MLA - We've Moved!

We've Moved!

2011-04-06T07:18:00.001-07:00

I've finally updated our url to reflect the new blog name!

You can now find us at:

http://mylittleapricot.blogspot.com/

Wordless Wednesday - Look Ma, No Hands!

2011-04-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

April Showers Bring May Flowers

2011-04-05T15:42:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share my EtsyMom treasury with you guys! It includes some of my favorite "stormy" colors - Black, Grey, Sage, Navy & Violet. You can check out the actual treasury and all of the featured shops (as well as prices) here.

Free Museum Weekend

2011-04-01T05:45:00.000-07:00

If you're a Bank of America cardholder (debit or credit), this weekend is free museum weekend. There are over 150 participating museums across the US. Find one in your area at museums.bankofamerica.com.

I think we'll be taking M to the Please Touch Museum in Philly and the Garden State Discovery Museum in Cherry Hill this weekend. She's never been to the Please Touch Museum, but she loved the Discovery Museum when we went in January.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 43

2011-03-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight loss or gain. You do not need to post your actual weight, though it may be helpful for you.

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Visit other blogs on the linky and show your support.

Remember, you don't need to link up on Thursdays. The linky is open for the whole week!

Last Week:

184.9

This Week:
184.3

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:184.9

CURRENT WEIGHT: 184.3

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -.6lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -28.3lbs

GOAL BY APRIL 28: 178

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
LAST MEASUREMENTS: 40 - 32 - 40 - 25
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 39.5 - 32 - 39.5 - 25
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 4.5 - 5.5 - 7 - 4

Well, it doesn't look like I made my March goal (or even came anywhere close). So I guess I'll make that my April goal.

I have to be honest, I'm getting really... ~~discouraged~~ ~~tired~~ bored of diet and exercise. I'm officially on day 301 of the weigh in, but I had been dieting/exercising for another 2-3 months prior to that. That makes 1 full year of diet and exercise and the only thing that I have to show for it is a loss of 28lbs (that I know of. I don't know how much I weighed before that, but I speculate my all time high was around 230). My goal was 50lbs in 1 year. I barely made half of that and I still have another 40-50lbs to go. At the rate that I'm going now, that'll take me another 2 years. I'm tired of counting calories and writing down every single thing that I eat. I'm tired of working as hard as I can to find only minimal results or a gain. I miss eating at my favorite restaurants and having ice cream. I hate diet soda and miss my regular ones. I'm tired of being tired all the time because I spent every spare minute of my day trying to fit in some exercise.

I'm sure if I had more success over this last year, I'm sure I'd feel differently, but right now, I'm starting to get really tired of diet and exercise.

Wordless Wednesday - Tea Party

2011-03-30T05:41:00.000-07:00

She kept going to the sink and "filling" her cups with tea. Where can I get a tea dispensing sink?

Parenting & Mother's Day

2011-03-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

The other day I was thinking about the things I learned from my mother about parenting. Honestly, I can't say that she ever came out and said "hey, you should try this" or "hey, maybe this would work for you", but I do think that I picked up a few things over the years.

If I had to choose the 1 major thing that I learned from her, it would be to independence. I learned at a very young age how to take care of myself and how not to rely on others to do those things for you. Being the oldest of many children, I started babysitting my siblings at a very young age. I started babysitting for money in middle school and got my first "real" job when I hit high school. On top of that, I had many extracurricular activities that I was a part of or helped run and still maintained good grades in my honors & AP classes. I paid for all of my own school trips and clothes and I liked not needing to rely on my mother for those things. I liked being able to do them on my own.

I am trying to teach M responsibility and independence young, too. Maybe not to the same extent that I experienced it, but I would like her to know what she wants and how to do it properly. She already helps (and enjoys) vacuuming and cleaning the windows. It may only be for a minute or two before running off to play, but she does ask if she can help me. She also asks if she can feed the cats every night and if she drops any pieces, she quickly picks it up and puts in back in the bowl. Heck, she doesn't even like me to help her use the potty when we're potty training. She just runs right in there, sits down and goes.

Thinking about these things got me thinking about Mother's Day and the other mother's in my life. So I took a look at Tiny Prints' mother's day cards and I have to tell you, I'm really loving some of these. Here are a few of my favorites:

I love how bright and vibrant these cards are. They're absolutely perfect for spring! They even have mother's day cards for godmothers, stepmothers and grandmothers. I can't wait to pick some out.

Tiny Prints provides simple, modern and unique stationery from Father’s Day Cards to personalized greeting cards to thank you cards, business cards, and even custom wedding invitations or photo birth announcements. Offering exclusive designs from the nation’s top designers, easy card personalization, a powerful preview engine and top-notch customer service and paper quality, their designs have been lauded by numerous television networks, publications and celebrities. With Tiny Prints by your side commemorating every holiday and momentous occasion is a cinch! They offer perfect party invitations for every occasion and memorable personalized photo-gifts like notebooks, photo books and calendars to commemorate the event.

Note: I am receiving a Tiny Prints gift card for posting about this promotion. This does not affect my opinion or story in any way.

The Monster's 2nd Birthday - Part 2

2011-03-28T07:44:00.000-07:00

My little monster turned 2 last month. We threw her a Minnie Mouse diva party because she's been very into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse lately. If you missed the decorations & cake, you can check them out here.

I was so glad that the snow didn't ruin M's birthday party again this year (we had to cancel her first birthday party due to a never-ending blizzard). She had a blast and that was all that mattered to me!

I made her dress the week before her party and the matching bows are from Bowquet's Bowtique on Etsy. These were a custom order from me and E (the owner of Bowquet) worked with me until they matched M's dress PERFECTLY. And they came super quick, too! I think I only ordered them maybe a week and a half before her party? And they got to me with plenty of time to spare. I get nearly all of M's bows from Bowquet (you see them hanging on the door in the picture below??? That's only half!) and highly recommend checking her out! She's even got some adorable spring/Easter bows ready to ship now! You can go visit her on Facebook, too.

Talking on the phone with her friend!

Opening presents


She thought this baby was hilarious. It kept saying "peekaboo, Mommy"

This one is my favorite!

My little diva <3

Talk about annoying....

2011-03-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

You know what I find really annoying? When you finally get new tires after 2.5 years of driving on the same ones and not even 3 months later your tire pressure light turns on. Then, of course, you go to check and find something like this:

Weekly Weigh In - Week 42

2011-03-24T05:08:00.000-07:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight loss or gain. You do not need to post your actual weight, though it may be helpful for you.

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

4. Visit other blogs on the linky and show your support. Congratulate them on their weight-loss and encourage them when they are struggling! Be sure to return the favor if someone visits/follows you.

Remember, you don't need to link up on Thursdays. The linky is open for the whole week!

Last Week:

182.9

This Week:
184.9

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:182.9

CURRENT WEIGHT: 184.9

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +2lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -27.7lbs

GOAL BY MARCH 31: 178

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
LAST MEASUREMENTS: 41.5 - 31.5 - 40 - 25
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 40 - 32 - 40 - 25
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 4 - 5.5 - 6.5 - 4

I had a feeling I'd be up this week. I was pms-y this week and I ate... a lot.... and I didn't exercise. Well, I did, but not enough. So, I expected a gain. Now that it's that time of the month, I know that part of the gain is just bloat. So all in all, being up 2 pounds isn't terrible.

Wordless Wednesday - Vacuuming

2011-03-23T06:37:00.000-07:00

Bad news!

2011-03-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys, it looks like the Madagascar Tour is being canceled. I'll have more details soon (hopefully).

Pretty Neat Giveaway { [ WINNER!!! ] }

2011-03-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

What a great tip! Clutter is one of my family's biggest issues. Congratulations on winning and I hope you find some great tips in the book!

The Playground

2011-03-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

M loves to go to the park and now that the weather is finally getting warmer here in the Philly suburbs (it'll be in the 70s tomorrow!), I've been trying to get her there a few times a week to play. I try to make it a point to actually walk around the park first and then head over to the playground - we might as well get some exercise in for Mommy, too! Of course, I made the mistake of trying to go on the walk AFTER the playground one time.... never again.

Since Jesse works late on Thursdays and it was warm out today, I figured we'd head over there for a bit (and by that I mean an hour and a half). We did our 15 minute lap around the smaller part of the lake and then headed over to the playground. Watching her play always makes me so happy. She's such a sweet little girl. Any time someone is doing something that she wants to try, she stands there and waits her turn. She doesn't even complain or get sad when someone cuts her off or jumps in front of her. She just turns and looks at me and says It's okay! Wait my turn! Here's my little 2 year old being cut in front of or pushed by the other kids (all ages) and just saying "It's okay. I'll wait". I can't describe in words how insanely proud this makes me.

Today a little 3 year old boy wanted to go on the swings, so I told her it was his turn since she already had been on them twice and he hadn't (she's met him before and he was nice to her, making sure the bigger kids didn't push her around). So she just walked over to the older kid swings and asked to go on that one instead.

Of course, now that we're 2, we want to try all the cool big kid things.

Can we talk about how this gives me a heart attack every time:

Weekly Weigh In - Week 41

2011-03-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight loss or gain. You do not need to post your actual weight, though it may be helpful for you.

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

Last Week:

186.7

This Week:
182.9

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:186.7

CURRENT WEIGHT: 182.9

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -3.8lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -29.7lbs

GOAL BY MARCH 31: 178

Woohoo! Nearly a 4lbs loss this week. I'm quite proud of that, though I do feel like I cheated a little bit. Saturday I started taking a weight loss supplement just to try it out. Everything else I did the same, so I'm happy that it's working, but I definitely feel guilty.

M & I walked around the park 3 times this week and using my trusty ipod/pedometer, I burned nearly 200 calories each time. It felt good. I love that the weather is getting nicer. It stinks that tomorrow is going to be 72 and I'll be stuck in an office all day, but hopefully it'll get warmer for the weekends soon, too. I threw in some weight training on the days that I didn't walk (and even a little when I did).

My hubby works late today and tomorrow, so I think we'll be headed to the park 2 more times this week.

30DC: Get Moving - The End

2011-03-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well, I've reached the end of my 30 day challenge. I made it. I exercised every day for 30 days. While I didn't see any weight loss (and I actually had weight gain instead), I do feel it was a worthwhile experience. I notice that I am more apt to exercising every day without forcing myself to and that is always a good thing. In the long run, it will make me a healthier person and that is a plus. So while I'm a little disappointed that I didn't lose any weight from this experiment, I am happy that I no longer have to force myself to work out. Lets hope it keeps up.

How time flies....

2011-03-15T07:49:00.000-07:00

I was looking at pictures from last year around this time. I can't believe how much has changed!

