My growing boy

Well Austin has learned how to clap. Last night he just started doing it all on his own.. amazing! Now he loves to clap. :)
He also just figured out how to really chew his food. Yesterday I gave him all kinds of new "grown up" foods. I am super happy to report that he did not break out into hives however my Benedryl was close by. He is just doing so well. I love watching him grow and develop

We had a fun play date today with his friend Aric who is 14months and walking all over. They played so well alongside each other..I am so happy to see how well he acts and behaves around other babies. Just proud of my baby. Oh and Aric climbed the stairs for the first time. So Great!!

My growing boy

Austin has been a very hungry little boy. He has been taking an extra bottle for several weeks now, with only a 4 day break in between. What this means is that instead of four 7-8ounce bottles a day he is taking 5, with the 5th one at night. IT IS KILLING ME!
I so badly would like my child to sleep through the night again. However he has gained 2 pounds in that time frame, so that is good. He is around 21 pounds now with his 11 months approaching this Sunday. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!

Here is A going through his downstairs changing table. Pulling all the clothes out AGAIN!


Here he is climbing up onto the dishwasher for the first time. So hard to put dishes aways sometimes.


Here he is, first time in the water/pool!! It was lots of fun!



Here he is with his new little cousin Lindsey. :)

Pre-Baby Weight!!

If you have had children, you know that hitting your pre-baby weight is a HUGE accomplishment. Now some mommies are super lucky and lose it right away with breastfeeding or the luck of God and genetics... I am not one of those people.
After A came out I only lost like 3 lbs - well he was 8lbs so how did that happen??
Because I had a C-section they were pumping me full of salt water therefore I was retaining a ton of it for quite some time. I had so much water in me that most all my fingers were numb because of it. I wasn't even able to feel my baby with my fingers but used the backs of my hands to feel his skin. It made me cry.
After 2 weeks being home, I lost 30 of my 63lb weight gain. I was pumped but still "big". I started to work out more, joined dodgeball again, joined a softball team near our new house. I would get on the elliptical more, started going to a bootcamp once a week and tried to watch what I was eating more. Than after I stopped breastfeeding at 4 months (Austin was reacting very badly to my milk) I started back up on Jenny Craig and lost another 10lbs over the coarse of 8 weeks or so.
After losing my job I quit Jenny Craig bc the location was by my work but no where near my house.
Recently I got onto Medifast (sister company of JC) in which my step-mom recommended. I dropped 10 pounds in a week!! Than bc of a few trips I gained back a couple pounds but am now back on it and officially at my pre-baby weight!! I can't freaking believe it!! I am so happy!!
NEW GOAL - 10 more pounds or 170lb which is my wedding weight.
My belly is still bigger than before because most of my clothes still don't fit, but I am so freaking close I can taste it! I just need to stick with this and keep my workouts up, I know it helps. I am so happy and can't wait to wear all my clothes again, well for a month at least, since we are going to try and get pg again in a few months! hehe

1st Official Mother's Day

Well, I am officially a mother and therefore I get to have another day all about me (and other mothers)!! WHOHOO to holidays!!
Last year I got NOTHING from my hubby even though I was weeks from bringing his child into the world and all my attempts to tell him I wanted him to do something, anything. He did not.
This year - we celebrated his birthday the night before (sat) with some poker, grilling and friends.. lots of fun. I got sick before going to bed so you know I had fun.
Justin got up with Austin at 6am when he woke up and fed him, so I could sleep, which I love to do. Than I wake up and J is in the door. All of a sudden I see a balloon slowly moving into the room, it was attached to my crawling baby's bum. He crawled all the way to me in bed where he was super happy hugging and loving me. It was great. I also got a great card (from my baby) with his hand and sort of foot prints on it. How cute it that!! I also got a plant of my fav flowers, yellow daisies. It was very nice! We didn't do anything that day and I just grilled lunch and dinner. We didn't really want to go out and deal with all the people. So we never changed out of our PJ's and just hung out all day.
ALSO - AUSTIN CRAWLED UP THE STAIRS!!
He did it all by himself on the first try! J was in front of him with his hands by his bum in case he fell back but the never did, he went up all 8 stairs with no problem. HOW AMAZING is that??!!?

So it was a great Mothers Day!

