Monday, December 30, 2013

christmas with the cox's

we had another christmas celebration over the weekend
with ronnie's side of the family.
 
brette got some pretty cool new toys from her grandma and grandpa
and aunt sheri was showing her just how it all worked.

a turtle ball pit.
perfect for a future dz.

and how cute is this zebra ride?
we just need brette to be a bit taller.
hopefully she'll be riding it in no time. 

 
b also got an adorable santa pj set.
i'm really hoping i can still put her in the robe again next christmas.
too cute.


 
and that wraps up our holiday celebrations.
until next year...
 
 
now back to my diet.
things went astray.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

christmas day

how was your christmas?
ours was filled with
family
church
food
presents
traveling
desserts
and love.
 
of course, brette's first christmas was more for ronnie and i than her,
but i loved getting to share all our holiday traditions.
on christmas eve we went to see santa.
she loved it.
 
 
 
 
 
that night we went to mass as a family.
(my parents, my brother, sis-n-law, their two girls and us)
and the only spot available for six adults and three kiddos
was in the second row, dead center.
i was praying that brette made it through with no tears,
and we were in luck!
all the girls did wonderful.
and brette got to show off her new dress i bought her.
 
 
 
then it was back to our house for pizza and the anticipation of santa.
once everyone left and we got brette to bed,
ronnie and i watched a christmas story,
my favorite xmas movie and a turner christmas eve tradition.
the next morning b woke up at 5:45 (oh. hell. no.)
 i fed her and read her xmas stories
until 7:00 and decided it was time for dear old dad to join us.
i made hot chocolate, put on some christmas tunes
and turned on all our christmas lights.
the setting was perfection.
 
 
 
we showed b her gifts under the tree and
ronnie and i squabbled about his lack of skill using the video camera.
(um yes, i do want heads in video.)
so then he wanted me to redo it all so he could refilm it,
but i refused, so now, when brette watches the video of her first christmas,
i have no head. 
sa-weet.
i swear, sometimes...
 
then b went down for a nap and ronnie thought
we should do laundry and pick up the house.
i'm sorry.
i don't do chores on the holidays.
so once again, i refused.
you can tell ronnie and i were not off to a great start.
when she woke up
i dressed her in my old christmas dress from my first christmas.
i love that my mom saved all these dresses.
 
 (ahhhh-dorable)

 
 
 and we hit the road to my parent's house.
aunts, uncles, grandma, cousins
everyone was there.
i think total we had 24.
it's chaotic, but fun.
we ate lots and lots
and then went back for more.
we opened gifts and talked for hours.
i loved it.
i am already anticipating the amazingness of next year
with these three little ladies.
 
(matching pj's provided by aunt jaime)
 
so yeah,
basically, we had a wonderful day.
hope yours was just as special.
happy holidays!
 
 

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

here comes santa claus

its the eve of the big day.
baby boops is sleeping
and after her nap
we are f i n a l l y going to take her to see santa.
there were lots of christmas things i wanted to do with her:
sleigh ride, christmas tree farm, gingerbread houses, elf on a shelf
but she's a little too little.
this is the one thing that even though she'll have no clue what's going on,
 i'll still have a picture to show her
that she met santa on her very first christmas eve...
right before he had to take off for his trip around the world.
 
our other plans include evening mass and a family pizza dinner.
then off to bed to await our big morning with
just the three of us.
then we'll head down the highway to grandma & grandpa's house
to share the holiday with our other twenty family members
over a big turkey dinner.
should be fun.
 
and since i don't get to mail out a card to every special person in our lives,
here is our 2013 christmas wish for you.
 
 
merry christmas to all and to all a good night.
 
