Success!

That's right....Liam is OFF the bottle! Hooray! It was a lot easier than I expected. He was only down to one bottle (all others had been lost, misplaced, thrown away, left at a friend's house, etc, etc.) And I started Monday by only letting him have the sippy during the day and the bottle at night. Tuesday night, he barely used it so I caved and threw it away yesterday. Big accomplishment for me haha. And last night he did great without it. So we are bottle free! :)

Today, I decided to do a really long walk instead of a shorter walk/jog. I usually walk/jog about 30 minutes each way but today I wanted to push myself and go farther, so I walked 45 minutes each way. Which added up to about 4 1/2 miles! Holy moly! I had a blister the size of my kidney on my left foot..ouch. I was exhausted and pretty dang proud of myself. I've been using the app Sports Tracker to record my workouts. I have 10 recorded workouts since March 6 and I have burned over 1000 calories. Awesome! I think I'm finally getting back into my workout mode. I really want to lose 30 pounds by Dragon*con 2012. Fingers crossed!

I'm debating on cutting my hair off. Not super short but about shoulder length. It is starting to get hard to manage with a toddler and Liam is constantly pulling on it. I love my long hair but like I said, hard to manage.

Yes, I know this is a picture of my child with his finger in his nose but I wanted to show you this because it is one of the best pics that shows the length of my hair. This was taken in October 2011. It is longer now. So, ya, you can picture that my hair is pretty long. Should I cut it, imaginary followers? ;)

I wanted to dedicate a part of this post to Liam's little best buddy Sam. Sam is turning 2 in two weeks and honestly, I can't believe it. Liam and Sam have been inseparable since the day Liam was born. These guys have grown up together and they are only almost 2 haha. I wanted to show you guys some pictures of these guys together. Get ready for cuteness overload!

HAPPY ALMOST 2ND BIRTHDAY SAM!!! LOVE YOUR BEST BUDDY LIAM! :)

Mommy must haves

I have seen posts like this all over the blog world so I decided to do one myself.

These are the things I need right now with a 1 1/2 year old.

1. Jeep Jogging Stroller-I LOVE this thing. I use it when I shop, jog and any time I go out. It is so roomy and very easy to maneuver. It has a steering wheel for Liam to play with and even a speaker to connect my iPod to.

2. Skip hop doggie backpack- I use this for Liam's diaper bag. It is small enough to not be a hassle but big enough to hold everything I need for Liam. It has a front pocket and a side pocket to hold drinks. And it's so easy to clean. :)

3. Muchkin Sippy cups-These are the only sippy cups Liam will drink out of. I think because they have a silicon spout. :)

4. Disney Junior and Nick Jr.- Yes, I know my kid shouldn't watch tv but when you have a kid who is attached to your hip, you will do anything to get stuff done, including letting them watch tv.

5. Straws- cheap and fun. Liam can whine and whine and whine but if I give him a straw, he forgets why he whines in the first place haha.

6. Britax Car Seat-Marathon 70- I forced my mom to spend the $350+ (not really, I'm just good at convincing) on this carseat because it is one of the best and safest car seats on the market. It is tested in 60 mph crashes where as other ones such as Graco only test in 30 mph crashes. It has a honeycomb thing in the base that absorbs the impact instead of the baby absorbing it. Gotta love safety.

That's it for now. There are probably a few other things I will add later.

Oh and keep a lookout for Liam's birth story. :)

Randoms

Liam is almost off the bottle. I know, mom of the year right here. It has been really hard to wean Liam off his bottle. He is 18 months and should have been off of it at 1 year but it was like his security blanket. He needed that thing everywhere. But, I think I underestimated him. He has done really well these past couple days. So hopefully, I can throw away his last bottle tomorrow! :)

Speaking of tomorrow, I got called in as a sub to fill in at the Ronald Mcdonald Family Room. I actually have my own shift now, which is every second Saturday of the month and I love it so much! I really look forward to volunteering, because of the free food it is so rewarding. :)

My weight has been all over the place lately. After Gatlinburg at the end of February, I gained back 2 of the pounds that I lost bringing me back to about 191ish. Not good. But I started getting back on track and I am now at 188. So here's to working my ass off!

