high 5 for insta-friday

linking up with lauren and jeannett again today to share with you some of my very favorite things from this week.

ONE: i heart trader joes!  i was able to stop in for 10 minutes and pick up this "last minute hostess" basket full of items for only $40.  it includes red and white wine, beer, snacks and beautiful flowers that still look great 7 days later. 

TWO:  had my besties over for a game night while jen was in town.  have you ever played quelf?  it is the most ridiculous game ever but i love how much it puts people out of their comfort zone.  

THREE:  sunday was beautiful, 70 degrees and sunny.  we were able to take henry out in his new wagon.

FOUR:  impromptu date night at sushi blues!  

FIVE: tuesday night we gathered for a Forge Raleigh cohort.  we had some really great discussion and i was inspired to be a little more studious with my reading.  

happy friday and have a great weekend!!!

dear henry,

the other day you were having some great independent play time.  as much as i wanted to climb inside your play area to role the ball and stack blocks with you, i decided to hang back.  watching you explore  is one of my favorite pastimes. you were so funny talking and seeing what toys fit where. sometimes you make up a little song when you talk to or about your hands, food or toys. 

i dream and worry a little about how you will turn out.  this is that time when almost every parent looks at their baby and sees the potential of what things could be.  they stress about if their child is learning well and how to encourage their children to explore while keeping them out of the emergency room. i am trying not to be one of those stressed out moms.  its hard because you have no fear.  you climb the stairs as fast as you can, only looking back to see if i am following you.  you climb up and down grunting the whole time as if you are exerting all the energy you have … yet you still have plenty.  you, my dear, are a bottomless pit of energy. 

henry, “they” were right.  you are growing right before my very eyes.  my mom used to say that she wanted to tie a brick to our heads so we wouldn't grow anymore and now i understand what she meant.  it seems like yesterday that you started crawling and now you walk almost everywhere you go.  when you do crawl, you do this thing with your arms and shoulders that make me laugh out loud. 

you have been throwing a few tantrums lately trying to deal with all the big emotions in such a little body.  you don't quite understand why we tell you "no."  you have been doing the "gimme" hands which looks a lot like when you wave "bye bye."  most of the time it means "pick me up please" or "more cheerios" but sometimes we cannot figure it out and you get a little mad.  after a few tries of giving you the wrong thing, i can see it in your eyes ... you are wondering why the devil we cant understand you and get it right.  sometimes you refuse to eat off a spoon because you are dying to be independent and feed yourself.  usually your meltdowns last less than a minute and then you’re off again with the walking and singing.    

i would love to say that you are a momma’s boy but i don’t thinks that’s the case.  you love your daddy so much and it shows when you look at him.  you smacked him in the face a few times this week because he wasn’t looking when you discovered something neat.   his approval and attention means a lot to you.  you giggle when he puts silly things on his head and then you try and do the same. your favorite is when he flies you around the house like superman.  

henry, your daddy and i love you very much.  i am looking forward to our life with you.  we are so blessed!

love, 
momma

pet peeves:

1)  when i am second in line at a stop light and the person behind me honks their horn.  i always get so embarrassed that the person in front might think i did it.  so i usually look like an idiot trying to sign language an apology and pointing behind me to the real culprit.

2) while shopping, you ask the store employee if there are any more of said item in the back and they just simply say “no.”   i mean, i have worked in the customer service industry before.  i know how this works.  can’t you at least pretend to look in the back?  go take a sip of your icee for gracious sake and come back with a concerned look on your face and lie … say you couldn’t find it anywhere.

source

3) when an ambulance is coming up behind you and you are the ONLY person that pulls off the road out of their way … and then no one will let you back onto the road even though you are the only driver that did what they were supposed to.

4) weak coffee … like really weak.  you add the tiniest amount of cream and it suddenly looks like a cup of skim milk …. and don’t get me started on skim milk. 

5) leaves!  you finally muster up some energy to blow the leaves in your front yard and at some point in the night a small tornado comes through and blows them all over the place … and more down from the tree.  bagging the leaves in the pile is not an option because it would literally take ten million years ... ain't nobody got time for that!  speaking of time, if it didn’t get dark at 3pm, maybe i would have more time to blow and bag leaves :)

what is your biggest pet peeve? 

high five for insta-friday

happy friday to you!

im excited to be linking up with lauren and jeanette to share five awesome things from this past week.

ONE:  headed to trophy brewing company friday night to pick up a pizza and growler full of beer to take home.  