Look how little M was:

She's a completely different person now.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 40

2011-03-10T05:54:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight loss or gain. You do not need to post your actual weight, though it may be helpful for you.

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

Last Week:

185.6

This Week:
186.7

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:185.6

CURRENT WEIGHT: 186.7

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +1.1lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -25.9lbs

GOAL BY MARCH 31: 178

I'm actually starting to get really discouraged. I've been exercising much more trying to tone in the last few weeks. I've also been eating much better - more vegetables, fewer processed/fast foods. And yet I seem to be gaining weight overall. My chest measurements went down slightly this week, but my waist went up. Everything else remained the same.

When I work out, I'm not feeling the effects anymore, even if I work out longer/harder. Tuesday, for example, I did 10 minutes of hula hoop, 10 minutes of belly dancing, 50 jumping jacks, 50 push ups, 3 minutes of weight training, 1 minute of jump rope plus a number of stretches. I always make sure to vary my work outs. In fact, the belly dancing was something I've never done before. I try to work out different muscle groups every day and I try to do some sort of all over work out every day. And yet, I feel gross.

I know the problem is with what I'm eating either. Last night, for example, I made taco mac & cheese with boca meat instead of ground beef. 1 serving was only 202 calories. Even if we had 2 servings (which I didn't), it's still around the average amount of calories for 1 meal. I did have a couple drinks this week, but I made sure to burn off enough calories to negate that.

So I'm stumped and feel like a fat cow. I've hit a plateau and I'm not sure what to do about it because I already eat very few calories - on some days, I only eat 1200 (the bare minimum for women) and I rarely eat over 1700 calories in a day. I cut out most processed foods. I don't drink regular soda or juice. I drink more water now than I ever have. I don't snack and if I do, I try to make it a yogurt or vegetables. I eat 1 lite yogurt per day to help boost my metabolism. I work out every day and vary my exercises so that my body doesn't get used to doing them every day. I don't know what else to do.

Pretty Neat Book Review + {GIVEAWAY}

2011-03-09T08:28:00.000-08:00

I recently got my hands on a book called Pretty Neat by Alicia Rockmore & Sarah Welch. Organization & cleanliness has never been my strong point, so when my book came in the mail, I was really excited to delve right in. The goal of this book is to help readers let go of perfection and get organized in a way that works for them. Pretty Neat includes stories, tips, ideas and more from real-life people.

Honestly, I loved this book. It was easy to read - I got through it in about an hour total. It has some great tips and it really spoke to me. I grew up learning that everything needed to be pristine in order to be clean. This book tells you that that is NOT the case. It has some great confessionals from other moms, too. It even has a bit on organization and weight loss. How cool is that? I never considered 2 to be related before, but I definitely do now and I'm definitely going to be applying some of the tips to my routine.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book and I got a few really good ideas from it. I highly recommend checking it out, if you get a chance.

BUY IT! You can buy a paperback copy of Pretty Neat from Amazon for $10.17 or a kindle version for $9.58. AWESOME!

WIN IT!

All participants in this giveaway are also in the running

to win $200 and $50 worth of Buttoned Up goodies!

Giveaway Ends: March 21, 2011

Please leave a way to contact you in your comments!

Leave 1 comment per entry please.

Ways To Enter:

Enter as many or as few ways as you'd like!

1. Follow my blog [1 entry]

2. Follow me on Facebook - leave your facebook name [1 entry]

3. Tweet about this giveaway & leave the link in your comment [1 entry per day]

4. Blog about this giveaway & leave the link in your comment [2 entries]

5. Give us one of your favorite organizational tips [1 entry]

6. Tell us about 1 area of your life that needs more organizing [1 entry]

Note: I received a Pretty Neat to check out before offering it to you guys. All opinions are my own.

Wordless Wednesday - Watching the Geese

2011-03-09T05:49:00.000-08:00

Free Ibuprofen & Dental Floss at Target

2011-03-04T13:56:00.000-08:00

If you head over to Target's coupon section of their website, you'll see 1 for for $1 off Up & Up Pain Relief items and $1 off Up & Up Oral Care items.

That means you can get a container of Up & Up Dental Floss (93 cents-ish) and Up & Up Ibuprofen (97 cents-ish) for free! So go stock up!!!

A funny thing happened the other day....

2011-03-03T16:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday I was busy trying to cook dinner when of COURSE the monster comes running up to me.

Mommy!

Mama!

MOMMY!

What baby?

I peepee on the potty?

In a minute.

Okay, Mommy.

*proceeds to pull off her dirty pull-up, dropping little turdlets all over the living room floor*

Come on, M..... Go wipe with toilet paper.

Okay, Mommy.

*proceeds to pick up a PLASTIC BAG and wipes her butt*

No... not a plastic bag. Toilet paper.

*stares at me*

TOOOOIIIIILET PAAAAAPER.

OHHHHH!

Okay, Mommy.

*runs to bathroom and pulls off a huge strand of tp, ripping off 1 piece at a time to wipe her butt and throw it in the toilet*

In the meantime, I'm standing in the kitchen cracking up because, first of all, she just wiped her butt with a plastic bag and, secondly, she's standing with a huge strand of toilet paper ripping off one piece at a time, wiping and throwing it in the toilet. Then she would flush the toilet and run up to me shouting "I DID IT! I DID IT, MOMMY! I PEEPEE ON THE POTTY!"

Oh, potty training.... I foresee many funny stories on this adventure.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 39

2011-03-03T06:06:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight loss or gain. You do not need to post your actual weight, though it may be helpful for you.

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

187.4

This Week:
185.6

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:187.4

CURRENT WEIGHT: 185.6

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -1.8lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -27lbs

GOAL BY MARCH 31: 178

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
LAST MEASUREMENTS: 42 - 31.5 - 40 - 25.5
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 41.5 - 31.5 - 40 - 25
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 2.5 - 6 - 6.5 - 4

Well, I'm down from last Thursday by nearly 2 pounds, but up a little less than a pound from last Friday. I'll take it. If I average it, it probably means I've stayed about the same these last 2 weeks. My measurements are about the same. Chest & thighs are down about a 1/2 inch each. Not too bad. I can't believe that in almost 10 months I've lost 6 inches in my waist and 6.5 in my hips. It feels pretty good knowing I've lost have a foot of weight, haha.

Madagascar Live, Shrek the Musical & Kung Fu Panda 2

2011-03-02T04:53:00.000-08:00

You guys have probably already heard about these, right?

Madagascar Live! is touring right now and I can't wait until May when they come to Philadelphia. We're going to take M to go see it the Saturday that it's in town. I figure, she loves animals (especially penguins right now), so it's perfect!

M wasn't too into Shrek, but she does love plays and musicals, so I'm not really sure how she'll feel about Shrek the Musical. Kung Fu Panda 2, on the other hand, I know she'll like because she liked the first one. How exciting is it that all of these things are happening this year? Perfect timing for my 2 year old!

You know what's even better than that? DreamWorks Theatricals is hosting a sweepstakes so that you could win 1 of 3 awesome prizes.... 3 prizes, 3 winners! The deadline to enter is March 3rd, so hurry and enter today! You have to be 18 to enter, but you can enter once per day per person!

MADAGASCAR LIVE AND ON THE LOOSE IN NEW YORK CITY

- Trip for 4 to New York City
- VIP tickets to see MADAGASCAR LIVE! at Radio City Music Hall from April 15-25, 2011
- A chance to meet Alex and friends backstage
- A goody bag full of fun Madagascar merchandise

SHREK THE MUSICAL IN HOLLYWOOD

- Trip for 4 to Los Angeles
- VIP tickets to see SHREK THE MUSICAL at the Pantages Theatre in July, 2011
- A chance to meet Shrek and the fairytale gang backstage
- A good bag full of great Shrek prizes
- A tour of the DreamWorks Animation campus

THE HOLLYWOOD PREMIER OF KUNG FU PANDA 2

- Trip for 4 to Los Angeles
- Tickets to the KUNG FU PANDA 2 premier this Summer
- A goody bag full of fun DreamWorks merchandise

30DC: Get Moving - Days 15 & 16

2011-03-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

DAY 15 (2/28):
Squats: 40

DAY 16 (3/1):
Leg Raises: 40
Reverse Crunches: 20
Weight Training: 3-4 minutes
Jumping Jacks: 50
Lunges: 1 minute
Push Ups (against the wall): 40
Squats: 20

Today was a better day compared to the last few days. I still ate kind of crappy, but at least I got some decent work outs in there. I've been trying to decide if I can count cleaning my living room in there for today, but decided against it (even though I did break a sweat!).

I know I've been eating bad because of my allergies. I get them so bad that if I don't take something (claritin, sudafed, etc), my lymph nodes get so swollen that I can't speak or breathe. That's what happened back in early January. The down-side to take the meds is that I am always starving! And thirsty, too. Oh well, it's definitely better to breathe.

And just so you guys know, I didn't do all of today's exercises in a row. I did 25 jumping jacks first thing in the morning. Then I did the squats & push-ups randomly through out the day. I did the rest during my cleaning breaks this evening.

Get $25 worth of eco-friendly products... FREE

2011-02-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

Want to know how to get $25 worth of eco-friendly products for free?

Register at Gaggle of Chicks, which is a deal of the day site. You get $10 to spend just for registering!

Once you've registered, use the $10 on the 'national deal' on the right-hand side for 60% off eco-friendly goods. They'll send you an email with a code that can be used from 3/2-3/4 for $25 of letsgogreen.biz

Keep in mind that the cheapest shipping from there is about $10.20, so you really only have about $14 to spend, but there are lots of things for only a few dollars.

That's it! I think I'll be getting M a new night light and some baby wipes. They also have trash bags, cleaning products and a lot more!

30DC: Get Moving - Days 12, 13 & 14

2011-02-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

DAY 12 (2/25):
Wii Fit Plus: 16 minutes of exercise/stretches
Hula Hoop: 1-2 minutes

DAY 13 (2/26):
Cardio (Squat & Punch): 1-2 minutes

DAY 14 (2/27):
AM Walk: 10 minutes
Walking (around zoo): 2 hours

So, I didn't do as well these last few days as I had been doing, but the weather has been a little warmer - which means it's allergy season and I feel like I've been hit by a bus. So, I feel grateful that I managed to get anything done. My backs of my thighs are feeling a little tender today, so my body obviously still feels like it's doing something and that's a plus.

Did you know.....
Did you know that exercising on an empty stomach in the mornings improves glucose tolerance? I read that today in Self magazine and thought it was interesting.

I also read the other day that people who are dieting/working out and eat 1 cup of fat free yogurt a day actually lose weight faster than those who don't because of all the good bacteria in it. So, I went out and picked up some Activia Light yogurt in peach & strawberry to see if it really makes a difference. Activia Light is only 70 calories and tastes pretty good, so that's a bonus. :) They say you need to eat it once a day for at least 2 weeks to start noticing a difference.

