February Goal Check-in

Weight lost: 3 lbs
Total: 16 lbs

I'm not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed to have only lost 3 lbs because I have been working SO HARD. But I did cheat on my diet kind of a lot. I spent 2 weeks at home with my grandmother who of course cooked her delicious southern dinners and I just couldn't help myself. If you had ever had her fried chicken and homemade macaroni and cheese, you would understand.

But like my husband said, just because I weigh that much doesn't mean I didn't lose fat and gain muscle. I HAVE been going to the gym every single day, even Saturdays & Sundays, doing cardio and strength training.  I really wish I had taken my measurements before I started losing weight, but of course I didn't. I can tell a huge difference just by looking though...and I've lost 2 pants sizes so far!

Books read:
The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison
White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison
Tempted by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Spider's Bite by Jennifer Estep
Once Dead, Twice Shy by Kim Harrison
Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews
Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews
The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews

I had never read anything by Mary Kay Andrews before, but I really liked her books.  I think of them as Southern Chick Lit. Fast & funny.

Healthy Recipe: Cheesy Italian Eggplant

House: We got everything unpacked in record time. We have almost everything organized, except for the office.  And I have a few projects that I'm thinking about  starting.

Goals for next month: 
Lose 5 more pounds
Read 10 more books
Learn a new healthy recipe
Make a few Easter decorations
At least get the paint colors for the house approved (whether or not we will actually get the rooms painted is anyone's guess)

How did you do with your goals this month? 

Walmart, hypochondria, & the hazards of too much MTV

The other night I went to Walmart, and as I was putting Jackson into the shopping cart, he pulled my shirt completely down! Luckily the only person around to see it was the greeter.  Unfortunately, this was not your average 80 year old white haired lady greeter, it was a teenage boy. Of course it was.

I was so mortified that I immediately called my friend Blake and told him what happened. He told me that I should be a greeter.

Blake: "When people walk in, you can just flash your boobies and yell "Welcome to Walmart!"

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I'm a hypochondriac, but my sister is even worse. The other night she was sitting across the room from me as I examined my arm.

Jamie: "What's wrong?"
me: "My arm hurts."
Jamie: "Oh. It's probably ringworm."
me: "WHAT? No. I think its just a little pimple."
Jamie: "Nope. Definitely ringworm."

She couldn't even see it. It's definitely NOT ringworm.

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I went out to dinner with my sister and her husband the other night.  (I introduced them to deep fried sushi. Hellyeah!)  Aaron was asking us if we knew who won the hockey game the night before.

Jamie: "We don't know, we don't watch that crap."
Aaron: "Um, did you just refer to the OLYMPICS as THAT CRAP?"
Jamie: *shrugs*

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Jason is in San Diego right now. Apparently he has been spending a lot of time being bored in his hotel room. He started texting me....

Jason: I want another baby.
me: Um, wtf? Where did that come from? (*I* am the one who usually has these random outbursts LOL)
Jason: Oh, I've been watching a 16 & Pregnant marathon. All of their babies are so cute!

WW: Mardi Gras

Because I know y'all are all potty training experts

I haven't decided for sure yet, but I think I want to start trying to potty train Jackson around the time he turns 2. (Which is less then 4 months from now.)(OMG).

But I had a few questions, and since you guys are always way more informative than any parenting book or website that I've ever read, I thought I would check with you first.

How old was your child(ren) when you started potty training?

How did you know they were ready?

What are your tips for making this as easy as possible?

If you haven't started potty training yet, when do you plan to?

Tot School: Dora the Explorer

Jackson is 20 months old.

We are in Alabama visiting family this week and next, so we haven't really had a normal Tot School week. Other than the Dora things, most of the things Jackson did this week were completely unplanned! He's been doing more of the cuddling-with-the-grandparents types of things.

Books: Dora's Puzzle Adventure, Dora's Count with Dora, Dora Loves Boots 

Jackson's favorite book this week was Dora Loves Boots. We were at the library and when I held it up for him, he just started squealing. Then he grabbed the book and started running to the door with it! Then he wouldn't hand the book over to be checked out. When I finally pried it from his hands but he cried and cried while the librarian checked the book out for us!

Susan over at Chasing Marcus made this Dora Tot Pack (click over there for links to the printables and pictures of how she used it).  Since I knew we would be traveling this week,  I printed out some of the stuff from the Dora Tot pack and put it together in a lapbook.

