Changing for the Better

J and I are making many changes in our lives, both at home, in ourselves, and with our careers! You already know, if you read my blog, that we cloth diaper... well we are adding cloth wipes into the mix. I ordered some great wipes from gogreenpocketdiapers.com, yes I could have made my own, but when do I have the time? These wipes are lots of different colors, and each color is textured different. Some are just cotton stretchy fabric, some have ridges, some have bumps... but they will all do the job! One, maybe two, of these can handle a large bowel movement from Boogie (which is great considering she poops once every 5 or so days... and they are HUGE and nasty!) when typically I'd have to use several disposable wipes to get the job done! This is going to save us a ton of money! And it doesn't add much to my laundry considering I can just throw them in with our diapers!We are also going to try some 'green' household cleaners. I found some great "recipes" to try out that use baking soda, vinegar, water, and baby oil... I will let you know how that goes!

I've already mentioned that J and I are both on a path to a healthier lifestyle. I was cleared to start really exercising again at my 6 week checkup, so now I can start using the Wii Fit again! We are trying to buy more healthy, organic foods... and I have pretty much stopped drinking sodas. I will occasionally have a sprite or caffiene free pop, but it's very rare! I've also had to eliminate milk from my diet, it makes Boogie's belly hurt apparently. (That and broccoli actually). Cheese and other dairy products don't seem to bother her, just plain old milk. So I'm drinking soy milk and when I crave ice cream I've found some great soy and coconut options that are quite yummy! Last time I weighed myself I was down 24lbs, and I've pretty much stayed around that number for the past week or so... hopefully once I get to work out some more and when the weather stays pretty so I can walk the weight will start dropping off again!

Now for our careers. I can't go into much detail about J's decisions in this area, but I can tell you that he is starting the class for his dietary management certification! He's nervous, but excited, and I know he's going to do great! He loves what he is doing, and this is just the next step to making it a true career with great benefits! I am also making some changes to my plan... my original plan was to finish my A.A. and go on to get my Bacherlor's in Elementary Education and get my teacher's licensure... or if I went to UNCA to get my Bachelor's in Psychology w/Teaching Licesnsure. Well, since we have defintely decided to homeschool our children, I want to make sure that I will remain home throughout their childhood. (I speak in plural because obviously we plan on having more children after Boogie!) I will have to be gone for an entire semester to do student teaching if I continue on the path to becoming a teacher. So... here is my plan. I did some research on http://online.northcarolina.edu/. They offer a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology online, as well as a Master's Degree in Psychology online. My hope is to pursue those degrees and eventually, after my children are older, work with children with autism and other disorders. I might change my mind about the career I choose someday, but I don't think I'm going to sway on this change in heart for my degree. Having Boogie in my life has changed my perspective on a lot of things... I am BLESSED to be able to stay at home with her, and have a husband who is willing to support that dream and to support and want me to homeschool our children. I really look forward to that! (And the fact that I have a wonderful woman to look up to who also homeschools her children coughjanellecough... it makes it all that much better!).

I'm looking forward to all of these changes... and obviously with those changes will come MORE changes. Hopefully with a new job for J, possibly purchasing our first home, and eventually adding more children to the mix! Please pray for us as we start these new adventures... because they are defintely going to be adventures!

Sassy Sunday

Justin, Elah, and I went to Asheville last Tuesday to run some errands, and once we had finished we decided to head to the mall for lunch and a little shopping. As we were walking by the Picture People one of the girls working there asked us if we wanted a free picture... I knew it was a way to get our business, but I couldn't resist! Look how beautiful and ADORABLE my daughter is....

She's so cute... I'm a little biased ofcourse... but really. PURE cuteness!

Like I posted before, Elah turned a month old on Friday... and we weighed her today... 9lbs! She's starting to fit a little better into a majority of her cloth diapers... but they still leak a little because of her scrawny little legs. However, they are slowly getting chubbier :)

Today, we decided that we couldn't resist the beautiful weather outside and went for a really, really long walk. I put Elah in the moby, we packed Justin's backpack with diapers, wipes, and a few other essentials and headed out. We walked to the lake, around the lake, up the road to Nanny's, and then across town to mom's house. We probably walked over 3 miles today, and it felt AMAZING. I'm so looking forward to Spring, and NO MORE SNOW, so we can walk more often and I can really start losing more weight! I'm down to 218 now!

Elah is now in her 0-3 month clothing (I teared up a bit at that discovery)... she is just too long for her newborn stuff now! When we first brought her home until about 2 weeks ago she was still too small to swaddle in her swaddle blanket that we have. So tonight I decided to try doing it again, well guess what!?!?! She is finally tall enough to swaddle! AND she is sleeping in her bassinet, AND I'm in MY bed beside my hubby... YAY! We will see how tonight goes, and hopefully she'll give mommy a break and sleep in her bassinet ALL night (between feedings and diaper changse ofcourse)!

Wow! That was crazy and sporatic... but that's a pretty good update I think ;-)

Elah 2 Mommy 0

Ok. So Justin is back at work, today was his 2nd day back, and Elah KNOWS something is up. She must miss daddy rocking her to sleep after her middle of the night feeding, because she is bound and determined NOT to sleep. She will NOT sleep in her bassinet. She did great in it the entire time Justin was on vacation, now she refuses to sleep! So we are back in the recliner, but I'm hoping to transition back to the bassinet after I catch up on my sleep! I only got 2-3 hours yesterday, last night I got a bit more because I went to the recliner earlier in the night. Let's pray Elah is just being ornery for a few nights!

Currently, Elah is asleep in the mobywrap... the only way I could get her to sleep yesterday, and apparently the only way she will sleep today. Goodness!

