I've always thought that I was very fortunate as a first time mom because Alexa has been a pretty awesome sleeper from day one. Did she wake up every 2-3 hours for the first six weeks? Yes, but she also always slept really well during down time whether it was day or night. She slept in the stroller, in her crib, on us, with us, pretty much anywhere. Right around 4 months old she decided that she only wanted to sleep in her crib. At first it made it a little bit difficult to get household chores done and to run errands, but once I figured out her new schedule it worked. And who's going to complain because their baby likes to sleep in their crib?! Not me! Right now though, we are dealing with sleep regression hell.
Since the 4 month sleep change she really hasn't liked napping in the car, her stroller or any bed that is not her own. When we went on vacation to Poland we found out how serious she was about her crib and her crib only. Okay, she doesn't sleep on vacation, but she was happy and social all day long...we just suffered from sleepless nights!
Now we are on to what the professionals call the 8 month sleep regression. It is hell. Ever since we went to Germany Alexa has not slept through the night. (Through the night for us means only waking up once in the middle of the night) Not sleeping in Germany was not a big deal. I knew what to expect ahead of time and so we just went with the flow. Almost 6 weeks later though and it has gotten real old. Bedtime has become a nightmare, a horror and my most hated time of the day. Bedtime lasts anywhere from 2-4 hours. It is a screaming, crying, rocking, singing, strolling, crying (me this time) horror. We have tried letting her cry it out. We have tried rocking her to sleeping, nursing her to sleep, singing her to sleep, walking her around the apartment, taking her for walks in the stroller (inside and outside), books, baths, chamomile tea, movies, co-sleeping...we have tried it all (unless you can think of something else then please do tell!). I just want my gorgeous sleeping girl back. She is happy by day and miserable by night. She is teething, has learned to sit up, crawl, and stand up. Her mind must be going a mile a minute, but there NEEDS to be a pause button! She needs sleep to continuing growing and learning cool new things and I need sleep before I lose my mind.
I have found an ebook that I am going to read with tips on helping your little one sleep. I am hoping, praying and wishing that it has something insightful in it. This mama is seriously beat.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
The Never Ending Battle of the Bulge: Mommy Makeover - Week 15
**UPDATE** I did in fact weigh myself on Tuesday and I gained .1kg from last week. Boo. Hopefully I'll do better at the next weigh in.
Okay, get ready for my pity party....
Waah waah waah I still have 10 kilos (22 pounds) of baby weight to lose. Waah waah waah I eat chocolate and am no longer losing weight. Waah waah waah I hate everything today because I forgot to weigh myself before breakfast and did so after I ate two slices of toast, eggs and a coffee and now I am sad because the scale went up instead of down. Oh woah is me.
Okay, this is pathetic. I know it is. I failed to do any of the things I wanted to do last week...walk a 5k - nope, new tunes - nada, motivation - hahahahaha. One cool thing I did (twice) last week was run over 3k. The first time I ran 3.2k (2 miles!!) I felt amazing and pumped and a little bit like I was going to die. The second time I ran 3k it was with a friend and we were talking and running and I pretty much felt like I was going to die most of the time. Talking and running is HARD! I am looking forward to my run tonight. Baby girl has been kicking my butt day and night and the lack of sleep is definitely starting to affect me. Running is pretty much keeping me sane right now.
The stupid scale said I gained .5kg this week...I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow morning BEFORE breakfast and we'll call that this week's weigh in.
Happy Monday from the cranky chubby mama over here!
Okay, get ready for my pity party....
Waah waah waah I still have 10 kilos (22 pounds) of baby weight to lose. Waah waah waah I eat chocolate and am no longer losing weight. Waah waah waah I hate everything today because I forgot to weigh myself before breakfast and did so after I ate two slices of toast, eggs and a coffee and now I am sad because the scale went up instead of down. Oh woah is me.
Okay, this is pathetic. I know it is. I failed to do any of the things I wanted to do last week...walk a 5k - nope, new tunes - nada, motivation - hahahahaha. One cool thing I did (twice) last week was run over 3k. The first time I ran 3.2k (2 miles!!) I felt amazing and pumped and a little bit like I was going to die. The second time I ran 3k it was with a friend and we were talking and running and I pretty much felt like I was going to die most of the time. Talking and running is HARD! I am looking forward to my run tonight. Baby girl has been kicking my butt day and night and the lack of sleep is definitely starting to affect me. Running is pretty much keeping me sane right now.
The stupid scale said I gained .5kg this week...I'm going to weigh myself tomorrow morning BEFORE breakfast and we'll call that this week's weigh in.
Happy Monday from the cranky chubby mama over here!
Friday, October 18, 2013
Spinach Barley Soup
Yesterday was a cold and windy fall day...perfect weather for soup and grilled cheese. I decided to use what was left in the fridge and here is what I came up with...
Ingredients:
1 cup of cooked Barley
1 large carrot washed, peeled and chopped
1/2 sm. onion, peeled and chopped
1 scallion chopped
1/4 cup frozen spinach (if your frozen spinach comes in cubes...1 large cube or 2 small cubes)
1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon
1 liter water
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Directions:
In a pot, pour in water and mix in bouillon heat on medium heat. Cut carrots, onions and scallions and add them to the pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-high and cook for 5 minutes. Add barley and spinach. Cook on medium-high for 15-20 minutes, or until spinach is no longer frozen and carrots can be easily pierced with a fork.
Top with parmesan cheese and serve hot. Makes about 3 large bowlfuls.
Baby food version....
I took one full ladle of the bulky part of the soup plus 1/3 of a ladle of broth and pureed this for Alexa. She LOVED it!
