Operation: Lose Baby Weight

If you're a follower on Twitter, or a friend on Facebook, you already know that I'm on a mission to lose the baby weight. All those damn Sausage McMuffins need to be freed from my belly! Stupid pregnancy cravings.

My cousin, Keli, inspired me to do this program called Couch to 5K, and it's a running program that slowly eases those couch potatoes (me) from the sitting position to an all-out run in 9 weeks. If you know me, you know I hate running. I hate it. Passionately. The people who say, "Oh running is so refreshing to me, it really lets me think" gross me out and I don't understand them. This is probably one of the top reasons I started to run, because I want to know what all the hype is about.

I'm in my second week of running and I'm already faster and stronger. Woohoo! But do I love running yet? Absolutely not. It's a tedious chore for me to get on the treadmill and run. And believe me, I hate every second of it. My favorite part of it is when it's over. I love that part. But if I was being honest, I would have to say that I'm enjoying the fact that everyday, or sometimes every other day, I am being very active. This is new for me.

I want to lose the baby weight so that I can be an active parent. I was finding myself on the couch or the floor with Nyla for 8+ hours a day! That's when I decided that enough was enough; time to do something with my day! I want to be the parent who can actually go play on the playground with Nyla instead of watching from the park bench.

My other inspiration for doing this is none other than The Rock. Yes, the Samoan WWE wrestler. Ridiculous, I know, but he has this group of followers that he encourages and pumps up everyday. They're called Team Bring It. It's not an official group or anything, but following The Rock on Twitter, he daily reaffirms to his followers to be the best they can be that day. Not the day before, not tomorrow, but staying in the today. I feel like that spoke to me. Isn't that funny? The Rock spoke to me through Twitter.

I want to earn a Team Bring It shirt. Yeah, I could go to Hot Topic and buy one and wear it, but I'd feel like such a fraud wearing it. "Oh I'm on Team Bring It and I watch TV for 8 hours a day." That doesn't make sense. So I'm doing this running program, and when December comes around and I'm in week 6, I will feel like I'm ready for that TBI shirt. I might even have to buy a bunch of them to wear during workouts.

The Pumpkin Patch

Oh the pumpkin patch! I woke up with a severe determination to get Paul and Nyla to the farm so we could take pictures of her in her Halloween costume amongst the pumpkins. I'm glad I did because she was the hit of the pumpkin patch! People were cooing and ooh-ing over her. And I only had eyes for my Nylabelle. She looked so adorable in her monkey costume! She was fascinated with looking around at everything, and when we put her down with the pumpkins, she had her mind set on crawling all over them. I can honestly say that the mere 30 minutes we spent at the farm are close to the best 30 minutes of my life! It was so great! My Big Bear was a good sport too, so all is well in the Ellis household.  

Below are pictures from our little adventure.

Hi guys. 

Believe me, she loves being carried like this.

Getting Past The Fear

I was thinking this morning about the last 7.5 months with Nyla and how much our life has changed. I had to laugh because I realized that in the beginning, Paul and I had no idea what we were doing. I mean, NO IDEA. Everything with Nylabelle was so foreign to us; it was like seeing an alien every time she moved or made a squeak. "Oooh Paul, she moved her finger!" And we were clueless about how to take care and raise a baby.

This is not to say that we're total experts now, because that is so far from the truth. But I feel, after living in fear for 30-odd weeks, Paul and I are finally hitting our stride with this petite human. Whew! We can tell Nyla's moods, we've got her on (somewhat) of a schedule, we almost always know what's up when she's having a fit, and we're figuring out this whole "we have a baby" thing.

Things that still freak us out:
1. Nyla throwing a fit while changing a diaper
2. Giving her a bath in the big tub
3. Her changing poops (gross)
4. Her slamming her head on anything...this is my number one fear right now since she has become so mobile.

All in all, we're learning to be parents. Wish it would have kicked in a little sooner, maybe more around the 3-week age, but whatever. Nyla's no worse for wear and she won't ever know that her mommy and daddy were total morons when she was born.

Baby In A Restaurant

If you are a child-less person or couple (or a Mom and Dad out on a date alone), one of the worst places to go is a family-friendly restaurant. Not like Olive Garden because, really, OG is not a place for babies and kids--too many breakables everywhere. Nothing kills a good dinner like thirty-eight screaming kids throwing their food and running into your chair.

