Fabulous Friday

Just wanted to take a minute to wish everyone a wonderful weekend!! It's almost 1:30 and I'm getting ready to leave work...I so enjoy getting off early on Fridays! I hope I'm going to get to spend some time scrapbooking today, but most of all I'm looking forward to relaxing and spending time with Alexa. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and that it doesn't go by too fast.

Thirteen words Alexa can say

1. Mama - she usually says this when I'm not around, I think it's because she misses her mama...and when she gets started she repeats it constantly! LOL Sometimes she does actually say it to me
2. Dada - she runs up to Anthony anytime he comes over and says it
3. Hey - she says hey really quick
4. Hi - she makes me laugh in the morning, if she is in a good mood she will take her paci out and smile up at me and say hi...well it's more like hiiii!
5. Bye bye - she says this all the time...but usually not when I want her to! Sometimes she tells me bye bye when neither one of us is going anywhere...maybe she wishes one of us was! :)
6. No - not only does she say no, but she shakes her head no...and if she is doing something she knows she isn't supposed to she will say no, no...no, no...but shaking her head is super funny. I'll try to give her a bite of food and she will close her mouth and shake her head like "yeah right lady, I'm done with the chicken!"
7. Please - of course there is no L in her version, but we are working with her so instead of pointing and going uuhh!! she now says "peeaase"
8. Thank you - this one is a little slurred as well, and sometimes it's more clear than others...I'm still working on it though
9. Duck - she has a rubber duckie, so we talk about the duck when she is in the tub
10. Gabe - is our cat...and he is SOOOOOOOOOO nice to her!! She tries to hug him and give him kisses and "pet" (which really means pull out) his fur. She knows his name though
11. Dog - she also calls Gabe "dog"...I'm working on that one too! She usually points to him and says dog...and then tries to catch him as he frantically looks for a hiding place. She also tries to back up and sit down on top of him! We got a picture of her giving him a hug this morning. I'll try to post it if I can get the camera hooked up to the computer.
12. Mimi - I think this is her most recent addition to her vocab...and I know Mimi is just super excited! :) Of course that's who she runs to when mommy says NO!
13. Pop pop - We want her to call my daddy Pop, but she usually repeats it...which she does with most things. Nobody minds though, because it's still super cute! She loves her Pop pop!

Today's Word of Encouragement

As reflected by the previous post I am on a mission to live a healthier life. I am combining my efforts to eat better, drink more water, and exercise. Once again this morning I took a nice brisk walk with a co-worker, and it was rather nice! I feel so much better already! At this point I think it's more psychological than physical, but I know that is soon to follow.

I want to encourage all of you in blog land to get some form of exercise today, no matter what kind you get, any is better than none! I am going to continue to walk during our morning and afternoon breaks...and I have promised Damaris that I will start walking at lunch in 2 weeks. I want to give myself time to work up to that!

I have to say I'm so excited that I'm actually following through with my lifestyle change (for once!) and I am extremely happy with it! I hope you will all get outside today and take in the beautiful day that God has given us while getting some exercise too!

New Template??

I'm looking for a new template, and so far this is one that I like...what do you think??? I'm not really sure why my older posts are cut off, but I figure it doesn't really matter anyway. LOL! Let me know what you think!

**UPDATE** ok it really does bother me that it's cutting the older posts off on the left side, so I'm trying to find something else!

Well...I looked at a bunch of different stuff and changed my template a few times, but ultimately wasn't happy. It's too bad I haven't taken my html class yet or I would be able to do an original one. Maybe I'll try and work on that... :)

Stay Focused

It's something every new mother experiences...feeling like she needs to lose weight! Obviously I was no different! After Alexa was born I had no appetite. She had been on top of my stomach for the last couple months of my pregnancy, and therefore I had no space to put food. When my milk production began to suffer I took a serious look at what I was eating...basically nothing...and decided that had to change. I quickly began to head in the opposite direction of my goal.

