My Week

Cute baby after his bath!

Nathan with his Aunties. Auntie Nan and Auntie Sharon. Boy did he have a good time with them.

Nathan and his wet shirt. Unfortunately he never seems to have on a dry shirt.

Loves, loves, loves his fists. Yummy.

My little teddy! My sister sent this to us and I just can't get enough!!!

How about you?

Anyone else have a problem with cookies? I used to think they were my friends. I mean, who doesn't love a delicious chocolate chip cookie. Or even better a chocolate cookie with some other add-in. I love all cookies.
As most of you know, I have been on the Anti-Chub bandwagon for several weeks now and am happily wearing old jeans. Until this week.
I had Visiting Teaching to do this week and I agreed to make treats for the ladies that we visit. Bad choice. I made two different recipes and made up 6 plates of cookies. Unfortunately there were leftovers. I would normally think this was perfect, but my body has gotten used to a much lower daily dose of sugar and my day of eating 9 cookies is laying me up in bed with a killer headache.
I think that there are people in the world who can probably just eat one or two cookies in a day and feel perfectly fine. I don't think I know any of those people, but they've got to be out there, otherwise they wouldn't make jeans smaller than a size 8. Right?

Chuckles

Has anyone heard of freecycle? Well, essentially it is free craigslist. I signed up awhile back and I get daily emails to tell me what people are looking for or what people are giving away. I've never been interested in anything and don't know why I keep reading. But then today, I got a break. A little freecycle gem came my way. Two actually.

So, this was a request:
"Need an infant swing, preferably a My Little Lamb cradle infant swing, and
sound monitor. My daughter had a baby girl on Monday and they're having
trouble getting any sleep, them or the baby. I think a swing would help them
all greatly. Thanks for your help."

First of all, great ask for a swing, because lots of people have them hanging around, but don't request the newest and most jazzy of swings when you are thinking free. Just so you get the idea, the swing that they are asking for is a $150 swing. It's adorable and I get why they might like that one, but just sounds to me like someone didn't get everything on their registry. Secondly, I would just like to remind this women about the nature of having a newborn. Of course they are having trouble getting sleep. THEY HAD A BABY!!!! I thought people got that. New baby=no sleep. Oh, well. Hopefully they will get a swing and a teenager. I remember I loved to sleep when I was a teenager.

Next is a freecycle offer. This woman was looking to part with:
"- a Bolivian Jew in a little basket
- a traditional purple Wanding Jew in a plastic pot"
I'm assuming that these are plants, after reading 'plastic pot' but I must say that right after reading 'bolivian jew in a little basket', all I could think was that the Bolivians I have know are small people, but I don't think it is appropriate to be offering them up on freecycle. I got a much needed laugh!

I was considering canceling my freecycle emails, but not now! Free gems.

Hello?

Where are you my friends?

Personal Grief

You know when you are doing some deep cleaning and find something that you love so much, you have no idea how you misplaced it without missing it for so long? Well, today I had one of those moments and my disorganization has seen it's last day. No it hasn't, but I really want to be serious about this due to the despair that I am now experiencing.
You are wondering what long lost item put me in this funk? You know those lovely balloons with strings from days of yore? The ones that you could use as a personal punching bag, unless of course you were uncoordianted and the balloon ended up using you as a punching bag. I found two in my sewing closet today from two Christmases ago. They were the perfect stocking present and you can imagine how thrilled I was.
Well, in one of those moment when company was coming over and I was trying to appear to be a grown up, they somehow got moved from their spot in the living room and ended up in the sewing closet. I have no idea either!
Unfortunately, I had to put them to rest. R.I.P. punching bag balloons! They had semi deflated and were no longer useful for bringing joy to an overaged kid.
Moral of the story: be more organized...or at least don't hide fun things away in a sewing closet. Leave them out. It would have been a good test for friendship.

Completely Unsolicited Advice

Here's a little piece of advice for soon-to-be or later-to-be new mothers. If you like peace and joy in your home, let the little one run the show.
The weather the last two days has been heavenly, so I decided that I needed to join other mothers and take my little boy to the park on the first decent day of spring. It's what you would expect of a good mother, right? You might be thinking 'but Amanda, Nathan stayed in his stroller the entire time you were at the park.' Yes, I know, but I'm sure he got the idea of nice day=park day.
So anyway, two days in a row of running errands, going to lunch with friends and afternoons at the park left very little nap time in the crib for our favorite little fella. Now, he usually is pretty good about just sleeping in his car seat and fully taking advantage of the lulling of the car ride. This was not the case yesterday and today. Then, he gets SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO tired and it is almost impossible for him to fall asleep and he gets that miserable 'I can't stand life anymore' scream.
It is now 9:20PM and the longest that he has slept today was 40minutes in a stretch. For those of you not familiar with baby napping, that ain't nothin'. So, I just gave him a bath and fed him a bottle and rocked him a bit. He is now in his crib quietly trying to fall asleep.
I feel like a horrible mom because my need to go out and be social and enjoy the perfect day is making my little boy sad. I am glad that tomorrow is promising to be quite a bit chillier. No temptation to run around galavanting. On the off chance that you see me out tomorrow, remind me that my baby needs to sleep. I will not yell at you for bossing me around.
As a P.S. Happy St. Patty's Day. 25 bonus points to anyone who had corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight. Here are a few pictures of your favorite little Leprachaun.



