Blessed

Weight lost this week: -1.0 lbs
Total Weight loss: -12.0 lbs

I'm trying to be so excited because a loss is a loss, but it's putting me short of my 20 lb goal by May 27.  I need to start adding in exercise - but when?

Occassionally, I'll have a day where I wake up and I realize, I'm blessed.  Clearly, I'm blessed to have a great husband, a beautiful daughter, a stable job, a nice place to live, a decent car, etc....

But it's more than that.  There's always more.  I'm blessed by things that I really have no control over.  And it amazes me.

I have an amazing (extended) family.  I've always known this - and we don't talk as much as we probably should.  But we're a close family.  And there's issues.  Boy, are there issues...  But I know, when it comes right down to it, they - every. single. one. of. them. - will be there.  That doesn't surprise me.  But....somehow, when I think of everything my cousin and her daughter are going through, there's this clarity and sense of peace of it all if I think about my family and how all of us - every. single. one. of. us. (including spouses - are praying and loving them, and how that is going to be what helps this little girl survive this - because none of us are ready to let her go.

But it doesn't stop there.  I have unbelievable friends.  Again, I've always known this.  There are some I've known practically my whole life, some I've met more recently - but I know I can always, always count on them.  I get sad that I don't get to talk to them much anymore (it's super hard to talk on the phone with a toddler, ha), but somehow, it feels like nothing changes between us - when we do get to talk, we can pick up right where we left off.

So if I've always known all of this, why am I feeling so blessed today?  I don't know.  I don't know there's much of a point to this post either, other than to say Thank you for blessing my life.

Shoe shopping

I'm not a huge fan of shoe shopping in general.  I always have a difficult time finding shoes I really like (at a reasonable price).  I love pointy toe, kitten heel dress shoes, but I have trouble finding ones that are comfortable.  Hence, I haven't bought shoes for a couple of years (other than flip flops).  (When I lived in PA, I loved wearing heels and also did so in college - but I lived in flip flops during law school and, well, nothing else is very comfortable....)

Anyway, my dislike of shoe shopping is compounded when they shoe shopping is (supposed) to result in shoes for toddlers.  My top reasons for hating shoe shopping for Brooke:

4) Her feet grow fast.  Like, faster than my hair fast.  We buy shoes every 3 months at the longest - it's only been 6 weeks since I bought them last and

3) She doesn't like to sit still to try them on. No, she puts one on and runs away, pulling shoes off the shelves.
   When I try to convince her to come back, she yells, "I got you!"  I know she's playing, so I don't like to yell at her - but I tell her, calmly, to come here, and she does (She's a good girl, even if it's frustrating at the time).  We go through this every pair of shoes.

2) She has chubby feet.  Yes, this is what makes them irresistably, I-can't-kiss-them-enough cute.  But translating into shoe sizes?  It means she needs wide width.  Not many companies make wide width shoes for kids who aren't even 2 yet - and this makes for expensive shoe-shopping trips every time.  Oh, and one foot is a 1/2 size bigger than the other (I know this is normal - but so frustrating to fit her properly).

1) She is very opinionated - and she loves crazy colors/prints.  Normally, I would love this - I am so proud that my daughter knows what she wants and I love that she picks her own clothes, etc.  But with shoes?  I want to find neutral-ish shoes she can wear with anything at a reasonable price that fit her well - maybe one pair of sneakers and one pair of sandals.  Nope, our shoe shopping trip on Sunday resulted in her getting four - yes, 4 - pairs of shoes that will fit her for roughly 2-3 months.

So, some stories from our last shoe-shopping adventure (which was the first without Daddy, because sometimes he has to miss things like this for work).

We go to Ideal Baby & Kids because they're having a great shoe sale.  (Keep in mind, we just bought new shoes on Valentine's Day).  Brooke finds a pair of Sketchers she loves (with Elmo and pink flowers on them) - they don't come in wide width.  We try them on anyway, Brooke says, "Too tight!" and refuses to try anything else on because she doesn't like anything except the Elmo shoes.  Tantrum #1.

So the next day, I take her to Stride Rite - great shoes, but pricey and a limited selection (at least of shoes that can be worn with anything).  They carry wide (and sometimes extra wide) there - she continues to pick out the craziest, brightest colors and patterns.  I convince her to try on a pair of gray and coral sneakers - success! She loves them!  Sneakers down - and they cost me roughly $50, so we'll look somewhere else for sandals/beach shoes.

