9 Months Old!

Bear turned 9 months old last week on the 3rd! Boy, where does time go?! I know this sounds BEYOND cliche but I can not believe he will be a year old in just 3 months! And walking soon too, oh my. I am exited and sad all at the same time. Sometimes I see kids that are like 7 or 8 and I get kinda sad thinking one day my little baby will be that big and not a baby anymore, but then I think to myself "Seriously stop being crazy that won't be for another 8 years!" lol

We took Bear to the doctor last week for his 9 month wellness checkup and shots. He got only one shot this time, the one for Hepatitis B. I do not remember his height off the top of my head but I do remember it is in the 4th to 6th percentile. His weight actually went down to 16.8 lbs and he was in the 38th percentile at 6 months for weight but now he is the 4th :O. The doctor seemed sorta worried but not really. She said we just need to kinda keep an eye on it. We have a follow up appointment in two weeks to check on him again. He also has a rash all over his legs, it does not seem to be irritating him at all and he has had it since his 6 month doctor visit. This time around the doctor seemed sorta worried. She told us it may be scabies but that does not really make sense because scabies makes you itch like crazy and is also highly contagious, and neither Anthony nor I have the rash. She prescribed us some cream and told us to switch to Dove soap and she plans to check on that in two weeks to see if it got better. If it did not she said she plans to try and treat him for scabies (makes no sense but w.e., hopefully the cream works).

In other news! Bear got two little teeth in! They are the front bottom two and they came in both at the same time on September 25th when he was 8 months and 3 weeks old! I will be sure to post pics as soon as I get some, he moves A LOT and it has been really hard to get a pic of his teeth that is in focus.

He is still eating 8 oz of formula every 3-4 hours and two jars a baby food a day along with baby snacks in between.

He is still in a size three diaper as well. He has outgrown a few 3/6 months outfits now and is starting to grow into more 6-9 months ones. I ordered his Halloween shirt in a size 12 months because that is the smallest size they had, hopefully it fits :O

His temper is getting worst lol. He screams at the top of his lungs ALL.THE.TIME now. If he is happy, sad, mad, w.e. he is always screaming. I do not mean screaming as in crying but rather screaming like a frightened little girl. I think it may be because he just likes the way it sounds?

We went out to eat at Gators Dockside and we ordered him his first meal at a restaurant. It was mashed potatoes. He ate them all up and was happy as a clam! And yea we had to sit outside so we did not disturb anyone with his ear piercing screams while they ate dinner lol.

He is starting to learn more and more how to get into things. Before we could cover stuff up to get him to leave it alone, now he tries to remove the covers and he tries to go around chairs that are blocking things he should not get into as well, where as before he just saw the chair and gave up instantly.

He is sleeping really well these days. He never wakes up in the middle of night anymore like he used to. He goes to sleep between 6:30 PM and 8:30 PM and sleeps until 7:30 AM. He then either takes a bottle and goes back to bed until around 9-10 or on some days he will stay up and then take a bottle at ten and then a nap. He is taking about 2 good long naps a day between 2-4 hours long one in the morning and one in the evening.

He is no longer interested in his toys. Now all he wants to play with is Mommy and Daddy's stuff. His favorites are cords, the Internet boxes, the cell phone, crayons, snack containers, keys and basically anything that is NOT a toy lol.

I have lots of pictures but they are all on my camera SD still, so I will be making a post with them as soon as I find time to upload and edit them.

In the mean time, have a great Thursday! Only one more day to Friday! Woot!

Just When Everything Seems to be Going Great....

My car decides to blow a gasket.

I finally got to where the fiances were ok for me to give my lawyer $600 this month and still have a considerable amount of money left over. Then on Friday my car blew a gasket. My car van, is very old. It is pushing 20 years! To get this fixed it would cost between $400 and $1000 and I just do not feel that I want to put that much money into this van. So we are being forced to buy a new one. Which is VERY inconvenient, because there goes all our money! Now we are going to be super tight for the rest of the month :[ and on top of that we are going to have to make monthly payments on the new one because we do not have enough money to pay for it in full ATM. So we are going to be just a little more broke each month.

It's crazy how I finally come into some money and things just keep coming up and coming up. First it was my lawyer and now it's my car. Makes me wonder what will be next? Sigh.

