A beyond obvious statement

It's funny how sometimes parents can become completely enraptured with phrases like won't it be so awesome when Babe #1 will be playing football and Babe #2 will be cheering from the sidelines in her precious little cheerleader outfit? Or I can't wait for our baby girl to totally own the stage when she starts to compete in the categories of jazz, ballet, tap, modern, etc. etc. etc. Right? Right?!

But really, that might never, ever happen. Carter may hate the sport of football. He might loathe the process of fishing. Kota might want to dig deeper into the world of BMX instead of go shopping for pointe shoes with me. Chad and I might actually have to argue with either or both children about the importance of doing well in school. 

You just never-gosh-darn know!

But here's what we do know, 

{obvious statement ahead}:

once we figure out that thing for both Carter and Kota and for any of our possible future babes, helping to foster the growth and spark further passions within those realms will be beyond rewarding for all of us, even if their interests lie beyond Chad and my outrageously stereotypical won't that be awesome when day dreams, even though we know we're just being silly.

{Did I mention "run-on" as well?}

Anyway, I don't know why that struck me so strongly today, I was just thinking about what a blessing it is to be able to hang out with these two bambinos. We get to see them grow and change at such a rapid pace, it's truly a miracle to just have them around, ready and willing to "help mom with dishes!" Or "feed the baby with THIS spoon!" Or roll completely underneath the piano for optimal viewpoints of mom while she lazily sips on her coffee in the morning! 

The joys, the joys!

{For real, though: the joys!}

The evolution of the youngest C's sleeping patterns

Despite that winded title, there really has been no "evolution," but you know? It feels good to put it like that. Almost as if we are moving forward on that wild journey toward sleeping through the night, even if just in my imagination. 

So when we were in the hospital, I basically nursed Kota for the entire first night she was with us. I was just so scared to go to sleep because of her teensy-tiny-ness! Who knew what could happen to babies under 7 pounds throughout an entire night! It was like the wild wild West in that there room, what with all the uncharted territory we were navigating through! Carter only woke up twice during his first night, Kota cried the entire time. It was nuts!

Anyway, for the first six weeks, of course she woke up two or three times a night, but then {I will never forget}, she slept a consecutive 10 hours right on her six-week-old birthday night! Yes! That happened! It was so awesome. I chalked it up to the my-goodness-there-has-yet-to-be-an-unruly-sleeper-in-this-household board and gave myself a big, fat, cocky slap on the back. Lending to my we-so-have-this-two-kid-thing-under-control 'tude, she stayed sleeping through the night for a blessed six more weeks from that day, and then sickness hit.

Yes, poor baby contracted bronchiolitis, so when she started waking up during those nights, it was quite welcomed. At least her airways were open, you know? But those previous six weeks was the last time this lady has slept through the night. Oh, the under-appreciation! The cockiness! Come on, Nicole! You should know by now that any time you're feeling pompous, the subject of said pomposity always comes around and slaps you in the face!

So at that point, baby girl was 3 months old, and now at 6.5 months, it's actually become more and more frequent. First it was once a night, then around 4 months it turned into twice, both of which were totally doable thanks to a nifty caffeine boost I added to my afternoons. People {well, Chadly} started to ask if I shouldn't just start formula so we can all get some gosh darn rest, but because of my upping the coffee dose, I felt like we should just keep trekking on. No need to fix something if it ain't broke, was what I was thinking. 

But THEN, this last Sunday hit. During the day we took this long excursion down to San Diego for some shopping, so we {I} sort of just threw her solid foods schedule to the wind, thinking that one day of just breast feeding should be fine, because after all, she's only been on solids for a few weeks now, anyway. Holy moly. 

I. WAS. WRONG.

That night, that wretched night, we woke up every HOUR AND A HALF!

Every hour and a half!

Can you believe it?!

I couldn't! 

At 5 AM I figured out it was because I was too lackadaisical with her eating that day, so of course she was going to wake up like a madwoman! At work on Monday passing out right there in the middle of class sounded pretty darn awesome, as long as I would be able to lie down on the eventual stretcher they would provide for me so I could get some sleep.

Then the next night she woke up three times! THREE TIMES! What the heck?! 

Anyway, bottom line is this: I'm ready to start incorporating formula. I'll still be nursing, but if we go somewhere I'm now fine with using it. I want her to pack on some weight for the sake of a better night's sleep and {did I mention?} my pump broke. Yeah, it broke. And I didn't get the warranty this time around because I bought it at Target instead of Babies-R-Us.

