Monthly Archives: July 2012

Our New Baby Monitor

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Our little monkey is all about climbing lately.  Now that he has a toddler bed, he likes to play with his toys before falling asleep for his nap.  Hubster and I decided that we needed to buck up and splurge on an expensive video baby monitor so that we can make sure he isn’t climbing all up on his furniture or something.

It’s pretty awesome to be able to watch what he’s up to.  He’s so cute!

We went with a Motorola camera, purchased from Babies R Us, and bought a second camera for it.  We’ve mounted both cameras in the corners of his room so that he can’t reach them.  The only thing that we wish it had is the ability to pan and zoom the cameras.  Alas, that probably would have been another $300.  I think this is good enough!

Mamavation Monday: Pledging to the Sistahood!

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I don’t exactly recall how I first heard about Mamavation, but I do remember being impressed by the compassion and kindness of its members.  Since last fall, I’ve completed several Mamavation Two Week Challenges (3? 4?  I can’t recall!).  The challenges really helped me on my road to fitness and staying accountable.  They also helped me to keep moving during a time in my life when I would’ve rather sat on the couch.  The Mamavation community encouraged me to complete Two Week Challenges while I was in the midst of postpartum depression.  Sometimes it was really difficult to get moving, but it was the accountability of the community that kept me going.

I’d love to join the Mamavation Sistahood and become another cheerleader for other women like me who are trying to get/stay fit for their families.  Due to PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), gaining weight has been all too easy for me in my adult life.  Losing weight, however, has posed an incredible challenge.  In the past few months, several people in my life have experienced success with weight loss and overall health by eliminating wheat from their diets.  I’ve recently purchased the book, “Wheat Belly,” and have decided that I need to take that step in eliminating wheat from my diet as well.

According to “Wheat Belly,” in addition to weight loss benefits, eliminating wheat also has great effects in people with mental illness.  Their moods are steadier and they generally have a higher mood than they do when they’re consuming wheat.  As I attempt to wean off of my antidepressants for PPD as well as continue to lose weight, I’ve decided that wheat elimination is absolutely something that I need to try in an effort to be able to go without medication.  It’s worth a shot!

My hope is that my active participation in the Sistahood and increased accountability through Mamavation Monday posts, will help me in this journey for health.  I’m also excited to encourage other Sistas in their daily lives and fitness journey.  I’d love to be a member of this wonderful, positive community for moms!

Daddy’s Best Buddy

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C loves his dada so much, and it makes my heart smile.  Every time he hears the door to our apartment hallway open/close during the day, he looks up at me, smiles big and says, “Dada?!”  It breaks my heart when I have to tell him that Dada won’t be home until dinner time.  (Please excuse the grainy iPhone pic. I thought it was too cute to delete!)

I Love Our CSA

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We bought a half-share of a CSA (community-supported agriculture) from a local farm when we moved here in June.  Every week, we go pick up our box of produce from our farm’s tent at the local farmer’s market.  I absolutely love it!

That box is filled with so many awesome vegetables and fruits every week.  We’ve received a huge lot of blueberries (probably more than 2 pints each of the past two weeks), delicious raspberries, tomatoes, red potatoes, mixed greens, and more.  This week, we opened our box to find 12 ears of sweet corn, carrots, zucchini, kohlrabi, lettuce, green beans, blueberries, and jam.  So delicious!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I highly recommend joining a CSA!  :)

Checking In: A Meds Withdrawal Update

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It’s been nearly two weeks since I’ve started withdrawing from Effexor.  The first phase of my withdrawal was to drop to 112.5 mg from 150 mg.  The first few days were the hardest.  I had dizziness, nausea, migraines, a sensation that my skin was crawling, and difficulty sleeping.  As the time of my next dose approached, I would get very sweaty and jittery.  I’ve been doing better now, but still occasionally get the skin crawling sensation.  Sometimes it keeps me from falling asleep at night.

