Reflecting...

I never seem to be able to make myself get on here and post. The truth is, as a kid I really enjoyed writing and as I grew older I still thought it was fun. As an adult, I still like it, but I guess not enough to make significant time for it. Plus, I don't always feel like I have anything interesting to say!!

I've been really debating writing a blog about my life and things I've been thinking lately and convictions I've had. Why the debate? Because I'm terrible with confrontation!!! There's a definite reason I wasn't interested in the debate team in high school! I'm terrible at arguing (I usually just back off and surrender), and I never want people to be made at me.

While all of those things are still true, I'm choosing to say what I'm really thinking and feeling, even if others don't agree with me. I feel like God has really been teaching me some things and I want to share those things. Maybe what I'm learning will make a difference to you, maybe it won't.

First off, weight loss. Zane is now 9 months old. I've been "trying to lose weight" for 9 months now, people!! When he was born, I was DETERMINED not to make the mistakes I made after Karys was born. After she was born I worked out, but definitely did not eat as well as I should have. I remember when she was about 6 months old thinking, "Maybe I'm just going to be this size forever." Then about a month after that, a friend started doing Weight Watchers and when I saw her having success, I had an "Aha!" moment where I realized that if I made some changes in what I ate and continuted with the exercising, I could have that success too. So when she was about 8 months old, I really started working toward weight loss. Sometimes I did really good, other times not. Overall, I lost about 25 lbs. Fast forward to 3 months before I found out I was pregnant with Zane. I was stuck in my weight loss efforts and realized that I relied on sweets and desserts WAY too much! They were on my mind a lot more than they needed to be so I made the decision to cut them out completely. I did this for 3 WHOLE MONTHS!! I've never gone that long without candy, cookies, ice cream, etc. in my LIFE!! But then I found out I was pregnant, which for me is almost a license to eat. :) So fast forward again to Zane being born. I was a lot more conscious once he was born about the fact that I didn't want to have a nonchalant attitude about getting back into my regular clothes...I wanted back in them ASAP!! I've been trying (without a lot of success until recently) to get back into those old clothes. Then a little over a month ago I realized that the sweets were causing me to sabotage myself. It really does no good to work out if you're just going to eat tons of ice cream later that day!! It kind of all cancels itself out. Basically my workouts were just helping me maintain my current weight. So I decided to give it up again. This time I haven't been quite as strict, but I'm still pretty strict. I've had a couple of sugar-sweetened sodas (which I didn't have last time I did this) because drinking a soda is not going to cause me to binge and give it all up. When we have our MOPS meetings (where we get to enjoy amazing breakfasts!!) I'll eat donut holes or other sugary things because, again, eating a donut hole is not going to make me run out and buy a container of ice cream. So after giving up the sweets, I realized that there was another thing causing me not to lose weight: fast food. I was picking up takeout at least once a week, especially on the weekends. And it would cause me to feel like I'd wasted a week of working out and eating well when I'd step on the scale on Monday morning only to see I'd either: a) not lost any weight or b) gained weight. It was because of all the sodium that's in fried food (and probably the fat too!) because it'd make me retain water. Feeling like you've done a good job all week, only to not see your efforts rewarded in weight loss can be depressing! So out went the fast food, too. And in my first week of doing that, I dropped 2.5 lbs.! Talk about motivation!

Through this experience I've really been feeling like I need to be doing what I can to honor God with my body. I was not created to be a sluggish, fat-filled being who sits on the couch eating and watching TV. That doesn't do anything to show God to people in their lives. Living with discipline honors God. I'm not sure how or when I'll add sweets or fast food back into my life. I'm a little scared to add sweets in because I feel like I'm probably a sugar addict and when I give myself a little, I just want more and more. Sometimes I wonder if, like a recovering alcoholic or drug addict, if I'm supposed to cut those things out of my life completely because I can't handle it correctly when those things are in my life. That thought makes me nervous!! What would life be like not eating cake at people's birthday parties (which I've already done!) or not enjoying ice cream out with friends (which I've already done!)? Hmm...