We make a stop in Payless.  Brooke becomes attached to white Airwalks that look like Crocs that have purple and pink printed all over them.  They don't fit right. (Tantrum #2)  She picks out sandals that light up - they don't fit.  (Tantrum #3)

I pick up a pair of white sandals.  They fit great, she says she doesn't like them.  She gets them anyway (sometimes being Mommy does have its perks).

She needs shoes to wear with her Cinderella dress.  First she wants white "heels" - she's not even 2, I'm not even trying them on her.  Then she picks sparkly pink ballet slippers - cute, but $20, and look more Aurora than Cinderella.  She wears them around the store while we continue browsing - cries when I take them off (Tantrum #4).  I decide she can wear the white sandals with the Cinderella dress, but I do convince her to get a pair of pink canvas (aka non-sparkly) ballet slippers that can be worn more frequently.

Last pair?  She gets to pick whatever she wants - she picks Airwalks that are shiny silver with purple, teal, and pink printed on them, and they light up when she walks.  (BTW, something I would have totally picked in my young days, LOL).

Total time spent to buy 4 pairs of shoes?  Going on 3 hours.  Number of full-out tantrums? 4.  This girl exhausts me ;-)

A little of everything

Weight loss update:

This week: -1.0 lbs
Overall: -11.0 lbs

I'm not so thrilled with the results this week, although it does include a cupcake Saturday and pizza (Brooke's requested dinner) last night.  I am so happy to still be losing - I have 6 weeks to lose 9 more pounds to meet my goal of being down 20 pounds by our vacation - the race is on!

I'm going to put off my post about shoe shopping another day - I have some exciting news to share!..................

............Any guesses?..........................


..............Am I driving you crazy yet?.................................


.................I (We) am (are).....................................................................................








..................................MOVING!!! (Bet ya thought I was going to say pregnant, right?  Not yet ;-) )

Everyone knows Jim and I have been looking to move out of our current apartment for a while now - ideally, we would like to move closer to family, but for now, we just wanted another apartment in our area.  The complex we currently live at has just gotten noisier and more disgusting looking the longer that the new management company has it.  Everyone - including our neighbors that have lived in their townhouse for 7 years - are moving out as their lease ends.  Now, they've covered a pool and are, instead, building more apartments - they've taken away my reserved spot right by our building, and I have to bring Brooke and all the junk I carry back and forth on a daily basis (my purse, diaper bag, my lunch - plus sometimes diapers, wipes, etc) the whole way across the complex (try this with a curious little monkey who must stomp in every water puddle or examine everything out of the ordinary).

Our lease is up December 31, 2011.  Jim can't take time off to move during the holidays, and how stressful would it be to move on the holidays anyway??  Jim talked to them today, and they are going to try to let us out of our current lease without an early termination fee (apparently, they have to get approval from the management company's corporate office to do so).

We're going to look at a 3 bedroom apartment Saturday.  I love the complex we're looking at, so I hope we like the apartment.

We're finally in a financial position to move, and we're planning on moving in September.  If anyone local would like to volunteer to help, we will need all the help we can get!  Otherwise, we probably will hire a moving company to move us roughly 0.91 miles.

Amazing news

I had a quirky blog post planned for today on this weekend's adventure of shoe shopping for my girl.  And they are adventures, let me tell you.

But something far more exciting has happened, and I just have to share.

During congenital heart defect awareness week, I linked you to some kids' stories that have truly touched me.  One of them was Annabelle, who was born with HLHS and had never seen the outside of the hospital.  After having the first of the three planned surgeries (the Norwood), the family found out she was not a candidate for the second surgery (the Glenn) and she was listed on the transplant list.

Yesterday, Annabelle received her heart.

It is amazing to me that they can do heart transplants in children that young (small) - she isn't even a year old yet.  My heart breaks for the donor's family - I cannot imagine losing my child at that young age, let alone donating their heart.  But it is truly a miracle for Annabelle, who will hopefully recover quickly and be able to go home with her parents and three older sisters for the very first time in the next couple of months.

Please keep Annabelle and her angel donor family in your prayers, that they would both heal quickly.

I must be doing something right

Yesterday, I was doing my momma duties and searching for an article on how to pick out the best shoes for your toddler.  Yes, Brooke has been wearing shoes for a year now, but I've only ever had to pick the style - we go to Stride Rite and have her sized.  I received an ad in the mail that Ideal Baby & Kids is having a GREAT shoe sale the rest of this month and Brooke happens to need new shoes (another post in and of itself, ha), so I decided I better figure this out.

