15 Months

How did this happen? Where did the time go? When did my Little Buddy become a Little Man???

• He talks! Our words right now are Ree (read, said with a book in hand), Bwee (please), Bah (ball), Bee (beep, said when touching your nose), Buh (baby, said when playing with his baby doll), Mommy (SQUEE!!!!), and Dada.
• He is totally into books, bringing us three or four at a time and asking us to Ree (read) with him. Then he crawls into your lap to hear the story. Oh, my heart!
• He can go up the playground stairs and then down a slide all by himself.
• He plays peekaboo constantly when we want him to chill. Car seat, bedtime, and nursing are his favorite times to cover his eyes and get us to play with him.
• He gives kisses! He will close his mouth, lean towards you, and make a MMM sound until you give him a kiss. SO SWEET! 
• His favorite thing is going outside to play! The backyard is the best thing ever and he will happily play out there for hours without getting bored.
• A close second is anything involving water. He loves to play in the fountain in the backyard, water the plants, swim in the pool, get in a bath, and drink water. If he is splashing, he is happy!
• He loves watching Daniel Tiger and VeggieTales. Awesome.
• He loves music! Little Buddy will stomp along with the beat when I'm in rehearsal. He also dances whenever I practice guitar. Woohoo!
• He is currently in the carbivore stage of eating, consuming crackers like it's his job. We finally found an organic, ethical chicken nugget we can make at home that he likes. He wants to use utensils to feed himself but all it does is make a mess and frustrate him. It's a work in progress.
• We have FINALLY reached the stage in the nursery at church where he will stay the entire time without me needing to be in the room. I listened to a sermon in real time for the first time in 15 months last week. WOOOO!

Little Buddy is an absolute joy, constantly laughing and playing. He makes everyone around him smile.

We are "that family" - still breastfeeding, still cloth diapering, still baby wearing, still co-sleeping, still wearing amber necklaces for teething. And I love every second of it!

(Don't mind my pj's, no makeup, and terrible camera angle. It was bedtime.)

A long time

It's been a while, I know. I was on Face.Book yesterday wondering how to ask anonymously for prayer and share some exciting stuff with people I trust, Then I remembered: oh, hey! I have a blog! Not that I write anymore, and not that anyone is still reading, but I have an outlet for these kind of things.

No, I'm not pregnant. Let's just get that out of the way.

R has a job opportunity. His interview was yesterday and we should know something next week. If this opportunity comes together, R would no longer be working from home. Since we live out in the country, the office is 45 minutes away without traffic. At least an hour each way WITH traffic. That's a lot of driving, and a lot of gas money, for a someone who has been working from home for five years.

So, we are looking at houses. Well, house. Single. Because we already know which house we want. It is an absolutely gorgeous home in the subdivision behind our church. Like, this house is within walking distance to our church. Something like 0.02 miles. The front of the subdivision is directly across the street from the turn in to the church parking lot. And, with traffic, it is 25 minutes from R's new office.

We love it. It is beyond perfect for our family. It is on the size of property R wants and has the access to amenities that I want. The very first time I saw this house, I knew it was the one I wanted our family to grow up in. The price just dropped $15k, putting it right at the top of our budget.

Of course, we would have to sell our current home. Our home is great and, while it's felt small since Little Buddy has become mobile, it is the right size for a young family. Our lot is one of the largest in the neighborhood and comes with all the bells and whistles: full privacy fence, deck with pergola, fire pit, vegetable garden, play house, sandbox, and swing set with slide. R has put his blood, sweat, and tears into the yard and is looks perfect.

The inside of our home is pretty customized - bold colored walls, asian art, baby stuff... We would need to pull WAY back on the decor and remove all of the personalization. Hopefully we wouldn't have to repaint, but I wouldn't be surprised if a stager asked us to repaint. We would be looking at almost a thousand dollars of work to get the house ready, just from paint, painting supplies, and a storage unit to empty out the clutter.

But it would be worth it for that house. For that closeness to R's work. For the amazing schools the house is zoned for. To be able to walk to church/work. (Did I mention I'm being brought on at our church as a part time staff member? Yeah, that is happening. Finalizing everything tomorrow! WOOOO!)

So, we could use prayer. As much as we want R to get this job and as much as we want that house, we want what God wants for our family. So please join us in praying for this job opportunity - that R would only get a job offer if it is where God wants him to be. That, if he receives a job offer, that the Lord would clear the way for us to move closer to R's work. And, if we do move, that it would be into the house God wants for us.