I know all the plusses and minus's to breast feeding most the time but adding a formula bottle here and there, but you know what? I'm just going to see how it goes and make decisions from there. I know it can affect the fat content of the milk and whatnot, but hey! It will all be fine, and we will all be happy in the end.

I think the real bottom line to this entire post was how disjointed it was. First we were talking about sleeping through the night, then it turned into a breast feeding manifesto and now it's about my pump breaking, therefore conveniently making me feel good about formula, even though I truly feel 100% fine with it. I hit my goal and I'm not stopping completely so cheers all around. In fact, I'll still be nursing her 99% of the time, it's just that when I go to work she'll be taking formula. Okay, now I'm just rambling.

But really quick, yesterday was her first official formula bottle which my mom gave her while I got my hair done, and it honestly freed me. I felt good because I knew that there was absolutely no chance of her running out of the goods, even though there was no way she would need more than one bottle while I was away. 

So that's my deal. If you made it to the bottom of this post then you are one awesome person. 

Oh, just speeding on through

So my last few posts have consisted of nothing but lists, but you know what? That's the easiest way to talk about life with two teensy babes! Well, not so "teensy" anymore, but you get the idea. Here's what's going on around here as of this week:

{1}

My precious baby baby Kota bear is significantly past the six month mark! Here are her tiny little stats: head, 50th percentile; height, 25th percentile; and weight, 8th percentile! 8TH PERCENTILE! So, so, so beyond special :)

{2}

Carter is now a maniac. The kid has gone insane in the membrane. Bed time? What's that?! He would rather lie down next to the banister and stare and Chad and I as we sit unsuspectingly eating dinner "alone." Car toys? MINE! Baby sister? MINE! Bath time? TIDAL WAVES! Listening to mommy? HECK TO THE NO! Harassing my lap top? OF COURSE! Sheesh kapeesh! Good thing he's cute. Seriously. Good thing he's cute.

{3}

Chad and I are pretty much desperate for a weekend away since everyone we know seems to have taken off to either Hawaii, San Francisco or Vegas. How come everyone is jet setting away and we are not? I don't know, man, but all these pictures on Instagram of far off places are making me mighty antsy!

{4}

Chadly has BOTH Saturday AND Sunday off this weekend, and we are attending a wedding on the first of those blessed two days! Woohoo! This means DRESS SHOPPING! 

{5}

Speaking of shopping, we took off to the Carlsbad Outlets yesterday {Sunday} and went on a much, much, much, much, MUCH needed closet rejuvenation mission just for me! Here is the back story: Last week I went out to see Rock of Ages with one of my favorite pals in the whole wide world, and on the drive down south, I got to thinkin', see. I was taking stock of my there outfit and here is what I noted: my jeans were purchased over two years ago for $7 at TJ Maxx {proud buy!}, my shirt was given to me by my sister from when I was PREGNANT WITH CARTER {!!!}, and the shirt I was wearing on top of that one was purchased two-and-a-half years ago only because I got it for 40% off! Now listen, I'm all about getting as much bang for your buck out of belongings as possible, but that's just ridiculous. Especially the shirt that I wore when I was pregnant with Carts! So after telling Chad this in an "Isn't-it-just-ridiculous-how-hard-it-is-to-spend-some-dough-on-yourself-once-you-have-kids" sort of way, he surprised me with a family outing to celebrate the wonderfulness that is shopping! It was fab! Pictures of my awesome, bright colored denim and pretty, pretty white shirts to come!

Anyway, cheers to quick lists about the family while watching your toddler give you angry looks for staring at your lap top! 

Challenge check in + Random fitness facts

Okay, so before I forget them, here they are:

- It takes more calories to burn cold water, and it will quench your thirst, but warm water is what makes you feel full, so if you're trying to fill up your stomach before a big meal then drink lukewarm water!

- The dude from Fit 2 Fat 2 Fit taught me this: it doesn't take much to look horrible. The guy just stopped working out, added one meal of fast food per week, ate a few carbs and man, did he explode. Seriously, go check him out. NOW! Talk about dedication and awesomeness.

