Fresh Food.... Duh!

I have been making Audrey's baby and finger food since she started eating them. I want my child to develop healthy eating habits, and make sure she is getting all the vitamins and minerals she needs. Sounds good, right?? The pediatrician LOVES the fact that I use all fresh food, and my sweet girl is healthy as can be.
In my "quest" for all things healthy, I convinced Jeremy to get a physical. Well.... Reality check! My husband has high blood pressure and cholesterol. He is currently on medication for both. He is only 30 years old. We were talking about his follow up appointment last week and I had a minor meltdown. I am "cooking" healthy meals for Audrey and feeding him garbage.(not that he complains). Yay me! So we came up with a plan.

Our plan is a budget/diet decision. Here's the scoop..
I LOVE to coupon, but in reality, there are no coupons for fresh food. Most of the coupons I find are for processed food, cleaning supplies, and personal care. I will continue couponing for cleaning supplies, personal care items, and anything else I can ( I saved $25 Sunday). I will NOT force myself into a corner couponing at the grocery store from this point on! I decided to compromise on the budget like so : I spend $50 a week on groceries, by planning our meals. I look at the sale ads, decide which fresh veggies, etc. are a good price, and plan meals accordingly. I do not shop in the "middle" of the grocery store, avoiding most processed foods. I am the primary cook (well, only cook) in our house, and I will not put my child or husband in danger by contributing to poor health. I also need to be a positive role model in our daughter's life. I will not parent by the "do as I say not as I do" philosophy, so I must lead by example and take better care of myself!! When I was pregnant I was super careful about EVERYTHING I ate, so since we are "trying" I am going to make myself go back into "prep" mode. It seems easier for me to think of it that way, as opposed to thinking of "dieting".

So, basically this is not a "diet"; it is a complete lifestyle change in the Moreland house. I am sure there will be a few "slip ups" after all, I am a true country girl and do enjoy my fried foods, but I am going to give it my best shot!!

Is that an earthquake?

Nope, it's my 9 month old shaking her crib. Recently, little Ms. Audrey discovered she could stand up in her crib. No big deal, we just lowered the mattress to the lowest spot. Shortly after she discovered she could stand up, she discovered she could shake the entire crib! Well apparently, that is great fun when you are 9 months old..who knew? It kind of freaked me out at first, and I had no clue what to do. I would go upstairs, she would look at me, smile, wave, and say "hi", then reach for me. Every single time! Well tonight, I decided to try my own version of bed time manners, and picked her up, laid her down and said "bed time". It was darn near close to impossible not to pick her up and rock her, but she has been putting herself to sleep for the longest time now, and I don't want to give her a crutch at this point. But, oh how I wanted to cuddle that sweet baby girl. So far, that has seemed to work. I went up twice tonight, and that's it.

Progress!

9 month stats

This little girl of ours is just going to be petite!

Weight: 18 pounds 12 ounces.
Height: 27 inches

There were no shots this time, thank goodness!! The poor little twerp had a terrible cold, and a double ear infection, so I was relieved she wouldn't experience more discomfort! It never ceases to amaze me how happy this kid is, ALL the time. Unless you really know her personality and demeanor, you can't tell when she is really sick! That alone, is a blessing and "curse". I rarely have to deal with a fussy baby, blessing. The day care workers not being able to tell she "doesn't feel good", curse. She is always happy, blessing! I guess it's just frustrating when I want to make sure she's comfortable, gets plenty of sleep, and isn't overstimulated, and people look at me and say she doesn't act like she's sick. I know she doesn't act like she's sick, but I don't want to take advantage of her good/happy demeanor. I know, I know, I am a paranoid momma!!

Hopefully, I will get over the paranoia one day. I think every momma experiences some degree of paranoia in some aspect of their kid's lives, mine just happens to be a little elevated when my sweet baby girl is sick... I am sure I will get over it....maybe.... I hope! ;)

Juggling life in january...

