Healthy eating....

So I have been saying this all summer but I REALLY, I mean REALLY need to start being more careful with what I put into my mouth and start eating healthier meals. It's been really hard this summer (not that it just started over the summer) to make healthy choices for lunch, dinner etc. With all the dinner invitations, summer cookouts and meals on the go, it's rare for Robert and I to sit down for dinner at our house, the 3 of us and eat a nice healthy meal prepared by ME. That happens maybe twice a week and that's all. I really hope that once the summer ends and we get into more of a schedule, we can get back on track with our eating. I'm not saying this so that I can lose weight (although my hubby can stand to lose a few-lol) but just to feel better physically and of course....be healthy.
Things I need start limiting:
1. French Fries:(
2. chips
3. cheese
4. sweets aka cookies

Oh how I looooove my fries and that will be hard to give up. I figure as long as I can keep my eating out to a minimum- I will be fine with this. (and shoot-we'll save money!!) But boy do I crave fries a lot. Chips won't be too hard, I just won't keep many bags in the house. With the cheese, I just want to start limiting how much I add to my food. I had to limit it when Madelyn's stomach was sensitive to it, so I'm sure I can do this again. Cookies- I have a bad habbit of buying those darn 2 dozen Nestle Toll House blocks of cookie dough and throwing a batch in the oven a few nights a week. I suppose I will stop doing that too....
Well that's my plan- BUT it might not work too well until next month. I'll do my best!

My little companion:)

Last week I bought Madelyn a little pool at Toys-R-Us and she loves to go swimming in it. She loves the water and splashing her little heart out- it's so cute. We're home everday so it's fun to have little things that we like to do during the day. One of them being swimming. We have a big inground pool but it's hard to swim with just the two of us, get dried off and all bc she's still so young. Anyway with this pool it's just her size and it's a perfect afternoon activity in the sun for us:) The best part- she completely zonks out afterwards! Everytime we have gone swimming-without fail, she crashes within 20 minutes of getting dressed. It's great! She's going to be our little fish in the years to come!

One more day...

So yesterday morning I rolled over in bed to notice how sore my boobs were and that I had wet circles from both of them leaking. Not too unusual since Madleyn has been sleeping 12 hours at night. Anyway I rolled over to get comfortable and looked at the clock. 7:25- "Love, it's 7:25- you forgot to set your alarm!!!!!" Robert always gets up at 7 am and is out the door at 7:30 so this was late for him. He jumped out of bed and into the bathroom, still asleep. He stuck his head under the water in the tub to wet his hair and fake a shower. While he's doing this I'm thinking to myself "crap I didn't iron his clothes either!" So I got up and did a quick scan of his shirts hanging in the closet, chose the one that looked the best and paired it with some black pants that were already ironed. He came back in the room and started getting dressed. I'm still sitting there thinking "how the heck did we totally forget all these things we usually do the night before he has to work?" and "man these weekend keep getting shorter and shorter and flying by sooo fast." I was getting sad that the weekend was over and then it dawned on me that we were supposed to be at the lake with everyone on Sunday and that never happened. Just as Robert was adding the final touch, spraying his cologne- "LOVE, IT'S SUNDAY!!!!!" Robert was about 10 seconds away from walking out the door and heading to work when I realized we were a day ahead of ourselves. We burst out laughing and couldn't stop cracking up!! I guess you had to be there but it was HILARIOUS because we were both half asleep and neither of us realized it was Sunday AND Robert was all ready to walk out the door! hahahha We tried to fall back asleep but it just didn't happen. We had a good laugh and we're relieved to find out we still had one more day left of the weekend...:)

Toofs!

If you click on this picture it will enlarge and you can see her toofers! :)

FOOOOOOOD!