Anyway, I digress.  While reading an article that tells me exactly how to fit shoes on my girl (thank you, WebMD!), another article caught my eye - Does your Toddler say "no"?  Boy, oh boy, does she ever!  (More on this in a minute). I have to share with you what the article said.

The article was several years old but quite interesting - basically, someone somewhere did a study (don't they always) and looked at things like a mom's interactions with the child during playtime, mom's discipline, mom's tendency for depression, and the child's behavior.  They found that - drumroll, please! - mothers who support kids during play and don't show signs of depression have toddlers that say no more often.  Mothers who are less supportive, more likely to yell, and show signs of depression have children that simply ignore their requests.

Wait, time out, WHAT?!  You mean I'm a good mom because my child is defiant? I'm a good mom because when I tell my daughter it's time to eat, brush her teeth, pick up toys, get out of the bath, etc., she says, "No!"  I'm a good mom because she says No! whenever she doesn't want to do something?

Turns out, I must be doing something right.  Basically, the thought is that the moms with depression, etc., have children who simply don't respond to their mothers' requests (and I would have assumed there was something wrong with the child's hearing) - they are too afraid to say "no" and get yelled at. Essentially, in my own terms, those children have their independence quashed during a time when they so desperately need it as they begin to figure out themselves and the world and they become overly passive.

In fact, I must be doing something really right because Brooke is definitely not afraid to express her opinion (to us anyway)!

Weight Loss Update....

This week: +3.5
Overall: -10.0

I am disappointed in the gain, but I can't really say that I'm very surprised since I had the stomach flu and didn't eat for 2.5 days last week.  I think I'm still on track for losing 20 lbs before our trip over Memorial Day (my short-term goal). 

Foggy daze

I've been in a strange place this week.  Since finding out about my cousin's little girl, I can't stop thinking about all of them.  It's been like a haze that's constantly surrounding me.  I believe that with all the prayers going up for her, she can - and will - beat this thing. 

But it's a reminder.  No matter how healthy someone may seem, there's the possibility of hidden evils that could take them away from us without warning.  It's definitely opened my eyes - something I feel I didn't need, since I did receive a reminder of this less than two years ago with Jacqui's diagnosis.  But more than ever, I realize we have to live for today.  It's so easy to get caught up in making plans, stress, and worry, that sometimes focusing on the here and now and just really enjoying your life can get overshadowed.

To follow her story, send prayers, or make a donation to help her family with the upcoming expense, visit http://www.helpaddison.com/.

I am so thankful for all of my friends who are praying for little Addison, for my family - we are just one huge, loving support system who love Addison so much, for my health, for my husband and beautiful little girl, for everything that I have.  I'm looking forward to embracing every moment on this journey with all of you - and trying to think of something special to do with my girl today to kick it all off.

As far as my Bucket List goes, I've been making progress, although I've not been updating a lot.  I'm still trying new recipes each week - some have been great, some not so much.  I want to share with you my most recent find, though:

BEEF AND PEPPER STIR-FRY

Ingredients:

1 C quick-cooking brown rice
12 oz beef top round, thinly sliced
1tbsp + 1 tsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp vegetable oil
3 peppers - red, yellow, and orange
2 cloves garlic minced
2 Tomatoes, seeded and sliced

Directions:

Cook brown rice according to package directions.  Combine beef, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sugar, & black pepper in bowl.  Heat 1 tsp oil on med-high heat.  Add beef - cook without stirring 1-2 minutes & transfer to plate.  Add remaining oil, peppers, & garlic; stir-fry 4-5 minutes or until peppers crisp-tender.  Add tomatoes & remaining sugar.  Cook 3-4 minutes or until saucy, stirring.  Return beef to skillet.  Add black pepper & remaining soy sauce.  Cook 1 minute or until meat cooked through, serve over rice.

Verdict:

This is definitely a winner!  Jim doesn't like a lot of peppers, but he loved this.  I added just a slight amount of heat with some crushed red pepper flakes.  He doesn't like tomatoes at all, but they melt down to make the sauce and he didn't even notice.  I was disappointed when I tried to get the leftovers from the fridge and found out he had already eaten them - we will definitely be making this again!!!