I've lost twenty-five pounds!

Weight Watchers was today and I lost 1.6 this week so I've lost 26.4 total. I am so excited! It is taking a lot longer this time around compared to last time but that's okay. I lost fifty pounds in six months the first time that I lost my weight. I just figure that it's because I'm nursing this time. Those days are numbered, though, because I am Sawyer's teething toy these days! It looks like his two front teeth are coming in...just in time for Christmas!

I am so excited about our vacation. I am having to pack everything but the kitchen sink it seems. I just want Sawyer to feel as at home as possible. Larry and Velma got Jordan's old crib so we're going to use it. She's also getting a high chair from church, but other than that we'll have all of his paraphernalia and trust me there's lots of it! Who knew that one little baby could need so much stuff? I feel like we need one of those trailers that high school bands have to store their instruments. Ours would be full of diapers and wipes!

We went to the ped because I figured that he just had a cold but I wanted to find out for sure before we get 300 miles away from his doctor. I probably wouldn't even have brought him in otherwise. It turns out that I was right but I have peace of mind now knowing that it's just a cold. She gave us a decongestant to give him twice a day. I asked Patti the nurse if I was going to win an award for the number of times I've brought him to the ped so far. She just laughed. I'm taking that as a sign that I must be a contender! :) He weighed sixteen pounds by the way. He gained seven ounces since last Tuesday. It's so funny that I almost forgot to mention how much he weighed. I'm getting better about not worrying that he will starve to death. It only took me six months! :)

I got our Christmas cards addressed and mailed yesterday. They are so cute! I know that everyone is going to love them! I also went to Curves Monday and Tuesday. It's easier for me to go now that Sawyer is eating cereal because Lorne can feed him while I'm gone. We're still trying to get him to drink from a cup. I'm trying to be patient because I know that it is a big adjustment for him.

Speaking of adjustments, our house is an absolute wreck these days. I have the pool table covered, and I mean covered, with all my Christmas present wrapping junk. I haven't vacuumed in a week, my Tahoe is filthy (believe it or not), and I still haven't started packing. I know that I could get some of my tasks accomplished if I would put down the crossword book (and stop blogging). I am having too much fun with those crosswords let me tell ya! I am really enjoying the feeling of working my brain again. I was starting to feel like it was turning to mush.

I guess that I'd better get to some of the tasks on my "To Do" list. I have so many lists right now that it isn't even funny. I'm sure that is not at all surprising for those of you who know me well.


Sawyer tried the Arrowroot teething biscuits for the first time Monday. He's actually really good at feeding himself.


I got him in mid-roll. He's so funny these days. I put his toy in front him to try and get him to crawl toward it and he just rolls over instead.


One more play mat picture. Rosie is getting better and better about leaving him alone while he's on the floor.

Sawyer is Six Months Old!

I can't believe that he is already six months old! Time is going by much too quickly! He is changing in so many ways I'm having a hard time keeping count. He has gotten much better about napping in his crib. I am also trying to spend more time with him on the floor doing tummy time. I put one of his toys in front of him to try and get him to move toward it. He always ends up rolling over instead. He's rolling more and more in general. He has learned to roll from front-to-back and back-to-front.

I've been watching the mail for my six-months of breastfeeding service medal. Maybe it got lost in the mail...they are really busy this time of year...

Lorne got a heroes welcome when he came home from work yesterday. Sawyer was chuckling for him. It was one of the best sounds I have ever heard! He definitely loves his daddy! I wish that I could get a recording of his little laugh.


I just couldn't get a smile out of the little booger today. I've had this rocking chair since I was a little girl.


"Not another picture, Mommy!"

We're going to a party for Lorne's group tomorrow night. His boss mentioned in a meeting that infants are welcome so we're going to go at least for a little while. We always do a white elephant gift exchange so we need to go shopping either tonight or tomorrow. I'm making Karen's sweet potato casserole and Aunt Tisha's chocolate covered peanuts. Parties are always difficult with Weight Watchers but I'm going to try my best. I'm determined to lose my .4 this week so that I can get my 25 pound magnet on Wednesday. I really need the motivation going into Christmas.