My munchkin is up to 7.7lbs as of yesterday, according to the Wii Fit. She is growing like a weed! I know I mentioned that yesterday, but I wanted to add that when I weighed her, I also weighed myself... and I'm down 4 more pounds! With that said, I'm not as worried about seeing the number go down, I'm more looking forward to seeing my clothing size go down! I can't wait to go shopping w/Janelle to get new clothes! EEK! (I love buying clothes... Justin HATES it, lol!)

Anyways... with the exception of some sleepless nights, we are doing really well. I've found that between Elah, school, and keeping up with the laundry and housework that I don't have as much time to spend with friends... especially the Flints! I got to visit with them this week, and it was WONDERFUL. I MISS them! I practically lived at their house all of last year, so it's strange not seeing them almost everyday! We will be booking our cabin SOON for our May vacation with the Flints, and I can't wait! I'm not looking forward to Elah being almost 5 months old at that time, or the boys being a year and a half... the older twins being 7, or Joseph turning TEN... ugh. But the vacation is going to be a blast!

3 Weeks Old

AHHH!!!! I feel like I just wrote Elah's 2 week post! She is THREE WEEKS OLD. Which means in 7 days she will be a month old! AHHH! I though James & Jonathans first year went by fast... this is worse!

My munchkin is currently sleeping on her daddy's chest, comfortable as can be! And luckily her daddy is in a better mood than this morning... he doesn't handle sleepless nights as well as mommy does LOL. Love you babe!

There's not a whole lot going on this week really. Today I'm taking Elah to the primary school, where my mom (Nene) works, to let her friend Venita hold my baby girl. She's met her, but I wouldn't let mom take her out because I knew she would pitch a fit when we put her back in the carseat (we had a checkup that day). After that we are on a hunt for some more newborn sized WARM sleepers. The regular cotton ones aren't cutting it for nighttime... it always seems to be a little cold and drafty in our apartment at night. So those warm fuzzy sleepers are the best! Other than that... I'm hoping to sneak over to the Flint house one day this week (hinthintcoughcoughjanelle LOL) to visit and get away from my DEAR WONDERFUL grumpy husband... again, love you babe!

I'm also starting to think about a few things we need to get when Janelle and I finally take our shopping trip that we've been planning for MONTHS. I definately have to go buy me some new clothing. I had to wear maternity jeans today :(, my hips are far to wide for my regular jeans. Ugh. I'm losing weight, but my hips just aren't going back to normal. So I'm going to have to try on some different styled jeans or something. I also need some more nursing friendly tops. I haven't gone out in public all that much, or really attempted to breastfeed Elah in a REAL public place... so I've been wearing my nursing tanks and button up shirts. I also wore a low cut sweater from Old Navy that I bought when I was pregnant. I thought that it would fit me after having Elah, it's not maternity, but now it SWALLOWS me! It would be ok over a regular tshirt, but over just my nursing tank it just hangs on me. So yea... new jeans, new nursing tops, and I need new panties... LOL sorry! TMI. Mine are all too big as well, LOL.  I also would like to visit a store that carries various types of cloth diapers so I can get some more smaller diapers for Elah. We have plenty of one size diapers that she'll fit in when she puts on some more chunky cuteness and grows some.. until then, we need to find some to add to our stash!

School is going well, I'm staying ahead! I'm a little nervous about my biology course that starts next week... I'm doing so well with my 2 classes now, so we'll see how it goes!

2 Weeks Old....

Yes... really. My baby is 2 weeks old today! UGH! She's already growing to fast, it's bad enough that the Flint boys are TODDLERS now... now I have to cry over them AND Elah growing to fast!

Elah's 2 week checkup is tomorrow... hopefully we can make it out to Asheville tomorrow! We weighed Elah on the Wii Fit the other day and she's gained almost a full pound since her first checkup! She eats like a champ, and I swear she's going through a growth spurt... she eats ALL the time. Luckily last night she decided to give mommy a break and not get up EVERY 2 hours. I fed her around 9pm, again at midnight, and then again at 4am and 7am. So we got a few extra hours sleep in there!

Elah is official now... we got her social security card in the mail, her insurance card.... and now we just need to get an official copy of her birth certificate. It still amazes me that she's even here and not beating me up from inside my belly! I can't even explain to you how good of a baby she is. She has her cranky moments ofcourse, but she's so down to earth and really only gets mad if she has a dirty diaper or if she's hungry. She was a LOT cranky today however... but that was Nene's fault, not mine! LOL Nene took us to the grocery store and ofcourse insisted on carrying her instead of leaving her sleeping in her car seat.... so when we went to put her BACK in the car seat she SCREAMED. She definately enjoys being held! She was up from 10am-almost 2pm... and as soon as she finished eating and put her head on my chest... she was OUT. She was SO tired!

As for me... I am happy to report that my start to the new year is going really well! I have a goal to lose weight this year. I'm hoping to get down to a size 12 again by my 24th birthday (March 2012)... might not sound small to a lot of you skinny mini's out there... but that's healthy for me. I like my curves, and that's a good size that I'm comfortable with, AND that's the size I was before J & I started dating in high school! I'm down almost 25 pounds from my prepregnancy weight, so I'm in a few pairs of my prepregnancy jeans already. Those are size 18, my hips are still a good deal wider however, so the rest of my jeans (size 16) that fit comfortably prior to being preggo are a bit tight still. I'm excited about this new journey... mom is trying to lose weight, Janelle is trying to lose weight, and J wants to get healthier as well. So I know I have lots of support.... and knowing that my beautiful little girl will be watching me is inspiration enough!