30DC: Get Moving - DAYS 10 & 11 + { MORE }

2011-02-25T07:13:00.000-08:00

DAY 10 (2/23):
Hula Hoop: 7 minutes
Cardio (Squat & Punch with weights): 3-4 minutes
Weight Training: 2-3 minutes
Push-Ups (against the Wall): 20

DAY 11 (2/24):
Hula Hoop: 2-3 minutes
Cardio (Squat & Punch): 1-2 minutes
Crunches (across the body): 20
Push-Ups (against the Wall): 20
Squats: 20

I can't believe I've been doing this for nearly 2 weeks already and am still determined to keep going. I'm really determined to lose this fat. I want, very desperately, to big able to feel comfortable going to the beach or the pool in a bathing suit this summer. When I was younger, I always had issues with how I looked at the beach. I never showed off a lot of my stomach (I was a tankini girl). Then when I hit my all-time low of 118 in college (which is awesome since I have a very large chest naturally), I went out and got myself my first real bikini.... I felt great! Now I know I may never feel comfortable like that again, but I would like to be able to feel comfortable enough not wearing layers and layers of clothing in the hot weather to hide all my fat. So my goal with this challenge is to start toning my body (in addition to the weight that's been coming off over the last year). I know that the little bit of exercise I've been doing every day isn't going to make me lose 10 pounds over the course of the month, but I also know it will help to tighten my muscles and that's what I'm hoping for.

In other news, I was right about my weight yesterday. When I went to do some Wii Fit this morning, it said I was 2.2lbs down from yesterday (making my current weight 185.2), which means that the bloaty feeling I was having definitely contributed to the large increase (and only making my gain about 1.6lbs in the past week). So we'll see how I do next week.

I'm waiting patiently for the fedex guy to show up today. Since the weather's been getting a little nicer lately, I decided to order myself a new pair of sneakers. These, as a matter of fact:

They're Puma's Rio Racers. Cute, right? I don't think I've ever had athletic shoes before in my life. It took me FOREVER to find a pair that I liked. I did find one other pair of Puma's that I loved, but I wasn't going to spend $70 to get them. I ordered these from Piperlime on Tuesday. They're on sale for $39.99 with free 3-5 day shipping. They would have been here yesterday, but for some reason, FedEx refuses to leave our packages with the main office like UPS does. So, I'm sitting here patiently (or not so patiently), waiting for the fedex guy to show up. Not that I can use them today since it's raining and I'm feeling kind of crappy - though I've heard walking/exercising when you're sick helps you get better faster, is there any truth to this? It's supposed to rain again this weekend, too. C'est la vie.

Free Dr. Seuss Event @ All Target Stores

2011-02-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

All Target stores are participating in Read Across America this Saturday from 9 to 11. There will be Story Time, giveaways, coupons & your favorite Dr Seuss stories. We'll definitely be checking it out. :) Read more here.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 38

2011-02-24T04:53:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight loss or gain (a picture is recommend, but NOT required). You do not need to post your actual weight, though it may be helpful for you.

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

183.6

This Week:
187.4

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:183.6

CURRENT WEIGHT: 187.4

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +3.8lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -25.2lbs

GOAL BY MARCH 31: 178

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
LAST MEASUREMENTS: 42.5 - 32 - 41.5 - 26
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 42 - 31.5 - 40 - 25.5
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 1.5 - 5.5 - 5 - 3

My weight is up more than I anticipated this week. I was thinking it'd go up a pound or two, not 4. I have to tell you, I am a little discouraged. I know that I shouldn't be. I know that muscle weighs more than fat. I know that your period makes you bloated and therefore you weigh more. But I can't help it. The scale was so close to being in the 170s and now I'm 8lbs away from that.... again.

On the other hand, my inches did go down and I know that that's more important than what my scale says. My chest, waist & thigh are down a 1/2 inch each. My hips are down 1.5 inches. So that's a loss straight across the board there. And they say that 2 inches in the hips is just about 1 adult's pant size. Who knows, maybe I'll be a 12... or even a 10 the next time I go to get new pants (I'm a 14 now). I can't imagine being a 10 again. That was my heaviest weight in high school.

I guess I've got to just keep on trucking and hope that the scale will reflect some kind of difference next week.

30DC: Get Moving - Day 9

2011-02-23T07:18:00.000-08:00

DAY 9 (2/22):
Hula Hoop: 7 minutes
Cardio (Squat & Punch with weights): 3-4 minutes
Weight Training: 2-3 minutes
Push-Ups (against the Wall): 20

I'm trying to vary my exercises each day (both the exercise themselves and the amount of time I spend doing them). When I do weight training, I do different movements every day so that my body doesn't get used to doing the same thing over and over again. I'm still not feeling the same burn I was last week. I'm thinking this means I need to do more each day, but I'm really trying not to overdo it, too, since I'm not taking any days off for these 30 days.

30DC: Get Moving - DAY 8

2011-02-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

DAY 8:
Walking: 1 hour (walked around the mall at a fairly quick pace)
Hula Hoop: 4 minutes
Squats: 40
Cardio (Punches): 3-4 minutes

Not too bad. I'm not feeling it as much today as I was yesterday, but I'm okay with that since I'm pretty exhausted today. I did notice that I'm starting to see some faint ab lines coming in near my waist - so that's definitely a plus! I still think the scale is going to be a little higher this week then last, but we'll see. I do know that my measurements have dropped a bit, though.

A 2 Year Old Monster - Part 1

2011-02-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

My Little Monster turned 2 on the 6th. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. It feels like only yesterday I was in the hospital rocking her to sleep. And you know, now that I think of it, she's been giving me trouble with her sleeping ever since before she was born. She was always waking me up at 3am... even in the womb. When we were in the hospital, she refused to sleep unless she was in my arms. The nurses yelled at me because I would sleep while holding her. Little did I know that that's how I would have to sleep for the next 2 years. She still wakes up at 3AM to crawl into bed with Mommy & Daddy.

M's birthday party was Minnie Mouse themed. I had a lot of fun decorating and preparing for it.

I made these cute little pennant banners and hung them up around our living room/hall way. They were made with some fabric scraps and ribbon. I made them very quickly at 1:00AM the night before the party, so the edges aren't finished, there are some wrinkles and the backs are not lined. BUT, they worked and were super cute.

This is, again, the night before the party. I moved our dining table to the living room and covered it in Zebra print fabric, then added some hot pink with white polka dot fabric as a runner. I loved it. I made the Mouse head wreath above the table, too. You can see her birthday dress hanging up, too.

Here's a close up of the table. Being near Valentine's day, I found a lot of pink candies to use. There were strawberry flavored candy corn, pink m&m's (both peanut and regular), strawberry marshmallow hearts, various hershey kisses (raspberry, chocolate & caramel, and cherry cordial). I also found Mickey Mouse themed sweet tarts and chocolates wrapped with this adorable pink classic Minnie & Mickey wrapper. The Mouse hands I found at Target. How cute are they?!

A closer close up of the table. I added some 'strands of pearls' to the table. I got those little scoopers at Walmart for the jars of candy, too. M & I made the 2 pictures in the frames. I cut out the pieces with scraps from her invitations and she glued them on. Very cute, right? The cake was my first attempt at fondant. My hands were dyed hot pink for days.

The cake was interesting to make. It was a strawberry cake with lemon icing and marshmallow fondant. Very tasty. I should've used a different cake mix though, or lined the fan with parchment paper (which sadly, I had already and forgot to use). The cake was kind of sticky, so it broke... a lot. I had to use the icing to glue it back together. hahaha. It was a mess. The fondant hid the mess very nicely though.

I don't have any pictures, apparently, but we also picked up this giant 3' Minnie Mouse balloon. It's still floating around in M's room. hahaha.

30DC: Get Moving - DAY 7

2011-02-20T16:43:00.000-08:00

DAY 7:
Walking: 4 hours (walked around the Outlets in Jackson, NJ - that place is HUGE)
Hula Hoop: 5 minutes
Weight Training: 1 minute
Lunges: 2 minutes

I have to say that I can definitely feel yesterday's 10 minutes of hooping. Don't get me wrong, I drop the hoop a lot and I only do about 2-3 minutes at a clip before taking a break, but I can definitely feel it in my abdomen. It's not quite the same feeling as you would get if you worked really hard and your muscles were sore, but there are muscles that I didn't even know I had worked out! I'm still getting used to how the hoop feels around my body - I got an adult sized one that just has a little purified water in it, but it takes forever for the hoop to go all the way around my body. Sometimes it feels really slow. I guess that's why some people do tricks while hooping.

I'm anticipating a weight gain this upcoming weigh in - I ate a lot of junk all weekend, I've been working out a lot more and it's just about that time of month. So I'll be very surprised if there isn't a gain this week (though I'm secretly hoping for a big loss).

30DC: Get Moving - DAYS 5 & 6

2011-02-19T19:25:00.000-08:00

DAY 5:
Squats: 35
Running in Place: 1 minute
Push-Ups (against a wall): 35
Hula Hoop: 2 minutes
Jump Rope: 1 minute

DAY 6:
Squats: 25
Running in Place: 1 minute
Jumping Jacks: 25
Push-Ups (against a wall): 20
Cardio (Punches): 50
Hula Hoop: 8 minutes around waist, 1 minute around each arm (10 minutes total)
Cardio (Stairs): 8 flights of 16 steps
Weight Training: 5 minutes

Chiquita Mom Giveaway Winners [5]

2011-02-18T16:06:00.000-08:00

And we have our winners!

#26: Susanmeep

#48: mommy2luke2008

#13: Stacy

#1: Creative Minds

#34: robynl

Congratulations everyone!

I've sent you an email asking for your address. If I don't get it by Monday, I'll need to select a new entrant in place of you.

30DC: Get Moving - Day 4

2011-02-18T05:31:00.000-08:00

DAY 4:
Yesterday was day 4 of my Get Moving challenge. I actually did really well. Not counting the 2 hours that the Little Monster and I spent at the park, I did get a lot of moving done.

Squats: 50
Running in Place: 1 minute
Jumping Jacks: 25
Push-Ups (against a wall): 15
Weight Training: 1 minute

And let me tell you, my thighs are definitely feeling it today!

Today is the last day of our Chiquita Mom kit giveaway. The 5 winners will be chosen this evening by random.org, so enter now!