Christmas in Wylie

I have pictures of some of our Christmas decorations as promised. It took us a little longer to get everything decorated this year. Lorne has been working really long hours at work lately. He's the one in charge of most of our decorating as I have previously mentioned. Our newest Christmas decoration is a village that Lorne, Larry, and Velma got me for my birthday. It is awesome! Lorne set it up in the entertainment center and it looks like the space was made just for it. It plays "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." We listened to it over and over until we thought we would lose our minds. Lorne finally found that it had a volume switch. Whew! The people move around the Christmas tree and there are ballet dancers inside the theatre.

Lorne combined three pictures to make this awesome image. The neatest part is watching the people move around the tree and inside the theatre. I especially like that the church is decorated with Christmas lights (back left corner).

Lorne hooked up the camera to the laptop to take pictures of the decorations. It made the pictures come out much more clear as we weren't shaking while trying to hold the camera. All of the pictures that we took only blurred the lights and made the pictures look pretty wacky.


Our tree has gold and red balls, gold and red streamers, and a star on top. I think there should be an angel, but I have obviously lost that argument. This will be the first year that the streamers stay in place since Maggie isn't here to eat them anymore. Her first toy was curling ribbon and she wanted to eat it from that point forward...we scarred her for life! :)


Tammy made the wreath. It's hanging from fishing line. I thought I was going to be sick last year while Lorne was at the tip top of the ladder trying to hang it. He always does such a great job of decorating! We have the prettiest house on the street! He has the lights set to a timer so they come on at dark and also in the morning so that people can enjoy them on their way to work.

My favorite part of Christmas has to be the mirror ball. I can still remember our first Christmas together in 1992 when I saw my first mirror ball used as a Christmas decoration. Larry actually had one that was homemade! It was one of the craziest things that I'd ever seen. It has grown on me though I must say. I actually bought Lorne one for Christmas at Spencer's one year. A few years later we bought some colored discs. Now we can have red, green, blue, purple, or even yellow light. We stick to the red, green, or the original white for Christmas.


Here it is...what you've all been waiting for...the mirror ball!


I love this time of year when neighbors or service people come inside. I can see the wheels turning. They're trying to frame a question about what is hanging from our living room ceiling but they're not quite sure how or what to ask.

Sawyer had his six-month well-visit today and he is healthy! He weighed 14.5 when we went two weeks ago and he weighed 15.9 today! He LOVES his pears and squash to say the least! I am excited that he is gaining. He is still in the 50th percentile for weight and 25th for height. That tells me that he is growing at a healthy rate which is important. I did have to buy some PoliViSol vitamin drops to put in his cereal once a day. Apparently breastmilk needs supplementation after six months. I also asked if they could do another strep test but they said that they usually don't do a follow-up because the antibiotics are really good about wiping it out. He got three shots today including his first flu shot. Lorne and I got ours last week so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will make it through the flu season unscathed.


Sawyer loves his peas! He MUST be the milkman's baby! I would rather scratch out my own eyes than eat English peas...Yuk! Speaking of scratching, his face looks like he's been in a war. I can't seem to keep his nails short enough.

I went and weighed at Weight Watchers today because it is supposed to be icy here tomorrow and I didn't want to get Sawyer out in nasty weather. I didn't stay for the meeting because we had his appointment, but it was convenient for me to stop by and weigh. Weight Watchers is about a mile from the peds office. I needed to lose 1.8 to get to 25 pounds and I lost 1.4. DARN IT! Oh well, I'm hoping that I will be able to get that 25 pound magnet next week which will be a good motivator for me going into CHRISTmas.