Insurance Companies

OMG - I am so angry at you Insurance Companies. I pay you, I accept you, but all you do is try to screw me. I am not even apart of one of you anymore and you are still screwing me. When you get a bill sent to you for a service performed in which you are REQUIRED to pay under our contract, you should look at the bill, write a check and send it to the address listed and by the time allotted. I do not think this is really asking too much of you, but I am wrong.
When you send this small amount of money - $381.27 - you don't send it to the right place. Well they cashed it and the people due money never got it. They bill me, I call them and we call You, Insurance Company, and you claim you are going to re-issue to the correct address.
Fast forward 8 months from the time of service and 3 conversations later, YOU still have NOT sent the money to the right place.
PLEASE send them the money they are due and get me out of the collections I am now in due to you. I did my job, I paid you. NOW DO YOURS!
Thank you,
Angry Ex-Customer

NE trip

Well Austin and I went to Nebraska to visit my mommy this past week. Overall it was great. But we had some interesting experiences and some traumatic ones.
Wed we flew in the morning. I bought a new carry-on bag and my sis convinced me to get a hard case one, yeah, my concerns were validated because IT DOESN'T FIT INTO THE OVERHEAD COMPARTMENT!! I was pissed!! So they checked it for free, thanks Allegiant, love you guys! My aunt picked me up, my mom got home from work and we went to Applebees for a late lunch/early dinner. I barely ate anything but was so full, since I have been dieting it was hard to eat food again. We went to bed early.
Thursday, A and I went for a walk and got some balloons for my dad - as it was his 60th birthday that day. Than we went to his office at lunch time to say hello and give his balloons and card. Than to their house to visit with Bobbi for an hour. My home and cousin Casie drove in from Omaha to hang out. Than we went to dinner at this new BBQ place by my house. My friend and her 2 small girls joined us. HORRIBLE Experience. So we finally get seated after the people who came in after us got seated first - and I said something to the hostesses. We are chatting finally get our order in at 20 till 8pm. Forty minutes go by and still no food. We have 3 children under 4 yrs old getting very upset along with 5 adults! Our server doesn't know why are food isn't at our table as the kitchen claims they made it already. SO we ask for the manager. She doesn't want to talk to us. Than she bluntly avoids our table so we go to her and have a little conversation. She was a total BITCH and is blaming our server. I am like, regardless what are we going to do about it. My friend, her hubby and 2 girls leave without any food. They finally give us food all boxed up and some gift certificates, at 9:00pm! We than completely rip the Manager a New A-Hole because she was handling this situation so badly. She never apologized and just kept blaming the server who is totally crying to us. So the next morning we called the General Manager and told him the hole story. THIS MANAGER was really BAD!
Than we went out with my friend Tom and had a Great time.
Friday - Austin fell off my mom's bed! I was sitting right next to him and had my arm there but I was looking at the computer and he dropped his toy, than leaped over my arm. He wasn't hurt but we both cried!! It sucked! Mom got off at noon and we ate at Godfathers than did some running around including stopping at a couple garage sales. It was so fun, I miss my mama so much sometimes. That night I went out to karaoke with my friends Tom, Jen and her sis, their boyfriends and her parents and their friends. Several other friends weren't able to come, so I was super disapointed and didn't know if I was even going out anymore, but it all worked out.
Saturday - up, packed and off to airport. After going through security I set Austin in his stroller and didn't strap him in. I grabbed my bags adn pushed the stroller foward about 3 feet and he slipped out the bottom onto the floor! ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!! How did that happen that fast!! I didn't even go anywhere!! And totally in front of everyone, I felt like such a horrible parent!

Still Sick

Yep, Austin is still sick. We determined (the pedi and I) that it was the antibiotics he was on for his sinus and ear infection. So last night I gave him a dose of it and within minutes came up all the food he had still in his belly from that day. He got sick again at 10:45pm (he woke up). He woke up again at 2:45am and it appeared he was ready to eat. So he had most of a bottle than drifted back to sleep. I sat up with him for 20 min to make sure he wouldn't puke it up. He coughed several times and seemed okay so I put him back down at 3:15am or so. He woke up at 5:45am and when I picked him up, he was covered in formula vomit. I don't know how I missed this but thank goodness he didn't choke on it, he does sleep on his side and belly a lot.
Today he is very upset in general. He wants me to hold him more than normal and continues to whine and moan in pain, and it KILLS me because I can't give him anything to help. He still has the infections and his teeth are still pushing through but the pedi doesn't want me to give him anything, not even teething tablets. SO we have an appt on Monday to see how he is doing. SUCKS! I just want him to be happy and better.