Tune-Up Tuesday August 6, 2013

Today is Tune-up Tuesday.  So, I will share some goals I have been or will be working on this week.

Exercise!!!  I have gained a couple pounds in the past couple of weeks.  My diagnosis: no exercise.  After taking care of an almost ten month old baby, I'm exhausted!  But seriously, I have no GOOD excuse.  Don't you have to expend energy to get more energy or something like that?  Well, I started a little exercise at a cabin last week.  I was fortunate enough to get a little solitude there (we were with family, which means LOTS of people) while the others went off-roading and I put Lydia to sleep.  While she slept and I was alone, I did some yoga.  Oh, it was wonderful!  I felt so relaxed afterward.  The next day killed, but immediately after was heaven.  So, my goal for this week is to do yoga at least twice.  I am also working on doing small strengthening exercises every day.  So far, I've done crunches every day, worked on my glutes, legs, and arms, adding a little bit each day.  So far, my goal is going great!  Let's hope I keep this up!  I lost all my pregnancy weight several months ago, but I can't seem to shake the flabbiness.  Hmm, maybe because I haven't been extremely active?

 

Organize!!!  I always need to organize.  My problem is I don't know where to put things.  Also, we have way too much junk.  Honestly, we really need a scanner so that I can recycle a lot of papers we have lying around.  Our old scanner died.  Yeah, we get used stuff/hand-me-downs, and it doesn't last very long.  But this week's organizational project is our attic.  The playroom is great, but the other room is a disaster.  It seriously looks like a tornado came through.  That room's purpose is a craft room, library, and storage.  So far, I've rearranged a couple things to give better places for certain items.  It looks a lot better, but it still needs much more work.

 

Wake up at 7 am two times this week: If I don't wake up early enough to take a shower before Lydia wakes up, I don't get a shower until her first nap, which is around 10:00.  Then, the curtains don't get opened because I'm hideous.  I waste nap time by taking a shower instead of accomplishing tasks around the house.  Etc, etc, etc.  I just need to buck up and get over sleeping-in.  Sleep is overrated anyway, right?  Ha ha!  But really, 7:00 should be reasonable, so I just need to do it, but I'm starting with twice this week, to work up to every day.

 

Main Goal: take things little by little: So, I've had a lot to get done.  Before Lydia came along, I could do tons of things in one day.  Well, our tiny dancer makes accomplishing things difficult, so I think my new rule is to do things one at a time.  I get overwhelmed with how much there is to do.  Accomplishing things during nap time is very difficult.  I never know how long she will actually nap.  It's on average 1 hour, twice a day, but she has a habit of waking up right as I get into the groove of something.

Well, there you go.  I'll give you the update next week.  What are your goals for this week?

Movie Monday August 5, 2013

So, I think I'm ready for a slight change, a scheduling change.  I've been getting used to having a schedule again (babies sort of force that onto you), and I may or may not be going a little overboard with it...

So, with my blog, I'd like to do a few new things: Movie Monday, Tune-up Tuesday, Welling Wednesday, and Tipful Thursday.

Movie Monday: Talk about recent movies I've watched, sort of like a review.  We watch a lot of movies.  We don't go to the theater often . . . hardly ever, but we're constantly borrowing movies, renting Red Boxes, etc.  We're movie fanatics.  A little side note, as most of you know, we don't watch R rated movies, so if you're wanting my opinion on one of those, tough luck.

Tune-up Tuesday: This will be a day where I talk about my weekly goals.  What good is a goal if you don't share it?  I'll be more accountable for it and more likely to achieve it.  Thanks for listening!

Welling Wednesday: Obviously, this is our weekly family update.

Tipful Thursday: I'll post fun little tips I've discovered, kid ideas, cleaning/organizational tips, exercise tips, crafts, recipes, etc.

Okay, now, nobody has time to blog every day.  Obviously, these won't happen every single week.  I know, you're rejoicing that you don't have to read this every day.  Lucky you.

Now, what's today again?  Oh yeah!  It's Monday.  I have three movies I'd like to recommend:

Beautiful Creatures

I'll be honest, I was a little weary of this one, but I ended up liking it a lot.  I thought it might be scary, but it really wasn't.  It's about a mortal guy and a castor (witch, but don't call her that) who fall in love.  She's not supposed to fall in love with a mortal because bad things could happen.  Oh, and on her sixteenth birthday, she finds out if she's a good castor or a dark castor.   The only thing I didn't like about this movie was all the profanity.  Come on writers, can't you expand your vocabulary a bit?

Jack the Giant Slayer

I loved this version of the classic tale.  It was adventurous and entertaining, with a little bit of romance mixed in (not graphic romance, either).  The violence is a little graphic, but other than that, very entertaining.  Don't let your kids see it unless they can handle violence.  P.S. I loved that the princess wasn't completely helpless.  She had spunk and determination.

What's Up Doc?

This is an old classic, not black and white, though.  Oh, I can't tell you how much I love this one!  There are four bags that look exactly the same at the same hotel.  One has igneous rocks for a musician's research project, one has women's clothing, one has very expensive, fine jewelry, and one has top secret government information.  You do the math, and try to figure out how crazy and mixed up this can get.  It's hilarious!  Also, Barbara Streisand and Ryan O'Neal are fantastic.  Who doesn't love a little Babs in their life?  Ha ha!  P.S. Ryan O'Neal rocks the "hipster" look.  He was nerdy back then, but isn't that what is popular right now?

Well, I hope you enjoyed my recommendations!  Happy movie night!  What movies have you recently watched that you like?

Seven, Eight, Nine

Ah!  I haven't posted the adorable monthly pictures of Lydia!  They're super cute, too!  Here you go.  Enjoy!