On the bright side though... because no one likes a downer... at least we have enough money to get a new car.

Hope everyone's Monday is going well!

I'm Just a Normal Person

This morning I woke up and I felt different. I felt like something hit me out of no where, the realization that I am just a normal person and for the first time in my life, that's okay with me.

I get up, I go to work, come home, eat dinner, spend time with my family, work on my hobby of Etsy, and I go to bed and do it again the next day. And I LOVE it. I am 100% satisfied with the way my life is. It is just so... perfect. Don't get me wrong I have my issues, my family has their issues, I am currently is a very ugly custody battle, and life is not perfect... but it is at the same time.

For the longest time I thought that I was more than a normal person. I thought I was going to rise up and do something AMAZING! Like save a ton of people or create something that everyone needs or wants. Or I thought I was going to win the lotto. I was waiting on something HUGE to happen in my life. But today I realized, it all ready has happened. I am there. I hit the lotto, all I had to do was sit back and take a look at how blessed I am.

I feel for the very first time in my life... WHOLE. I feel like I am so blessed that I have everything that I need and everything that I want is slowly trickling in. I have a family that loves me. I have an amazing boyfriend, two beautiful sons, a roof over my head, a car in the parking lot, a job that brings in enough money to pay the bills, a side business to keep me entertained, insurance for me and my son, great health, food in my belly and love all around me. I am just in shock at how blessed I truly am.

For the longest time I had not even half of these things. I was very depressed all the time and I thought I would never be loved and I would never be free and I would never have any of the things that I have today, but I was wrong! It was hard but I got through those rough times and now I feel great. I feel on top of the world. I feel like this is the way my life is supposed to be. I could live like this for the rest of my life and be 100% content.

I am just a normal person. Yep that's me. And I'm ok with that. incredibly satisfied with that.

Eating Healthy Challenge Realizations

So I started my challenge of eating healthy on Tuesday night. So far it is going.... ok. I made some big mistakes though.

I bought WAY too much spinach and lettuce for the salads and a lot of it will go bad before I even get to eat it. I also then realized that I REALLY can not eat a whole salad and a fruit at work for lunch! I just get way to full and I am not used to feeling so full at work, it makes me tired and that causes issues. So I have decided to only take a fruit to work for lunch and no salad. Well.... this left me with another issue.... I made 14 salads on Tuesday night (7 days worth at 2 salads a day). Now I know that half of those will end up in the trash because there is no way they will last two weeks in the fridge. So I guess lesson learned!

As for the eating, I tried out brown rice and I actually REALLY like it! I thought it was gonna taste ick but I was wrong, to my surprise I thought it was really yummy. After eating my salad, 1 cup of rice, and a fruit, I was EXTREMELY full! I seriously never thought that would happen. I almost could not eat that much. So I am having no issues with getting enough food or feeling full.

The main issue I am fighting is the salads are not appetizing to me at this point. I am not sure why that is. I ate them before when I was on a diet and they seemed fine. Maybe my taste buds changed? The main thing that is bothering me is the dressing. I am currently eating fat free dressing only - I have a few to select from but none are seeming to hit the spot! I have thought about just buying normal dressing that is not fat free (losing weight is NOT the point of this diet, so it would not matter how many calories that had either way) but I found that most of the dressing I wanted to buy like ranch, honey mustard, creamy Cesar etc. all have milk or milk products in them, so they are not dairy free. And I do not want to consume any dairy. So I am still left with icky dressing at the end of the day. Hopefully I can think of a way around this or find a dressing that works for me. I was also thinking about dropping the salad all together and just eating boiled chicken, brown rice, and steamed veggies every night for dinner. I may just end up doing this in the end if I can not figure out the dressing thing. The only thing with that is it would require a lot more work because I would need to cook the chicken and steam the veggies where as now all I have to do is chop up salad once a week.

I have also been thinking about some other foods that would be okay to add to the list. I decided it would be okay to eat peanut butter (I was worried about this before because it is high in fat and calories), shrimp or any fish for that matter (plain with just salt and pepper), lime juice or lemon juice for sprinkling on stuff like salads or seafood, olive oil for cooking or to use in salad dressings if I ever made my own and hummus for spreading on toast or dipping veggies (the plain kind only though). I am thinking I am going to eliminate the fat free turkey lunch meat as well because that is very processed. I think for meat I will just stick to normal old skinless boneless chicken and just cook it myself.

