The D Word

I am on a diet. Let me start from the beginning. On September 10, 2010, on our 5 year anniversary, I got pregnant with our sweet little girl. Yes, I know the exact date, isn't that crazy? We went to Atlanta to see the Avett Bros. It was magical. {You can decide for yourself if I'm talking about the concert or the conception ;)} At the time I weighed 138 lbs, a little heavy for me. My ideal weight is 125, which, ironically enough, I ended up weighing in at at my December OB appointment that year! Sweet baby girl made me very, very ill. I didn't start gaining weight until well into my second trimester. I ate a lot of brownies, and "rounded out" my pregnancy weighing about 175 lbs. I know. Yikes. I have proof of said weight gain all over my belly and waist line and bosom. Not a pretty sight, my friends! Once our little angel decided to make her arrival, I dropped 20 lbs immediately down to 155. Nursed, nursed, and nursed some more and settled in at 150. I was hoping that nursing would take care of all my baby weight, but it became apparent when the scale stopped moving that I would have to {dramatic pause} diet. I knew that I wasn't going to start the journey toward my ideal weight of 125 in November, I mean Thanksgiving, hello! Or December...Christmas cookies, hello! Besides that, I was still nursing Nora in the morning and before she went to bed, so, I really couldn't diet. It became obvious that Nora was needing more food than I could give her around mid-December, so I bit the bullet and weaned her. {More on nursing in another post!} With January looming, I knew that it was time.

I asked Matt for a Weight Watchers Online membership for Christmas and a new pair of sneakers for my birthday. I started on January 1. I've given myself 1 3 month period to lose 25 pounds. About 1 month into it, and it's going pretty well! The first week and half was the hardest, I was HUNGRY! My dear cousin Jenny has really encouraged me to stick with it and drink lots of water, which I wasn't doing. Now I'm down 7 pounds and started exercising last week to help that scale move FASTER! It's actually kind of fun now, I try to get as much nutrition and food as possible for the least amount of points. Here is a typical day for me:

Breakfast:
Homemade Yogurt {I'll be posting about this later!}
Low-Fat Granola

Snack:
Coffee with Fat-Free Creamer
Clementine Orange

Lunch:
Egg Salad on a English Muffin

Snack:
Glass of milk with 1 cup of frozen blueberries and a packet of splenda

Dinner:
Lower Fat Beef Chili (for example).

I picked up a new cookbook with some Christmas money at Target. Everyday Food LIGHT from the Kitchen's of Martha Stewart Living. It is fantastic. I don't feel deprived (at dinner) and the recipes are simple and delicious!

Cloth Diapers

I'm often asked which brand of cloth diapers are my favorite. Not really. I totally lied about that. It's never happened. But, I want to write about it, and it's my blog, gosh darnit! I promise I'll follow up with something more interesting to those who are not interested in poop management. The truth is, I like different diapers for different things. I am so glad that I varied my stash when I was collecting diapers before Nora was born! Maybe I should start with why we chose to cloth diaper...and then get to the rest. Here were my reasons:

1. Save money. It can cost an average of around $2500 to diaper a child from birth to potty training. I spent right around $600 out of pocket, and I was so blessed to have a Cloth Diaper Shower. I registered on KellysCloset.com. It was so easy!
2. Cloth diapered babies do not get diaper rash (very often).
3. Cloth diapered babies potty train faster (I'll let you know).
4. I like to be different (Matt made sure I added this one, it's true though).

And that's pretty much it. All of the above was completely based on months of extensive research before Nora was born, not practical application. Here we are 8 months into it, and it's really no big deal. Once you get your laundry routine down, you're money! {I've never used that phrase in my life, it seemed appropriate though} Matt was adamantly opposed, and under most circumstances I totally yield to his entire "head of household" thing. But, I think he figured out that I wasn't going to give in on this one, and believe it or not, he is so thankful that we cloth diaper! I might even get him to write about it! Alright, so this is becoming a little lengthy, so I'll leave it at that for today, and I'll come back with my favorites another time! I'll also be discussing in detail: poop management, overnight options, laundry detergent, hemp inserts and other things. It's exciting stuff, folks!

Here we go.

I've decided to join the thousands of mommies that are blogging. Do I have anything unique to contribute? I'm not so sure. Regardless, I'm doing this thing. I have a few topics that I'd like to share with you, my loyal blog readers (that don't yet exist). One thing that I want to be clear about is this: being a wife and a mommy is amazing, it's also really hard sometimes. Just because I'm writing about it, I by no means think that I am better at it than anyone else! All of us have different strengths and weaknesses, and I think that we'd all be better off if we were a little less hard on each other, a little less judgmental, and a little more encouraging. So I hope that you are encouraged, not left feeling inadequate, as I often am after reading some of the blogs I frequent. Totally not their fault, definitely my own insecurities rearing their ugly heads! So what I'm trying to say is...thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy the show!