Another thing that I love and have cut out of my life (at least for now)? "Dancing with the Stars." I had so many conflicting feelings about this one!! If you know me, you know how much I love this show!! I don't even care if I don't like any of the stars on the show. Once the season gets started, I end up liking certain contestants even if I'd never heard of them before the season started (which is usually true of the athletes!). Once the stars for this season were announced, though, I was conflicted. I could not decide if I should watch the show because of Chaz Bono being one of the celebrities. I heard lots of backlash on TV about Chaz being on the show. The group, One Million Moms, was telling people not to watch the show because we shouldn't have to explain "transgender" to our young kids. People were accusing ABC of supporting the LBGT agenda by having Chaz on the show. Other people were accusing One Million Moms of being a hate group for speaking out against Chaz. Here's what I was feeling: for Chastity Bono to decide that God made her incorrectly and therefore it was up to her to fix the problem, becoming Chaz Bono seemed to me to be like a slap in God's face. Now, I know that homosexual people have been on DWTS before and I've still watched it but for some reason, the whole transgender thing wasn't sitting well with me. I do believe that homosexuality is a sin as well (the Bible clearly speaks about this), but this time I just really felt unsure. I was asking so many different trusted friends for their thoughts and opinions on whether or not watching DWTS this season was saying that I support people being transgender or not. And finally, the decision I came to (for me), was that if I was having to ask around so much it seemed like I was trying to justify something that didn't quite feel right in my heart. So I decided to listen to my conscience and do what seemed right for me and not watch the show this season. And trust me, it's been HARD!!! I see updates when I watch "Good Morning America" but I have to remember what is more important on this earth and that's following my convictions and living for Jesus. So that's what I'm trying to do. :)

Zane: A 6-Month Summary

(Disclaimer to all of the second-, third-,etc. born kids: I do take pics of Zane by himself, but this is a pic I took for Father's Day and it's one of the more recent ones...and I really like it! Just didn't want anyone concerned that he's always in pics with Karys and never by himself. :)

I'm not good at blogging about my kids' development monthly like some people are. Maybe I'd like to be, but oh well. We took Zane today for his six-month well-check and it seems like a good time to fill everyone in on what I think you should know about this cute little guy.

First things first...results from our doctor's appointment.

Weight: 21.2 lbs. (94th percentile)

Height: 27.75 inches (88th percentile)

I don't have Karys's height and weight from this age in front of me right now (and since both kids are napping, I don't want to go get it out of their room!) but if my memory serves me correctly, she was 15 lbs. some-odd ounces at 6 months. I don't remember her height, though. So, obviously he's considerably bigger. :) Oh, and he's only 3 lbs. less than she is...as in, right now!! :)

He is still wearing 6-9 mo. clothes, although some of them are starting to get a little snug. The crazy part is that whenever we run out of diapers, we're going to be buying size 4 next time!!! Karys probably started wearing a 4 sometime between 18 mos. and 2!!

Okay, there's more to know about Zane than just what size he is. Here's some things I'd like you to know.

*He loves his sister. And she feels the same way about him. He laughs so much at the silly things she does for him and whenever I put him in his high chair to feed him, she'll bring him toys to play with while I'm getting his food ready.

*He sits up by himself! He just started that about 2 weeks ago and has really gotten it mastered. One of my friends told me that she thinks the bigger babies learn to sit earlier because they have a more supportive base with their bigger bellies. :) The doctor told me today that there is truth to that, but the bigger babies are also slower to crawl because they have more to move around. :)

*I like to call him "Zany Man." And I do it so much that Karys calls him that most of the time, and Ryan's starting to say it too.

*He's such a pleasant baby. He's really not fussy, unless he's tired. He's so content--he loves to sit with his toys and play or just observe what's going on around him.

*He'll eat whatever you'll give him. :) So far he's had cereal, avacado, applesauce, banana, and green beans.