Well, Ms. Audrey is 9.5 months old... and is developing quite the "personality". She has learned she can throw things, cruise along the furniture, fake cough, crawl away from mommy when she says no, stand up and shake her crib, smile when daddy says no, and he will cave in, give hugs, and throw tantrums.. Fun stuff!! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE being a mom.. it's better than I ever imagined!

In the mean time, I am in the beginning stages of planning her 1st birthday party (sniff, sniff).

Oh, yeah, I also received a job transfer!!! WOO HOO!! I am going to be 40 minutes from home as opposed to 1 hour and 20 minutes from home. I can work with that!!

So, here's what I have decided so far....

Discipline must begin for Ms. Audrey! I don't want to do it, but I will not raise a brat or one of "those" kids. But, more importantly, kids thrive better with boundaries and consequences. My biggest obstacle right now is...drum roll please... Daddy!! He thinks everything Ms. Audrey does is funny, so of course, she repeats the bad behavior. In his defense, he is working on it, and trying to contain himself. We shall see!

I am looking forward to have 2.5 more hours in my life that are not dedicated to driving. I actually have time to do one of my favorite things, COOK! I also have more time with my little twerp! Life is definitely getting better!

Audrey's 1st birthday party is going to be at home, surrounded by the most important people in her life. I want to keep it relatively small so she doesn't get overwhelmed, but I want to make it special,yet reasonable! Decisions, Decisions....

In addition to my crazy January (it's only the 10th, in case you didn't read the date stamp), we are going ahead with the "plan" to have baby #2. (I forgot how horrible prenatal vitamins are!) Honestly, this time around, it's pretty stress free! If it happens, FANTASTIC, if not, that's ok too. I have been looking around at some adoption agencies (again) and we are leaning heavily to a few specific countries, but haven't decided yet. Jeremy, says the baby will pick us long before we pick him/her, if adoption is the way we go. I really think he is absolutely right. Everything in our lives has worked out better than either of us could have planned (and believe me, I am a planner) so I am sure when we are ready to adopt, some little guy/gal will know pull on our heart strings, and be ours!!!

Well, that's my ramble for tonight! Hopefully I will get back in the swing of blogging more consistently~

The 5 days of Christmas...

yes, that's right! 5 days of Christmas!!
Audrey's first Christmas was phenomenal!! We had such a wonderful time! I can hardly wiat until next year. Unfortunately, I felt like we over exhausted her. We had 5 Christmases, 5 days in a row and ended up with an overtired, screaming baby. Next year, my goal is to plan MUCH better.

Thursday night, we had Christmas with my sister. Friday night we had Christmas with Jeremy's Granny and family, Saturday, santa stopped by, we went to Nana's then back home for dinner. Sunday we had Christmas with Jeremy's other granny, Jeremy's dad, and then immediately went to have Christmas with his step-dad's family. Monday night we had Christmas with my dad. Of course, in between all this I was working 9 hour days, driving 3 hours a day and only had Christmas day off... Sound like it was out of control?? Well, it kind of was!
Obviously, Jeremy and I knew Audrey was tired, but since she's NEVER fussy, very few people understood our concern. Then by 8:30 or 9pm, we had an exhausted, screaming baby. Like I said, next year we will definitely plan better!

With that said, Christmas was wonderful!! Obviously, Ms. Audrey is ridiculously spoiled by EVERYONE! My favorite part of the whole season, was sitting her in front of the Christmas tree, Christmas morning and just looking at her little face. She was in AWE! She just looked at the tree, then the gifts, then looked at us, back to the gifts, and the cutest little smile came across her face. Obiously, she was just excited to be able to tear into the gifts (which I wrapped in adorable, sparkly paper for her), and be around the tree, but it was still adorable!! I can hardly wait until next year. I am sure it will go down in the books as an awesome Christmas, expecially since Kayden will be up and active. I have a feeling the two of them will wreak havoc on Nana's house next year, and I cannot wait.

I have a ton of pics to post later, but I wanted to make sure I put a "little" blog up about Christmas. It is my absolute favorite time of the year, and I was able to record some of Audrey's 1st Christmas. I feel Christmas takes on a whole new meaning when you are a mommy. It truly does become about someone else....hence the selflessness of the season.....