Weekly Weigh In - Week 37

2011-02-17T04:55:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

184.7

This Week:
183.6

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:184.7

CURRENT WEIGHT: 183.6

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -1.1lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -29lbs

GOAL BY MARCH 31: 178

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
LAST MEASUREMENTS: 43 - 34 - 43 - 27
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 42.5 - 32 - 41.5 - 26
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 1.5 - 5.5 - 5 - 3

I already finished my March 3 goal!!! :)

I'm super excited that I've beat my March goal of 184lbs already. With 2 weeks to spare even! I've adjusted my March goal to be at 178 by March 31. That's 1 pound a week with a total of 6 weeks. Definitely do-able, even if I have a slouch week.

I think that I would've lost more this week, but I did the 3 days of weight training. So I do think that there is a little added muscle in there and I'm okay with that. It's also just about that time for me, which means extra bloat. We only had fast food 1 day this past week, too (instead of 2-3 days). All that considered, I'm surprised my weight wasn't higher this week.

Also, don't forget to check out our Chiquita Mom kit giveaway. There will be 5 winners!

30DC: Get Moving - DAYS 2 & 3

2011-02-16T15:10:00.000-08:00

I'm not doing too terribly. I don't feel any great strain in my arms or legs.... or any part of my body for that matter that feels like I've been working out hard, but I've been doing more than I usually do. So that's better than sitting on my fat ass, right?

DAY 2:
Weight Training (2lbs weights): 3 minutes

DAY 3:
Weight Training (2lbs weights): 3-4 minutes
Push Ups (against the wall): 20
Running (in place): 2 minutes

Not great. I feel like I should've done more. But at the same time, I don't want to burn out and since I want to do something every day rather than 4-5 days a week, it's not too shabby. Right?

Only 2 days left to enter our Chiquita Mom kit giveaway. There will be 5 winners!

30 Day Challenge: Get Moving - DAY 1

2011-02-14T10:38:00.000-08:00

I've been really sucking with my exercise for the last few weeks, so I've decided to give myself a new 30 day challenge. The challenge? Do some sort of exercise every single day for 30 days. Something that I don't normally do. Whether it's 20 jumping jacks or walking for 2 hours around the zoo. I want to do SOMETHING every day. I think this should help me get back on track.

Here's what I've done so far today:
Jumping Jacks: 50
Fake Jump Rope: 35
Crunches Focusing on Obliques: 20
Weight Lifting: 3-4 minutes

I haven't decided yet if I'm going to post my progress or just once a week. We'll see.
If anyone wants to join me, feel free!

What's for dinner this week?

2011-02-14T08:23:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to motivate myself to cook more often rather than picking up something a few times a week, I decided to come up with a meal plan. I really suck at meal plans because I can never decide what to cook when. And now that my hubby is working the late shift on Tuesdays & Thursdays (and the occasional Friday until 8pm), I have less of a motivation to cook (I hate cooking for myself, especially since M couldn't care less). The weekends will still be up for grabs, just in case we go out.

SO, here is my meal plan for this week (and I may switch the days around a bit)....

MONDAY (Valentine's Day): london broil marinated in fat free, zesty italian dressing cooked in the broiler; sauteed mushrooms; julienne potatoes; spinach sauteed with a little lemon juice and salt & pepper; maybe some steamed carrots

TUESDAY: fish sticks & steamed mixed veggies

WEDNESDAY: Turkey burgers baked in spaghetti sauce with italian cheeses served over spaghetti

THURSDAY: leftovers

FRIDAY: Pasta with vodka sauce; steamed veggies

Weekly Weigh In - Week 36

2011-02-10T04:54:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

187.4

This Week:
184.7

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:187.4

CURRENT WEIGHT: 184.7

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -2.7lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -27.9lbs

GOAL BY MARCH 3: 184

WOOHOO! Nearly 3lbs gone this week!!!

I'm super excited about this, especially since last week was a wash. I think it was because of all the running around I did last week. M's birthday party was Saturday, so Thursday & Friday were spent cleaning and doing last minute errands. Then Sunday was her 2nd birthday and we went to the Aquarium. That's really all the "working out" that I can think of that I did.

I ate poorly Sunday (sausage sandwich with peppers and onions on the boardwalk) and I even slipped a non-diet soda in there on Friday (the case fell and the can got a hole in it, so I chugged it since I don't like to waste anything), but the stress and the running around must have balanced it out. I've almost made my March goal already, so that may need some adjusting next week. :)

At any rate, I'm definitely pleased this week.

Also, don't forget to check out our Chiquita Mom kit giveaway. There will be 5 winners!

Wordless Wednesday - Chillaxin'

2011-02-09T10:40:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to enter our Chiquita Mom starter kit giveaway!

Ends 2/18/11

Weekly Weigh In - Week 35

2011-02-03T05:29:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

187.4

This Week:
187.4

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:188.6

CURRENT WEIGHT: 187.4

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: 0lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -25.2lbs

GOAL BY MARCH 3: 184

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
LAST MEASUREMENTS: 43 - 34 - 43 - 27
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 43 - 32 - 42 - 26
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 1 - 5.5 - 4.5 - 3

I did well at the beginning of the week, but slacked off a bit the last few days. At least there was no gain! M's birthday party is on Saturday, so there will be some eating there.

Does anyone have any recommendations as an alternative to linky? They're disabling all of their free accounts on the 7th and opting to only keep the paid accounts.

Also, don't forget to check out our Chiquita Mom kit giveaway. There will be 5 winners!

Wordless Wednesday - Shoveling

2011-02-02T14:23:00.000-08:00

Are you a Chiquita Mom? + {GIVEAWAY} [CLOSED]

2011-02-01T09:39:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you guys, but I've loved bananas ever since I was little. Don't get me wrong, I loved most fruits, but there will always be a special place in my heart for bananas. And I really wasn't surprised when it turned out the one of M's favorite fruits were bananas, too.

So when Chiquita reached out to me a few weeks ago and asked me if I was interested in being a Chiquita Mom, I didn't hesitate to say yes. They immediately sent me out a Chiquita Mom kit and I have to tell you, I loved it. The kit came with a toddler bowl, cup and silverware set, some yummy banana recipes (what banana recipes aren't yummy??), a reusable grocery bag, freezer bags for my bananas, coupons and more. They sent me a little informational brochure, too, and you'll be surprised how many things you'll learn.

M & I set out to make some Banana Socials right away and we loved them! It was the perfect combination of banana, honey, crunch and cinnamon. You can find the Banana Socials recipe on the Chiquita website.

Do you want to be a Chiquita Mom?

Chiquita is offering 5 of you the chance to win your own Chiquita Mom kit!

Giveaway Ends: February 18th, 2011

Please leave a way to contact you in your comments!

Leave 1 comment per entry please.

Ways To Enter:

Enter as many or as few ways as you'd like!

1. Follow my blog [1 entry]

2. Follow me on Facebook - leave your facebook name [1 entry]

3. Tweet about this giveaway & leave the link in your comment [1 entry per day]

4. Blog about this giveaway & leave the link in your comment [2 entries]

5. Tell me what your favorite Chiquita Banana recipe is or which one you'd like to try [1 entry]

Note: I received a Chiquita Mom kit to check out before offering them to you guys. I was not required to do a review. All opinions are my own.

Worst Stomach Bug EVER

2011-01-29T11:05:00.000-08:00

Remember that time back in October/November when I was sick for like 3 weeks? I would take that again any day over what Jesse and I have now.

Silly us, we decided to order pizza last night. M was the lucky one when she refused to eat. I wish I had taken a page from her book because J and I have the worst food poisoning known to man.

TMI Warning: I've been up since 1:00am with liquids coming out of every orifice on my body (with the exception of my ears) every 15-30 minutes. M and Jesse woke up at 5:00 and while M isn't sick, she still wanted to sit on my lap while I was sitting on the bathroom floor (or come into the bathtub when I gave up and just laid in there in child's position [yoga pose for those who don't know]).

Jesse seemed better than me for a while, but not anymore. Now we're about the same. If I take 1 sip of liquid (water, juice, broth or otherwise), 10 tons of liquid come back up. The only things I've been able to keep down (and it's only been 3 hours) is one of those DelMonte freezer cups (raspberry) and a freezer pop.

What I wouldn't give for some gatorade and ginger ale right now. I need to remember to keep some in the house just in case. I even gave in and tried having some orange flavored pedialyte, but that stuff is absolutely disgusting.

But apparently I've lost 3lbs so far today. Even if it wasn't the way that I wanted to lose weight. And I'm sure it'll all go right back on once I'm able to drink liquids and eat again.

M is so cute today, though, and I feel really bad. She's not sick at all, but she keeps coming into our bed saying "Mommy sick. Daddy sick." and then she rubs our arms or our backs. How cute is that? She's been so good, too. She's just been playing in her room and watching movies all day. I am very grateful for having an independent little girl who can entertain herself all day. She did ask me to read her a book, but after I read it, she read it to me.

Angel.

Dis an angel.

Dis a heart.

A baby.

A star. A heart. A ball.

Happy.

The end.

Mommy's turn!

My turn!

And then she'd start again. It was a Precious Moments 'My Angel' book that I picked up one day from Target for $1. How cute is that?

Weekly Weigh In - Week 34

2011-01-27T04:36:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

188.6

This Week:
187.4

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:188.6

CURRENT WEIGHT: 187.4

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -1.2lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -25.2lbs

GOAL BY FEBRUARY 3: 185

I'm actually very surprised this week. I was giving myself a break because it's been really stressful around here and come to find out I lost 1.2lbs, as wells as 2 inches around my traditional waist and 1 inch each around my thigh and hips. Don't ask me how I did it though because I have no freaking idea. I ate crap (think Chili's, McDonald's, Subway, Burger King and lots of birthday cake) and I didn't exercise. I'm wondering if the amoxicillin that I was taking had anything to do with it, but I ended that very early in the week. I'm not even running around nearly as much anymore because we got a second car last week. I guess I'll chalk it up to stress?

I did, however, start taking a multi-vitamin every day. That really has nothing to do with my weight loss, but I'm trying to boost my immune system and just be healthier in general. I have a feeling I'm not going to make my February 3rd goal of 185. I don't think I'll be able to lose 2.4lbs in a week. But I'll try and see what it gets me.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 33 (I suck today, sorry)

2011-01-20T14:33:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

188.1

This Week:
[NO PICTURE]
188.6

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:188.1

CURRENT WEIGHT: 188.6

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +.5lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -24lbs

GOAL BY FEBRUARY 3: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 43 - 34 - 43 - 27
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 1 - 3.5 - 3.5 - 2

I really suck today, I'm sorry (Thanks Marissa for posting up the linky!). We were swamped at work before I even walked in. This week has been crazy. I'm finally feeling better, though the amoxicillin makes me really hungry all the time. Luckily tomorrow is the last day I need to take it. Last weekend was bad, too. I had a friend up for the weekend and we ate... a lot. haha. So, all in all, I think a .5 gain actually isn't that bad. Now I just need to kick it into overdrive to lose that last 3lbs for my February goal. :) I did, however, lose an inch in my thighs this week, so that's a plus!