*He can be reserved with his smiles, but Karys can get great smiles from him all the time and I can get them most of the time. :)

*He takes a great afternoon nap, which makes it so great for me!! He'll take a nap for about an hour in the morning, but then in the afternoon he'll nap for about 2 1/2 hours (and it coincides with Karys's naptime!). I learned that if I try to wake him up from the afternoon nap (so that he'd feed on an every 3-hour schedule), he'd just fall right back asleep. But if I let him nap pretty much as long as he wants, we're good!

*He sleeps really well at night! I've been trying to keep him from taking a short catnap in the late evening (usually a 30-minute nap around 7:00) and then just feed him around 8 so he'll fall asleep and go straight to bed. He'll usually sleep until after 7 the next day. And if he wakes up in the 6:00 hour, I can put him in the swing and he'll go back to sleep for me.

*Most important thing for you to know: I don't know what I'd do without my little man!! :)

She's A Witty One! :)

If I don't write this down right now I'm going to forget it and then I'll be sad that I never remembered to share my funny Karys stories. :) Both of these stories happened today...she must've been in a really good mood and was feeling quite witty!

I learned from a wise friend that the best time to fix a little girl's hair is while she is eating breakfast. So this morning I was trying a new style on her and it required 3 rubber bands. I had them sitting on the kitchen table and Karys picked one of them up and was playing with it. When the time came that I needed it I was holding her ponytail in my hand and the rubber band was nowhere in sight. Slightly irritated by this, I looked around the table saying, "Aarrgh, Karys, why do you always do this to me?" She was looking around the table trying to find the rubber band too and then said, "Under table." Now I was even more irritated because I had to let go of her ponytail to get down on the floor and look for the rubber band. I'm looking around and getting really aggravated because the rubber band is nowhere to be found which means I'll have to go back to the bathroom to get another one. At the time that I stand up to go get another one, my witty child holds up this rubber band in her hand! While I can't remember exactly what she said, it was something to the effect of, "Look, Mommy!" She'd had it the whole time!! Not only that, she knew exactly what she was doing because then she said, "Funny!" :)

The second story happened at my sister-in-law's house. She has a basket of school supplies on her kitchen table and Karys found an Elmer's glue bottle in it and pulled it out. I told her to put it back and she looked at the bottle and said something I didn't understand. I told her that was "glue" and I thought she tried to repeat me, but didn't get it right. So I drew the word out so she could hear all the sounds, "Gllllluuuuuue." To which she goes, "Cooowwwwww." :) She had been pointing the cow on the Elmer's glue bottle, not the actual glue bottle itself! :) It really cracked me up!

"Yo, Elmo!"

Hopefully this story will translate well since it's being written and it won't make my child sound like a brat! :) We've been working with Karys lately on how to ask for things properly, partly based on the story you're about to read. For anyone that doesn't know, Karys is being seen by a speech therapist for some speech delays. One of the things she can't do is repeat after you if you use too many words. For example, if I tell her to say, "May I watch Elmo, please?" she'll say, "Elmo, please!" So I've been shortening it and having her repeat, "May I," "watch," "Elmo, please." and now she remembers it all and can say it by herself. We just started having her say this much because I used to accept her just saying, "Elmo, please." Or, "Juice, please." So here's the funny story:

There have been a couple of occasions where Karys wants something and when she decides she wants something she will not give up on it. Usually she just repeats herself over and over, even if I've said no or not now. So on this particular occasion she wanted to watch Elmo. So she said, "Elmo, please." I think I just ignored it at first so she kept saying, "Elmo, please. Elmo, please." I probably finally said, "No, not right now." But still, she kept going: "Elmo, please. Elmo, please." And when she didn't get the response from me she wanted she goes, "Yo! Elmo!" (If this makes her sound bratty, it's not meant to...it was totally hilarious!!) I really have no idea where she got the word, "Yo!" but it cracked me up. Although after thinking about it for awhile, I have one place where she might have gotten it. If you don't watch "Sesame Street" daily like we do, you might not know about a new segment they have called "Murray Had A Little Lamb." There is an orange monster on "Sesame Street" now whose name is Murray and sometimes he and his little lamb go and visit different schools (ex. karate school, ballet school, etc.) and the segment has a theme song. It starts out singing, "Murray has a little lamb..." to the tune of "Mary Had A Little Lamb," then breaks out into a rap that goes, "Yo! Murray has a little lamb who wears a little bow..." That's the only place I can think of where she would've heard someone say "Yo!"