TWO:  updagraded henry into a bigger car seat.  its crazy how grown up he seems now

THREE:  i was able to reclaim some of our living room on monday.  we have had a lot of gift bags and cardboard sitting around since henry's birthday.  

FOUR:  trying out a hybrid diaper on henry for the next few weeks.  stay tuned for my thoughts on gdiapers. 

FIVE:  the blog is officially back up and running.  

currently ...

missing ... long, warm days

loving ... seeing henry become this little person with his own personality 

thinking about ... planning a mini vaca/ road trip

listening to ... mumford and sons concert on youtube.  i have just recently found that you can watch entire concerts on youtube so i looked up some of my favorites.  

drinking ... water

thankful for ... husband, coffee and henry's new play yard thing we set up in the basement.  its a great place for him to play while im in the shower, cooking, blogging :)

addicted to ... dark chocolate covered almonds from trader joes

dreading ... the wintry weather, it being dark out when i get home from work and static shocks from my hair, coat, car door, etc.   

reading ... Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting - chapter 6 is so interesting (along with the rest of the book so far).  its about the difference between child care options in paris vs. the US.  

dreaming of ... summer time and beach trips

excited about ... jen coming home for a visit this weekend, the sweet sibling tat my bro and i are planning and getting my blog back up and running. 

motherhood and body image

i wrote this post on march 20, 2012 but never clicked on the "publish" button.  i have several posts like this sitting in my blogger account.  there are many reasons why i have slacked off this whole blogging thing and many reasons why i want to pick it back up again.  so this is a start ... some thoughts and feelings that have been sitting here in virtual limbo for some time.  

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like a lot of women, i have lived in a constant state of diet and fitness routine followed by "not caring" or "letting myself go" and then back to dieting.  round and round i went.  looking back, i cant really tell a huge difference physically, it was mostly a mental thing.  its crazy to look back at a photo and remember feeling "fat" that day.  i remember being self conscious and making the decisions to not care in order to move forward with my day or activity.  im glad that i was able to change my mindset into not caring what others thought and make the best of it ... but the point is, how did i let myself get to that mindset in the first place?  why did i feel the need to overcome the fact that my size 4, 6 or 8 self needed a pep talk to go the beach.  i cant count how many times i have said something like "ill just sit my fat ass right here and wait."  what the devil!  yeah, and the sad part is that i hear that same mentality all around me.  i have friends and family that refer to themselves the same way.  im not saying i learned it from them, its my own words.  i am sad that this type of conversation was my norm.  i put myself and my body down constantly.  i am surprised my body didnt just shut down from all the negativity.   

i am sure you have all read posts about the media's part in things like this.  i could talk about it all day long but i wanted to make this post a little more personal than that.  i want to talk to you about my journey and how motherhood changed my body image.  

today is the day i reached my pre-pregnancy weight.  awesome, right?!?!   i was so excited that i shared with a couple of people and it felt really weird to compliment myself ... talking good about my body feels foreign to me.  then i starting thinking about how much my body has done over the past year.  last year this time, i was about 7 weeks pregnant.  i was already at a size/weight that i wasnt ecstatic about but i could live with for the time being.  i had been through a miscarriage, the holidays and a juice cleanse (only to continue to not take care of myself).  during my pregnancy, i did not get sick once and everything tasted amazing.  i ended up gaining 55 lbs which as of today, i have lost.  after growing a person (still mind blowing to me), i then recovered from a major surgery while my body started to make milk that will nurture and feed my son long after he was born.  then after fully recovering from my c-section, this body of mine started strengthening one sit up, one jumping jack and one mile at a time.  now, i have completed a 60 fitness challenge and i signed up for my first 4 mile race and im feeling great.  my legs and heart feel strong and my mind feels clear.  

i cannot share this without giving credit to the way we have been eating.  at the beginning of january, i decided i wanted to eat bread with less ingredients.  while searching for information, i came across the 100 days of real food blog.  i read this post about really easy changes that make a big difference.  for the first time, it didnt seem overwhelming to make a lifestyle change.  this has had a HUGE impact on my body image.  i really feel great and when it comes time to run or take care of henry, i have the energy i need.  not because im counting calories or fat grams or anything just because i am making really healthy meals.  

i want to remember this feeling.  i know i wont always be this pumped, this size, this weight, but i want to remember feeling great about my body and being thankful of the life it provided for my son and myself.  i have heard women say they prefer not to have children because of what it does to your body.  let me tell you that it does more to your mind and how you view yourself.  i am happy to be a mother for too many reasons to count but i never thought about the positive effect it could have on my body image.