 I added this Diego rescue pack coloring page to the back.

So far Jackson has only really been interested in the letter cards and color cards.  Here he is checking the color cards out (with Reese right by his side of course). 

And of course, Jackson loves his Dora yogurt! He eats it every morning for breakfast.


Otherwise, he has been playing with his stacking and nesting cups, his new bead toy (I don't know what those are called), and mostly, Nanny's keys! They make a lot of noise and he loves them.

 

Is it wrong to love a bathroom?

 I really love our new bathroom. Maybe because I have been living in apartments and base housing for the last 10 years and this is the first bathroom I've had that wasn't basic white and boring.

These pictures don't really do it justice.  The walls are a light blue-green and the dark wood floors just set everything off! I love it so much.  The huge walk-in closet through the door on the right doesn't hurt either.  It was WAY too messy to take a picture of though.

We also just bought a new entertainment center. It makes me feel like a grownup LOL(but of course we were watching The Fresh Beat Band so...)

WW: Love

I'll love you forever

I'll like you for always

As long as I'm living

My baby you'll be

Can you tell I'm feeling sentimental?

Tot School: Valentines pt 2

Jackson is 20 months old.

 Books: Where is Baby's Valentine? and Counting Kisses by Karen Katz

Breakfast: apple pancakes topped with cinnamon and scrambled eggs 

Cards: 

Music: I filled these candy containers with rice and he used them as shakers. 

I also got these little flutes. He loves them but hasn't figured out exactly how to make them make noise yet. Mostly he uses them as drumsticks and sticks them in my face so I'll play them for him! LOL 

Sensory bucket: pink rice. I didn't get many pics of him playing with this because once he got into it, it was just too messy! Plus I had to hold the funnels for him. 

I finally tried the clothes pin thing with him. He didn't really get it. I kept showing him how and telling him to "put it on" and this was his version of that...balancing them on my hand! 

Sorting: foam hearts on colored paper

And we made a heart suncatcher. 

Mommy Brain

I keep hearing that the whole mommy brain thing is a myth, but I just don't think that can be true! In college, there were times when I was taking a full course load, working 2 part jobs, involved in several extracurricular organizations, and partying almost every night BUT I still managed to get straight A's, and never show up late or miss work or class. ever.

Now? I'm like a crazy person. It's much better now that Jackson is sleeping through the night almost every  night. I don't even want to think about what I was like when he was really young and had colic.  But even now, I can't tell you how many times a day I forget what I'm saying while I'm saying it, or what I'm supposed to be doing, or just completely blank out.

About a month ago I joined a new playgroup, and on my first outing with them, I found out that several of the women's husbands are on the same boat as mine.  They asked me what Jason does and I said that he was a nuke. But then they wanted specifics. Is he an electrician or a mechanic? What is his rank? What crew is he on?

And of course, I COMPLETELY BLANKED OUT.  I felt like such an idiot. I KNOW what he does, what his rank and crew are.  But I just could.not.think.

My friend Rebecca was sitting right next to me and she told me later that she thought I was joking because of course I had told her all of these things before,.  But right then I was just stammering like an idiot. I was so embarrassed! Luckily I've had plenty of chances to hang out with them since then, and hopefully no one still thinks I'm a total wreck.

When I had a Blackberry, I used it for all sorts of things...keeping up with appointments, alarms, etc. I even used the voice notes while driving sometimes to make my grocery list or other things I didn't want to forget! Unfortunately, I had to downgrade b/c our phone bill was just getting too high. So I'm back to using tons of post-it notes all over the house.  I really miss that thing...it was a lifesaver sometimes!  Luckily I still have an Ipod to appease Jackson and let him watch Fresh Beat Band music videos LOL. 

What about you? Have you experienced the mommy brain syndrome?  Do you use a "smart phone" to keep yourself on track with appointments, playdates, etc?

Verizon and JuiceBoxJungle sponsored me to write this post, and they asked me to talk about the ways my smart phone affects my life as a parent.

Love Story Link-up

On the Saturday before Valentine's Day 3 years ago, Jason asked me to marry him.  So even though he is in San Diego for school and we will be spending Valentine's Day apart AGAIN this year, I decided to share our engagement story (again. I had way less readers back then.)

But I want YOU to link up too.  Link up some super-sappy post. Your engagement story, wedding pics, tales of your first kiss or first date or the time you knew you were falling in love. I'll read them all...and probably cry, because I'm a sucker for a good love story.