 

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

small baby, big head. among other things

brette had her six month check- up yesterday.
i love our pediatrician.
she totally laughs at my jokes.
and isn't this kansas city mural in her waiting room awesome?
b and i spend each visit studying the wall.

 
but unfortunately,
it did not go well.
it was nap time and brette was tired.
there was lots of crying.
and some crazy screaming.
the three shots in her leg
didn't help at all.
we spent the rest of the afternoon resting together
on our couch and she was a new baby
by the time ronnie got home.
here's an update of her stats.
 
weight: 14 lbs 14 oz (15th percentile)
height: 25 1/4 in (25th percentile)
head circumference: 17 cm (65th percentile)
 
small baby.
big head.
but still healthy.
it's crazy that she had always measured right at the 50th percentile,
until now. 
and she doesn't look little,
but apparently, compared to others she on the tiny side.
 
b also started eating veggies this week.
we gave her some peas and
she loves them.
she's scarfing down everything we give her.
hopefully, she'll be an easy eater.
 
while brette eats peas,
i'm trying my best not to inhale
the six dozen cookies/candies i have.
being on a diet with christmas treats in the house
is a special kind of torture.
pray for me.
my diet is over on monday.

so far, i've lost 9 lbs.
i would be crazy happy if i could get to twelve.



Tuesday, December 17, 2013

baking for the holidays

 
 
we had our annual family christmas cookie exhange.
its a tradition for the girls in the family.
my grandma, aunts, cousins, sister-n-law and nieces.
it was amazballs, just like always.
brette missed out on most of it because she
s  l  e  p  t
pretty much the whole day,
which gave me plenty of time to help with all the baking.
 
everyone brings cookies they bake ahead of time:
 
sugar cookies
caramel drops
peanut butter cookies
chocolate covered cherry cookies
chocolate peppermint cookies
cowboy cookies
dream bars
no bake
and fudge
(i'm sure i'm missing some)
 
and those are just the ones we exchange.
but then...
 
we spend the rest of the day making more:
peanut clusters
dipped pretzels
oreo balls
peppermint bark
peanut brittle
peanut butter blossoms
pretzel kiss bites
chocolate chip cookies
 
it is a crazy sweet chocolaty gooey awesome family fun day.
but it just wasn't the same without mickie. (sad face)
 






 
here's to another christmas!
 
 
 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

little signs, big baby

we had a busy weekend
full of christmas festivities,
so for now, i'll leave you with a few photos.
 
little signs that my baby is getting big.
 
1. drunk on milk,
but able to hold her own bottle.


 
2. cutting her first tooth

 
3. drinking water from her first sipping cup
 
 
4. wearing her first pair of real jeans.
 


 
 

Thursday, December 12, 2013

brette: 6 months




growth:
our doctor's visit is next week
but i put brette on the scale and she was
about 15.5 pounds.
not sure on her length, but i'll update you after our well baby visit.
she's definitely outgrown her 0-3 month clothing
and some of her 3-6 month clothing as well.
most everything she wears now is 6 months
minus a few exceptions.
she's in size two diapers and
probably will be for awhile.
the main thing brette "grew" this month was
her first tooth!
she literally just got it last week,
right at 6 months old.
it's her bottom right centered tooth.
and no, i'm not a fan of teething.
between her 6 month growth spurt and that,
we've had a few rough days.
i never know if she's hungry or if her tooth hurts.
there's a lot of trial and error right now.
 
one big change we saw this month is her connection with me.
she's becoming quite the mamma's girl.
sometimes i'm the only one that can hold her.
its expected since we spend all day, everyday together,
but i'm hoping this phase is short lived.
not that i don't love the love,
but it makes things a lot easier if i can pass her off to
her grandma for a bit if i need to do something.
 
another darling little change in brette is her reaction to ronnie.
she can definitely recognize people now and she has
a soft spot for her daddy.
when he walks in the door at night she is all smiles and laughs.
its so cute to watch.
  
 
sleeps:
b is still doing great at night.
goes down about 7:30-8:00
and gets up at 6:00-6:30.
i still put her down every 2 hours for a nap in her swing
and that has been working great.
it's like i found brette's napping secret recipe.
my only "complaint" would be that we don't have a definite schedule.
everything depends on how long she sleeps and her wake up time.
so it can very day to day.
we've reverted back to swaddling too.
i tried the whole not swaddled thing
and brette wasn't having it.
i figure i can battle that another day.