I get so tired of hearing it called the "Holiday Season." I even saw on a news story that school kids were having to sing "We Wish You a Swingin' Holiday!" What kind of crap is that? Lowe's even had banners in their stores advertising their "holiday trees." I'm sorry, but Jesus died for our sins and we celebrate his birth on December 25th. I don't care how much the media tries to conceal why we celebrate. OK, I'll get off my soapbox but I won't apologize because it's my blog so nanny, nanny, boo, boo. :) I'm probably preaching to the choir anyway!

On another note, Lorne's cousin Ashley had her baby on Friday. Lexi Ann was born four weeks early but weighed in at 6.15 and is 19 inches long. She had to spend some extra time in the hospital but went home today so that's good. I'm going to try and talk to Aunt Mary tonight to see how mom and baby are doing. As far as I know both are doing well.


Introducing Lexi Ann!

Anyone Still Reading?

It would appear that my blogging is slowly but surely becoming a once-a-week venture. Needless to say, I am determined to keep up this site if for no other reason than to share pictures of our growing little man.

I bought Sawyer's high chair last week. Larry and Velma paid for it for part of his Christmas present. They were supposed to split it with me but they're hardheaded and paid for the whole thing. It is from the Fisher-Price Aquarium series too so it matches his bouncer, swing, and his mirror in the Tahoe. He'll probably grow up to be a fishmonger or a game warden based on his constant exposure to fish and animals. It even has toys that are attached to the tray and another toy that can be removed during mealtime. I will not be at all surprised if this baby has ADD when he grows up.


He looks like such a big boy in his high chair!

He is eating more baby food. He has now tried peaches, pears, squash, and applesauce. He still likes the pears the best and tolerates everything else. I'm really interested to see how much he weighs when we go for his six-month (can you believe it) appointment on Tuesday. He's only nursing five times a day these days since he's taking pretty long naps during the day and sleeping later in the morning. He woke up at 8:15 this morning and 8:45 yesterday. I'm still nursing him once in the night but it's usually around 5:00 these days.

I'm trying to get him to drink from a sipper cup since he won't take a bottle anymore. Some days he seems into it and others he doesn't seem to want any part of it. It's only been a few days so I'm trying to be patient. I'm just hoping that he'll take it in time for our trip to Van Vleck for Christmas.

Lorne and used to have so much fun Christmas shopping. We'd spend the drive back home from Thanksgiving making a list of what we wanted to buy everyone. Then we'd spend an entire day and do all of our shopping. That's not quite possible this year so I've been an online shopping fool this week. I went a little crazy on Amazon.com. It is really amazing how much is available at the touch of a button these days. It's also so convenient because they already have all of my credit card information. I also love being able to track all of my packages. I'm having everything shipped to Larry and Velma's so that we will have less to pack. I think that there are seven different shipments coming to their house in the next few weeks. That's a lot of tracking numbers for me to keep up with that's for sure!

Lorne absolutely LOVES Christmas for those of you who may not know. He really gets into the Christmas spirit and it's one of the many things that I love about him. Lorne and Larry put up our Christmas lights on the house this weekend. Lorne also decorated all of the living room except for the Christmas tree. It still isn't up because he's been working late this week. He always puts the tree together and puts on the lights and I do the ornaments. I may just bite the bullet and try to put it together during one of Sawyer's naps tomorrow. I will post pictures once we get everything decorated. It really is a site to behold, especially the mirror ball, oh yes, the mirror ball is the best part let me tell ya!

I bought a book of The New York Times crossword puzzles last weekend. I feel like spending all day with a five-month-old is turning my brain to mush. It's like they say, "Use it or lose it." Lorne got me on the crossword puzzle kick when he made two of his own. I had so much fun with those that I thought I'd take up a new hobby that would simultaneously give my brain a workout.

Here are some pictures of Sawyer in his Exersaucer. I got some good pictures this time because I played the peekaboo game with him. He loves when we ask, "Where is Sawyer?" and reply, "There he is!" He is just so cute!


Sawyer loves the peekaboo game!


He looks like I scared him doesn't he?


Here's a good shot of his teeth.