"Ice" Day

2011-01-18T10:47:00.000-08:00

It was really icy this morning, so I kept M home with me for the day - ice makes me nervous ever since I spun out a few years ago when I hit a patch of black ice.

Anyway, I heard a big crash in my bedroom and went to check it out. Turns out the monster got into my makeup and decided to give herself a makeover.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 32

2011-01-13T07:20:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

[No Picture]
189.6

This Week:

188.1

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:189.6

CURRENT WEIGHT: 188.1

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -1.5lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -24.5lbs

GOAL BY FEBRUARY 3: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 43 - 34 - 43 - 28
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 1 - 3.5 - 3.5 - 1

I was preparing myself for a serious gain this week. I expected a gain. My cold last week turned out to be a severe allergic reaction... which led to an upper respiratory infection and ear infection. The doctor put me on a steady regiment of an inhaler, mucinex, antibiotics, saline drops, salt water gargle and ibuprofen. Needless to say, I've been busy trying to get better. I still have a lot of pressure in my ears, my throat is still sore and I still have a terrible cough and a hard time breathing. All of this plus the medications have been making me extremely hungry this week. So hungry that I need to either eat or cry. I chose eat. Not only that, but because the antibiotics neutralize birth control pills, I decided to switch my cycle this month. Which means extra cravings. Well lo-and-behold, I've lost a pound and a half. I guess I haven't been eating as much as I thought I have. haha.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 31

2011-01-06T07:24:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

190.9

This Week:
[No Picture]
188.6

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:190.9

CURRENT WEIGHT: 189.6

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -2.3lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -23lbs

GOAL BY FEBRUARY 3: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (chest, waist, hips, thigh)
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 43 - 34 - 43 - 28
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 1 - 3.5 - 3.5 - 1

I didn't hit my January goal, but I did lose weight this week, so I'm proud of that. If you missed my last post, I dropped 2 pants sizes, so I'm really happy about that, too. I think a 2lbs loss is a great way to start the New Year. I have a respiratory infection this week (have had it since Sunday), so there was very little exercise (though I did get a few work outs in). Hopefully this bug will go away soon because it's draining all of my energy. Even though I didn't work out, I did eat smaller portions and tried to stay away from heavy foods. I think that this contributed greatly to my loss this week.

I've adjusted my monthly goal and would like to be somewhere in the 185 range by February 3rd. The 6th is M's birthday, so I'd like to lose a few more pounds before seeing all of our family & friends again. Wish me luck!bbbb

One of the best feelings ever...

2010-12-31T16:39:00.000-08:00

I love when I go to the store to buy new jeans and find out that I've dropped a size... This time it's even better because I dropped TWO sizes. This is why I keep dieting. This is why I should exercise. I took my measurements today, too. I've lost way more inches than I thought I did.

STARTING MEASUREMENTS: 44 - 37.5 - 46.5 - 29 (the fourth measurement is thigh)
CURRENT MEASUREMENTS: 43 - 34 - 43 - 28
MEASUREMENT LOSS TO DATE: 1 - 3.5 - 3.5 - 1

LOVE IT. I still have a lot of work to go, but I definitely feel much better now that I know I'm down 2 sizes and now fit into a size I can find at MOST stores.

I'm hoping that this will motivate me to keep going. We have a gym in our complex. I wish I could find the motivation to go use the treadmill over there.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 30

2010-12-30T05:01:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

190.9

This Week:
[No Weight This Week]

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:190.0

CURRENT WEIGHT: 190.9

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +-0lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -20.7lbs

GOAL BY JANUARY 6: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

I'm not even going to check my weight today. I know that I ate too much and exercised too little. I had 4 glasses of wine on Christmas Eve, which isn't a LOT, but it's a lot of calories (4 glasses = 1 whole bottle = around 500 calories; that's a whole meal!). I don't think I overate, but I did eat a lot. It was the holidays though, so I'm accepting it.

On the upside, I did start doing some yoga on Tuesday (about 20 minutes broken up throughout the day) and some more yesterday (about 15 minutes). I'm really feeling it in my stomach/abs today, but it feels good. My fat jeans ripped this week, too. Right near the crotch. AWESOME. I was really hoping to not have to buy new jeans yet (they're my only pair), but they did have a good ride. Just about 2 years now. That's actually really good for Target jeans, haha. You want to know a secret, too? I think I might be able to squeeze into a size smaller now. I'm really hoping. Cross your fingers while I go out jeans shopping today!

What are your weight loss resolutions for 2011?

My goal for 2011 is to finally lose the rest of this baby weight. My average is about 20-25lbs in 6 months, which makes 40-50lbs in a year. If I can lose that, then I'd be back around my pre-pregnancy weight. Then I'd just have another 20lbs to go to get to my target weight (125), but that's 2012's goal. For 2011, I am focusing on that baby weight!

Wordless Wednesday - A Video

2010-12-29T05:57:00.000-08:00

She was doing this dance that I wanted to get on video, which obviously means I didn't get it on video, but I did catch her spanking her own butt!

Our Christmas - Happy Belated Holidays

2010-12-28T17:36:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday! Ours were kind of all over the place this year... Jesse's grandmother passed away on the 23rd. She was diagnosed 2 weeks ago with stage 4 liver and pancreatic cancer, plus a blood clot in her heart. She refused any other tests. This is the third year in a row that one of his family member's passed away right before one of the fall holidays (his grandmother right before Christmas this year, his Uncle right before Thanksgiving last year and his dad right before Thanksgiving the year before that). They say bad things come in threes, so I'm hoping 2011 will be a better year.

Playing with her new Singamajig

Christmas Eve, M & I went to my Aunt's. It was good. I got to see some family that I haven't seen in a while and M loves playing over there. She got some great new things, too. I think with her Christmas money, we're going to try to get tickets to go see the Imagination Movers in NYC in May.

She LOVES her slide. She kept sliding all her new toys down it. I'm glad we got this for her. I love that it folds up so I can put it away if I want to, too.

On Christmas, we headed up to Jesse's mom's. It was a good day. M loved opening all of her gifts and she kept saying "HO HO COME! HO HO COME!" Ho Ho is Santa, in case you couldn't figure it out. ;)

She kept "knocking" on the box of her new dollhouse and saying "KNOCK KNOCK"

I'm working from home this week since her school is closed. It's rough because she's got a bit of cabin fever, but there's no way I'm taking her outside with all the snow we've gotten recently. Jesse has the car all week, too, so we can't go out anywhere once I'm done either. It's a little rough. I'll be glad once things start getting back to normal.

I hope you guys had a wonderful holiday!

Weekly Weigh In - Week 29

2010-12-23T03:22:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

189.4

This Week:

190.9

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:189.4

CURRENT WEIGHT: 190.9

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +1.5lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -20.7lbs

GOAL BY JANUARY 6: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

At least I know why I had the gain this week. No exercise, plus Christmas baking and a company holiday party. I wish I had exercised a bit more, but at least the gain wasn't as bad as I anticipated either. Next week is going to be rough. I'm going to try to get a little extra exercise in (as if running around the state to visit family isn't enough?). I'm going to cross my fingers that next week isn't too bad.

Happy holidays everyone!

Mini Quiche + Super Easy Recipe

2010-12-22T14:26:00.000-08:00

Last night I was stumped for what to make for dinner. After baking all week, I was pretty much cooked out and wanted something easy to make. That's when I decided these mini quiches would be perfect and they turned out delicious!

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup bisquick

3 large eggs

1 cup grated cheese

1 1/4 c milk

salt and pepper to taste

any desired mix ins (ie - broccoli, bacon, spinach, sausage, etc - make sure to pre-cook!)

1. Preheat oven to 375. Pre-cook your mix in (I used steamed broccoli). In a large bowl, mix all ingredients with a whisk or fork.

2. Spoon into greased muffin or cupcake tin (makes about 12 cupcake sized quiches). Bake for 15-17 minutes.

3. Let cool for 2 minutes. Enjoy!

The best part about these is that you can mix up your batter, cover it and refrigerate it overnight! Then it's all ready for you to bake the next morning - PERFECT for early Christmas mornings. :) These would also make great hors d'oeuvres at a party.

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Cards

2010-12-22T05:41:00.000-08:00

Writing Christmas cards is one of my favorite things to do at this time of year (mailing them in another story). Apparently M enjoys 'writing' hers, too!

Heartbroken

2010-12-18T13:37:00.000-08:00

We took M to get her picture with Santa today - spent $42. The package came with pictures, a cd, 2 passes to the children's museum and $20 for shutterfly. SURPRISE, we lost them.

I've looked everywhere. The car. The stroller. Our bags. I even called Guest Services at the mall. My pictures are gone. :(

I'm so heartbroken over this.

Do you label your kid's things?

2010-12-17T09:51:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you guys, but I have to label EVERYTHING for M. At least, everything that gets sent to school with her. I made the the mistake once of sending her spare clothes to school without labeling them and her teacher wrote her name in sharpie on the collar. Um, sharpie on the collar, really? That doesn't come off! What if I wanted to re-use that item for another kid down the line? Lame.

The solution? I went ahead and ordered myself some labels from Applied Labels. These are great for all of her little dishes and whatnot because they are dishwasher and laundry safe. Perfect! I've already washed her dishes and toys with the labels on them a million times and they labels still look brand new. It's fantastic.

I was a little disappointed, however, because if you're trying to label clothing or shoes, you can't just stick the label on. For clothes, you're supposed to use the blank backer and then the label and for the shoes, you're supposed to use the label and a shoe shield. There were no instructions included on the best way to do this, so you kind of have to guess.

I used one of the shoe shields on the tag of M's Minnie mouse doll, just to see what it looked like. The shoe shield is a little larger than the label, so that's good, but you'll notice that dirt traps under the clear label around the edges. And that's on a toy, so I wouldn't want to see what it'd look like in a shoe. Gross.

All in all, I think the labels are great for things like dishes and toys, but not so much for clothing. Also, there are only a few simple choices, so if you're looking for something colorful and different, you're out of luck. These are very basic, simple labels.

Don't forget to check out Applied Label's twitter, too!

Note: I received a pack of labels, fabric backers and shoe shields for free in order to do this review. This did not influence my opinion in any way.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 28

2010-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

188.7

This Week:

189.4

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:188.7

CURRENT WEIGHT: 189.4

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +0.7lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -22.2lbs

GOAL BY JANUARY 6: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

I'm a little disappointed this week with the gain. I know, I know, it's probably just water weight, but even still it's discouraging to see the scale go to up instead of down. I did keep track of my calories this week, but it's been so cold that I haven't been in much of an exercising mood. I wish I had the motivation and drive to exercise every day.