P.S. He's not at all Irish, but we couldn't find a shirt that said "I'm not Irish, but kiss me anyway." The shirt was from his Grandma Sue who is Irish, so we are trying to represent.

Trying

I love the sequence of these pictures. Nathan has been much more interested lately in getting some if not all of his fingers in his mouth. It's pretty funny to watch him when he realizes he can't get his whole hand in his mouth. Starts the squealing. He really is too cute.

You've got to be kidding me

Okay friends, I am going to give you all a very fair heads-up warning about the movie Australia. Now if any of you have seen it and didn't feel the need to give me a heads-up, you are temporary in the dog house.
This movie is gonna make you cry. I don't mean the pretty kind of 'oh isn't that touching' kind of crying. I mean 'move over Shadowlands' kind of full on sobbing!!!
You have now been fairly warned. Watch at your own risk. I will say that it is a wonderful movie, but Rachel, I'm talking to you right now...DO NOT watch this movie without 3 full boxes of tissues!! Got it? Good.
Enjoy

Happily thinking about my friends

I have been looking back at a lot of my photos since I have now taken up digital scrapbooking and it is so wonderful. So, here is a post dedicated to some of my favorite old pictures that make me so happy. I am kind of confused and sad because I am missing a lot of pictures that I know I took with my digital camera. So, they should be on my computer, right? Well, for now, these pictures will have to do.
P.S. I am listening to my Birthday Mixer CD from Rachel and Hangin' Tough was just playing. The last two posts have made reference to NKOTB. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me something. Get myself to a concert STAT. Better yet, the cruise.

"It's 2 in the morning, wanna come over...

And make me go to sleep?
Step 1: (that reminds me of another NKOTB song- fun times) Peel my fingers away from the keyboard without losing any of yours.
Step 2: Quickly turn off the computer
Step 3: Give me a stern talking to about drinking a Pepsi Max two hours ago. Even though they taste better than Diet Pepsi, there is no way that my body needs Caffeine Max at midnight.
Step 4: Push me towards my bed. I will not need to change into jammies, as I have been in sweatpants all day. I am proud to say that I showered today and the sweats were a conscious comfy choice.
Step 5: come back tomorrow night and do this same routine, but let's try starting this process around midnight
Sound fun to anyone?
Why on earth would I be up at 2am? Aaahhh, yes, I am the mother of a newborn baby. Hmm, nope that's not it. He has been asleep since midnight. I have however decided to become a scrapbooker. Not just any old scrapbooker. I will have no Cricuts and chipboard taking over my life. At least not that I can lay my hands on. I am a digital scrapbooker! I love new hobbies, but initially they always start out in an obsessive kind of way. The 'I'm over 30' darkness under my eyes is really unattractive right now, and still I take the time to give a shout out to my blogging buddies.
P.S. this is my second night in a row of 2am
P.P.S. Brownyn-when are you guys skipping the country? We need to chat before you go!

More of my cutie

P.S.

Nathan slept 9 1/2 hrs last night! How do I get a repeat performance for tonight and all the rest of the nights of his life? Any suggestions?

Super Girl

Who? Me! I had a fantastic week in the Campaign Against Chub and lost an impressive 5lbs. If you're not impressed, go directly to jail, do not go past go, do not collect $200.
So, giving up the Pepsi (except for one) and ice cream (except for McDonald's lowish-fat ice cream cones) was super helpful.
When I was a kindergarten teacher, my favorite saying of the day was 'make a better choice' which translated into 'stop whatever you are doing right now, or you are fired from recess for the rest of your life.' I unfortunately said it too many times and now it's my little mantra. More than slightly annoying, I know.
Goal for this week, eat more veggies. Have I mentioned that I hate veggies? There are some veggies that I don't mind, but most of them are just tolerable. So, here's my take on veggies.
Lettuce: good with pecans, craisins, feta cheese and raspberry dressing
Celery: only helpful in delivery of peanut butter. Tastes best when you just lick the peanut butter off and reapply
Cucumbers: decent except when they have that kind of bitter taste. know what I mean? My mom taught me to cut off one end and rub it against the rest of the cucumber until it created a little foam on the end. She said that it took the bitter out. I'm pretty sure she was lying.
Green beans: I like the taste of melted butter.
Carrots: raw-honestly I feel like I am chewing on a piece of bark. cooked-shot me now (seriously)
Beets: the only time I ate them as an adult was as a missionary when I didn't want to offend someone. I ended up throwing them up. If you have to vomit, make it magenta. Much prettier than the alternative.
Peppers: taste like water, but I do appreciate the crunch
Five a day, here I come. Maybe I could eat 4 fruits and just one veggie! Ya think?