But take Famous Dave's BBQ, which happens to be where we went last night. This place is the epitome of a family-friendly establishment. It has huge long tables, stacks upon stacks of high chairs, and balloons at the entrance. The place screams "We Love Kids! Bring Them!" And so last night, we brought our child to a restaurant. Now this isn't the first time at a restaurant, but this is the first time at an all out, child-infested...errr child-filled restaurant.

Where does the hostess seat us when she sees that we have a baby? In the back room that is already occupied with 22 people, 11 of whom are children. Great. So in we squeezed to our table and the deafening noise of kids yelling consumes my ears. Who decides to join in on it? Nyla. She squealed and squawked the whole time. And to add to her enjoyment, she kept throwing anything she had in her hands onto the floor. I just love spending my dinner evening bending down and picking up toys every three seconds. Really gives me a chance to enjoy my food.

Of course with a baby in a restaurant, that means we have to eat at lightning speed because homegirl has a time limit as to how long she will behave until the banshee monster comes out. For Nyla, she's pretty well maintained until about 34 minutes or so; that's about the time where she squirms uncontrollably until someone is designated to walk around the restaurant with her.

Delicious rice cracker.

To be honest, Nylabear is pretty dang good in public. She laughs at all the people and *knockonwood* doesn't cry. She likes being with everyone and all in the mix. Hopefully Paul and I will become more comfortable in family-friendly restaurants. Chuck-E-Cheese is out forever though. Nothing grosses me out more than the ball pit. All those germs...

She's Gone Country!

It's official: we have a country baby. This past weekend, Nyla went through her first rite of passage being a country baby; Nyla rode a 4-wheeler with her daddy. Paul secured her right in front of him and took her for a slow ride around his parents' property. While she was riding, Nyla had on her standard "I don't care" face. But when they finished their ride and stopped, she giggled so loud and was all smiles! She loved it! Of course, I stood in the drive having a mini-panic attack. What if she screamed? What if she hated it? What if an eagle swoops down and picks her up from the 4-wheeler? Yes, my worries were getting ridiculous. But alas, my lovely girl came back happy and in one piece! Hooray!

We also had time to go to the pumpkin patch and take pictures. Here come the holidays, which means here come ridiculous looking outfits for Nyla!

Family time at the pumpkin patch. I had straw stuck in my pants all day. 

I can't even look when Paul does this.

All giggles after her ride with daddy.

Coming back from the ride.

All smiles in her swing at Grammie and Papa's house!

She may not look amused, but she loved it.

Laughing at her cousin.

The three grandchildren!

Whoa, Nyla.

I thought we were past the stage of blowing poop out the diaper. Apparently not. We should know by now that silence equals smelly. About an hour ago, our girl was so quiet, you could hear crickets. This should have been a sign that something fierce was coming our way.

Boy did she produce.

I have never actually seen that amount of poo come from one little 20-pound baby. Homegirl pooped out her diaper, on her legs, up her back, in her knee creases, and moved it up into her armpits. Lovely. Here's the most precious part: when I had to take off her shirt, we forgot that there was a massive amount on her clothes, so when we pulled up her shirt, we dragged some of the poop IN HER HAIR. Bleh.

When I started to change her diaper, I pulled out four or five wipes because I knew that it was something wicked. But when I realized that it was massive, I just yelled, "Paul! Start the bath!" Poor monkey-girl had it all over her, so we had to bathe her. :)

Now she's all clean, smells delicious, and is happily enjoying a bottle. Maybe having a small prune juice bottle plus prunes and apples lunch was too much. Note to Mommy: lay off the prunes. Homegirl is regular now.

Baby Food

You know what's disgusting? Baby food. Looky here:

I mean, seriously?! Who wants to eat that food? Those delicious concoctions above are chicken and apples, sweet corn casserole, and rice cereal. Absolutely heinous. In the first picture, Nyla has for her appetite the most heinous, King of Heinous-osity, pureed peas. Bleh.

Judging by the pictures below, I'm not sure she's amused by the food either.

Getting ready to taste

And we begin! The food goes in, no problem.

Here's the moment of realization that, yes, it's disgusting.

Cautiously going back for more. 

Still disgusting.

"Please no, Dad."

She's basically just choking it down now.

The look of refusal.

I'm thinking she's about to barf.

I can't wait until she is eating real food. You know, textured food. Food that doesn't look like multi-colored mush. Bleh. Nylabear, I'm sorry you're eating disgusting food. One day food will be delicious, I promise.