Lots and lots to think about on this diet! Goodness who knew eating could be so complicated!

Goals: October

Here is how I did on last month's goals:

1. Drink more fluids! and stick to it! - Check I am doing good drinking Gatorade now and it is not as much as I should be drinking but I am doing WAY better than before.
2. Start visitation with Seth - This did not get done but it was not my fault. Has to do with the lawyers (you can read all about it once the case is over as I am not posting anything about the custody case until it is 100% over)
3. Reach 100 sales on Etsy - CHECK!!!! So exited about this one! Not only did I reach 100 I got to 111.
4. Launch a Halloween line on Etsy - Check. The line I listed is pathetic and it only has three products so far but I have one more to list as well as a Thanksgiving item all ready I just have to edit the pics.
5. Go to church again (at least once) - FAIL. My sister has not asked me about this at all actually, I don't think she is wanted to do it anymore. I am sorta not so happy with her because I have been wanting to hang out and she has been blowing me off as of late, but I am going to see her in a few days for my other sister's birthday dinner, so we shall see then how things go over with her.
6. Finish organizing my bedroom and craft area - FAIL.
7. Sell all the stuff I currently have listed on Craigslist - I sold half of the stuff I have listed so that counts for something at least right? lol
8. Take more pictures of Bear (these last few months I have taken about half as much as I did in past months) - Check. I did not take as many as I wanted to and a lot of the pics are of him eating new foods so they look very similar lol but never the less I still got a lot of pics in this month.
9. Blog, blog, blog! I have been away for so long, I really want to get back into the habit of blogging all the time. - Check. I did not post a blog everyday but I did a pretty good job at posting most of the days.
10. Give the master bath and the kitchen a sparkling clean scrub down. (I do spot clean but it has been a while since I actually got down on my hands and knees and SCRUBBED). - Half check? I did the kitchen but not the bathroom. 

Guess I can't really put a percent on the amount of goals that got accomplished for September because lots of them were half way and then there was the visitation thing that really was not a doable thing. So I am just going to say.... I feel good about the amount of stuff that got accomplished.

Now for October's Goals!

1. Stick to eating healthy challenge 100% with NO slip ups
2. Finish organizing my bedroom and craft area
3. Better organize Bear's closet
4. Scrub down the master bath
5. Purchase a new jacket and a Halloween costume for Bear if the funds are okay to do so
6. Take Bear to a pumpkin patch to have pics taken
7. Figure out a way to stop being late to work everyday
8. Attempt to sell all the stuff that is in the "sell on eBay" bag in Bear's room
9. Start looking into Christmas Line and what I am going to be listing
10. List at least 4 new products on Etsy (not including the skeletons or turkeys)

Challenges are... Challenging!

So I was supposed to start my 18 week challenge today! But..... I didn't, well not yet anyways, I plan to start at dinner time. I know, I know... PATHETIC that I can not even start when I planned to but the reasoning behind this is because Anthony and I received a box from Puerto Rico yesterday containing 6 large avocados and he REALLY wanted to make a very large Spanish meal. So we made the meal and it took all the energy out of me and I was much too tired to chop veggies for salads afterwards. So I will do my chopping later today when I get home from work!

I have also decided to change my challenge up a little bit because sometimes life hits you in the head... like yesterday, I went to Publix to buy all the stuff for my salads I am going to be eating and I FORGOT to get the fat free turkey! So Anthony suggested I just cook up some chicken and throw it in there, I thought about that and then realized what would be the big deal? This challenge is more about self discipline than it is about losing weight. So if I go over calorie limits or don't lose weight, it won't matter just as long as I stick to the guidelines (which I changed).

Before I was going to be eating the same thing everyday in the same amounts, with little variation depending on what vegetables and fruits are on sale. I had it all set up per oz and everything to where I would have a good amount of calories for losing weight, but now I am not so much wanting to focus this on losing weight as I just want to focus this on eating healthy and getting my gastric issues under control.

So now, I am using the following guidelines and not worrying about the amounts I eat or the calories I consume as long as I ONLY eat what is in this list I will feel like I accomplished what I set out to do.