Seven months

Eight months

Nine months

I can't believe it's been nine months already!  I could have gone through the whole pregnancy thing all over again.  Crazy!  I love this girl SOOOOOOOOOO much!

Kitchen Remodel

We have been very ambitious with our little old house.  Our latest project was remodeling the kitchen.  We kept the cabinets, raised them up, installed a DISHWASHER, got granite countertops and a new sink, added some cabinets on the other side of the kitchen, put up a beautiful green subway tile backsplash, and viola!  New kitchen!

Right now, we are currently putting in a window air conditioner in our attic.  The A/C we have doesn't quite cut it up there, but the rest of the house is delightful.  We also are going to finish our basement bathroom, to make a grand total of 3 bathrooms in our house.  What!? THREE bathrooms in a 1927 house?  Yep!  One on each floor!  I am also working on plans for more functional closets and a kitchen command center (We have a little nook where an ironing board used to be.  It will be epic!)  A homeowner's work is never done...

Before.  Yucky, old, Formica countertops from who knows when.  Also, no built-in dishwasher.

After.  Dishwasher, granite countertops (Ubatuba was the stone we used), gorgeous faucet, beautiful, green, porcelain, subway tile backsplash.  It all looks great with our recently (two years ago) refinished hardwood floors.  P.S. The green tile was ordered online, and when we got it, we found out that it is the exact shade of our living room curtains.  What can I say?  We love green!

 Before.  Portable dishwasher that we had to vacuum out after every use, because it didn't drain.  (Ghetto!)  No cabinets between the fridge and the stove.

After.  No portable dishwasher to vacuum out, cabinet with granite countertop.  Doors still yet to be completed.

We have a few finishing touches to do, but I love my new kitchen!

Veggie Beef

This is Lydia eating vegetable beef baby food.  Enjoy!

To Sleep or Not To Sleep...

Lydia is going through a little phase where she hates napping.  Most days I can get her to nap, but there are few days when she absolutely refuses.  She's such a stubborn little girl.  I think she gets the stubbornness from her daddy...

So, I guess I'm a horrible parent and let her cry for a while.  That's what the doctor told me to do when she was two months old, and that's been our policy.  But when she cries for an hour straight, I know there's something going on.  Right now, I think she may be teething.  At least I hope she's teething.  She's nine months, and she hasn't gotten one tooth yet!  I REALLY hope this is a teething thing, because I don't know how much more of this refusal to nap thing I can take.  I'm exhausted!  A full day of holding a clingy baby is rough!  I know, I've been spoiled with this kid.  She's an angel... normally.

So, something she's been doing that is super cute, but also heart breaking, is that when I put her in her crib, then walk out of the room, she will move to the corner of the bed closest to the door, and watch for me.  She always falls asleep there, instead of where I put her, which is the entirely opposite side of the crib.  Also, in the morning, when she wakes up, she wants her binky, and it's on the floor.  She reaches through the bars for it.  It's SO cute, but SO sad at the same time.

Here are some pictures of my stubborn little girl who refuses to nap.

Please feel free to offer suggestions.  This poor kid needs more sleep!

Food, Food, Glorious Food

It's been a while.  I have a good excuse, I promise!  My computer keeps getting fried.  It's the video card, that thing that makes your monitor work.  Yeah, it keeps getting fried.  No idea why.

Anyway, I bet you're dying to hear more updates about Lydia.  Well, probably not, but since she's 8 months now, you may be a little curious what she's been up to. 

Well, to start, she is totally obsessed with food.  I'm probably allowing her to try more things than I should, but she's very demanding.  Ha ha!  She will definitely make a wonderful big sister one day.  She's got the bossy part down.  I love it!  Well, now I love it.  I'm sure that when she's a toddler, and actually talking, it will drive me insane, but for now, it's adorable.

Another new adorable thing for her is that she loves to dance.  Oh my goodness!  It's stinkin' cute!  Any time she hears music, she will start grooving to the beat.  She even does it while I'm holding her in the store.  She'll be on my hip, and suddenly start bucking and kicking my bottom.  I just laugh.  I seriously love it.  But the best is when she dances when she takes a bite of food.  Yes, she dances for food.  I should have her hold up a cardboard sign that says, "Will dance for food."  She dances so hard that if she's in her stroller, it will rock side to side.

So, what would be her favorite food?  Well, my answer would be anything except beans, peas, and carrots.  Ha ha!  No, she is definitely a sweet tooth.  I have probably fed her more sweets than I should, but like I said, she's bossy and demanding.  That, and my mom feeds them to her...  Grandmothers...  She really likes sweet potatoes, bananas, and apples.  Also, I let her have orange juice the other day (no bad reactions to it, thank goodness), and she devoured it.

So, how do I get her to eat beans, peas, and carrots?  Well, we're still working on the carrot thing, but I add bananas to beans and peas, and she loves it!  Bananas, who knew?

Now that I've talked about food, what else is she up to?  Well, she babbles a lot, and talks my ear off.  It's so cute!  She will wake up and talk in the morning.  Then, when I put her down for a nap, she'll usually talk herself to sleep.  I'll have to post a video of her "nap time" at a later date, when I have access to my computer.  She is almost ready to crawl.  She has started the army crawl, pulling herself forward.  I'm in trouble!  She loves toys with buttons that make sounds.  She could play with a certain book that sings nursery rhymes for about 20 minutes at a time.  Speaking of books, she loves them, and now wants to hold the book and turn the pages.  I only let her with the board books, of course.

 

This picture was a few weeks ago, but it's the most recent one my parents have on their computer.

She's growing up so fast!