I'm a big kid now

Nathan had his two month appointment yesterday and he is still a perfect baby.
Here are his stats:
Height: 24" (86%)
Weight: 12lb 10oz (73%)
Head: 41 cm (75%)

So he's a tall boy. We had figured that out since he is outgrowing all of his clothes in length before he chubs out too much.
Luckily I have stopped calling him chubby and it seems to be working. He is not barfing as much as before. Of course I am holding him straight up for longer after each feeding, but I think mostly his confidence is up.
He also got his shots yesterday. It was sad to watch, but luckily I had a bottle on hand and stuffed it in his month right after they were done and that distracted him. He's his mother's son. Food always distracts me.

Update on Down with the Chub campaign. I am doing really well and I'm sure that I've lost at least 20lbs. That should be the number considering I have given up the daily doses of ice cream and my beloved Pepsi. We'll see what the scale says on Monday! Oh, AND I've exercised 3 days this week. Hello!!! I'm pretty amazing and I just thought you should know about it.

A little help

Hey there ladies. I am creating a new blog and need a little help coming up with a jazzy name. I tried for Bedazzled and wannafanta, but unfortunately those are both taken. I am not looking for amandaandjohn@blogspot, I want something catchy. Now I have some very clever and witty friends, so put on your thinking caps kids and lets come up with something jazzy.

Baby Cakes

I'm wondering if I've given my little fella a complex. You see, I've been calling him chubby for a few weeks now. I wasn't worried that he would take it so personally, but apparently my little boy has developed an eating disorder. I think he has a touch of bulimia. He refuses to keep down any of his meals.
I'm kind of curious how much spit up is normal. I can't imagine that he gets to keep much of his food in his belly and it makes me sad. It also makes me saturated. Every shirt that I own and most of my pants have been puked on. Have I mentioned how much I love the smell of formula? (small barf)
I'm also sad that he doesn't get to wear his cute clothes for very long before they are completely soaked and I have to change him. He hates being wet and we end up going through several outfits a day.
So, new goal for the week is to stop calling him chubby and see if we can cut down on this barfing business. That or I could chat with the doctor tomorrow. See if all of this is normal.

Why I might become addicted to the gym

They have a nursery. Now that Nate Dog is officially 8 weeks old, they will take him and watch him for two hours. Now, if you know me at all, you know that I only need about 20 minutes to work out :) which leaves me with a good 1 hr and 40 minutes to sit in the 'Club' somewhere and unplug. After checking in to Good Reads and realizing that I had to move 2 books from my 'reading' category, into my 'to read' category, I was a little sad. I need to find some uninterupted time with my books. So, I will be off to the gym to do some daily page turning. Sounds funny, I know, but what's a girl to do.
And in case you are wondering, I have put into place my new 'Get Rid of Chub' plan. Hopefully, we will be seeing some improvement in that department. I know that I will always have chubby thighs, but when they run out of storage space and the chub shows up on my face, then we are talking about something major here. I will not have it! Do you hear me, face? I may or may not fill you in on my Get Rid of Chub progress, because I may slip and run off to QuikTrip and buy me some ice cream tomorrow, but for today I am motivated!!! Go Team Johnson!! Shout out of encouragement are always welcome.

Pardon the Chub

And no I'm not talking about Nathan. What happened to my face? I'm posting these pictures even though I am a little distraught over the nature of my double chin and enormous cheeks. Something must be done about this diaster. But in the meantime, I'll post.
This weekend we had a great visit from my dad and my two cousins Olivia and Elizabeth. They are such sweethearts and John said to me 'I hope we have kids like that.' We went to the ward Pinewood Derby, watched Mary Poppins and went out for pizza on Saturday. They came up for Nathan's blessing this morning.
Since they got here, Elizabeth (age 4)has been saying 'I can't wait to go to the baby church.' I was worried that she would be disappointed to find out that it was not in fact a church full of babies. She seemed to have fun and didn't make any mention of disappointment so that's good. We are hoping they come up to visit us again this summer. We mentioned that we like to take the dogs to the Dog Park in the summer and she liked that idea about as well as baby church, so it should be fun.