogged about here.

We went to church with Grandma D this morning, which was E's first trip to church (our church is really big, so we didn't want to take her until she got her shots).

We are back home now, and while we enjoyed our trip, it will be nice to get back into our routine.  

Gruene

E had a rough day today, battling what my mom refers to as "intestinal distress."  We had planned to go to Gruene, but were rethinking that decision since E was having horrible crying spells.  She calmed down a bit, so we decided to take our chances and go anyway.  She wasn't her usual happy self, but luckliy she was content for most of the trip.  The same can't be said for when we got home...

Anyway, it was a beautiful day.  We had a great lunch at the Gruene River Grill and took some cute family photos.  Enjoy!

2 Months

My baby girl turned 2 months old yesterday!

She had her first big round of shots today, which she did not enjoy, but she is now peacefully sleeping them off.  

2 Month Stats:

Weight:  11 lbs. 9.5 oz. 

Length:  23 in.  

Monday Check In: Week 3

Why did I want to do this again???

This week was not very successful.  I did jog/walk 3 times for 30+ minutes and I increased the jogging to walking ratio, but my knees were really giving me trouble.  I barely made it through the 3rd run because of the pain, and I decided not to go for a 4th.  I guess this is what happens when you go from not exercising at all (and being fat and pregnant) to exercising...

Week 3 Stats (8 weeks PP)
Weight GAINED:  +0.1 lbs.
Total Lost:  29.6 lbs.
Remaining Weight:  13.4 lbs.


I really want to continue the jogging, but I think I need to give my knees this week to rest.  Walking doesn't seem to bother them, so I am going to try walking but increasing the distance.  Hopefully I can at least maintain this week since I'm sure I will be eating a lot next weekend when we head to SM to visit my parents.


Finally, just for my real life and blog friend Marisa, here is a picture of what I look like these days.  Sorry - no biggest loser style flab shots.  This will have to do!

8 Weeks

We had a very busy week!  E probably doubled the number of places she's been, and for the most part she did great.

Highlights from this week include lunch and shopping with Grandma K, a visit to see Mrs. F and her new little man JP, and dinner with friends from church.

Things we are looking forward to this week:
*E will be 2 months old on Wednesday!
*We are taking our first trip to SM next weekend to see Grandma and Grandpa D (Mommy is FINALLY getting her hair done)!

Thing we are NOT looking forward to this week:
*E gets her first big round of shots on Thursday :(
(I've heard this is not a pleasant experience...)

And of course I will leave you with a  couple of cute pictures from this week:

Hanging out with Aunt D

Lounging on the couch

Quality time with Kayla

Relaxing in the front yard on a beautiful Sunday afternoon

Monday Check In

Since I started exercising and trying to lose the baby weight, Monday has been my "weigh-in" day.  I've decided to start posting on Mondays to keep myself accountable!  Since I started two weeks ago, I will give a quick recap.

I gained a total of 43 lbs. during my pregnancy!  About a million people told me not to worry, that it would come off quickly/easily after I had E.  Maybe it will, but I think their ideas of quickly and mine differ a bit.  I am VERY impatient!

The first 25 lbs. did come off quickly/easily within the first 2 weeks after delivery.  By the time I was cleared to exercise, I was down 27.5 lbs. with 15.5 left to lose.  DISCLAIMER:  I was technically underweight when I got pregnant (despite having put on 10 lbs. by drinking Ensure), so depending on how I look as I go along, I may stop before I lose all the weight.  We'll see!

During Week 1 I did one short hip-hop dance workout video (~20 minutes) and walked/jogged 3 times for 30+ minutes each.

Week 1 Stats (6 weeks PP)
Weight Lost:  -0.9 lbs.
Total Lost:  28.4 lbs.
Remaining Weight:  14.6 lbs.

During Week 2 I walked/jogged 4 times for 30+ minutes each and increased the jogging.

Week 2 Stats (7 weeks PP)
Weight Lost:  -1.3 lbs.
Total Lost:  29.7 lbs.
Remaining Weight:  13.3 lbs.

I would love to have pictures to show you of my progress, but that sounds terribly embarrassing, so I will skip that!  Wish me luck this week!

7 Weeks

 I wrote separate blog posts here and here about our big events this week, so here are a few other cute pictures:

A big thank you to our good friend Mrs. B and her kiddos for bringing us a yummy dinner tonight!

Kemah

Since I sit at home with E most days, I am determined to do fun family things outside of the house on the weekends.  The weather was great yesterday, so we decided to take a picnic lunch to Kemah.  NOTE:  It is against the rules to take food to Kemah, and there are plenty of people there that will tell you so!

Hope you enjoyed the beautiful weather too!