  
eats:
we're still on the exact same nursing schedule as last month.
6:30
10:30
(cereal)
 2:30
5:00
7:00
(unless she's going through a growth spurt or teething,
which means this last week has been waaaay off.)
 she drinks water everyday.
not a ton, but i always try to offer it to her.
we still practice drinking out of a cup a couple times a week
and she's getting better.
but we also bought her a new cup with a straw
(thanks for the suggestion!)
and she is a pro at that.
she can suck down the water really well through a straw.
now every time ronnie and i have a drink,
we are sharing. (as long as its water)
the biggest news with brette is that we started her on food.
so in between her 10:30 and 2:30 feeding
i give her a little bit of cereal.
i found out that she eats it a lot better
if i mix it with breastmilk instead of formula.
go figure.
in fact, yesterday she ate her first serving
and then a little bit more.
i'm really excited to get her started on veggies
and put "people" food in her mesh feeders.
but i'm going to give her a full week of just cereal to make sure
she has no bad reaction to it
and then move on.
  
 
plays:
we play around here a lot.
brette's new favorite game is to drop
whatever i give her on the floor,
then i pick it up and
she drops it again.
believe me, this is only fun for her.
we're still reading a lot and
spending time in both her excersaucer and her bumbo.
this month i plan on busting out her bouncer
and see if she's ready to do some jumping.
all toys still go in her mouth
so we have to keep things clean.
she also loves to watch people dance.
i'm going to have to catch ronnie on camera
because he's been sharing his smooth moves and she dies laughing.

  
firsts:
she got her first tooth.
she had her first solid food.
she can semi-sit up under supervision.
she had her first meeting with her great grandma
and made her first trip back to illinois,
where we also celebrated her first thanksgiving.

 i'm so excited to get her eating all kinds of things
and have her sit up consistently on her own.
i expect we'll see both things in the next month.
things are moving fast.

happy 1/2 birthday, baby girl!





 
i tried to get a good tummy time shot,
but then this happened.



screw you mom, i'm just going to put my head down.
e v e r y t i m e.
 
 
 

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

feed me

brette started cereal
and she doesn't like it.
she gives awful faces.
i'm gonna give her a week or two
to see if its just the consistency she doesn't like.
but i might start
to mix veggies in just so
maybe it tastes a bit better.
we'll see how it goes.
after all, today is just day three.

here is brette's first try:
 
 
 
 don't mind my outfit or the fact that i'm chewing gum like a cow.
 




Sunday, December 8, 2013

brooke: six months

i post updates for brette every month
but haven't really said much about my progress.
i'm 6 months post partum on thursday
and there have definitely been some changes.
 
let's get truthful.
i gained 30lbs during my pregnancy,
tipping the scales at 185.
you can do the math.
that means i started at 155,
which is 10-15lbs heavier than i normally am.
note to self - do not get pregnant when you are already fatter than normal.
and seriously, when does this weight thing get easier?
the first two weeks after having b were the worst.
my stomach was (is?) jiggly,
i had to fill up a water bottle every time i peed,
my arm was killing me from the whooping cough shot,
ronnie made me cry once, which had never happened,
because normally i would just tell him to f off
and we had guests here every other minute.
yet, it still wasn't that bad.
brette was sleeping and eating just fine,
and i had already lost 20 lbs in the first couple weeks,
so i wasn't that stressed.
 
then around 3 months my hair started falling out.
i remember it was the week after my 30th birthday.
everyone sheds,
but i'm talking clumps and clumps of hair.
hello, hair grosses me out.
i hate it and its e v e r y w h e r e.
i vacuum all the time,
but its on me, brette, ronnie, our clothes, our floors.
and it has yet to stop. 
i'm don't know how i'm not bald by now.
not sure when the hair loss will subside,
but i hope its soon.
 
around 4 months i decided that i should maybe
look into losing the rest of the baby weight.
the first 20 lbs came off almost instantly
and then i lost another 3 over the next couple months,
but i was stuck at whopping 162.
(please note, that ronnie has always weighed 174,
until now and he weighs 168. i want to kill him.
it is against my law to weigh more than my husband.
i think he's doing it on purpose.)
one hundred and sixty two
pounds is too much for a girl of only 5'4 to carry.
its not healthy or flattering.
so at four months, i decided to work out.
but it didn't last long.
so in november, i switched to walking on the treadmill
every morning during brette's morning nap.
i lost 2 lbs in 3 weeks.
and then we had thanksgiving and i gained it back.
son of a bitch.
 