Ingredients:
1 cup of cooked Barley
1 large carrot washed, peeled and chopped
1/2 sm. onion, peeled and chopped
1 scallion chopped
1/4 cup frozen spinach (if your frozen spinach comes in cubes...1 large cube or 2 small cubes)
1 teaspoon vegetable bouillon
1 liter water
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Directions:
In a pot, pour in water and mix in bouillon heat on medium heat. Cut carrots, onions and scallions and add them to the pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-high and cook for 5 minutes. Add barley and spinach. Cook on medium-high for 15-20 minutes, or until spinach is no longer frozen and carrots can be easily pierced with a fork.
Top with parmesan cheese and serve hot. Makes about 3 large bowlfuls.
Baby food version....
I took one full ladle of the bulky part of the soup plus 1/3 of a ladle of broth and pureed this for Alexa. She LOVED it!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
My Little Bean's Growing Up
This kid is killing me! Instead of taking a nap yesterday, Alexa decided she was going to play in her crib. Fine. After a few minutes of her repeatedly hitting the same key on her crib piano I hear her banging. She's banging and banging, so I go into her room to see what the problem is and instead I find this...
Does this look like sleeping? No. Does this look like trouble? YES! Apparently she can sit up in her crib now. The mattress needs to be lowered immediately! Except I have no clue how to do it. Last night she slept in bed with me and this afternoon Michael was able to lower the mattress.
Look at my big girl sleeping in her bed.
Does this look like sleeping? No. Does this look like trouble? YES! Apparently she can sit up in her crib now. The mattress needs to be lowered immediately! Except I have no clue how to do it. Last night she slept in bed with me and this afternoon Michael was able to lower the mattress.
Look at my big girl sleeping in her bed.
Fall Photoshoot
My little pumpkin bean
This past weekend the weather was absolutely GORGEOUS! 100% Fall perfection. We finally have some gorgeous colored leaves on the trees and littering the ground. The sky was clear blue, the sun was out and there was a slight chill in the air. It was a perfect, crisp fall day. Have I mentioned it was absolutely perfect?!
Michael and I borrowed his dad's hardcore, fancy camera and set out to get some great family photos...we didn't exactly succeed on the family photo front, but we did get some really cute pictures of Alexa!
Absolute favorite pouty face picture!
This was the very best family picture we took...and we took about 50.
We will try again next weekend!
Don't you just want to eat this baby up!
Look at how gorgeous the leaves are!!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
As you know, I've been on a crazy healthy cooking kick for quite a while now. I love finding recipes online and tweaking them to fit what I'm looking for (or what's in my fridge). Well, last week I tried my hand at making up my own muffin recipe. I was shocked and amazed that the muffins actually came out looking like muffins...even better, they tasted DELICIOUS!! They are even Alexa approved!
Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
Ingredients:
3 mashed bananas
2 heaping Tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
2 heaping Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup whole wheat flour (Dinkelvollkorn mehl)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180C. Using a large bowl and a spoon (no mixer needed!), mix the ingredients in the order listed. Once all ingredients are well mixed, use a tablespoon to fill the muffin trays...11/2 Tablespoons of batter per muffin. Reduce oven temp to 175C and bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 10 muffins.
*I used silicon baking trays. Baking time may need to be adjusted for other types of muffin pans.
Whole Wheat Banana Muffins
Ingredients:
3 mashed bananas
2 heaping Tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
2 heaping Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup whole wheat flour (Dinkelvollkorn mehl)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 180C. Using a large bowl and a spoon (no mixer needed!), mix the ingredients in the order listed. Once all ingredients are well mixed, use a tablespoon to fill the muffin trays...11/2 Tablespoons of batter per muffin. Reduce oven temp to 175C and bake for 15-20 minutes. Makes 10 muffins.
*I used silicon baking trays. Baking time may need to be adjusted for other types of muffin pans.
Monday, October 14, 2013
Mommy Makeover - Week 14
I'm starting to think that there will never be an end to my mommy makeover..I'm working really hard (and sometimes totally slacking off), but I feel stuck. What a hot mess this has turned into! I mean, yes, I've started exercising way more than I ever had before and I'm even enjoying it! Yes, yes, not only am I eating healthier, but Michael has also jumped on the bandwagon and is exercising more and also eating healthier. And yes, I am still losing weight. BUT it's going soooooo slowly! I'd like to drop a quick 5 pounds to make myself feel better. Do you hear that weight loss gods? A quick 5-er would do me wonders! K thanks.
Ugh, another Monday, another weigh in day. At least this week I dropped a little bit of weight...a whole .6 kg (1.32 lb) whoopdidodah. I can't get off this current kilo...it's killing me! I like food too much to starve myself. What the heck do I do next?
Maybe I can amp up the walking. I've been having a lot of trouble getting more than 1-2 runs in each week because I have no one to watch the little bean. Mommy and Me luckily royally kicks my butt every Wednesday...it's just the other six days of the week where I'm struggling to find time and energy to fit in a work out, a run or even a walk.
This week's goals:
*Find motivation
*Download some new workout tunes
*Walk a 5k
Ugh, another Monday, another weigh in day. At least this week I dropped a little bit of weight...a whole .6 kg (1.32 lb) whoopdidodah. I can't get off this current kilo...it's killing me! I like food too much to starve myself. What the heck do I do next?
Maybe I can amp up the walking. I've been having a lot of trouble getting more than 1-2 runs in each week because I have no one to watch the little bean. Mommy and Me luckily royally kicks my butt every Wednesday...it's just the other six days of the week where I'm struggling to find time and energy to fit in a work out, a run or even a walk.
This week's goals:
*Find motivation
*Download some new workout tunes
*Walk a 5k
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