Our Kissy Girl

Okay, it's pretty adorable that Nyla now wants to kiss. She leans into you all smiling and then gives you an infant's interpretation of a kiss. To Nyla, when we kiss, it means that she should stick her entire tongue out and try to lick your nose. Or if she's feeling extra feisty, she'll try to scrape her two little teeth across your nose. :) It's pretty adorable and we laugh the whole time. Since she's totally teething, there is a ridiculous amount of saliva that she's producing and it inevitably ends up all over your face.

Now this little kissing thing is cute. Homegirl better not try this use-the-tongue thing with boys in her teenage years, though. I should start praying now for the future boys that will come for our Nylabear.

The Schedule

You know, last week I posted about getting Nyla on a schedule and starting to let her cry it out when she wakes up in the middle of the night. The schedule we have got down! I mean, she's into our little schedule and it's working for everyone! Hooray! The crying it out at night? That's not going so well.

We let her cry it out on Friday night and she only cried for 17 minutes before falling back asleep. And then we reverted back to getting her in the middle of the night. Augh! After only one night, I was in our old habit and when she started to cry, I was like an automaton. I got up and got dressed and went to get her and console her.

I must remember (in my sleepy haze) that she's fine in her crib. We need to help her learn to fall asleep on her own. Wouldn't it be horrific if she was 5 and we still had to give her a bottle and rock her to sleep every night? Watch. Now that I've said that, that's what will happen.

Making Me Sick

You mothers out there who are all well put-together with your hair nicely coifed and full makeup on with actual clothes on. You make me sick.

It wasn't so long ago that I wouldn't leave the house without at least putting on jeans and a hoodie and some makeup. Tonight, I left the house in stretchy pants, a huge shirt, and my Crocs. And when I looked in the mirror, I realized that I actually looked like Uncle Fester. Cool.

I don't even like to think about how it's possible that my husband finds me attractive. I mean, I honestly have dark rings around my eyes...who needs smoky eyeshadow? You could just have a 7-month-old who doesn't sleep through the night for a few days. *Poof* smoky eyes! Except not as cute...

How long does this period of unattractiveness last? I'm not even going to get started in on the baby weight. All those damn Sausage McMuffins are just hanging around on my hips and belly. Don't judge: my #1 craving during pregnancy was Sausage McMuffins. I'm talking all-out, I'll kill someone for a Sausage McMuffin craving.

Maybe I'm just being a big baby about this and need to step it up and make the conscious effort to get myself together in the morning. Will try it tomorrow.

Tomorrow's mission: real clothes and makeup. I'm not ready to address the hair yet. I'm just going to continue pulling it up in a ponytail for awhile. Baby steps.

The Looks of Love

Look at my sweet Nyla sleeping. Look at how angelic and calm she looks. And me, her dear mother, gazing upon her with loving eyes. It's the portrait of a mother/daughter bond.

When I took this picture, I thought to myself "Elizabeth, you should also take pictures of what you look like when she's not being an angel." And so I did. Enjoy this photo set that I will title "Looks of Love". The photo titles directly correlate with my thought process when using that specific face. You're all welcome.

What Are You Doing?!

 Paul, Come Get Your Daughter.

Whose Devil-Child Is This?

Girrrrrrrrrrrrl you wait until you're 13.

It's 2:17. Go To Sleep.

Did She Just Fart On Me? 

Finally, Sleep.

All you mothers out there, I know you know these faces...and more, I'm sure!

PS: you are all welcome for having me wear my leopard pajamas. Your lives are enriched, I'm sure. :)

Let's Get Sleeping Under Control

I knew I should have read that book What To Expect In The First Year! Yesterday at the store, I stopped to just glance through it, specifically the six month section of the book. I quickly became totally immersed in the book! Did you know that we should be weaning our child off of middle of the night feedings now? It's called Ferberizing her. Hmm. Apparently it takes about a week to get settled and for Nyla to understand bedtime, but after that it's home free sleeping through the night!

This week I will be researching the best methods for letting Nyla fall asleep on her own and next weekend is the start of letting her cry it out, as they say. Apparently six months is when the baby starts to figure out "Oh, if I cry Mommy or Daddy will pick me up" so it's important to start getting away from that. Great.

As I'm typing, my Nylabear is upstairs throwing an all-out crying fit, complete with coughing and I'm sure a red face. I can't wait for this to happen in the middle of the night next weekend. Cool.

My mission this week: get her on a definite schedule.