What is your exercise motivator in the winter?

Wordless Wednesday - RAWR

2010-12-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

Weekly Weigh In - Week 27

2010-12-09T06:54:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. Become a follower of My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:
[NO PICTURE]

190.9

This Week:

188.7

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:190.9

CURRENT WEIGHT: 188.7

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -2.2lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -22.9lbs

GOAL BY JANUARY 6: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

There we go! I kicked the scale and it started heading in the right direction this time. :) Just kidding, haha. Seriously though, I watched my calories this week and it seems to have paid off. Still no exercise, but at least I'm getting back to eating right.

My goal for this week is to start getting some exercise back into my routine.

What is your goal for this week?

Wordless Wednesday - Playing with the Cat

2010-12-08T17:25:00.000-08:00

Twas the month before Christmas....

2010-12-08T09:05:00.000-08:00

I read this poem over at Scale Junkie today and I had to share it. How cute is it?!

Twas the month before Christmas

A Little Holiday Season Poem
by Scale Junkie

Twas the month before Christmas when up on the scale
I saw a number that made me turn pale
I looked back to the past, to the beginning of the year
and wondered out loud, “how the hell did I get here?”

I could have just waited until the first of the year
But that would only increase the size of my rear
Instead of sleeping late, curled up in my bed
I’ll put on my sweat pants, healthy mantras in my head

I’ll head out the door at dawns first light
To Sadie and Max these walks are a delight
We’ll walk around the block and even try to jog
It helps when your walking buddy is not one but two dogs

I’ll fight with courage and determination
To rid my body of this abomination
I’ll work my ass off and I’ll eat right
I won’t give up til I win this fight

I’ll head to the store to chose healthy dishes
I’ll grill up veggies, lean meat and fishes
My body will be happy and start to look lean
Join my adventure, you’ll see what I mean.

When I go to parties, I’ll make a plan
To the food pushers, I’ll make a stand
I’ll spend the night munching on crudités
So I won’t feel guilty at all the next day

I’ll be mindful of portions and their sizes
I walk, I’ll lift and try new exercises
And when the first of the year does arrive
I’ll smile with delight wearing a smaller size

~~The end~~
The Beginning!

Our Christmas Notecards

2010-12-07T14:05:00.000-08:00

Right before Thanksgiving, we went ahead and took M to get her Christmas portraits done. We also decided that it'd be a good chance to get our first family portraits taken. Don't you know it, she refused to nap that day! So, of course, she was incredibly cranky and cried almost the entire time. We did manage to get a few decent shots, though, so it wasn't a total waste.

Recently, I ordered and received some custom Christmas notecards from Tiny Prints. I thought these would be good for those long distance family members so that I could give them a little update. I've never ordered from Tiny Prints before, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. But I have to tell you, I was very impressed!

I had a little difficulty picking out a card that worked with my photos (they were a little too small for most of the templates), but Tiny Prints was kind enough to tell me when something wouldn't work out nicely. I finally found a template that worked and that I liked (there were MANY options) and placed my order.

Not only did Tiny Prints email me a copy of my proof to approve of before finalizing the order (LOVED this feature), but they also sent me a follow up email when my order went through and when it was shipped. And can I tell you - their "standard" shipping was definitely not standard. I received my cards in 2 days! No long processing time. No long shipping time. LOVE.

The cards came in a nice, strong box, so there was very little chance of outside damage, and the cards themselves were packaged tightly so that even if they slid in the box, they wouldn't rip or dent. To be honest, the cards looked great. I think the only way I would've liked them more is if they had a semi-gloss finish (but I knew they wouldn't up front, so this wasn't a surprise nor did I expect them to be glossy).

I highly suggest checking out Tiny Prints for your card needs! And don't forget to check out their special offers page for a discount code! I can't wait to send out my cards this year.

Note: I received a $50 credit for Tiny Prints in order to purchase my Christmas notecards and to review them. This has not impacted my opinion of my experience or of my cards in any way.

I'm so sad

2010-12-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

Jesse called me today right when he left work for lunch to tell me that someone rear ended him.

Can I tell you guys how sad I am about this? My car is only a 2009. It was my first NEW car. And now it's rear bumper is hanging off. :(

The girl was only around 17 or 18 and called her dad as soon as she hit him.

We lucked out because it's just the bumper and a few scraps on the side when the bumper moved. The lights are ok.

No serious injuries to either party, but Jesse mentioned his lower back is sore. Unfortunately, we can't do anything until we pick up the police report next week. :(

I'd like to go cry now, if you don't mind.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 26

2010-12-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight. (a picture is recommend NOT required)

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. # Become a follower of Marvelous Mommy and My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

189.6

This Week:
[NO PICTURE]
190.9

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:189.6

CURRENT WEIGHT: 190.9

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +1.3lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -20.7lbs

GOAL BY JANUARY 6: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

Well, I expected a gain this week after the holidays. And honestly, a 1.3lbs isn't terrible considering we had 2 big family dinners plus my birthday last week. Not bad at all.

I didn't make my goal for this month - I missed it by about 5lbs. I am a little disappointed about this. Here's hoping December is better for weight loss!

Cradle Rock Winner!

2010-12-01T06:09:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday! We're trying to get back in the groove over here now that J started a new job on Monday (more details on that later).

ANYWAY, here are our Cradle Rock giveaway results!

Who was number 3??

Woohoo! Congratulations, Lindsey! You should be getting an email from me soon!

Black Friday Weekend

2010-11-25T17:53:00.000-08:00

Black Friday is here! I hope everyone's Thanksgiving went well!

Here are the sales for My Little Apricot this weekend:

+ Receive 20% off all purchases by using code: BFWKND2010

+ All 4 piece sets will get an additional 2 pieces for no extra charge!

+ Buy 3 four piece sets (cupcakes, snowflakes, etc) and receive an additional one FREE

Mix & match is OKAY!

+ Spend $50 or more and receive $2 shipping (refunded through paypal)

+ Spend $100 or more and receive FREE shipping

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T04:35:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone who celebrates has a great Thanksgiving! What are you guys baking today?? I made some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin creme pie. YUM.

And don't forget to come stop by our shop and use our Thanksgiving code (TURKEYDAY1010) for an additional 10% off!

Here's a sample of some of our newest listings.

Set of 4 Va-Va-Vroom Washcloths

Oh So Cute Popsicle Washcloth Pattern

Set of 15 Variegated Christmas Flowers (Ready to Ship)

Garden Party Knot Dress

Weekly Weigh In - Week 25

2010-11-24T05:17:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight. (a picture is recommend NOT required)

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. # Become a follower of Marvelous Mommy and My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

186.7

This Week:

189.6

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:186.7

CURRENT WEIGHT: 189.6

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +2.9lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -22lbs

GOAL BY DECEMBER 2: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

I'm actually a little disappointed this week. I was really feeling like I would've had another loss. I ate right, I exercised, I drank water. I guess I shouldn't be totally surprised, though, 2.9 lbs isn't a LOT and we did walk around the mall for 6 hours on Sunday while we waited for our car to get new tires & an oil change. It is that time of month, too. So I guess the 2.9 could be chalked up to muscle gain from the walking and water gain from being bloated.

Hopefully I'll see a loss next week.

Happy [Early] Birthday to Me

2010-11-22T12:08:00.000-08:00

In honor of my birthday tomorrow, I'm offering 5% off all items in my shop from now until 11/24 (then be on the look out for our Thanksgiving weekend sales)!

Simply enter the code HAPPYBDAY052010 while checking out on Etsy and your discount will be applied automatically.

Please be aware, that this coupon code is only good in my shop and will not work for any other Etsy stores. I will also accept 5% off of custom orders, so let me know if you're interested!

I love Christmas....

2010-11-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

But I love Thanksgiving, too, and it makes me so sad that Thanksgiving gets tossed aside for Christmas. It may be because my birthday is November 23 (2 days left until I'm a quarter of a century old), so it's always Thanksgiving time around me birthday, but I feel like Thanksgiving is getting the short end of the stick.

Lately I've been seeing all of these people talking about putting their tree up this weekend, but Thanksgiving isn't even over yet! We haven't even gotten close. I have no qualms with putting up the tree Thanksgiving weekend, but come on, before turkey day?

~~It makes me feel like my birthday is being skipped, too. :(~~

I can't be the only one who feels like Thanksgiving is getting shafted, can I?

Thanksgiving comes first!!!!

Weekly Weigh In - Week 24

2010-11-18T06:15:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight. (a picture is recommend NOT required)

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. # Become a follower of Marvelous Mommy and My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

191.1

This Week:

186.7

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:191.1

CURRENT WEIGHT: 186.7

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -4.4lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -24.9lbs

GOAL BY DECEMBER 2: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

Woohoo! Another good week. I love good weeks. I'm actually really surprised about this week's loss. I was expecting another gain this week because I've still had the munchies pretty badly, but I guess I chose better snacks this week (though I'm sure the cheesecake & brownies didn't help my cause).

Anyway, a loss is a loss! :)

It's confirmed, next week we will be weighing in on Wednesday due to the holiday!

Fall Harvest & Thanksgiving Party Games

2010-11-16T06:02:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to do a review for Python Printable Games on their Halloween party games. If you missed that post, please check it out here.

I liked the Halloween games so much that I was glad to check out their printable Thanksgiving Party Games pack. The Thanksgiving pack has over 30 printables, which is a little smaller than the Halloween pack, but still great. I also noticed that a good handful of the Thanksgiving pack were duplicates from the Halloween one. I think that if I had paid for these 2 packs separately, I would've been upset about this - especially since the pack costs $19.95. If I'm going to pay that much for the Fall Harvest set, I'd better be getting something completely new.

All in all, I still liked the printables and M still enjoyed coloring the pictures!

Note: I received Python's Printable Fall Harvest Games Pack for free in order to do this review.

[Product review & giveaway disclosure: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."]

I want to love you....

2010-11-13T09:27:00.000-08:00

I recently got my hands on some cds from Cradle Rock and I have to tell you, I love these! When M is stressed out or crying, the fastest way to cheer her up is to play some music that she likes and these definitely did the trick today on our way to Target. I popped in our Thrillaby disc filled with Michael Jackson songs and we were on our way.

There are no words on these cds, the iconic songs have been turned into lullabies, but even with the different instruments, you can still clearly tell which song is which. I have to tell you, P.Y.T. is still my favorite Michael Jackson song, even in lullaby form. I love the artwork on the album covers, too.

In the cradle rock series, soothing sounds from instruments such as the vibraphone, glockenspiel and mellotron are used to create the lullabies. It's actually really cool sounding.