Here is the list of the things that I will be consuming over the next 18 weeks -

*Vegetables (fresh only, no canned or jarred or frozen or processed)
*Fruit (fresh only, no canned or jarred or frozen or processed)
*Dressing (in small amounts only)
*Gatorade
*100% Fruit/Vegetable Juice (NOT from concentrate with NO additives what so ever)
*Water
*Brown Rice
*White Rice
*Tri-Color Pasta (with salt and pepper only)
*Whole Grain Pasta (with salt and pepper only)
*Whole Grain Bread
*Turkey (fat free lunch meat)
*Chicken (cooked with nothing but salt and pepper)
*Tuna (packed in water only)
*Soy Sauce (low sodium only)
*Coffee
*Non-Dairy Creamer

And there may be things added to the list along the way if I feel that they are healthy enough to eat. It seems like I keep thinking about more and more things that would be okay to go on the list or things that I HAVE to have on there, like coffee. But never the less, the challenge is to eat healthy and within the guidelines for 18 whole weeks and if I see good results with my stomach issues, I may just even stay on this diet forever. Because I have been searching for a diet that works with me. And I would really love to eliminate as much processed food from my diet as humanly possible. (Yes I know dressing and Gatorade are proceed but those are things I just HAVE to have).

I also decided that not only am I going to be tracking my stomach issues but I am also going to be tracking what I eat everyday so I can see if there is a link and if a certain food or food group is irritating my stomach. I decided to to this on my email calender so it can be digital, because it is REALLY hard for me to keep track of stuff on paper, but it seems digital is no problem.

The fun starts at 5:30 PM today! :]

Quick Reviews on 4 Not so Great Frozen/Boxed Foods

I have been getting tired of eating the same old things over and over again so I was on the hunt to find a few new quick and easy foods to make Anthony and I (this was before I decided to take the 18 week challenge). I bought quite a bit and tasted a few of them all ready, guess Anthony will have to try the rest by himself lol. Anyways here is what I thought of the ones I did try.

1. Frozen Asian Meal - I can not find a pic of this so at this time I do not know the name but it was a frozen Lo Mein with veggies and chicken. This meal was not good. The sauce tasted weird, I think it needed to be sweeter, and the chicken was soggy. Anthony did not like it either, he ate what I put on his plate but he said it tasted weird. I ate what was on my plate too but the leftovers made it to the trash. Not something either of us want to eat again and we will not be buying it again ever. 

Bottom Line - I would give it a 3 out of 10

2.  Velveeta Shells and Cheese with Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies -

This was ok. The macaroni and cheese itself was good. I liked how it only needed water to cook the pasta, and did not need butter or milk to cook it (because sometimes I run out at the last minute). It is not my favorite but I would say it is my 2nd favorite. As for the diced tomatoes and chiles... the concept was good and it did taste good BUT it was simply canned diced tomatoes and chiles in a little packet. There was nothing special about it. I could have popped open a can of diced tomatoes and green chiles and put it in a normal box of Velveeta and gotten the same (if not better) results. In my opinion they should have provided more tomatoes and chilies, as there really was not that much in there. 

Bottom Line: This was ok I would give it a 6 out of 10, 

It was good but nothing to rave about. I will not be buying it again but I may buy normal Velveeta or other varieties if they have them.

3.  Del Monte French Style Green Beans with Onions, Red Pepper, and Garlic -

This tasted like normal green beans with a little garlic added to it. Nothing special. Every now and then you get a red pepper but really, this was a waste of money in my opinion I will not be buying this again. It just taste too close to normal green beans and cost more.
Bottom Line: I give this a 4 out of 10

4. Stouffer's Cordon Bleu Pasta -

OK what to say about this?! This took almost 2 hours to cook! Very inconvenient if you ask me. It was just ok tasting too. The chicken tasted odd and it was chewy. The ham was chewy too. The pasta and Swiss sauce were okay though and the bread crumbs added a nice touch. Anthony did not care for it and made a very good point, that I could make the same thing from scratch and it would probably taste a million times better. He's right. It is just pasta, white sauce, Swiss cheese, cut up ham and chicken, and peas. It would not cost that much to make at all. I will not be buying this again either.

Bottom Line: I give this a 5 out of 10

Guess all of these turned out bad! I have about 4 or 5 more things that Anthony is going to be trying himself (because my diet). I really hope he likes those better than he liked these! I feel bad for buying him bad stuff, poor guy lol.