I FINALLY Lost Weight!!!

I've been trying for months to lose some weight and I've been stuck at a certain number. I've tried all kinds of diets and exercises, nothing working! Finally, Ian and I decided to start counting our calories, keeping them below a certain number, and to work out daily. I was frustrated when I still didn't lose anything the first week, but finally over two weeks in- I lost 2.5 pounds! I was so excited this morning when we weighed in that I just had to tell someone, and seeing as I didn't talk to anyone today except Serra [who already knew because she was present at the weigh-in], I figured I'd post it and tell everyone! :) Yay for me!

And All That Jazz...

We've had a few moments this week that I thought were worth noting. First of all, I came to the realization of why Serra is so silly... she has silly parents who do silly things too! [this one was Ian's idea, not mine].

Secondly, Serra is SO excited because Mommy finally figured out that she could do "big girl" hair styles on Serra! [Instead of ponytails sticking straight up, they lay down on her head- much like an adult would do to pull back their bangs, etc.] It looks so cute- especially when her hair is really curly in the back. Sorry it's blurry, but I promise this was the best picture- anyone with children can empathize! :)

And we decided to show off her "big girl" hairstyle at her first Sunday in nursery! Serra was not very thrilled when I left her there, and she gave me a big fuss when I picked her up, but they said she did wonderful and had lots of fun. Yippee!

note: Serra decided to wave during this picture- her hands aren't fuzzy in real life. :)

*I forgot to add that Serra brought home her first coloring from nursery, too- it was a little girl's face that read "Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ Love Me". She gave the girl blue freckles, but there was more coloring on the back side than on the front! :)

Tuffy Tooth

Serra had her first dentist appointment and had so much fun that she even gave the dentist a "high five" when it was over! She loves her new pink shirt and Wall-E spinbrush that she got for having no cavities. Here I was worried that they wouldn't be able to get her to open her mouth, but it looks like our diligence in brushing her teeth and making it fun helped out! Here's a picture of Serra with her "Tuffy Tooth" shirt.

I can't believe it's not butter!

Okay... my post isn't about butter... but I really was going to start with "I can't believe"... only finish with "it only took TWO DAYS!". That's right, the nap thing- totally worked! And it actually wasn't that bad. The first night she fussed for maybe 30 minutes total and then caved in. For her nap the next day, she fussed a total of 10 minutes. That night, she fussed for 5 minutes and right when I was about to go in to re-tuck her in she had stopped, so I never had to go back in. And then her next nap and bedtime I laid her down said goodnight and waved at the door so she knew I was leaving- she just waved back, smiling behind her pacifier, and that was that! I closed the door and never heard a peep! Ahhh... it's SO nice to have my evenings back!

Naps Used To Be Easy...

A couple of months ago, when it was nap time Serra would let me wrap her in her favorite blanket and I'd give her a pacifier and stuffed animal. Then I'd leave the room and she would just fall asleep herself. However, we took a vacation over Thanksgiving and she had to be comforted and rocked because she didn't recognize where she was. And now ever since then the naps and bedtime have become progressively worse. So now today I said enough is enough [after Ian and I wasted 1 1/2 hours trying to put her down], and I refuse to pick her up. I let her scream for a little bit and then I go back in to re-wrap her, etc. But then I leave again and that continues. We have tried all kinds of things and nothing has really worked- so I hope we can stick to this long enough that eventually she'll be my easy-going napper again! [And boy am I "excited" for when we take the pacifiers away!]

Craft of the Month- December

I finally finished the quilt wall-hanging that Charisse taught me how to make back in August! [I made a major mistake and we had to fix it and redo it over our Christmas break down there.]

Brrr... Turn up the Thermostat!

This is what Serra's been sporting since we got home- we turned the thermostat down and the house still hasn't warmed up- we're having a technician come in on Monday to see what's wrong with our heater. 55 degrees just isn't cutting it- but at least Serra looks cute!

Safe and Sound

We got back home yesterday around 4pm and then headed right back out at 5pm to see Ian's brother, Gavin, play in the BYU basketball game vs. Wake Forest. It was a long trip, but Serra did pretty well for most of it- just around the last hour of each day she started to go a little crazy. But the funniest thing is that today she keeps going to the garage door and pointing saying she wants to go in the car! Silly girl, THIS is our home!

[By the way, since I didn't really have the time or resources to download my pictures, etc. from our trip, I decided to wait until I got back to post things on my blog- so I will post everything that happened over the last two weeks today or tomorrow, but Blogger has this cool feature where I can pre-date it, so it actually looks like I posted on Christmas Day or what have you... just so you're not confused wondering how I suddenly got all these posts from weeks ago and you never saw them until today- you're not crazy!]

Ridgecrest, California

Okay, so I've posted a lot of pictures lately, but there were a couple of really cute pictures from our stay in Ridgecrest that I just had to post- so I'm going to anyway. :)

Ian pushed Serra and her cousin Sean around in the wheelbarrow trying to distract them while we were getting everything ready for a picture of all the grandkids.



Serra playing piano with her Aunt Lorie, again trying to distract her- this time so I could finish a craft with Grandma.