Cradle Rock currently has 3 cds available - Thrillaby (Michael Jackson), No Shoes, No Diaper... Might be a Problem (Kenny Chesney) and I Crawl the Line (Johnny Cash). Soon, however, they will be releasing cds featuring the Eagles, Black Eyed Peas, U2, Carrie Underwood & Pink Floyd. You can hear clips of the songs from their current albums on their website. I also suggest checking out their Facebook page & Twitter.

Cradle Rock is distributed by The Warner Music Group and available on digital distribution services like iTunes ($9.99) and at music retail outlets across the United States ($11.98).

WIN IT!

Tree Top Records is giving My Little Apricot readers the chance to win their choice of Cradle Rock cd.

How to Enter: Follow My Little Apricot via Google Friend Connect and leave a comment! (Make sure to include your email address so that we can contact you if you win)

That's it! Giveaway will end November 24th, 2010 and the winner will be selected via random.org.

Keeping it Real: I received all 3 Cradle Rock cds for free in order to do this review. Tree Top Records will be sending the winner their prize directly.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 23

2010-11-11T05:47:00.000-08:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight. (a picture is recommend NOT required)

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. # Become a follower of Marvelous Mommy and My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

189.6

This Week:

191.1

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:189.6

CURRENT WEIGHT: 191.1

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: +1.5lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -20.5lbs

GOAL BY DECEMBER 2: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

I knew I was going to have a gain this week. We finally got that bug out of our house as of Monday and I binged. I ate everything and anything that I wanted to and I craved a lot... mostly from not eating at all while being sick. On top of that, I haven't been exercising since I couldn't get out of bed and now we've been busy trying to clean house.

Honestly, I'm okay with gaining the 1.5lbs. I lost a lot in the last few weeks, so a 1.5 gain won't kill me.

We'll let you guys know definitively by next week, but I sent Amy an email this morning asking for her opinion about Thanksgiving week. I know we're going out of town for the day, so I asked her how she'd feel if we way in a day early that week. At any rate, we'll let you know by next Thursday what's going on!

What makes you happy?

2010-11-08T18:51:00.000-08:00

When I was in Middle School, I discovered my fondness for mailing lists. Maybe you remember them? You subscribed and you got an email every so often on whatever topic the mailing list was about? Or maybe you don't remember. Maybe it was just me and my geeky friends. haha. Anyway, I had a couple mailing lists that I ran... one on Harry Potter, one on dolls (you at least remember those graphic dolls, right?), one on Hanson (I KNOW, DON'T LAUGH AT ME!) and a couple others. I LOVED writing these newsletters up and sending them out. It gave me an escape from my home life, I guess.

"Dolls", in case you've never seen them. ;)

Shortly after my mailing list venture, I found message boards/forums. I made some great online friends (some I even ended up meeting in real life)! But this was also the time when I discovered my love of web and graphic design. I did some freelance here and there, but I knew if I tried to study it in college, I'd wind up hating it. I wound up doing some legit web design for my boyfriend at the time's band, too. It was actually a really cool site and wish I had some samples from it. Eventually, I fell out of touch with my creative side and dove into my studies.

So when my friend Viv over at Creative Minds mentioned a few weeks ago that she needed a new blog layout, I jumped at the chance! What else is there to do when you're sick in bed anyway?

If you'd like to take a look, feel free to stop over and say 'hi' to Viv. She's got a great blog and 2 adorable sons! And yes, I do have a new layout in the works for My Little Apricot. ;)

What hobby makes you happy?

Weekly Weigh In - Week 22

2010-11-04T07:09:00.000-07:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight. (a picture is recommend NOT required)

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. # Become a follower of Marvelous Mommy and My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

192.2

This Week:

[crappy picture, sorry]
189.6

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:192.2

CURRENT WEIGHT: 189.6

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -2.6lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -22lbs

GOAL BY DECEMBER 2: 185

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

WOOHOO! I made my November 18th goal (even though I already lowered it) AND have now lost a total of over 20lbs. I'm totally excited about this. And it's the first month that I've surpassed my goal once (let alone twice). I guess being sick really helps out.

I've adjusted my goal to be 185 by December 2nd. I gave myself a little break here for Thanksgiving, but I'd still like to lose about 5lbs by the week after.

Christmas Cards?

2010-11-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

Sending out Christmas cards with pictures of the kids on them has been a tradition in my family since before I can remember. And those without kids sent pictures of their pets.

Last year, we didn't have a chance to send out an actual photo card, but we did send out regular cards with Christmas photos included. The photographer though M should be a model. What do you think?

Yes, at 10 months old, she was still my little toothless beauty. Looking back at these pictures, I still can't believe how big she's gotten! She had just started walking, so every time that we tried to get her to sit, she'd take off. It was hilarious. The photographer loved her though and she got to sit with Santa in the lobby while we waited for the pictures to be printed.

She kept throwing "the ball"

This one is one of my favorites. We didn't pose her or try to get her to do this at all!

This year, I can't wait to get M's Christmas photos done and we are definitely getting photo cards done. I'm really excited about it and think I'll be trying to take her next week (which means Christmas outfit shopping needs to get done this weekend!).

The one thing that always turns me off when trying to decide on photo cards is the price. We take M to the Picture People for her portraits and the cards are so pricey! I love their work, but come on. And they always bring out the framed prints to show you as samples. You know what they do with those, right? They toss them. Sure, there is no sitting fee, but don't waste the pictures like that.

Jesse & I have been exploring our options this time around and have decided that we'll be getting some of our Christmas cards from Shutterfly. I had M's birth announcements printed via Shutterfly and loved the quality.

Not only does Shutterfly have a great selection of cards (you can choose from holiday invitations to religious Christmas cards and even Christmas gift tags!), but there are tons for under $1 a piece. I've been browsing their selection all morning and I think I'm going to have difficulty choosing which one(s) I want to go with!

These are some of my favorites so far:

French Vintage

Retro Chic

Candy Boxes

How will you guys be doing your cards this year? Do you include letters to keep your long distance family up to date with your lives? I think I will be this year.

NOTE: I will be receiving 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly for letting you know about their cards. I was not compensated in any other way for this post. And I really do think Shutterfly's quality is really good and the prices are fair. We had M's birth announcements done through Shutterfly. If you're a blogger and want 50 free cards all you have to do is apply.

Finally

2010-11-03T05:57:00.000-07:00

I'm finally starting to feel like my old self again. I'm not having hot and cold flashes. My back isn't throbbing in pain. And I'm not passed out on the floor of my bathtub. I do, however, still have this pain under my left rib - like my rib cage is shattered in a million pieces. I'm told this is normal for the virus we had.

Just wanted to let you guys know that we're still alive and I didn't forget about you.

We also have a new sponsor, so please go check them out!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T15:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

I hope yours is better than ours! I had a really bad stomach flu Friday night. And SURPRISE, M woke up with the stomach bug at 1:00am this morning (yes, I've now been awake for 16+ hours and don't think I'll be getting much sleep tonight either) and she's been sick every hour or two. Around noon, hubby came down with the flu. So, we're officially out of towels, sheets & blankets.

And don't worry, I did talk to the pediatrician. She said I'm doing well (this is the first time M has ever been REALLY sick). We're on a regiment of pedialyte only every 30 minutes. She can only keep it down for an hour or two, but the doctor says that's okay since her diapers are still wet fairly regularly. It means she's at least absorbing something. They said if she gets worse or is still this bad in the morning to bring her in for an appointment, but otherwise, I'm doing a good job.

Anyone have a surefire home cure for vomiting? We've tried various types of flat soda, some dry foods (and olives because that's what she wanted and my 'home cure' book said to give her whatever she asks for). No luck!

Mommy Madness Friday

2010-10-28T18:32:00.000-07:00

This week over at Mommy Madness, we're supposed to post a picture of us in a true moment of madness. I'm usually the photographer, so it was a little difficult for me to find a good one of the two of us.

So here is me & M when she was 3 months old.

See the spit up coming from her mouth?? Yeah, she did that for every picture I tried to take of us.

But for a really good one, here is M this month. I walked into my bedroom and found this:

In case you can't tell, it's sunscreen. She climbed up on my desk, grabbed the bottle and went to town. She kept rubbing it in saying "good girl, good girl". That's my fault. When she had a scar on her cheek back in the spring, I would rub in her mederma and say "Good girl". Ahh, toddlers. And yes, I had to clean it up off the floor, too.

Weekly Weigh In - Week 21

2010-10-28T05:07:00.000-07:00

How Do I Participate:

1. Write a Blog Post. Somewhere in it you MUST post the 'Weekly Weigh-In' Button and your weight. (a picture is recommend NOT required)

2. Link up using the McLinky below (Please link to your actual Weekly Weigh-In post, NOT your main blog page)

3. # Become a follower of Marvelous Mommy and My Little Apricot with GFC!

**No nasty comments! This is a fun support group of women (and men) on a weight-loss journey! Any haters will be removed from the linky and will not be allowed to participate in the future!

Last Week:

[NO PICTURE]
198.4

This Week:

192.2

STARTING WEIGHT: 211.6

LAST WEEK'S WEIGHT:198.4

CURRENT WEIGHT: 192.2

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN FROM LAST WEEK: -6.2lbs

TOTAL LOSS/GAIN TO DATE: -19.4lbs

GOAL BY NOVEMBER 18: 190

LONG TERM GOAL: 145

I kicked some serious butt this week! I think it's my best loss to date. I'm not really sure how, but that's okay. I counted my calories in my log and made sure not to go over MOST days (have to cut myself a break sometimes).

We've switched to Boca meat instead of ground beef, so that's probably helping and I also went for 2 walks this week.

Sunday, I did 4 laps around the track at the local high school while carrying M (she didn't want to walk or sit in her stroller). So that's like walking and carrying 28lbs weights. haha. Then we went for a 40 minute walk around the park yesterday (M & I), which is all uphill coming back.

Circle Skirt + Tutorial

2010-10-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

I was recently inspired by Dana over at Made. If you've never visited Made, you need to go there yesterday. Dana makes some of the cutest stuff and always has awesome tutorials and patterns (plus recipes, reviews and home improvement projects)! Just check out these adorable Disney outfits she just made for a friend of hers.

Adorable, right? She made the pants, dyed the onesies and stenciled on the Disney characters! Even her gift wrapping is cute.

Seriously, Dana is one of my top 5 favorite bloggers. So I knew when I spotted her Circle Skirt tutorial that it would be PERFECT for my monster's Halloween poodle skirt (yes, we nixed the cupcake this year). I used all of the sizing and cutting steps from Dana's tutorial, but I sewed mine together different, so I wanted to share my steps with you!

For the full directions for sizing (and a cute little chart that Dana made) & cutting, as well as recommended fabrics, visit Made. I'm just going to give you a quick overview of those.

