Parenting

You know you're doing something right when...

You look at your baby and catch him staring at you and smiling.

Noah is 4 months old today! Time flies when you're having fun. We had his appointment this morning, and then we got him some shots today after I got out of work. All these kids kept coming up to Noah and wanting to play with him and talk to him and stuff. I'm really glad I didn't go in the morning, because I would not have had the energy for that. And then I taught a kid what the number 8 looked like, and what the color pink was. As exhausting as it was, I really look forward to when I get to do these things with Noah. Waiting rooms are the best kind of practice :)

Simon comes home "soon." It seems like forever ago when he left, but we're coming right up on 6 months now. We've been apart for 7 out of 9 months this year so far. It doesn't really feel like it. I feel like we could just be watching tv together, and it wouldn't feel like a big deal. But it would be.

Maybe I'll get some paint for his welcome home sign this weekend. Putting my art minor to good use! It'll be the most noticeable sign out of all of them, guaranteed.

The News

Here are my thoughts on this week's news.

Back story: High school kids broke into a former NFL players house to throw a party and vandalize pretty much all of it. He put pictures from the party that were on Twitter on some sort of social media website to help identify and prosecute the kids. Their parents, instead of getting mad at their children, got mad at this guy for putting their pictures up, because it would hurt their chances of getting into college.

WHAT THE F***.

If Noah ever did that, I'd help you. I'd drag his sorry behind to the police department, right after he was done scrubbing the urine out of the carpet. What's even better is that Noah will hopefully never be that much of a jackass, because he'll be exposed to real parenting instead of a system of entitlement.

Back story: Shootings in general.

Response: See above. I have no idea what to even do about this. What do you do about this? How do you fix it? Let's figure it out.

Back story: Someone won $400 million in the lottery.

Response: I don't play the lottery. I haven't played since I was pretty much broke. Currently, we're financially stable, so I feel no need to change that in any way. Also, I don't think you should rely on luck to determine your financial success. Playing the stock market has much higher odds of success.

I just pulled up an IRA calculator on my computer to find out if you put $1 every week into a traditional IRA with typical gains and what not until you retire at 65, you will have over $18,000. If you play the lottery every week with $1 for your entire adult life, chances are you will not have $18,000 come out of it. $10 instead? $183,000.

Food for thought Fridays.
<3 Kristin

Weightloss Monday?

I worked out today (a little cardio and abs, then a full arm/shoulder work out), and I reflected back on my weight loss. Currently I'm 118 lbs. Just to recap: I was 130 when I got pregnant, and 162 at the end of my pregnancy. There are 4 very important reasons that I think I lost so much weight so quickly.

1. I am nursing. Hallelujah.
2. I eat real, healthy, prepared meals. I have eaten fast food maybe twice since giving birth, but I do have dessert occasionally.
3. I drink water. The amount of water I drink directly correlates to my weight loss. When I felt addicted to water, I dropped 35 lbs. I stopped drinking as much, and I was at a stand-still. I started up again and lost another 6 lbs. Then I stopped. Then I realized what was going on, and I've been drinking water and steadily losing weight since. This relates to the "don't drink your calories" approach, too. I drink a LOT of Crystal Light when I have it on hand, as well as tea and coffee. I have had soda about 3 times total since giving birth.
4. I started working out when it was ok to, most of the time. I don't think this actually has anything to do with weight loss, but it reminds me that I want to be healthy, and I eat better because of it. And then I drink more water.

So there you have it. Every woman's body is different, so this won't work for everyone. However, it worked for me, and I hope I never forget it if we decide to have more children.

Ramblings about every topic under the sun

Got back into my work out groove this week. I'm down to 118 lbs, so I've lost 44 total since May 23rd, 2013. That's crazy. I guess nursing really does burn a shit ton of calories!

Work is going well. I like working. Mostly, I like working part time. I still have time to work out, make dinner, and play with Noah before his 8 pm bedtime. It is very nice, and its definitely working for us.

Simon received his last package from us today. HIS LAST PACKAGE. Still a ways away, but in my soul, his homecoming feels imminent.

On a more serious note: Simon asked me about Syria the other day, and I had no flippin' clue what he was talking about. Needless to say I've been paying a lot more attention, and my thought of the day is this: It should not be ok to kill children (and others) with chemical weapons that force them to suffocate to death. "It's not our problem" is a horrible excuse.

A much more personal note: I'm also a hypocrite. If I saw someone on the side of the road that needed help, I know I wouldn't stop. Maybe I should rethink my actions more often, and try to be the person I wish I was.

 

And here's a picture of my 20 lb, 3 month old baby!

 

<3 Kristin

Projects

I love projects. The picture below is one I did last year (inspired from Pinterest, of course), shortly after I found out I was pregnant. Having Noah now has inspired even more! I wanted to show this, because I'm about to assemble it again. I use the wreath for more than just one holiday, so all the decorations easily come off. Here she is:

 

This year, I'll make the O's go straight up and down :)

 

The next picture I did yesterday. Total, it cost me about $40. I got 1 panel curtain, 2 strands of string lights, and 2 basic long curtain rods. The curtain is lined, so it helps to dim the lights so I can easily sleep. I love it!

 

 

That's it for now. I'll post as I keep working on more projects!

 

<3 Kristin