Remember the exciting news I mentioned a while ago. Well, they finally announced it so here it is. It's exciting for me, probably not for you haha. My close friend Emily (my sister's boyfriend's sister) is expecting! Eeeeee! We are so happy for her. She already has a boy, Sam, who is exactly 5 months and 1 week older than Liam and they are inseparable. So we are hoping for a girl! I can not wait to spoil that baby! :D

Hunger Games review!

Wow. The Hunger Games was ah-may-zing!

I did mention the other day I wouldn't have been able to go this weekend because my mom was out of town and my sister couldn't babysit. Well, she ended up taking Liam shopping while I went with some friends to see it today. I was extremely thankful. My mom wants to see it so I think we are going to see it again this week. :D

*Spoilers ahead*

Anyways, the movie was great. It was extremely close to the book and did not disappoint. I honestly loved every second of it. I cried during the "reaping" which my friends later made fun of me for crying at the very beginning of the movie haha. I cried when Katniss had to say goodbye to her mom, sister and Gale. I cried when Rue was killed. Oh man. What an intense movie! There were a lot of parts I noticed that had been left out but they weren't really important. I'll tell ya, I loved Caesar Flickerman's character. He was hilarious and very easy to like. Oh and I am team Peeta all the way. ;)

I can not wait for "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay". But I'm way more excited for "Mockingjay". :D

#HUNGERGAMESLOVE

Shred or not to shred?

I think I'm going to try Jillian's 30 day Shred. I see it every time I check out the fitness section at Walmart and Target and I've come across it on so many blogs. I've always been intimidated by Jillian Michaels. I feel like her workouts are only for people who are already fit and just want to tone. But I recently read a blog where this girl posted her results and before and after pictures and wow. I want to do it...now. So, if I can stick with it the whole time, I will dedicate an entire post to talking about it, the before and after pics and how I was about to die, haha.

Last night, the Hunger Games was released and sadly, I was not there to see it. I recently read the entire trilogy because I can't watch a movie without knowing what happens next, so I am super excited to see it. My mom is out of town so I don't have a babysitter. My sister offered but forgot and now claims she has to "study". So maybe next week, I will just get a babysitter and go see it by myself. :) #TeamPeeta

Today, while everyone was at school or work, I cleaned the whole house. From top to bottom. I kept Liam distracted with the new Disney Junior channel which I L-O-V-E. And while I was sweeping the stairs, (our house is a split level and all the main rooms are on the top floor) Liam was watching me from the top of the stairs, which is gated. Well, the railing for our stairs have wide openings but Liam's head is too big to fit. He proved us wrong. I hear him start to panic and look up and his head is through the railing and he's pulling and pulling. So, I run up the stairs, seriously thinking, "better grab the butter", and I notice it's just his ear is bent forward and that's why he couldn't pull it out, so I bent his ear back and his head slipped out just like that. And then he hugged me and laid his head on my shoulder as if thanking me. Sweetest boy ever!

I seriously hate being stuck at the house with no car. Even if I don't go anywhere, I still like to have that option. :) So, I've just been cleaning, playing with Liam, cooking, and did I mention cleaning? Ha, today while I was vacuuming, I noticed a stain on the carpet, so I just grabbed some soap and water and scrubbed the stain away and soon noticed that the spot where I cleaned is cleaner than the rest of the carpet. Ha!

I've been trying to walk/jog a lot lately.

 I recently lost about 11 pounds after Christmas but I've been slacking and pigging out. And I gained like 3 pounds back! Ahhh! This can't happen! I really want to be at least 30 pounds lighter by Dragon*Con in September. But this is definitely the hardest thing I've ever done. I just can't lose faith. I have a lot of people counting on me. So please help me stay motivated, my imaginary followers! ;)

I'm running out of titles for my posts.