- THIS WAS THE BIGGIE: People are always so concerned about eating too many carbs, but really, you should be making sure you're eating enough to support an active lifestyle! The psychology of working out is to always lose, lose, lose, but if you're not supporting yourself correctly then it can become counterproductive. Anyway, out of curiosity I made a Calorie Counter account, put in my information like my weight, height, the fact that I'm nursing and how much exercise I do daily, then they gave me a calorie count to maintain my current weight. After installing the app on the ole' iPhone, I tracked what I ate, and guess what?! I totally thought I would be way over, but just naturally I seem to eat exactly what they told me: 1700 calories {well, with activities comes points, so I was able to eat a little bit more than that in order to support whatever workout I was doing to for the day, but it always hit the amount they told me}! I thought that was so awesome for some reason!

Anyway, here is where I'm at with our current 10 day challenge, having not done anything yet today:

16.66/27 miles

1,100/3,500 sit-ups

275/500 push-ups

And in the spirit of my perpetual need to list, here are some other cool side effects to these here challenges:

- Between the sit-ups and the push-ups, I can really see a difference in my core. When people used to talk to me about their gosh darn "core," I honestly was sort of like, "Yeah, yeah, okay whatever," but seriously, it makes a HUGE difference! I took a Purebarre class on Sunday, and getting through the various exercises was not such a humongous deal, allowing me to focus on other body parts! It was so cool!

- I feel like during our next 10 day challenge I can add some weights into the mix. After a bajillion push-ups, these babies can handle it. Maybe in one year when these guns are rubbing elbows with the P90X crowd, I'll get a tribal tattoo around my bicep? Just a thought.

- Hubster is being a total BA in the fitness realm. He is awesome, awesome I tell you!

24 and 6

I'm super, super, super tempted to do a fitness check up on our 10 day challenge, but I shall resist to make way for two outrageously important events going on in this here family:

Chadly turning the big 2-4 and Kota practically becoming a woman at 6 months!

Those two, those two...What can I say? They are daddy and daughter, ying and yang, Milo and Stitch, Beauty and the Beast {HA!}. They are just wonderful together, even though I feel sort of bad because  we are still in the you-take-the-tot-I'll-take-the-babe set up, but that's okay though, because I have yet to see a bigger smile on the little lady than when she's being held by her daddy-o. Anyway, in light of this most wonderful of days, here are a few things I'm loving about each of them.

Ladies first:

6 things I love about Kota:

1. She is a professional baby food eater. I kid you not, that child has yet to have an over-the-top messy eating session. Slain the rice cereal department, she has, and we have just moved on to bananas. Let me tell you, my friend, she is totally boss.

2. I always talk about how tiny she is, but girlfriend can really rock those six month old outfits. Yes, she is actually six months old as of today, but I was dressing her in 3 month old cutenesses up until about a week-and-a-half ago, convinced that there was no way that tiny little thing could fill out a six month old jumper. Welp, I was wrong, and she looks fab!

3. Girly girl is still waking up twice {TWICE!} in the middle of the night, but I sort of look forward to it now. I know, weird, but late at night when she's super tired is when I have some of the most precious times I have with her, especially because it's only us two. Precious, I tell you, precious.

4. Her new favorite sound is this outrageous grunting noise. We were trying to figure out where such a gracious little woman like herself would learn such a thing, but then I heard Carter grunting it up with her yesterday. So...we figured it out.

5. As long as I position her legs just so, she's been sitting up like a pro! She's still wobbly, and the face plants are not so far and few between, but hey, who can beat looking into those self-supported blue eyes?

6. ...Speaking of, HER BLUE EYES! I'm still in shock we produced a blue-eyed child, and could not be more enamored by them.

Okay, this won't be so grandiose:

here are 24 things I love about Chadly:

1. He's a professional make-Nicole-laugh-er.

2. His positivity.

3. His logicalness {even though sometimes I want to shoot that logic in the face with my emotionally-led revolver}.

4. His skills in the daddy department.

5. His determination.

6. His I'm-so-going-to-dance-for-you-like-the-guys-in-Magic-Mike notions.

7. His bottomless pit of "Yeah, babe, I know what you mean" - 's.

8. His close relationship with my parents. And siblings. And if we had a dog growing up, that dog.

9. His constant desire to travel, just like me.

10. His international know-how. We would be a sad pair, traveling around the globe, if he was exactly like me in that realm.