*Disclaimer: She does not get what she wants for saying, "Yo! Elmo!" just in case you thought I might let her have anything she wanted for being cute/funny. :)

*Second Disclaimer: This story was intended to make you smile/laugh. Hopefully it did that and nothing more. :)

Schedule vs. Routine

I guess one of the goals of being a parent is to grow and change in how you parent. Always learning more, aiming to not make the same mistakes, etc. In growing and changing, I'm learning hands-on that what works with one child doesn't necessarily work with every child. With Karys, I found out about the "Babywise" method of sleep-training. By 8 weeks she was sleeping through the night and eating at 3-hour intervals throughout the day. It was a perfect schedule. I thought it was flawless.

...And then came Zane. I really tried to set him on a schedule like I did with Karys. I REALLY did. By 8 weeks, when he was still getting up at 1, sometimes 2, times a night, I was discouraged. I kept hearing of friends with babies around his age (or younger) who were already sleeping such long hours at night. And I gotta say, I was envious. But still, I pressed on, attempting to follow the schedule I had set in my head. And then, one night when he was about 3 months, he slept...ALL NIGHT! And then he did it another night! And then...another night! It might've taken him an extra month from what it took his sister to start sleeping through the night, but he did it! And he might not eat at exactly the same time every day, but he does eat at approximate times. I've always followed the "Babywise" strategy of "Eat. Play. Sleep." in that order and so I'm learning that it's less important to follow what time it is as it is to set up a predicable routine. He does things in the same order every day...but not the same time. And it's working for us. He's a sweet boy who's really never fussy unless he's tired. He eats well (obviously!) and when he's sleeping, he's the most peaceful baby.

So this schedule-oriented mommy, who loves knowing what time things are going to happen has had to mellow out. Big time. But I can't become a better mommy unless I'm willing to bend when needed. Thank you, Zane, for teaching me how to adjust. :)

Extremes

Everyone's probably going to get tired of me talking about this, but I just can't believe the extreme opposites I have in children! Zane is very big for his age (not just weight, but length as well) and Karys is just not! Granted, she hasn't always been quite the featherweight that she is now, but still. At 3 months Zane is about the size (perhaps bigger!) that Karys was at 6 months. I know for sure that at 3 months Karys still fit into 0-3 month clothes, although there were some 3-6 month things I started pulling out because I wanted to have her wear them and I was ready for a change in clothes! She wore 3-6 month clothes until she was about 8 months, I believe, and then moved into 6-9 month clothes which she wore past the age of 1!

Zane, on the other hand, moved out of 0-3 month clothes at about 6 weeks and now at 3 months, he's getting close to moving out of 3-6 month clothes!! He has a few 3-6 month outfits that just really don't fit him anymore at all!! Just to show the difference (I'm not sure how well you can tell it just from pictures) here's a picture of Karys sitting on a couch at 3 months and Zane sitting on a couch at 3 months. Hopefully you'll be able to see what I'm trying to show...he's SO BIG and she's SO LITTLE. :)

Karys:

Zane:

Two Thumb Suckers!

It appears that both of my kids are going to be thumb-suckers. Obviously Karys has been ever since she was 3 months old. But Zane started it as well last month and seems like he will continue it. Thankfully it's not something that bothers me!! Now that I go back and look at the pictures, it appears that Karys was a little less than 3 months when she started thumb sucking. So I guess they were both about 2 1/2 mos. when they started it. Either way, here's a picture of Karys in her early thumb-sucking days:And here's Zane:

I have to admit I think a thumb-sucking baby is one of the cutest things ever!! :)