Jacoby blowing rasberries!

I am posting the video at the end of this post, so cute. He just started doing it today.

I have done perfect on my calories today. Did about a half hour of DDR and then I just walked around the whole neighborhood for about 20 mins. Hopefully I'll see my efforts on the scale tomorrow morning.

I love staying home with my munchkin all day. I don't miss a thing, we have a routine (which is hard to keep up when working). I have the energy to clean and cook for my hunny and I just love it. I keep trying to convince him that me staying at home would be what's best as soon as he finds a higher paying job when he gets his degree in less than two months. He is a little skeptical, but he is also enjoying the delicious dinners I am now home to cook. I usually work long evenings and nights when I do work to minimize on having to find a babysitter.

Here is the video link!

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150262814661951

Day 2

Well I did well yesterday on my meals and exercised but I still am 194 today :( Oh well gotta try again today. Not that I expect to lose 5 pounds but it would be nice to see even a tiny change.

So far day 1=success

Today i have done well. I walked about 3 miles in the morning then played dance dance revolution in the even plus some kinect. My meals were as follows:

Breakfast- Small bowl of life cereal

Lunch- Turkey bologna sandwich with 35 cal bread and grapes.

Dinner- Low fat cheesy steamed veggies, banana, and a serving of pretzel crisps.

Snacks and drinks: glass of milk, bottled water, banana, string cheese, small handful of peanuts, and a plain frozen yogurt cup.

This makes for a total of 1099 calories which is too low, so I will be eating a 200 calorie snack before bedtime.

Not working at Wendy's make this sooo much easier. Before I would have nuggets, fries, pop, and ice cream all within reach at all times. Now to get the stuff, I have to load up Jacoby, make sure I have money, and drive to the fast food place. I'm too lazy for that lol


Just woke up from napping

Rededication Day 1

I'm getting ready to go on a 3 mile walk in the park and then another 3 miles when my friend gets out of her zumba class. Then when I get home I'm going to do at least 30 mins of Dance Dance Revolution. I won't be doing this much working out every day, but I'm just trying to get myself back into the groove.

Weighed at 194 this morning.

Goal is 150.

This is what I was like my senior year and it is what I want to look like again.

Weight Loss Time

I am so ashamed of myself. When I had Jacoby, I was 220 lb when I left the hospital. 3 weeks after I was 205 (from breastfeeding). On April 15th, I decided to start dieting and working out. I did great for a while, from then until now, I got all the way down to 189. Now I've been eating like crap for the past 2-3 weeks and I'm done with it. I'm ready to lose weight again. I have a weight loss group on Facebook called Weight Loss Buddies. Right now we have about 100 members, mostly moms. Here's the link for those who could use some support:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/209127215772279/?notif_t=group_activity

We have weigh ins every Friday, but I'm going to record my daily weight on a separate post to help keep me motivated.

I'll be eating 1200-1300 calories a day, and doing some type of cardio. Right now my favorite thing to do is Dance Dance Revolution because it is fun. I also like to take walks with my little one in his stroller. Wish me luck!

Mmmmm Feet!

Jacoby finally figured out how to eat his feet! Lol, my silly baby.

Today he had squash, at first he screwed his face up at it, but as we continued, he begin to like it better.

Money saving update! A lady I am purchasing 100 jars of baby food meats from for 20 dollars just offered me the rest of the food for 30 more dollars. She has several hundred jars of baby food and just wants to get rid of them. I wish I had the 30 extra dollars right now but I don't. I might tomorrow so I told her I would let her know. Shaun doesn't think it is necessary but I just can't pass up that great of deal. And plus whatever we have leftover after Jacoby grows out of it, we can sell, or even better, donate. But men only think in the now, not the future. Well my man anyway. Even if I don't get to buy the other jars, 100 jars for 20 bucks is still one hell of a deal. Plus I got the 120 jars + 4 boxes of baby cereal the other day for 25 bucks. I think that is 55 dollars well spent if I do say so myself. I also found some free formula on freecycle! I'm just going crazy right now with saving money. I think I can call myself a pro.

Saving money

Over the past 12 months, I have had a long list of expenses I never ever had pre-baby. Here are some of the ways I have saved money:

Facebook! If I needed a piece of furniture, baby clothes, services, the first place I go is facebook. I post in my status whatever I'm looking for to reach 200+ friends to see if anyone has the item. That way I either get it for free or very cheap. Also when I know Shaun and I plan on going out, I go to the companies facebook/website to see if they have any "Like us" deals.

Craigslist/Ebay! One recent example: Jacoby just started eating baby food, and WIC provides 32 jars of baby food every month to us. In three months, we have to turn in our pay stubs again, and I don't think we will be able to renew our WIC. At .59 cents or more a jar, it is going to get expensive. So, on a whim, I got on Craigslist to see if anyone was selling baby food. Sure enough, a lady who's daughter did not like baby food was selling 128 jars of unexpired stage 2 baby food and 4 boxes of unopened cereal for 25 bucks. That's over 50 dollars worth of food. Needless to say, we will not have to buy baby food for quite some time and even then, we are going to make his food at home instead of buying it, so I am saving up the jars.

Company websites! Beechnut, gerber, pampers, similac, parents choice, etc etc. Most baby brand websites offer free formula, baby food, diapers, and wipes samples. Granted it usually takes 4-10 weeks for delivery of these samples so I don't really rely on this, but it is something nice to have on hand. I sign up at daily sample websites such as Allyou.com, and they send me daily sample emails. These websites usually have great coupons.