Materials:

+ fabric (approx 1 yd for a girl's skirt)

+ elastic (less than 2' for girl's sizes)

+ coordinating thread

+ paper

+ ruler

I used a pretty hot pink flannel (on sale at JoAnn's for $2.50/yd last week) and some black elastic for M's skirt.

First, take your waist measurement and add 1 inch. This will be the length of elastic you need (20" for M).

Take your waist measurement again and add 2 inches this time (22"). Divide this by 6.28 (see Dana's tutorial for the math, if you're interested). This will be the distance from the corner of your fabric to the inside curve (3.5" in my case).

Next, measure how far down you want your skirt to go and add an inch or two (depending if you're hemming or not). I picked 11". This is the distance from the corner of your fabric to the outer curve.

Measure out with your ruler in this fashion

You're now going to draw your pattern piece. Take some blank paper (I used 2 sheets of printer paper) and tape them wide sides together. Then take your ruler and measure out from the bottom left hand corner the distance to your inner curve. Measure out from that corner in multiple directions and mark a dot at the end.

When you feel you have enough dots, connect them to form your curve. Then repeat this method with your longer measurement. (For detailed pictures, visit Made).

Once you have your 2 arcs drawn, cut along the lines and keep the center piece.

Next, get your Monster to stop stomping on your nicely laid out fabric (mine seems to want to stomp on all my fabric every time I lay it out!!!)

Then, fold your fabric in half and in half again. And if you have my luck, your toddler with then try to cuddle the nice soft flannel....

Once you've refolded your fabric, align your pattern piece on top of it so that the small curve is in the same direction and your folded corner.

Trace (or if your like me, just cut) along your curves.

You may need to take a break to stop your toddler from playing with the sewing machine (or pulling out all of the thread, in my case).

After you've cut your fabric and unfold it, you should have what looks like a giant donut and you're ready to start sewing! (Note: This is where my pattern begins to deviate from Dana's!)

First, use your zigzag stitch and sew around the bottom of the outer circle. I always do it in a little ways and trim when I'm finished, but you can do it however you like. As an alternative, you could hem here instead. You're also going to do a small zigzag right up against the edge of the inner circle.

Next, take your elastic and stitch it together about a half inch in. Fold down each side individual and make a straight stitch so that the seam lays flat. (Dana has some good pictures of this).

Pin your elastic inside the top of your skirt (wrong sides facing - the wrong side of the elastic is the side that does has the wings you stitched down on it). You will need to stretch your elastic to be the same length as your fabric and it will ruffle up a little bit. You do not want to go all the way to the edge of your elastic, leave about 1/8" space between the edge of the fabric and the edge of the elastic. Straight stitch around.

Flip your elastic up and zigzag stitch around the bottom of the elastic (NOT on the fabric). Why did I do it this way??? So that there are no edges on the inside of the skirt! The edge for the top of your skirt is now safely tucked under your elastic, which means no fraying or bunching on the inside of the skirt.

And that's it! You're done!

I used flannel because I'm turning this into a poodle skirt for Halloween and flannel is washable, whereas felt is not.

Something a little personal....

2010-10-26T07:03:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was little, I always reacted poorly to stressful situations. I know everyone has their own ways of coping with things and maybe I never handled some things as well as I should have. I've always been emotional and I won't deny that I'm a bit of a cry baby. When things get too much for me to handle, I cry. And it's always been that way.... ever since I can remember.

I wouldn't say that I had an easy childhood. Sure, I survived it, but that doesn't mean it was easy. My mother was (is) bipolar and autistic. My brother is autistic (though he has learned to manage it very well) and my sister was always very depressed. My father told me we couldn't have a relationship until I was 23 (or maybe it was 26. I have the letter he sent me somewhere). Me? I tried to make the best of everything. I was always smiling, it was very rare that I let anyone know anything was wrong. In fact, it wasn't even until my senior year of high school that I started leaning of my friends heavily. My mother had adopted/taken in more children by this time - all of them older, all of them with some sort of special needs. And as the oldest, I had to bare the majority of the responsibility. My mother even asked me once what it felt like to be the only "normal" person in our family. My response? Very stressful. That's when she decided that there must be "something wrong" with me, too. But I was never depressed.

I started college a semester late, but when I did, I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. At first, I was little homesick, but I couldn't help but feel like my own person... finally. That is, until it got worse...

That summer I stayed on campus to make up for my missed semester and to be closer to my boyfriend at the time. My first real "love". I later realized we would've been much better as friends, but at that time I thought we were in love. We broke up that summer and that began the downward spiral. I became depressed. I stopped eating regularly. My grandmother was diagnosed with both lung and liver cancer in August of that year and given 6 months to live. I went to visit her in September and she ended up passing the next day (after pushing me away and refusing to see me, even though I was her closest granddaughter - but that's another story). Both my cat and dog passed in the next few months and my great grandmother passed in the spring. It was a tough year for me - one that I would never like to relive. I didn't go to any of my classes except when I had a project or exam (how I passed, I'll never know). I mostly just took a lot of tylenol pm and slept that semester. This was my first experience with depression.

I lost my faith in God that year and while I try to believe again now, sometimes I still have my doubts. And while I still have issues coping with the loss of my grandmother 5 years later (especially now that my other one is sick), I've managed. Over the next few years, my mother kicked me out of the house 3 times and I had several more "loves" that broke my heart, but I never got back to that place again.

But now, here I am, feeling for the last few months that I am on the edge of having an anxiety attack. Feeling like I'm failing. Maybe I've been taking on too much lately or maybe it's because I've only been averaging 2-5 hours of sleep every night or maybe it's even a mild form of PPD. I don't know, but whatever it is, I wish these feelings would go away because I definitely do not want to go back to that dark place again.

I also wish I knew when my "comfort" thing turned to food rather than sleep.

HYC #3

2010-10-25T16:41:00.000-07:00

I've been doing better this week than last week.

Hubby & I walked a little over a mile on Sunday. It felt good. Tiring, but good. I definitely need walking shoes. My Ed Hardy's, as pretty as they may be, aren't cutting it (and neither are my crocs). Everyone over here got new shoes recently... except me. I haven't gotten new shoes in almost 2 years. I'm thinking that it's about that time.

Apart from walking, I also did some weight lifting this week. It feels good to be opening up my shoulders again.

OH and I'm actually starting to see my curves again. I missed my curves. Another few inches and those stupid love handles on my sides should be just about gone. I can't wait! I'll still have my belly to get rid of, but I'll feel better with those love handles gone.

My accomplishments for this week?
1. I walked.
2. I lifted some weights.
3. I've been keeping up with my calorie log (even when I go over).
4. We've been eating healthier (more bocca, no more ground beef).
5. My bras were too big, so I was able to get a smaller one (LOVE this!).

I even got dressed today. I work for a company where we never see clients, so we can wear whatever we want... including sweats. For the last 2 years, I've been taking full advantage of this. I decided today that it's time to start taking better care of myself. I got up, showered, got dressed and I even blow dried my hair. I felt so much better today!

Here's hoping these feelings stay!

Too old for naps?

2010-10-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

I seem to be struggling lately to get M to take a nap. Yesterday, for instance, she flat out refused to sleep even though I could clearly see that she was tired. I closed her in her room and she just played or screamed for "Mummy Daddy Mummy Daddy Mummy Daddy".

I tried EVERYTHING to get her to take a nap yesterday. We played outside. We colored. We watched tv. I gave her a snack (apple slices and a cup of water). I even laid in her bed and watched Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel with her (which was cute by the way and I love Zachary Levi <3). Nothing.

After 2 hours of trying, I gave up and just let her roam the house. We eventually went on a walk and go figure, as soon as we walk through the door at 5:00, she falls asleep. I had gone on a Joann's run, otherwise, I would have never let it happen. But, Daddy let her sleep and I woke up up when I got home at 5:30.

And don't you know it, she refused to go to bed last night. When I finally got her down, she woke me up at 3:30 AM trying to play!! She stands at the edge of my bed and whispers in my face.

Shhhhhhh, Mommy sweeping.

Shhhhhh, Daddy sweeping.

Shhhhhhhh, I sweep.

GAIK UP!!!!!!!!!!

[Gaik = Wake in toddler language]

But if I put up the baby gate or close her door, she wakes up at 3:00 and screams and incessantly until we go get her.

She's been doing this a lot lately and I just don't get it.

Does anyone else have (or has anyone had) this problem with their kids?

She better stop soon or this will end up being me:

I must be doing something right....

2010-10-23T18:58:00.000-07:00

I try to teach M something every day, but sometimes I feel like a terrible mom for not working with her more often. I hear all these things from moms who sit down with their kids every day for an actual lesson and think to myself, "Oh, I should be doing that, too". It makes me disappointed thinking that I could be doing more with her to help her.

But then I take a step back and I see the things that she CAN do.

At nearly 21 months old, M can use the potty (sometimes), feed herself, wash windows, clean drawings off the walls, scrub carpets, put her toys away, manipulate the vacuum and feed the cats (even if it is 1 little handful at a time). She can also scribble and tells me what each scribble is. Dat is Daddy.Dis the cat. Der a biddie (birdie). She can even put on her own lotion.

Daddy is the bottom left big circle with the lines that actually look like a body. M is the big circle next to it which actually has dots for eyes and a line for a mouth, then she scribbled it and said "dat me".

What really amazes me is a few of the things that she's done this.

1. She learned a few difficult new words within the last week: puhkin (pumpkin), jump, pull, pew-duh (computer), biddie (birdie), have, fwower (flower), mah[n]dee (Maddie. Yes, she finally learned her own name... well, nickname), feet, sleep
2. She learned how to get her pants over her feet (still working on pulling them up)
3. She now asks for things in full phrases: peas, I have a cup.peas, have a cookie, peas.
4. She watches tv and knows what's going on. And I'm not talking about things like Sesame Street.
5. She now knows about 4/5ths of the alphabet (she learned H, K and X this week) and all of her numbers from 0-10 except 4 & 7.
6. She can get her own shoes on and is trying to do her own socks.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone picture, our camera was charging. She was trying to get her sock on top of her slipper.

The one really gets me is number 4. She used to laugh randomly at parts of Finding Nemo, but the other day I heard her whining in her room, so I went to see what was wrong....

What's wrong, baby?

Mommy. Uh oh, Mommy, duh books. Duh books gone, Mommy.

What books?

Go Go. Go Go books gone!

*she turns back to watching an episode of Go Diego Go*

MOMMY, MOMMY! DER A BOOK!

*points to the book hidden in the tree*

For anyone who's curious, it was this episode.

I couldn't believe that she could not only follow along with the episode, but she could tell me what was happening! She was even telling her teachers about that episode the next day. That's really good, right? To be able to do that and not even be 2 years old yet?

So I have to be doing something right.