Ha, so yesterday, Michelle and I took both our Liam's (yes, bother their names are Liam) to the aquarium. Liam was in love! I have never heard him say wow so many times. His face was just in awe and it was so cute. Unfortunately, I did not get pictures because I realized when I got there, my camera battery was dead. Bummer. But Michelle got a few. :)

Aren't they cute! Here is a better pic of the two from Halloween.

This was about 5 months ago. I can't believe they already look so much bigger. These boys need to stop growing!

Today, I went and bought Liam some cute little sandals from Gymboree and forgot I had a 20% off coupon at home so I put them on hold and went and got it. When I came back, Liam started fighting against his stroller straps so I let him out and he ran straight to the little tv they have in the store. He remembered?! Haha, maybe I let my kid watch a little too much tv.

I found an awesome recipe for baked chicken nuggets and they were amazing. However, I did change up the recipe a little bit and I like them so much better. Even Liam couldn't get enough. All you do is cut up a boneless, skinless chicken breast into bite size pieces, coat them in butter and dip them in an Italian breadcrumb. That was my recipe. The original recipe just says use plain breadcrumbs, add basil, salt, pepper, thyme and parmesan cheese. I didn't like it like that, so I changed it up the next time and they were yummy!

Don't they look good?

Liam and I will pretty much have the house to ourselves for the next 3 days. Well, not technically but my mom is going out of town, Lauren and Lee will be in school and my dad likes to keep to himself. So, it will mostly be just me and him. :)

Hope everyone has an awesome weekend! :)

Mom's night out

I went to a Mary Kay party last night and it was super fun! My friend Kathryn just recently became a consultant and Michelle hosted the party. We tried all these skin products and I was instantly in love. A couple years ago, I went to a Mary Kay party and spent $36 on a make up brush and make up remover that I never used. So I vowed I wouldn't buy anything. Well....I did. $96 later, I bought the whole skin care regimen. And I totally don't regret it at all. Unfortunately, I didn't have all the money on me, but she allowed me to pay as much as I had on me and I would pay her the rest later. But, seriously, if I could marry these products, I would. My skin is so soft and it smells like sun block which reminds me of the beach. Best investment ever!

I had a long talk with my friend Michelle last night after the party, just about lots of stuff....stuff I needed to get off my chest. Mainly about Liam's "father". And things that have been bothering me. It was nice to tell her all my worries. I really just needed someone to listen. Michelle is a great friend and I'm so glad I know here. :)

Liam and I had a fun St. Patrick's Day. This was his second one. I can't honestly believe he is a year and a half! I've already started planning (Pinterest) his second birthday party, which is going to be Elmo themed. So excited! Here are a few ideas that I've pinned. :)

Cute huh?!?!

Well, this week is going to be another busy week. Tomorrow morning, I have to head to one of my dentists about 20 minutes away to pay a bill, then we are going to an art play date at Michelle's, then I am going straight to the park to run, then heading home to cook dinner (chili yum!), then I have to go pick up my mom from work at 6. Oh and somewhere in between, I have to go to FYE to find the soundtrack to Steel Magnolias. This is all happening in one day. Don't even get me started on Tuesday. We are going to the Aquarium, which I'm super excited about. Liam loves fish but has only been once, when I took him on his 1st birthday. So I can't wait to see his face. :)

His 1st trip to the aquarium. :) Will get more pictures from his 2nd trip. :)

I got thrown up on!

Ok, so yesterday I mentioned I was going to go donate some food to the Ronald McDonald House family room in the hospital. And I was a little let down. I stopped at the grocery store this morning to pick up a few more things and then headed to my friend Emily's house. She and her little boy went with us. We drove to the hospital, packed all the food and drinks in Liam's stroller, since it was too much for us to carry and carry our little ones, and headed up to the room. When we arrived, there was an old man sitting behind the counter. I informed him that I too, was a volunteer and that I had brought some food to donate to the room. He lead me to the storage closet and told me to put it all in there and then he proceeded to go back to the desk. No thank you. No measily little thank you for donating my time and money and food. I was kind of disappointed. I mean, I am extremely happy to help out any way I can, and trust me, I would do it again in a heart beat, but it would be nice to be appreciated. I know if I had taken the food directly to the house and not the family room, they would have seemed very grateful. However the family room needed it more. So, I'm just glad I did it.