Yahoo Freecycle! This is one of my favorites because I LOVE free stuff. Who doesn't? It is similar to Craigslist except everything is free. It is basically like a free, local thrift store. Used clothes, furniture, household items, baby stuff, electronics, you name it, just email the person, and pick it up. To join, just go to yahoo groups and search for Freecycle (your location). For example, I live in Middletown, Ohio so I would search Freecycle Middletown, Ohio. You can also search surrounding areas. Got stuff you want to get rid of but don't want to throw away? You can also offer your free items as well. Examples of things we have gotten: baby clothes, bed frame, a large computer desk, an old treadmill, furniture (extensively checked for bugs).
Here is their website, search for your area and they will give the link to the yahoo group http://www.freecycle.org/

Kids resale stores! Gently used baby/kids clothes/items at unbelievable prices. I recently bought my son 15 outfits for 25 bucks at Once Upon A Child. It's as easy as googling resale stores in your area. I especially love that our Once Upon A Child is right next door to Platos Closet, where mommy can treat herself to a little   cheap shopping as well.

Last but not least, coupon sites. Coupons.com is the best, all others just seem like copycats and have the same coupons. I'm not an extreme couponer by any means, but right before I go grocery shopping, I scan that week's coupons to see if I can use any of them.

I hope I've been of some help to anyone trying to save some money!

Infuriating!!!

So I'm checking out at Kroger, and I have a month's supply of formula that WIC supplies me. Just making conversation like I always do, I say to the cashier,

"I can't believe he eats all this plus baby food and cereal"

She replys,

"Yeah I know, it's crazy"

Simple everyday small talk between cashier and customer. Then this pompous @$$hole behind me says,

"You know you wouldn't have to get all that if you did it the old-fashioned way" What?!?!?! 

Me- "Well I did breastfeed for a little while but had to quit when I started working." Don't you think that would have shut him up? But no, he says:

"Well my wife would freeze her breast milk when she went back to work."

Me- "Well to keep up your supply, you have to pump every 2-3 hours, and I couldn't do that in a 9 hour shift where I worked. As long as my son is getting fed, I think it is okay." Conversation over? Nope. And then he replies:

"Well you could say you're going to the bathroom." Are you effing serious dude? Why don't you mind your own business? Where does this guy thinks he has the right to say anything about how I feed my child. Screw you. 

On a brighter note, look we matched yesterday!

Onions may make you cry, but they may help your little one stop crying.

I know this sounds crazy, but when your tiny baby is screaming his/her head off for no apparent reason, and sometimes for hours nonstop, this will not sound so crazy. We heard this home remedy from an older lady when Jacoby had colic and it saved our lives.*

1. Boil a slice of onion in water. No particular time limit, just bring it to a boil.
2. Fill a bottle up a couple of ounces. Save the rest in the fridge.
3. Put in a tsp of sugar for taste, and give to your baby to sip on.

This should help put him/her to sleep within minutes or at least calm him/her down. It worked with us. There is some science behind I found with a simple google search. Insomniacs use onion remedies to help them sleep, something in the onion, I'm not exactly sure what. Your baby might not drink it at first, we had to trick our little one by giving him his paci and once he started sucking on it, we switched it out with the bottle. He was asleep within minutes.

*It is not recommended to give your baby water until he/she is at least 4 months old. I personally do not think a tiny bit will hurt. But there you go.

My baby is a goofball

Scene: Comforter is laid out all nice and neat on the floor, toys are strategically placed around, and it is now playtime. I turn around to pick up a few things off the floor, and when I turn back around, this is what he decides to play with. My silly baby lol.

Jacoby turned 5 months old today. It seems like the time literally flies, you don't even have time to blink and poof! he isn't a newborn anymore. He's playing with your keys, trying to eat your phone, babbling dadadada, trying to crawl, eating baby food, ugh! I just want him to slow down a little bit. Before I know it, he's going to be going to college. As I type, he just knocked my phone to the floor (he's sitting on my lap). Thanks bub.

First Weeks

The first few weeks of my sons life were (so far) the hardest, most rewarding, most stressful days of my life. The first night we were home, he was up every 2 hours, sometimes every hour, and we were exhausted. Luckily my mom was there for the first two weeks, and we got to catch some shuteye during the day. Well Shaun got to catch some shuteye, I didn't get much sleep at first because I was "exclusively breastfeeding". It wasn't until a week later I started pumping so other people could feed him and give me a break.

After the first week of having him home, my mom noticed symptoms of PPD (postpartum depression) coming from me and urged me to see the doctor. I was in denial for a little while, as I hate taking pills, but I ended up going and being prescribed Zoloft. It was a life saver, that is for sure.

Let me catch you up to where Jacoby is now (5 months old tomorrow). I stopped breastfeeding after 3 weeks because I thought I had a job, which ended up falling through. At the 6 week mark, Jacoby started waking up only once or twice at night instead of every two hours, which was perfect timing because I started working again, smiling, and a little cooing. By two months old, we started moving into our new house and out of our apartment, and at about the same time Jacoby started sleeping 8-12 hours straight. By 3 months old he was rolling over from belly to back and "talking"/laughing. By 4 months old he started giggling, and a little after started rolling from back to belly. He says dadadadada, but he doesn't know what he is saying, he is just babbling. Yesterday he ate his first two whole jars of baby food, sweet potatoes and applesauce. Today he had peas, which I don't think he liked as well. You are supposed to wait 3-4 days in between baby food flavors to make sure he isn't allergic but I didn't know that until recently. No allergies so far.