First off, I have known my husband since we were in Kindergarten.  Our mothers actually went to school and graduated from high school together.  I know, I know.  GAG.

Here we are...WAY back at our Kindergarten graduation:

My first memory of him involves him telling our teacher that his favorite animal was a roach!

Jason and I had been dating for about 5 years when he joined the Navy.  At the time, I didn't know what to do.  All of a sudden he was hundreds of miles away in Chicago, and I only had a chance to see him for about 4 days in a 6 month period.  In January, he finally got stationed in Charleston, which was a lot closer to home, so I could visit more often.

I went to visit him in Charleston the weekend before Valentine's Day in 2007.  We had a great weekend together.  On Saturday, he took me to the Aquarium.  We had fun wandering around, looking at the sea turtles and other cute animals.

Then we went downtown and he took me to Kaminsky's dessert cafe.  They have some amazing desserts there (don't believe me? go check out that website.  It will make your mouth water!) and since I am a TOTAL chocoholic, I was in heaven.  He had a piece of pie and I had the biggest piece of chocolate cake I had ever seen.  Like I said, HEAVEN.

When we were done eating, he told me he had my Valentine's Day present, but that it wasn't what I thought it was.  I have to admit, he had dropped hints before, and I was really hoping that he was going to propose that weekend.  So when he pulled out my present, I was a little disappointed.  It was a jewelery box, but was definitely too big to hold an engagement ring.

I opened the box, and inside was a bracelet.  Engraved on the bracelet were the words, "Cassie, Will you marry me? --Jason"  I was so surprised! He had completely fooled me.  I looked up and saw him sitting there, holding the most beautiful ring I had ever seen!  Of course I said yes!


Originally posted June 24th, 2008

Was that enough sappiness for you? If not, check out the story of our first kiss.

And don't forget to link up and spread the word!

WW: The world is his stage...

.

..or at least he thinks the fireplace is!

 

 

Quote the Walls

Go enter to win a $50 gift certificate to Quote the Walls from Blessings Abound!

Or don't, because I really want to win. I want this for Jackson's room:

Healthy Recipe: Cheesy Italian Eggplant Bake

I have never eaten eggplant before, so I wasn't really sure about this recipe. But in the spirit of getting healthier and trying new things, I did, and I am so glad! It turned out to be really good!

Cheesy Italian Eggplant Bake

This recipe adapted from Shape magazine.

Ingredients

1 pound eggplant, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper (to taste)

1 cup tomato sauce

2 sliced tomatoes

2 tablespoons dried basil

2 tablespoons dried Italian seasoning

1 cup part-skim, low-moisture mozzarella cheese, shredded*

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2.  Coat the bottom of a baking dish with cooking spray.  Season eggplant with salt and pepper to taste and bake for 15 minutes.  
3. Layer with half the sauce and half the tomatoes.
4. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon each of basil and Italian seasoning, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with  half the mozzarella.
5. Repeat layers.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until cheese is golden. 

*The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/2 cup ricotta cheese, but I don't like ricotta, so I took it out and doubled the mozzarella.

Check out more recipes at Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays ...Whats cooking Wednesday... Tuesdays at the Table....Homemaker Monday...Mouthwatering Monday, DIY Day, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday and Tackle It Tuesday!

Tot School: Valentines Day edition (part1)

Jackson is 19 months old.

Books: Where is Baby's Valentine? by Karen Katz,
I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak 
Corduroy's Valentine by Lisa McCue

Art projects 

foam heart stickers, heart cookie cutter painting, heart stamps

Sensory bucket

This activity was so messy! Of course I knew it would be.  I used red tinsel and some big plastic hearts that look like conversation hearts. At first Jackson didn't really know what to think.  He threw the tinsel around a bit, but then he started taking the hearts out and putting them in his Dora backpack! LOL

I'm not really sure why but Jackson hated the pom pom activity.  I kept trying to give him the pom poms and he would squeal and run away! I put him in my lap and showed him what to do. He watched me but that was about it.

Lunch: heart shaped peanut butter & jelly toast with diced peaches

Non-theme: We went to the Hands On Museum again. Jackson loves that place! Here he is sitting in the cop car.

My favorite random photo of the week:

I have a lot of ideas for this week's Tot School too. We will be continuing with the Valentine's Day theme, so stop by next week to see what we're up to!