We began the journey to solid foods a few weeks ago when Madleyn was just about 6 months. It was pretty easy to hold off with the move and all. Well if you know me, you know that I am pretty much terrified to start feeding her any kind of "big people food" and I freak when someone gives her a bite of something foreign! ahhh A couple of years ago I was out to dinner with a friend and her little girl who had begun eating table food too. While eating a piece of bread she started choking and couldn't catch her breath. Of course mom just stuck her finger in her mouth, pulled it out an she was fine, no biggie. ME on the other hand was traumatized for life! I swear, I get sooo nervous at the thought of Madelyn choking and I'm just scared to start this new phase in life with her. I really hope I can get over this or else my daughter won't be eating anything but baby food in a jar until her 2nd birthday!! :) No really....
On another note, she is doing great with her oatmeal and veggies, not so much the fruits but we're working on those. She has also tried the sippy cup and had success the very first time but now she acts like she has no idea how to suck on it so we do it without the lid and she's pretty good at it. :)
She cut her first teeth a month ago also. We were lying around and she pulled my finger into her mouth OUCH! "Madelyn has a tooth!!" It was so exciting because I had no idea she was even teething, except the constant need to gnaw on EVERYTHING within a foot of her and her everflowing drool, but as far as how she was acting-she was fine. It wasn't but 3 days later and her other one popped through! So now she has her 2 bottom toofers and looks so gosh darn cute when she's grinning from ear to ear!! :) I think she's working on her top ones now. Since she has some teeth, I decided to give her a teething biscuit and she went to town with that thing! No messing around!! They're a HUGE mess but she loves those things! (and I watch her like a hawk!!!) I just have to make sure she doesn't stick the thing down her throat, which she tried a couple of times.

Praise Jesus!

Wow- what a an emotional few days it's been for my family. My Grandpa has made HUGE steps forward and some steps backward but always ends up in the right direction. He has gotten back quite of a bit of his speech and is able to laugh and carry on conversations. This is huge because the day after his stroke he was unable to communicate and what came out didn't make any sense. It's such a scary thing to see someone you love be so vulnerable and so dependent on everyone else. It's life changing and really makes you cherish life's blessings each day. I've been at the hospital every day since last Wednesday and it's been wonderful to just be in the presence of my family through this whole experience. I've realized how easy it is to get wrapped up in the material things of this world and forget to be thankful for the most important gift, LIFE. He should be getting transfered in the next couple of days to a rehab facility in Chelsea. Praise God for his unending love and power to heal! Have a blessed day all!

Please pray with me...

This past Saturday my family experienced a scary situation when we heard that my Grandpa had what is said to be a "mini stroke" at his house. My Grandma took him into the hospital right away to be checked out. His only symptoms were that his left arm "felt different" and he couldn't get out the words he was trying to say. By the time they got to the hospital he felt better and didn't think he needed to be there. Pretty typical of him because he is very active and in good health for his age. The doctors did all their tests etc. on him and found a 65% blockage of his coratid artery. He was given a couple of options but the best would be to go in a clear out the blockage first with surgery. He had this surgery yesterday at 4 o'clock in the afternoon and all went well. THey were able to clear it and he was told he would just be in ICU for about 12 hours of recovery.
Then last night happened....He had another "mini stroke" in the middle of the night, but it wasn't so "mini". He IS OKAY but can't say a whole lot. He is having trouble getting the right words out and can only say a few phrases right now. I feel so bad for him because he is getting so frusterated because he is aware that he isn't saying the right words for what he wants to say. What a terrible feeling that would be to know what you want to say but then when you try, all the wrong words come out and no one can decode the message. The good news is that the doctor said this is a common side effect from the surgery and 99% of all patients do return to normal. The problem with that is they don't know how long it will take, 24 hours, a few days, a week...longer. We've also tried the writing it out and I guess it just confuses him:(
I'm going to visit him this afternoon when Madelyn wakes up from her nap but I am a little nervous to see him this way. I don't really know what to do or say. When I was there on Sunday, he was completely fine and normal so I didn't have any trouble going. I'm just praying for the wisdom of the doctors and patience for my Grandpa. If you could remember my Grandpa in your prayers it would be greatly appreciated:) Thanks!