Shopping!

Shopping for Vivien is so much more fun than shopping for myself!  I will walk into a store with every intention to buy myself some clothes and I always end up in the baby department.  Everything is just so much more adorable when its tiny.  I am a little picky about the clothes I like Vivien to wear but I can't help it.  Here's a little hint as to what I might like on Vivien - if it looks like something I might actually wear than its probably something I would buy for Vivien.

My sister and I found these cute Converse at Nordstrom's.  They will pair perfectly wtih some striped leggings and a skirt!

Over Christmas weekend I received a package from my sister (perfectly timed while she was in NYC) of this bib made by 2hipmama

I find myself doing a lot of online shopping.  By far my favorite is ebay.  It's amazing the deals you can find on baby clothes under $5!

Cute Gap dress $3 on ebay!

V discovers her tongue

The "Before I drop 20lbs Photo"

My "Ugh" Measurements:

Waist:  38 1 /2"
Booty: 43" (Pretty scary stuff)
Chest:  38"
Thigh:  23:
Arm:  13"
Date:  December 27

Here's the Skinny...

Our "Weight Loss War" begins next week and I'm hoping to have some dedicated competitors. 

How it Works:


• Contest begins January 3rd through Feb 28th (8 Full Weeks)

• Competitors will blog once a week about their weight loss journey with weekly photos of results along with measurements and your “weigh in”.

• Weekly Weigh In’s will be every Wednesday

• A before picture be posted by January 2nd

• Blog, Blog, Blog – what’s working/what’s not, dieting, exercising, healthy recipes, schedules, struggles, motivation, etc.


I've decided my "game tactic" will be counting calories.  So I'm going into next week without a goal to lose any weight but just to track all of my calories for the entire week.  I'd love to commit to a number of workouts each week but honestly with a newborn, the only thing I can commit to is HER.  She pretty much runs my schedule.

The best of luck to Jessica, Marisa and Nelly!!  (Photos coming soon I hope!)

First yummy treat!

I've been back and forth on whether or not to give Vivien solid foods yet.  I know the recommended age is 6 months but you can start as early as four months.  I started looking for cue's that Vivien might be ready and she's pretty much there.  She's taken a slight interest in what I'm eating, but not quite opening her mouth when I tempt her with food.  She's holding her head up wonderfully.  So I decided to start "preparing" by reading on homemade rice cereal recipes.  I also printed out a schedule of what Vivien's first solids will be ...all homemade of course!  Last night I made a "trial" run of brown rice cereal which was suprisingly easy to make but did take me almost an hour.  Not because the recipe is hard, but mostly because I didn't have all the tools ready.  I tried it myself and it came out pretty good.  I highly recommend trying it if you have little ones.  Not only is homemade baby food healthier because you know what's going into it, but its also rewarding.

Brown Rice Cereal:

Grind Brown Whole Grain rice in a food processor for about 4-5 minutes until the grains turn into a powder
Use a sifter to sift out any remaining grains.

• Boil 3/4 Cup of Water in a saucepan
• Add 1/4 cup of rice powder
• Simmer for about 10 minutes whisking constantly (this was a little annoying)
• Serve warm and you can add breastmilk/formula for a little sweetness

Pretty Simple!  Since you'll only be feeding your baby a teaspoon at each feeding, you can store the remaining rice cereal in ice cube trays for later use. 

After I made the practice rice cereal lastnight, I couldn't resist giving her a little taste today.  So Vivien had a suprise little snack after her feeding.  As soon as I brought the spoon to her mouth she opened wide!  She couldn't get enough and tried sticking her entire hand in her mouth.  Lesson learned...don't feed your baby after bath time!  She was a mess afterwards!

I'm pretty excited to feed her bananas, sweet potato and avacado!  Yummy!

Let's the Weight Loss War Begin...

Losing weight has always been a numbers game for me.  How many minutes can I last on this treadmill?  How many calories did I burn?  What percentage of fat did I burn?  How many pounds can I lose before I have to squeeze into that bridesmaid dress I have to wear?  Well here are just a few other numbers that come to mind:

• 18 - The number of weeks since my pregnancy
• 13 - The number of pounds I need to lose to be at my pre-pregnancy weight
• 11 - The number of pants in my closet that don't fit me right now!!!

You get the idea!

I love my sweet Vivien and want to spend every minute of every day with her, but I've quickly learned that I've had to sacrifice a few things in my life, and unfortunately working out has been one of them.  Not only have I put it aside at the moment, but I have had zero motivation to work out...zero! I finally forced myself to the gym this week and while pushing myself through 45 minutes of cardio I brainstormed on what might help me with this baby weight battle. 

Sooooo, I gathered up a few of my fellow bloggers and asked them to participate in an online weight loss competition.  You'll meet the competitors in a few days but I am very, very excited about this competition!  I certainly have the advantage since everyone knows how competitive I am.  I refuse to lose! 

To kick start my workout motivation. I put together a little inspiration board:

#1 is of course my family.  I want to live a long and healthy life for my wonderful husband and beautiful daughter.  And of course, nothing motivates a girl by wanting to have the body of some super star.  In my case, Salma Hayek is probably the most full figured, petite woman I know with an amazing figure that my "dream body" comes closest to.  The tennis photo is because I want to get back into shape and actively play at the level I once played at.  There's nothing more aggravating to get on the court and realize you're out of shape.  The last photo is of a bikini I want to wear this summer while spending a week vacation at the beach with my family.  What can I say...of course I want to be a hot mamma!

My next post will be the rules and logistics of our cut throat friendly competition.  Let the Weight Loss war begin ladies!!!