Well, enough complaining. I heard some VERY exciting news today. However I am unable to share it  because I want to respect privacy so maybe later. :)

All day, I was looking forward to going to a Mary Kay party tonight, not to spend hundreds of dollars on makeup I don't need but just to have a fun mom's night out. And then realized it's not until tomorrow night but I was able to squeeze a jog in today instead. It was a lot easier to jog without pushing 50 pounds of stroller and baby around. My mother so graciously babysat.  And it was a lot cooler later in the day. It had rained earlier and so it was very breezy and nice. After I came home, it was already almost 9 so I tried to put Liam to bed. He wasn't having it. I decided to rock him. Well, he wanted down so I set him on his feet and then he started crying so I picked him back up and laid him on my chest and that's when it happened. He blew chunks! All over me. Like, most of my shirt, my shorts and my leg. I nearly threw up myself. Not quite sure what made his tummy upset but he was completely fine afterwards. Haha.

I took this picture while I was jogging along the river. This is a river boat that I have ridden several times called the Southern Belle. Not a great picture hehe. Oh, and did I mention, I got severely threatened by some geese while I was jogging? Yep, I was passing them, they were very close to the sidewalk and one of them stared me down, with his mouth open and was probably thinking terrible things about me. Ha! Aaaaannnndddd, I must have also forgot to mention that I jogged for freakin ever! Not literally but I jogged a heck of a long time. Pretty darn proud of myself. I will run that marathon one day. :)

Exhausted!

Today was a very long and exhausting day! It all started last night. Our air conditioner broke and our house got hot...fast. I was so hot in my bed (that's what she said), I couldn't fall asleep. And neither could Liam. We both probably didn't fall asleep until about 2:45. I never stay up that late. So anywho, we both slept in until 10:30. Let me just say, that Liam never sleeps past 8:30, so it was nice.

So, we got up, got dressed, ate and then left. I had to squeeze my jog in before I had to pick up my mom. We went to the same place as yesterday and it was even hotter today. I was sweating not even 5 minutes into my run/walk. The heat just sucked all my energy and I seriously felt like a slug. But I probably burned more calories in one day than I did all of last week! Haha.

On the way home from my walk/jog, I stopped at the grocery store. I bought a lot of food to donate to the Ronald McDonald House. I currently volunteer there and the last time I was there, I noticed they were running low on a lot of things, so I decided to help out some. I really love volunteering there because it is so rewarding, I have met so many nice people, and I just love doing it. I try to help out any way I can. :)

Last Saturday, while I was on my volunteer shift at the RMH family room in the hospital, I was sitting at the counter, where people check in and I opened this little drawer and saw the cutest charm bracelets with a charm of the RMH and I thought, "How cute. I want one." Well, I thought they were free for the volunteers so I put one on. Then later when I was straightening up the desk, I uncovered a little sign that said the bracelets were $8. I put it back lol. I definitely want one but I didn't have the money on me.

This is what it looks like. Aren't they cute! I want to buy one for all my friends!

Anyways, here is what we have been up to lately.

 Our recent trip to Gatlinburg. On the balcony. There was a little river that ran right under our balcony (we are 5 stories up) and there were ducks that hung out right there everyday and Liam LOVED to feed them, so we couldn't tear him away from the balcony. Haha.

 Liam's new do. :) My sister had to tie me down so she could cut his hair. I almost regretted it because I LOVED his beautiful long curls but I think he'll thank me when the weather gets to be over 100 degrees this summer.

Before the haircut, reading a book. :) Not really, but he loves looking at them. :)