two things happened.
one - i met up with kassie and dana and we
decided enough was enough.
we're all headed to mexico in may for kass's wedding
and i'll be damned if we're wearing t-shirts in the pool.
we all measured/weighed each other (mortifying)
and said we were going to meet every friday
to check in with each other and make sure that we were staying healthy.
oh, and to remeasure and weigh-in. blah.
 
two - my mom and i joined a 21 day weight loss challenge.
it had the diet and exercise all laid out for me.
today is the start to my second week of "getting fit" and
it's going really well.
i've been working out and eating crazy healthy
and guess what?!
i've lost SEVEN pounds.
i barely slid in my goal of being back to
pre-baby weight by brette's six month birthday.
unfortunately, since i started fatter than normal,
i need to keep going.
i'd love to end up somewhere around 135,
but honestly, at this point, just get me back to normal
and i won't complain.
 
i'll update you when my 21 days are up.
wish me luck - - - or just wish my fat away.

 


Friday, December 6, 2013

friday funnies

i went to see catching fire with my friend angie
and a group of people. (so good, go see it!)
we got there super early to get seats all together
so we had some time to kill before the show started.
 
angie pulled up one of her recent pinterest finds
and said that she was dying when she saw this.

 
i literally lost it in the theater.
crying laughing.
and for quite some time.
 
 
hope you love it too.
happy friday!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

sit up, buttercup

brette is working on sitting up on her own.
i only have her practice on me or on a bed.
i don't want her hitting her head on our wood floors,
but i do think sitting on something more solid would be helpful.

 
she's not quite there,
but getting close.
 
here's a play-by-play of one of our practice sessions.
 
 






Tuesday, December 3, 2013

wreath wednesday: birthday style

i know everyone is getting into
the christmas spirit,
but i wanted to start my wreath-making month
on a birthday note.
(but not in a jesus's birthday kind of way.)
 
once upon a time i was in a craft club
and one of the girls made this adorable wreath
that she planned to hang on her daughters' doors on their birthday.
i thought that was such a cute idea and i wanted to do it for brette.
i'm only six months ahead of schedule.
self high five.
 
i bought a ton of multi-colored ribbon bows (from the dollar store)
and a foam wreath. (from hobby lobby)
and i already had a glue gun.
 
i started placing the ribbons around to see where i wanted them
and started gluing.
that's really all there is to it.
glue the ribbons to the wreath and make it festive.
it only took me about 20 minutes.
 

 
 
 i'm all set for june door decorations.
 
 

Monday, December 2, 2013

thank (god we're home) sgiving

i'm sitting in bed surrounded by luggage
that has yet to be unpacked.
i haven't set out the first christmas decoration
or bought one gift.
its cyber monday and i don't even feel like
taking advantage of the deals.
i'm just so happy to finally be home and
back in my own bed that all i want to do
is lay here.
 
we traveled to illinois to visit ronnie's
family for thanksgiving.
it was a seven hour drive,
but we left in the evening so
baby boops slept through the whole thing.
unfortunately, that's where the easy part stopped.
we couldn't find a good way for her to nap
so after four days of lacking sleep,
she was one fussy baby.
we missed her swing and our quiet house.
instead she spent lots of time in my arms.
 
but it was nice to get back to the farm
and see all the family.
plus it was the first time ronnie's grandma got to see brette
and ronnie's mom hadn't seen her since she was born.
ronnie's sister and her family made their first trip to illinois too.
they soaked up four full days with brette
and we logged a lot of family time.

(a painting of the farm)
 
 
there is so much to be thankful for,
but right now
i'm just really thankful to be home and
in my own bed.
 
now someone come unpack my clothes and decorate my house.
thanks.


(this picture is a perfect representation of brette's mood.)