Because, you guys, in my head we are already packing and moving into that house. <3

Long Time, No Blog

So, it's been a while. Just to get it out of the way: No, the diet didn't work out. I ate all of the carbs. They were delicious. Oh well.

Little Buddy turned One! The luau was amazing and a ton of fun. I meant to get all of the pictures and ended up with just a couple. But they are great :-) There was much reminiscing and balloons and food. Perfect!

Today, I turn 34. Ouch. It feels much older than 33. Too close to 35 which is too close to 40! With work, parenting, and leaving for vacation tomorrow, I haven't really had time to celebrate today. But there will be Mexican food and I've been promised Publix cupcakes when we get to Florida tomorrow.

And, yes, vacation tomorrow! Woo!!! Two weeks in Florida! I can't wait to spend time with my parents and my BFF. In addition to all the regular totally fun stuff we have planned, I also have one-on-one time planned with both of my parents. My mom and I will be doing a Bible study together while I'm in town and my dad will be teaching me to play guitar. I can't wait!! And my BFF and I are taking Little Buddy blueberry picking at his parents' farm. Yay!

We are still breastfeeding, although Little Buddy is slowly getting into solids. We are still cloth diapering full time. We are still baby wearing. We are still co-sleeping. I'm so proud of us for crossing the 1-year mark on all of these!

I'm struggling with my weight and body image issues right now but choosing to celebrate everything above. This first year with Little Buddy has been SO different from my first year with Little K. Our God is amazing! I never knew life could be this good, this blessed, this wonderful. Praise God!

Day 3/33: Five Down and Day 4/33: Momentum

Day 3: My favorite thing about removing carbs from my diet (cause, let's be honest, carbs are delicious and it is a daily struggle to just say NO) is the instant results you see on the scale. After just two days, I'm already showing five pounds down! Woo!

The past few days have been okay. A little stressful at times (I am craving carbs like WHOA) but mostly delicious and encouraging. I managed to workout yesterday and I went to karate tonight. I have decided that 25-28 net carbs/day is actually a good number for a nursing mom, freeing me to eat enough to keep up a solid milk supply.

My water intake is going great and I'm making sure we get plenty of fiber each day with a minimum of artificial sweeteners. R is eating carb-free until dinner each night while I'm taking them in throughout the day. Last night we had lower-carb chicken fajitas from the slow cooker and tonight is beef stew with cauliflower instead of potatoes. I picked up some SF candies to satisfy those random sweet tooth moments. And I figured out that a tablespoon of heavy cream in my smoothie makes up for the lack of banana. Mmm - creamy!

Day 4: Today is a little off track. My carbs/water for the morning are in great shape but conference calls and early release at school has made fitting in a workout difficult. I'm going to try to workout this afternoon around 2:00 PM once Little K is home and Little Buddy has napped. We will see! I don't want to lose momentum.

I made these low-carb biscuits last night to go with out beef stew and they were great! A little bitter but it was SO nice to have a bready treat to dip in the bowl. 8/10 - Would recommend :-)

In other news, Little Buddy is turning 11 Months tomorrow! EEK! Where did my baby go???

Day 2/33: One Day and One Workout

Yesterday brought some cold, harsh reality. R and I weighed ourselves and took body measurements. The last time I stepped on the scale, I was 5-7 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight. yesterday showed 14 pounds over. EEK! I am so disappointed!! And when we took body measurements, several of my measurements were the same as R's. UGH! After that, I had to keep repeating to myself, "This is the starting point, this is the starting point."

Weigh-in and measurements will take place every Sunday morning. I'm hoping to see a difference in my weight after one week.

Day one of the diet went... okay. Here's my day:

Est. 75oz water
8:00 AM: Chai Tea Latte - 3 Net Carbs
11:00 AM: 2 egg omelet with 1/2C broccoli and 1/3C Cheese, 1.5 pieces organic bacon - 1 Net Carb
2:00 PM: Sugar Free PBJ Smoothie - 10 Net Carbs
3:00 PM: Organic Hot Dog (I was so hungry!!) - 0 Net Carbs
6:00 PM: Chicken Marsala with steamed Green Beans - 6 Net Carbs
8:00 PM: Low Carb Ice Cream - 6 Net Carbs

At 26 Net Carbs I'm obviously WAY over the 17 Net Carbs I was aiming for the day. Bleh. I am trying to figure out if that's okay since Little Buddy is still 95% breastfed. I do recognize that I need to keep my supply up and that requires fat, carbs, and calories. I dunno. I'm going to tweak my smoothie and see if I can at least get it down to 8 NC and look up homemade SF treats. I'm going to take 2 Glucocoman with my smoothie to make it to dinnertime without another snack and I need to get up to 100oz water with at least 25oz before my latte in the morning. So, there's improvement to be seen.