8am: breakfast
830-11: playtime
11-12ish: nap
12ish: lunch
1230-3: playtime
3-4ish: naptime
4-630-playtime (again)
630: dinner
7-9: playtime (again!)
9pm: night night, Nyla

Isn't that the most ideal schedule ever? Life revolving around eating, playing, and napping. Love it. Now I have the hypothetical schedule; let's see if I can put it into practice and routine!

Okay, I'm Over the Diapers

My child, who used to be calm and collected and really cooperative during diaper changes, has turned into an all-out grabby, squirmy, leg kicking, toe eating, flipping animal during diaper changes. Wait, add to that list screaming. What the heck?

Here's how it goes:

Me: Oh Nylaaaaa, let's change your diaper!

Nyla: *eating fingers* mmmmm

-get to changing table-

Me: Okay Nyla, let's take off your diaper.

*COMMENCE TRANSFORMATION*

Nyla: WAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHhmphhhhh *toes in mouth*other hand grabbing the diaper rash cream*other leg is kicking over the side of the table*head thrashing back and forth. 


There's a lot that goes on in the two minutes it takes to change her diaper. I used to be a quick-style pro with the changing, but since homegirl has started to be a Diaper Change Transformer, I spend a lot of the time trying to secure her to the table so I can change her diaper before she salad shoots some poop at the wall, or worse, decides to pee on me.

When does potty training begin again? :)

S.O.S.

I feel at my breaking point. The teeth cutting compounded by getting shots yesterday and add to that no sleep and you have created the child that is my Nyla.

It's the crying, the crying, the crying, the no sleep, the crying. And last night I just threw up my white flag and cried with her. I'm so frustrated these last few days. She's not sleeping, she's crying all the time, she won't stand for anything but being held. It's so frustrating.

Last night, my father came to my rescue. For the umpteenth night in a row, Nyla woke up an hour after we put her to bed. This wouldn't be a problem except for she's not sleeping at all through the night...not even close. I haven't slept in weeks and it's taking its toll.

I finally came downstairs last night and my dad said, "Elizabeth, let me take her." I just told him no because this is part of it, this is part of raising kids. But then she started to cry and she started getting super fussy again. After awhile, I just let my dad take over. Being the experienced parent and loving grandfather, he put her to sleep and took her up to her crib. I, on the other hand, sat crying in the dining room.

I haven't cried like that since the day I went back to work. I was sobbing just as my Nyla was doing a few minutes before. I asked my dad, "Was it like this for you guys?" and I was reassured with a yes. But that doesn't make this situation any easier.

Millions of parents do this everyday and I wonder, how do people even have more than one child?! If you ask me today, I am very opposed to having another baby. There is stress on me individually, tension in my marriage, sleepless nights for everyone; why go through this again? But we'll see. Maybe (hopefully) tomorrow I will feel different.

Could It Be?

Nylabelle was a disaster last night as far as sleeping goes, and I think I have found the reason for it! On her bottom gum, she has a tooth popping through! Hooray! Just one of the corners is already through the gum itself, so she should have some teeth within the week!

I'm very excited about this! I'm happy to see that she won't be a toothless wonder forever. What I'm not excited about are the sleepless nights ahead...and the drool. Holy drool everywhere. But she's adorable, and that excuses all her challenges and downfalls right now. Not when she's 13 though! Her cuteness won't get her anywhere! But I'm getting ahead of myself; those lovely teenage years are far in the future. Time to stay in the moment and enjoy the little white teeth that are coming in!

Hey, PS: whose banshee screaming child is this here at my house? A side effect of teeth coming in is screaming and crying. Homegirl likes to get after it, too! Add that to the list of things I'm not looking forward to in the coming weeks.

The Child Is Moving

A terrifying reality has hit our home: our child is crawling feverishly and climbing all over things. If you blink, she can make it from one end of the room to the other.

Now as much as I love that she's becoming more mobile, it gets irritating when I have to move her back to a safe space every four seconds. Don't judge me because I said it is irritating; it is! But I am glad that she's a mover now. She will crawl toward anything she can climb up on to stand. It's pretty adorable. Here's the most terrifing part: she can crawl all over, but her balance is still kind of iffy, so when she's standing up, she wobbles all over. It's scary to see her wobbling when she's right next to the corner of the couch or at her favorite place, up against the wall. Believe me, we've already had our shares of bumps and big falls. She's fine though!

Apparently this is early for the average baby to be so mobile. She is 6mos2wks and she can sit, stand, crawl, roll over, and do the dishes. Not really on the last one, although it would be great if she could. I also can't wait for her to be able to vacuum...and do the laundry! Oh the joys of chores that I can't wait to bestow upon her!