On Saturday, I drop down in dosage again, this time from 112.5 mg to 75 mg.  I’m kind of nervous; but I’m also happy to try and get off of this drug.  Hopefully it will all work as planned and I will be able to stay off of medication during a future pregnancy. :)

Thank you to all who have given me well wishes and have asked how this process is going for me.  I really appreciate your support!

Visiting the Wildlife Sanctuary

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One of my best friends from college, who actually was the maid of honor in my wedding, lives in our new city.  We decided to meet up yesterday at the local wildlife sanctuary so that C could enjoy the animals.  It was so awesome to see her again after two years, and C loved her!  He let L carry him around to check out all the animals. :)

We Love Our Home State!

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Hubster and I are absolutely loving being back in our home state.  We’ve been able to catch up with many family members and friends.  We joke that in one month of living here, we’ve had more visitors than in the two years that we lived in a neighboring state!

Some of the fun things we’ve been able to do this past month is welcome a new sister-in-law into the family at her bridal shower, host our friends and their three kids for the weekend, attend a college friend’s nearby wedding reception, have several visits with C’s grandparents and more!  We’ve been busy, but it’s been really fun.  We’re so happy to be back, closer to so many of our loved ones.  :)

Cousins!

I have the best sisters-in-law. :)

Standing up in our friends’ beautiful wedding.

C’s New Toddler Bed

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A couple weeks ago, I put C down for a nap in his crib like usual.  About 20 minutes later, I was shocked when I heard one of his toys that was across the room.  I ran down the hallway to his room and, sure enough, he was out of his crib and playing with his toys.

I could not believe it.  I didn’t even know what to say!  He’s 14 months old and had climbed out of his crib!

C flashed me a huge smile and kept playing.  I was a little in shock that my little 14-month-old baby had climbed out of his crib, when the mattress was already on the lowest level and he had just started walking a few days prior.

I put him back into the crib to see if he’d climb out again for me.  He put his arms over the side, pulled himself using his upper body strength and scaled the crib rails with his little feet.  That little stinker!

We ended up buying a toddler bed for him that night.  He’s been adjusting quite well to it, and really seems to like it.  For a while, we would find him asleep on areas of the floor.  Now he usually plays quietly and then crawls into his bed when he’s ready to sleep!  At bedtime, he typically doesn’t even get out of bed when we lay him there.  He’s doing great!

Here’s my big boy sleeping peacefully in his toddler bed.  *sniffle*  He’s growing up so quickly!

Morning Walks With C

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What I love most about our new campus home is that there is an abundance of greenspace.  It’s so wonderful to be surrounded by trees, grasses and prairie.  C and I enjoy going out for morning walks together.  He loves riding in his stroller!

C checking out his new BOB stroller a few months ago

We decided to see how far it is to walk all the way around campus.  It’s 4.3 miles!  What an awesome way to start the day. :)

Create Fun Projects With AstroBrights Paper!

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This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Astrobrights Papers by Neenah Paper. All opinions are 100% mine.

I've been stuck in a summer crafting rut.  Now that C has entered the toddler stage, I'd love to get him started with craft projects.  I haven't been sure how to introduce him to art, but I think he'd go crazy over AstroBrights Paper.

AstroBrights Paper comes in 23 bright colors that are sure to keep my toddler's attention.  With AstroBrights, we'll be starting with a bold, colorful canvas for C to create his art (aka make his first scribbles!).  I'm loving the Venus Violet and Lunar Blue, and I think Gamma Green and Solar Yellow would make C smile.  In fact, I think we'll be making a little Green Bay Packers-inspired sign for C's bedroom door with those colors!  After all, it's almost football season. ;)  

When you share your AstroBrights projects and designs on their Facebook page, and you could win AstroBrights papers or other prizes!  The family-friendly "Make Something AstroBright" design challenges offer opportunities to make arts and craft projects with your children, and help you get out of a crafting rut.  C and I will be drawing some of his first artwork on AstroBrights, and I'll also be using the bold colors to create a scrapbook of C's first year (yeah, I'm a little behind on the scrapbooking!). 

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Be sure to use the hashtag #goastrobrights and share your creative ideas on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter!

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