11. His constant need of cleanliness. Already I'm a pathetic cleaner, but could you imagine if he had the same ideals of "clean" as I do? It would be madness. And to my credit, I am getting better! 

12. His less-frugal-than-cheap-o-Nicole ways. He's a fun guy to go on a date with, that's for sure. If I was a guy and had to take a girl on a date, it would always involve a picnic blanket. Because you can get that from your parents' linen closet. And my mom would make the food. Therefore no need for out of pocket spending. And maybe I'd make my date pay for the gas to get to the field where we would be eating. Eating for free. Thank goodness I'm a girl, is all I have to say!

13. He makes me calm.

14. He likes his family! 

15. He usually has a week off for Christmas and Carter's birthday, and now will have it off for Kota's birthday, as well. 

16. He's actively interested in fitness with me!

17. He's one supportive dude.

18. He listens to rants about how outrageously slow the hours of 4:00-6:00 pm seem to crawl by.

19. He likes to wash our cars!

20. He, like me, hates yard work. We will be getting a gardner for sure. It's either that or a concrete jungle as our future backyard, and that's not cool for the kids. 

21. He has sexy green eyes.

22. He gave at least one of our kids his bronzed-to-perfection skin, and the other, fair-as-a-vampire-like-his-mama, a fighting chance in the tanning-instead-of-burning realm!

23. No longer does he enjoy sitting in cold areas drinking beers. I daresay the man has matured!

24. He loves me and I love him!

Ahh, that was wonderful! So HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MAN, and HAPPY 6 MONTHS TO MY BABE! You two and Carts are my whole world, and you couldn't make me happier! 

Cheers!

French bistros with the husband and his birthday

1. We were on the 'moon!

2. Who can beat commentary from good ole' moi?

3. I have to say, I'm quite proud of Chadly in the fitness department... He just looks so healthy compared to just a few years ago!

4. It's that man's birthday today :)

Hey! I think I see a muscle!

So the 10 day challenge was amazing. It's just so awesome to have a goal! I think the part of it I enjoyed the most {well, in hindsight anyway} was the fact that we included pushups in the gosh darn mix. Y'all, my upper body strength is pathetic. "Little to none" is being generous. Anyway, here is how it all came out:

I walked/ran 23.5 miles out of our goal of 30,

did 2,700 situps out of 3,000,

and got through 380 pushups out of 500.

So I was short on everything because I took two days off for some rest, and there was just no making it up! Already the ole' bod was being pushed to the limits, so that was just the way it was going to go. But I'm truly totally happy with those numbers! It was our first challenge and now we know.

Here's the most awesome news of all:

I... see... some muscle... in my ARMS!

MUSCLE! 

In these arms!

I think I'll go so far as to say that these ole' guns are getting a good workout! Yes, I thought my body was going to crumble by the wayside due to overworking the joints, but hey! It was so worth it! Look at that muscle-less picture up there from when I was pregnant with Kota! No more Gumby arms around here, my friend, no more!

Anyway, our next challenge starts this Wednesday, and here are the new goals:

27 miles of walk/running

3,500 situps

500 pushups

That's the deal, man! 

And here's what's going on in nutrition around these parts as of Monday {our grocery day}:

Smoothies: strawberries, bananas, blueberries, flax seed meal {give it up for crazy ingredients!}, greek yogurt, honey and apple juice. Seriously, best tasting and for us to date.

Snacking/Chad's lunches for work: I made quinoa! So now we have a protein filled, healthy snack during the day and Chadly has deliciousness to look forward to. I also packaged the rest of last week's turkey-filled spaghetti for the dude to trade off, if he would like.

Veggie muffins: this week, for Carter's wonderful veggie muffins, I'm going to include sweet potatoes and broccoli. Seriously, these things give that kid more veggies within a one inch radius than this woman was able to give him during the last two-and-a-half years. Cheers to carby-looking healthy snacks!

Dinners: planned and ready to go, although one night include enchiladas, which surely will not be too nutritious, but hey, what can ya do? This marriage is comprised of someone who is half espanol, so what's a wife to do? {NO, I most certainly DO NOT enjoy fattening Mexican food more than my husband... Why would you think such a thing?}

Anyway, it's looking good, it's looking good.

I hope Jen's blog is inspiring you just as it is me, and go check out my 10 day challenge pal Jenna and tell her to go turn on Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred RIGHT NOW!

{And seriously, you better yell!}