Then Josh and Brenda set a wedding date and I realized just how fat I was going to look in my bridesmaids dress and decided it was time to make a change. Mama and I set out on the low carb trail together. We didn't just focus on low carb though; we also looked at calories and fat. Most low carb diets tell you to eat whatever fat you want to, but we all know that really isn't healthy for you, and so we watched fat and calories too. The weight began to melt off!!! What a wonderful feeling. I have said that the only thing better than new clothes are clothes that you haven't been able to fit into!

As is true with any diet, after a few months you begin to lose focus, and you aren't quite as disciplined. Then you start or should I say stop losing like you were before. I have seen this happen! After losing a little over 30 pounds I am STUCK! Why you ask? Simple, because I have lost my focus!

Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about my weight loss, and how I would like to lose about 10 more pounds, but the bigger issue for me is that I want to eat healthier in general. I look at Alexa and think that I want her to have good eating habits. So she doesn’t crave candy and sweets, and she loves healthy food. I have also realized that while it's easy for me to tell her these things, if I'm not doing them then it makes it harder for both of us. Perfect example...soft drinks! I don't let her have anything to drink but water, milk, and occasionally juice, and what does she always point to?? You guessed it! PEPSI! How can I expect her not to drink/want Pepsi when I drink some form of diet soda all the time?

So, I have made the decision that starting today I am making a concerted effort to eat healthier! I am starting my focus by looking at my water intake...previously little to none...and I am going to stop drinking so much soda, diet or otherwise! I am also considering trying to go organic. I did a speech on organic eating for my public speaking class, and I really think there are benefits to having an organic lifestyle. There are also a lot more options for organic eating than there have been in the past.

I am also going to start exercising! Starting tonight I am going to do the elliptical at least 3 times a week. I'm going to stop making excuses, and I'm going to get these last ten pounds off. It's really about more than that; it's about giving my daughter the benefit of a healthy lifestyle! I am committed to making a change in my life starting now! I've already had one bottle of water this morning! :)

There is a hole in my checkbook

I am happy to report that my root canal went much better than expected! I didn't feel a thing...in fact I almost fell asleep while he was doing it. LOL! Anyway, thank you for all of your prayers; I know they helped make the process less painful. My checkbook is now in recovery, I think for the most part it's still in shock! :) I am so thankful that God has blessed me so much, and that I was able to pay for the procedure without any trouble. I certainly could've found many other uses for that money, but I'm glad I had it. It could've been so much worse! What a blessing, it wasn't painful, and now it's over!

Sometimes it's hard to keep things in perspective, but in the scheme of things this was so minor compared to the problems other people have. I am so thankful for all of the blessings God has given me; I know I don't say that enough!

The Ladybug, the Dinosaur, and other random stuff

I finally got the computer to accept pictures today, so I can actually post them. I did slideshows because there were so many I wanted to post, and it would've been way too long! :) Some of them may be a bit old (2 weeks in baby time seems old!) but I wanted to post them anyway because they are just too cute!

We went to Trunk or Treat last night, I hope everyone had a great time...I know the ladybug and the dinosaur did! Jodi and Brad brought Walker over and Brad's mom got to come too. Josh and Brenda also made the trip, and then the usual crowd was there...Mimi, Pop, and Uncle Jerry. Alexa and Walker both had the best time running all over the place...neither one was at all concerned with candy! I think it's a bit early for the concept! :) Oh well, maybe next year, although I'm not trying to encourage eating candy!

The first slideshow is from 2 weekends ago when we took them to Niven's Apple Farm. They both had a great time! Alexa loved the pumpkin and carried a little one around most of the time...of course we bought it for her! Walker on the other hand was more concerned with the steps he found...lol...and then the wheelbarrow ride was fun too.

Then the last slideshow is just basically random pictures, but I have been wanting to post them for a while, so I decided to encorporate them all into one post.

I hope you all have a great weekend in case I don't get to post again. I'm going for my root canal today at 2:30 so say a quick prayer for me that it's not too painful! Enjoy the pictures!!

**HINT** if you click on the slideshows the pictures have captions!