On the upside, I did manage to take my vitamins today. Woo!

As far as working out, today was day one. I worked with a personal trainer over the summer so I did one of the workouts he taught me. All told it was 40 minutes of work which I feel is a good start. Today is all rainy but, as long as the rain stops by noon, we are still going to try walking after lunch. I may try doing some jumping jacks and some weights this evening before dinner.

Speaking of dinner, low-carb chicken fajitas are already in the slow cooker. Awesome.

Only 32 days to go!

Day 1/33: A Whole New Attitude (to food)

Of course, as soon as I decide I'm not going to blog anymore I end up with something to blog about.

Today is February 1st. We are exactly 33 days away from Little Buddy's first birthday. And I'm still not at or under my pre-pregnancy weight. Bleh. And I know exactly why. We have been eating takeout with embarrassing frequency through this first year of Little Buddy's life. So often that I'm going to just skip over the exact number of days per week to avoid the judgement that is sure to reign down on me.

So! It's time for a change. I've been feeling this way for a while lately but the final straw came from R. He went to his yearly physical last week and has gained more weight than he is comfortable with. So here we are. Doing the big D word - Diet.

But, really, it's a lifestyle change. We are removing the whites from our diet (white flour, white rice, white sugar...)  and adding 60-75 minutes of activity into our days. Call it Low Carb, Paleo, or THM, bad carbs are out and lots of movement is in!

R and I each have 20 pounds to lose. The general plan is to stick to a strict(ish) Low Carb diet with a few fruits thrown in until Little Buddy's first birthday. Then, after taking the day to splurge on cake and luau noms, step back and talk about how Low Carb felt for each of us and how we want to move forward.

For exercise, we are going to trade off 30 minute workouts in the morning while the other watches the baby and take a 2 mile family walk at Noon. Plus I have karate 2 nights/week.

To take care of our food, I have prepared 13 low(er) carb freezer meals for the slow cooker. During the day, we have: coffee, eggs, Applegate bacon, cottage cheese, salads, no-sugar smoothies, raw almond butter with celery, and the occasional apple. I'm also picking up frozen burgers for when we are craving fast food (I'm not above making oven baked sweet potato fries to go with 'em on occasion). I have almond flour for breading chicken and tons of veggies to be steamed, roasted, and stir-fried.

We are taking bits from each of the "diet plans" above. Low Carb, of course, reducing the amount of carbohydrates in our diet over all. Paleo by eating whole foods rather than processed. And THM by eating on 3-hour cycles, eating until we are satisfied, and not excluding fruits.

The hope, of course, is that the next 33 days will help us re-learn how to eat and take care of our bodies, as well as turn our family into a healthier and more budget-contentious one.

Sit down, hold on, and here we go!

MIA

Sorry for disappearing for the better part of two months. I didn't even manage to put up Little Buddy's 10 month update! For the first time in four years, I didn't submit anything for Creme de la Creme. I am feeling further and further removed from this space. What do you say about infertility when your child is home with you, learning to walk and sprouting new teeth practically daily?

Things are going well here. Very well. Little Buddy is thriving, Little K is doing well. R and I resumed date night last week and it was great (amazing! wonderful! I remember why I married this guy - we actually have a great time hanging out together!). I joined Jamberry as an Independent Nail Consultant. Work is rocking. I went back to karate after the holidays. Cloth diapering is still going strong, as is breastfeeding. I've started getting dressed and putting on makeup again. I've finally come into my own as a vocalist at the Saturday Night Service. My parents are looking at buying some land just up the road and retiring to NC to be nearer to us. I bought new coffee pods for my coffee maker...

Life is happening. It's not new or remarkable but it is ours and we love it. I feel like I don't have the time or drive to update in this space as often, simply because, if I do, I feel like I will miss experiencing some part of what God has given us. (In the ten minutes it took me to write this post, Little Buddy has discovered that he can reach the cats on the chair and learned how to unplug my laptop.)

I'm not sure of the future of this space. Sometimes I think about having another child (please, sir, I want some more...) but it isn't the overwhelming, all consuming ache that was there before Little Buddy was a part of our lives. R and I even looked up baby names only to realize we don't like anything we found for a boy. R insists that he is done, that nothing could ever convince him to have another child so please just let this idea go. I may be back here to talk about those thoughts and feelings. Until then, please know that I love each one of you and am praying for you.

Please feel free to come find me on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/danielle.piperspencer
https://www.facebook.com/jammingwithdani?ref=hl

And on Instagram @dspencer0331